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Houston man convicted of murder in 2012 declared “actually innocent”
A Houston man convicted of murder under a prior District Attorney has been declared actually innocent by the state’s highest criminal court, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Wednesday.
The decision by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals means 44-year-old Lydell Grant can apply for $80,000 in state compensation for each year of his wrongful imprisonment.
“The exoneration of innocent individuals is as important as the conviction of guilty ones,” said Ogg. “The highest responsibility of a prosecutor is to see that justice is done.”
Grant was convicted in 2012 and sentenced to life in prison for the stabbing death of Aaron Scheerhoorn outside of a Montrose bar. Six eyewitnesses to the 2010 stabbing testified against Grant at trial.
Through the joint efforts of the Houston Police Department, the Innocence Project of Texas, and the Harris County District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit, newly discovered evidence led to the apprehension and charging of a new suspect in the murder.
Grant is the third person from Harris County during the Ogg administration that the Court of Criminal Appeals has found to be actually innocent based in part on the District Attorney’s recommendations. The other two are brothers Otis Mallet and Steven Mallet. The case of a fourth man, James Harris, is pending before the Court of Criminal Appeals for final determination.
WANTED: Fugitive responsible for Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child
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Astros announce maximum capacity allowed at Minute Maid Park for remainder of season
The Astros will once again have a full crowd at Minute Maid Park.
The team announced that it’s increasing to maximum capacity at the ballpark for the remainder of the season, beginning with the series against the Dodgers on May 25.
As of right now, tickets are on sale for games through June 3. The team said it has made additional seats available for those games. Single-game tickets for games past that date will go on sale on May 28.
Also announced Monday, fans who are fully vaccinated will not have to wear a mask once inside the stadium. Fans who are not vaccinated are “encouraged to continue to wear masks – masks will be made available to fans as they enter the ballpark,” the team said.
Astros employees and Game Day staff will be required to provide proof of vaccination prior to removing their masks while on-site,” the Astros said. “Astros-owned Minor League affiliates, which are the Sugar Land Skeeters, Corpus Christi Hooks, and Fayetteville Woodpeckers, will also move to maximum capacity for the remainder of their seasons and follow the same mask policies as the Major League club.”
Source: www.khou.com
Houston Texans release 2021 schedule
The Houston Texans have released their 2021 season schedule and for the first time, it’s an 18-week schedule. It includes a preseason matchup with the Super Bowl champs, a showdown in Arizona with J.J. Watt, DeAndre Hopkins, and the Arizona Cardinals, and more.
As for primetime regular-season games, the Texans have one on the third week of the season. It’s a Thursday night home game against Carolina.
Here’s a rundown of the full schedule.
Houston Texans preseason
At Green Bay, Saturday, August 14, 7 p.m.
At Dallas (Date and time TBD)
Tampa Bay, Saturday, August 28 at 7 p.m.,
Houston Texans regular season
Week 1: Jacksonville, Sunday, September 12 noon
Week 2: at Cleveland, Sunday, Sept. 19 noon
Week 3: Carolina, Thursday, Sept. 23, 7:20 p.m.
Week 4: at Buffalo, Sunday, October 3 at noon
Week 5: New England, October 10 at noon
Week 6: at Indianapolis, Sunday, October 17 at noon
Week 7: at Arizona, Sunday, October 24 at 3:25 p.m.
Week 8: LA Rams, Sunday, October 31 at noon
Week 9: at Miami, Sunday, November 7 at noon
Week 10: Bye
Week 11: at Tennessee, Sunday, Nov. 21 at noon
Week 12: New York Jets, Sunday, Nov. 28 at noon
Week 13: Indianapolis, Sunday, Dec. 5 at noon
Week 14: Seattle, Sunday, Dec. 12., at noon
Week 15: at Jacksonville, Sunday, Dec. 19 at noon
Week 16: LA Chargers, Sunday, Dec. 26 at noon
Week 17: at San Francisco, Sunday, Jan. 2 at noon
Week 18: Tennessee, Sunday, Jan. 9
The season starts with a home game against division rivals, the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Jaguars, who had the No. 1 pick in the draft, will take on the Texans at NRG Stadium on Sunday, September 12 at noon. You can watch the game on KHOU 11.
It’ll be the debut of the Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who led the Clemson Tigers to the college football title in 2019.
It’ll also be a matchup of new coaches as David Culley for Houston and Urban Meyer in Jacksonville make their debut.
According to the team, the rest of the schedule will be released tonight on HoustonTexans.com and the NFL Network.
Source: www.khou.com
Biden tells Netanyahu he expects ‘significant de-escalation today’ in Gaza
President Joe Biden stepped up the pressure on Israel to end 10 days of violent skirmishes with Palestinians, making clear in a call Wednesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he expected “significant de-escalation” by day’s end.
