MRT: COVID-19 Hospitalizations Set New High; Tesla Negotiating Incentives for New Vehicle Assembly Plant; Texas A&M Approves $100M Scholarship Fund
Here's what you need to know in Texas today.
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TUESDAY – 06/16/20
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TOP NEWS
"Texas COVID-19 hospitalizations keep rising, set 1-day high,"AP's Jim Vertuno and Acacia Coronado -- "Texas continued an upward trend in hospitalizations of coronavirus patients, setting a new one-day high Monday for the seventh time in eight days.
That trend has local officials in some of the state’s largest cities urging residents to be diligent about social distancing and other measures such as wearing masks.
Texas health officials reported 2,326 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 and 1,254 new cases, the most ever reported for a Monday, which is typically the lowest day of the week for new virus cases.
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.
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.
The mayors of Austin and Dallas, two cities seeing a strong uptick strong uptick in cases and hospitalizations, urged diligence of social distancing and use of masks.
Hospitalization rate has been noted by Gov. Greg Abbott as a key indicator for re-opening the state economy, but Texas has been steadily expanding customer capacity for businesses for weeks, even as the number of new cases and hospitalizations have been steadily rising.
For example, restaurants were allowed to increase from 50% to 75% last Thursday. Hospitalization rate has been noted by Abbott as a key indicator for re-opening the state economy.
Abbott has said Texas has the testing ability and enough hospital beds and ventilators to handle a surge in new cases.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins called rising hospitalizations a tip-of-the-iceberg indicator of a bigger problem.
“The iceberg below the water is obviously far greater than the iceberg above it and a small increase in hospitalizations indicates a larger increase in illness,” Jenkins said.
In Austin, Mayor Steve Adler said businesses should minimize occupancy and use strong enforcement of facemask and social distancing policies.
Austin Interim Health Authority Mark Escott said the city had a 90% increase in cases over the last week. Hospitalizations rose by 50% and use of ventilators by 29% compared to the previous week.
Adler said the city is seeing its Hispanic and black communities hit especially hard.
“A lot of people are saying Black Lives Matter, because they do, but now you have to decide if it is more than a slogan, if you are willing to put that to action,” Adler said." AP
"Supreme Court ruling extends workplace protections to an estimated 1.2 million LGBT Texans," The Houston Chronicle's Benjamin Wermund -- "The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that employers cannot fire workers because they are gay or transgender — a major victory for LGBT rights that extends new protections to workers in Texas, one of 29 states without laws in place that already offer them.
The conservative Supreme Court ruling weighed whether the federal civil rights law barring sex discrimination against women also applied to LGBT workers.
“The answer is clear,” wrote Justice Neil Gorsuch, a conservative member of the court appointed by President Donald Trump, in the 6-3 ruling. “An employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender violates Title VII.”
The high court’s decision — perhaps the most significant LGBT ruling since the court legalized same-sex marriage in 2015 — is especially important in Texas. That’s because there are no state laws on the books protecting LGBT workers, and Republicans in the GOP-dominated state Legislature have sought to dismantle local ordinances offering those protections.
“It’s a super significant ruling. It’s a historic ruling,” said Scott Schneider, an Austin-based attorney who teaches labor and employment law at Tulane University. “If you’d asked me a decade ago whether I thought this could happen or would happen, I would have said no.”
Past efforts to offer the workplace protections to LGBT Texans have been blocked by the conservative 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, where there has long been precedent that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not protect people on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, Schneider said.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which pushes protections for LGBT individuals, says that some 90 percent of transgender workers in Texas say they have been mistreated in the workplace. According to data from the University of California-Los Angeles, there are some 1.2 million LGBT individuals in Texas.
The three justices who dissented in the case, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas, said the ruling was an overreach, and that their peers on the Supreme Court made law, rather than interpreting it.
“There is only one word for what the Court has done today: legislation,” Alito wrote in the dissenting opinion. “The document that the Court releases is in the form of a judicial opinion interpreting a statute, but that is deceptive.”" Houston Chronicle
"Tesla negotiating incentives for possible Texas vehicle assembly plant, report says," via Reuters -- "Electric carmaker Tesla Inc. is negotiating possible incentives with a Texas county that could bring a new auto assembly plant to the area near Austin, the state capital, The Austin American-Statesman reported on Monday.
