Gracias por SEGUIRNOS, este artículo contiene la revista digital de HOUSTON de ¡Que Onda Magazine! De fecha 23 de diciembre – 29 de diciembre / 2021
Texans Announce Unfortunate News On WR Brandin Cooks
The Houston Texans are the latest team to have Week 16 derailed by cases of COVID-19. On Wednesday, the organization revealed that one of its top offensive players tested positive for the virus.
According to an announcement from the Texans, wide receiver Brandin Cooks was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list on Wednesday afternoon. The designation will make it much more difficult for the veteran pass-catcher to get on the field for Houston’s game this week against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Under the league’s health and safety protocols, Cooks will have a chance to return this weekend, but he’ll need to make a quick turnaround to be ready to play by Sunday.
Cooks has been the sole bright spot for a Texans offense that’s struggled to have much if any, success this season. Playing in all 14 games so far this year, the 28-year-old veteran has caught 80 passes for 945 yards and five touchdowns.
He leads Houston in all three major receiving categories and by quite a large margin in receptions and yards.
Cooks wasn’t the only player in Houston to land on the list in the middle of Week 16. Kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn and linebacker Eric Wilson also received the designation.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that Texans coach David Culley said last week that Wilson is the team’s only unvaccinated player. That means he’s guaranteed to be out on Sunday, while Cooks and Fairbairn still have a chance to play.
The Texans will hope to get an answer soon before they welcome in the Chargers to Houston on Sunday for a 1 p.m. ET kickoff.
Source: thespun
Celtics sign 40-year-old Joe Johnson to 10-day contract
Joe Johnson knew there was always a chance he could get back into the NBA, especially with the recent increase of COVID-19 cases.
It happened Wednesday when the Boston Celtics signed the 40-year-old Johnson to a 10-day contract before their 111-101 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The crowd chanted “We Want Joe! “We Want Joe!” and broke into a loud cheer when he got off the bench and came into the game. He got a huge ovation when he hit a fallaway jumper in the final minute.
“It is kind of surreal,” Johnson said. “To come into the game and be somewhat effective, that’s fun. At my age, you try to relish every moment, enjoy the process and live in the moment. That’s kind of what I’m doing right now, living in the moment and it’s fun.”
Johnson knows people will first talk about his age when they see he’s back in the league for the first time since 2018.
“I don’t look at my age and say, `I can’t play with these guys,'” Johnson said before the game. “I know it’s a young man’s game, but at the same time, as I said, I pay a lot of attention to my body.”
Johnson started his NBA career with Boston when he was drafted 10th overall in 2001. The seven-time All-Star played 1,276 regular-season games through the 2017-18 season, averaging 16.0 points with the Celtics, Phoenix, Atlanta, Brooklyn, Miami, Utah, and Houston.
To stay in shape, Johnson said he’s been working out in the gym with his 14-year-old son.
“I wouldn’t say ‘give up,’ but I didn’t have high hopes,” Johnson said his thoughts about getting another chance.
Now, he’s got an example for his son.
“I always talk to him about work, you can’t see what’s next,” he said.
Johnson was signed because Boston has seven players in the NBA’s COVID protocols.
“I think it is a different situation,” Boston coach Ime Udoka said about his added veteran presence “It’s a guy that all looked up to at some point. Jayson (Tatum) specifically started smiling and said: ‘That was one of my favorite players growing up.”’
Johnson found out from his agent when he was out celebrating his daughter’s eighth birthday.
“When my agent called me yesterday and said this was on the table, it was a no-brainer for me,” he said. “I’m a guy that takes care of my body and I’m in pretty good shape. I felt like I was ready to take on that challenge.”
Source: click2houston
Houston Health Department-affiliated free COVID-19 testing sites open, within capacity
Houston Health Department-affiliated COVID-19 testing sites are open across the city with the capacity to test at least 19,000 people daily.
Although testing demand is up, none of the sites have closed this week due to capacity. The department is monitoring demand and plans to scale up capacity if needed.
People can visit HoustonHealth.org or call 832-393-4220 to find a nearby free testing site. If individual sites reach capacity, the website will update.
“We’re pleased to leverage our existing network of partners to provide robust COVID-19 testing opportunities across Houston,” said Stephen Williams, director of the health department. “In addition to vaccination, testing is another layer of protection that can help us celebrate more safely this holiday season.”
