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Tag: Texas

  • FACT FOCUS: Biden administration isn’t banning gas stoves

    FACT FOCUS: Biden administration isn’t banning gas stoves

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    The Biden administration has come under fire this week due to overcooked fears that it is planning a nationwide ban on gas stoves.

    The claim was sparked by comments from a Consumer Product Safety Commission official published Monday that “any option is on the table” when it comes to regulating gas stoves, amid growing health concerns over the appliances. In the days after, discussion online evoked images of the government dragging four-burner cooktops from homes, as social media users shared memes of gas stoves with text like, “Don’t Tread On Me.”

    “I’ll NEVER give up my gas stove. If the maniacs in the White House come for my stove, they can pry it from my cold dead hands. COME AND TAKE IT!!” conservative Texas GOP Rep. Ronny Jackson said on Twitter Tuesday.

    But officials insist that people’s kitchen appliances are in no danger. Here’s a closer look at the facts.

    CLAIM: The Biden administration is planning a ban on gas stoves nationwide.

    THE FACTS: The White House says President Joe Biden would not support a ban, and the commission, an independent agency, says no such ban is in the works.

    “I am not looking to ban gas stoves and the CPSC has no proceeding to do so,” CPSC Chair Alex Hoehn-Saric said in a statement on Wednesday.

    The notion that the government may regulate some stoves out of existence in the future isn’t totally baseless. In an interview published Monday by Bloomberg News, Richard Trumka Jr., a CPSC commissioner who was nominated to the post by Biden and has concerns that gas stoves emit dangerous levels of toxic chemicals, was quoted as saying: “Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”

    However, Trumka tweeted later that day to clarify that he was talking about regulation on new products.

    “To be clear, CPSC isn’t coming for anyone’s gas stoves,” he wrote. “Regulations apply to new products.”

    Despite this, news of a potential “gas stove ban” continued to spread in headlines and on social media. Some users, including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, shared an old photo of first lady Jill Biden cooking on a gas stove, suggesting hypocrisy.

    “The federal government has no business telling American families how to cook their dinner. I can tell you the last thing that would ever leave my house is the gas stove that we cook on,” West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin tweeted Tuesday.

    The White House responded by distancing itself from Trumka’s comments.

    “The president does not support banning gas stoves,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a press briefing on Wednesday. “And the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is independent, is not banning gas stoves.”

    The CPSC is studying gas stove emissions and ways to address potential health risks and is seeking public input on the issue in the spring, Hoehn-Saric noted in his statement. Pamela Rucker Springs, a spokesperson for the commission, confirmed to The Associated Press that it has not proposed any regulatory action on gas stoves.

    “The chairman’s statement makes it explicit what we are planning and what we’re not planning,” Springs said. “Anything otherwise said is to the contrary.”

    Research has found that gas stoves in California are leaking cancer-causing benzene, while another study determined that U.S. gas stoves are contributing to global warming by putting 2.6 million tons of methane in the air each year even when turned off. There is good evidence that gas stoves emit harmful levels of oxides of nitrogen, which is known to cause asthma, said Dr. Aaron Bernstein, interim director of the center for climate, health, and the global environment at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

    Some federal lawmakers have called on the commission to address the potential health risks through regulation, such as requiring that gas stoves be sold with range hoods to improve ventilation or issuing mandatory performance standards for gas stoves to address the health impacts of hazardous emissions. Some local governments have moved to ban new buildings from using natural gas, such as San Francisco and Berkeley, California.

    Banning gas stoves isn’t a “practical response” to the research on the harmful effects of gas stoves, Bernstein said. Instead, steps should be taken to limit prolonged use of gas stoves and improve ventilation in kitchens with gas stoves, such as using vents or opening doors and windows, he said.

    “What we know is that gas stoves release air pollutants that are absolutely known to be harmful,” Bernstein said. “And the part that’s harder to get clarity on is how much exposure are people getting in their homes.”

    ___

    This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.

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  • Austin-Adjacent Home Reflects A Love Of Light, Geometry And Horizon-Busting Views

    Austin-Adjacent Home Reflects A Love Of Light, Geometry And Horizon-Busting Views

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    Deep in the heart of Texas, a newly finished residence suffused with boreal light and featuring miles of unobstructed Texas Hill Country views has swaggered onto the Lone Star State market.

    Located 25 miles west of Austin, the 4,100-square foot home is sited near Dripping Springs––in 2014 named the state’s first International Dark Sky Community. An evening stroll around the home’s nearly two acres––graced with oak, Ashe juniper, Mexican buckeye, madrone and other vegetation––proves that in Texas, the stars at night are indeed big and bright.

    The three-bedroom, three-bathroom home’s linear structure is oriented east and west affording views of a 700-acre conservation ranch. That land’s strictly limited development rights yield boundless Hill Country panoramas: rolling limestone hills blanketed with native vegetation.

    “There will never be high-density development out here,” says Tom Griffith, who with his wife, Dana Griffith, purchased the then-incomplete home in 2016, finishing what the original owner began in 2014. He also cites the surrounding ranch developments that are either covered by a conservation easement or will be limited to 20- to 40-acre parcels.

    A 40-foot pool fronts the $3.25 million retreat beneath an extensive shade pavilion that echoes the main house. Five apertures executed in square and rectangle shapes punctuate the structure’s roofline, revealing a cobalt sky during the day and those big bright stars at night.

    “We’re great fans of James Turrell, so those are an homage to him,” explains Griffith. “You lie in the pool and look up––it’s absolutely gorgeous. The sunlight reflects off the water and dances on the ceiling and surfaces. Just beautiful.”

    Among other works, “Light and Space” artist Turrell is known for his nearly 90 Skyspaces, chambers with ceiling apertures that open to the sky. A Skyspace termed The Color Inside is permanently installed near the Griffith residence at The University of Texas at Austin.

    Adjacent to the pavilion are six totemic sculptures: 10-foot tall railroad frogs cast in manganese steel anchored upright. When not repurposed as striking figures, the devices enable train wheels to switch tracks.

    The property’s cantilevered roof and some exterior walls are clad in seam metal baked with off-white Kynar, a resin that drastically reduces energy consumption. “It’s got a high albedo so it reflects considerable heat,” explains Webber + Studio founder David Webber who mastered the design and most recent build. Albedo is the measurement of light reflected off an object after striking it without any absorption.

    The roofing choice and the home’s optimally sited shade structure are critical given the region’s long, hot summers and short mild winters. American Fiber Cement mantles some of the exterior, completing the fire-resistant build.

    The home’s exceptional linearity is apparent upon entering. To the right are the primary suite and an office. To the left, the kitchen, living and dining rooms, two guest bedrooms and an addition to the original build.

    That sequential room lineup lends the home “reflexivity,” Griffith says. “There are little moments where you can sit in one part of the house and see another part; it’s a wonderful experience, a way to truly appreciate the lines of the house.”

