MRT: Salvadoran Arrested in Murder of Houston Police Officer; Hollis Seeks Hughs, Abbott Support for Drive-Thru Voting; Q Poll of TX: Biden & Trump Tied, Cornyn Up 6
Here's What You Need to Know in Texas Today.
MustReadTexas.com – @MustReadTexas
BY: @MattMackowiak
THURSDAY – 10/22/20
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ELECTION COUNTDOWN:
There are 12 days until Election Day.
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TOP NEWS
"Man faces state, federal charges in death of Houston officer,"AP's Juan A. Lozano -- "A man accused of fatally shooting a Houston police officer during a domestic disturbance call is facing both state and federal charges and could face the death penalty, authorities announced on Wednesday.
In state court, Elmer Manzano is facing a capital murder charge for the death of 65-year-old Sgt. Harold Preston. Manzano, 51, has also been charged in state court with attempted capital murder for shooting and injuring Officer Courtney Waller in addition to aggravated assault for shooting and injuring his 14-year-old son.
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said Manzano, who is from El Salvador, was in the country illegally.
U.S. Attorney Ryan Patrick announced that his office in Houston has also filed federal charges of an alien in possession of a firearm and a felon in possession of a firearm. Manzano had a prior felony conviction for evading in a motor vehicle in Harris County, where Houston is located, and two misdemeanor convictions in Dallas County for assault of a family member.
“This is a very evil person,” Acevedo said of Manzano.
Manzano, Waller and Manzano’s son remained hospitalized on Wednesday, all in stable condition, Acevedo said.
Court records did not list an attorney for Manzano.
Prosecutors have filed a motion asking that Manzano be held without bond once he is released from the hospital. The district attorney’s office has said it will probably seek the death penalty against Manzano, but no final decision has been made yet.
The shooting happened Tuesday morning when officers were called to an apartment in southwest Houston after Manzano’s wife had reached out to police on a domestic disturbance call. She was moving out of her apartment but Manzano would not let her in, police said.
The teenage son and police went to the apartment and when he opened the door, Manzano came out and began shooting at officers, according to police.
Acevedo said Wednesday that Preston, who was shot multiple times, was able to return fire and hit Manzano in the abdomen. Manzano barricaded himself in the apartment but later surrendered to authorities.
Preston, who had been with Houston police for 41 years, was about two weeks away from retiring, Acevedo said. Waller has been with the police department for three years.
Before Tuesday’s shooting, Manzano’s wife had filed a family disturbance report with police on Saturday and officers had responded to a domestic disturbance call at the apartment on Sunday.
Acevedo said that as part of his agency’s investigation, it will review whether charges could have been filed against Manzano prior to Tuesday’s shooting.
“Based on what I’ve seen so far in our review we did our best to deal with what we knew at the time and so did the DA’s office,” Acevedo added. “We didn’t have enough for them to accept charges.”" AP
"Texas social workers decry vote removing protections for LGBTQ clients,"The Houston Chronicle's Raga Justin -- "As an obscure state licensing board moves to allow Texas social workers to refuse to work with clients who are LGBTQ, members of the profession and state lawmakers are pushing back.
They say the initial vote on the matter was cast with little public notice, and if they had known in advance, they could have packed last week’s virtual meeting of the Texas State Board of Social Work Examiners.
“We had no idea this was going to happen,” said Alison Mohr Boleware, government relations director for the National Association of Social Workers - Texas chapter. “We would have had people lined up to testify. All we have heard from social workers, regardless of where in the state they are, is that they oppose this change.”
The social work examiner’s board voted unanimously Oct. 12 to alter its code of conduct so it no longer prohibits Texas social workers from denying clients because of their sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. Those in opposition say the change, apparently prompted by Gov. Greg Abbott’s office, was unsolicited.
The Behavioral Health Executive Council, the board’s overseeing agency, will have a hearing Oct. 27, opening the floor for public testimony. Boleware said she anticipates a flood of opposition to the code change from social workers at the meeting. Her organization will be asking the board to reverse the decision and extend protections for LGBTQ clients and those with disabilities.
