The communities along the U.S. Highway 36 corridor have taken major steps beyond the shadows of their larger neighbors, emerging in recent years as economic powers in their own right.
Arizona high school students, Max Perez and Nora Palermo, are heading to New York City to compete for a Jimmy Award, a national competition for music theater students.
The Mayor of Houston is urging people to avoid downtown because of all the debris. NBC 5's Tahera Rahman is northwest of downtown in one of the hardest-hit.