The holiday break was a great time to travel and meet with family. But it was also a great opportunity for a new strain of the COVID virus to spread.
And we are now seeing a surge of COVID cases along with flu, and RSV. Throw in heavy allergies during peak cedar fever season, and we can see why thousands of Texans are currently experiencing severe respiratory symptoms.
COVID hospitalization rates, in particular, have increased by 31% in Texas last week, with over 24 hundred new hospitalizations.
Unfortunately, fewer than than 17% of adults in Texas have received the latest COVID vaccine.
Moderna’s Chief Medical Officer Doctor Francesca Ceddia discusses the latest surge and how important it is for folks to get the updated vaccine.
Abbot’s Buoys
Remember that floating buoy barrier in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass? It’s still there and its future is still working its way through the U.S. Courts.
The string of buoys spans approximately 1,000 feet down the middle of the international river and was deployed last summer by Gov. Greg Abbott as part of the $4 billion initiative,Operation Lone Star.
This prompted the Department of Justice to sue, arguing that it violated federal law by blocking a public waterway.
A federal district judge sided with the DOJ in September and ruled that the state must remove the buoys. A three-judge panel with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling last month in a 2-1 decision.
But this week a majority of the court's 17 judges voted to vacate the previous ruling and rehear the case in May, meaning the buoy system can stay in place while the litigation process continues.
Meanwhile, also this week, Abbott ordered the Texas National Guard to block U.S. Border Patrol from accessing the Rio Grande at a critical park in Eagle Pass—causing another dust-up between The Biden Administration and Abbott over authority on the border.
To explain what this means – I’m joined by Carl Tobias - Williams Chair in Law and the University of Richmond School of Law
We The Texans
There’s been a lot of talk and a lot of ink spilled recently over the future of democracy in America—and questions have been raised about how healthy democracy in Texas is.
The Texas Tribune, the largest nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization in Texas is launching a year-long project to document the state of democracy here and listen to Texans about their connection to how democracy is experienced in Texas.
It’s called “We the Texans” and Matthew Watkins is the managing editor of news and politics at the Texas Tribue.
Hidden Treasure
There’s a million-dollar treasure hidden somewhere either in Texas or New Mexico. It’s part of a game, but the treasure is real. It’s out there somewhere. You just have to solve some riddles and follow the clues.
The game is the brainchild of Dirk Gibson who operates the company Treasure Game$