“It’s very troubling,” said Dan Quinn, press secretary for the left-leaning watchdog group Texas Freedom Network, of the board's decision. “It shows that those in power in Texas are going to use every tool they can to promote discrimination against LGBT folks.”
The social work board’s vote is the latest legislative action aimed at allowing licensed professionals to refuse to serve LGBTQ Texans. A similar measure supported by Republicans in the Texas Senate last year would have protected doctors, accountants, lawyers and counselors from disciplinary action when they act on their “sincerely held religious beliefs” in their places of business. It failed.
Jonathan Saenz, the president of the conservative group Texas Values, meanwhile praised the rule change and criticized left-leaning groups for promoting a “ban the Bible” agenda.
“Our religious liberty still exists against government efforts to punish people,” said Saenz, who calls the outcry over the matter “an effort by LGBT advocates to change state law…but they don’t have these special protections.”
There is currently no statewide law establishing LGBTQ protections against discrimination in Texas. But advocates plan to propose such a measure in 2021 that would effectively outlaw discriminatory practices in housing, employment and public accommodations." Houston Chronicle
"Ex-Blue Bell Creameries CEO charged in deadly listeria case," via AP-- "The former president of Blue Bell Creameries has been charged with wire fraud for allegedly trying to cover up a 2015 listeria outbreak linked to the company’s ice cream that killed three people in Kansas and sickened several others, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.
A federal grand jury in Austin returned a seven-count indictment Tuesday charging Paul Kruse with six counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to a Justice Department statement.
Health officials notified Blue Bell in February 2015 that two ice cream products from the company’s flagship factory in the central Texas city of Brenham and its Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, plant tested positive for listeria. The bacterium can cause severe illness or even death in vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, newborns, the elderly and the immuno-compromised.
Blue Bell recalled products after its ice cream was linked to 10 listeria cases in four states, including three deaths in Kansas.
Prosecutors allege that Kruse schemed to deceive Blue Bell customers by directing employees to remove potentially contaminated products from store freezers without alerting grocers and consumers as to why. They say he also directed employees to tell customers who asked that there was an unspecified issue with a manufacturing machine. The company did not immediately recall the products or issue a formal warning to customers about potential contamination.
“American consumers trust that the individuals who lead food manufacturing companies will put the public safety before profits,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.
Kruse’s attorney, Chris Flood of Houston, said he would argue that the indictment came too late under the statute of limitations. “Furthermore, the charges aren’t true,” he said. However, if the charges stand, he looked forward “to explaining what really happened in 2015 at Blue Bell.”
The indictment comes a little more than three months after a judge threw out previous charges against Kruse because prosecutors failed to present them to a grand jury. Kruse was initially charged May 1, the same day that Blue Bell Creameries pleaded guilty to two counts of distributing contaminated goods. The company was fined more than $17 million and agreed to pay more than $2 million to settle civil False Claims Act violations. Prosecutors said the total sum was the second-largest ever paid in a food-safety case." AP
"Army: Slain Texas solider's family entitled to compensation," via AP -- "The family of a Texas soldier whose on-base killing sparked calls in Congress for changes in the way the military handles sexual abuse and harassment is entitled to benefits, including compensation, because her death happened “in the line of duty,” U.S. Army officials announced.
Spc. Vanessa Guillén, 20, was conducting her assigned duties at Fort Hood when a fellow soldier killed her in April, according to results of a report the Army announced Tuesday.
Guillén was listed as missing for six weeks before her remains were found in July. Her death led to a hashtag #IAMVANESSAGUILLEN, used by military sexual assault survivors to denounce their experiences on social media, after Guillén’s family said the soldier who killed Guillén had sexually harassed her.
U.S. Army officials said in July that they had found no evidence that soldier had sexually harassed Guillén and that she did not formally file a report on the harassment. Officials said they had evidence that Guillén did face other kinds of harassment by other people at the Texas base.
