Nueces County May Allow Bars to Open
If approved, bars or similar establishments in Nueces County may operate for in-person service up to 50% of the total listed occupancy.
By Menda Eulenfeld - October 14, 2020
Nueces County Judge Barbara Canales will “opt-in” to allow bars to open in Nueces County.
In a press release today, Canales said that she “understand the importance of the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) minimum standard health protocols and will assist in enforcing them at reopened bars and similar establishments in the County.”
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) will announce the state’s approval if it is granted.
In the Governor’s order, businesses who do not comply with the new operation guidelines can be fined and TABC is allowed to suspend a business’s license for 30 days for a first offense, and for up to 60 days for a second offense.
The official guidance can be found at:
https://www.dshs.state.tx.us/coronavirus/docs/opentx/Bars.pdf
These new protocols are for the bars which are currently closed.
Bars or similar establishments may operate for in-person service up to 50% of the total listed occupancy inside.
There is no occupancy limit outdoors.
According to the DSHS guidelines, alcohol can only be served until 11:00 PM each day.
All employees and customers must wear a face covering wherever it is not feasible to maintain 6 feet of social distancing from another individual not in the same household, except when seated at the bar or similar establishment to eat or drink.
Bar Patrons guidance can be found at:
https://www.dshs.state.tx.us/coronavirus/docs/opentx/Bar-Patrons.pdf
Early Morning Fire Outside of Corpus Christi
Upon arrival at 6:20 a.m., a residential home was fully engulfed. No occupants were inside.
By Menda Eulenfeld, South Texas Community News - October 10, 2020
Photo by Constable Jimmy Rivera, Pct. 3
Corpus Christi Fire Department and Emergency Service District #2 was dispatched to an early morning fire at 2021 and County Road 55 outside of Corpus Christi. Upon arrival at 6:20 a.m., a residential home was fully engulfed. No occupants were inside. An investigation by Nueces County Sheriff Office and Corpus Christi Fire Department fire marshal concluded that it was arson and a female suspect has been arrested.
Trump's Former Lawyer to Help with Reality Winner's Appeal
President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, is attempting legal representation to aid former Air Force language analyst contractor and Kingsville native Reality Winner with her case.
By Menda Eulenfeld, South Texas Community News - October 8, 2020
By U.S government - https://medium.com/@amnestyusa/amnesty-international-usa-urges-president-trump-to-release-whistleblower-reality-winner-27c2a15827b4, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=90559043
Billie Winner-Davis, Reality Winner's mother, told Business Insider on Tuesday that President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, is attempting legal representation to aid the former Air Force language analyst contractor and Kingsville native Reality Winner with her case.
Winner pleaded guilty in 2018 to leaking classified National Security Agency information on Russia's alleged efforts to interfere with the 2016 election. She was found guilty of violating the U.S. Espionage Act and sentenced to five years in prison at the Federal Medical Center-Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas.
In 2016 following her separation from six years of active duty, Winner was hired by Pluribus International Corporation under an NSA contract to work out of Fort Gordon, Georgia.
According to ABC News, Winner printed a classified report detailing how Russian hackers allegedly “executed cyber espionage operations” on local election systems and mailed the documents to The Intercept. She was arrested on June 3, 2017.
Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty to campaign violations and tax fraud in 2018, began serving his sentence in May 2019 at the federal penitentiary in Otisville, New York. He has been under house arrest since July over coronavirus concerns.
Military.com stated that Reality’s mother sent a Twitter message that said “Cohen has asked another attorney to look at the case and for opportunities to help.”
National Night Out at Bishop City Park
The event will be set-up as a “Reverse Parade” where attendees will drive thru the parking lot to see different stations and exhibits.
By Menda Eulenfeld, Sept. 23, 2020
The Bishop Police Department will be hosting their annual National Night Out on Tuesday, October 6, 2020. The event will be held at Bishop City Park from 6 pm - 9 pm.
The event will be set-up as a “Reverse Parade” where attendees will drive thru the parking lot to see different stations and exhibits. Sealed food, goodie bags and other souvenirs will be handed out. Along the route several opportunities will be available to take photos at various stations.
Vehicles are asked to line up on South Birch Street near the entrance to the park.
According to the National Night Out website, the event started in August of 1984 through a network of law enforcement agencies and neighborhood watch groups. “The first annual National Night Out involved 2.5 million neighbors across 400 communities in 23 states.”
Selected Business Can Open up to 75% Starting Sept. 21
In order for a business to open, the TSA metric should have seven consecutive days in which the number of COVID-19 hospitalized is 15% or less.
By Menda Eulenfeld, Sep 18, 2020
Governor Greg Abbott announced that selected business such as Gyms / Exercise Facilities, Manufacturers, Museums and Libraries, Office-Based Employers, Restaurants and Retailers can open up to 75% occupancy starting on September 21, 2020.
