INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (KTRK) — The first Sunday of the 2024 NFL regular season has commenced. So, Texans fans, in the iconic words of legendary Hall of Fame ring announcer Michael Buffer, “Let’s get ready to rumble!”
On Sunday, the Houston Texans begin Week 1 of the NFL regular season on the road against their AFC South rivals, the Indianapolis Colts, at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans, alongside the franchise’s cornerstone in C.J. Stroud and company, are ready to embark on the new season.
“We’re fired up about the 2024 season, fired up about our team. And just excited to kick it off and get going so we can stop having questions about last year,” Ryans said during the Texans’ practice on Wednesday.
As the quest into the regular season begins, the Texans named its team captains Stroud, defensive end Will Anderson Jr., offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil, safety Jimmie Ward, long snapper Jon Weeks, as well as newcomers in wideout Stefon Diggs and linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair.
Numerous NFL pundits also anticipate No. 7 to have an MVP-type season and lead his revamped team as a legit Super Bowl contender.
ESPN Bet currently lists the Texans with the eighth-best odds to win the Super Bowl title at +1600.
“We want to gain confidence early, I think we put in the work for training camp, and now, it’s up to us to go out there and do it this Sunday and put our best foot forward,” Stroud said on Wednesday’s practice regarding his goals he hopes to accomplish this season.
Concerning the Colts, starting quarterback Anthony Richardson returns to the gridiron in Week 1 after missing a majority of his rookie year last season due to injury.
“Excited to prepare for the Colts, big-time matchup for us, so we’re really looking forward to it,” Ryans said in preparation for Sunday’s showdown with Indianapolis.
Nonetheless, Houston will want to start the season off strong with a win over the Colts to establish a top spot early on in the AFC South.
Marcee Gray described an unspecified “extreme emergency” involving her 14-year-old son Colt during a Wednesday morning call to the school, sometime before the shooting began, Gray’s sister Annie Brown told the Washington Postand later confirmed to CNN.
Colt Gray, 14, has been charged with four counts of murder after committing a mass shooting earlier this week at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, prosecutors said. He will be tried as an adult.
The Washington Post reports a 10-minute call was placed from Marcee Gray’s phone to the school at 9:50 a.m. Police were notified of the shooting around 10:20 that morning, CNN previously reported.
According to the Post, Brown has a shared phone plan with the family which allowed her to see a log of the calls made by her sister.
The Barrow County School District did not return CNN’s request for comment. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation referred CNN’s request for comment to the Piedmont Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office.
CNN has reached out to the Piedmont Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office Saturday evening. CNN has also reached out to Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith, who previously said he had no knowledge of any phone call to the school prior to the shooting.
The 14-year-old suspect is expected to face additional charges accounting for the injured victims, officials said Friday.
A community grieves
As more information continues to emerge about the circumstances surrounding the attack, asmall Georgia community is grieving the two students and two teachers who died Wednesday in the 45th school shooting of 2024 – and the deadliest US school shooting since the March 2023 massacre at The Covenant School in Nashville.
In the days since the tragic attack, Apalachee students have given harrowing accounts of the courageous actions they took to protect their classmates and teachers in the face of senseless violence.
In one classroom, a 14-year-old said she kept the suspect from getting through the door when she saw him pull out a gun. And after a teacher in another classroom was shot, students say they pulled him back inside and used the shirts off their backs to try and stop his bleeding while barricading the door with desks and chairs. Even with a gunshot wound, one teenage boy said he raced to close the classroom door to prevent the shooter from entering.
Victims’ families wiped away tears or clutched stuffed animals as they sat in the Barrow County courtroom Friday during Colt Gray’s arraignment, where he declined to enter a plea to the charges against him.
Prosecutors allege Gray fired an AR-style rifle on campus Wednesday morning, killing four people. Nine others were injured, all but two of whom were shot, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.
Because of his young age, the maximum penalty Gray could face is life in prison with or without parole, Judge Currie Mingledorff told the teenager in court. In 2005, the US Supreme Court ruled no one can be put to death for crimes committed before the age of 18.
Gray’s father, Colin Gray, 54, faces a maximum sentence of 180 years in prison for four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children.
An arrest warrant for Colin Gray alleges he gave his son a firearm “with knowledge he was a threat to himself and others.” He declined to enter a plea at his first court appearance Friday, and neither him nor his son have asked for bond to be set at their hearings.