Officials determine whether someone died on duty for all soldier deaths, the Army said in a statement. The determination in the Guillén slaying gives her family access to money to help pay expenses, a life insurance payout and a funeral with full military honors.
Army officials said they will continue to keep Guillén’s family informed, including on policy revisions “to ensure Army culture continues to put people first and honors Vanessa’s life.”
“We appreciate all the information we can get and hope we learn everything about Vanessa’s murder so this never happens again,” said Natalie Khawam, who represents the Guillén family.
Separate investigations into Guillén’s death continue, including a criminal probe and an independent review of into the command’s response when Guillén disappeared.
According to the Army’s report, Guillén “died by homicide” at 11 a.m. on April 22. Her remains were found July 1, when police confronted Spc. Aaron Robinson, who killed himself. A civilian is accused of helping Robinson dispose of Guillén’s body and has pleaded not guilty to destruction of evidence. She is awaiting trial.
The “I Am Vanessa Guillen Act,” introduced in Congress in September, would remove decisions on whether to prosecute members of the military for sexual assault or sexual harassment from the military chain of command." AP
STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
"Hollins asks Secretary of State, Abbott to affirm support for drive-thru voting amid legal challenges,"The Houston Chronicle's Jasper Scherer -- "Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins is seeking assurance from Texas Secretary of State Ruth Hughs that her office is “committed to defending the votes” cast at the county’s drive-thru voting sites, the subject of two lawsuits currently before the state Supreme Court.
In a letter sent to Hughs Tuesday, Hollins cited prior support from state election officials, including Elections Director Keith Ingram, for the legality of drive-thru voting. He asked Hughs to confirm by noon Wednesday that the office stands by those statements.
By late Wednesday afternoon, Hollins said he had not received a response from Hughs.
A spokesman for Hughs said the office had received Hollins’ letter, but he declined to say whether Hughs or anyone from her office planned to respond. He also did not say whether Hollins had accurately characterized the position of state elections officials on drive-thru voting.
Last week, on the eve of early voting, the Texas Republican Party sued Hollins in an attempt to halt the drive-thru voting system, arguing the Texas Election Code limits curbside voting, including drive-thru voting, to voters who are sick or disabled, or if voting inside the polling location “would create a likelihood of injuring the voter’s health.” Those provisions do not apply to the coronavirus pandemic, the party argued in its filing.
A Houston appeals court dismissed the lawsuit last Wednesday, less than two days after it was filed. The Republican Party then sought a writ of mandamus from the Texas Supreme Court, again arguing Hollins should not be allowed to extend drive-thru voting to all registered voters. Houston Republican activist Steve Hotzefiled a similar motion with the state Supreme Court on Thursday, the day after the appeals court dismissal.
In his letter to Hughs, Hollins wrote, “Your office has repeatedly expressed that drive-thru voting fit the definitions and requirements for a polling place provided in the Texas Election Code for both Early Voting and Election Day.” During a court proceeding, Hollins wrote, Ingram called drive-thru voting “a creative approach that is probably okay legally.”
Last Friday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxtonissued a guidance letter in which he suggested Harris County’s use of curbside voting does not pass legal muster. He wrote that state law “makes no provision for polling places located outdoors, in parking lots, or in parking structures.” The state election code also does not allow “‘drive-thru’ voting centers at which any voter may cast a ballot from his or her vehicle regardless of physical condition,” Paxton wrote.
“Curbside voting is not, as some have asserted contrary to Texas law, an option for any and all voters who simply wish to vote from the comfort of their cars when they are physically able to enter the polling place,” Paxton wrote.
At a news conference Wednesday, Hollins called Paxton’s guidance “threatening” and accused Hughs of “sidestepping her statutory duty” to advise elections officials on interpretation of the Texas Election Code. Hollins also called on Gov. Greg Abbott, who appointed Hughs, to weigh in on the matter; a spokesman for Abbott did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hollins,asked if he believes votes already cast at drive-thru locations could be nullified as part of the Texas Republican Party’s lawsuit, said the odds are “non-zero,” yet remain low.
