From Theatre Under the Stars’ credits to Broadway’s Gigi and West Side Story, Manuel has been in high demand in the theatre circuit. This triple threat shares with us his adventures on the road and on set with popular shows like NBC’s “Smash”.
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From the largest cities to the smallest towns, Texans are getting their COVID-19 shots. But despite the rising vaccination numbers, the state still lags most others in the U.S., ranking 44th with just under 20% of its eligible population fully vaccinated.
Ten of the 12 counties in the KVUE’s viewing area are beating that state average. Travis and Hays counties each have a little over 26.5% of their adult population fully vaccinated and Williamson County has 25.7% fully vaccinated.
Bastrop and Caldwell’s counties are below the state average of 19.5% fully vaccinated, Bastrop County with 18.7% and Caldwell County with 19.2% of its population vaccinated.
As of Monday, providers have used just over 15 million of the 21 million doses allocated to the state.
The next step: making sure everyone who is eligible will get the shots. But that might not be so easy.
A University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll from February 2021 revealed that 59% of people identifying as Republicans either said they were reluctant to get the shots or would refuse them, compared to 25% of Democrats who expressed the same reluctance.
Source: www.kvue.com
The efficacy of Chinese Covid-19 vaccines is “not high” and authorities are weighing options to bolster protection — including mixing different shots, China’s top disease control official has said.
As of April 12, more than 6.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen ) vaccine have been administered in the U.S. CDC and FDA are reviewing data involving six reported U.S. cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot in individuals after receiving the J&J vaccine. In these cases, a type of blood clot called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) was seen in combination with low levels of blood platelets (thrombocytopenia). All six cases occurred among women between the ages of 18 and 48, and symptoms occurred 6 to 13 days after vaccination. Treatment of this specific type of blood clot is different from the treatment that might typically be administered. Usually, an anticoagulant drug called heparin is used to treat blood clots. In this setting, administration of heparin may be dangerous, and alternative treatments need to be given.
CDC will convene a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on Wednesday to further review these cases and assess their potential significance. FDA will review that analysis as it also investigates these cases. Until that process is complete, we are recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution. This is important, in part, to ensure that the health care provider community is aware of the potential for these adverse events and can plan for proper recognition and management due to the unique treatment required with this type of blood clot.
Right now, these adverse events appear to be extremely rare. COVID-19 vaccine safety is a top priority for the federal government, and we take all reports of health problems following the COVID-19 vaccination very seriously. People who have received the J&J vaccine who develop a severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain, or shortness of breath within three weeks after vaccination should contact their health care provider. Health care providers are asked to report adverse events to the Vaccine Adverse
Source: www.cdc.gov
Both the Houston Health Department and Harris County Public Health will follow a recommendation from federal health agencies that the use of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine should be paused.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said in a tweet Tuesday that administration of the J&J COVID-19 vaccine will be put on hold after a recommendation from both the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Residents who were scheduled to get the J&J vaccine at NRG Park today will be offered Pfizer instead,” Hidalgo said in her tweet. “Mobile sites will be distributing Moderna.”
A tweet by officials at the Houston Health Department said the use of the vaccine will be halted while rare adverse reactions to it are investigated.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said the city primarily uses the Moderna vaccine in its inoculation efforts, so he does not think a pause in the use of the J&J vaccine will cause problems for those who have appointments scheduled.
Dr. David Persse, chief medical officer for Houston, said that there have only been six cases of blood clots reported out of the millions of doses of the J&J vaccine that have been administered across the country. He said none of those cases were in Texas.
“These blood clots appear to be extremely rare,” Persse said.
Turner said that while the reports of clots are concerning, he encouraged people to keep their vaccine appointments.
“I would be more fearful of the virus than I would be of taking, of taking the vaccine,” Turner said. Officials at the federal agencies said the pause is recommended while they investigate reports of blood clots in people who have received the vaccine.
Source: www.click2houston.com
Houston officials held a news conference Tuesday to announce the official groundbreaking to “transform Hilcroft Avenue into a safer and more equitable road,” according to Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner.