A data driven hospitalization metric known as the Trauma Service Area (TSA), will be used by doctors and medical experts to determine if businesses in the area can reopen. In order for a business to open, the TSA metric should have seven consecutive days in which the number of COVID-19 hospitalized is 15% or less.
Victoria, Laredo, and the Lower Rio Grande Valley will remain at 50% occupancy until the hospitalization metric requirements are met.
"With the medical advancements we have made and the personal hygiene practices we have adopted, Texans have shown that we can address both the health and safety concerns of COVID-19 while also taking careful, measured steps to restore the livelihoods that Texans depend on," said Governor Abbott.
Kingsville Community Radio Promotes Local Musicians and Small Businesses
The audio stream is hosted remotely through Live365.com and if one simply types “Kingsville” in the search box, the station page and player will pop right up.
By The Novel Blend, Sept. 9, 2020
The Novel Blend bookstore located in the heart of historic downtown Kingsville opened for business in June of 2019 and was steadily increasing its local customer base through in-store events such as poetry readings, weekly open mic nights, wine and painting sessions, and author events.
Just like all businesses nationwide, at the end of this past March, things went drastically wrong. Upon reopening after the two-month quarantine, owners Tom and Jill DiFrancesca found themselves operating a small business with very few customers and sadly no longer able to host weekly and monthly events. “We had to think of something that would help draw customers back to the store and for us to stay connected to them,” Tom DiFrancesca said. “We also wanted to continue to help local musicians be heard and since we could no longer host our popular weekly open mic nights, it just seemed like building an Internet radio station was the answer.”
The small studio for Kingsville Community Radio is located inside The Novel Blend bookstore located at 311 E. Kleberg Ave. The audio stream is hosted remotely through Live365.com and if one simply types “Kingsville” in the search box, the station page and player will pop right up. The station did a soft launch in late June. The Novel Blend covers the cost of stream hosting and music royalty payments. “Over the past few months we’ve started including about a dozen local musicians and bands in our daily programming and then every evening at 7 pm we feature them in the Coastal Bend Music Showcase where they receive an additional opportunity to be heard,” DiFrancesca said. “We’ve got artists from Kingsville, Corpus Christi, Portland, Rockport, Sinton, and even Victoria.”
Just last week Kingsville Community Radio started airing free advertising spots for dozens of locally owned downtown small businesses and plans to expand that mission to all small businesses in the area as well as for local non-profit organizations and sites of interest in the Kingsville area. “We just want to help this community thrive any way we can, we’ll never charge for advertising if it’s a locally owned small business and there’s no charge to the musicians either,” DiFrancesca said. “The Internet radio station is strictly not-for-profit.”
Source: The Novel Blend
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Hanna brings flooding, power outages to the Coastal Bend
The Coastal Bend continues to feel the effects of the storm which was the first hurricane of the season.
Hanna brings flooding, power outages to southern Texas Gulf Coast
"Hanna brings flooding, power outages to southern Texas Gulf Coast" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
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Texans in the Rio Grande Valley and along the Coastal Bend continued to face the impact of now-Tropical Storm Hanna on Sunday.
The storm, which made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane Saturday evening at Padre Island, packed sustained winds as high as 90 mph and caused power outages and flooding. Rain bands from the hurricane will linger over much of the region all day Sunday.
As of 1 a.m. Sunday, Hanna had weakened into a tropical storm and was moving toward northern Mexico, according to the National Weather Service.
Liz Sommerville, a senior forecaster for the National Weather Service, told the Caller-Times that there is a chance for severe thunderstorms that could bring strong winds, heavy rain and low-line, coastal flooding in the region all day.
On Sunday, Gov. Greg Abbott urged Texans to remain vigilant given the threats of flash flooding. “Any additional rainfall will exacerbate these threats, but the State of Texas is ready to respond and protect our fellow Texans," Abbott said in a statement.
In a separate statement Sunday, Abbott announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency and President Donald Trump have approved a federal emergency declaration in response to Hanna. The declaration allows for some federal assistance and reimbursement for evacuation efforts and shelter support.
Coastal flooding that could reach up to two to three feet will be especially evident in the northern and southern parts of Port Aransas, Sommerville said.
A flash flood watch is in effect until Sunday night for parts of several South Texas communities, including Nueces, Bee, Jim Wells, Refugio and San Patricio counties.
A tornado watch is in effect in Corpus Christi, Kingsville, Falfurrias, Laredo, Zapata, McAllen and Brownsville until 10 p.m. Sunday.
As of 6:50 a.m., the National Weather Service in Corpus Christi reported 2.86 inches at its station, 2.94 inches at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, 2.28 inches at Alice Airport and 1.33 inches at Victoria Regional Airport.
