KPRC-TV (Ch. 2, Houston), June 19, 2009
Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed a bill on Friday giving UTMB $150 million in recovery funds. On Wednesday, Perry also signed a bill authorizing $150 million in tuition revenue bonds, which UTMB plans to use to build a new 200-bed tower next to John Sealy Hospital. Once the tower is built, the medical branch will be back to the 550-bed capacity it had before Hurricane Ike flooded the campus. Hurricane Ike is generally referred to as the storm that almost killed the medical branch, but it had a silver lining, UTMB President David L. Callender said. "It has created a remarkable and expanded realization of the contribution we make to the state and this community," he said. The story was also published in the Houston Chronicle, the Galveston County Daily News and the Daily Texan.