New homes must meet minimum standards as described in the Environmental Protection Agency's voluntary Energy Star guidelines. The bill provides for a waste site for radioactive waste generated by Texas, Vermont and Maine and a second site for waste from the U.S. Department of Energy. Many retailers have scaled back expansion plans and consolidated in 2001 because consumers are spending less. But home improvement retailers, discount department stores and discount apparel retailers are thriving and continue to open new stores across the country. Major drugstore chains and grocery retailers are also growing.
Consumer confidence is critical to the strength of the retail sector.
Right now, consumers are wary but hopeful the U.S. will avoid a full-scale recession. The golf course, located on Lake Brownwood, was started in the late 1980s but was foreclosed on before it was completed. Feather Bay Partners bought the property two years ago and plans to have nine holes open by this fall and a grand opening for the hotel and 18-hole course in summer 2002. Hawthorne Suites will manage the hotel, golf course and a 60-slip marina. Cadeco Industries, a coffee manufacturer, has signed a lease for 170,000 square feet of warehouse space that formerly housed Uncle Ben's rice.