Tag Archives: Texas

Families of Syrian Refugees Settle in Indiana, Texas

A family of Syrian refugees arrived in Indianapolis on Monday night.

The Archdiocese of Indianapolis said in a statement Tuesday that the family — a father, mother and their two small children — “arrived safely” in the city, where they have some relatives.

The Archdiocese said it has been helping the family resettle through its Refugee and Immigrant Services program. It said the family “fled the violence of terrorists” in war-torn Syria three years ago and underwent “two years of extensive security checks and personal interviews” before the federal government cleared the four of them to enter the United States.

The governor of Indiana, Mike Pence, had asked the Archdiocese to hold off on resettling the family until Congress passed legislation that addressed his concerns about the refugee program. But Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin said the church’s refugee program was “an essential part” of its identity and informed Pence that the Syrian family’s resettlement would go on as planned.

In a statement, a Pence spokesman said the governor “respectfully disagrees” with the church’s decision. One of the governor’s main concerns is that one of the Islamic State-linked terrorists responsible for the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris may have been posing as a Syrian refugee.

“The safety and security of the people of Indiana is Governor Pence’s top priority,” the spokesman, Matt Lloyd, said in the statement. “The State of Indiana will continue to suspend its participation in the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Indiana until the federal government takes action to address the concerns raised about this program.”

Pence is among the many U.S. governors who have attempted to block Syrian refugees from resettling in their states since the Paris attacks, touching off political and moral debates about the legality and ethics of their actions. Texas was another state that vehemently tried to prevent Syrian refugees from resettling within its borders, even taking the battle to the courtroom.

But a spokesperson for the International Rescue Committee told the Associated Press a family of Syrian refugees arrived in Texas on Monday and resettled near Dallas, where the six of them have relatives. The AP reported 15 more refugees were expected to arrive in Texas this week.

Court: Wisconsin abortion law unconstitutional

A state law requiring abortion providers in Wisconsin to obtain the ability to admit patients at nearby hospitals has been declared unconstitutional.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued the 2-to-1 ruling on Monday, multiple news agencies reported, upholding the ruling of a lower court judge.

The Associated Press reported Planned Parenthood and Affiliated Medical Services had challenged the 2013 state law, arguing the law was essentially an illegal impediment on the procedures, which are currently legal in the United States under Roe v. Wade.

Proponents of the Wisconsin legislation argued it was designed to protect women whose procedures did not go smoothly and needed hospitalization. Those against it countered that some doctors could not obtain the required privileges, which would force some clinics to shut.

A district court judge in March sided with the providers, Reuters reported. The law had been on hold since.

Richard Posner, one of the Seventh Circuit judges who voted to declare the law unconstitutional, said it could have placed women in danger. If clinics shut down, women would have to wait longer for the procedures at other clinics. That could push their pregnancy into another trimester.

Many national abortion issues may be decided next year when the United States Supreme Court weighs challenges to a Texas state law regarding the procedures.

Supreme Court to Hear First Major Abortion Case in 8 Years

On Friday, the Supreme Court made a decision to hear a challenge against a Texas law that put strict requirements on abortion providers in the name of protecting women’s health. This is the first major abortion case that the Supreme Court has agreed to give a voice to in 8 years. This ruling could raises questions about the legal fate of similar laws in more than a dozen other states.

The 2013 law requires abortion clinics to meet the same medical standards as standalone surgery centers, and forces doctors who provide abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals within 30 miles of their clinics.

Conservative groups that approve of the laws say they’ll protect women and prevent abuses like the case of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, a Philadelphia abortion provider sentenced to life in jail for first-degree murder.

Gosnell, was a doctor that ran an abortion clinic called the Women’s Medical Society in West Philadelphia.The grand jury report is full of horrific and gruesome details about the clinic that Gosnell ran for more than three decades. Patients were neglected; providers were not certified. Most abortions were done after 24 weeks and at a clinic that was described as a filthy house of horrors.

On May 13, 2013 a jury found Gosnell guilty on three of four charges of murder of babies born in his clinic who were born alive but whom he killed. The jury also found him guilty of involuntary manslaughter from the death of one of his abortion patients.
“Until recently, abortion clinics were held to similar health regulations as beauty salons or public pools,” the March for Life Education & Defense Fund said in a statement.

Supporters of the clinics note that when the laws were passed in 2013, there were more than 40 clinics in the state. Only 10 would remain if the laws are upheld, to serve 5.4 million women of reproductive age.

Whatever the court’s ruling will set precedent for either imposing clinic regulations or cause similar requirements in other states to be challenged. Ten of the 50 U.S. states have imposed requirements similar to those in Texas. Six have enacted laws requiring hospital grade facilities.

The Court’s ruling is set for June.