This week’s schedule includes 28 free testing sites consisting of health department multi-service centers, Curative kiosks, and United Memorial Medical Center sites.
Houston Health Department
Houston Health Department testing sites are open from December 22 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and December 23 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The sites do not require appointments, but appointments are available via www.hhdvaccinations.org or by calling 832-393-4220. Each health department site has the capacity for approximately 250 daily tests.
- Acres Homes Multi-Service Center, 6719 W. Montgomery Rd, 77091
- Hiram Clark Multi-Service Center, 3810 Fuqua St, 77045
- Magnolia Multi-Service Center, 7037 Capitol St., 77011
- Southwest Multi-Service Center, 6400 High Star Dr.
Curative
Appointments for Curative walk-up testing kiosks are available at curative.com and walk-ups are welcome. The sites are open December 22-23 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. unless noted otherwise below. Creative sites have a daily capacity of approximately 800 tests each.
- Beltway South, 11601 S. Sam Houston Pkwy, 77089
- Fe Y Justicia Worker Center, 1209 James St., 77009
- First Transit, 5555 Deauville Plaza Dr., 77092
- Hearthstone Corners Shopping Center, 6016 Highway 6 North, 77084
- Hermann Park (Miller Outdoor Theatre), 6000 Hermann Park Dr., 77030
- Jones Square, 10955 FM 1960 West, 77070
- Maplewood, 5645 Beechnut, 77096
- Memorial Drive-Presbyterian Church, 11612 Memorial Drive, 77024
- METRO Fallbrook, 111 Fallbrook Dr., 77038
- METRO Fannin South, 1604 W. Belfort Blvd., 77054
- METRO Hiram Clark, 4175 Uptown Dr., 77045
- METRO Kashmere, 5700 Eastex Fwy., 77026
- METRO Polk, 5700 Polk St., 77023
- METRO West, 11555 Westpark Dr., 77082
- Northshore Shopping Center, 1238 Uvalde Rd., 77015
- Orange Grove Parking Lot, 10225 Almeda Genoa Rd., 77075
- Tanglewilde Center, 9529 Westheimer, 77063
- Telephone Road Center Kiosk, 3337 Telephone Rd., 77023
- University of Houston-Downtown, 201 Girard St., 77002
- University of St. Thomas, 1300 Richmond Ave. (9 a.m. – 5 p.m.)
- Vida City Church, 1300 W. Mount Houston Rd., 77038 (9 a.m. – 5 p.m.)
United Memorial Medical Center
United Memorial Medical Center testing sites do not require appointments and are open December 22-24 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. People may visit ummcscreening.com/testing-locations for additional UMMC sites not listed below. UMMC sites have the capacity for approximately 550 daily tests.
- Houston Community College – Southeast Campus, 6815 Rustic, St., 77087
- PlazAmericas, 7500 Bellaire Blvd., 77036
- United Memorial Medical Center, 510 W Tidwell Rd., 77091
Getting tested or vaccinated at Houston Health Department-affiliated sites is FREE, and does not require proof of residency, citizenship, or insurance.
Testing and vaccination schedules are updated weekly at houstonhealth.org. People may call 832-393-4220 for assistance finding nearby free sites.
Health Department-affiliated sites are not the only places people can get tested for COVID-19 in Houston. Testing is available at most doctor offices and many retail pharmacies, in addition to many independent providers across the city.
Source: cityofhouston
Bucks snap 2-game skid with 126-106 victory over Rockets
After learning while in quarantine that his grandmother died, Wesley Matthews returned from health and safety protocols and delivered a performance to honor her.
Matthews scored a season-high 16 points and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Houston Rockets 126-106 on Wednesday night to snap a two-game skid.
“It meant the world to me because my grandma meant the world to me,” Matthews said. “What brought her the most joy was watching me play. There was no doubt. I knew what I had to do.”
Jrue Holiday led the Bucks with 24 points. Khris Middleton added 23 after missing three games with a hyperextended left knee. But it was Matthews’ performance that had the Bucks searching for superlatives.
“He’s one of the ultimate warriors I’ve ever been around,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “I have so much respect for him. So glad he’s here. That’s one of the more impressive things I’ve seen in a long time, for a lot of reasons.”
Matthews hadn’t scored more than three points in any of the other four games he had played since signing with the Bucks on Dec. 3, but the 35-year-old guard was in peak form Wednesday.
