Unvaccinated Texans are 16 times more likely to die from a COVID-19-related illness compared to people fully vaccinated against the virus, according to a new Texas Department of State Health Services dashboard released Friday. The dashboard, currently based on data through Dec. 24, tracks state COVID-19 cases and deaths by vaccination status. It’s an evolution of a report released by DSHS in November, said Chris Van Deusen, DSHS’s director of media relations. “That was just a static report, and we always wanted to turn it into an ongoing data source that will help show the effect of vaccination as the pandemic evolves,” he…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
A 16-year-old boy was taken into custody Friday on suspicion of shooting at a car occupied by a woman and her three children earlier this month. He was detained at a Carrollton high school and had two guns in his possession, police said. No one was injured in the Jan. 10 shooting in the 1900 block of Perry Road, but the car was damaged, police said. Police said the shooter appeared to be targeting a 17-year-old boy in the front passenger seat of the vehicle. The boy’s mother was driving him and his two brothers, ages 2 and 11, at…
Dallas police seized 42 fake paper license plate tags and issued 49 citations one day this week through an operation with other agencies across southern Dallas, the department announced Friday. Authorities also made 149 traffic stops, towed 11 vehicles, made three arrests and recovered four weapons and two stolen cars during the operation, police said. The collaborative effort with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles and U.S. Department of Homeland Security was carried out Wednesday within small grids across southwestern and south central Dallas, police said. Police did not specify the exact locations the operation took place. The effort was…
As the 49th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade is commemorated Saturday, opponents who have fought for years to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that effectively legalized abortion nationwide are hopeful they’ll finally prevail in a new decision this summer. But supporters of abortion rights, including the North Texas lawyer who was a co-counsel in the landmark case, are concerned about the “chaos” they expect for women if the high court does strike down the landmark ruling. On Jan. 22, 1973, an all-male U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of Jane Roe, a pseudonym for Norma McCorvey, a 21-year-old…
An 11-hour hostage situation at the Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville ended Saturday evening with all hostages unharmed and the lone suspect dead. About 200 law enforcement officials from multiple agencies were involved in the response, including the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team, which flew in from Quantico, Va. The FBI describes the team as the agency’s most elite tactical unit. Here’s what you need to know about what the team does and why it was created. What was the team’s role at the synagogue? Matthew DeSarno, the FBI Dallas field office’s special agent in charge, said during a news conference nearly a week…
AUSTIN — Attorney General Ken Paxton denied Friday that he violated the state’s open records law, rejecting allegations by a local prosecutor that his office should release communications from the week of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Paxton had given a speech at a pro-Trump rally just hours before the violence erupted in Washington, but his office hasn’t released messages to Texas media outlets that sought the records under the Texas Public Information Act. The Travis County district attorney launched an investigation after top editors at several of the state’s largest newspapers wrote a joint complaint about Paxton’s denials of their information…
The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 decreased by 49 in North Texas over the last 24 hours, but health experts say it’s too soon to tell whether that downward trend will continue. COVID-positive hospitalizations are at 4,122 in the region, the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council reported. Of those, 273 are at Parkland Memorial Hospital, up 8 from the day prior. North Texas nearly broke its record for COVID-19 hospitalizations Thursday, with 4,171 patients with the virus admitted to area hospitals. The region set its previous COVID-19 hospitalization record of 4,172 during the January 2021 surge, according to Texas Department…
AUSTIN — Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke announced on Friday a major push to reach 2 million voters in February amid new voting laws he said are efforts by Republicans to suppress votes. O’Rourke said his campaign will reach out via blockwalking, phone calls, text messages and letter writing to inform voters how to navigate the new election provisions in Senate Bill 1 that so far have led to the rejection of hundreds of mail in ballot applications in North Texas. “This new law was intended to make it harder to vote, and it looks like it’s working,” O’Rourke said…
Through hurricanes and flooding, Jerry Mohn has waited a long time for the federal government to build the kind of protective barrier that could shield Galveston’s coastline from devastating storm surges triggered by massive weather events. In 2008, Hurricane Ike devastated the island town with head-high floodwaters and 110-mile-per-hour winds that caused billions of dollars of damage and killed dozens of people. “Look what happened with Ike – the same thing could happen again,” said Mohn, a longtime Galveston resident and beach preservation advocate. “It devastated Galveston Island completely, the downtown flooded, all the beaches were destroyed – it was just…
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A day dedicated to literacy and reading to children in pre-kindergarten through third grade is coming, and hundreds of book lovers are needed to help make it happen. On March 2, nonprofit Literacy Now will host its second annual Houston Reads Day, bringing awareness to a growing crisis in our city’s schools. “(The event exists) to raise awareness out in the public of all the struggles that many, many of our kiddos in the Houston area are facing with reading challenges,” said Literacy Now executive director Jacque Daughtry. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Daughtry said 63% of…
