After two nights of staying in her condo on the southwest side of Houston without power, Felicia Maten had no running water, the food in her refrigerator was spoiling and her fingers and toes hurt from the cold. She huddled under blankets with her 65-year-old mother and 23-year-old daughter, together using their breath to warm
Continue Reading SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Sunday that the Texas Public Utilities Commission is ordering a moratorium for energy companies to ban electricity disconnections due to non-payment as many Texans face high electricity bills after a week of sub-freezing temperatures. Abbott made the announcement during a briefing at Port San Antonio on
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — Texas GOP Rep. Michael McCaul on Sunday delivered a pointed rebuke of Sen. Ted Cruz following his much-criticized trip to Cancun, Mexico, as a winter disaster rocked Texas last week. “Look, when a crisis hits my state, I’m there. I’m not going to go on some vacation,” McCaul, the top Republican on
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had amassed $4.7 million in her fundraising efforts to help Texans hard hit by last week’s winter storm as of Sunday evening, her press secretary Ivet Contreras confirmed to CNN. The New York Democrat launched her fundraiser Thursday after extreme cold weather, ice and snow caused the power
Continue Reading Federal emergency funds meant to help Texans recover from a deep freeze will also be used to help some residents pay exorbitantly high energy bills they were charged as a result of the recent snow storm, a Republican congressman from the state said Sunday. “Yes, that’s the current plan with the federal assistance — be
Continue Reading After a devastating week for the Lone Star state, finally some relief. Temperatures Sunday will continue to warm, with most of the state expected to reach the 60s and 70s — much closer to the average temperatures residents expect during this time of year. But many Texans have only just begun recovering from the unprecedented
Continue Reading Water service remained disrupted for about half of Texas residents early Sunday, a lingering consequence of the widespread power outages from devastating winter weather and an unprepared infrastructure. More than 1,300 public water systems have reported disruptions in service, with many leading to boil-water notices, according to Gary Rasp, media specialist for the Texas Commission
Continue Reading In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Bill Gates said deaths during Texas’ winter freeze were preventable, caused by the state’s decision not to weatherize its energy. Gates pushed back on Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s claim that frozen wind turbines were to blame for the massive power failure. Gates said America’s dependence on renewable energy
Continue Reading “Saturday Night Live” felt like a lot of people needed to apologize this week, so on Saturday’s episode that’s what happened. The NBC variety show opened with Britney Spears, played by Chloe Fineman, hosting a show called “Oops… You Did It Again,” which provided people a platform to apologize for things they did wrong. This
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COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M’s Southeastern Conference men’s upcoming basketball game at Kentucky on Tuesday night has been postponed due to a combination of positive tests, contact tracing and quarantining within the Aggies’ program. It’s the seventh consecutive postponement for A&M, which hasn’t played since beating Kansas State 68-61 on Jan. 30 in the
Continue Reading DALLAS, Texas — Dallas resident DeAndre Upshaw said it was “very shocking” when he opened his latest electricity bill. “While I’m trying to get gas and groceries and make sure that my pipes don’t explode, the last thing I’m thinking about is a $7,000 bill from my utility company,” Upshaw told CNN via Skype Saturday.