“There is nothing of substance whatsoever in any of these legal filings from the Republican Party that would lend any legal basis to throwing out these votes,” Hollins said. “That having been said, it strikes me as very weird that the Texas Supreme Court would not have summarily dismissed this effort. The fact that the Texas Supreme Court has required briefing on this matter, which is something that the appeals court did not do, provides some cause of concern. That means that the odds are higher than zero that this will be successful.”
Assistant Harris County Attorney Douglas Ray has said county officials are comfortable with the legality of drive-thru voting because they do not consider it a form of curbside voting, a stance Hollins reiterated Wednesday. The drive-thru locations are all inside buildings such as garages and temporary structures, Ray said, arguing that precludes them from being curbside under Texas law.
Some 70,000 drive-thru votes had been cast by Wednesday morning, according to Ray." Houston Chronicle
"Advocates file complaint over Texas youth prison conditions,"AP's Jake Bleiberg -- "Detainees in Texas’ juvenile prisons suffer from frequent physical and sexual abuse, inadequate mental healthcare and high rates of staff turnover, two youth advocacy groups wrote in a federal complaint Wednesday.
The rights of the hundreds of youths detained in five secure facilities around the state continue to be violated, despite recent and long-standing efforts at reform, according to Texas Appleseed and Disability Rights Texas. The groups are asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate conditions in Texas Juvenile Justice Department lockups, which they say have become harder to monitor because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The state facilities are not just failing the youth in them, they are hurting them,” Brett Merfish, director of youth justice at Texas Appleseed, said in a statement. Camille Cain, the department’s executive director, acknowledged in a statement Wednesday that “the agency has suffered from long-standing systemic” problems but said there is a plan in place to address them. “TJJD has dedicated itself to implementing reforms to address these issues and create positive outcomes,″ said Cain, who became the agency head in 2018. ″Reform is not easy, and it does not happen quickly.″
In their complaint to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, the groups say inadequate staffing has made chaos commonplace in the five rural facilities. The complaint is based on public records, reports from the youth prisons’ state ombudsman and interviews with young people and their families.
The advocates found gangs are largely unchecked in the facilities, young people suffer sexual abuse at rates higher than the national average, and staff are excessive in their use of restraints and pepper spray. Mental health care is inadequate throughout the department and “a high percentage of the counselors working in the facilities are not licensed,” the complaint says.
The Texas Juvenile Justice Department has worked to improve conditions since 2007, when media reports of physical and sexual abuse in state facilities raised concerns with state judges and lawmakers.
Since then, the department has closed several lockups and reduced the number of young people incarcerated, as well as releasing a reform plan for lawmakers to consider in the next legislative session. It calls for more funding for county-run youth facilities and moving state operations closer to cities to make hiring and retaining staff easier.
Texas Appleseed and Disability Rights Texas credited the plan with “the best of intentions” but said it calls for a lower staff-to-youth ratio than the current model and “cannot change the issues inherent” in the youth prisons.
Texas Appleseed is a nonprofit that advocates for social and economic justice. Disability Rights Texas is a nonprofit empowered by law to advocate for people with disabilities and investigate abuse." AP
#TXLEGE
Joe Straus guest column: "Medicaid expansion a smart business move," Joe Straus via The San Antonio Express-News -- "It’s often said government should be run like a business. More to the point, it should be run like a successful business. But our state may no longer be making the right business decisions when it comes to health care.
Texas receives federal support for our health care system — specifically to provide care for children, pregnant women and disabled adults from our lowest-income families. But our state accepts those dollars in a rather inefficient way, with a patchwork system of waivers that have left us with the country’s highest uninsured rate, a sparse safety net of doctors in many communities, and property taxes that are driven higher and higher by the cost of providing basic care to uninsured Texans in emergency rooms.
A smarter business approach would be to accept federal assistance in a more straightforward and transparent way that maximizes value for all Texans, including taxpayers. For years, Texas has resisted calls to expand Medicaid health coverage to low-income, able-bodied adults through the terms and programs other states have accessed. Instead, Texas has suffered the consequences of an increasingly rickety — and, for those who pay property taxes, expensive — health care system across the state.