    Augmenting that visual experience are the rooms’ floor-to-ceiling glass walls that lightly frame the horizon-busting views. Five sliders by Western Window Systems allow access to 4,000 square feet of deck and patio areas built of Trex or stained concrete.

    The couple, who are selling to be near their daughter in Colorado, treasure the outdoor living areas. “You hear silence, birds and wind rustling in the trees. That’s it,” Griffith says. “We start the morning with a cup of coffee on the north porch. When a storm gathers in the distance, it’s absolutely gorgeous.”

    The home’s floors are polished concrete. Cabinetry and paneling are of white oak that warms the rooms––along with the living room’s vintage-style white Malm fireplace. The walls are painted an elegant neutral gray: Benjamin Moore’s Stone. The color, along with the oak surfaces, assists in absorbing the pervading Northern light.

    Quartzite is used on working surfaces. The metamorphic rock covers a poolside cabinet station, which is plumbed and wired. It’s also used on a kitchen inset wall, on countertops and covers a black and white kitchen island. The couple, both retired geologists, favor the material for its durability, acid resistance and veining that’s similar to marble.

    All kitchen appliances are by Miele except for two built-in Liebherr refrigerator-freezer units.

    The primary suite has a corner wall window, opening the bedroom to the vast Hill Country’s northeast horizon. Both the primary and guest bath walls are finished in an elegant gray plaster.

    A recent addition leads away from the guest bedrooms. A sitting area with an adjacent terrace is sided by a wet bar with a refrigerator, sink and icemaker. Stairs behind the bar descend to a 900-square-foot conditioned garage and storage. There’s also a two-car carport and additional surface parking.

    A slatted wood divider is positioned behind the wet bar and stairs. It delineates a larger room, which the Griffiths call their music room. The room harbors a built-in ceiling projection screen and Sony projector, which convey with the home along with a quadratic residue diffuser that banks one wall. “I’m kind of a sound nerd,” explains Griffith, adding that other items in his cutting-edge sound system are available for separate purchase.

    Exterior unfinished aluminum louvers cover some of the home’s light-drenched wall windows, helping to pare heat and maximize privacy while affording generous views. Over time, the metal will develop a grayish-white patina. The design is echoed in the pavilion and other areas, helping to establish a cohesive look.

    There’s also a roof solar array, and Haiku ceiling fans are installed throughout the home.

    Edging the main living areas, a cantilevered north-facing rear deck is fronted by a shallow tray holding crushed granite and limestone. Proceeding down steps, the backyard is lined with low limestone walls. “We brought it in ourselves––120 tons, my wife and I are pretty good on a Bobcat,” Griffith says. “It was a labor of love.” The area is anchored with a fire pit and chairs.

    A 30,000-gallon rainwater catchment system screened by trees is located on the opposite side of the property.

    “There’s limited water in this region––there’s the aquifer, which is somewhat stressed,” Griffith explains. “So, we get all of our household and pool water from the sky. It falls on the roof, goes through a series of pipes into a rainwater bank and then it’s pumped through a filtration system.” The system includes particulate and activated charcoal filters as well as ultraviolet (UV) light sterilization.

    “It’s the best water I’ve ever tasted,” says Griffith. “We’ve never gone below one-third full in the tank, even during severe drought.”

    Drilled in 2017, a 586-foot well is employed for landscape irrigation, and six hydrants are distributed throughout the property.

    The well was one of numerous enhancements that the Griffiths added to the property. In 2014, the property’s original owner hired Webber to design the house and a builder to realize it but the structure was left incomplete. After purchasing the home in 2016, the Griffiths hired Webber and collaborated with his team to greatly refine and add to the residence. Webber also acted as the builder, finishing the home in early 2022.

    The Griffiths’ home is 10 miles from both Dripping Springs and Bee Cave, the latter a larger town preferred by the couple for shopping excursions. Hamilton Pool is a few minutes’ drive away––“widely recognized as the greatest swimming hole on Earth,” Griffith says. A dramatic rock grotto beneath limestone outcroppings is set with a 50-foot waterfall.

    The couple often entertains guests at a few dozen craft breweries and six wineries within 10 miles of their home. The area also excels in outdoor recreation: 2,427-acre Reimer’s Ranch Park is less than four miles away, and the 5,212-acre Pedernales Falls State Park is about 17 miles from the residence.

    Ed Hughey of Moreland Properties holds the listing.

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    R. Daniel Foster, Contributor

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  • Police are investigating a vulture’s death at the Dallas Zoo as ‘suspicious’ | CNN

    Police are investigating a vulture’s death at the Dallas Zoo as ‘suspicious’ | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Police are investigating the death of an endangered vulture at the Dallas Zoo as “suspicious,” authorities said.

    Staff found the bird dead in its enclosure Saturday – about a week after the same zoo made headlines for a clouded leopard that escaped after fencing around its enclosure was cut in what police called “an intentional act.”

    The zoo said that “given the recent incidents,” staff alerted the Dallas Police Department about the vulture’s death.

    While the vulture’s cause of death has not been determined, “circumstances of the death are unusual, and the death does not appear to be from natural causes,” the Dallas Zoo said in a statement Saturday.

    A necropsy will be conducted on the bird, the Dallas Police Department said in a news release.

    “The animal care team is heartbroken over this tremendous loss,” the zoo’s statement read.

    In the past week, the Dallas Zoo said it has added additional cameras throughout the property and increased on-site security patrols during the overnight hours.

    “We will continue to implement and expand our safety and security measures to whatever level necessary to keep our animals and staff safe,” the zoo added.

    The clouded leopard’s disappearance last Friday prompted the zoo to close as workers and police searched for the missing feline. The animal was later found safe near the original habitat on zoo grounds.

    But it wasn’t the only apparent tampering at the zoo that day, police said.

    Zoo staff found a similar cut at a habitat for a breed of monkey known as Langurs. However, none of the langurs escaped.

    Dallas Police at the time said the cutting of both enclosures will be investigated, though it was unknown if the two incidents were related.

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  • Migrant arrivals soared to record levels in December, before border crackdown was announced

    Migrant arrivals soared to record levels in December, before border crackdown was announced

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    Washington — The number of migrants processed by U.S. authorities along the southern border soared to a monthly record high in December, before President Biden announced tougher enforcement measures that have reduced illegal entries, government figures released Friday show.

    Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials at the U.S.-Mexico border processed migrants 251,487 times last month, a 7% increase from November, fueled by record arrivals of migrants from Cuba and Nicaragua, according to the agency statistics. The previous monthly record was set in May 2022, when CBP recorded over 241,000 migrant encounters along the southern border.

