MRT: Abbott: Coronavirus Increase ‘Unacceptable’; TABC Cracks Down on Crowded Bars; APD Delays Ramos Video; Beto Focused on Flipping TX House
Here's what you need to know in Texas today.
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TOP NEWS
"Abbott calls coronavirus increase ‘unacceptable’ but says Texas won’t shut down,"The Austin American-Statesman's Nicole Cobler -- "Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday called the rising rate of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations “unacceptable,” but said he has no plans to shut down the state again.
Instead, the governor renewed his call on Texans to do their part to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
“We must find ways to return to our daily routines as well as finding ways to coexist with COVID-19,” Abbott said in a news conference. “Closing down Texas again will always be the last option.”
His remarks came on the same day Texas broke its record for COVID-19 hospitalizations for the 11th day in a row, with state health officials reporting 3,711 patients in Texas hospitals Monday.
New COVID-19 cases also set a record Saturday, with 4,430 cases reported that day. State health officials attributed that jump in part to a data entry backlog in Harris County. On Monday, the health agency reported 3,280 new cases." Austin American-Statesman
STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
"Texas is heading down a dangerous path, local leaders warn as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations surge,"The Texas Tribune's Reese Oxner -- "As Texas' coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continue to break records for a second straight week, leaders and health experts in the largest cities are warning that the state is heading down a dangerous path and hospitals could soon be overwhelmed.
Gov. Greg Abbott struck a more urgent tone Monday, calling the increases in hospitalizations and cases across the state unacceptable. He said the state would only shut down businesses again as a last resort but cautioned that if trends don't reverse in the coming weeks, he'd be forced to take action.
"To state the obvious, COVID-19 is now spreading at an unacceptable rate in Texas, and it must be corralled," Abbott said during a news conference at the Texas Capitol in Austin.
Travis County and Austin-area cases dramatically increased over the weekend, surging to 6,210 on Monday, compared with about 4,991 reported Friday.
In an open letter published Sunday, Austin Mayor Steve Adler called on residents to take the threat of the coronavirus seriously. He said the risk of catching the virus is three times higher than it was two weeks ago." Texas Tribune
"Texas cracks down on crowded bars as part of undercover COVID-19 operation," The Houston Chronicle's Dylan McGuinness -- "Agents with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission shut down two Austin bars Saturday, the result of a new, undercover operation to enforce Gov. Greg Abbott’s COVID-19 business restrictions.
The agency said Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden and Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot Icehouse were skirting those requirements, and it issued 30-day permit suspensions for both bars. Operation Stay Safe, which has now been active for two nights, resulted in three suspensions Friday for bars in El Paso, Dallas and McAllen. No bars in Houston have been suspended yet.
The stricter enforcement comes as coronavirus cases, deaths and hospitalization rates in Texas continue to rise. The state has averaged 3,027 new cases per day over the last week, up from 1,777 the previous week. Hospitalizations in the Houston region have more than doubled since Memorial Day.
As of late May, TABC hadn’t suspended any licenses for failing to adhere to the governor’s order. The restriction include occupancy limits of 50 percent for bars and 75 percent for restaurants.
“Protecting the health and safety of Texans during this pandemic is our top priority,” TABC Executive Director Bentley Nettles said. “We warned businesses TABC will have no tolerance for breaking the rules, and now, some bars are paying the price. I hope other establishments will learn from these suspensions.”
The governor’s orders are enforced by TABC and local authorities. Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña said Wednesday that his teams have been responding to dozens of complaints every day, though they are prioritizing voluntary compliance and haven’t issued a violation in weeks.
Meanwhile, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgoissued an order Friday requiring businesses to mandate that their customers wear masks." Houston Chronicle
Politifact Texas: "Dan Patrick: Texas property taxes are no longer 'really dependent' on home values," Politifact Texas' Madlin Mekelburg -- "The claim: “Your taxes that you pay are no longer really dependent on your values, it is on their revenue growth.” — Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
Patrick made the claim in a May 24 television interview, in reference to a 2019 law adopted by the Legislature and signed into law by the governor.
PolitiFact ruling: Mostly False. The bill Patrick mentioned limited how much taxing entities can increase property tax revenue before triggering an election, but it did not change the role that property values play in any part of the calculation. Property values remain essential to the process.
Citing economic concerns from the coronavirus pandemic, some local officials in Texas have asked state leadership to consider freezing property appraisals at their 2019 values to protect against a drastic increase in property taxes.
