Gracias por SEGUIRNOS, este artículo contiene la edición 1254 de la revista digital de HOUSTON de ¡Que Onda! Magazine.
Del 05 de enero al 11 de enero del 2023
Police searching for 2 men seen on video holding rideshare driver at gunpoint
Authorities need your help finding two men seen on video trying to carjack and rob a rideshare driver at gunpoint in west Houston.
The Houston Police Department’s Robbery Division shared the shocking video Tuesday, but the actual incident happened on Tuesday, October 18, 2022, around 11 a.m. That’s when investigators said an unidentified driver with a rideshare company received a request to pick up a man (and his friend) only identified as “MJ” at a restaurant in the 7600 block of Westheimer Rd.
The FDA finalizes rule expanding the availability of abortion pills
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday finalized a rule change that broadens the availability of abortion pills to many more pharmacies, including large chains and mail-order companies.
The Biden administration partially implemented the change last year, announcing it would no longer enforce a long-standing requirement that women pick up the medicine in person. Tuesday’s action formally updates the drug’s labeling to allow many more retail pharmacies to dispense the pills, so long as they complete a certification process.
The change could expand access at both brick-and-mortar stores and online pharmacies. Women can get a prescription via telehealth consultation with a health professional, and then receive the pills through the mail, where permitted by law.
Still, the rule change’s impact has been blunted by numerous state laws limiting abortion broadly and the pills specifically. Legal experts foresee years of court battles over access to the pills, as abortion-rights proponents bring test cases to challenge state restrictions.
For more than 20 years, the FDA labeling had limited dispensing to a subset of specialty offices and clinics, due to safety concerns. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA temporarily suspended the in-person requirement. The agency later said a new scientific review by agency staff supported easing access, concurring with numerous medical societies that had long said the restriction wasn’t necessary.
Two drugmakers that make brand-name and generic versions of abortion pills requested the latest FDA label update. Agency rules require a company to file an application before modifying dispensing restrictions on drugs.
Danco Laboratories, which sells branded Mifeprex, said in a statement the change “is critically important to expanding access to medication abortion services and will provide healthcare providers” with another option for prescribing the drug.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists called the update an “important step” forward.
“Although the FDA’s announcement today will not solve access issues for every person seeking abortion care, it will allow more patients who need mifepristone for medication abortion additional options to secure this vital drug,” the group said in a statement.
More than half of U.S. abortions are now done with pills rather than surgery, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.
The FDA in 2000 approved mifepristone to terminate pregnancies of up to 10 weeks when used with a second drug, misoprostol. Mifepristone is taken first to dilate the cervix and block the hormone progesterone, which is needed to sustain a pregnancy. Misoprostol is taken 24 to 48 hours later, causing the uterus to contract and expel the pregnancy tissue.
Bleeding is a common side effect, though serious complications are very rare. The FDA says more than 3.7 million U.S. women have used mifepristone since its approval.
Several FDA-mandated safety requirements remain in effect, including training requirements to certify that prescribers can provide emergency care in the case of excessive bleeding. Pharmacies that dispense the pills also need a certification.
Source: npr
Mayor Sylvester Turner Announces 45th Annual Original MLK Jr. Day Parade
|
El servicio de inmigración de Estados Unidos anuncia nuevas tarifas
El servicio de inmigración estadounidense anunció este martes que planea incrementar las tarifas por sus servicios, incluyendo la ciudadanía y la residencia legal permanente ( green card o tarjeta verde).
La Oficina de Ciudadanía y Servicios de Inmigración (USCIS) publicó este martes en el Registro Federal un aviso público de propuesta de reglamentación de nuevas tarifas.
“Las nuevas tarifas permitirían que USCIS recupere más completamente sus costos operativos, restablezca y mantenga el procesamiento oportuno de casos y prevenga la acumulación de casos atrasados en el futuro”, dijo la agencia en un comunicado.
USCIS indicó que recibe aproximadamente “el 96% de sus fondos de las tarifas de presentación, no de las asignaciones del Congreso”.
La propuesta de nuevas tarifas tendrá un período de comentario público de 60 días y que los nuevos precios no cambiarán hasta que la regla final entre en vigencia, “después de que el público haya tenido la oportunidad de comentar y USCIS finalice el programa de tarifas en respuesta a dichos comentarios”.
Las propuestas de nuevas tarifas
En caso de aprobarse, las nuevas tarifas propuestas afectarían la mayoría de los servicios que brinda la agencia.
En el caso de la ciudadanía por naturalización, trámite que se hace por medio del formulario N-400, tendría un alza de $640 a $760 (un 19%).
En el caso de las peticiones de familiares extranjeros por medio del formulario I-130, la propuesta recomienda un incremento de $535 a $710 (33%), mientras que la solicitud de exención provisional por presencia ilegal, utilizada por cónyuges indocumentados para salir del país en busca de la visa de inmigrante, aumentaría de $715 a $1,195 (55%).
