HOUSTON (AP) - Filling up in the nation's energy capital --
Houston -- is as painful as anywhere these days.
Twenty bucks barely makes a dent on the gauge when gasoline
prices are $3.25 a gallon and edging higher.
But The Associated Press reports that in Houston -- you're not
likely to drive far before seeing an active construction site.
The nation's fourth-largest city is bustling.
Government figure show that -- at 3.4 percent -- February's job
growth in Houston led the nation among the 12 largest metro areas
in the past year.
The Census Bureau last week said metropolitan Houston, already
home to about 5.5 million people, ranked as one of the country's
biggest population gainers in the past year.
Barton Smith with the Institute for Regional Forecasting at the
University of Houston says energy economy is booming.
Rooms to Go, which sells affordable furniture at 130 stores
primarily in the southeast U.S., opened its first Houston location
last weekend. The company plans to open three more before Memorial
Day.
Also on tap is a one million-square-foot distribution center in
the area.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)