MARCH GLADNESS? As a projected top overall seed, UH could wind up at home in Final Four. PAGE C1 SUNDAY GET MORE ONLINE Activate your account for unlimited access. HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM/ACTIVATE YEEHAW, IT’S HERE! Get the lowdown on all the events, concerts, food and fun in our 44-page guide. 2023 PAGE H1 RODEO GUIDE EVENTS | CONCERTS | FAMILY FUN | SCHOLARSHIPS | FOOD | COMPETITORS SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 PRESENTED BY HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 • VOL. 122, NO. 129 • $4.00 Business ......B1 Comics.........U1 Crossword.G9 Directory ....A2 Editorials....A14 Horoscope G10 Obituaries..A17 Real Estate ..R1 Sports...........C1 TV.................G9 Weather.....C12 Zest ................G1 TWITTER: @HoustonChron LINKEDIN: Houston-Chronicle INSTAGRAM: HoustonChron FACEBOOK: @HoustonChronicle HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: VISIT NOW FOR BREAKING NEWS, CONSTANTLY UPDATED STORIES, SPORTS COVERAGE, PODCASTS AND A SEARCHABLE NEWS ARCHIVE. U niversity of Houston students browsed an eclectic menu for lunch at the Cougar Woods dining hall on a recent Tuesday that included white chicken chili, sun-dried pesto grilled tofu and cochinita pibil tostadas with black beans and pickled onions. While some greasy cafeteria staples — pizza, chicken tenders, cheeseburgers and french fries — remain on menus, today’s college dining offerings have undergone massive upgrades since the 1980s, 1990s and even early 2000s. Often under national management chains, chefs at Texas colleges are serving up healthier, trendier and more ethnically diverse fare to keep their Generation Z clientele satisfied. On a November day at Sam Houston State University, diners ate bangers and mash paired with glasses of pineapple-infused water. At Texas A&M University, Aggie Dining-created retail concepts such as Copperhead Jacks, which serves burrito bowls, rival chains like Chipotle and have their own cult followings. “Our students are yearning for more and more diverse and authentic experiences,” said Charles Pereira, vice president of operations for UH System Dining. “‘Authentic,’ it’s kind of been our buzzword this past year. If we’re going to do something, we’re going to do it right.” Several universities now contract management of food service to giants Aramark or Chartwells, capable of offering more inclusive menu options for people with dietary restrictions and menus that change daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Retail outposts from national, local and internally created brands are exploding on campuses. And limiting food waste and increasing sustainability, while trying to profit, are increasingly the goals. Raquel Natalicchio/Staff file photo The University of Houston dining halls, run by food service giant Chartwells, provides “chef-driven” meal concepts. ‘THEY SPICE IT UP’ Area colleges cater to Gen Z’s taste for more healthy and diverse fare By Samantha Ketterer STAFF WR ITER Melissa Phillip/Staff file photo Texas A&M students at Sbisa Dining Hall will find more than “just your mom-and-pop Hamburger Helper-type menu.” Dining continues on A9 WASHINGTON — Kevin McCarthy’s drawn-out fight to become U.S. House speaker last month was a sign to many of the dysfunction to come from a newly divided Congress. But for House centrists, it’s a different story. Many see an opportunity over the next two years, where just a few members from either party can decide the fate of major legislation. Now they are eyeing big swings at thorny issues like immigration and energy reform, and a trio of Texans representing border districts are right in the mix. “In this Congress, five equals 100,” said U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, a San Antonio Republican who has a history of voting with Democrats on bipartisan bills. Last year, he crossed party 3 Texans see hope for limited border bill Reps eyeing swing at immigration reform By Benjamin Wermund WASH INGTON BUREAU Congress continues on A10 WASHINGTON — A landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision on the Second Amendment is upending gun laws across the country, dividing judges and sowing confusion over what firearm restrictions can remain on the books. The high court’s ruling that set new standards for evaluating gun laws left open many questions, experts say, resulting in an increasing number of conflicting decisions as lower courtjudges struggle to figure out how to apply it. The Supreme Court’s so-called Bruen decision changed the test that lower courts had long used for evaluating challenges to firearm restrictions. Judges should no longer consider whether the law serves public interests like enhancing public safety, the justices said. Under the Supreme Court’s new test, the government that wants to uphold a gun restriction must look back into history to show it is consistent with the country’s “historical tradition of firearm regulation.” Courts in recent months have declared unconstitutional federal laws designed to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, felony defendants and people who use marijuana. Judges have shot down a federal ban on possessing guns with serial numbers removed and gun restrictions for young adults in Texas and have blocked the enforcement of Delaware’s ban on the possession of homemade “ghost guns.” In several instances, judges looking at the same laws have come down on opposite sides on whether they are constitutional in the wake of the conservative Supreme Court majority’s ruling. The legal turmoil caused by the first major gun ruling in a decade will likely force the Supreme Court to step in again soon to provide more guidance for judges. “There’s confusion and Justices’ ruling on gun laws stirs turmoil in courts Sam Owens/Staff photographer Jazmin Cazares, from left, Ana Rodriguez and Thalia Garcia rally for gun laws in Washington in December. Confusion over new constitutional test results in conflicting decisions By Alanna Durkin Richer and Lindsay Whitehurst ASSOC IATED PRE SS Ruling continues on A23 The trouble began in the middle of the night. Around 2 a.m. on Jan. 10, 2017, an air quality monitor in Port Arthur began recording sulfur dioxide readings well above the federal standard of 75 parts per billion, or ppb. 2:20 a.m.: 122.3 ppb 3:30 a.m.: 128.7 ppb 5:00 a.m.: 147.8 ppb — almost double the federal standard. The monitor had recently been installed by regulators to keep an eye on Oxbow Calcining, a company owned by William “Bill” Koch that operates massive plants that purify petHow plant steered clear of air monitor By Naveena Sadasivam and Clayton Aldern GR IST Oxbow continues on A28