    But the sharp increase in unlawful border crossings in December occurred before the Biden administration launched a revamped migration plan that pairs increased expulsions of those entering the U.S. unlawfully with expanded opportunities for vulnerable asylum-seekers and migrants with U.S.-based sponsors to enter the country legally.

    MEXICO-US-POLITICS-IMMIGRATION-MIGRANTS
    Migrants wait for their turn to have a Border Patrol agent write down their information in Eagle Pass, Texas, on December 20, 2022. 

    VERONICA G. CARDENAS/AFP via Getty Images


    Since those measures were announced in early January, the number of migrants apprehended along the Mexican border has plummeted. Border Patrol is currently averaging roughly 4,000 migrant apprehensions per day, a 40% drop from the daily average in December, a senior Department of Homeland Security official told CBS News Friday, requesting anonymity to share internal data.

    Still, the record number of migrant apprehensions in December, a month that has historically seen lower migration flows than warmer parts of the year, illustrates the unprecedented migrant crisis along the southern border, where migrants have been arriving in greater numbers and from more countries than ever before.

    The extraordinary migration event has been primarily driven by record arrivals of migrants from countries outside of Mexico and Central America’s Northern Triangle, the main sources of U.S.-bound unlawful migration before the COVID-19 pandemic.

    In December, U.S. officials along the Mexican border recorded 42,637 encounters with Cubans, and 35,389 encounters with Nicaraguans, all-time monthly highs for both nationalities. By contrast, U.S. border agents processed migrants from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador nearly 33,000 times last month.

    U.S. border officials were preparing in late December to discontinue a pandemic-era rule known as Title 42 that has allowed them to quickly expel some migrants without affording them an opportunity to request asylum. But the Supreme Court put Title 42’s termination, ordered by a lower court, on hold while it reviews a request by Republican-led states that want the Trump-era policy to continue.

    As part of the strategy Mr. Biden unveiled in early January, the U.S. announced that Mexico had agreed to accept 30,000 returns per month of migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who attempted to cross into the U.S. illegally. Previously, Mexican officials generally only accepted the return of migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador expelled under Title 42.

    The Biden administration simultaneously committed to admitting up to 30,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela per month and giving them access to work permits if they have sponsors in the U.S. willing to support their arrival. Officials also announced a process for vulnerable migrants in Mexico to make appointments through a mobile app to request U.S. entry at ports of entry along the southern border.

    In December, U.S. border officials carried out 49,405 expulsions under Title 42, representing only 20% of all migrant encounters last month. That percentage, however, could change in January since Mexico has since accepted the return of additional migrant nationalities expelled by the U.S. via Title 42.

    Migrants who are not expelled are processed under regular immigration law, which allows them to request asylum. Migrant adults and families could be detained, deported under a process known as expedited removal or released into the U.S. with a court notice or instructions to check in with federal officials in their respective destinations. Unaccompanied children are generally transferred to government shelters.

    Migrant encounters do not represent individual migrants, as some try to cross the U.S. border multiple times after being expelled to Mexico. In December, 14% of migrants processed along the southern border had been previously stopped by U.S. immigration officials in the last 12 months, CBP data show.

    Moreover, not all migrants enter the U.S. illegally between legal ports of entry. In December, U.S. border officials processed 23,025 asylum-seekers determined to be vulnerable at ports of entry under humanitarian exemptions to Title 42, according to government data submitted to a federal court.

    Camilo Montoya-Galvez


    screen-shot-2022-12-06-at-11-01-10-pm.png

    Camilo Montoya-Galvez is the immigration reporter at CBS News. Based in Washington, he covers immigration policy and politics.

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  • Texas Middle School Parts Ways With Teacher Who Assigned Racial Slur Worksheets

    Texas Middle School Parts Ways With Teacher Who Assigned Racial Slur Worksheets

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    A middle school in Killeen, Texas, has parted ways with a teacher who assigned students worksheets with racial and other derogatory terms.

    In a letter to parents Thursday, the Killeen Independent School District said the now-former teacher, whose name has not been released, handed out “an appalling and extremely disturbing assignment.”

    The worksheets, which were passed around to about 10 students in a class at Rancier Middle School, included a “Trigger Words Scramble” that featured the N-word, as well as terms like “fat” and “crackhead,” according to Waco-based ABC affiliate KXXV.

    “There is no argument to condone such an offensive gesture, and we deeply regret the assignment was ever created and distributed to even a small group of students,” wrote Superintendent John Craft in the district’s letter.

    The teacher was a new hire, having joined Killeen ISD in August.

    The assignment caused outrage in the local community. About 90% of the school’s 785 students identify as a minority, with most being Black or Hispanic.

    In the letter to parents, Craft said the unauthorized assignment “does not support nor reflect” the district’s values.

    “The classwork was inappropriate, insensitive, and failed miserably to support our mission,” he wrote.

    The district is still investigating the incident, and Craft said that parents of students in the class have been “personally contacted by the campus principal.”

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  • Elon Musk takes witness stand to defend Tesla buyout tweets

    Elon Musk takes witness stand to defend Tesla buyout tweets

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    Elon Musk took the witness stand Friday to defend a 2018 tweet claiming he had lined up the financing to take Tesla private in a deal that never came close to happening.

    The tweet in which Musk claimed he had “funding secured” resulted in a $40 million settlement with securities regulators. It also led to a class-action lawsuit alleging he misled investors, pulling him into court Friday.

    The mercurial billionaire took the witness stand wearing a dark suit on the third day of a civil trial in San Francisco that his lawyer unsuccessfully tried to move to Texas, where Tesla is now headquartered, on the premise that media coverage of his tumultuous takeover of Twitter had tainted the jury pool.

    The nine-person jury assembled earlier this week will be responsible for deciding whether a pair of tweets that Musk posted on Aug. 7, 2018 damaged Tesla shareholders during a 10-day period after which Musk admitted that the buyout he had envisioned wasn’t going to happen.

    A month later, Musk stepped down as Tesla’s chairman while remaining CEO as part of the Securities and Exchange Commission settlement without acknowledging any wrongdoing.

    In the first of those two 2018 tweets, Musk stated he had “funding secured” for a what would have been a $72 billion buyout of Tesla at a time when the electric automaker was still grappling with production problems and was worth far less than it is now. Musk followed up a few hours later with another tweet suggesting a deal was imminent.


    Elon Musk faces trial over 2018 tweets about taking Tesla private

    04:38

    “I care a great deal”

    On the stand Friday, Musk — who last year bought Twitter for $44 billion — said tweeting is the “most democratic way” to communicate with investors.

    “I care a great deal about retail investors,” he said during questioning by shareholder attorney Nicholas Porritt.

    But he acknowledged that investors can get more detail in a traditional corporate filing with securities regulators, given the character limits set on Twitter.

    “I think you can absolutely be truthful” on Twitter, Musk said. “But can you be comprehensive? Of course not.”

