MRT: COVID Hospitalizations Fall from Record Highs; More Indicted in Deadly HPD Drug Raid; Abbott to Give Televised State of State Feb. 1; Austin CM Kitchen Proposes Partial Camping Ban
Here's What You Need to Know in Texas Today.
MustReadTexas.com – @MustReadTexas
BY: @MattMackowiak
TUESDAY – 01/26/21
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Today is the 14th day of the 140-day Legislative Session.
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TOP NEWS
"Texas' COVID-19 hospitalizations falling from record highs," AP's Juan A. Lozano -- "The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Texas continues to fall from record highs as the state nears the end of what has been its deadliest month of the pandemic.
State health officials Monday reported fewer than 13,000 people were being treated for the virus in Texas hospitals, marking the seventh consecutive day of declining patient loads.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said the area was “starting to see some metrics go in the right direction” as the average number of daily new cases fell by 800.
More than 34,000 people have died from COVID-19 in Texas, the second-most in the nation behind California. More than 5,000 new cases were reported statewide Monday.
Nationwide, coronavirus deaths and cases per day in the U.S. dropped markedly over the past couple of weeks but are still running at alarmingly high levels. The U.S. is recording just under 3,100 deaths a day on average, down from more than 3,350 less than two weeks ago." AP
"More Houston officers indicted in wake of deadly drug raid,"AP's Juan A. Lozano -- "A second Houston police officer has been charged with murder and is among additional officers who have been indicted as part of an ongoing investigation into a Houston Police Department narcotics unit following a deadly 2019 drug raid, prosecutors announced Monday.
In all, a dozen officers tied to the narcotics unit have been indicted after their work came under scrutiny following the January 2019 drug raid in which Dennis Tuttle, 59, and his wife, Rhogena Nicholas, 58, were killed.
“The consequences of corruption are two innocent ordinary people were killed in their homes, four police officers were shot, one of them paralyzed and now all of them will face Harris County jurors who will decide their fate,” said Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg.
Officer Felipe Gallegos was indicted for murder in Tuttle’s death. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison, Ogg said.
Rusty Hardin, an attorney for Gallegos, declined to comment on the case Monday.
Five other officers were indicted Monday for their roles in an alleged scheme to steal overtime payments as part of their work with the narcotics squad.
Three of the officers — Oscar Pardo, Cedell Lovings and Nadeem Ashraf — face first degree felony charges of engaging in organized criminal activity related to theft of a public servant and tampering with a governmental record. They face up to life in prison if convicted.
Two other officers — Frank Medina and Griff Maxwell — face second-degree felonies on these same charges and could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Ogg said grand jurors on Monday also indicted three retired officers who had been indicted last year on different charges in connection with the case. Two of these officers — Clemente Reyna and Thomas Wood — were indicted on first degree felony charges of engaging in organized criminal activity related to theft of a public servant and tampering with a governmental record. The third retired officer — Hodgie Armstrong — was indicted on second-degree felonies on these same charges.
Two former members of the unit — Gerald Goines and Steven Bryant — had previously been charged in state and federal court in the case, including two counts of felony murder filed in state court against Goines. Another former officer, Lt. Robert Gonzales, was indicted last year.
Prosecutors allege their investigation discovered that the indicted officers were part of a unit that falsified documentation about drug payments to confidential informants, routinely used false information to get search warrants, and lied in police reports." AP
"No-fly list: Southwest last to ban emotional-support animals," AP's Juan A. Lozano -- "Emotional-support animals are no longer free to roam about the cabin on Southwest Airlines either.
The airline said Monday that it will let passengers bring trained service dogs in the cabin, but it will no longer accept support animals, starting March 1.
Customers who want to bring a dog or cat on board as a pet will have to pay a fee, and the animal must be kept in a carrier that fits under an airplane seat.
The move follows a Transportation Department decision to reverse a yearslong regulation and let airlines ban animals that owners claim provide emotional support. Airlines said some passengers abused the old rules to avoid pet fees.
Southwest is the last of the nation’s six largest airlines to change its animal policy after the Transportation Department action." AP
STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
VIDEO: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick talks vaccine deployment and energy on "Fox News at Night" on Monday. Fox News
"COVID-19 pandemic concerns force Texas Gov. Greg Abbott into a televised State of the State speech," The Dallas Morning News' Robert Garrett -- "The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing Gov. Greg Abbott to shed the trappings of a high-profile event and deliver this session’s State of the State speech next week on live TV, from a small business in the greater Austin area.