Turner said the city partnered with Together for Safer Roads in April 2019 to launch phase one of the Houston Safer Streets program, an initiative to make roads safer for pedestrians, drivers, cyclists, and those who take public transportation.
The goal of the Grafton-area redesign is to make the area as safe as possible to those who travel in the area and to connect commuters to different areas across town, according to Turner.
Turner said the project is broken into three segments:
According to Turner, construction is underway in some areas. The new plan includes wider sidewalks, adding shared-use bikeways, installing new traffic signals, improved access to Metro bus stops, a hike and bike trail on Westward, and travel lanes will be reduced from eight to six, Turner said. Community members will also see new color-coded crosswalks, curb ramps, and crosswalks that will help make intersections safer.
Turner also spoke about the city street rehabilitation program that he announced in September. The program is designed to improve streets, curbs, and gutters city-wide, Turner said.
“The street rehabilitation initiative is my vision for creating safer more sustainable communities for all Houstonians,” Turner said.
According to Tuner, the goal for the program is for public works to complete 292 lane miles. So far they have completed 191.4 miles at a cost of $32.4 million and there are another 51.7 lane miles under construction, Turner said.
Turner said the project is on target to meet the goal by the end of the fiscal year, which is double what crews accomplished in 2020.
Even with all the improvements, Turner said it is up to drivers to be responsible on the road.
“The city is doing its part to makes streets safer,” Turner said. “We also need drivers to work with us. We need drivers to stop drinking and driving … Slow down. Do not drink and drive, and avoid distractions while driving. Look out for yourself and your fellow Houstonians.”
Source: www.click2houston.com
President Joe Biden called for “peace and calm” on Monday following an evening of protests after a police officer in a Minneapolis suburb shot and killed a 20-year-old Black man during a traffic stop.
Biden called the shooting death of Daunte Wright on Sunday “a really tragic thing” and said he watched “fairly graphic” body camera footage from the officer who fired the fatal shot.
“The question is was it an accident? Was it intentional?” Biden told reporters at the White House. “That remains to be determined by a full-blown investigation.”
“I think we’ve got to wait and see what the investigation shows – and the entire investigation,” he said.
Biden stressed there is “absolutely no justification” for looting and violence.
“Peaceful protest is understandable,” he said. “And the fact is that we do know that the anger, pain, and trauma that exists in the Black community in that environment is real – it’s serious, and it’s consequential. But that does not justify violence.”
He added: “We should listen to Dante’s mom who is calling for peace and calm.”
Wright’s death Sunday night in Brooklyn Center, 10 miles south of Minneapolis, came as the city already was on edge in the middle of the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin, who faces murder charges in the death of George Floyd last May.
Police responded to protests Sunday with riot gear as demonstrators gathered in Brooklyn Center, mourning Wright’s death. Video posted to Twitter showed police firing gas and a chemical agent at protesters who gathered at the police department Sunday night.
A woman who identified herself as Wright’s mother, according to a Facebook Live video, said her son was pulled over because of air fresheners hanging in his rearview mirror. Police in Brooklyn Center said in a statement the driver they pulled over had an outstanding warrant and got back into the vehicle when they tried to take him into custody.
On Monday, police released the officer’s body camera footage and said the city’s police chief said the officer may have intended to fire a Taser.
Biden said he has spoken to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and other local law enforcement officials. He said he hasn’t yet spoken to Wright’s family but that they remain in his prayers.
Earlier Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that the Biden administration was saddened by Wright’s death.
The shooting “is a reminder of the pain, the anger, the trauma, the exhaustion that many communities across the country have felt as we see these incidents continue to occur,” she said.
Source: www.usatoday.com
Throughout our nation’s history, often in times of war or economic crisis, critical investments have driven much-needed job creation — leaving both our nation’s infrastructure and our nation’s workforce stronger.
When President Abraham Lincoln started construction on the transcontinental railroad during the Civil War, to connect the East Coast to the West, jobs opened up for blacksmiths and carpenters. When President Herbert Hoover started construction on the Hoover Dam during the Great Depression, to generate power for multiple states, unemployed workers flocked to Nevada to join the team.
As we emerge from the pandemic, at least 10 million Americans are still unemployed — many worked in lower-wage jobs and more than 4 million have been out of work for more than 27 weeks.
