HOUSTON, Texas — The NFL has suspended Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair three games for his hit Sunday to Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
Jon Runyan, the NFL’s vice president of football operations, announced the suspension Tuesday, adding that the league deemed the hit “unacceptable” and that Al-Shaair’s “continued disregard” for rules governing player safety “will not be tolerated.”
Al-Shaair was ejected in the second quarter of Houston’s victory Sunday over Jacksonville after his violent blow to the sliding Lawrence’s face mask caused the star quarterback to suffer a concussion.
“You were involved in a play that the (NFL) considers unacceptable and a serious violation of the playing rules,” Runyan wrote Tuesday. “Video shows you striking the head/neck area of Jaguars’ quarterback Trevor Lawrence after he clearly goes down in a feet-first slide…You led with your forearm and helmet and delivered a forceful blow to the head/neck area of your opponent when you had time and space to avoid such contact.”
Lawrence clenched both fists after the hit — movements consistent with what’s referred to as the “fencing response,” which can be common after a traumatic brain injury. He was on the ground for several minutes as teammates came to his defense and mobbed Al-Shaair.
Runyan said in his letter that Al-Shaair “proceeded to engage in a brawl, which you escalated when you pulled an opponent down to the ground by his facemask,” and also added that after being ejected, the six-year veteran “removed your helmet and reengaged with your opponent while walking down and across the field, which started another physical confrontation near the end zone.”
Last week, Al-Shaair was flagged and later fined $11,255 for a late hit out of bounds on Tennessee Titans running back Tony Pollard. He also was fined $11,817 earlier this year after he punched Chicago Bears running back Roschon Johnson on the sideline in Week 2. That occurred during a scuffle that started after his hard shot on quarterback Caleb Williams near the sideline wasn’t flagged.
“Your lack of sportsmanship and respect for the game of football and all those who play, coach, and enjoy watching it, is troubling and does not reflect the core values of the NFL,” Runyan wrote. “Your continued disregard for NFL playing rules puts the health and safety of both you and your opponents in jeopardy and will not be tolerated.”
On Monday, the new Enron launched its website, paid for a full-page ad in the Houston Chronicle, published at least two billboards, and produced a gauzy promotional video touting the company.
“No one knows what the hell this is,” quipped Dan Cogdell, famed Houston defense attorney who still keeps in touch with at least three former Enron executives he once represented.
When ABC13 showed him the newspaper advertisement, Cogdell immediately messaged his former clients, asking if they knew anything about it.
Meanwhile, the internet rumor mill is filled with speculation that it is all to prepare for a cryptocurrency product launch.
“I can’t imagine how rebranding or reutilizing the Enron name is going to lead to a Phoenix-like rise from the ashes for the company,” chuckled Cogdell. “I don’t see it. It’s got too much negative Karma associated with it.”
Still, there always seems to be a buyer when it comes to Enron.
The famed crooked E logo once graced the front of Enron’s headquarters and found a buyer in 2002.
In fact, Truman Pham remembers the day when his then-boss bought the infamous logo to put in his computer repair shop.
A former employee said that looking back, he estimates about 95% of employees had no idea about the accounting malfeas…Show more
“I had the check in my hand, and when the truck delivery came in, the boss told me, ‘You got to hand this check to the guy.’ So I had the check in my hand about $54,000,” Pham said.
The sign now sits behind the secretary’s desk at a chiropractor’s office.
It’s too heavy to move, and the computer company is no longer operating. But you can book a back adjustment while staring at the sign.
The neon lights also stopped working a few months ago.
Once ABC13 told him about the website, even Cogdell was begrudgingly intrigued on Monday.
That was enough for him to buy some merch for the new website during our interview.
“I’ve already ordered the puffer vest and some bumper stickers, so we’re going to find out. If it’s a ploy, it worked on me,” he laughed.
Eyewitness News emailed the new Enron for comment; a spokesperson replied that they would have an announcement in seven days.
SUGAR LAND, Texas (KTRK) — Shots were fired outside an H-E-B in Sugar Land after an armored truck theft Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.
The Sugar Land Police Department confirmed the incident unfolding at the H-E-B on University Boulevard and Highway 6.