This is a missed opportunity. It is estimated more than 1.5 million Texans who lack health insurance would enroll if Texas sought federal funding to expand coverage. Many of these Texans are among the nearly 700,000 people in our state who have lost insurance during the pandemic. An eligible adult could be a 35-year-old single man who works in a meatpacking plant in the Texas Panhandle and cares for aging parents. Or she could be a single woman who provides home health care shift work and earns less than $13,000 per year." San Antonio Express-News
2020
"Trump and Biden tied in Texas, according to new Quinnipiac poll,"The Houston Chronicle's Benjamin Wermund -- "President Donald Trump and Joe Biden are tied as early voting is underway in Texas, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday, the latest to indicate the presidential race is on track to be the closest the state has seen in decades.
The poll also showed a tightening race between Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and his Democratic challenger, former Air Force pilot MJ Hegar.
Both Biden and Trump had the support of 47 percent of likely voters in the poll, which was conducted between Oct. 16 and 19 and carried a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points. Cornyn led Hegar 49 percent to 43 percent.
Both races are closer than they were in the last poll by Quinnipiac, released on September 24, which showed Trump leading Biden 50 to 45, while Cornyn led Hegar 50 to 42.
“Biden and Trump find themselves in a Texas standoff, setting the stage for a bare knuckle battle for 38 electoral votes,” Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said in a statement. “While Cornyn maintains a lead, there are still two weeks to go, and you can’t count Hegar out.”
Texas has posted record turnout through the start of early voting — with more than 4 million voting by Sunday. Sixty-nine percent of likely voters said were planning to cast their ballot at an early voting location, while 18 percent say they plan to vote in person on Election Day and 12 percent say they have voted or plan to vote by mail or absentee ballot.
Biden had an edge with early voters of 48 percent, compared to 46 percent who say they’re voting for Trump, according to the poll. Those mailing in their ballots prefer Biden 63-31, while Trump has the support of 62 percent of those planning to vote on Election Day, compared to 32 percent for Biden.
In the Senate race, 7 percent of voters are still undecided and many say they still don’t know enough about either Cornyn or Hegar.
More than a quarter said they don’t know enough to form an opinion about Cornyn, who is one of the top Republicans in the Senate where he has served three terms. Nearly 40 percent said they don’t know enough about Hegar, a combat veteran and political newcomer.
The poll of 1,145 likely voters was conducted via live interviews over land lines and cell phones." Houston Chronicle
"National Democrats are increasingly assertive about their chances in Texas this election — and they’re spending accordingly,"The Texas Tribune's Abby Livingston and Patrick Svitek -- "A leading Democratic super PAC is switching its advertising strategy in the Houston area from a defensive posture to an offensive one, a notable shift in the homestretch across Texas' wide congressional battlefield.
Beginning Thursday, the House Majority PAC, is redirecting TV ad spending from the 7th Congressional District — where freshman Rep. Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, D-Houston, is running for reelection — to the 22nd District, where Democrats are trying to flip the seat of retiring Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land. That's according to two Democratic sources familiar with information about media buys.
The shift is a move of confidence in Fletcher's reelection prospects, according to one of those sources who is familiar with HMP's strategy. HMP is a Democratic super PAC that aims to elect Democrats to the House and is aligned with House Democratic leadership.
The sources asked not to be identified because they were not given permission to discuss the strategy.
The race for Olson's seat pits Republican Troy Nehls, the Fort Bend County sheriff, against Democrat Sri Preston Kulkarni, the former diplomat who came up 5 points short against Olson in 2018.
Fletcher is being challenged by Republican Wesley Hunt, a graduate of West Point who served eight years in the U.S. Army. Hunt's campaign released an internal poll Friday that gave Fletcher a 2-percentage-point lead, within the margin of error." Texas Tribune
"National Republican group calls battle for Texas House a ‘dogfight’ that GOP will win,"The Dallas Morning News' James Barragan -- "The president of a national Republican group focused on winning state races said Texas is the group’s top target this fall and its Legislature will remain red despite Democratic enthusiasm.
