In the News
Breonna Randall has never seen the vice president speak. The twenty-something college senior is sitting in the front row of Cramton Auditorium at Howard University, where she's a month from graduation. In a few minutes, alumna Kamala Harris will approach the lectern in the same auditorium in which she attended freshman orientation 40 years ago, but befitted differently from her collegiate days, in a navy pantsuit and her signature black pearls. "We all love homecomings, don't we?" she says to the group of about 100, who've gathered in honor of an expanded Small Business Administration program. "And this is a homecoming for me to be on this stage," she adds. "In many ways, this is where it all started."
On Wednesday morning, Abbott announced the first bus dropped migrants off between the U.S. Capitol and Union Station. A Spectrum News camera was rolling as migrants arrived.
Busing migrants from Texas to the nation's capital is just one of the measures Abbott put in place in response to the Biden administration ending the Trump-era Title 42, a policy which limits the number of asylum seekers permitted into the country in order to curb the spread of COVID-19. That program is scheduled to end in May.
It's anticipated that Title 42 ending will lead to an uptick in migrants seeking asylum in the U.S.
Abbott ordered the Texas Division of Emergency Management to charter buses in order to transport the migrants. Abbott's office later clarified that the bus trips are entirely voluntary and no migrant can be made to board a bus.
When the Biden administration ends the public health order known as Title 42 next month, it will resume processing asylum claims at the border. The Trump-era rule allows border officials to send migrants back to their home countries because of the pandemic.
Public health order Title 42 is a Trump-era rule that allows border officials to send migrants back to their home countries because of the pandemic
When Title 42 expires, the Biden administration will resume processing asylum claims at the border
Republicans warn that a surge of migrants will then travel to the United States seeking entry
Gov. Abbott said he will ferry migrants to Washington by bus or plane, but did not explain in full detail how the state would do that
Baylor College of Medicine on Wednesday was awarded $1.1 million from the federal government to open a new long-COVID clinic in the Houston area.
Baylor already operates a Post COVID Care Clinic at the McNair campus in the Texas Medical Center. The funds will help the medical school expand services to uninsured patients at Harris Health System's Strawberry Clinic, located in East Harris County.
Public health experts predict long COVID will be one of most apparent remnants of the pandemic, even as virus transmission dwindles. It encompasses a wide range of new, returning or ongoing health problems that people may experience more than four weeks after their initial COVID infection, according to the American Medical Association. Brain fog, muscle fatigue, loss of taste, chest pain, heart problems and, in some cases, depression have been linked to the diagnosis.
Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, released the following statement after being named a Member of the House who will go to conference with the Senate over the House's America COMPETES Act of 2022:
Washington, DC – Today, Democratic Women's Caucus Co-Chairs Congresswoman Jackie Speier (CA-14), Congresswoman Lois Frankel (FL-21), and Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence (MI-14), and Vice Chairs Congresswomen Veronica Escobar (TX-16) and Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to take action against the Taliban for restricting girls' access to secondary school, despite promises to continue education for women in Afghanistan.
It's unclear whether landlords face any penalties from state agencies for improperly evicting tenants while receiving rent relief dollars intended to help those tenants stay housed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
When Cherice Scott received a notice last September that she, her husband and their four children would soon be kicked out of their Katy apartment, she said employees at the complex told her not to worry about it.
Scott and her husband had fallen behind on rent in June after Scott stopped working to take care of her youngest daughter, who has Down syndrome, and the medical bills piled up.
When Cherice Scott received a notice last September that she, her husband and their four children would soon be kicked out of their Katy apartment, she said employees at the complex told her not to worry about it.
Scott and her husband had fallen behind on rent in June after Scott stopped working to take care of her youngest daughter, who has Down syndrome, and the medical bills piled up.
The next month, their landlord started the eviction process, even though Scott, 37, had taken the rental office staff's advice and requested help from Texas' $2 billion, federally backed rental assistance fund. Scott said she spoke to the office staff and walked away believing she didn't need to worry about eviction as they waited for the relief money — or to bother showing up to court.
TEXAS, USA — Responding to the recent announcement that the Biden administration will lift a pandemic-era immigration policy that allows authorities to turn away migrants, Gov. Greg Abbott promised drastic, "unprecedented" action to curb what is expected to be a significant influx of migrants coming to Texas.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Abbott unveiled a stunning plan that sent a shockwave through the immigration rights community: Texas would place state troopers in riot gear to meet migrants at the border and bus them straight to the steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., where he said the Biden administration "will be able to more immediately address the needs of the people that they are allowing to come across our border."
But soon after the press conference, Abbott's office released more details about the plan that struck a notably softer tone.
The Texas Tribune reports that Abbott will provide border communities with buses to direct immigrants straight to Washington D.C. and the U.S. Capitol steps where President Joe Biden and federal lawmakers can deal with them.
"To help local officials whose communities are being overwhelmed by hordes of illegal immigrants who are being dropped off by the Biden administration, Texas is providing charter buses to send these illegal immigrants who have been dropped off by the Biden administration to Washington D.C," Abbott said in a statement.
"We are sending them to the United States Capitol where the Biden administration will be able to more immediately address the needs of the people that they are allowing to come across our border," The Texas governor added.