At about 12:10 p.m., police said a suspect stole a bag of cash from an armored truck and took off. That’s when SLPD said a security officer fired at the suspect vehicle at least twice, hitting it.
In an update, Sugar Land PD said two suspects are wanted after witnesses reported seeing two men where the vehicle was dropped off. Police said the suspect vehicle has been found.
Thre are no known injuries at this time.
SLPD said a search is underway for the two suspects.
People didn’t just fill their plates this Thanksgiving weekend — data shows they also filled their online shopping carts.
Black Friday online shopping this year set a new high, reaching $10.8 billion in sales, according to Adobe Analytics, which tracks U.S. e-commerce data.
Shoppers walks past a Black Friday Deals sign in a Walmart in Buffalo, NY, on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024.AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar
That’s more than double what online consumers spent on online shopping in 2017, when sales were just over $5 billion, according to Adobe.
The record pace of Black Friday buying followed record-setting online shopping on Thanksgiving itself, the analytics firm said. Consumers spent a record $6.1 billion online on Turkey Day — up nearly 9% compared to a year ago, according to Adobe.
What are people buying this Black Friday?
Spending on toys was a major driver of online Black Friday sales, according to Adobe, with overall toy sales up 622% compared to an average day earlier this fall. Sales of jewelry were up by 561%, appliances up by 476%, apparel up by 374$ and electronics up 334%.
Popular toys included included Harry Potter LEGO sets, “Wicked” toys, card and board games, Disney Princess toys and dolls and Cookeez Makery oven play sets. Gaming consoles, such the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch OLED and Meta Quest were also popular.
Other “hot sellers,” according to Adobe, were makeup and skin-care sets, Bluetooth speakers and headphones, smart watches, perfumes and espresso machines.
Increasingly, online shopping is happening on smaller screens. More than half of all online sales on Black Friday –about 55% — were on mobile screens, according to Adobe.
Overall, it appears people were more keen to shop online than to hit the stores in-person.
In another analysis of Black Friday spending, MasterCard said online retail sales rose 14.6% compared to last year, while in-store sales only inched up 0.7%.
One million additional people will have their toll tags switched over to the Harris County Toll Road Authority, or HCTRA, starting Monday as the system is taking over accounts for TxTag users.
That includes toll billing and customer service operations for customers in the Austin and Houston regions.
Austin
SH 130
SH 45 N
SH 45 SE
Mopac/Loop 1
Houston
Grand Parkway
Hwy. 249
TxDOT will also continue to own and maintain its toll roads in these areas.
According to the toll road authority, this change will help streamline payments, including more consistent billing and AutoPay.
All transitioned TxTag accounts will get the same 10% discount on all HCTRA toll roads for two-axle vehicles.
TxTag customers will be able to keep their same tag if the account is in good standing and functioning properly.
TxTag customers will need to create new online access and are encouraged to log on to HCTRA or download the EZ Tag app to confirm their accounts.
Nothing changes for drivers who already have an EZ Tag.
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A high-ranking leader of a Mexican drug cartel who lived in the U.S. under a phony identity after faking his own death has been arrested on federal charges, the Justice Department said Thursday.
Cristian Fernando Gutierrez Ochoa – the son-in-law of the fugitive Jalisco New Generation cartel boss known as “El Mencho” – was arrested this week on drug trafficking and money laundering offenses in Riverside where he had been living using a fake name after fleeing Mexico, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors say Gutierrez Ochoa, 37, faked his own death and fled to the U.S. to avoid Mexican authorities after kidnapping two members of the Mexican Navy in 2021. His father-in-law, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes or “El Mencho,” told associates he killed Gutierrez Ochoa for lying, helping the man escape to the U.S. to be with “El Mencho’s” daughter, the Justice Department said.
Gutierrez Ochoa is accused of conspiring to import thousands of kilograms of methamphetamine and cocaine into the U.S., and using violence to further the cartel’s illegal activities. He’s accused of kidnapping the two Mexican Navy members in 2021 in the hopes of securing the release of “El Mencho’s” wife after she had been arrested by Mexican authorities, according to the Justice Department.
“The Jalisco Cartel – one of the world’s most violent and prolific drug trafficking organizations – is weaker today because of the tenacious efforts of law enforcement to track down and arrest a cartel leader who allegedly faked his own death and assumed a false identity to evade justice and live a life of luxury in California,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement.
