Texas Braces for Tropical Storm Cindy: Your Texas Roundup

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Should I go poke it with an umbrella?”

—Swode Moyers and Zakary Wyatt, according to KSAT. The two friends were driving to Levelland when an unexpected third passenger popped up: what appears to be a bull snake materialized on the hood of the truck. The two grown men literally squealed in fear at one point. Thankfully, their reaction to the little buddy was caught on video for all of us to enjoy. Also, please don’t go poking unidentified snakes with umbrellas.

BIG NEWS

Hurricane Cindy — NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory

Storm’s Brewing
Texas is bracing for Tropical Storm Cindy. The storm system brewed in the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend and turned into a tropical storm on Tuesday, and she’s expected to make landfall in Texas soon, according to the Houston Chronicle. A wide area ranging from Galveston to the Alabama-Florida border could see up to twelve inches of rain between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, putting more than 17 million people under a tropical storm warning, according to CNN. On Tuesday night, Galveston County Judge Mark Henry issued a voluntary evacuation of the Bolivar Peninsula, warning elderly folks and people with medical issues to “make plans to leave the area before dark,” according to the Galveston Daily News. Governor Greg Abbott has already allocated extra resources to the Texas coast in preparation for the storm. “I have directed Texas emergency personnel to prepare to respond as Tropical Storm Cindy prepares to make landfall along the Gulf Coast,” Abbott said in a statement. “As we have learned in the past, weather patterns can change rapidly and without warning. That is why I am imploring all Texans in the Gulf region to stay updated and heed warnings from your local officials, avoid high water areas, and refrain from attempting to drive through roadways or over bridges that have the potential to flood. We stand ready to assist local communities in the event of an emergency, and I ask all Texans to keep those in the storm’s path, and our brave first responders, in their prayers as they prepare for this storm.”

MEANWHILE, IN TEXAS

SB 4 Suit
Houston’s city council debated whether the city will join the lawsuit filed by other Texas cities against Senate Bill 4, the so called sanctuary cities bill, on Tuesday. According to the Houston Chronicle, things got pretty heated. More than 130 people testified in crowded council chambers, including state Representative Gene Wu, who ruffled some feathers by calling the law “evil,” and the people who support it “racist.” Houston is the last of Texas’s four big cities to hold out in joining the lawsuit. Mayor Sylvester Turner has previously called upon the city council to vote in favor of Houston jumping into the fray, and Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo has also been an outspoken critic of the law. But after a day of debate it’s unclear which way the council will lean. A final vote is expected on Wednesday.

Big Mouth
U.S. Representative Pete Olson, a Republican from Sugar Land, had to apologize on Tuesday after comments he made on a local radio show earlier this month surfaced. In a June 9 interview with Houston-based radio host Sam Malone, Olson parroted a number of Clinton-family conspiracy theories, making baseless claims that President Bill Clinton admitting to murdering aide Vince Foster (who committed suicide in 1993), and threatened former Attorney General Loretta Lynch if she continued her investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails. After his comments were brought to light by the liberal advocacy group Right Wing Watch, Olson had some explaining to do. “The personal wreckage suffered by many people during the Clinton years is well documented,” Olson said in a statement, according to the Texas Tribune. “Just ask Paula Jones, Jim and Susan McDougal, Kathleen Willey, and many others. However, in my discussion about Loretta Lynch and Vince Foster, I took the accusations a step too far. I regret my choice of words. The fact remains Hillary Clinton broke the law, violated national security, and was excused away by Jim Comey and the Obama Justice Department. Most Americans understand this and loathe the Clintons for continuing to live under a different set of rules than the rest of us.” That’s quite the apology.

Buckle Up
United Airlines is once again making waves for all the wrong reasons, and this time the controversy is back in Texas. According to the Houston Chronicle, a Houston-bound United flight was so turbulent that at least ten passengers were injured during the flight from Panama on Tuesday. KTRK reported that United later said as many as fourteen folks were hurt, some apparently sustaining serious enough injuries to be taken to local hospitals upon landing in Houston. It’s unclear what condition they’re in. “United flight 1031 experienced turbulence while en route from Panama City, Panama to Houston,” United told KTRK in a statement. “Paramedics met the aircraft to provide medical care and initial reports are that nine customers and one crew member were transported to the hospital for evaluation. Our thoughts and concerns are with those who were injured and our team is reaching out directly to our customers to provide further care and support.”