“I’m just trying to use the tools in my arsenal to prosecute people for the crimes they commit,” Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith said
CNN on Saturday sought comment from the public defenders representing Colt Gray and his father.
Smith said he expects additional charges against Colt Gray in connection with victims who were injured during the shooting. Authorities on Thursday said all nine people wounded in Wednesday’s shooting are expected to make a full recovery.
The next step in the case against Gray will be a grand jury meeting on October 17. This will be followed by a scheduled arraignment before the trial process is started, Smith said. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for December 4, Mingledorff said.
For survivors and others, a community recovery center will open in Barrow County on Monday to offer financial assistance, legal services and spiritual and mental health care, the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency announced Friday.
Here’s what we know so far:
Suspect will be tried as an adult: Colt Gray, who is being held at the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice, is slated to remain there while in custody until he turns 17, Glenn Allen, the agency’s spokesperson, told CNN Thursday. Under Georgia law, a juvenile aged 13 to 17 who commits a serious crime is automatically tried as an adult.
The four people killed: The shooting at Apalachee High School claimed the lives of two 14-year-old students – Christian Angulo and Mason Schermerhorn, as well as two teachers – 53-year-old math teacher Cristina Irimie and 39-year-old assistant football coach Richard Aspinwall, who also taught math. Authorities say Irimie was celebrating her birthday with her students the day she was shot and killed, according to a family friend.
Nine injured are expected to make a full recovery: Of the nine other people injured, seven of them – six students and a teacher – were shot, the GBI said Thursday. The other two – both students – suffered other injuries, the GBI said.
Suspect was questioned about online threats: In May 2023, law enforcement officials questioned Colt Gray and his father about “online threats to commit a school shooting” that included photos of guns, according to a joint statement from FBI Atlanta and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. Colt Gray, who was 13 at the time, told investigators during that interview that “someone is accusing him of threatening to shoot up a school, stating that he would never say such a thing, even in a joking manner,” authorities said. Authorities could not substantiate the threats and the investigation was closed, according to the sheriff’s office.
Suspect’s father gifted him the gun involved in shooting: Two law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation said Colin Gray told authorities he purchased the AR-style rifle used in the school shooting as a holiday present for his son in December 2023 – just months after authorities initially contacted the father about the online threats.
Suspect had writings on past school shootings: During questioning, Gray told investigators, “I did it.” As authorities searched his home, they found documents that they believe he wrote referencing past school shootings, including references to the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, a law enforcement source told CNN.
Shows of support: Ahead of the Georgia Bulldogs’ kick-off against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles Saturday, a moment of silence was observed to honor those affected by the shooting. Also on Saturday, in front of the high school, more than 100 motorcyclists from different motorcycle clubs staged a rally to show their support.
Student says she didn’t open the door after spotting a gun
Bri Jones, 14, was in second period Wednesday when Colt Gray left the classroom, Jones said. “We didn’t notice he left,” Jones said, adding that Gray was “always quiet.”
But Gray came back and knocked on the door, Jones said.
Bri said she peeked out the door before she opened it because that’s what her mom taught her to do.
“As I was looking at the door, he was pulling his gun out, and then I froze up, like I froze up and I said ‘no’ to myself,” she said.
The teacher asked for the door to be opened, Bri said, “because she didn’t know he had a gun because she was at her desk.” As she went to open the door, “I was like, ‘no, he has a gun,'” Jones said.
Then, the shooter looked up at them before turning and firing shots, Jones said.
“He was looking at me, my teacher, and then somebody was in the hall,” she said. “He turned his head and he just started shooting.”
The students then ran to the back of the class and the teacher turned off the lights, Bri said.
“Once he started shooting, it’s like he kept going, it was so many gunshots after gunshots,” she said. “It felt like he was just shooting forever.”
If she had opened the class door, Bri said she believes the suspect “would have got every single one of us in that class.”
Another student, 14-year-old Ronaldo Vega, immediately took cover under his desk when the shooting began in his second-period math class, he said. Ronaldo was injured amid the four to six shots fired, but he still stood up quickly to close the classroom door so the shooter “couldn’t come back,” he said.
Only after seeing one of the bullets behind the teacher’s desk did he realize he had been shot and was bleeding, Ronaldo recounted.
Students took the shirts off their backs to try to save their math teacher
Richard Aspinwall, a math teacher, heard commotion outside his classroom and entered the hallway to see what was going on. When he did, he was shot in the chest by the 14-year-old suspect, according to family friend Julie Woodson, who cited accounts by Aspinwall’s students.