    Even before Musk took the stand, U.S. District Judge Edward Chen had declared that the jurors can consider those two tweets to be falsehoods, leaving them to decide whether Musk deliberately deceived investors and whether his statements saddled them with losses.

    Musk has previously contended he entered into the SEC settlement under duress and maintained he believed he had locked up financial backing for a Tesla buyout during meetings with representatives from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

     A new focus

    The trial over his Tesla tweets come at a time when he has been focusing on Twitter, which he acquired in October for $44 billion after trying to back out of that purchase.

    Musk’s leadership of Twitter — where he has gutted the staff and alienated advertisers — has proven unpopular among Tesla’s current stockholders, who are worried he has been devoting less time steering the automaker at a time of intensifying competition. Those concerns contributed to a 65% decline in Tesla’s stock last year that wiped out more than $700 billion in shareholder wealth — far more than the $14 billion swing in fortune that occurred between the company’s high and low stock prices during the Aug. 7-17, 2018 period covered in the class-action lawsuit.

    Tesla’s stock has split twice since then, making the $420 buyout price cited in his 2018 tweet worth $28 on adjusted basis now. The company’s shares were trading around $133 Friday, down from the company’s November 2021 split-adjusted peak of $414.50.

    After Musk dropped the idea of a Tesla buyout, the company overcame its production problems, resulting in a rapid upturn in car sales that caused its stock to soar and minted Musk as the world’s richest person until he bought Twitter. Musk dropped from the top spot on the wealth list after the stock market’s backlash to his handling of Twitter.

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  • University of Texas at Austin blocks TikTok from its IT network | CNN Business

    University of Texas at Austin blocks TikTok from its IT network | CNN Business

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    The University of Texas at Austin blocked TikTok from its IT network on Wednesday under an earlier order by Gov. Greg Abbott banning the short-form video app from state-managed electronic resources.

    The move makes it impossible for users of TikTok to access the app, even on personal devices, if they are connecting via the school’s wired or wireless networks, the university wrote in a message posted to its website.

    “The university is taking these important steps to eliminate risks to information contained in the university’s network and to our critical infrastructure,” the message said, citing Abbot’s statewide directive, which highlighted fears that TikTok’s US user data could fall into the hands of the Chinese government.

    The university had already begun removing TikTok from official cell phones, tablets and other devices as part of complying with the directive, the message continued.

    The university is not the first to restrict TikTok from its network. The University of Oklahoma and Auburn University in Alabama have each taken steps to clamp down on TikTok in response to governors’ orders in their respective states. In all, more than half of states have banned TikTok from government devices, according to a recent CNN analysis.

    The bans come as a growing number of lawmakers continue to scrutinize TikTok over possible national security concerns due to its ties to China through its parent company, ByteDance.

    TikTok has previously said it’s “disappointed” to see “so many states are jumping on the political bandwagon to enact policies that will do nothing to advance cybersecurity in their states and are based on unfounded falsehoods about TikTok.”

    “We’re especially sorry to see the unintended consequences of these rushed policies beginning to impact universities’ ability to share information, recruit students, and build communities around athletic teams, student groups, campus publications, and more,” the company previously said.

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  • Millions under winter storm watch as snow moves across Midwest and New England

    Millions under winter storm watch as snow moves across Midwest and New England

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    Millions under winter storm watch as snow moves across Midwest and New England – CBS News


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    Six states and 14 million Americans are on alert as winter storms move across the Midwest and toward New England, while the West faces another cross-country storm. The Weather Channel’s Mike Bettes has the forecast.

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  • Winter storms and tornados threaten millions across U.S.

    Winter storms and tornados threaten millions across U.S.

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    Winter storms and tornados threaten millions across U.S. – CBS News


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    Severe weather is posing a threat for millions of Americans from the Western states to the South. In Colorado, the biggest January snowstorm in decades has brought about a foot of snow, while parts of Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas are under tornado watch. The Weather Channel’s Mike Bettes has the forecast.

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  • US government won’t seek death penalty for accused Walmart shooter | CNN

    US government won’t seek death penalty for accused Walmart shooter | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The US government said it would not seek the death penalty in its case against Patrick Crusius, who allegedly killed 23 people and wounded close to two dozen others at a Walmart in El Paso more than three years ago.

    In the short, one-line-filing, First Assistant US Attorney Margaret Leachman did not include a reason for declining the death penalty.

    In Texas, though, the district attorney’s office filed a notice last summer that it would seek the death penalty in the state’s case against Crusius.

    The federal government indicted Crusius on 90 charges, including hate crimes and the use of a firearm to commit murder. The shooting, which took place on August 3, 2019, marked one of the deadliest attacks on Latinos in modern US history.

    According to court documents, jury selection in the federal case is set to start in January 2024.

    Back in September 2022, the US District Court for the Western District of Texas agreed to a January 17 deadline for the government to file notice on whether it would seek the death penalty.

    The Texas case, meanwhile, has been bogged down by drama involving the former district attorney, Yvonne Rosales, who resigned in November. A trial date has not been set in that case.

    Crusius has pleaded not guilty to the state capital murder charge and the federal charges.

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  • Elon Musk set to face trial over his Tesla tweets

    Elon Musk set to face trial over his Tesla tweets

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    While still grappling with the fallout from a company he did take private, beleaguered billionaire Elon Musk is now facing a trial over a company he didn’t.

    Long before Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion in October, he had set his sights on Tesla, the electric automaker where he continues to serve as CEO and from which he derives most of his wealth and fame. Musk claimed in an August 7, 2018, tweet that he had lined up the financing to pay for a $72 billion buyout of Tesla, which he then amplified with a follow-up statement that made a deal seem imminent.

    But the buyout never materialized and now Musk will have to explain his actions under oath in a federal court in San Francisco. The trial, which begins on Tuesday with jury selection, was triggered by a class-action lawsuit on behalf of investors who owned Tesla stock for a 10-day period in August 2018.

    SEC fine

    Musk’s tweets back then fueled a rally in Tesla’s stock price that abruptly ended a week later, after it became apparent that he didn’t have the funding for a buyout after all. That resulted in him scrapping his plan to take the automaker private, culminating in a $40 million settlement with U.S. securities regulators that also required him to step down as the company’s chairman.

    Musk has since contended he entered that settlement under duress and maintained he believed he had locked up financial backing for a Tesla buyout during meetings with representatives from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

    The trial’s outcome may hinge on the jury’s interpretation of Musk’s motive for tweets that U.S. District Judge Edward Chen has already decided were a falsehood.

    Chen dealt Musk another setback on Friday, when he rejected Musk’s bid to transfer the trial to a federal court in Texas, where Tesla moves its headquarters in 2021. Musk had argued that negative coverage of his Twitter purchase had poisoned the jury pool in the San Francisco Bay Area.

