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No Mor Chikin: Greenbriar Mall bids farewell to historic Chick-fil-A location

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No Mor Chikin: Greenbriar Mall bids farewell to historic Chick-fil-A location
Chick-fil-A’s first-ever restaurant is closing after more than a half-century in business.

Opened in 1967, the Greenbriar Mall food court location in Atlanta is set to close on Saturday, according to local reports. The location’s Facebook page says it’s permanently closed. It’s unclear why the restaurant is closing and Chick-fil-A didn’t immediately return CNN’s request for comment.

Like many malls, the Greenbriar has been struggling to attract shoppers and keep tenants. Its largest store, Macy’s, closed in 2021. The mall is currently filled with smaller stores and no major anchor tenants.

On its website, Chick-fil-A touts the “groundbreaking” location as one of the first restaurants to open inside a mall. Greenbriar was one of the first indoor malls in the Southeast.

The location is described as a “pioneer in the modern-day food court” and had a “monumental impact” on the company because it helped grow the chain into its current 2,600-location operation.

When the Greenbriar Mall location first opened, the menu included a 59-cent chicken sandwich and a salad with boneless chicken breast; plus fries, coleslaw, lemon pie and lemonade — a far cry from the more than 50 menu items Chick-fil-A now sells. Employees wore candy-striped aprons with ascots and “soda jerk” hats.

In 1997, a plaque was installed at the mall restaurant to celebrate its 40th anniversary and celebrate how the company pioneered in-mall dining. “From this location, Chick-fil-A has grown to become one of the largest privately owned restaurant chains in the nation,” the plaque reads.

Company founder S. Truett Cathy started the business with his brother in 1946 with the opening of a diner in Atlanta called the The Dwarf Grill. Its success led him to evolve the restaurant into the Chick-fil-A chain, and some consider that to be the first Chick-fil-A location.

CNN affiliate WXIA notes that Chick-fil-A restaurants were only located in mall food courts for 20 years before opening its first free-standing restaurant in the Atlanta suburb of North Druid Hills in 1986.

Biden ‘confident’ of reaching deal with McCarthy to avoid US debt default

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Biden ‘confident’ of reaching deal with McCarthy to avoid US debt default

Joe Biden and the Republican speaker of the US House, Kevin McCarthy, said on Wednesday they thought a deal to avoid a US debt default was in reach.

Speaking at the White House, Biden said: “I’m confident that we’ll get the agreement on the budget, that America will not default.

“We’re going to come together because there’s no alternative way to do the right thing for the country. We have to move on.”

On Tuesday, Biden and McCarthy met for an hour at the White House, a meeting the president called productive.

Biden, who has faced some criticism for his handling of the issue, is due to travel to the G7 summit in Japan but has cut the trip short to pursue a debt ceiling deal. Plans to visit Papua New Guinea and Australia were postponed.

On Wednesday, the president said: “I’ll be in constant contact with my team while I’m at the G7 and be in close touch with speaker McCarthy and other leaders as well.

“What I have done in anticipation that we won’t get it all done till I get back is, I’ve cut my trip short in order to be [here] for the final negotiations and sign the deal with the majority leader.”

Biden said he expected to return to Washington on Sunday and hold a press conference. Biden’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, told CNN that Biden’s decision to cut short his Asia trip sent “the message that … America does not default on its debt”.

Also on Wednesday, McCarthy spoke to CNBC.

He said: “I think at the end of the day we do not have a debt default. The thing I’m confident about is now we have a structure to find a way to come to a conclusion. The timeline is very tight. But we’re going to make sure we’re in the room and get this done.”

A failure to honour US debts could have catastrophic impacts on the US and world economies. The US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, has indicated that without agreement, default could come as early as 1 June.

Republicans want sharp spending cuts. Democrats say Republicans should agree to a “clean” debt bill, the sort they repeatedly passed under Donald Trump. But Biden also seemed ready to make some compromises, including some work requirements on federal programs, though not on healthcare programs.

Financial markets appeared to be buoyed as McCarthy joined the Republican Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, and the White House in pledging the US would not fail to pay its debt obligations. US stock indexes opened higher on Wednesday.

Biden was widely reported to have agreed to a key demand from McCarthy: that negotiations be carried out by a small group of aides, removing, for now, Democratic leaders in the House and Senate.