La petición de registro de residencia permanente por medio del formulario I-485 tendría un incremento de $1,140 a $ 1,540 (35%) según la propuesta. Este formulario se presenta después del I-130 y permite comprobar que el extranjero solicitado califica o es elegible para obtener la residencia legal permanente, también conocida como green card o tarjeta verde.
En cuanto a las peticiones para el retiro de las condiciones de residencia, utilizado por cónyuges extranjeros, trámite que se lleva a cabo por medio del formulario I.751, USCIS dijo que aumentaría de $680 dólares a $1,195 (76%).
Para los peticionarios de ajuste con visas tipo H-2A tendrían un incremento de $460 a $ 1,090 ( un 137%) y los peticionarios con visas H-1B deberían pagar $1,080 frente a los $480 actuales, equivalente a un incremento del 135%.
Las visas H-2A las utilizan trabajadores agrícolas, mientras que las visas H-2B están destinadas para trabajadores extranjeros que laboran en la industria hotelera, restaurantes, jardinería y labores de pastoreo, entre otras áreas.
Source: univision
Amenaza de tiempo severo en Houston puede dejar lluvias intensas, fuertes vientos y granizo
Un cúmulo de lluvias y tormentas atraviesan el área de Houston por lo que la región está bajo amenaza de tiempo severo.
Debido a las condiciones del tiempo, no se descartan posibles avisos de tornado.
Es importante destacar que el área de Houston se mantiene bajo este tiempo severo de nivel 2, el máximo es el nivel 5.
Hasta tempranas horas de la tarde del lunes, las autoridades no habían emitido otra vigilancia o aviso en relación a estas lluvias.
Recuerde que si debe salir y va a conducir, estar atento en el volante y no exceder de la velocidad permitida porque las carreteras están mojadas.
Source: univision
Policía de Houston arresta a casi 50 personas acusadas de disparar al aire y conducir ebrias en Año Nuevo
Casi 50 personas pasaron el Día de Año Nuevo tras las rejas luego de ser acusados de disparar armas de fuego al aire y conducir ebrios en la ciudad de Houston.
Troy Finner, jefe de la policía de Houston, ofreció un balance del último fin de semana 2022 y el inicio de este 2023.
5 sospechosos fueron arrestados por disparar al aire durante la celebración de Año Nuevo. Por su parte, 43 personas fueron acusadas de conducir ebrios.
No solo fue noticia el fin de semana las detenciones, sino también la herida que sufrió una niña, de 12 años, al rozarle una bala en el cuello durante las celebraciones.
El incidente ocurrió alrededor de las 12:30am en la cuadra 6405 de la West Bellfort en Houston, según dijo la policía en sus redes sociales.
La menor fue llevada al hospital y se encuentra estable.
El Departamento de la Policía de Houston pidió a la comunidad que si tienen información sobre este u otro incidente, pueden denunciarlo llamando al 713-308-8800 o también a Crime Stoppers al 713-222-8477.
¿Qué hacer ante una persona armada?
De acuerdo a la Policía de Houston, para enfrentar una situación donde una persona esté armada o haya un tiroteo, hay tres principios básicos que todo ciudadano debe saber: correr, esconderse y pelear.
Si optas por correr y estás en tu lugar de trabajo o casa, ten en mente una ruta de escape. Si puedes, ayuda a otros a escapar y llama al 911 cuando estés a salvo.
Para esconderse cierra la puerta donde estés con seguro y pon tu teléfono en modo vibrador para que no se escuche.
Como última opción, la policía recomienda pelear y solo debes hacerlo si tu vida está en peligro inminente. Intenta incapacitar al agresor.
Source: univision
Avatar: The Way of Water continues to conquer the box office with $1.17B worldwide
James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water is still making waves at the box office after shooting the curl to $1.17 billion worldwide. With so many dollars to its name, Avatar: The Way of Water is the third-highest-grossing film of the pandemic era, treading water behind Spider-Man: No Way Home ($1.9 billion) and Top Gun: Maverick ($1.5 billion).
Cameron’s splashy sequel experienced another monster Wednesday at the box office with $20 million in domestic dollars. After doing some math, that brings the film’s Stateside total to $358 million. Additionally, the film brought in another $47.9 million in domestic earnings, cranking the international count to $810.6 million.
Still, Avatar: The Way of Water needs to earn more money if it’s going to make its production budget back and then some. Analysts say the movie needs to breach around $1.4 billion to break even. Thankfully, if Avatar 2 keeps raking in dollars like so many leaf piles prime for jumping, it’ll do just fine. I don’t plan to see the film, but I’m confident Cameron will achieve his goal of getting Avatar: The Way of Water beyond the goal line.
Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, Avatar: The Way of Water tells the story of the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri, and their kids), the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure.
James Cameron directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. The first of several planned sequels stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement, Brendan Cowell, Joel David Moore, and more.
Have you seen Avatar: The Way of Water yet? What did you think about the film? Will Cameron’s film break even and continue to swim past the competition? Given the film’s success, do you think Cameron will keep making Avatar films beyond the third film in the franchise? Keep in mind that Avatar 3 is already in post-production. Let us know what you think about Avatar‘s performance and future in the comments.