During a May 24 interview with reporter Jason Whitley of WFAA-TV in Dallas, Patrick said the proposal is “a terrible idea.”
“We don’t want to freeze your taxes, because then they can’t go down,” Patrick said. “This is what the scam is by the cities and counties. It sounds good, ‘We want to freeze your values.’ Well the bill that we passed last year, Jason, says this: Your taxes that you pay are no longer really dependent on your values, it is on their revenue growth.”" Politifact Texas
"Austin police delay release of footage in fatal shooting," The Austin American-Statesman's Acacia Coronado -- "The city of Austin has delayed the expected Monday release of police body camera footage showing an officer fatally shooting a man as he drove away, citing a new city policy.
The video shows the killing of Mike Ramos, a Black and Hispanic man who was shot and killed by an Austin police officer on April 24.
Austin’s new policy requires the Office of Police Oversight to review videos of incidents considered “critical” before they are made public, City Manager Spencer Cronk said Sunday. That office has yet to see it and provide feedback.
The policy also allows “certain relevant parties” to privately view videos prior to public release. Ramos’ family was shown the video prior to the Office of Police Oversight feedback. It was unclear when the video will be made public.
The new policy is part of a broader effort to overhaul the police department and follows weeks of protest against police brutality. The deaths of Ramos, George Floyd and others have inspired a global push for racial justice. Floyd, who is also black, died May 25 after a Minneapolis police officer used his knee to pin down Floyd’s neck for several minutes as he pleaded and said he couldn’t breathe.
Ramos died as police were investigating reports of people in a car, including an armed man, who were doing drugs. Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said Ramos got out of the car with his hands and shirt raised as if to show he had no gun in his waistband.
But Ramos then ignored an officer’s orders to stay out of the car. He was first shot by a beanbag.
He was later found to be unarmed.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler called the shooting “disturbing" after viewing a bystander’s video. He said Ramos did not appear to pose a threat to police." AP
2020
"Beto O’Rourke’s PAC shifts to next phase to help Democrats flip Texas House,"The Dallas Morning News' Gromer Jeffers Jr. -- "Beto O’Rourke and his band of volunteers are entering the next phase of their effort to help Democrats win the Texas House.
Members of the political action committee, Powered by People, have met their goal of contacting more than 350,000 Democrats who recently moved to Texas but have not registered to vote here. It’s part of a broader plan to try to register about 1.4 million new residents who voted for Democrats in their former states.
They identified the new residents by examining change of address forms and matching them with voter records from their home states.
O’Rourke, the former El Paso congress member and Democratic presidential candidate, says getting 500,000 of those new Texans to vote for Democratic candidates in November would enhance the chances of Democrats winning the House — and former Vice President Joe Biden defeating President Donald Trump.
“Now it’s time for voter contact calling,” O’Rourke told The Dallas Morning News. “We’re calling into those districts and confirming that they will be voting for the Democratic nominee.”
That’s the next phase of the Powered by People approach. It involves reaching out to voters in House districts targeted by Democrats, including nine districts that O’Rourke won in 2018, when he was narrowly defeated in a dramatic Senate contest against Republican incumbent Ted Cruz.
Many of those districts are in North Texas.
Overall, Texas Democrats have targeted 22 House districts in 2020. They need to pick up nine seats to win the Texas House, a chamber Republicans have controlled since 2003." Dallas Morning News
TEXANS IN DC
"San Antonio Dem leads Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ new tilt to movie, book industries,"The San Antonio Express-News' Elaine Ayala -- "The Congressional Hispanic Caucus traditionally has focused on issues such as the condition of migrant detention centers, the separation of children from their parents at the U.S. southern border and reforming antiquated immigration law.
They’re all critical issues that will remain on its agenda, but the caucus has begun to widen its footprint to include issues that may not get the same amount of ink but are just as meaningful.
It comes with a shift in leadership. U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a leading congressional Democrat and outspoken member on the House Intelligence Committee, took the reins of the caucus in late 2018 and has turned its attention to the negative images and damaging stereotypes of Latinos in movies and books.