He shot 6 of 7 overall and 4 of 5 from 3-point range as he returned to action after a five-game absence.
“I didn’t know what to expect, what kind of emotion,” Matthews said. “The main thing is she just wanted me to hustle and work. That’s what I was going to do. Whether I made the shot or didn’t make the shot, I was going to leave everything out there because I know what brought her joy. I’m hoping we did that tonight with a win.”
The Bucks were missing two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo for a fourth straight game as he remains in the NBA’s health and safety protocols along with teammates Bobby Portis and Donte DiVincenzo.
Houston wasn’t missing anyone for reasons related to COVID-19, but Jalen Green hasn’t played since Nov. 24 due to a strained left hamstring and Kevin Porter Jr. has been out nearly three weeks with a bruised left thigh.
Christian Wood led the Rockets with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Houston also got 12 points each from Eric Gordon and KJ Martin plus 10 apiece from Garrison Mathews and Alperen Sengun.
Milwaukee’s DeMarcus Cousins had 18 points and eight rebounds. Jordan Nwora added 18 points and nine rebounds for the Bucks.
The Bucks scored 16 straight points in the second quarter to seize control. Holiday scored seven points during the stretch, and Cousins added five with a three-point play and a dunk.
Nwora provided the most memorable play of that spurt by sinking a 3-pointer after making a nifty step-back move that sent Houston’s Armoni Brooks sprawling to the floor.
Houston took more than half its shots from 3-point range but made just 28.9% of its attempts from beyond the arc.
“Their defense is proven,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. “That’s what they do. They take away the paint.”
TIP-INS
Rockets: Wood had another big game while continuing to deal with left knee tendinitis, which caused him to miss two games last week. Wood has scored at least 20 points in five of the last six games he has played.
Bucks: Grayson Allen didn’t play. Budenholzer said Allen was dealing with an illness unrelated to COVID-19. … The Bucks are playing on back-to-back days for the third time in the last two weeks. … Nwora has scored in double figures for a career-high four straight games. … The Bucks completed a regular-season sweep of the Rockets. The Bucks won 123-114 at Houston on Dec. 10 to snap the Rockets’ seven-game winning streak.
Source: click2houston
Houston-area COVID-19 testing sites attract long lines ahead of Christmas holiday
Tis’ the season for long COVID-19 testing lines and short patience. It’s an image you’ll likely see at testing sites across the Houston area for both drive-up and walk-up sites this week.
“The line is this way and people are coming from the other direction. They’re trying to cut it,” said Andrea Luna, who waited in line at the drive-thru site in west Houston for a test.
Across the nation, long lines for COVID-19 tests were reported in Miami, New York, and Cleveland, Ohio as health experts and President Joe Biden urge Americans to get tested ahead of Christmas travel and gatherings.
Alex Duncan of Houston just returned from Chicago on Sunday and said she was stunned by the wait time at a testing kiosk Monday.
“I was stunned because I was looking for a place to get tested, and this place came up and I made an appointment,” Duncan said. “Well, how do I have an appointment and there’s a line?”
Site operator for Curative’s Tanglewilde kiosk Dominique Coleman said the average wait time was an hour, even for those with an appointment.
“We did close to 500 tests yesterday,” she said. “Today, we’re on track for more than that.”
Coleman said she attributes the uptick in people seeking tests to the omicron variant and people wanting to gather with family for the Christmas holiday.
Source: www.click2houston.com
Omicron variant in Houston: Boosters may not provide lasting effects
As the omicron variant makes its way through southeast Texas, we’re learning more about how it’s impacting people, including how quickly booster effectiveness is fading.
Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine said there are many breakthrough cases right now because it appears the COVID-19 booster protection fades against the omicron variant. The protection goes from 75% protection from symptomatic cases to 35% in just three months.
“There is a good possibility you will get a breakthrough symptomatic infection with COVID,” Hotez explained. “The good news is, the overwhelming number of those cases are not severe. You’ll have some comfort knowing it’s highly unlikely you’ll require hospitalization for COVID.”
Knowing this, Hotez said the next few weeks could put a strain on the hospital systems. He said many health care workers could test positive for COVID.
“With so much omicron going around, my biggest concern are the doctors, nurses and staff of hospitals in the Texas Medical Center, and our surrounding area, who have to call out sick,” Hotez explained.