Politico said Biden was now represented by the White House counselor Steve Richetti, budget director Shalanda Young and legislative affairs director Louisa Terrell. Garret Graves, a Louisiana Republican and McCarthy ally, was leading the Republican team.

McCarthy, who controls the House by just five seats, is widely seen to be at the mercy of the far right of the Republican caucus. But according to Politico, Graves “isn’t a bomb-thrower or grandstander, and Democrats told us they’ve seen him as a steady hand in other bipartisan policy negotiations”.

Politico reported that the new negotiators “huddled on Capitol Hill last night to start negotiations, reflecting the time crunch as the clock ticks toward a possible 1 June default”. Punchbowl News said “full-scale negotiations [were] set to kick off” on Wednesday.

It will not be a simple process. The negotiators, Punchbowl said, had “a very difficult task ahead of them. They need to find a deal that can pass Congress in the next 15 days. To do that, they’ll have to come up with a framework over the next few days.

“This is a massive lift that will require deft negotiating, cooperation from all sides and incredible flexibility on behalf of our national political leadership. Basically everything that Congress hasn’t done at all this year and traditionally isn’t very good at.”

House Republicans are demanding $4.8tn in spending cuts, mostly to Democratic priorities including welfare and environment spending. Demonstrating the political vice in which Biden finds himself, progressives have warned him not to give in.

“It’s really important we don’t give ground,” Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told Axios. “We have made it clear … that if they give on these core Democratic values, there will be a huge backlash.”

Jean-Pierre told CNN that Republicans “want to cut healthcare, they want to increase poverty, and it’s not going to save much money”.

Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House minority leader, also spoke to CNBC.

“It creates uncertainty that’s bad for the American people. It’s bad for the economy. That’s bad for business,” he said. “And so our view has consistently been that any resolution of this matter has to be at least two years in nature. And that was a position that was once again made clear in the meeting yesterday.”

Punchbowl said: “If Democrats want to hike the debt limit until 2025, McCarthy is going to demand a lot in return.”

Jeffries insisted: “Our view is that if we’re going to have a thoughtful conversation about deficit reduction, that conversation can’t simply be one-sided, based on the rightwing ideological perspective of a handful of extreme Maga Republicans.

“That’s not how you make public policy.”.

 

Montana becomes the first state to ban TikTok

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Montana becomes the first state to ban TikTok

Montana has become the first state to ban the popular social media app TikTok.

Gov. Greg Gianforte signed Senate Bill 419 on Wednesday, saying he wants to protect the state’s residents’ private information from being compromised. He pointed to the Chinese government as a potential threat.

“The Chinese Communist Party using TikTok to spy on Americans, violate their privacy, and collect their personal, private, and sensitive information is well-documented,” Gov. Gianforte said.

There is no direct evidence that the Chinese government has ever accessed TikTok user data. However, TikTok’s critics point to laws in China that allow the government access to a company’s customer records.

According to the measure in Montana, platforms that offer the app on their marketplaces, such as the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, will be subjected to fines up to $10,000 a day for violations.

The ban will take effect Jan. 1, 2024. It is expected that TikTok will challenge the bill in federal court. It and groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union have said the ban is unconstitutional.

Last December, Gianforte banned TikTok on state government electronic devices. On Wednesday, he added that the ban would expand to include “all social media applications that collect and provide users’ personal information or data to a foreign adversary, or a person or entity located within a country designated as a foreign adversary.”
President Biden signed legislation banning the app from government devices last December, and has been considering an all-out ban if TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, cannot find an American buyer. The U.S. and its “Five Eyes” security partners — Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom — ban TikTok from federal government devices, citing national security concerns.

Texas House votes to expand background checks to purchase firearms

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Texas House votes to expand background checks to purchase firearms

Texas House lawmakers advanced May 16 a bill that would give federal law enforcement more information about Texans who have certain mental health conditions and intellectual disabilities during the routine background checks completed before someone can purchase a gun.

