MRT: 60,000+ March at Floyd Rally in Houston; Biden to Attend Floyd Funeral in Houston on June 8; Alamo Cleans Defaced Cenotaph; Abbott: TX Doesn’t Need Military for Protests
Here's what you need to know in Texas today.
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BY: @MattMackowiak
WEDNESDAY – 06/03/20
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TOP NEWS
"Tens of thousands march on downtown Houston to memorialize George Floyd,"The Houston Chronicle's Emily Foxhall, St. John Barned-Smith, Nicole Hensley, Jasper Scherer and Dylan McGuinness -- "The sound of George Floyd’s name reverberated around the downtown streets of the city where he grew up, where tens of thousands of people rallied demanding justice, demanding accountability, demanding change.
“Say his name!”
“George Floyd!”
People of all backgrounds had gathered for the Tuesday rally at Discovery Green organized by Black Lives Matter and rapper Trae Tha Truth. In the beating-down heat, they followed a procession of Floyd’s family and Houston public officials to a gathering in front of City Hall.
Tensions would later flare as police worked to get protesters to leave the area after dark, but, to begin, protesters and police took a knee, a gesture that has become a powerful symbol in the Black Lives Matter movement. It also brought back imagery of how Floyd died.
It had been eight days since a video showed a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck, as Floyd repeatedly pleaded for air. His death inspired protests in cities around the world, including Houston, where residents now came together yet again to make their voices heard.
They arrived on horseback and on foot from all reaches of the sprawling city, forming one of the biggest protest crowds here in recent memory; organizers estimated attendance at 60,000. With political support, and leadership from those who knew Floyd, people in his diverse hometown were standing up for one of their own.
“We know the world’s watching right now,” Trae tha Truth (whose given name is Frazier Thompson III) told the crowd. “George sparked the change in the world that we need right now.”
Floyd, 46, grew up several miles from City Hall in Third Ward. He graduated from Yates High School in 1993, where friends remembered him as a “gentle giant” — a laid-back man in a 6-foot-6-inch frame.
“Big Floyd,” friends called him.
The passionate protest in his honor was a protest with Houston flair. The list of speakers included prominent local politicians, such as Mayor Sylvester Turner and two longtime African American Congress members, Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee and Al Green.
Ninety-one-year-old Rev. Bill Lawson, who founded Third Ward’s Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, was there in his wheelchair.
Others revved the engines of their motorcycles so the sound echoed between the skyscrapers as “I’m so Houston” played from speakers.
They were representing the Bayou City, spreading a universal message. “END POLICE BRUTALITY,” a sign read. “JUSTICE 4 GEORGE,” said another.
A public memorial will be held June 8 from noon to 6 p.m. at The Fountain of Praise Church, 13950 Hillcroft Ave. A private service at an undisclosed location is slotted for June 9 at 11 a.m." Houston Chronicle
"Joe Biden to attend George Floyd's funeral in Houston, family attorney says,"The Texas Tribune's Mitchell Ferman and Patrick Svitek -- "Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden plans to attend the funeral for George Floyd in Houston next week, Floyd’s family attorney Ben Crump said Tuesday in an interview posted on Facebook.
Crump announced memorial services for Floyd in Minneapolis on Thursday, North Carolina on Saturday and Houston on Monday.
"We understand Vice President Biden will be in attendance," he said of the Monday funeral services.
Floyd was a black security guard originally from Houston who was killed in Minneapolis last week after a white police officer kneeled on his neck until he lost consciousness.
On Tuesday, 60,000 people, including Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, U.S. Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee and Al Green, and prominent music artists Bun B and Trae the Truth marched through Houston in “Justice 4 George Floyd.”" Texas Tribune
"Texas virus cases rise again after one-day dropoff," via AP-- "The day after one of Texas’ lowest new coronavirus case counts in six weeks, state health officials reported a spike of 1,688 new cases Tuesday.
The figures came after just 593 were reported Monday, which was a dramatic decrease after a week that saw Texas twice hit new record highs. Sunday’s count of 1,949 cases is the highest one-day total since the state began tracking the numbers.
Texas has reported 66,568 total infections, including 1,688 deaths. State health officials reported 20 new fatalities Tuesday. The true number is likely higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected and not feel sick.
The virus causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up in two to three weeks in most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia." AP
"Alamo curator cleans defaced Cenotaph,"The San Antonio Express-News' Vincent T. Davis -- "Cleaning away the bright red spray-painted graffiti from the Alamo Cenotaph was long and hard work, but Alamo Conservator Pamela Jary Rosser has prepared her whole career for the task.