Flooding Continues in Texas; 6 Dead, at Least 2 Missing

According to the Associated Press, six people have been killed in connection with the flooding in Texas and at least two are missing as severe weather swept across the Gulf Coast.

In the Houston area, some areas received nearly 12 inches of rain since Friday though it had mostly stopped by Saturday afternoon, and starting around 5 a.m. CT Saturday six tornadoes touched down south and east of Houston.

The storms and suspected tornadoes, which forecasters say were caused by an upper-level disturbance from Mexico, socked an already-sodden swath of Texas that was still drying out from the remnants of Hurricane Patricia.

Homes were underwater and power was out on Saturday to over 12,000 people. Several roads have been closed due to floods and damage.

The weather patterns are showing no signs of letting up as a new system is developing today that will be trouble for areas in Texas already saturated by rain.

“Rain and thunderstorms, heavy enough to prompt new flood concerns, will develop across the Plains Thursday and linger into Saturday for parts of the region,” said AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Andy Mussoline.

Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas will experience rain and thunderstorms Thursday, but concern is growing that a front associated with the system may stall out over eastern Texas heading into the weekend.

7th Grade Texas Student Told to Deny God as Part of Classroom Assignment

A junior high school in Katy, Texas is under scrutiny after a teacher gave an assignment to her class where they had to deny the existence of God.

Student Jordan Wooley, 12, told ABC News that her reading class was given an assignment to identify statements as fact or opinion. When Jordan marked the statement “There is a God” as both a fact and an opinion, her teacher marked the answer as wrong. According to USA Today Jordan tried to explain to the teacher that it could be either answer, based on a person’s beliefs, but the teacher stated the answer was still wrong and that Jordan had to say God wasn’t real. The assignment was graded so if she did not deny God, she couldn’t pass the assignment.

Jordan then told her mom when she got home.

“In this day in age, I would have never guessed that something like this would happen in a classroom in America,” Chantel Wooley told ABC News.

The Wooleys then visited the school district’s Board of Education meeting to inform them of the situation.

“Today I was given an assignment in school that questioned my faith,” Jordan said at the meeting.

The Katy Independent School District has apologized since the incident and released a statement saying that the exercise was intended to encourage critical thinking, not question any religious beliefs of the students.

“Still this does not excuse the fact that this ungraded activity was ill-conceived and because of that, its intent had been misconstrued,” the district said in its statement.

The teacher in question has not responded to any requests for comments regarding the situation.

South Central States to Expect Torrential Storm and Flash Flooding

Accuweather and The Weather Channel reported today that South Central states should expect a bad storm system coming in from the Gulf of Mexico that will bring major rainfall and flooding to the area, leaving more than 10 million people under flash flood watches.

Forecasters expect 4 to 8 inches of rainfall throughout portions of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, and Louisiana. Some communities may even see up to a foot of rainfall. Forecasters believe that some of the power and moisture from Hurricane Patricia may contribute to the storm but the main cause of the storm is various sources of moisture are converging in the area.

Accuweather warns that the current dry conditions in Texas may result in worse conditions as a significant amount of rain can run off the dry, hard ground.

As the storm continues moving east, Accuweather states that there will be a greater increase of flooding in urban areas, large rivers, and major highways for Friday, the weekend, and early next week. They expect some communities will have to evacuate due to the flash flooding.

Residents in Midland and Odessa, Texas already experienced flooding early Thursday morning, submerging vehicles in high water and flooding homes.

Planned Parenthood to No Longer Receive Medicaid Funding in Texas

The issue of defunding Planned Parenthood took a big step on Monday as Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced that Planned Parenthood would no longer receive funding from the state’s Medicaid program.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission’s Office of Inspector General told the group and its affiliates in a letter that their state-federal Medicaid funding would end due to violations in the Medicaid program. According to USA Today, Planned Parenthood and its affiliates receive about $3 million to $4 million a year in Medicaid reimbursements.

“The State has determined that you and your Planned Parenthood affiliates are no longer capable of performing medical services in a professionally competent, safe, legal, and ethical manner,” the letter said.

The move comes after undercover videos showed employees of Planned Parenthood discussing the sale of fetal tissue and organs, which has sparked national uproar and controversy. After the videos were released, several government officials, including Gov. Abbott, called for an investigation. Congress is still investigating the claims made in the videos.

“Texas has stepped forward and shown its unyielding commitment to both protecting life and providing women’s health services,” Gov. Abbott told NBC News. “The gruesome harvesting of baby body parts by Planned Parenthood will not be allowed in Texas and the barbaric practice must be brought to an end. As such, ending the Medicaid participation of Planned Parenthood affiliates in the State of Texas is another step in providing greater access to safe healthcare for women while protecting our most vulnerable — the unborn.”

Gov. Abbot has also stated that this latest step is part of his administration’s LIFE movement. The “F” in this movement stands for the deFunding of Planned Parenthood.