Senate Bill 728, by Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, follows the federal Bipartisan Safer Communities Act by including information about a court’s action on someone’s mental condition in background checks. The bill would require county clerks to send this information to the Texas Department of Public Safety, which would then share it with the federal National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

Clerks would be required to inform the DPS if a court determines that someone at least 16 years old:

  • Is unfit to go to trial due to an intellectual disability or mental illness
  • Is not responsible for their actions due to an intellectual disability or mental illness
  • Must receive inpatient services for a mental illness
  • Must receive long-term residential care for an intellectual disability
  • After the court ruling, clerks would have 30 days to send the information to state law enforcement.

SB 728 was presented in the House by Republican Rep. Jeff Leach, who represents Allen, where eight people were killed at an outlet mall May 6.

Leach said the bill would “(keep) firearms out of the hands of dangerous Texans who do not need to have them.”

He emphasized the bill does not create a “red flag law.” This type of law, which is generally opposed by Texas Republicans, prevents someone from buying or owning guns if they are deemed a danger to themselves or others-regardless of whether they have committed a crime or received a court order.

“This bill does not change any existing federal or state law regarding firearms-it simply adheres to existing federal law and their new requirements to report this data to NICS,” Leach said. “This bill will go a long way to ensuring that our state and federal databases are linked, and that the process is more efficient and effective.”

Texas does not have a statewide database to store information about court decisions regarding someone’s mental illness or intellectual disability. As a result, Leach said the FBI has to contact individual county courts if it needs this information for background checks.

If the bill becomes law, this information would be stored in one place.

The House initially approved SB 728 on May 16. If it passes during a final vote May 17, the bill will head to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk for his signature.

Five years later: Santa Fe Families share how their lives have changed

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Five years later: Santa Fe Families share how their lives have changed

May 18, 2023 marks five years since the Santa Fe shooting. Ten people were killed and 13 others injured on May 18, 2018. The accused gunman remains in a North Texas hospital declared incompetent to stand trial.

“My son is Aaron Kyle Mccleod – we lost him on May 18,” said Gayle McLeod, his mother.

“My daughter Kimberly was shot and killed in the school shooting,” said Rhonda Hart, her mother.

“My mother Cynthia was murdered that day,” said Joe Tisdale, her son.

“I was the officer that was working at Santa Fe when the shooting happened and obviously was shot in my arm,” said John Barnes, who survived the shooting.

“I was shot in the Santa Fe shooting,” said Flo Rice, who was a substitute teacher at Santa Fe High School. She was teaching basketball in the gym, when she heard the fire alarm.

Rice walked towards the exit with her students, not knowing she would be in the shooter’s path. Realizing she had been shot, Rice called her husband from the parking lot.

“Flo has a lot of PTSD, I’ve just a little bit,” said Scot Rice, her husband. “If you go back to the school for an event, or for anything, you know, it’s like you relive it that moment.”

Since the shooting, the Rices have become advocates for school safety. They supported a bill Gov. Abbott signed to harden schools and better equip substitute teachers.

However, after Uvalde, the Texas House of Representatives Investigative Committee on the Robb Elementary School put out a report saying it hadn’t been enforced there.

“They stated the school said they would leave doors unlocked for the convenience of substitute teachers that did not have keys,” said Flo.

It’s not just broken promises these Santa Fe families have dealt with, but also a fight to get information. There was no third-party report done on the shooting. Leaving many families in the dark about what actually happened to their loved ones inside the school.

“We saw them take their first breaths, and we knew their Apgar score and their weights and their measurements, but we’re not allowed to know how they died,” said Hart.

Officials arrest Texas man accused of killing five of his neighbors

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Officials arrest Texas man accused of killing five of his neighbors

Greg Capers, the San Jacinto county sheriff, said that Francisco Oropeza, 38, was arrested less than 20 miles (32km) from Cleveland. Law enforcement arrested him about an hour after someone called the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s tip line, according to Jimmy Paul, assistant special agent in charge with the FBI’s Houston division.

“They can rest easy now, because he is behind bars,” Capers said of the families of the victims. “He will live out his life behind bars for killing those five.”

He is being held on $5m bond and faces five counts of murder, according to Capers. It is unclear which degree of murder the district attorney’s office will charge Oporeza with.

Oropeza is accused of killing five people, including a nine-year-old boy and two women shielding children, after neighbors asked him to move farther away if he was going to fire an AR-15-style rifle in his yard.

Oropeza then allegedly approached his neighbor’s home and carried out America’s 17th mass killing so far this year.