PLAN, TESTS, AND HEALTH CARE WORKER PROTECTION IS WHAT EXPERTS WANT TO HEAR FROM PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN
On Tuesday, Pres. Joe Biden will address the country about his plan to handle the omicron variant. On Monday, administration leaders said it won’t be a lockdown plan, but a warning to unvaccinated individuals.
Hotez wants to hear Biden lay out a plan on making testing more readily available, especially at-home kits. He also wants to hear more about how the president plans to protect health care workers.
Some studies have suggested the omicron variant may not be as dangerous as previous variants, including delta, however, Hotez said he isn’t convinced.
“I’d be careful about extrapolating that our situation here in the U.S. I don’t think we really know that,” Hotez said. “There are reasons to believe it could be as serious as some of the previous variants.”
Hotez said they’re also working to determine the impact on kids.
“We’re seeing with omicron and South Africa and Europe, we’re seeing a lot of pediatric hospitalizations as well and that’s something we’re going to be looking out for,” Hotez said.
WHEN WILL THE PANDEMIC COME TO AN END?
Recently, Pfizer’s CEO suggested the pandemic may not end until 2024. Hotez said it’s not a good idea to put a timeline on it as new variants can emerge.
He adds the way to beat the virus is to vaccinate the globe as quickly as possible.
“If we can really take steps to vaccinate the world, I think we’ll be in a much better position to not necessarily just throw up our hands and say we have to live with this virus,” Hotez said.
As for COVID being a virus we have to live with, Hotez said that may not be the case.
“Not necessarily. There are viruses that come and go and don’t return for a period of years as well,” Hotez explained. “I think there are a lot of possible scenarios. For instance, we don’t know how long this omicron wave will last. Some are saying a matter of weeks. Some are saying we don’t know, it could linger on for quite a while.”
Source: abc13.com
2 dead after small UPS plane
Two people were killed Tuesday morning when a small plane struck a paraglider near the Brazos River, Fort Bend County Pct. 3 Constable Chat Norvell confirmed.
The crash happened near the Sportsmen Club in the 3500 block of Bowser in the Weston Lakes area.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, a single-engine Cessna 208 took off from George Bush Intercontinental Airport around 9:40 a.m. and was headed to Victoria Regional Airport.
During the flight, the plane collided with a paraglider also flying in the area. One person was on board each aircraft.
The plane was a UPS carrier plane.
The FAA has released a statement which read, in part:
following statement:
“The FAA and NTSB will investigate. The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide all updates. Neither agency identifies people involved in aircraft accidents. After investigators verify the aircraft registration number at the scene, the FAA will release it on their webpage, usually on the next business day. You can look up the aircraft by its registration number on their webpage.”
Source: www.click2houston.com
Houston’s mayor, other leaders encourage residents to get a vaccine booster shot as COVID cases surge
Local officials reinforced their call Tuesday for residents in southeast Texas to get a booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine in order to fight off the surge of the omicron variant, echoing similar statements made by President Biden.
“I give a lot of credit to that third dose,” said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, who announced Dec. 17 that he had tested positive for COVID-19. Turner is fully vaccinated and said he received a booster dose in October. Despite doing so, Turner said he began to feel symptoms associated with bad allergies, thinking they were just that.
“They felt like sinus issues or allergies, slight sore throat, itchiness in the throat and then drainage, a cough,” he said.
Turner has been under self-quarantine at his home. He said overall, he feels okay and said that was because of his third dose of the vaccination.
“I’m doing much better,” he said. “I started experiencing symptoms late Thursday night. Never had a fever or anything and never felt any fatigue.”
Turner’s symptoms were in line with those described for the omicron variant, which doctors said has become the most dominant strand in the United States.
On Tuesday, Biden urged Americans to get fully vaccinated and a booster shot to fight off severe illness and infection.
“We should all be concerned about omicron but not panicked. If you’re fully vaccinated, especially if you got your booster shot, you are highly protected,” Biden said. The president also announced the Federal government will provide 500 million free at-home tests, as well as add more testing sites and pop-up vaccination clinics.
Testing has been a prime priority for many this week with long lines at testing locations sites throughout the Houston area leading up to the Christmas holiday.
”Testing is also important, because quite frankly, if I didn’t go and get tested and just thought what I thought I had, then I could have been infecting a whole lot of people,” Turner said, adding he supported the President’s direction on the fight against omicron.