“We had to watch our teacher come back in the classroom holding himself like he’s been shot, and fell to the floor,” 17-year-old Malasia Mitchell said. “And as he kept going, my teacher was shot again.”
Students in the class say they pulled Aspinwall back into the classroom and used the shirts off their backs to try and stop their teacher’s bleeding, according to Woodson.
Meanwhile, the students closed the door and protected themselves with desks and chairs, Mitchell said.
Woodson said Aspinwall “died as a hero trying to save his students’ lives.”
“If he didn’t walk out and take the bullet … who knows what would’ve happened,” Woodson said.
Malasia remembered her teacher as a “great guy” with “such a happy spirit” – someone who wouldn’t want her to ever give up.
“He wouldn’t want me to just stop coming to school,” she said. “He would want me to keep going.”
BOSTON (AP) — The Mega Millions jackpot has risen to an estimated $800 million with a cash option of $401.8 million for Tuesday’s drawing after no one matched all the winning numbers for Friday night’s drawing.
The jackpot was last won in Illinois on June 4 with a ticket valued at $552 million.
Only two Mega Millions jackpots have been won so far this year. Before the Illinois winning ticket, a $1.1 billion winning ticket was purchased in New Jersey in March. That prize is still unclaimed. Winners in New Jersey have one year to claim their winnings.
Tickets are sold in 45 states, Washington, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are conducted at 11 p.m. Tuesdays and Fridays in Atlanta, Georgia. Tickets are $2 each. Half of the proceeds from the sale of each Mega Millions ticket remains in the state where the ticket was sold.
The odds of winning the jackpot are one in more than 302 million. The overall odds of winning any Mega Millions prize are 1 in 24.
The top Mega Millions jackpot ticket — $1.6 billion — was sold in Florida in August of last year.
Austin, Texas (AP) — Texas has sued the Biden administration to block a federal rule that shields the medical records of women from criminal investigations if they cross state lines to seek abortion where it is legal.
The lawsuit, filed against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), seeks to overturn a regulation finalized in April. In the suit, Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton accused the federal government of trying to “undermine” the state’s law enforcement abilities. This appears to be the first legal challenge from a state with an abortion ban that took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, ending the nationwide right to abortion.
The rule prevents state or local officials from gathering medical records related to reproductive health care for civil, criminal, or administrative investigations from providers or health insurers in states where abortion is legal. Its goal is to protect women living in states where abortion is illegal.
In a statement, HHS declined to comment on the lawsuit but said the rule “stands on its own.”
“The Biden-Harris Administration remains committed to protecting reproductive health privacy and ensuring that no woman’s medical records are used against her, her doctor, or her loved one simply because she got the lawful reproductive care she needed,” the agency said.
Texas’ abortion ban exempts women seeking abortions from criminal charges. However, it enforces the ban through private civil action or under the state’s criminal statutes, with penalties of up to life in prison for anyone assisting a woman in obtaining an abortion.
It’s unclear whether public officials have sought medical records related to abortion. However, the state has previously sought records related to gender-affirming care, demanding them from at least two out-of-state health centers last year. Texas, like many Republican-controlled states, bans gender-affirming care for minors.
At least 22 Democratic-controlled states have laws or executive orders that protect medical providers or patients involved in abortion from investigations by law enforcement in states with bans.
The federal regulation is an update to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), which generally prohibits medical providers and insurers from divulging patient information. However, law enforcement can typically access these records for investigations.
A group of Republican attorneys general from states with strict abortion laws urged HHS to abandon the rule when a draft was released last year. They argued that the regulation unlawfully interferes with states’ authority to enforce their laws.
Paxton said in a news release, “With this rule, the Biden Administration makes a backdoor attempt at weakening Texas’s laws by undermining state law enforcement investigations that implicate medical procedures.”
Liz McCaman Taylor, senior federal policy counselor at the Center for Reproductive Rights, noted that federal law has long provided enhanced protection for sensitive health information. “But Texas is suing now, not because of its concern with state sovereignty, but because of its hostility to reproductive health,” she said.
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — For decades, we’ve been hearing about the possibility of a high-speed train that would take passengers from Houston to Dallas.
It would be the first of its kind — a Japanese-style bullet train that could take you from Houston to Dallas in less than an hour and a half.
The federal government has now awarded Amtrak $64 million to move forward with the project.