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AUSTIN, Texas — Warmer temperatures spread across the southern United States on Saturday, bringing some relief to a winter weary region that faces a challenging clean-up and expensive repairs from days of extreme cold and widespread power outages. In hard-hit Texas, where millions were warned to boil tap water before drinking it, the warm-up was
Continue Reading Texans weathering harsh winter conditions will get some relief from the cold on Saturday, although many in the state are still without basic utilities. Saturday morning temperatures may be as low as 20 degrees for many inland locations, including Dallas and College Station, but the welcome return of onshore winds and full sunshine will warm
Continue Reading President Joe Biden has approved a major disaster declaration for Texas, unlocking more federal resources to assist the state struggling to recover from deadly winter storms. “Yesterday, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. declared that a major disaster exists in the State of Texas and ordered federal assistance to supplement state and local recovery efforts in
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WASHINGTON, DC — The extreme winter weather that left residents of Texas and other Southern states shivering through an unseasonal cold spell is testing President Joe Biden’s disaster management skills. The White House announced Saturday that Biden had declared a major disaster in Texas, and he’s asked federal agencies to identify additional resources to address the
Continue Reading DALLAS, Texas — Texans weathering harsh winter conditions will get some relief from the cold on Saturday, although many in the state are still without basic utilities. Saturday morning temperatures may be as low as 20 degrees for many inland locations, including Dallas and College Station, but the welcome return of onshore winds and full
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A Hilton Garden Inn near Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas went up in flames Friday night. According to a tweet from the Killeen Police Department, crews were battling a large structure fire at the hotel and urged nearby residents to avoid the area. There was no information on whether the hotel was occupied and whether
Continue Reading EL PASO, Texas — The Texas Legislature is considering two bills related to transgender medical and healthcare that propose potential bans. House Bill 1399 discourages doctors by prohibiting professional liability insurance from covering transition related care. While House Bill 68 proposes that any medical or mental health professional that performs transition related health care would
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas — Jenn Studebaker’s family in Austin burned chairs and pieces of bookcase shelves to stay warm this week. They made it through several days without power, in part by moving their beds close to the fireplace. But now there is no water coming out their tap. “The water’s not even bubbling. Nothing,” Studebaker
Continue Reading For nearly a year, newsrooms have mostly sat empty because of the pandemic. Staffers have been working from home and not seeing many of their coworkers in person. But over the past week in Texas, as millions lacked power and water, local journalists sought refuge in each others’ homes or even in their abandoned newsrooms.
Continue Reading HOUSTON, Texas — Hospitals in Texas are grappling with a series of issues, from burst water pipes to supply chain disruptions, due to severe winter weather across the state, the Texas Hospital Association said Friday. Many hospitals don’t have running water or have burst pipes, low pressure and boil water notices, according to a statement
Continue Reading As Texas restores power after a devastating week of freezing temperatures and winter storms, the state is confronting a new crisis: overwhelmed water systems that could extend misery for much of the population. Leaks caused by frozen pipes have pushed the state’s water supplies to the brink. More than 14.6 million Texans, nearly half the
Continue Reading DALLAS, Texas — Two Dallas police officers were shot and wounded this week responding to a domestic violence call, Police Chief Eddie Garcia said Friday. The man who shot the officers Thursday morning — identified as 57-year-old Sergio Sanchez — fatally shot his wife before turning the gun on himself in what Garcia called a
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HOUSTON, Texas –On a normal day, the Houston Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals gets 25-30 calls reporting animal cruelty. But since winter storms have pummeled Texas with power and water outages, that number has spiked to around 150 per day, the organization told CNN. “The neglect is already there,” Julie Kuenstle, Houston
Continue Reading HOUSTON, Texas — While Sen. Ted Cruz was dealing with the fallout from his trip to Cancun, two of his Democratic political nemeses — Beto O’Rourke and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — raised money and offered resources to Texans hit hard by this week’s winter storm. Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic congresswoman from New York who has frequently
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Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is facing widespread criticism and mockery for taking a trip to Cancun, Mexico, as his constituents suffered through a winter storm disaster. But Cruz is also being criticized and mocked over two things he did not actually say. A fake tweet A screenshot that is being shared on social media purports
Continue Reading This week, all eyes have been on Texas. An unprecedented winter storm left 4 million people without power across the state, and put nearly half of all Texans under a boil-water advisory. Initial reports from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which manages the state’s power grid, suggested frozen wind turbines were partially to
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AUSTIN, Texas — Texas’ power grid operator said Friday that rolling outages were no longer needed to balance supply and demand and the state’s electrical system was back in normal operation. But many Texans are still without power, and millions of people across the state have had their water service disrupted in the aftermath of this week’s
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Plano, Texas (KTVT) — A North Texas child battling cancer seeing snow for the first time, got to do something that at first seemed out of the question: build a snowman. The patient was not able to go outside due to chemotherapy treatment. When team members at Children’s Medical Center Plano learned about the patient
Continue Reading President Joe Biden said on Friday that he plans to travel to Texas but does not want a presidential trip to put any additional strain on a state grappling with an extreme weather crisis. “The answer is yes,” Biden said when asked if he would travel to Texas after he addressed the Munich Security Conference.
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