On Monday, she used an array of tools to remove anti-white supremacy slogans that were tagged in red on the white marble monument last week. Her tools included a variety of small brushes, two gallons of graffiti remover, safety glasses and a toothbrush.
The phrases “white supremacy,” “profit over people” and “the ALAMO,” were sprayed on the north side of the 1930s monument to the 189 fallen Alamo defenders.
From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Rosser worked on a section at a time to remove the graffiti. The job was made more difficult because marble is porous and the monument’s weather-worn marble is old and crumbly.
Rosser moved left to right across the defaced area, estimated to be 8 feet long and 4 1/2 feet high. She carefully applied the remover with different-sized brushes in circular motions, not unlike someone brushing their teeth.
After repeated applications, the red graffiti faded away.
“It’s hurt for life now,” said Rosser, 52. “Even though I removed it, the damage is done.”
Last week, San Antonio Police arrested a 25-year-old man and charged him with graffiti that was sprayed on the sidewalk near Travis Park with red paint. That graffiti was discovered on the same day as that on the Cenotaph, but the man was not charged with tagging the monument.
The Alamo partnered with the National Park Service to clean the Cenotaph." San Antonio Express-News
"Tropical Storm Cristobal forms, flood threat for Mexico," via AP-- "Tropical Storm Cristobal formed in the southern Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, bringing some flooding to Mexico’s southern Gulf coast and threatening more deadly inundations farther inland.
Cristobal was the earliest third named storm of an Atlantic hurricane season on record; in 2016, Tropical Storm Colin formed in the Gulf on June 5.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Cristobal was now expected to dip inland along the Mexican coast near the low-lying, flood-prone city of Ciudad del Carmen and meander there for a couple of days. That could pump a huge amount of water into coastal lagoons behind the city.
Police in Campeche state, where Ciudad del Carmen is located, said they have already closed several highways because of flooding.
By Friday, the storm is expected to make a northward turn and head towards the U.S. Gulf coast, where the Hurricane Center said “there is a risk of storm surge, rainfall, and wind impacts this weekend along portions of the U.S. Gulf Coast from Texas to the Florida Panhandle.”
By late Tuesday, Cristobal was centered about 50 miles northwest of Ciudad del Carmen, and the Hurricane Center said the storm was heading to the south at 1 mph. It had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph.
It is unclear whether interaction with land in southern Mexico could weaken the storm, and how much wind sheer in the Gulf might prevent it from strengthening again. Cristobal’s winds could build to 65 mph when it moves toward the U.S. Gulf Coast over the weekend.
While that would remain tropical-storm strength, Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the National Hurricane Center, urged Gulf Coast residents to keep an eye on Cristobal, noting “there is no such thing as ‘just a tropical storm’.”
A tropical storm warning was in effect across the southern arc of the Gulf from Campeche to the port of Veracruz, though the biggest effect was likely to be rainfall accumulations of 10 to 20 inches, and even more in isolated areas.
That poses a special risk to the Pacific coastal areas of southern Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador, which were already drenched." AP
"Texas police believe body in dumpster is missing 2-year-old," via AP-- "Police found the body of a small child in a dumpster in Central Texas on Tuesday and they believe it could be a 2-year-old boy whose mother said disappeared from a park a day earlier.
Authorities in Waco issued a statewide Amber Alert Monday night for Frankie Gonzalez.
His mother reported to police Monday afternoon that she had taken Frankie to Cameron Park in Waco, about 100 miles south of Dallas. He was playing by a splash pad when she turned away briefly. When she looked back he was gone.
First responders searched the nearby Brazos River and used bloodhounds to search the park, but the hourslong search came up empty.
Waco police Officer Garen Bynum told KWTX-TV that police found the body of a young child in a dumpster outside a church a couple of miles from the park around 8 a.m. Tuesday. Investigators believe the body is Frankie but won’t be sure or know a cause of death until an autopsy has been completed, he said.
Police have not identified any suspects in the child’s disappearance and death, but that it was “definitely a possibility” that Frankie was taken from the park, Bynum said.
Police were combing the scene for evidence Tuesday morning and have compounded the mother’s car, he said. He declined to give more details, including what led police to the body in the dumpster." AP
STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
"Fourth day of protests in San Antonio that started out largely peaceful ends in violence,"The San An tonio Express-News' Silvia Foster-Frau, Sig Christenson and Jacob Beltran -- "A protest march that began peacefully Tuesday ended hours later when police in Alamo Plaza began firing projectiles at the crowd that they said attacked them with bottles.