Recently, President Joe Biden announced the American Jobs Plan. Through a historic investment in our nation’s infrastructure — one that will rebuild our nation and strengthen our economic foundation — this plan will create millions of jobs. In fact, this plan represents the biggest American jobs investment since World War II.
There is, however, one big difference between the jobs this plan creates and past infrastructure efforts. The laborers who risked their lives to build the railroad earned next to nothing. The Hoover Dam workforce lived in a camp known as “Ragtown” and was prevented from unionizing. And some workers — particularly women and workers of color — were locked out of these projects altogether.
The American Jobs Plan won’t just create jobs. It will create good jobs. It will create good jobs that do meaningful work. And it will do so for every worker.
The jobs this plan creates are, by and large, blue-collar jobs. They require skills in trades that many already have. For those who need skills training, the American Jobs Plan will provide it — expanding apprenticeships and workforce development. And we’re going to use these programs to make sure that these jobs are available to women as well as men. After all, hard hats are unisex.
Additionally, each and every one of these jobs will have the free and fair choice to organize or join a union. Unions built the middle class, and the president and I believe strongly that unions can help expand the middle-class today — helping working families who have been shut out, ladder up.
This brings me to my final point, these jobs are for everybody. In rural communities and communities of color, disinvestment will be replaced with investment. Work will be underway everywhere. And workers everywhere will benefit — with a good job, yes, and also by making an important contribution in their own backyard.
A pipefitter in Illinois could get a job replacing lead service lines in their own city, as we plan to replace every lead service line in the nation. An electrician in Montana could find work laying broadband lines in their own neighborhood, as we plan to make broadband available to every American. An aspiring welder in Florida could get an apprenticeship that leads to work fixing up the Seven Mile Bridge, as we plan to repair roads and bridges across the country. A home health care worker in South Carolina could see their pay go up, as we solidify our nation’s care infrastructure.
Here’s the bottom line: Through this generational investment in infrastructure, there will be millions of more good jobs to fill. There will be more training and apprenticeships for workers to get the skills they need. Workers will have the choice to organize, join a union, and collectively bargain — meaning better pay, better benefits, better protections. And they will do meaningful work, as they repair what has been, build what can be, and keep our country competitive for generations to come.
Last week, I toured the Upper San Leandro Water Treatment Plant in my hometown of Oakland, California. I met two workers there — a carpenter and a construction inspector. They came up through apprenticeship programs. They are proud union members. They’re paid fairly. And they’re making sure households throughout Oakland get clean water, which is important work.
Every American who wants a job like that deserves a job like that. And that’s why President Biden and I are calling on Congress to pass the American Jobs Plan.
Source: www.usatoday.com
President Joe Biden opened talks with lawmakers Monday afternoon on his $2.25 trillion jobs and infrastructure plan, saying he’s “prepared to negotiate” the size of the package and how to pay for it.
“I think everyone acknowledges we need a significant increase in infrastructure,” Biden said from the Oval Office before meeting with a bipartisan group of four senators and four House members. “It’s going to get down to what we call infrastructure.”
Biden has framed his American Jobs Plan as a “once-in-a-generation investment” that would be the country’s largest jobs program since World War II, repair aging infrastructure, and position the U.S. to compete economically with China.
But Republicans have pushed back at $400 billion in spending for home caregiving, clean energy programs, and other proposals in the package that extend beyond traditional transportation infrastructures such as roads, bridges, rail, and ports. Republicans argue Biden and Democrats are using the popularity of infrastructure investment to fund unrelated liberal priorities.
Biden said some people don’t believe replacing lead pipes to ensure safe drinking water or expanding broadband internet – like his plan addresses – is infrastructure work.
“It’s not just roads, bridges, highways, etcetera,” Biden said. “That’s what we’re going to talk about,” he said, adding with a smile: “I’m confident everything is going to work out perfectly.”
He shot down a question from a reporter about whether the bipartisan meeting was just for show.