The storm, which landed 15 miles north of Port Mansfield, caused flooding along the coast, and the energy provider for the region reported more than 140,000 outages as of Sunday morning.
Less than an hour before Hanna's landfall on Saturday, Abbott called for residents not to forget the preexisting threat of COVID-19 in the face of the natural disaster.
“Any hurricane is an enormous challenge,” Abbott said in a news conference on Saturday afternoon. “This challenge is complicated and made even more severe seeing that it is sweeping through an area that is the most challenged area in the state for COVID-19.”
Abbott announced that the state’s emergency response would include 17 COVID-19 mobile testing teams focused on shelters and 100 medical personnel provided by the Texas National Guard. For people who leave the area, the American Red Cross will be providing hotel vouchers in San Antonio’s Freeman Coliseum. The governor also issued a disaster declaration for 32 counties and a federal emergency disaster declaration request.
“We will be responding in the way that we typically respond to hurricanes, but on top of that we will respond to the COVID challenges,” Abbott said Saturday.
One of those challenges could be how to handle an emergency in COVID-19 hot spots, such as nursing homes.
“We worked very close with all of the nursing homes through the testing and the cleaning," said Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief W. Nim Kidd. "We know exactly where they are, how many residents they have. If we need to evacuate a nursing home at this point, we still have all the resources that we've had in every hurricane season to do that. The difference will be that we will be wearing more P.P.E. than we’ve had in the past.”
The National Hurricane Center previously issued a hurricane warning for a section of the Texas coast from Port Mansfield to Mesquite Bay — an area that includes Corpus Christi Bay, Aransas Bay and Padre Island.
The agency also issued a warning of storm surge for a wider area, including the coast from Port Mansfield to Sargent. Looking to assist, Abbott had already dispatched emergency resources to the Coastal Bend region and to the Rio Grande Valley, where the governor is simultaneously sending more than 1,000 medical personnel to help fight the novel coronavirus, which has devastated South Texas.
850 AM | Rain bands associated with Hanna will continue to stream inland throughout the day.
— NWS Corpus Christi (@NWSCorpus) July 26, 2020
Main threats today:
- Isolated tornadoes
- Heavy rainfall pic.twitter.com/JScrz4cKg6
Corpus Christi had already decided to close a drive-thru coronavirus testing site until at least Tuesday.
“Don’t forget to know,” said Corpus Christi Mayor Joe McComb, “we’re also fighting the coronavirus.”
It was a stark reminder for a region that has been a coronavirus hot spot, adding well over 2,000 COVID-19 cases during each of the first two weeks of July. At least 2% of the population was infected, or one in every 50 people. Now the region is preparing for a storm in the middle of a pandemic.
The virus wasn’t always spreading so rapidly in Nueces County, which reported fewer than 100 cases and three deaths before Texas’ stay-at-home order expired April 30. But people spent the summer gathering at beaches and restaurants in the popular beachfront community, and now the county has seen a spike in cases.
Just last Friday, Nueces County Medical Examiner Adel Shaker was shocked to learn that a baby boy, less than 6 months old, had tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, and died shortly after.
Storms are nothing new for the Coastal Bend region. McComb said some have helped the community grow closer. Nueces County Judge Barbara Canales agreed and said the region is ready for this storm.
“I join Mayor McComb in saying there is no doubt that we have a tremendous experience when it comes to these kinds of storms,” Canales said. “Where coronavirus may have caught us off guard, a hurricane does not. We know what to do. We know how to help.”
McComb underscored the reality of the coronavirus when warning residents who live in flood-prone neighborhoods about the prospect of evacuation.
“Take several masks with you because you might be there a couple days if you're in a flood area,” McComb said. “We don’t want to expose anyone during this storm. … Even when you’re in the house, I recommend wearing a mask if you're in crowded conditions.”
Correction: Due to editing errors, the name of the tropical storm was misspelled in an earlier version of this story, and the name of the National Hurricane Center was misstated.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/24/hanna-corpus-christi-coronavirus/.
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Reality Winner Seeking to Serve Remainder of Prison Sentence at Home
Kingsville native Reality Winner was a government contractor serving a prison sentence after pleading guilty to mailing a classified report to a news organization.
By Menda Eulenfeld, South Texas Community News July 22, 2020
According to Military.com, former Kingsville Airman Reality Winner has tested positive for COVID-19. The Kingsville native was a government contractor serving a prison sentence after pleading guilty to mailing a classified report to a news organization.
Brittany Winner, Reality’s sister, told the Daily Report that her sister had emailed her of the positive result.
Reality is currently serving her 5 year sentence at the Federal Medical Center-Carswell in Fort Worth and is seeking to serve the remainder of her sentence at home. Brittany Winner said her sister doesn’t currently have symptoms.