MRT: 1,800+ New Cases, 19 New Deaths; Abbott: “No Real Need” to Scale Back; Dems Want Special Session over Ambler Death; Sylvia Garcia in Quarantine
Here's what you need to know in Texas today.
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BY: @MattMackowiak
MONDAY – 06/15/20
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TOP NEWS
"More than 1,800 new Texas coronavirus cases, 19 new deaths," viaAP-- "Texas health officials on Sunday reported more than 1,800 new coronavirus cases in the state and 19 additional deaths due to COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
There are at least 87,854 cases, up from 86,011 reported Saturday, an increase of 1,843, while the death toll rose by 19, from 1,957 to 1,976, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The actual number of people who have contracted the virus is likely higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected and not feel sick. The department estimates 58,341 people have recovered from the virus.
The health department reported 27,537 active cases and that there are currently 2,287 people hospitalized.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up within weeks. But for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, the highly contagious virus can cause severe symptoms and be fatal." AP
"Federal appeals court clears way for Texas execution," viaAP-- "A federal appeals court has cleared the way for the execution to proceed next week of a man condemned for the fatal stabbing more than 20 years ago of an 85-year-old woman.
Ruben Gutierrez, 43, is scheduled to die Tuesday for the 1998 killing of Escolastica Harrison at her home in Brownsville, which is in Texas’ southern tip along the border with Mexico. Prosecutors said the killing was part of an attempt to steal more than $600,000 the woman had hidden in her home.
A federal judge in Brownsville stayed Gutierrez’s execution Tuesday after concluding he would likely succeed on at least one of his legal challenges. But a panel of three judges on the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit Court overturned that decision Friday.
Gutierrez’ attorneys have long sought DNA testing of evidence they say could save him, and the presence of a Christian chaplain in the execution chamber. The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops has also filed a legal motion saying the state must provide Gutierrez access to clergy in the death chamber.
The Fifth Circuit panel ruled the issues at play in Gutierrez’s case have been sufficiently litigated in state and federal court and the district court “abused its discretion” in the staying execution.
Gutierrez’s attorney, Shawn Nolan, said his client will appeal the decision.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, by policy, prohibits all religious or spiritual advisors from entering the state death chamber for an execution." AP
STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
"With coronavirus cases climbing, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says "no real need" to scale back business reopenings,"The Texas Tribune's Sarah Champagne, Valeria Olivares, and Patrick Svitek -- "With the number of people hospitalized for the new coronavirus continuing to climb in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott said Friday that there’s “no real need to ratchet back the opening of businesses in the state.”
One of the reasons, he said in an interview with KYTX television in Tyler, is “because we have so many hospital beds available to anybody who gets ill.”
The state reported Friday that the number of people hospitalized in Texas who are confirmed to have the coronavirus has increased to a new peak of 2,166. That came after three days of record highs this week — reaching 2,153 hospitalized patients Wednesday — and a one-day dip Thursday to 2,008. On Saturday, the state broke another record and reported 2,242 hospitalized patients.
Meanwhile, the seven-day average of new daily confirmed cases of the virus also continues to climb. It reached an all-time high of 1,724 on Friday.
Asked about positive test numbers Friday, Abbott said he’s “concerned, but not alarmed.” He noted that testing has gone up across the state and that increased testing efforts in prisons and other high-risk areas are helping drive the higher numbers." Texas Tribune
"With evictions set to resume, San Antonio is in ‘uncharted territory’,"The San Antonio Express-News' Marina Starleaf Riker -- "After nearly three months on pause, some Bexar County courts will again hear eviction cases starting this week, allowing landlords to force out families who fell behind on rent amid soaring unemployment.
As the coronavirus began to spread across Texas, state and local leaders in March stalled most eviction proceedings so families wouldn’t end up on the street amid the global pandemic and stay-at-home orders. Only evictions related to criminal or safety threats could proceed.
But the respite is over, with San Antonio’s first eviction cases scheduled to be heard at 9 a.m. Monday in the justice of the peace court whose jurisdiction covers part of downtown and the West Side. The other three courts are set to resume hearings later in the week or next week, although all of the judges could decide to alter their schedules if San Antonio continues to see a sudden spike in novel coronavirus cases.
“In light of this pandemic, our situation remains fluid,” said Judge Roberto Vázquez, who oversees the precinct 2 justice court. “I will continue to monitor COVID cases and hospitalizations, making adjustments as necessary — including refraining from having non-essential in-person hearings if it is deemed necessary.”" San Antonio Express-News
#TXLEGE
"Texas Democrats urge Abbott to call special session as details emerge showing Javier Ambler’s death at the hands of sheriff's deputies,"The Texas Tribune's Stacy Fernandez -- "Local and state leaders are calling for the resignation of Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody and for the deputies involved in Javier Ambler’s death to be fired. They’re raising alarm about yet another case of a black person dying at the hands of police officers as people across the nation continue to march in protest of police brutality and racial injustice, sparked by the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Some Texas Democrats are urging Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special legislative session to pass laws on policing and criminal justice and asking why the governor hasn’t yet publicly acknowledged the Ambler case even as he condemned Floyd’s death as a “horrific act of police brutality” that he said must be prevented in Texas.