“I’m not big on window-dressing, as you’ve observed,” he said
Lawmakers who met with Biden included Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, Deb Fischer, R-Nebraska, Alex Padilla, D-California, and Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi, and Reps. Garret Graves, R-Louisiana, Donald Payne Jr., D-New Jersey, David Price, D-North Carolina and Don Young, R-Alaska. Vice President Kamala Harris also attended.
Republicans have stayed united in opposition to Biden’s jobs plan since its release nearly two weeks ago. That includes slamming how Biden wants to pay for it – increasing the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% – which would eliminate the 2017 tax cuts former President Donald Trump and Republicans worked to approve just four years ago.
Wicker told reporters the meeting was “a very lively discussion” and the president was “very engaged” but said pieces of Biden’s proposal are “non-starters for Republicans.” He singled out undoing the 2017 tax cuts, calling it one of his “signature achievements of my entire career.”
“It would be an almost impossible sell from the president to come to a bipartisan agreement that included undoing (the tax cuts),” Wicker said. “And I did tell him that.”
Wicker added that the package should stick to “traditional infrastructure,” singling out home caregiving and the reconstruction of Veterans Affairs hospitals and clinics as items that should be dealt with separately.
“It was a good meeting,” he said. “Whether we’ll be able to come to a bipartisan agreement that gets as expansive and as massive as he would like to, I don’t know.”
Centrist Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a key swing vote in the evenly divided Senate, also opposes the corporate tax increase, suggesting a smaller bump to 25%. Biden last week said he’s “willing to listen” to a proposal that goes below a 28% tax rate for corporations but said inaction is unacceptable.
“Compromise is inevitable. Changes are certain,” Biden said in a White House speech last week. “But here’s what we won’t be open to We will not be open to doing nothing.”
In remarks from the Senate floor Monday, Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, accused the White House of engaging in “Trojan-horse tactics” and embarking on a “campaign to convince everybody that any government policy whatsoever” is infrastructure.
McConnell called Biden’s plan “a motley assortment of the left’s priciest priorities” that would impose “one of the biggest tax hikes in a generation when workers need an economic recovery.”
“It’s not remotely targeted toward what Americans think they are getting when politicians campaign on infrastructure. But instead of coming up with a better bill, Democrats have decided it’s the English language that has to change.”
After a ruling last week by the Senate parliamentarian, Biden and Democrats could pass the American Jobs Plan with a simple majority in the Senate, blocking any attempt at a filibuster waged by Republicans. It would mean no Republican votes would be needed as long as Democrats are all on board, mirroring how Biden won the approval of his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 rescue plan last month.
In negotiations on this bill, Biden’s American Rescue Plan, 10 Republicans met with Biden in the White House after proposing a trimmed-down $618 billion package. But those talks quickly stalled after Biden wouldn’t budge on reducing its size.
Source: www.usatoday.com
The 37-acre wildfire in Bastrop County is now 95% contained, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.
The Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management reported that the fire is burning in the vicinity of Cassel Way, Kelley Road and 1441. The fire was originally reported as 100 acres but crews have since updated that measurement.
All of Cassel Way and west of Kelley Way to Highway 21 were evacuated on Saturday evening. As of 10:36 p.m. Saturday, evacuations were lifted for the area, and power was restored.
As of 7:55 p.m. Saturday, the fire had moved south from its starting point due to a north wind. As of around 10:30 p.m., the fire was 50% contained.
Around 11:40 a.m. Sunday, the fire remained 50% contained. The Texas A&M Forest Service, which is assisting with the response, also updated the estimated acreage of the fire from 100 acres to 50 acres due to “more accurate mapping during daylight.”
The forest service said crews were securing the east flank of the fire. No structures have been reported as lost.
At around 8 p.m. Sunday, the forest service said the fire was 95% contained. Crews are mitigating issues and will continue to monitor and patrol the fire throughout the afternoon.
STAR Flight crews assisted to knock down the head of the fire Saturday night, but darkness forced them to leave the scene.
Earlier on Saturday evening, there were 15 structures directly threatened by the fire, with 24 evacuated, Bastrop County Emergency Services District No. 2 said. There were 50 firefighters on the scene with 31 fire trucks.
Bluebonnet Electric said crews assisted firefighters and emergency crews by taking 71 meters out of power in the area. Power has since been restored.
Source: www.kvue.com
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