Biden asked Netanyahu to move “toward the path to a cease-fire,” according to a White House description of their conversation.
There is pressure, too, on Biden to do more, with more than 200 people killed in the fighting. Until Wednesday, Biden had avoided pushing the American ally more directly and publicly for a cease-fire or conveyed such a level of urgency for ending Israeli airstrikes targeting Hamas in the thickly populated Gaza Strip.
The Biden administration had relied on what officials described as “quiet, intensive” diplomacy, including quashing a U.N. Security Council statement that would have addressed a cease-fire. The administration’s handling opened a divide between Biden and Democratic lawmakers, dozens of whom have called for a cease-fire.
Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes killed at least six people across the Gaza Strip and destroyed the home of an extended family early Wednesday. The military said it widened its strikes in the Palestinian territory’s south to blunt continuing rocket fire from Hamas, while a separate barrage also came from Lebanon.
For the third time since the war began, rockets were launched in Israel from the north. The Israeli military said one landed in an open area, two landed in the sea, and one was intercepted by aerial defenses. Lebanese security officials said the latest rockets were launched from the outskirts of the southern Lebanese village of Qlayleh, adding that four fell inside Lebanese territory. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
In southern Gaza, meanwhile, residents surveyed the piles of bricks, concrete, and other debris that had once been the home of 40 members of the al-Astal family. They said a warning missile struck the building in the town of Khan Younis five minutes before the airstrike, allowing everyone to escape.
Source: www.khou.com
Gov. Abbott signs one of nation’s strictest abortion laws
Gov. Greg Abbott signed into a law Wednesday a measure that would prohibit abortions in Texas as early as six weeks — before some women know they are pregnant — and open the door for almost any private citizen to sue abortion providers and others.
The signing of the bill opens a new frontier in the battle over abortion restrictions as first-of-its-kind legal provisions — intended to make the law harder to block — are poised to be tested in the courts.
Abortion rights advocates have promised to challenge the new law, which they consider one of the most extreme across the country and the strictest in Texas since the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
“This is an all-out assault on reproductive health by @GregAbbott_TX and Republicans in the Texas legislature,” Texas Democratic Julian Castro tweeted. “We must vigorously defend these rights in court, and hold every lawmaker who supported this effort accountable at the ballot box.”
The law takes effect in September.
The Legislature “worked together on a bipartisan basis to pass a bill that I’m about to sign that ensures that the life of every unborn child who has a heartbeat will be saved from the ravages of abortion,” Abbott said, in a live stream posted on Facebook.
The governor’s signature comes just after the U.S. Supreme Court said it would hear a case concerning a Mississippi law that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks, and which could lead to new limits on abortion rights. It is the first major abortion case heard before the court’s newly expanded conservative majority and could have far-reaching effects for Texas, where a pending bill would outlaw nearly all abortions if the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade.
Senate Bill 8 was a top priority for Republican lawmakers, nearly all of whom signed on as an author or sponsor of the measure.
The bill bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat has been detected. It includes cases where the woman was impregnated as a result of rape or incest. There is an exception for medical emergencies.
Similar “heartbeat” bills have been passed by other states and held up by the courts, but Texas’ version has a twist.
Instead of having the government enforce the law, the bill instead turns the reins over to private citizens — who are newly empowered to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps someone get an abortion after a fetal heartbeat has been detected. The person would not have to be connected to someone who had an abortion or to a provider to sue.
KHOU Legal expert Carmen Roe said the law will have a “chilling effect” on the state’s legal system by flooding the courts with frivolous lawsuits.
“There are 400 lawyers that are making it very clear that this law is a violation of the Texas constitution, a violation of the separation of powers and a violation of a very basic tenant than an individual cannot sue unless they’ve been harmed,” Roe said.
Proponents of the new law hope to get around the legal challenges that have tied up abortion restrictions in the courts for years. While abortion providers typically sue the state to stop a restrictive abortion law from taking effect, there’s no state official enforcing Senate Bill 8 — so there’s no one to sue, the bill’s proponents say.
“It’s a very unique law and it’s a very clever law,” said Josh Blackman, a constitutional law professor at South Texas College of Law Houston. “Planned Parenthood can’t go to court and sue Attorney General [Ken] Paxton like they usually would because he has no role in enforcing the statute. They have to basically sit and wait to be sued.”
Legal experts have been divided on the strategy, and abortion rights advocates have said they plan to fight regardless.
Elisabeth Smith, chief counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, which has represented abortion providers who have sued Texas, said it and other abortion rights organizations are “not going to let this six-week ban go unchallenged.”
Source: www.khou.com
Houston-area school closures due to severe weather
Severe weather forced area school districts to alter their schedules this week.