A similar situation is taking place in Louisiana where Gov. Bobby Jindal stopped Planned Parenthood from receiving state money. Planned Parenthood quickly filed a lawsuit that reinstated their funding for 14 days; the judge’s order came just hours before Texas announced their defunding move.

Planned Parenthood told NBC News that they will rebuke the new steps and fight for the funding. They noted that they provide non-abortion health care services to thousands of women through Medicaid statewide, according to ABC News.

“It is completely outrageous that Texas officials are using these thoroughly discredited, fraudulent videos to cut women off from preventive health care, including cancer screenings, HIV testing, and birth control,” Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement to the Associated Press.

“We will fight back against this outrageous, malicious, political attack in Texas with everything we’ve got, and we will protect women’s access to the health care they need and deserve.”

Planned Parenthood continues to deny that they have done anything wrong and that the undercover videos that were released over the summer were biased in their editing.

State of Disaster Declared, Evacuations in Texas Fire

With no rain in sight for relief, a massive, spreading fire has already destroyed over 4,000 acres of land and nine homes.  Hundreds of people have been evacuated as dozens more homes are threatened. The fire was only 15% Thursday morning and has prompted Governor Greg Abbott to declare a state of disaster for Bastrop County.  

A shift in wind direction Wednesday sent the smoke plume from that fire into Austin, the state’s capital, about 30 miles away.  

“We haven’t gained the kind of ground we wanted to throughout the day,” said Bastrop County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Fisher “We haven’t lost any more assets. In fact, we keep saving assets. I think we’ll be out for several more days.”

The high in Austin reached 96 on Wednesday, breaking the daily record and establishing an all-time record for the hottest reading so late in the year. Previously, the latest date of a temperature at or above 96 degrees was Oct. 13 in 1991. Monday brought a high of 99, which topped any temperature ever recorded on or after Oct. 12 in Austin.

As winds are picking up in the central portion of the United States officials are expecting more fires to begin due to the lack of moisture on the ground and extremely low dew points in the air.

Red flag warnings are up now in portions of South Dakota and Iowa as well as Texas.  A red flag warning means that conditions are right for fire to start and spread easily.

 

Massive Bug Swarm Appears on Weather Radar

A swarm of bugs in northern Texas and southwest Oklahoma was so intense Wednesday that it appeared as a rainstorm on weather radar in the region.

Rangers at Copper Breaks State Park in Quanah, Texas confirmed the bug storm was made up of grasshoppers and beetles to the National Weather Service.

The swarm filled the air up to 2,500 feet and covered 50 miles.

Forrest Mitchell, Observations Program Leader at the National Weather Service of Norman, Oklahoma, told Popular Science that the fact they can pick up major insect swarms is a nod to the sensitivity of current weather forecasting equipment.

“It doesn’t take a whole lot of bugs to cause that on radar,” Kurtz said. “It’s not like biblical proportions. There was just enough out there that the radar picked it up.”

The Texas swarm was not the only major swarming of insects in the last week.

In Sabula, Iowa highway crews had to use winter snow plowing equipment to remove a swarm of mayflies from a bridge connecting Iowa and Illinois.

The crews not only used the plows to clear the bridge but laid down sand in an attempt to combat the slick conditions caused by cars crushing the bug swarm.

Officials say they will keep the lights on the bridge off during the next few weeks in an attempt to keep the bugs from swarming.

El Nino Could Be Strongest In 50 Years

Meteorologists say that El Nino could be one of the strongest in the last half century and could bring significant amounts of rainfall to California.

The forecasters say the storms might not break the drought that has gripped the Golden State.

“Current rain deficits are way too large,” stated AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Bernie Rayno to Fox News. “Even if California receives the rain that fell in 1997-98, it will not come close to ending the long-term drought.”

California currently has 71 percent of the state in “extreme to exceptional drought” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

The forecasters at AccuWeather say that the heavy rains could be problems for California.

“A strong El Niño could be good news for the extreme drought in California,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson said. “Unfortunately, a sudden turn to a stormy winter could also result in dangerous mudslides and flash flooding for the state.”

However, it’s not just California officials and forecasters that are concerned about El Nino.  Texas officials say the change to El Nino could bring significant flooding to the Lone Star State.

“The latest global model shows that in August, we’re dry in the lower Mississippi Valley and the Southeast, but wet in the Four Corners with the monsoon kicking,” Paul Pastelok, chief long-range forecaster for AccuWeather said to the Dallas Morning News. “Then you look at September, and the upper high breaks down. The Four Corners region is still wet, but some of that moisture starts to leak out. And when we get to October, the model has northern Texas with moderately above-normal rainfall.”

“After that, we’ll see a bull’s-eye for precipitation just east of Dallas into Louisiana.”