It’s nowhere close to the tens of billions the project is expected to cost, but it is a start.
“It’s one of those things that I’ll believe it when I see it,” Ed Emmett, a fellow of Energy and Transportation at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, said. “Generally, I roll my eyes because I first was hearing about Texas high-speed rail, I guess, way back in the 1970’s.”
The proposed route would have one stop, between College Station and Huntsville, to pick up university traffic.
The train would have to go through rural counties, but buying private land to do so has been expensive and complicated in the past.
“You have a lot of property rights people that are upset. High-speed rail can get around that by using eminent domain, but it’s going to cost a lot of money and take a lot of time and court battles,” Emmett said. “High-speed rail really hasn’t gone in anywhere else in the country. The one in California is at least double the cost it was planned.”
We can all agree, however, that Texas is growing quickly, and transportation will eventually need to expand, too.
Researchers are taking a serious look into the chemical found in so-called “magic mushrooms” and how it could potentially help treat depression.
Psilocybin, the chemical found in psychedelic mushrooms, is the subject of a study by UT Health Houston to determine if it is effective in fighting depression in those who cannot find help with currently approved medications.
“They have tried two to four different antidepressants and nothing has worked. So the idea is psilocybin — with adequate psychological support before, during and after — can make a difference for these people,” said Dr. Thomas Meyer, Ph.D.
Meyer is a professor of psychiatry at UTHealth Houston.
He and colleagues around the world are now looking for volunteers to take part in the study. Participants must have diagnosed depression, have tried other medications without success and be at least 18 years of age to participate in the study.
Researchers will give volunteers a single 25-milligram dose in a strict clinical setting. About one-third of the volunteers will receive a placebo.
Researchers say psilocybin impacts how the brain processes serotonin.
“What is seems to do is it downregulates specific parts of the brain which opens us up to making new connections and learning. It seems to affect the brain system that has to do with ourselves and how we see the world,” Dr. Meyer said.
ABC News spoke to a Colorado mom who took the drug and described the effects like this.
“I guess relief might be one word that like everyone could, like, universally understand. Your mood might change to a place where you feel stable, and more in a place of stasis,” said Tracey Tee, who created Moms on Mushrooms following her experience.
It’s important to note that the treatment is still in trial stages and has not been approved for use by the FDA.
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — The “King” has reentered the building.
On Friday, the Houston Astros announced they activated Kyle Tucker from the 60-day injured list and confirmed that the All-Star outfielder would be in the lineup when the club faces the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Astros said they optioned rookie infielder Zach Dezenzo to Triple-A Sugar Land and designated pitcher Parker Mushinski for assignment to make room for Tucker on the roster.
The 27-year-old’s return has been a long time coming since he went down with what was originally called a shin contusion on June 3 when a foul ball hit his leg while batting. What was initially labeled a weeks-long absence turned into three months. Tucker revealed this week that the team found a small fracture in his shin.
Since then, the Astros added veteran depth to the outfield, claiming former a New York Met, Ben Gamel, and signing Jason Heyward from free agency.
Before the injury, Tucker was cruising with 19 home runs and 40 runs batted in during his first 60 games, leading him to enter the American League MVP conversation. Despite the injury, Tucker earned his third All-Star nod in 2024.
Entering Friday’s series opener, Houston is 75-65 and 4.5 games up on Seattle for the AL West lead, with 22 games remaining.
WASHINGTON – Allan Lichtman, a historian known for correctly forecasting 9 out of the last 10 U.S. presidential elections, has announced his prediction for the 2024 race. According to Lichtman, Vice President Kamala Harris is his choice to reclaim the White House.
Lichtman, who developed a unique system based on thirteen “keys” or true-false questions, says these indicators help measure the strength and performance of the White House party. His prediction was first reported by The New York Times.
Who is Allan Lichtman?
Lichtman, a distinguished professor at American University in Washington, D.C., holds a Ph.D. in modern American history from Harvard University. He is well-known for his election forecasts and has authored numerous books and academic articles. Lichtman has also served as an expert witness in civil and voting rights cases.
What are the 13 keys?
Lichtman’s 13 keys assess factors such as the state of the economy, the presence of scandals, and the charisma of the incumbent party’s candidate. Some of the keys include:
Whether the White House party gained seats during midterms
Whether the sitting president is seeking re-election
The strength of the economy, both short and long-term
Whether there is a major foreign policy success or failure
The presence of a charismatic candidate
In Lichtman’s analysis, eight of these keys currently favor Harris, while only three support former President Donald Trump. However, he acknowledged the possibility of changes in foreign policy, particularly regarding the Biden administration’s involvement in the Gaza conflict.