While some may think such areas represent a softer focus for the caucus, Castro sees them as one of the sources of negative Latino imagery. It might seem innocuous, but those images stick to the national consciousness in the absence of recognition of Latino contributions to this nation." San Antonio Express-News
"U.S. Reps. Sylvia Garcia, Joaquin Castro call on ICE to release migrants in immigration detention centers as coronavirus cases surge,"The Texas Tribune's Stacy Fernandez -- "U.S. Reps. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, and Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, called on Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday to release detainees at risk of catching the new coronavirus and to increase testing at its facilities.
The Texas lawmakers, in a call with reporters Monday, described a pair of immigration detention centers as prison-like after they visited the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall and the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley.
As cases surge in Texas and the pandemic rages on, the representatives said ICE should release all detainees who are not a safety risk and who are more vulnerable to contracting the virus.
“The conditions are bad. These people are living in a petri dish,” said Castro, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which hosted the call.
In late April, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California directed ICE to release minors to the custody of their parents or guardians as long as they are not viewed as a flight risk or danger to themselves, an ICE official said in a written statement. ICE did not comment on whether it would release any other groups of people." Texas Tribune
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
"Trump to celebrate border wall milestone in Arizona,"AP's Astrid Galvan -- "President Donald Trump is set to mark 200 miles of wall along the southwest border in Arizona on Tuesday, in an area where crews have built dozens of miles of new fencing amid a coronavirus breakout and protests from opponents who say construction is destroying important habitats.
Trump will be accompanied by Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, who was in Yuma in January to celebrate the competition of 100 miles. Wolf called the wall system an “undeniable impediment to smugglers, traffickers and other criminals who have exploited our lack of effective border infrastructure to smuggle drugs, illicit goods and engage in human trafficking.”
It’s unclear where exactly within the Yuma Sector, which is near the California-Arizona border, Trump will visit, and the Border Patrol declined to give specifics on Monday. But Yuma has been an important place in Trump’s promise to build a wall along the southern border. The president tweeted on Monday afternoon that he will celebrate the “212th plus mile of completion,” offering a different number than DHS officials gave in a news release earlier.
The agency says it has completed 61 miles of border wall and plans on building another 109 miles in that rugged area of mostly desert. Most of the new fencing that’s gone up is 30 feet high.
The Trump administration has promised to build 450 miles of border wall by the end of the year, aided by relaxed procurement laws that allow the government to award contracts to construction companies without much vetting. The government has awarded over $6.1 billion in construction contracts since April 2019, according to a tally by The Project On Government Oversight, a nonpartisan and independent watchdog.
Construction has continued despite a coronavirus outbreak that’s hit the Yuma area hard, and amid opposition from environmentalists and Native American tribes. ...
The pandemic isn’t stopping plans for more border barriers anywhere.
In South Texas, where most border land is privately owned, the Justice Department has sued dozens of landowners to survey or seize their property for wall construction, including an orphanage operated by nuns in Laredo.
Crews have built several small sections but not yet come close to completing the wall through Laredo or the Rio Grande Valley, the southernmost point of Texas. Almost all of the U.S. land next to the Rio Grande, the river that separates Texas and Mexico, does not yet have a wall.
Even without a wall, border crossings have fallen drastically in the Rio Grande Valley since late last year due to a series of policy changes enacted by the Trump administration.
On the southern side of the Rio Grande, thousands of asylum-seekers live in shelters, churches, and a sprawling refugee camp waiting for their immigration court cases. Others have been expelled to their countries of origin without due process under an emergency border closure enacted in the coronavirus pandemic.
Following his border wall tour on Tuesday, Trump will head to Phoenix to speak at a Students for Trump convention at Dream City Church.
Trump’s last appearance in Yuma was in 2017 when he visited with U.S. Marines and Customs and Border Protection agents." AP
REMAINDERS
DALLAS COWBOYS: "Cowboys' Prescott signs $31M tag, still time for longer deal"AP
DALLAS MAVERICKS: "Mavericks guard Lee out after getting hurt during hiatus" AP
'MACK ON POLITICS' PODCAST
LATEST "MACK ON POLITICS" PODCAST: Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH) is our guest for the 193rd episode, and he joins us from Tulsa, OK, the scene of the Trump re-election campaign’s first rally in several months.
In this conversation we discuss the protests, the current moment in our country, how rural America is surviving, what he expects from Congress for the rest of the year, what he hopes to see from the forthcoming Durham report on FISA abuse, how he sizes up Trump vs. Biden and what he sees as the stakes for the 2020 election.
Available on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher and on the web at http://www.MackOnPoliticsPodcast.com.
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