Heavy rain and localized flooding are possible.
Here’s a list of districts along with their plans:
Cleveland ISD will be CLOSED tomorrow, Wednesday, May 19, 2021, due to the severe weather and possible road flooding.
Two-hour delayed start today. Bus routes and all school schedules will run two hours later. Classes start at 9:45 a.m.
Out of an abundance of caution, and due to potential flooding. Dayton ISD will be canceling all classes and student activities for Wednesday, May 19, 2021.
Liberty ISD will be closed Wednesday due to bad weather.
Royal ISD is closed today due to power outages from storms
Sealy ISD will run on a two-hour delay Wednesday morning to assess any storm damage.
Sheldon ISD is open today. Cravens ECA will be remote only for May 19 due to loss of power.
Source: www.khou.com
Texas Defends States Rights at Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission
Today, Commissioner Wayne Christian authored and passed three resolutions to protect states’ rights, protect consumers, and encourage technological innovation in the oil and gas industry.
Resolution 21.052 – Opposition to the CLEAN Future Act (View here): This resolution co-sponsored by Texas and North Dakota asks the Biden Administration and Congress to oppose the CLEAN Future Act and other similar pieces of legislation on behalf of oil and gas producing states.
“The so-called CLEAN Future Act is nothing more than the Green New Deal in lipstick,” said Christian. “This legislation would effectively federalize regulation of oil and gas, increasing costs to consumers and our national debt, while harming our energy independence and national security.”
Resolution 21.054 – Reigning in ESG-style Investing (View here): This resolution asks the federal government to formulate and enforce regulations relating to Environmental, Social, and Governance Funds (ESG). This style of investing has been utilized by activists to force divestment in oil and gas without regard to the rate of return for beneficiaries.
“We cannot allow activist investors to harm the investment and retirement portfolios of our constituents as collateral damage in their war against fossil fuels,” said Christian. “If ESG is not put in check, not only will future retirees face challenges in the years ahead, but we could see record bankruptcies and layoffs in the energy sector.”
Resolution 21.055 – Encouraging Carbon Capture and Technological Innovation (View here): This resolution acknowledges the key role technological innovation, including carbon capture, has played in our nation’s environmental progress and encourages the federal government to act in a bipartisan manner to continue encouraging this progress.
“A clean environment and oil and gas production are not mutually exclusive,” said Christian. “Because of technological innovation, over the last fifty years, our nation has decreased the six major pollutants by 77% while our energy consumption grew 48%, the population grew 60%, and the economy grew 285%. The key to environmental progress is innovation, not punitive regulations.”
Christian currently serves as Vice-Chairman of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) under Chairman Kevin Stitt (Governor, Oklahoma). Christian has held a number of leadership roles in the organization since he was first appointed to the IOGCC by Governor Greg Abbott in 2017. At this year’s meeting, Christian was the author of three out of the four resolutions that passed.
A lifelong conservative businessman, Wayne Christian was elected as our 50th Texas Railroad Commissioner in November 2016. Prior to his time at the Commission, Christian served seven Sessions in the Texas House of Representatives, accumulating a strong record of standing for free markets and against burdensome regulations. Christian is married to his wife, Lisa, and together they have three daughters, Liza, Lindsey, and Lauren. You can learn more about Commissioner Christian here: https://rrc.texas.gov/About-Us/Commissioners/Wayne-Christian/.
Source: www.rrc.state.tx.us
OSHA finds three California contractors failed to conduct inspections, identify hazards in investigation of fatal incident at Agua Caliente Casino
Just a month after the new Agua Caliente Casino Cathedral City opened, a metal gate near the casino’s loading dock collapsed, crushing a 41-year-old construction worker under its 3,000-pound weight.
A U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation that followed Dec. 7, 2020, tragedy found the project’s contractors – Penta Building Group, No-Limit Steel, and The Raymond Group – failed to conduct inspections to discover hazards, instruct employees on how to recognize workplace dangers, and install caution signs to warn workers about potential hazards. The three contractors face $64,169 in combined penalties.
“Required oversight and communication related to workplace safety and health could have prevented this tragic loss of life,” said OSHA Area Director Derek Engard in San Diego. “This case is a painful reminder of why employers must make complying with workplace safety standards a priority.”
The Penta Building Group is a general contractor with offices and operations in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Palm Springs, and Reno. The Raymond Group provides wall and ceiling construction services in Southern California. No Limit Steel is a contractor based in Los Angeles.
OSHA offers compliance assistance resources for the construction industry and the management of multi-employer construction projects.
The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to help ensure these conditions for America’s workers by setting and enforcing standards and providing training, education, and assistance.
Source: www.osha.gov