San Antonio Four become advocates in West Texas murder case
Known as the San Antonio Four at the time, the Latina lesbians whose 1998 sexual assault convictions were thrown out in 2016 and their records expunged, are trying to help do the same for a gay Apache convicted in the 1981 murder of a Catholic priest in Odessa.
The Odessa water outage underscores a growing problem: Aging pipes in Texas cities are getting more fragile
Texas had 3,866 water boil notices in 2021, the most in the last decade. Aging water systems threaten water supply and quality — and for many small towns across the state, they won’t be cheap to repair.
Tens of thousands of people in Odessa have endured nearly 48 hours without water to drink, wash or flush toilets
The outage left about 165,000 people without water in Odessa and some surrounding areas. It has been attributed to a main line break in the city’s aging water system and comes amid a dayslong heat wave.
Confronted with mass shootings, Texas Republicans have repeatedly loosened gun laws
Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republican leaders signaled an openness to some gun restrictions after recent mass shootings. But in the last several years, lawmakers have eased gun laws, most notably by passing a permitless carry bill last year.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott hosts roundtable on oil, gas
Greg Abbott on Thursday held a roundtable discussion in Odessa with energy workers, leaders, and advocates on how Texas can continue to support the energy industry and its workers and ensure a more prosperous future for the state of Texas. Following the roundtable, the Governor held a press conference where he issued an executive order to protect Texas’ energy industry from federal overreach. During the roundtable, Abbott and the participants also discussed enhancing workforce development in Texas, cutting costly red tape, and expanding broadband access in rural communities. Greg Abbott pushes deregulation San Antonio during ‘listening session’ on Texas economyTexas Gov. Greg Abbott pledges to make it ‘fiscally impossible’ to defund police
In Russia and Ukraine, no social distance on crowded beaches
People enjoy the beach in the Black Sea in Odessa, Ukraine, Saturday, July 4, 2020. Tens of thousands of vacation-goers in Russia and Ukraine have descended on Black Sea beaches, paying little attention to safety measures despite levels of contagion still remaining high in both countries. (AP Photo/Sergei Poliakov)SOCHI Tens of thousands of vacation-goers in Russia and Ukraine have descended on Black Sea beaches, paying little heed to public health measures despite the numbers of reported coronavirus cases remaining high in both countries. While popular vacation destinations in Europe are still closed to visitors from Russia and Ukraine as European nations move carefully to lift restrictions on foreign visitors, Black Sea resorts in Russia and Ukraine are filled to capacity from domestic tourism. Now, Russian sun-lovers are left with the narrow pebble beaches of Sochi or Crimea as their only beach vacation options.
Texas orders bars shut amid surge in confirmed virus cases
Owner of Big Daddy Zane's Gabrielle Ellison poses for a photo behind the bar top of her establishment in Odessa, Texas, Friday, June 26, 2020. Ellison was operating her bar in violation of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's new order that shut bars back down and limits restaurants' capacities to 50% following a surge in coronavirus cases. (Eli Hartman/Odessa American via AP)
Texas shuts down bars as hospitalizations surpass 5,000
Ellison was operating her bar in violation of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's new order that shut bars back down and limits restaurants' capacities to 50% following a surge in coronavirus cases. In the last four days alone, Texas has reported more than 23,000 confirmed new cases, and Friday surpassed 5,000 hospitalizations for the first time — a threefold increase from a month ago. “At this time, it is clear that the rise in cases is largely driven by certain types of activities, including Texans congregating in bars,” Abbott said. The Texas Restaurant Association supported the rollback, but also pointed out that social distancing made it hard for most restaurants to exceed 50% capacity anyway.