Travis County Commissioners Court is scheduled to discuss terms of the deal on Tuesday, the paper reported, citing people with knowledge of the situation. A vote is expected in the coming weeks.
The paper said it was unclear whether negotiations with Travis County show that Tesla has picked the Austin region as the site for the plant, which would build the company’s electric pickup truck and Model Y SUV and employ thousands of people, or if the company is also negotiating with officials in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Tesla officials could not immediately be reached to comment. The company’s chief executive, Elon Musk, has tweeted previously about the possibility of bringing a plant to Texas. Oklahoma also has been mentioned as a possible site.
Travis County officials declined to comment, and a spokesman for the Texas governor’s office did not immediately comment." Reuters
"Targeting a statue at A&M and a school song at UT, Texas college students are pushing for a reckoning on race,"The Texas Tribune's Raga Justin -- "From its perch in the middle of Texas A&M University’s Academic Plaza, a statue of Lawrence Sullivan Ross serves as a university landmark. For decades, students have placed pennies at its feet for good luck on their exams. High schoolers have stopped by on campus tours to learn about the former Texas governor and university president credited for saving A&M in its early years.
But to a growing number of students, the statue serves as a stinging reminder of systemic racism. Before coming to A&M, Ross served as a Confederate general, fighting to uphold slavery. Late last week, “Sully,” as the statue has long been known to students, was covered with red graffiti and topped with a rainbow wig.
Now, the statue is covered with a tarp.
In the wake of George Floyd’s killing and the resulting backlash, the racial reckoning that has recently swept America is also hitting Texas' institutes of higher education. And major Texas universities like Texas A&M’s flagship campus in College Station and the University of Texas at Austin are struggling to reconcile their outspoken commitments to diversity and inclusion with their histories of racism.
Universities across Texas have released statements condemning inequality and pledging renewed commitments to inclusion. But they have also faced outspoken accusations of racism from students and faculty of color." Texas Tribune
"Texas president to meet with students on athletes' demands," AP's Jim Vertuno -- "The interim president of the University of Texas said Monday he is scheduling meetings with student groups after dozens of Longhorns athletes said they wanted the school to ditch “The Eyes of Texas” song and rename several campus buildings.
The athletes said last week they won’t help the school recruit future athletes and won’t participate in alumni events as they typically do. They said they will continue with team activities leading up to the fall semester, but didn’t say what they will do once school starts.
“I have heard from many students, alumni, faculty and staff asking for meaningful changes to promote diversity and equity and ensure that black students at UT are fully supported. It is important, first, for me to listen closely — and then to work with the entire community to develop a plan to move the university forward,” interim president Jay Hartzell said in a statement.
The statement did not address any of the specific issues raised by the students, who issued their demands after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis led to massive protests against racial injustice and police brutality.
Some other campuses have moved since Floyd’s death to strip the names of historical figures associated with slavery and racism, including Clemson University, which took the name of former vice president and slavery proponent John C. Calhoun off its honors college. The move was supported by alumni and NFL players DeAndre Hopkins and Deshaun Watson.
Hartzell said he’ll meet this summer with leaders of black student organizations, student athletes and other students and community members.
“Working together, we will create a plan this summer to address these issues, do better for our students and help overcome racism,” Hartzell said.
The athletes issued an unsigned, two-page statement last week requesting the school rename several campus buildings named after school officials with ties to its segregationist past. They also said the school should stop using “The Eyes of Texas,” which has long been criticized for its connection to minstrel shows with characters in blackface in the early 1900s. It is regularly sung at nearly every organized campus event and players in all sports gather as team to sing it after every game.
Other demands include naming part of the football stadium after Julius Whittier, Texas’ first black varsity football player, and donating some of the athletic department’s annual revenue to Black Lives Matter and other organizations that fight racial injustice.
Texas has previously attempted to address issues surrounding some of the Confederate figures and racist policies in its history. In 2010, the school removed the name of a former Ku Klux Klan leader from a dormitory, and in 2015 it removed a statue of former Confederate president Jefferson Davis. In 2017, the school removed several more statutes of Confederate figures, including Gen. Robert E. Lee." AP
"Texas A&M System approves $100 million scholarship fund to address 'diversity issues'," The Texas Tribune's Raga Justin -- "The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents unanimously approved the creation of a $100 million scholarship fund Monday to help the system's 11 universities address "diversity issues," as well as bolster aid meant for students who are economically disadvantaged or in the first generation of their families to attend college.