On Monday, Abbott announced he’ll give his speech on live television on the evening of Feb. 1 as part of an hour-long program being produced and broadcast by Irving-based Nexstar Media Group Inc.
Usually, not long after the start of a legislative session, a Texas governor appears in the House chamber at the state Capitol to deliver what, with all three branches of state government assembled, can be a nearly hour-long stem-winder about Texas’ accomplishments, challenges and priorities.
This year, with no live audience packed on the House floor and galleries because of the risk of coronavirus infections, Abbott’s speech will last 30 minutes.
As aides and producers of the event noted, there will be no applause lines and standing ovations, shortening the speech’s duration.
Abbott’s expected to talk about, among other things, distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, efforts to help small businesses recover from economic hits caused by the pandemic, and how the state will maintain the increased aid for public schools it began in the 2019 session." Dallas Morning News
"Austin City Council considers restoring homeless camping ban in 4 areas," The Austin American-Statesman's Ryan Autullo -- "Facing complaints about a rise in homeless camps in high-traffic areas, several Austin City Council members are considering at least partially restoring the city's camping ban, which the council repealed in 2019.
A proposal by Council Member Ann Kitchen instructs the city manager to find ways to house a first group of homeless people by August and ban camping in four areas that have been overtaken by tent encampments.
Kitchen's proposal, which is scheduled to come up for a vote by the council Feb. 4, directs the city manager to recommend steps to move people camping in those areas into shelters, including, if necessary, an amendment to strengthen the camping ban.
Kitchen unveiled her plan on the council's message board over the weekend, ahead of the council's first meeting of the year Monday. The plan did not specify where the city would house the people camping in the protected areas, leaving those details up to the city manager.
However, several council members threw their support behind opening city-sanctioned campsites — a measure that just two years ago city staffers said was a poor solution that would hide the city's homelessness problem rather than fix it." Austin American-Statesman
"In win for Planned Parenthood, U.S. Supreme Court wipes case law supporting Texas pandemic abortion ban from the books,"The Texas Tribune's Sami Sparber -- "The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday voided rulings from lower courts that upheld a ban on most abortions in Texas early in the coronavirus pandemic.
The high court vacated two rulings from the lower U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that sided with Texas GOP officials arguing that Gov. Greg Abbott’s March 2020 executive order prohibited abortion under all but a few narrow circumstances in an attempt to preserve medical resources for COVID-19 patients. Abortion providers have said that the procedure rarely requires hospital time and typically does not involve extensive personal protective equipment.
The executive order ended over the summer, allowing abortions in the state to resume, but Planned Parenthood has said leaving the lower court rulings on the books would set harmful legal precedent for abortion rights advocates.
In a statement, Planned Parenthood, the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Lawyering Project called Abbott’s order “a transparent attempt to chip away at access to reproductive health care by exploiting a public health crisis,” and said it was “important we took this procedural step to make sure bad case law was wiped from the books,” according to a NBC News report.
After Abbott paused all non-urgent medical procedures and surgeries to slow the spread of COVID-19 and conserve medical equipment, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the order should include a ban on most abortions, setting off a barrage of conflicting court rulings that created confusion for clinics and women seeking to end their pregnancies.
Many Texans left the state to receive abortions during that time, a new study found earlier this year." Texas Tribune
TEXANS IN DC
"Work on Trump's border wall ends Jan. 27, says Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar,"The Houston Chronicle's Benjamin Wermund -- "Construction on the border wall is set to end this week, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar announced Monday.
The Laredo Democrat and senior member of the House Appropriations Committee said Customs and Border Protection is halting all of the agency’s contracts for wall construction on Wednesday.
Cuellar said he expects the same is true for U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contracts as well after President Joe Biden last week signed an executive order ending the national emergency Donald Trump declared at the border.
“This is a promising step in our work to halt construction of the ineffective and wasteful border wall and undo the damage that borderlands have experienced these past four years,” Cuellar said in a statement. “However, our work continues. I remain steadfast in my commitment to working with the new administration until every border wall contract is terminated and all construction crews leave our border communities.”
Among Biden’s first moves in office was ending Trump’s emergency declaration, saying in his executive order that “building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution.”
Biden said he was making it his administration’s policy that “no more American taxpayer dollars be diverted to construct a border wall.” He also announced a review of existing contracts.