    Musk’s leadership of Twitter — where he has gutted the staff and alienated users and advertisers — has proven unpopular among Tesla’s current stockholders, who are worried he has been devoting less time steering the automaker at a time of intensifying competition. 

    Those concerns contributed to a 65% percent decline in Tesla’s stock last year that wiped out more than $700 billion in shareholder wealth — far more than the $14 billion swing in fortune that occurred between the company’s high and low stock prices during the Aug. 7-17, 2018 period covered in the class-action lawsuit.

    Tesla shares slump

    The lawsuit is based on the premise that Tesla’s shares wouldn’t have traded at such a wide range if Musk hadn’t dangled the prospect of buying the company for $420 per share. Tesla’s stock has split twice since then, making that $420 price worth $28 on adjusted basis now. The shares closed last week at $122.40, down from its November 2021 split-adjusted peak of $414.50.

    After Musk dropped the idea of a Tesla buyout, the company overcame a production problem, resulting in a rapid upturn in car sales that caused its stock to soar and minted Musk as the world’s richest person until he bought Twitter. Musk dropped from the top spot on the wealth list after the stock market’s backlash to his handling of Twitter.


    Elon Musk sells off billions in Tesla stock following Twitter takeover

    02:42

    The trial is likely to provide insights into Musk’s management style, given the witness list includes some of Tesla’s current and former top executives and board members, including luminaries such as Larry Ellison, Oracle co-founder, as well as James Murdoch, the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch. 

    The drama also may shed light on Musk’s relationship with his brother, Kimbal, who is also on the list of potential witnesses who may be called during a trial scheduled to continue through Feb. 1.

    With Tesla vehicle sales slowing and its stock price tumbling, the company on Friday sharply slashed prices on several versions of its cars, making some models eligible for a new federal tax credit that could help spur buyer interest.

    The company dropped prices nearly 20% in the U.S. on some versions of the Model Y SUV, its top seller. That cut will make more versions of the Model Y eligible for a $7,500 electric-vehicle tax credit that will be available through March. Tesla also reduced the base price of the Model 3, its least expensive model, by about 6%.

    “We believe all together these price cuts could spur demand/deliveries by 12%-15% globally in 2023 and shows Tesla and Musk are going on the ‘offensive’ to spur demand in a softening backdrop,” Wedbush analyst said in a recent report. 

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  • Mayor Adams gets first-hand look at migrant crisis in Texas

    Mayor Adams gets first-hand look at migrant crisis in Texas

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    Mayor Adams gets first-hand look at migrant crisis in Texas – CBS News


    Watch CBS News



    Adams called on the federal government to step up and help cities dealing with an influx of migrants, like New York, El Paso, and Chicago. CBS2’s Tim McNicholas reports.

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  • 1 person killed and 4 others injured in overnight shooting in Texas after more than 50 shots were fired | CNN

    1 person killed and 4 others injured in overnight shooting in Texas after more than 50 shots were fired | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    At least one person died and four others were injured in a shooting outside a Houston club early Sunday, authorities said.

    “Over 50 shots were fired” in the parking lot of “some type of club/bar,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said during a news conference.

    Police responded to the shooting around 2 a.m. and learned that five people had been shot, said Gonzalez. All of the victims were hospitalized.

    One person died and police were still trying to determine the extent of the injuries sustained by the four victims, he added. Two men and three women were believed to have been shot, according to Gonzalez.

    “It looks like over 50 shots were fired here, which is a very scary situation considering there’s a mobile food truck and … the number of patrons that were outside,” he said.

    The information officials had was “preliminary,” but the gunfire appears to have been a drive-by shooting, said Gonzalez.

    “We believe there may have been a vehicle that pulled up right around the 2 a.m. time frame,” he said. “There were multiple people inside the vehicle, exited the vehicle, and began opening fire upon the patrons that were outside of the club at the time.”

    Homicide investigators are looking into the shooting and trying to find witnesses, authorities said.

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  • Texas high school football coach placed on leave after several students hospitalized following workout

    Texas high school football coach placed on leave after several students hospitalized following workout

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    A Texas high school football coach in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area was placed on administrative leave this week after several students had to be hospitalized following a workout, school officials said.

    In an email to parents Tuesday, Principal Todd Bradford of Rockwall-Heath High School in Heath, Texas, said that head coach John Harrell required the students to “perform multiple push-ups” during an offseason football program on Jan. 6. 

    Three days later, on Jan. 9, several players’ parents reported to the school that their children had required “medical attention,” Bradford wrote, “and in some cases, hospitalization.”  

    The details of the workout, along with the exact conditions of the players, was not provided. It was unclear how many players required hospitalization. 

    Harrell was placed on leave, Bradford said, and the Rockwall Independent School District hired an “independent third-party investigator” to look into the incident. 

    The team’s players took park in a “recovery workout” on Jan. 9, that included a “light warm-up and light stretching,” Bradford said.  

    The principal also listed several symptoms that the players should look out for, including being unable to bend or extend their arms, nausea, loss of consciousness, vomiting, dark urine and abdominal pain. 

    There has been heightened attention to the health of athletes after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered an on-field cardiac arrest during a Jan. 2 football game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Hamlin was administered CPR on the field by medical personnel before being loaded into an ambulance and rushed to the intensive care unit of a Cincinnati hospital, where he was sedated in critical condition for several days.     

    The team has described Hamlin’s recovery as “remarkable.” He was transferred to a New York hospital earlier this week, and was discharged on Wednesday. 

    Last weekend, five men’s baskeball players at Concordia University Chicago were hospitalized following a rigorous workout. CBS Chicago reported Thursday that the school initially placed coach Steve Kollar on leave, but he was allowed to return to the team following an investigation. 

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  • Texas man in jail after allegedly decapitating his newlywed wife

    Texas man in jail after allegedly decapitating his newlywed wife

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    A 21-year-old Texas man remained jailed Friday after authorities accused him of killing and decapitating his wife.

    Jared Dicus has been charged with murder in the death of 21-year-old Anggy Diaz. Dicus is being held on a $500,000 bond.

    Anggy Diaz is seen in a photo posted to a online fundraiser set up by her family.
    Anggy Diaz is seen in a photo posted to a online fundraiser set up by her family.

    Waller County Sheriff Troy Guidry said authorities found Diaz’s body Wednesday afternoon at a home the couple shared in a rural area near Magnolia, located about 44 miles northwest of Houston.

    “It’s a gruesome crime,” Guidry said.

    Dicus was found at the murder scene and arrested, Guidry said. The sheriff told reporters that Dicus later confessed to the killing. Investigators believe a kitchen knife was used in the slaying.

    Court records did not list an attorney for Dicus who could speak on his behalf.

    Guidry said authorities are still trying to determine a motive.