The aid comes in the middle of the economic crisis spurred by COVID-19, which has left many families out of work. It also comes as protests continue in Texas and nationwide over police brutality and systemic racism. At the A&M System's flagship campus in College Station, protests in particular have sprouted over the presence of a statue honoring Sul Ross, a former Texas governor and president of A&M who served as a general in the Confederate army.
A&M System Chancellor John Sharp said Monday that the fund had been "in the works for some time."
"The goal ... is to make A&M system's 11 universities look like Texas," Sharp said. "Though system-wide the universities are within a few percentage points of reflecting the state's demographics, the student population on some individual campuses is not where we want it to be."
Sharp emphasized the need for A&M's student population to reflect that of the state. Currently, white students comprise more than half of the student population at A&M's College Station campus, while black students make up less than 4%, according to 2019 data. Hispanic and Asian students students make up 21% and 8% of the student population, respectively. Meanwhile, the state’s population is 41% white, 39% Hispanic and 12% black, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
The program will disburse $10 million annually over 10 years, with priority given to students who are low income, first generation and from geographically underrepresented regions of the state. Each campus will be engaged in fundraising to help support this effort, according to a press release." Texas Tribune
STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
"Abbott says 20-somethings let their guard down amid coronavirus,"The Austin American-Statesman's Nicole Cobler and Mark Wilson -- "Gov. Greg Abbott scolded Texans in their 20s for letting their guard down, saying they’ve refused to wear face masks or practice social distancing to curb the spread of COVID-19.
“What we’re seeing there is that people of that age group, they’re not following these appropriate best health and safety practices,” he said in an interview Monday with Lubbock’s KLBK-TV. “They’re not wearing face masks, they’re not sanitizing their hands, they’re not maintaining the safe distancing practices. And as a result, they are contracting COVID-19 at a record pace in the state of Texas.”
Abbott did not provide any evidence of an increase in infections among 20-somethings during his TV appearances Monday. However, Texas has seen a steady increase in new COVID-19 cases each day and a recent spike in statewide hospitalizations.
Hours later, Austin officials rebuked the governor for not giving local officials the authority to enforce face masks or other social distancing measures." Austin American-Statesman
"As Texas coronavirus hospitalizations rise, local officials can recommend precautions but they can't enforce many of them,"The Texas Tribune'sElvia Limon -- "For the fourth day in a row Monday, Texas reported record highs in hospitalizations from the new coronavirus. The Texas Department of State Health Services reported that there are 2,326 patients with COVID-19 in Texas hospitals — the highest number to date. Since Memorial Day, the state has also seen increases in the numbers of people testing positive for the virus.
The rise in cases and hospitalizations has caused Austin and Travis County to renew their stay-at-home orders. Reopened businesses there “are strongly encouraged” to operate their indoor spaces at 25% capacity or less and to provide services that promote physical distancing, like curbside pickup, according to KUT. But these orders can’t be enforced because Gov. Greg Abbott has allowed Texas restaurants to operate at 75% capacity and other businesses to operate at 50% capacity.
Abbott allowed businesses to begin reopening in May after a statewide stay-at-home order expired. And as he announced those reopening plans, he issued a new order that overruled any local governments’ mandates that certain businesses stay closed or that people not wearing masks in public could be fined or penalized.
As the coronavirus first gripped the state in March, though, Abbott allowed local officials to make their own decisions about business closures and stay-at-home orders.
Texas has not yet faced a shortage of available hospital beds, the availability of which are seen as a key gauge for the ability to handle a potential surge in coronavirus cases. Abbott hassaid the hospitalization rate — the proportion of infected Texans who are requiring hospitalization — is also a benchmark he’s closely monitoring. He cited it as an encouraging metric as the state’s stay-at-home order expired at the end of April.
Still, Abbott told KLBK-TV on Monday that too many Texans in their 20s are taking COVID-19 too lightly and criticized them for not taking safety precautions, like wearing masks in public. A DSHS spokesperson toldThe Dallas Morning News that local health officials had reported outbreaks among people in their 20s but that it was “too soon to have hard data.”