An email seeking comment was sent to an attorney appointed to represent Gutierrez Ochoa.
The U.S. State Department has offered a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest of “El Mencho,” an alias that is a play on his first name.
“El Mencho’s” son was convicted in a U.S. federal court in September of charges that he used violence, including the deadly downing of a military helicopter, to help his father operate one of the country’s largest and most dangerous narcotics trafficking organizations.
Rubén Oseguera, known as “El Menchito,” was convicted after a trial in Washington’s federal court of conspiring to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine for U.S. importation and using a firearm in a drug conspiracy.
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — If you keep a close eye on your natural gas bill, you’ll soon notice a slight rate hike.
Starting this month, CenterPoint Energy customers will start paying more on their gas bills.
According to ABC13’s news partners at the Houston Chronicle, including the cost of gas, the average residential CenterPoint customer in Houston is expected to pay 12 cents more on their monthly bill.
That’s much less than the $5 increase CenterPoint had requested when it applied to change the rates last year.
Houston City Council rejected that figure back in April.
CenterPoint Energy said it is ahead of schedule in its action plan to become more storm-resilient by next summer in the…Show more
CenterPoint said Phase One of their action plan finished early.
During that portion, they installed 1,000 stronger storm-resilient power poles and trimmed or removed about 2,000 power line miles worth of vegetation.
Phase Two, which started at the beginning of September, is supposed to be finished by this coming June and includes more of the same – replacing power poles, trimming trees, and putting power lines underground.
HOUSTON, Texas — Lively Houston has regained its rightful place among the top 50 best cities in the world, according to a prestigious new report by Resonance Consultancy.
The Canada-based real estate and tourism marketing advisors ranked Houston the 40th best city worldwide for 2025 in its annual “World’s Best Cities” list.
The report quantifies the relative qualities of livability, “lovability,” and prosperity for the world’s top 100 cities with metropolitan populations of 1 million or more. New to the 10th anniversary edition, Resonance partnered with global market researchers Ipsos to include perception-based data into the rankings, surveying over 22,000 people in 30 countries worldwide to determine “the most desirable places to visit, live or work.”
Houston made a major rebound after plummeting to No. 66 in last year’s report. In 2022, Houston ranked No. 42.
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Authorities have confirmed that a man has been charged with capital murder in the death of his sister and niece, who were found stabbed inside a west Houston apartment early Friday.
Family members say Kendrick Rayvon Fisher, 29, had been staying with his 28-year-old sister, Genene, at the Knox at Westchase apartment complex.
At about 3:30 a.m., police say they were flagged down and told that the woman and her daughter were being held hostage inside their apartment.
HPD said once officers arrived at the third-floor apartment, the suspect was found covered in blood, asleep on the couch, and the 28-year-old and 2-year-old were found with multiple stab wounds. They were pronounced dead at the scene
During his arrest, HPD said Fisher was found with injuries consistent with a physical altercation.
“I don’t understand hurting your own sister, hurting a woman, hurting another person, period. But what possessed you to hurt this baby?” Emmanuel Thomas said, who is a close neighbor of the Fisher family.
Jail records show the suspect had gotten out of prison in December 2023 after serving a seven-year sentence for armed robbery with extra time tagged on for being caught with contraband.
According to the neighbor, Fisher had been living with his sister for a few months. He also said residents would feel uneasy around him. Not only the residents but Fisher’s own family also had this feeling.
The suspect’s mother spoke with several reporters on Friday and said he had gotten physical with her.
“He had already beat the hell out of me,” Fisher’s mother, Joanna, said.
According to the neighbor ABC13 spoke with earlier, there was no tension between the suspect and his sister.
“We could see no red flags. This was just completely out of the blue,” Thomas said.
Officials said that Fisher was taken into custody at the Harris County Jail and has since been denied bond.
NEW YORK (AP) — Christmas came early at the box office this year.
“Moana 2” brought in a tidal wave of moviegoers over the Thanksgiving Day weekend, setting records with $221 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. That, combined with “Wicked”and “Gladiator II,” made for an unprecedented weekend in cinemas and a confluence of blockbusters more like what’s often found in late December.
