Nine People are Dead After Being Found in the Back of a Trailer in San Antonio: Your Texas Roundup

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“If he lasts four years, I’ll be there to kick his ass.”

—Mark Cuban at New York’s OZY Fest on Saturday, according to the Dallas Morning News. Cuban continues to talk tough about President Donald Trump, though he’s made no official statement indicating he plans to run in 2020.

BIG NEWS

San Antonio police officers investigate the scene where eight people were found dead in a tractor-trailer loaded with at least 30 others. Police are calling the discovery a horrific human trafficking case.AP Photo/Eric Gay

Trafficking Tragedy
Nine immigrants are dead after they were found in the back of a tractor trailer in a San Antonio Walmart parking lot early Saturday morning, according to the San Antonio Express-News. About 39 people total were found in the trailer. Eight were dead and thirty of them were taken to hospitals, where one later died and about twenty remain in “extremely severe” or critical condition, San Antonio Fire Department Chief Charles Hood said in a news conference Sunday afternoon, according to the New York Times. Local police and federal immigration officials are viewing this as a human trafficking crime. The truck driver, 60-year-old James Bradley Jr., of Clearwater, Florida, is in federal custody and will face charges, though at this point it remains unclear what he’ll be charged with. “These people were helpless in the hands of their transporters,” Richard L. Durbin, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, said in a statement. “Imagine their suffering, trapped in a stifling trailer in 100-plus-degree heat.” Authorities have not yet released many details about the people in the trailer, but two of the deceased were “school-age children,” and the others were in their twenties and thirties, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said at a news conference. Of the people who were taken to the hospital, the two youngest were 15.

MEANWHILE, IN TEXAS

Funding Cut
President Donald Trump’s administration has slashed more than $200 million in funding toward teen pregnancy prevention and research programs around the country, and Texas has seen $8.6 million of funding go up in smoke, according to the Austin American-Statesman. According to the Statesman, the Lone Star State has the nation’s fifth-highest teen pregnancy rate, the fourth-highest teen birth rate and the highest repeat teen pregnancy rate in the country. The federal funding went toward “evidence-based” programs, proven by research to have an impact on lowering teen pregnancy rates. The state, meanwhile, mostly only funds “abstinence-only” programs that lack research-proven results. It’s unclear why these funds were cut—ten Democratic Texas legislators, including U.S. Representatives Lloyd Doggett and Joaquín Castro, wrote a letter on July 14 to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price in search of an answer. “Terminating an effective program is another short-sighted decision, done by fiat behind closed doors,” Doggett said in a statement Friday, according to the Statesman. “These programs bring life-changing education to our youth, helping those in our community avoid unplanned pregnancies and make healthy decisions.”

Grand Champion
Jordan Spieth won the British Open on Sunday, bringing him one major victory away from a career Grand Slam. The Dallas native and former University of Texas at Austin golfer won in dramatic fashion, finishing with a flurry after struggling mightily early on. The Associated Press called his closing performance “among the greatest finishes in major championship history.” After leading by three shots going into the final round, Spieth lost the lead on the thirteenth hole, when he sent a shot sailing 75 yards from the fairway, settling in thick grass on a dune “so steep he could hardly stand up, let alone take a swing,” according to the AP. Spieth smartly took an unplayable penalty shot, backed himself up to the driving range, and somehow escaped with a bogey. On the final four holes he went birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie to win. Spieth, 23, is the youngest American to ever win the British Open, and Jack Nicklaus is the only other golfer to have won three different majors at that age.

Trade Rumors
Cleveland Cavaliers star Kyrie Irving has reportedly requested a trade, and San Antonio is the electric point guard’s preferred destination, ESPN reported on Saturday. It’s unclear if the Spurs are interested in making a move for Irving or if they would have the goods to get him, but he’d be great to pair with Kawhi Leonard. Irving averaged 29 points per game in the NBA Finals this season, and he’s a four-time All Star. He’s one of the best point guards in the league, and if the Spurs did somehow get him, it’d really ramp up the already-strong Texas rivalry with the Houston Rockets, who added a star point guard of their own this season, Chris Paul. The Spurs might be willing to part with big man LaMarcus Aldridge, who they reportedly tried to trade during the NBA Draft in June, according to the San Antonio Express-News, but they may need to give up more pieces or involve a third team to land Irving, who said he’d also consider accepting a trade to the New York Knicks, Miami Heat, and Minnesota Timberwolves.