The victims – all from Honduras – were identified as Diana Velázquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; José Jonathan Casarez, 18; Sonia Argentina Guzmán, 25; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 9. Wilson García, Guzmán’s husband, recounted the final moments on Sunday after a memorial for his son.

After Oropeza refused to stop firing in his yard, García and his family called the police five times. Each time, the dispatcher assured him help was on the way. Later, when asked about response time to those calls, Capers told reporters that deputies got there as fast as they could. Just three deputies patrol 700 sq miles (1,813 sq km) in the area.

Not long after Oropeza’s refusal, García could see him approaching his front yard, but did not know what he was doing.

García recalled seeing his neighbor reload his weapon and run toward him. “Get inside,” García recalled telling his wife. “This man has loaded his weapon.”

García recalled Guzmán telling him to get inside while saying: “He won’t fire at me – I’m a woman.” She was at the front door and was the first to die once Oropeza began firing, according to García.

Osmán Velázquez, Diana’s father, said on Tuesday that his daughter had recently gotten residency and had traveled to the United States without documents eight years ago with the help of a sister, who was already living there.

“Her sister convinced me to let her take my daughter. She told me the United States is a country of opportunities and that’s true,” he said. “But I never imagined it was just for this.”

This most recent mass shooting came after other high-profile homicides in southern states including the killing of three students and three staff members at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, a workplace shooting at a bank in Louisville, Kentucky that left five dead, and the killings of four young people in Dadeville, Alabama.

The number of casualties during “active shooter” events reached a five-year high in 2022 with 100 people killed and 213 injured, according to a recently released FBI report.

 

HPD Sergeant Kendrick Simpo Receives Medal of Valor from President Biden

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HPD Sergeant Kendrick Simpo Receives Medal of Valor from President Biden

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***Note time of availability with Sergeant Simpo***

Earlier today (Wednesday, May 17) Sergeant Kendrick Simpo was awarded The Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor by President Joe Biden.

In February last year, while Sergeant Simpo was working an extra job at the Galleria Mall, he heard a call over the radio saying that a suspect was armed with a rifle.  Sgt. Simpo quickly responded and spotted the suspect within a few feet of hundreds of children and their families who were participating in a dance competition.

Sergeant Simpo was able to tackle the armed suspect without a single shot being fired.

After the suspect was arrested, he was found to have more than 120 rounds of ammunition and a handgun, which could have led to a much different outcome if not for Sergeant Simpo’s quick action and exemplary bravery.

“I am extremely proud of Sgt. Simpo.  His courageous action exemplifies the dedication of every person in the Houston Police Department and the mission to protect and serve the whole community,” said HPD Police Chief Troy Finner.

Sergeant Simpo is the first HPD officer to receive this distinguished honor.

“This is for the 5,200 Houston police officers.  I may be the first officer from Houston to receive this great award, but more will follow.  I am proud of the recognition this award shines on our department and the many dedicated officers that work there,” said Sergeant Simpo.

Attached are photos of the award being bestowed upon Sgt. Simpo from this morning in the East Room at the White House.

Sergeant Simpo will be available tomorrow (Thursday, May 18) for interviews at 11 a.m. in the Edward A. Thomas Building lobby at 1200 Travis.

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4-year-old accidentally shoots 1-year-old sibling at home in Texas

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4-year-old accidentally shoots 1-year-old sibling at home in Texas
Authorities said that a young child accidentally shot their 1-year-old sibling at a residence near Houston on Tuesday.

The pre-schooler, about 4 years old, “found an unsecured pistol at home” and used it to shoot the toddler, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzales.

He said in social media posts shared Tuesday evening that the toddler sustained injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening, and had been taken to a hospital for treatment.

The toddler was apparently shot in the leg, CBS affiliate KHOU reported. Citing comments from deputies at the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, the station said later on Tuesday night that the toddler had undergone surgery at the hospital and was recovering. The toddler is expected to be okay, the station reported.

An investigation is underway to determine how the child was able to find a loaded gun and fire it. Investigators will also investigate whether adults were in the home with the 4-year-old and the toddler at the time of the shooting. The Harris County District Attorney’s Office will work with a grand jury to decide if any charges will be filed in connection with the incident.