Expectations were high for Walt Disney Co.’s “Moana 2,” but the film — originally planned as a series for Disney+ before it was redirected to the big screen — blew predictions out of the water. Its five-day opening set a new record for Thanksgiving moviegoing. (The previous best was $125 million for “Frozen 2” in its second week of release in 2019.) “Moana 2” added $165.3 million internationally; with $386 million worldwide, it’s the second-best global launch of the year.
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At the same time, the sensation of “Wicked”showed no signs of slowing down. The Universal Pictures musical brought in $117.5 million over the five-day weekend, pushing its two-week global total to $359.2 million. Not accounting for inflation, “Wicked” is now the highest grossing Broadway adaptation over “Grease.” (That 1978 film grossed $190 million, but factoring in inflation would put it past $900 million.)
Those three films drove the overall box office to a record $420 million in overall Thanksgiving weekend ticket sales, according to Comscore — more than $100 million more than ever before. For an industry that has been battered in recent years by the pandemic, work stoppages and the upheaval caused by streaming, it was a triumphant weekend that showed the still-potent power of Hollywood’s blockbuster machine. Before “Wicked,” “Moana 2” and “Gladiator II” arrived in theaters, ticket sales were running about 25% behind pre-pandemic levels.
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Michael O’Leary, president and chief executive of the National Association of Theatre Owners, said the weekend showed what’s possible when “all the pieces of the puzzle come together” in compelling big-budget movies with marketing muscle.
“We’re very optimistic that this weekend is the start of what we believe is a full-on charge into the future,” he said. “The remaining quarter of this year looks very promising and then on into 2025 and 2026. We’re hoping next year is the first kind of normal year this industry has had in a long time.”
Like the last time such anticipated movies collided on the release calendar — 2023’s much-ballyhooed “Barbenheimer” — the movie industry again could see evidence of a rising moviegoing tide lifting all blockbusters. In recent years, studios have typically tried to space out most of their biggest releases. Earlier this fall, “Venom: The Last Dance,” for example, was the No. 1 film for three straight weeks, despite not being particularly successful.
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“For a long, long time in Hollywood, there’s been a belief that you don’t put big blockbuster movies up against each other,” said O’Leary. “But the truth of the matter is that competition is good. It’s good for the movies. It’s good for the studios. It’s good for the theater owners. But it’s particularly good for the moviegoing public.”
“Moana 2” was the nexus of a strategy shift for Disney. When it first began development, it was fashioned as a series for streaming. But when Bob Iger returned as chief executive, he reconsidered the balance between theatrical and streaming. The original “Moana,” after all, was the most streamed movie on Disney+ in 2023, with the added benefit of $680 million in box office in 2016. Only in February this year did Iger announce the release of “Moana 2,” with Auli’i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson returning as the voices of Moana and Maui.
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“It just shows you that the big screen and small screen are not adversarial. They can be complementary and additive,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. “Whoever made that decision to go big screen globally with ‘Moana 2,’ that was one of the greatest decisions ever.”
And it helped lead a resurgence for Walt Disney Co., whose last two animated November releases — “Strange World” and “Wish” — fizzled in theaters. “Moana 2” may become the third $1 billion-grossing movie for the studio in 2024, along with “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool & Wolverine.” Though reviews for “Moana 2″ have only been 65% “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes, audiences gave it an “A-” CinemaScore.
“Moana 2” is also part of a major rebound for family moviegoing. According to David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter for Franchise Entertainment, family moviegoing in 2024 is going to account for approximately $6.8 billion in ticket sales, roughly the sums of 2022 and 2023, combined.
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After such large debuts, “Moana 2” and “Wicked” are likely to continue to drive moviegoing through December. The only question will be if this year’s Christmas movies — historically a much bigger holiday period for theaters — can come anywhere near the Thanksgiving lineup. Among the movies aiming for that holiday corridor are Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King,” Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 3″ and Searchlight’s “A Complete Unknown,” with Timothée Chalamet as a young Bob Dylan.
Final domestic figures will be released Monday. Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:
1. “Moana 2,” $135 million.
2. “Wicked,” $80 million.
3. “Gladiator II” $30.7 million.
4. “Red One,” $12.9 million.
5. “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” $3.3 million.
