Dallas County reported its 500,000th COVID-19 case on Wednesday — a dark threshold in a pandemic that continues to disrupt lives nearly two years after it began. In the 680 days since the first presumptive case of COVID-19 was reported in Dallas County, residents across North Texas have grappled with temporary shut-downs, adjustments into and out of online learning, conflicting advice on face coverings, and back-and-forth battles over mask and vaccine mandates. Others have had to deal with the lingering effects of long COVID, or contend with a hole in their lives left by a loved one who died from the…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
The British national who took four people at a Colleyville synagogue hostage for hours Saturday had a “troubled” past and “distressing views” while in the United Kingdom, a Texas-based British official said Wednesday. Richard Hyde, the Houston-based British consul general for Texas and four other states, said the attack on Congregation Beth Israel by 44-year-old Malik Faisal Akram was deeply “offensive” and “traumatizing” to the United Kingdom, which has been closely assisting the U.S. in the multi-agency investigation. Malik Faisal Akram(File / AP) “This doesn’t represent my country,” Hyde said in an interview with The Dallas Morning News. Hyde, who has…
Dallas County surpassed 500,000 COVID-19 cases Wednesday, marking another bleak milestone of the pandemic. Across the state, 12,905 Texas were hospitalized with the virus, including more than 4,000 in North Texas. Both numbers are on the verge of previous record highs. Here’s what you need to know about COVID-19 today: The county’s milestone comes after nearly two years of disruptions and resilience during the pandemic. The number is significantly down from the 10,000 daily infections projected in the previous UT Southwestern Medical Center forecast. The White House said Wednesday that the masks will be available for pickup at pharmacies and community health centers across the…
In the old working-class neighborhoods of West Dallas, with their single-story bungalows and small front yards, the determined grit of residents produced a success story. Decades ago, many families, mostly Latinos and Blacks, bought houses in numbers that eventually surpassed other parts of the city. That created collective muscle. That muscle led to countless victories in key fights over the years for social equity: a successful push to shutter a massive lead-polluting factory; better schools; a health clinic; and by some measures, generational wealth. Social justice is the view that everyone deserves equal economic, political and social rights and opportunities.…
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A police chase that started along Highway 288 on Wednesday morning ended with an arrest in Brazoria County. SkyEye captured officers pursuing a white cargo van just before 9:30 a.m. Houston police said the chase began near Reed Road and Highway 288 when officers tried to stop the vehicle but it kept going. The van then headed southbound on the freeway before exiting and stopping in a gas station parking lot in the area of the Magnolia Parkway and Smith Ranch Road in Manvel. The driver got out and surrendered to police. There was no one…
HOUSTON, Texas — The term “manifest” commonly evokes eyerolls and groans these days, as a self-help, motivational mantra. But what else to call Houston-born Megan Thee Stallion’s eerily predictive tweet from 2014? “I need a team (because) I promise this rap sh*t gone take off for me,” Megan posted back then. She would go on to gain more than 99% of her over 7.3M Twitter followers after that manifestation-dripping tweet, Twitter notes now. Now, Houstonians can celebrate their hometown Hot Girl with a new billboard located on I-45 South near Wayside, one that toasts the woman many knew as Megan…
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — In the wake of a deadly shootout in a Whataburger parking lot, the victim’s family members tell Eyewitness News the 19-year-old was a recent high school graduate and was about to start military service in a couple of months. Houston police identified the man who died Tuesday afternoon along the U.S. 290 service road near Hollister as Daniel Thompson. According to police, Thompson and another man, 27-year-old Darius Sims, got into an altercation at about 2 p.m. It escalated when Sims allegedly fatally shot Thompson. Police said Sims also fired at one of Thompson’s family members,…
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — A 14-year-old girl who did not come home from school Tuesday has been found, Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman said Wednesday afternoon. A missing persons report was shared for 14-year-old Samantha Caballero after she did not come home on Jan. 18. The teen was last seen Tuesday morning before school. Deputies said her cellphone last pinged at 3:02 p.m. Tuesday in Humble at The Park at Humble apartment complex across the street from the Walmart on FM-1960. It’s unclear where she was located, but Herman said Caballero is safe and back home with…
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A 17-year-old has died after he was shot in the leg while walking home along Sims Bayou in southwest Houston, police say. HPD responded to a shooting call around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday at a home on Anderson and Campden Hill and found the teen, who had been shot. According to police, the teen had been walking home along the bayou when someone shot him. He called relatives, who loaded him into a pickup truck and took him to the house, then called 911. An ambulance arrived to take him to the hospital, where he died. Police…
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — With the start of the new year, Harris County is seeing the same amount of evictions since before the pandemic, according to data from January Advisors. “It’s really a tsunami of evictions coming all at once. We have had various bulwarks against eviction, namely rent relief, that have stopped evictions for a long time,” said Eric Kwartler, a public interest attorney and adjunct professor at South Texas College of Law Houston. It may sound like a return to normal, but we’ve been living in a different economy since COVID-19 hit. The trend isn’t good, especially when…