Harris Co. election issues caused by short staffing, malfunctioning machines, paper jams, Astros win
Nearly two months after Election Day, Harris County released a report outlining what went wrong, and in it, leaders blame the Astros World Series win for why many places didn’t open on time.
Issues emerged well before Election Day
This week, the Harris County Elections Administration released a post-election assessment on the 2022 midterms. The 54-page document outlines what happened from early voting, Election Day, and after Election Day.
During early voting, the report says some voting machines showed a “Controller not found” error message. This required technicians to respond to locations.
They also said paper jams caused issues with ballots, though the report does not say how many computers had issues or how many paper jams were caused.
Leaders also blamed the United States Postal Service for mail-in ballot problems. The county said it used a tracking system to see ballots moving through USPS.
The county learned ballots may not have been moving through the USPS system. So to fix the problem, the county spoke with USPS staff on a weekly basis about mail ballot delivery, return scanning, and postage cost.
The report doesn’t show how many ballots got stuck with USPS, and on Election Day, the “Controller not found” error message continued.
The county also said it needed 6,500 staff members to handle the election, but only had 5,498. In addition, paper jams and lack of supplies were also allegedly an issue.
The report shows 68 Election Day voting locations ran out of paper, and 61 received additional deliveries.
As far as turning voters away because of paper, the report states, “Our investigation has not yet revealed how many of these voting centers had to turn voters away due to a paper shortage.”
Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey has concerns with the report.
“I’m an engineer with 40-plus years of experience of doing reports, and if I turned that report in, and tried to get paid for it, I wouldn’t be,” Ramsey said.
Ramsey added that his concern is over the lack of specifics.
“It does not address the basics,” Ramsey said. “The basics of why weren’t polls open on time. The basics of why would you let certain polling locations run out of paper?”
County leaders also blame Astros World Series win for Election Day problems
On Election Day, some voting locations failed to open on time. The Harris County post-election assessment doesn’t say how many locations opened late. However, it does place blame on the Astros, saying:
“Election Day voting did not proceed according to plan for 170 voting centers because of the celebratory World Series Parade. Several ISD’s gave their staff the Monday off to participate in the parade. As a result, the presiding judges at those locations had to reschedule set up for Monday evening/night as opposed to Monday morning and for some locations set up occurred on Tuesday morning. This resulted in reports from several election judges that they were delayed in opening at 7:00am due to limited time to setup on Election Day.”
“I don’t even understand that,” Ramsey explained. “So, you say the Astros impacted polling locations opening up? Well, do you have a telephone? Can you call someone?”
Several school districts, including Houston ISD, closed on Monday for the championship parade. The event started at 11 a.m. and was over by early afternoon. Because of the late opening at several locations and other problems, voting was extended an hour. It was later overturned.
Report lacks specifics on several issues because it places blame on Harris County Republican Party for getting involved
In its assessment in what went wrong, county leaders said they couldn’t get answers from some workers and the report places blame on the Harris County Republican Party.
“During the post-election assessment, (Elections Administrator’s Office) staff reviewed call logs and support tickets to gain an understanding of what occurred on Election Day. The EAO’s recruiting and training staff conducted a calling assessment to all (polling judges and alternate judges). Although EOA staff was able to speak to most of the PJs and AJs, many of them provided confusing answers and some declined to speak after reportedly being advised not to do so by the Harris County Republican Party,” the report said.
“We were not advising them not to,” Harris County Republican Party Chairwoman Cindy Siegel said. “We said if they were going to speak to them that they needed to make sure they were clear in what they were reporting. and that if they could they could have someone else on the line with them.”
County leaders said the Republican Party also played a role in delaying votes getting back to the main headquarters. To help get ballots from voting locations to the headquarters, the county offers a driver program. The report said, “The Harris County Republican Party advised that all of their presiding judges would not participate in the County driver program and would deliver their respective election returns to Central Count, although several of their presiding judges requested and received a driver.”
Report outlines what the calls for help were from election workers
To help election workers with issues, the Elections Administration set up a help desk, which received more than 1,600 calls for assistance. Of those calls, 23% were related to issues with the voting machines, 8% were about supplies and ballot paper, and 9% were tied to worker procedural questions.
The report said county staff “takes all support ticket calls very seriously regardless of the nature of the call and endeavors to remedy the situation either by telephone support or dispatching a technician to support on site. During the election and after the election we review all support logs from the voting centers and look for trends. Once we identify an issue that is occurring at multiple locations or across the County, we discuss with the vendor and identify ways to resolve or correct an issue in real time, if possible or to identify if the matter requires a long-term solution.”
What needs to happen in order to fix future elections
The report also outlines what needs to change in order to improve future elections. County leaders said they need to create a communications system because there is “no real visibility” to track a call for help, and when it’s completed.
They said they want to hire more full-time staff, although it doesn’t say how many more personnel is needed.
The Elections Administration also wants more resources and tools to fix voting machine issues when they arise. In addition, they want to evaluate election workers and determine how best to use them, as well as improve training.
Source: ABC13
Happy New Year from Mayor Sylvester Turner
|