“It’s absolutely a dogfight still,” Austin Chambers, president of the Republican State Leadership Committee said Wednesday as he visited Dallas during early voting. “It’s our #1 target in the country. We’ll spend more money in Texas than anywhere else.”
The group’s declaration of deep-red Texas as its top priority is a sign that Democrats are competing strongly in a traditionally GOP bastion. After picking up 12 seats in the Texas House in 2018, Democrats are now nine net pick-ups away from holding a majority in the chamber for the first time since 2001.
But Republicans are hell-bent on stopping them. Chambers said his group has spent $8 million in the state “and have no plans to slow down any time soon.”
While Democrats are giving the GOP a strong challenge, Chambers said he thinks Republicans can take back some of the seats they lost two years ago. In North Texas, he said those candidates include Luisa del Rosal who is challenging State Rep. John Turner; Will Douglas who is challenging State Rep. Rhetta Bowers; and Kronda Timesch who is challenging State Rep. Michelle Beckley." Dallas Morning News
"John Cornyn confronts late spending spree by MJ Hegar, Democratic allies in reelection campaign,"The Texas Tribune's Patrick Svitek -- "For almost the entire election cycle, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn's massive financial advantage had reassured Republicans across Texas as they dealt with mounting challenges on other parts of the ballot.
Now, with less than two weeks until the election, Cornyn's fortunes have dramatically changed.
His once-staggering cash-on-hand advantage — 16-to-1 earlier this year — is gone, he is confronting a late surge in outside Democratic spending and his challenger, MJ Hegar, has been outspending him on TV for a month.
Polls continue to give Cornyn various single-digit leads, but the 11th-hour action is making for a fluid, uncertain finale.
"He's got some problems, and let me tell you how happy I am that we're at a point where these problems are his because for so long, for 18 years, Texans have had problems that he's overlooked," Hegar said Wednesday in an interview with The Texas Tribune. "That's why he's in trouble."
While Republicans are on alert over the late Democratic investment, they remain optimistic that Cornyn is headed for victory in Texas, which has not elected a Democrat in a statewide contest in more than two decades.
"John Cornyn has always put the people of Texas first, and we have full confidence he’ll be re-elected in November," National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesperson Joanna Rodriguez said in a statement. "In her desperation to stay relevant these last couple weeks, [Hegar]’s hypocritically relying on the very dark money she’s allegedly opposed to. Voters will see right through it."" Texas Tribune
TEXANS IN DC
Ted Cruz & Mike Dunleavy guest column: "China could cut our access to critical minerals at any time — here's why we need to act," via The Hill -- "When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and it became clear that the Chinese government had lied to the world about the nature of the virus and how it was spreading, it was a wake-up call to many politicians in Washington and even some in the media — who for decades had turned a blind eye to the dangers of this communist regime — that China is the most significant geopolitical threat to the United States in the next century.
It was also a wake-up call that China has taken control of supply chains around the world as part of its quest for global domination. We saw leaders of the Chinese Communist Party — in the midst of a public health crisis they allowed to go global and endanger millions — threaten to withhold life-saving medical supplies and medications from the United States. That’s not just economic warfare, that’s actual warfare that would cost American lives. And it’s foolish for us to allow American citizens to be vulnerable to that sort of Chinese aggression.
But medical supplies and medications aren’t the only products the Chinese control that the United States depends on. China has also consolidated the global supply chain for critical minerals, including rare earth elements. These are minerals critical to our national security and our way of life — from the weapons that our military needs to ensure our national security, to the batteries that power the modern global economy. The supply chain that China controls spans everything from the very top — where minerals are mined or recycled or recovered — to the final steps of manufacturing. Over the years, the Chinese Communist Party systematically came to dominate the entire process, and had already begun using that dominance against us before the pandemic hit." The Hill
REMAINDERS
NASCAR: "NASCAR heads to Texas as finale draws near" AP
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