The Trump administration completed 415 miles of border wall by December, with just 30 miles in new areas, Hearst Newspapers previously reported. Most of the construction replaced older fencing and vehicle barriers, largely from the El Paso area west to California.
Nonetheless Trump touted the project in a trip to South Texas during his final days in office.
“It’s been tremendously successful, far beyond what anyone thought,” Trump said. “We’re stopping in large numbers the drugs coming into the country for many, many years and decades. We’re stopping a lot of illegal immigration.”
“We can’t let the next administration even think about taking it down,” he said. “I don’t think that will happen. I think when you see what it does and how it’s so important for our country, nobody’s going to be touching it.”" Houston Chronicle
"Ted Cruz, John Cornyn come out against Donald Trump's second impeachment trial," The Texas Tribune's Bryan Mena -- "A group of U.S. House members that includes Texas Democrat Joaquin Castro transmitted its article of impeachment against former President Donald Trump to the U.S. Senate on Monday evening, setting the stage for a trial over Trump’s role in inciting the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection in the U.S. Capitol.
But there hasn’t been much indication that the two Texas Republicans in the Senate will be willing to convict. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz called the impeachment trial “vindictive and punitive” when he spoke to reporters in Capitol Hill last week, adding that “congressional Democrats seem obsessed with their hatred for Donald Trump.”
And U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has expressed skepticism at the idea of a trial. In recent days, he has argued on Twitter that the trial would entice Republicans to impeach former Democratic presidents in the future, and he shared a Wall Street Journal opinion article authored by Alan Dershowitz that argues Trump can’t be tried because he’s now a private citizen.
Like Cruz, Cornyn also called the impeachment trial “vindictive” in a recent interview with KHOU. But he did recently echo Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s, R-Kentucky, call for a “vote of conscience” in the case.
"I've heard people talk about a vote of conscience, and I think that's a good way to put it," Cornyn said last Tuesday, according to CNN." Texas Tribune
"Cornyn defends Cruz against ethics complaint, says Texan shouldn’t be ‘penalized for making an argument’," The Dallas Morning News' Elizabeth Thompson -- "Texas Sen. John Cornyn called an ethics complaint raised against Sen. Ted Cruz the “politics of personal destruction” in an interview on Fox News on Monday in which he defended the junior Texas Republican against calls for the senator to be censured.
“I don’t think Senator Hawley or Senator Cruz should be penalized in any way for making an argument. Maybe it didn’t carry the day, but I think they have every right to make the argument,” Cornyn said.
Cruz and Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley were the lone Senate Republicans to object to certifying the Electoral College votes in two states on Jan. 6, the same day a mob of former President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol with the hopes of overturning the presidential election results. Hawley had pumped his fist at protesters in the morning before the deadly attack.
Seven Senate Democrats — Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Ron Wyden of Oregon, Tina Smith of Minnesota, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Tim Kaine of Virginia — said Cruz and Hawley “amplified claims of election fraud that had resulted in threats of violence against state and local officials around the country.” They made their allegations in a letter to the leaders of the Senate Ethics Committee that demanded the senators be investigated and penalized for prompting the riot, including censure or expulsion.
Cornyn argued that Democrats in Congress had objected to certify election results in the past. Former Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of California objected to Ohio’s Electoral College vote in 2005 in the second congressional objection to a state’s electoral votes in history." Dallas Morning News
REMAINDERS
DALLAS MAVERICKS: "Porter, Nuggets beat Mavericks 117-113 after Murray ejections" AP
SAN ANTONIO SPURS: "Spurs-Pelicans game called off, as NBA's virus woes continue" AP
TEXAS TECH MEN'S BASKETBALL: "McBride, No. 11 West Virginia rally past No. 10 Texas Tech" AP
HOUSTON ASTROS: "Brantley rejoins Astros to complete unfinished business" AP
'MACK ON POLITICS' PODCAST
LATEST "MACK ON POLITICS" PODCAST: The electoral college is the subject of the 270th episode.
Our guest is 35-year veteran of the conservative movement Pat Rosenstiel, who serves as senior advisor to the National Popular Vote Compact (http://www.NationalPopularVote.com).
In this conversation we explore arguments for and against a national popular vote, examine how it would work, consider misperceptions, and take stock of when (or if) it will become a reality.
Available on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher and on the web at http://www.MackOnPoliticsPodcast.com.
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RECENT SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS:
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