    Diaz’s friends told CBS affiliate KHOU-TV that she was an immigrant from Nicaragua who had been working two jobs to help pay for her mother’s cancer treatment back home.

    Surveillance video from a store where Diaz worked appears to show Dicus pulling up in the parking lot around 11:40 a.m. on the day she was found dead, KHOU-TV reported. The video appears to show him walking into the store and grabbing a beer before he appears to be seen opening the beer, taking a sip and driving away.

    Guidry said there were prior calls of a disturbance made from the home but “nothing to this effect or level of violence,” KHOU reported.

    “That’s the world we live in today. It’s a gruesome scene,” Guidry said. “Both sides of these families will be altered by it.”

    Waller County Judge Trey Duhon said in a statement on Facebook that he had married the couple in October.

    “During my short time with them, they were a very nice young couple,” Duhon wrote, adding: “I’m greatly saddened and shocked by the news of this tragic event and my prayers are with all of their families.”

    A fundraiser set up by the victim’s family called Diaz “the light to our family and community.” It had raised more than $20,000 as of Friday afternoon.


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  • US launches online system to seek asylum on Mexican border

    US launches online system to seek asylum on Mexican border

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    SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Biden administration on Thursday launched an online appointment system as the only way for migrants to get exceptions from pandemic-era limits on asylum — the U.S. government’s latest major step in eight days to overhaul border enforcement.

    U.S. Customs and Border Protection began allowing migrants to make appointments up to two weeks out using its website and through CBPOne, a mobile app that the agency has used in limited ways since 2020. CBPOne is replacing an opaque, bewildering patchwork of exemptions to a public health order known as Title 42 under which the government has denied migrants’ U.S. and international rights to claim asylum since March 2020.

    Until now, CBP has arranged exemptions through advocates, churches, attorneys and migrant shelters, without publicly identifying them or saying how many slots were available. The advocates have chosen who gets in, with CBP having final say.

    Under the new system, migrants apply directly to the agency and a government official will determine who gets in. Their appointments will be at one of eight crossings — at Brownsville, El Paso, Hidalgo and Laredo in Texas; Nogales, Arizona; and Calexico and San Diego in California.

    Exemptions for Title 42 are meant to go to the most vulnerable migrants.

    Thursday’s rollout is separate from measures announced last week to expel migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to Mexico under Title 42 and — at the same time — allow up to 30,000 migrants from those four countries to be admitted to the United States every month under humanitarian parole for two years if they apply online, pay their airfare and provide a financial sponsor.

    While the administration previously signaled that it would introduce CBPOne for people seeking asylum at land border crossings with Mexico, the speed of change caught advocates off-guard.

    “Utter and complete confusion,” said Priscilla Orta, an attorney at Lawyers For Good Government’s Project Corazon in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley.

    U.S. officials told advocates Friday they expected the app to be ready in a month, Orta said. Then on Monday, advocates were informed the rollout had been moved up to this week.

    Under Title 42, the U.S. has expelled migrants 2.5 million times since March 2020 on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. To qualify for an exemption under CBPOne, migrants must have a physical or mental illness, disability, pregnancy, lack housing, face a threat of harm, or must be under 21 years old or over 70.

    The government’s app is currently available only in English and Spanish and requires access to a smartphone, email and reliable internet.

    U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Florida Democrat and Haitian American, expressed concern that the app wasn’t available in Haiti’s primary languages, Creole and French. Officials say a Creole version will be added soon.

    The Homeland Security Department said the app will be available to migrants in central and northern Mexico. Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement that it allows people “to seek protection in a safe, orderly, and humane manner and to strengthen the security of our borders.”

    It’s the administration’s latest attempt to address extraordinarily high numbers of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, many of whom are fleeing inequality and violence at home. U.S. authorities stopped migrants 2.38 million times in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, up 37% from 1.73 million times during an unusually busy 2021.

    Savitri Arvey, a senior policy adviser at the Women’s Refugee Commission, said she struggled to explain all the recent policy changes to migrants during a visit to Monterrey, Mexico.

    “It was just impossible in (migrant) shelters,” she said Thursday. ”‘There’s this option for you, Venezuelans but not for you, Central Americans,’” she said.

    Some advocates welcomed the new system for seeking exemptions, saying it the old one was rife with favoritism and prone to corruption. CBP began working with advocacy groups to select people who are exempt from Title 42 during President Joe Biden’s first year in office.

    Albert Rivera, director of the Agape Mision Mundial shelter in Tijuana, said he previously didn’t have the connections to help migrants get exemptions, but on Thursday a Mexican woman at his shelter was able to sign up for an online appointment.

    “We feel excited,” said Rivera said. “Everything was a monopoly.”

    Last month, The Associated Press reported that Calvary Church in the San Diego suburb of Chula Vista was getting 40 exemptions a day and doling them out to people who paid $1,800 each or $3,500 for a married couple. Asylum is supposed to be free and intended for those most in need. About a week after the AP story ran, the church-linked group that facilitated exemptions, Most V USA, said CBP decided to stop working with it.

    CBP has been giving 180 exemptions a day in San Diego, Enrique Lucero, director of migrant affairs for Tijuana, Mexico, said this week. El Paso, Texas, was said to be getting 70 exemptions a day.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Terry Spencer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Jim Heintz in Moscow contributed.

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  • CVS sued by nurse who was fired after she refused to prescribe birth control because of her religious beliefs

    CVS sued by nurse who was fired after she refused to prescribe birth control because of her religious beliefs

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    CVS Health is facing another lawsuit brought by a former employee who claims the pharmacy chain’s decision to fire her after she refused to prescribe birth control to patients violated her religious rights under federal law. J. Robyn Strader, a nurse practitioner and Texas resident, worked at a CVS MinuteClinic for six and a half years, according to the lawsuit, which she filed through her attorney in U.S. district court in Forth Worth on Wednesday.

    The complaint alleges that CVS terminated Strader’s employment illegally, arguing that the company’s decision dismissed protections outlined in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The provision, passed as part of a broader package of landmark legislation in 1964, prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex and national origin. One section of Title VII specifically notes that “[t]he term ‘religion’ includes all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief, unless an employer demonstrates that he is unable to reasonably accommodate to an employee’s or prospective employee’s religious observance or practice without undue hardship on the conduct of the employer’s business.”

    Strader claims in the new lawsuit that her Christian faith prevented her from prescribing contraceptive or abortion-inducing drugs to patients at the CVS where she worked. For the majority of Strader’s tenure there, she says CVS granted her a religious accommodation that allowed her to personally reject patients’ requests for those prescriptions and instead refer them to a colleague or a different MinuteClinic. But, in August 2021, CVS Health revoked a previous policy regarding religious accommodations that ensured all employees’ needs would be met, the suit says.