As of May 6, there were at least 113 unintentional shootings by children in the U.S., resulting in 47 deaths and 68 injuries nationwide, according to the nonprofit organization Everytown for Gun Safety. In 2022, the organization tracked at least 354 unintentional shootings by children, which resulted in 157 deaths and 212 injuries. Those numbers were down from the year before when 167 people were killed and another 248 were injured in at least 396 accidental shootings where a child fired the gun, according to the nonprofit.

Mayor Turner announces details of FY 2024 fiscally sound, balanced budget

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Mayor Turner announces details of FY 2024 fiscally sound, balanced budget

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Mayor Turner discusses ARPA Funding during the budget news conference
Mayor Sylvester Turner announced details of the proposed FY ’24 budget today, describing it as a fiscally sound spending plan that provides a strong fund balance reserve and prepares Houston for the future,The proposed budget for all funds totals $6.2 billion and represents Mayor Turner’s eighth and final budget. It is balanced with the strongest fund balance reserve in recent history, placing the City in the best fiscal position to address future economic uncertainties.

The proposed General Fund budget of $2.9 billion reflects an increase in spending of $120 million or 4.3 percent from the FY2023 current Budget of $2.8 billion.

The increase in spending is primarily driven by:

  • Pay increases for all employee groups including 3 percent for municipal employees, 3 percent for police, and 6 percent for fire totaling $51 million. The 6 percent fire pay raise included in this budget represents the third-year of an 18 percent cumulative pay raise valued at $115 million.
  • $47 million increase in transfers to the Dedicated Drainage Street and Renewal Fund (DDSRF), or Rebuild Houston, to support streets and drainage projects in the CIP, coupled with a decrease in debt service of $7 million, for a net increase of $40 million for pay-as-you-go and debt.
  • $160 million in ARPA funding to further address the reduction in revenues due to the public health emergency. *note: even in the absence of the ARPA funding, the City would have been able to balance the FY2024 budget by drawing down from the fund balance.
  • An additional $11.3 million transfer to the Maintenance Renewal and Replacement Fund to address deferred maintenance for a total of $42.9 million.
  • OPEB trust contribution – $8 million General Fund – $10 million including all funds

Additionally, the mayor’s plan fully funds the Budget Stabilization Fund representing more than $20 million, and does not include any deferrals, one-time land sales, or fund balance drawdown.

Public safety remains at the forefront of the mayor’s budget priorities, fully funding five (5) cadet classes for the police and four (4) for the fire department. Under Mayor Turner’s leadership, HPD has recruited and hired 2,200 police officers, making him the mayor with the second-highest hiring rate of police officers.

“I am proud to say that I will leave to the next mayor a budget that is better than it has been in a long time, much stronger than when I came into office in Jan. 2016. We are better today than we were yesterday, and we’ll be better tomorrow than we are today,” said Mayor Turner.

Encuentro This Saturday!

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Encuentro This Saturday!

Creating A Brighter Future For Houston Since 1977.

Encuentro

The Native American Roots of Texas Mexican Food

Saturday, May 20th, 6 PM – 7:30 PM

MECA TBH | Jensen Dr, Houston, TX 77003

This event is FREE to attend and open to the public, however registration is required.
Encuentro explores the impact, native history, and unique flavor profile of Texas Mexican food, also called Comida Casera, the home-style cooking of Mexican American families of South Texas and Northeastern Mexico (see map that outlines this unique culinary region).

Public Panel Event: The general public is invited to the Encuentro closing event on the evening of May 20th featuring a scholar & film panel, with audience Q&A, at 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm, with entertainment starting at 5:30 pm. The celebrity chefs will interact with the scholar panelists and with the audience.
Reserve Your Tickets Now!
Chef, food author and filmmaker, Adán Medrano, will be joining us at Encuentro: The Native American Roots of Texas Mexican Food this Saturday, May 20th!

Adán Medrano is a food author, chef and filmmaker researching the indigenous food and cooking of south Texas and northeastern Mexico. Over 23 years, he worked throughout Latin America, Europe and Asia, and during his travels came to recognize the cultural importance of food.

Watch his video by clicking this link or the photo!
Watch Video on Facebook

MECA’s work to provide year-round, high quality arts education, social services and vigorous academic support is made possible by generous contributions from the following donors:
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