The governor also said last week that there was “no real need” to scale back on the state’s phased plan to reopen businesses because Texas has “so many hospital beds available to anybody who gets ill.” Abbott and John Zerwas, vice chancellor for health affairs of the University of Texas System, plan to give an update on Texas’ hospital capacity at 1 p.m. Tuesday." Texas Tribune
"Houston weighs another lockdown as coronavirus cases surge,"CBS News' Janet Shamlian -- "Houston opened to 75% capacity on Friday, but it may not last long. Officials are cautioning that they may need to order people back home and open a COVID-19 hospital at NRG Stadium, a football complex, as coronavirus cases surge in the nation's fourth-largest city.
"I'm growing increasingly concerned that we may be approaching the precipice — the precipice of a disaster," said Lina Hidalgo, the Harris County judge who is the top official for the county's five million residents.
Hidalgo's warning comes amid a record week for virus cases and hospitalizations in the Houston area and across Texas, which marked the outbreaks by reopening restaurants to three-quarters of their capacity.
But restarting the economy is taking its toll, Hidalgo said.
"We've had the highest hospitalization number this Monday; it's only grown from there," Hidalgo said. "The numbers we're seeing are very significant."
Fourteen states have seen a spike in hospitalizations since Memorial Day, and the coronavirus death toll is now expected to reach almost 170,000 by October. That's more than 50,000 additional deaths over the next few months." CBS
"Texas set to resume expectations after delay due to pandemic,"AP's Juan A. Lozano -- "A Texas inmate condemned for fatally stabbing an 85-year-old woman more than two decades ago was scheduled to die by injection Tuesday, as the nation’s busiest death penalty state prepared to resume executions following a four-month delay due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Prosecutors said Ruben Gutierrez, 43, was attempting to steal more than $600,000 that Escolastica Harrison had hidden in her home in Brownsville, located in Texas’ southern tip, when he killed her in 1998. Gutierrez’s attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop his execution after an appeals court last week overturned a stay.
If Gutierrez’s execution is carried out, he would be the first inmate in Texas to receive a lethal injection since Feb. 6 and the second U.S. inmate to be put to death since the country began to reopen after the pandemic shut down much of the U.S. After the country began to reopen, Missouri resumed executions in the U.S. on May 19.
In Texas, the number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continues to increase as state officials have said hot spots such as prisons and meat packing plants have been responsible for the rising numbers. But state prison officials said safety measures they have put in place, including taking the temperatures of participants and providing them with personal protection equipment — will help executions to go forward.
“Yes, the agency can carry out the process safely for those participating and witnessing the execution,” said prison system spokesman Robert C. Hurst.
Six executions scheduled in Texas for earlier this year were postponed by an appeals court or judges because of the outbreak. A seventh was delayed over claims of intellectual disability. Gutierrez’s attorneys had also sought a coronavirus-related delay but were turned down Friday by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Also Friday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a stay in the case tied to Gutierrez’s request for DNA testing he says could point to the real killer and his claims his religious rights are being violated because the prison system won’t allow a chaplain to accompany him in the death chamber." AP
TEXANS IN DC
"House GOP accuses China, WHO of 'failure of monumental proportions' in spread of coronavirus,"Fox News' Brooke Singman -- "Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee issued a report Monday on the origins of the novel coronavirus, accusing China and the World Health Organization of a “failure of monumental proportions” in properly handling the virus at its onset.
Republicans on the committee, led by ranking member Michael McCaul, R-Texas, accused the Chinese Communist Party of “intentional efforts to mislead the global community” and delayed release of information on the virus.
“After months of investigating, it’s become crystal clear the Chinese Communist Party’s cover-up of the coronavirus, especially in the early days of the outbreak, played a significant role in turning what could have been a local epidemic into a global pandemic,” McCaul said in a statement to Fox News Monday. “And, unfortunately, the World Health Organization under the leadership of Director General Tedros only exacerbated the problem by repeatedly ignoring warnings about the severity of the virus, including from their own health experts, while at the same time parroting the CCP’s propaganda without independently confirming their claims.”
He added: “This was a failure of monumental proportions and it is imperative that we uncover the truth so we can set up future safeguards to prevent this from happening yet again.”" Fox News
REMAINDERS
DALLAS COWBOYS: "Agent: Cowboys star Elliott tested positive for coronavirus"AP
'MACK ON POLITICS' PODCAST
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