    “CVS’s new policy is to deny all such religious accommodations without considering the particular circumstances of the employee requesting the accommodation, including to determine whether that employee could be accommodated without undue hardship,” the lawsuit states.

    The lawsuit asserts that the pharmacy could have transferred Strader to a role that would not require her to be in situations where she might have to prescribe birth control, instead of keeping her in an “essential” position where providing religious accommodation directly conflicted with the function of her job. Citing both the Civil Rights Act and another court case that states employers must consider religious accommodation requests on an individual basis, the lawsuit also claims that CVS “failed to engage with her about possible accommodations, and terminated her because of her religious beliefs.”

    CVS Health Results
    A CVS Pharmacy sign stands in Mount Lebanon, Pa., on Monday May 3, 2021.

    Gene J. Puskar / AP


    Strader’s legal complaint is similar to two other suits filed in Kansas and Virginia against CVS Health last year, where former employees alleged that they were unlawfully terminated for refusing to prescribe birth control because of their religious beliefs. In the Virginia complaint, filed last September, the plaintiff, Paige Casey, was represented by the conservative nonprofit legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom.

    Around the time Casey’s lawsuit was filed, Michael DeAngelis, a spokesperson for CVS, told CBS MoneyWatch that the company does try to accommodate employees’ religious beliefs, but providing sexual and reproductive health services to patients is a fundamental part of working at its walk-in clinics.

    “It is not possible … to grant an accommodation that exempts an employee from performing the essential functions of their job,” DeAngelis said in a statement. “We cannot grant exemptions from these essential MinuteClinic functions.”

    CBS News contacted CVS Health for a response to Strader’s lawsuit but did not receive an immediate reply.

    Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that in 1973 established federal rights to choose to have an abortion, states across the country have passed their own laws restricting access to the procedure, with at least 13 of them enacting near-total abortion bans. Both CVS and Walgreens, which are the nation’s largest drugstore chains, recently told CBS MoneyWatch that they intend to sell the abortion drug mifepristone after the Food and Drug Administration reversed a ruling that prevented retail pharmacies from dispensing the medication. 

    The FDA’s decision came just days after a Justice Department ruling confirmed that U.S. Postal Service can continue to deliver abortion medication by mail, even in states that have passed restrictions since Roe’s reversal. Although CVS and Walgreens drugstores will not be able to sell mifepristone in states where abortion is banned, the FDA ruling is expected to expand access to a drug that previously was limited to smaller mail-order pharmacies.

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  • Football Coach Forces Players To Do Hundreds Of Pushups Before Several Hospitalized

    Football Coach Forces Players To Do Hundreds Of Pushups Before Several Hospitalized

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    A Dallas-area football coach ordered his Rockwall-Heath High School players to perform hundreds of pushups in a conditioning class before several were hospitalized, according to reports.

    “As a parent we send our kids to school trusting that they will be cared for at the highest level. That has been the case until this unfortunate event,” the mother of one athlete told Fox 4.

    WFAA’s Matt Howerton shared a letter from the school district telling parents that head football coach John Harrell had been placed on administrative leave amid an investigation. HuffPost couldn’t immediately reach Harrell for comment.

    Several players required medical attention or hospitalization after the Jan. 6 training, the letter said. Parents were asked to monitor their children for sharp arm pain or dark urine.

    Brady Luff, a captain on the team, said he did not believe Harrell was punishing the players. He said plenty of water was available and players were free to leave the workout.

    The coach would “never make us do a workout that was gonna put any of us at risk,” Luff said in the interview below.

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  • Hey Boomer: An Old Folks Home For The Generation Who Never Trusted Anyone Over 30

    Hey Boomer: An Old Folks Home For The Generation Who Never Trusted Anyone Over 30

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    A New, Hip, High tech Retirement Environment Debuts in Houston

    Today’s Baby Boomers are a larger, healthier, and more active demographic than their folks were, out-sizing them by 62%. The 75+ population in the U.S. is projected to grow 50% in the next ten years, doubling in the next 20. Do we want to live forever? Maybe: this generation works hard at longevity. In fact, this month’s National Geographic asks, on the cover: Can aging be cured?

    While scientists produce longevity diets and breakthroughs in Alzheimer meds, today’s seniors are retiring later, traveling more, and embarking on non-traditional work/live/play paths, which includes the urban lifestyle as well as proximity to their children.

    But getting old remains a challenge —- the body falters, the mind deteriorates, diets and movement are restricted.

    A new Houston adult community is integrating those challenges into a first of its kind luxury senior lifestyle real estate offering. The Watermark at Houston Heights, the first Élan Collection in Texas, presents an independent and assisted living senior community aimed at residents seeking a vibrant and active lifestyle up to, well, as long as they can. Highly tech-enabled , the concept focuses on aging in place, rewarding healthy living, access to senior and longevity resources, and top healthcare providers under one roof.

    The Watermark is like living in a Four Seasons with some structure and a personal aging concierge.

    The Watermark is located in the smack of Houston’s vibrant Houston Heights, known for hip retail concepts, restaurants and culture. It joins eight other thriving Élan properties in upscale communities such as Palm Beach, Coral Gables, Napa, Los Angeles, Brooklyn, Tucson and now, Georgetown (TX).

    The Élan concept is resort-like senior environments with curated technology assist woven into everyday life, all to soften the blows and deficits of aging.

    Elan was conceived by a Boomer FOR Boomers.

    “Several years ago, retirement living CEOs were talking,” says David Freshwater, CEO of Watermark Retirement Communities and an industry veteran.

    “I asked, ‘would any of you live in your communities when you get to that age?’ There was a pause… and then everyone said, ‘no we wouldn’t”

    “That hit me,” says Freshwater. “It hit me hard.”

    David Freshwater is a 35-year veteran of the retirement industry. And he is officially tossing out the word, ‘retirement’. Freshwater, inching toward 69, was talking to me from Wyoming. He lives in Tucson. Constantly on the go, he is the prototype for the senior community he created at Elan. Freshwater conceived the Elan concept to cater to affluent seniors but to offer more —- a lifestyle shunning ageism, promoting vibrant, spirited living at various care levels, all wrapped into a five-star wellness resort.

    And he had no shame about pulling in technology to assist.

    Throw out the obvious alert buttons that scream OLD PERSON. Enter PalCare alert: discreet wearables coupled with a community-wide modular emergency call system for real-time location alerts to falls and accurate location tracking.

    Then there’s the building’s private cable TV station, a Radiant Channel Insertion, with a wide array of well-being (and exclusive) programming from yoga, meditation, scholarly courses, to movies, theater, even musical performances to be enjoyed at home.

    A trip to Tuscany? Skiing when your knees aren’t up to it? There is EngageVR-Virtual Reality, Oculus technology to offer virtual experiences replicating what residents may have enjoyed in the past, but can no longer do. We’ve seen this technology used abundantly in open houses in Dallas.