Data from the Texas Department of State Health Services show that out of the 16,322,032 Texans who are fully vaccinated, 4,182,621 have received a booster dose as of Tuesday. That amounts to roughly 26% of Texans who are considered to be fully vaccinated.
Area health leaders said omicron is the most dominant variant in the Houston area, currently.
Dr. Linda Yancey, an infectious disease expert at Memorial Hermann Hospital, said she has seen an increase in the number of people inquiring about a booster dose given the rise of the omicron variant.
“We are seeing people who took a wait and see approach early on. They have waited. They have seen and they are coming in and getting vaccinated,” Yancey said.
Source: www.click2houston.com
In Texas Supreme Court case, state argues that Dallas-Houston bullet train developer can’t use eminent domain
The Texas attorney general’s office has put its weight behind a landowner’s case against the companies developing a controversial Dallas-Houston bullet train, arguing they can’t force people to sell parcels needed for the high-speed rail project.
Weighing in on the matter at the invitation of the Texas Supreme Court, the attorney general’s office offered the latest twist in the nearly decade-long fight over a 240-mile line that would connect Dallas and Houston. While the project has picked up support from leaders of urban areas, it’s encountered hard resistance from residents of the rural counties on its proposed path.
One of those residents, Leon County landowner James Miles, sued Texas Central after the private company sought permission to survey his 600-acre property in 2015 as part of its efforts to examine the land for the project. Miles asked the courts to declare that the company did not have the right to enter his property because it does not have the eminent domain authority granted to railroad companies.
He won at a trial court, but the legal dispute reached the Texas Supreme Court after a state appellate court in Corpus Christi sided with Texas Central and a related company.
In a legal brief filed with the Texas Supreme Court on Friday, deputies for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argued the high court should reverse that appellate decision and rule in Miles’ favor because the companies fall short of the Texas Constitution’s definition of a rail company.
“The [companies] may only make preliminary examinations and surveys of private landowners’ properties for the purpose of constructing and operating a bullet train if they are either railroad companies or interurban electric railway companies,” the state wrote in its brief. “In the State’s view, the [companies] are neither.”
That leaves them with “no authority to enter, examine, survey or condemn Miles’ land,” the state wrote.
The state’s legal brief turns largely on the meaning of a portion of the state Transportation Code that gives private entities the ability to exercise eminent domain if they are “operating a railroad.” Reading at times as a semantic study in how to interpret tenses and grammar in state statute, the state said the companies could not be classified in that way because they “currently own no trains and have constructed no tracks or train depots.”
“The rules of grammar confirm that the Respondents are not railroad companies,” the AG’s office argued.
In the litigation, the companies have contended they meet that definition under the Transportation Code because they have performed the preliminary activities needed to construct a railroad, creating a reasonable probability that they would operate a railroad in the future.
The state also disagreed with the companies on this point, saying they could not show a likelihood of procuring sufficient financing to complete the project.
Texas Central representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company has previously promised to fund the project — at a cost of around $20 billion — with the support of private investors and without public funds.
Company executives have previously said they would prefer not to use eminent domain “at all” and would rather work out amicable sales agreements for the thousands of parcels needed to construct the project across 10 counties. The company has also vowed to minimize how much the line will impact the land around it.
The high-speed rail project has been mired by setbacks and controversy for the better part of a decade. In both courthouses and at the Capitol, opponents have zeroed in on Texas Central’s claim that state law gives it the right to use eminent domain and force unwilling owners to sell their land.
The push for the Dallas-Houston bullet train has been built on its promise of establishing a line on which trains could run at speeds of up to 205 mph to cut a trip that would normally take four hours by car down to 90 minutes.
But securing the land along its proposed route has proven a challenge. In 2020, Texas Central said it had secured more than 600 parcels covering just about 40% of the lots — not the land — it needs for the project. Given fierce opposition to the project in rural areas, eminent domain is seen as likely to become a necessity at some point.
In Leon County, one proposal would bisect Miles’ 600 acres with a 100-foot right-of-way, according to the legal filings.
On Monday, opponents of the rail described the attorney general’s brief as a “strong show of support for Texas private property rights.”
“The brief filed by the [attorney general’s office] is clear that the past activities, corporate structure and financial state of the project coupled with the very high level of uncertainty that the project would ever even be built does not meet a threshold that would support Texas Central’s claim that it has eminent domain authority,” the group Texans Against High-Speed Rail said in a press release.
Source: www.click2houston.com