“If foreign policy keys flip, it could affect the outcome,” Lichtman said. However, with only five negative keys, he still predicts a Harris victory.
Track record
Lichtman’s prediction method has been remarkably accurate over the last several decades, with the exception of the 2000 election when George W. Bush defeated Al Gore. Despite the close race that year, Lichtman’s system has otherwise correctly anticipated every presidential winner since the 1980s.
He concluded by urging voters to take part in the upcoming election, saying, “The outcome is up to you, so get out and vote.”
AUSTIN, Texas (KTRK) — Talk to a Texas homeowner; no matter where they live, one thing could be in common.
“Property tax owners need relief,” Ronnie Kirkwood said. “Property taxes are way too high. They’ve been way too high for a long time.”
“Their property taxes are high, and what are you going to do? It is what it is,” Brittney Hughley said.
This week, a group of lawmakers learned what it would take to eliminate property taxes. About $80 billion in property taxes are collected.
The state uses that money for schools, infrastructure, and other projects. To replace the property taxes, the Texas Taxpayers and Researchers Association said the state’s sales tax figure would have to more than double by more than 20%.
“Any proposal to raise sales taxes outside of doing so indirectly by removing some targeted exemptions is another policy that’s dead on arrival this session,” Rice University political science professor Mark Jones said.
Jones added that while lawmakers may not eliminate property taxes, reducing them will be a priority this upcoming session. Jones said you may not have to worry about a rising sales tax.
Instead, he said a push to bring casinos could be the answer.
“That provides a revenue source that presently isn’t on stream that would provide revenue in perpetuity that could fund property tax relief not just for one or two years or three or four years but for decades,” Jones said.
The Tax Foundation said Texas has the sixth highest property tax rates in the country. Last year, $82 billion were collected. The state collected half of that amount at $45 billion a decade ago.
Experts said rising property prices have dramatically increased revenue, which would make it hard to eliminate. Relief, though, is a common theme among homeowners we talked to.
“Think about all the homeowners out there and the regular person and the economy – how it affects everybody right now,” Hughley said.
“Let’s lower them some more,” Kirkwood said. “That’s what we need to do.”
It appears gambling could be something Texans get behind. Earlier this year, the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundationfound nearly 60% of Texans support resort-style casinos.
It’s a figure political experts said will be on lawmakers’ minds when they meet next year to discuss property tax relief.
Boeing’s Starliner capsule is set to return to Earth unpiloted overnight Friday, marking the final chapter of a problematic test flight that has spanned 92 days instead of the planned one week. The spacecraft’s hatch was closed Thursday at 1:29 p.m. EDT, as astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who launched aboard the Starliner in June, remained aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
The Starliner is scheduled to undock from the ISS at 6 p.m. EDT Friday, after which its braking rockets will fire for about 59 seconds to initiate re-entry. The capsule is expected to land just after midnight at White Sands, New Mexico, with Boeing and NASA recovery teams on standby.
While the Starliner returns home, Wilmore and Williams will remain aboard the ISS until February, when they are scheduled to return on a SpaceX Crew Dragon. By then, the astronauts will have spent 262 days in space.
During her final preparations aboard the Starliner, Williams remarked on the bittersweet moment of packing up the spacecraft. “We want to make sure she’s in good shape,” she said, adding that the team was doing their best to ensure a smooth landing.
Boeing initially expected Wilmore and Williams to be aboard the Starliner for its return to Earth, concluding the capsule’s first piloted test flight. However, after helium leaks were detected in the propulsion system and five maneuvering jets malfunctioned during the ship’s rendezvous with the ISS, Boeing and NASA faced critical decisions.
Despite extensive testing that led Boeing engineers to conclude the Starliner was safe for a crewed return, NASA disagreed. NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free explained that Boeing and NASA viewed the risks differently, ultimately deciding there was too much uncertainty to bring the astronauts back aboard the Starliner.
The malfunctioning jets are crucial for maneuvering the spacecraft away from the space station and keeping it stable during its descent. Though more powerful thrusters are used for re-entry, the smaller reaction control jets ensure the capsule stays on the correct trajectory.
“Spaceflight is hard. The margins are thin,” said Norm Knight, director of flight operations at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. “And we have to be right.”