Last year, Williamson County deputies pursued Ambler in a car chase for 22 minutes, after trying to pull him over for not dimming his headlights. After he crashed Ambler was held down and shocked with a Taser by the deputies four times before his body went limp. Ambler told the officers he had congestive heart failure and couldn’t breath, according to The Austin American-Statesman, which first reported on the newly available body camera footage this month. Ambler died in a hospital about an hour after he was last shocked with a Taser. He was unarmed and body camera footage showed he wasn’t resisting." Texas Tribune
"Floyd’s death inspires bias training for officers in Texas,"The Austin American-Statesman's Chuck Lindell -- "It never hurts to ask. State Rep. Garnet Coleman, a Houston Democrat struggling with heartbreak and anger over images of George Floyd beneath a police officer’s knee, reached out to the Texas agency that sets training standards for law enforcement with a request.
Could officer training, he asked, include better instruction on implicit bias, the unconscious attitudes and stereotypes that affect a person’s actions?
To his happy relief, the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement said yes.
“So we’ll have full implicit bias training for all peace officers in Texas,” said Coleman, whose district includes the Third Ward where Floyd grew up. “This gets it into Jasper, Texas, into every sheriff’s department in the state, all the constables — everyone is trained no matter where they live.”
Implicit bias training was included in the original version of Coleman’s Sandra Bland Act when it was introduced in 2017, but he said objections from law enforcement doomed the requirement, and it was stripped from the version that became law." Austin American-Statesman
2020
"‘He knows he has to do more.’ Skeptical Latino voters key to Biden’s campaign in Texas,"The Houston Chronicle's Jeremy Wallace -- "Former Vice President Joe Biden has a problem winning over Latino voters and the effort to resolve it has been impossible to miss with just four months remaining until early voting starts.
“Joe Biden still has time to make up the enthusiasm gap,” said Chuck Rocha, a Democratic political strategist from Tyler who was a senior adviser to Bernie Sanders’ national campaign. But Rocha said Biden definitely has work to do.
Biden lost the Latino vote badly to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in early primary states such as Nevada and California, and President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign has been aggressive in its own outreach efforts, convinced Trump can do better with Latinos in 2020 than he did even four years ago.
That two-pronged problem can be seen in polling. While a recent nationwide Quinnipiac University poll showed Biden beating Trump among Latinos, his numbers were way down from Hillary Clinton’s four years ago when she faced Trump. Biden led Trump in the May poll among Latinos 45 percent to 38 percent. But four years ago at a similar point in the presidential campaign, Clinton was leading Trump 65 percent to 18 percent among Latino voters." Houston Chronicle
"Black Texas Democrats say party establishment trying to 'cheat' candidate Royce West," The Houston Chronicle's Benjamin Wermund -- "A group representing some 10,000 black Democrats in Texas says the Democratic establishment here is trying to “cheat” longtime state Sen. Royce West out of a shot at being the state’s first African-American to serve in the U.S. Senate.
It’s an unusual clash between the Democratic establishment and a group of the party’s most steadfast supporters in Texas, who the party will need if it is to have any hope of beating Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in November. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee denies the accusation.
The Texas Coalition of Black Democrats says it has heard from seven donors in Texas that the DSCC, which endorsed former Air Force pilot MJ Hegar early in the primary, has called and told them not to give to West’s campaign. West has represented Dallas in the Legislature for nearly three decades.
The group declined to identify any of the donors it has heard from, but Carroll Robinson, its chairman, said he heard from seven individuals personally.
Robinson said “it’s just a sad thing” that the DSCC would “try to undercut” the campaign of an African-American state senator. “It’s the same basic problem we have broadly speaking in America — whenever African-Americans have an opportunity to advance, they get undercut. And it’s sad that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is doing it, and I wish they would stop.”
DSCC spokeswoman Lauren Passalacqua responded: “This is a false and unsubstantiated allegation.”
West and Hegar emerged from a crowded field of Democrats vying to take on Cornyn in November. The two are locked in a runoff race set for July 14.
The black Democrats coalition wrote a letter Thursday to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, saying that “if Black Democrats come to believe the United States Senate primary was rigged against Senator West, it will only hurt MJ Hegar in the general election, if she wins the runoff election.”
The DSCC’s endorsement of Hegar in December sparked criticism at the time from Democrats and Republicans alike, who charge that the Senate Democrats passed over a diverse field of candidates with the early endorsement of Hegar." Houston Chronicle
TEXANS IN DC
"Houston Rep. Sylvia Garcia to quarantine after COVID-19 exposure,"The Houston Chronicle's Jeremy Wallace — "U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, announced that she is going into self-quarantine after coming into contact with a family member who has since tested positive for COVID-19.
The first-term congresswoman has been tested for the virus and is awaiting results.
“I want this to serve as a reminder for everyone in the Houston region and across the country that we are still combating COVID-19 and that everyone should be following public health guidelines that will help keep you and your loved ones safe and healthy,” Garcia said.
More than 50 other members of Congress have had to self-quarantine because of the virus, and at least a half dozen have tested positive for the virus, most notably Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Houston, went on back-to-back 14-day quarantines after coming in contact with people who had tested positive. Garcia is the second member of Houston’s congressional delegation to self-quarantine. Earlier, Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Houston, went into quarantine after experiencing flu-like symptoms, including a 101-degree fever." Houston Chronicle
REMAINDERS
PGA: "A safe return for golf as Berger wins Colonial in a playoff" AP
'MACK ON POLITICS' PODCAST
LATEST "MACK ON POLITICS" PODCAST: The 2020 presidential campaign is the subject for the 192nd episode.
Our guest is Trump reelection campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh.
In this conversation we discuss polls, protests, the economy, debates, and what will decide the 2020 race.
Available on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher and on the web at http://www.MackOnPoliticsPodcast.com.
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