About 100 protesters who reached the Alamo at about 10:30 p.m. were met with a line of San Antonio police at Alamo Plaza and East Crockett Street who started lobbing tear gas and firing projectiles at the crowd.
According to a tweet by SAPD officials, about 30 minutes later, glass bottles had been thrown at officers. The officers responded to the attack by using pepper balls, smoke, wooden, and rubber projectiles at the marchers.
The line of officers then started pushing the crowd down East Crockett Street until they reached Losoya Street. Another line of officers then came down Losoya Street and fired another round of rubber bullets at protesters.
As the protesters were regrouping at East Commerce and Losoya streets, a line of officers once again began pushing the protesters down East Commerce toward North Presa Street. From there, parts of the crowd had dispersed as the police continued their operation.
As marchers hit the streets of downtown for the fourth day in a row to honor George Floyd and to protest police violence, the Texas Army National Guard said it was sending 100 soldiers to San Antonio to support state troopers.
Another 50 Texas Air National Guard personnel were sent to the Alamo City on Tuesday to help the DPS and provide logistical support.
Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the soldiers to San Antonio along with other cities “at the direction of the president,” said Brandon Jones, a Texas Guard spokesman.
Some of the soldiers, who have training in law enforcement and crowd control but will not have arrest powers, either were here or would arrive by today, Jones said, and would support the DPS wherever protests might occur.
“We’re hearing the Alamo, but I don’t know how true that is,” Jones said of potential trouble spots.
The city said Tuesday that Alamo Plaza will be closed to car and pedestrian traffic every night until Sunday, from 8:30 to 6 a.m. as “a precautionary measure to minimize the possibility of civil disturbance and damage to sensitive structures.”
As of about 5 p.m. Tuesday, Mayor Ron Nirenberg had not been told of the order to reinforce the DPS with Guard members, said his spokesman, Bruce Davidson.
Tuesday’s largely peaceful protest started about 5 p.m. at the Bexar County Courthouse, as hundreds gathered despite a rain forecast." San Antonio Express-News
"Abbott says Texas doesn’t need U.S. military to deal with protest violence," The Austin American-Statesman's Jonathan Tilove -- "Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday that Texas doesn’t need and won’t be seeking U.S. military assistance to deal with protest violence.
“We will not be asking the United States military to come into the state of Texas because we know that Texans can take care of Texas,” Abbott said at a news conference at Dallas City Hall that was joined by Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price.
Abbott’s remarks came one day after President Donald Trump, in brief but very direct remarks in the Rose Garden, said he had told every governor in an earlier phone call to deploy the National Guard to “dominate the streets.” Trump also advised governors and mayors to “establish an overwhelming law enforcement presence until the violence has been quelled.”
“If a city or state refuses to the take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them,” the president said.
According to audio of the president’s call with governors earlier Monday, Trump scolded the governors as “weak.”" Austin American-Statesman
"Jobless Texans can now receive an additional 13 weeks of unemployment pay,"The Dallas Morning News' James Barragan -- "Texans who exhaust their unemployment benefits will receive another 13-week extension, the state’s unemployment agency announced Tuesday.
The Texas Workforce Commission said the state had triggered its extended benefits program with the federal government, which will kick in the week ending July 4. The program provides federal reimbursement for 13 weeks of additional unemployment benefits.
Normally, the state allows people to receive unemployment benefits for 26 weeks. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in late March, which gave people who had exhausted their benefits 13 additional weeks of aid under a program called the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation.
That program kicked in March 29. Those who exhaust the additional 13 weeks provided by that program, will now receive another lifeline from the state through the extended benefits program.
That means with the federal help, the number of weeks of unemployment pay provided to unemployed Texans has doubled from 26 to 52 -- a full year." Dallas Morning News
"Turner drops furloughs, reinstates police cadet classes in revised budget plan," The Houston Chronicle's Dylan McGuinness -- "Houston will not need to furlough roughly 3,000 city employees nor cancel its police cadet classes in the upcoming budget year, Mayor Pro Tem Dave Martin announced during a city council budget committee meeting Tuesday.
Instead, the city will use federal coronavirus relief funds to help bridge its projected $169 million shortfall in the fiscal year that begins July 1.
“No employee in the (City of Houston) will be furloughed,” Martin said.
The administration has updated Mayor Sylvester Turner’s initial budget proposal, eliminating many of the most dire consequences attributed to the revenue gap. The revised budget plan eliminates furloughs and adds back five cadet classes for police, Martin said.
It also adds another fire department cadet class, giving that department four classes. The new proposal also adds $15 million back into the city’s rainy day fund as hurricane season gets underway; Turner’s original spending plan would have exhausted that fund entirely.