    Let’s face it, we do get more forgetful as we age. But there are ways to stave that off. Thus cognitive health and memory training classes through UCLA’s renown Longevity Center are offered to help residents stay ahead of, or deal with, aging deficits.

    Since technology solutions are incorporated into the fabric of Watermark’s communities, a Technology Concierge is available to assist residents and their families with the frustrations of processes and adoption rates.

    Coming of age in the Covid era, Watermark integrated the latest technology to screen and track communicable diseases for a high risk community. GoHealthID is a web-based software app custom built for WatermarkRetirement Communities that tracks and reports associate and resident COVID-19 testing and vaccinations. Super high tech, the platform leverages blockchain technology, linked to cryptography, with timestamp and transaction data that is HIPPA secure.

    An Accushield system replaces sign-in books for visitors and third-party caregivers with a kiosk-based, sign-in system that also records temperatures and asks health-related screening questions.

    Freshwater wrapped it all into beautiful real estate: The Watermark at Houston Heights is a stunning seven-story residential tower of 222 residences (201 senior living up to almost 1500 square feet, 21 memory care) designed by Architect of Record Kirskey, with Munoz + Albin Architecture and Planning, with sweeping skyline views of Houston. Residences are studio and two-bedroom with open floor plans, designer kitchens or kitchenettes, quartz countertops and tile backsplashes, and modern bathrooms with walk-in disability accessible showers. Most residences include in-suite washing machine and dryers as well as ranges. Expansive floor-to-ceiling windows allow abundant natural light.

    Common areas incorporate niche social spaces accented with curated art, as well as terraces, lounges, a state-of-the-art fitness center, art gallery and studio creation space, movie theater, library, heated outdoor swimming pool, activity lawn, luxury salon and spa, virtual-reality lounge and golf simulator.

    “This is a re-start, not a retirement,” says Freshwater. “We are trying to shed the word “retirement” in our corporate brand because it doesn’t reflect nor encapsulate what is actually going on within our communities.” Elan charges a one-time membership fee with monthly rentals that vary in each community.

    Years ago, at age 55, Freshwater sensed his company was not building products he himself would likely consume.

    “If we are NOT building a product I want to live in, we are doing something very wrong,” he told colleagues.

    From the beautiful real estate to the daily activities and food, life is carefully planned and crafted to stimulate the mind, body and souls of its residents.

    About the food: Seasons, a signature restaurant is on site, along with other casual options and at-home dining that can adjust recipes and favored signature dishes. There are healthcare integrations through the Alzheimer’s Association®, and a collaboration with Baylor College of Medicine. The entire Élan Collection is also currently in collaboration negotiations with representatives from the Cleveland Clinic.

    “More seniors prefer city life because of proximity to arts, top medical care, and services, not to mention their families” says Freshwater. “And in their later years, people tend to want to experience rich learning possibilities, and grow.”

    Like going back to college: Watermark University offers residents learning and whole-person well-being through interactive live lectures, courses, and activities exclusive to the property.

    Wall Street is paying attention. The compulsively comprehensive concept has attracted blue chip investors, such as Prudential, Goldman Sachs, and Kayne Anderson — Kayne Anderson has invested in five of the Elan communities. Expansion is in the air: another Elan prototype is almost complete in Georgetown, Texas, just north of Austin. Investors believe the next generation of seniors will be a ripe market in terms of sheer numbers and disposable income: a fixed-income clientele who will not be so affected by inflationary trends or income dips. They will age, of course, but demand their dignity, every bit as much as they demanded the right to vote when they were just babes at 18.

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    Candace Evans, Contributor

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  • TEXAS TITAN WILLIE’S GRILL & ICEHOUSE TO OPEN ANTICIPATED PFLUGERVILLE LOCATION JAN. 23

    TEXAS TITAN WILLIE’S GRILL & ICEHOUSE TO OPEN ANTICIPATED PFLUGERVILLE LOCATION JAN. 23

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    Willie’s Pflugerville is the 19th Willie’s in Texas, as well as the seventh location featuring a full bar

    Press Release
    –

    Jan 10, 2023 13:00 CST


    PFLUGERVILLE, Texas, January 10, 2023 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Willie’s Grill & Icehouse will officially begin serving its signature Texas comfort food in Pflugerville, Texas, on Monday, Jan. 23, 2023. The anticipated Pflugerville outpost is the 19th in the state for the Texas-based, Texas-grown brand, as well as the seventh location to feature an expansive full bar. The addition underscores Willie’s reign as the region’s top family-friendly haven, where a renowned scratch Texas kitchen and casual icehouse vibes offer wholesome fun for parents and kids.

    Located at 19200 Colorado Sand Drive in Pflugerville, Willie’s Pflugerville is defined by the same mouthwatering menus, sprawling open-air patio spaces, and genuine friendliness that have endeared the brand to families for almost three decades. Retractable glass garage doors facilitate easy movement between outdoors and Willie’s colorfully decorated interior, rooted in vintage-inspired nods to the Texas icehouse tradition. Outside, games, 18 massive flat-screen TVs, and ample seating beckon, providing plenty of room for relaxing, watching a game, and reconnecting with family over classic dishes always made from scratch, served with inspired craft cocktails, local brews, and more.

    Willie’s steadfast commitment to the community remains an anchor at Willie’s Pflugerville as well. First up: substantial donations to Pflugerville Independent School District and the Pflugerville Police Department’s non-profit organization, L.E.A.P. Details will be announced soon. In addition to ongoing philanthropic efforts, Willie’s presence in Pflugerville has also created more than 100 local jobs. Willie’s actively promotes and hires from within, believing every position has the potential for long-term career growth.   

    The Willie’s Pflugerville menu features what’s made Willie’s famous, including burgers so stacked with Texas housemade fixings that they nearly topple over, plus chicken fried steaks that are crispy outside, hot and tender inside, and almost spilling off the plate. Beloved options include Willie’s Favorites: The Icehouse Willie, a half-pound beef burger smothered with cheese, bacon, and mushrooms; the Catfish & Shrimp Combo, featuring battered and fried catfish and shrimp, served with fries and cool coleslaw, plus cocktail and tartar sauces and lemon wedges on the side; and Chicken Tenders, hand-breaded and served with fries, with the option to spike the tenders’ flavor profile by tossing them in buffalo, BBQ, garlic parmesan, or honey garlic sauces. 

    “Pflugerville is the perfect next home for Willie’s. We pride ourselves on our dedication to the public and Pflugerville epitomizes what it means to support your community and neighbors,” said Greg Lippert, CEO of Willie’s Restaurants. “We are so excited to join the Pflugerville community and to bring our delicious menu and bar items to the region.” 

    Source: Willie’s Grill and Icehouse

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