The changes comes as the city has weighed how it can spend $404 million in federal funds it received through the CARES Act, part of a stimulus package approved by Congress.
The administration plans to use roughly $19 million of those funds to cover expenses for redeploying city employees from their normal duties to address the coronavirus pandemic, freeing some budgetary space. It is not clear if the city plans to use additional federal funds to cover the remaining costs of the budget revisions.
The initial budget proposal said the furloughs would save the city roughly $7 million. The five police cadet classes cost $13.9 million.
Martin said the administration would use city employees for newly-required temperature checks at City Hall and other duties, instead of outsourcing them to private companies.
The proposed revisions, however, do not mean the city is out of the financial woods. Martin said during the budget committee meeting that the budget for Fiscal 2022 will be even more dire, when the economic downturn’s effects are compounded by anticipated hits to property taxes.
And Controller Chris Brown — the city’s independently-elected financial watchdog — has been sounding an alarm in recent weeks that Turner’s budget proposal relies on an overly-optimistic assumption about sales tax revenues." Houston Chronicle
2020
"Joe Biden taps Julián Castro for help on police reforms,"The Houston Chronicle's Jeremy Wallace -- "Former San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro joined forces with former Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday, giving him a wholehearted endorsement and agreeing to help Biden push police reforms in the wake of the killing of former Houston resident George Floyd.
After Castro endorsed Biden on Twitter, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president replied to Castro directly asking him for help in crafting policies on the matter.
“Julián — I made a promise to George's family that he wouldn't just become another hashtag. We're going to tackle this head-on — and we're going to need your help to do it,” Biden said.
Up until now, Castro has been noticeably absent from the campaign trail for Biden. While other former Democratic contenders for the White House, including Beto O’Rourke and Elizabeth Warren, have done campaign events for Biden, Castro had offered limited expressions of support.
Castro was one of the earliest candidates for the White House to roll out a comprehensive plan for police reform. That plan, released in June of last year, called for ending “over-aggressive policing” aimed at minority communities and doing more to hold bad police accountable for their actions.
“The system is broken,” Castro said when he released that plan.
Floyd, a Houstonian, died in Minnesota police custody last week as an officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck, pinning him to the ground for nearly nine minutes.
Earlier Tuesday, Castro tweeted out a portion of a speech Biden delivered in Philadelphia in which he called for Congress to pass immediate police reforms such as ending chokeholds, stopping the federal government’s practice of sending military-style equipment to police forces, and setting a model use-of-force standard for the police nationwide.
Castro, 45, praised Biden on social media, then later in a statement to his supporters.
“These policies are important first steps that we need to take to protect our communities, particularly communities of color,” Castro said." Houston Chronicle
TEXANS IN DC
"Ted Cruz says Antifa protesters are ‘behaving like bigots’,"The Houston Chronicle's Jeremy Wallace -- "U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz lashed out at Antifa protesters, calling them bigots for taking advantage of otherwise peaceful protesters and causing violence throughout the nation.
“Let’s be clear, these Antifa protesters that are organizing these acts of terror, among other things, they are behaving in a profoundly racist manner,” Cruz said at a press conference in Washington, D.C.
He said there is no doubt that the nation is upset at the police brutality against George Floyd.
“Everyone agrees what happened to George Floyd was horrific,” Cruz said. “It was police brutality.” But he said that doesn’t justify violence.
“And yet you are seeing Antifa protesters deciding to abuse and take advantage of this crisis to wrongly paint the peaceful protesters as being violent,” Cruz said. “They are behaving like bigots.”" Houston Chronicle
"Texans in Congress divided over President Donald Trump's protest response,"The Texas Tribune's Abby Livingston -- "The nation's capital braced for another chaotic night Tuesday as thousands of people protested in the streets in defiance of a citywide curfew, law enforcement and the United States military.
But during the daylight hours, Texans who serve in Congress and the people who work for them struggled to make sense of the last week's events and how to move forward in the aftermath of George Floyd's death.
U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Houston Democrat, is a senior member of the Texas delegation who serves on a pair of committees that oversee law enforcement and national security. She spent the day marching in Houston with Floyd's family and later, in an interview with The Texas Tribune, she compared the mood nationwide to her time serving in office during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. She described then-President George W. Bush as a unifying presence.
"At that moment, we were united as a country. In this instance, it was an American turning on American," she said of the video recording of a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes before he died." Texas Tribune
REMAINDERS
INDYCAR: "IndyCar restart at Texas before another month to race again"AP
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