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Assistant Managing Editor, Local News Baird Helgeson: [email protected] • 713-362-6426 A2 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM ONLINE HOUSTON’S WORST NEIGHBORS Explore our map showing the city’s “nuisance properties,” where rats, trash and more pile up. HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM/ NUISANCEPROPERTIES The woolly mammoth, forinstance,is being called an Arctic elephant. It will look like a woolly mammoth and contribute to the Arctic ecosystem in a way that’s similar to the woolly mammoth. But it will technically be an Asian elephant with genes altered to survive in the cold. Asian elephants and woolly mammoths share 99.6 percent of their DNA. The mammoth was the company's first project because it had long been a passion for Harvard University geneticist and Colossal co-founder George Church. He believes that Arctic elephants are the key to creating an Ice Agelike ecosystem with grasslands and grazing mammals, and this could help fight climate change by sequestering carbon under permanently frozen grounds that span areas including Siberia, Canada, Greenland and Alaska. The altered genes could also give elephants a new habitat that’s far away from the destructive forces of (most) humans, and the company’s gene editing technologies could help eradicate elephant diseases. The company’s de-extinction projects seek to fill ecological voids and restore ecosystems, Lamm said. The Tasmanian tiger, which Colossal announced as its second deThe Texas entrepreneur working to bring back the woollymammoth has added a new species to his revival list: the dodo. Recreating this flightless bird, a symbol of human-caused extinction, is a chance for redemption. It might also motivate humans to remove invasive species from Mauritius, the bird’s native habitat, said Ben Lamm, CEO and co-founder of Colossal Biosciences. “Humanity can undo the sins of the past with these advancing genetic rescue technologies,” Lamm said. “There is always a benefit for carefully planned rewilding of a species back into its native environment.” The dodois the third animal that Colossal Biosciences — which announced Jan. 31 it has raised $225 million since September 2021— is working to recreate. And no, the company isn't cloning extinct animals — that's impossible, said Lamm, who lives in Dallas. Instead, it's focusing on genes that produce the physical attributes of the extinct animals. The animals it's creating will have core genes from those ancestors, engineered for the same niche the extinct species inhabited. extinction animal in August of 2022, is a good example. This tiger was the only apex predator in the Tasmanian ecosystem. No other animal filled its place when it went extinct. Apex predators eat sick and weak animals, which helps control the spread of disease and improves an ecosystem's genetic health. So the tiger's extinction could have contributed to the near-extinction ofTasmanian devils that lived in the same ecosystem, Lamm said. For the dodo, Colossal is partnering with evolutionary biologist Beth Shapiro, a scientific advisory board member for Colossal who led the team that first fully sequenced the dodo’s genome. The dodo went extinct in 1662 as a direct result of human settlement and ecosystem competition. They were killed off by hunting and the introduction of invasive species. Creating an environment where the dodos can thrive will require humans to remove the invaders (the non-human invaders, anyway), and this environmental restoration could have cascading benefits on other plants and animals. “Everybody has heard of the dodo, and everybody understands that the dodo is gone because people changed its habitat in such a way thatit could not survive,” Shapiro said. “By taking on this audacious project, Colossal will remind people not only of the tremendous consequences that our actions can have on other species and ecosystems, but also that it is in our control to do something about it.” The company has secured $150 million in funding to revive this bird and build an Avian Genomics Group, bringing the company’s total fundraising to $225 million. Colossal has more than 40 scientists and three laboratories working to recreate the woolly mammoth, and they hope to have mammoth calves in 2028. There are 30 scientists working on the Tasmanian tiger. Reviving extinct animals is not a quick process, especially when considering the development of new technologies and the natural processes of Mother Nature (elephant gestation takes 22 months!). Some of Colossal’s projects will take nearly a decade to complete, which is why the company is working to reintroduce multiple animals at the same time. “Given the rapidly changing planet and various ecosystems heavily influenced by humankind, we need more tools in our tool belt to also help species adapt faster than they are currently evolving,” Lamm said. And the tools aren’t limited to extinct animals. Colossal is developing technology that can benefit other industries, and it’s spinning these out into new companies. Last year, it spun out a software platform called Form Bio that’s designed to help scientists collaborate and work with their data, visualizing it in meaningful ways rather than looking at raw numbers in a spreadsheet. “Synthetic biology will allow the world to solve various human-induced, world-wide problems,” Lamm said, “like making drought-resistant livestock, curing certain disease states in humans, creating corals that are tolerant to various salinities and higher temperatures ... and much more.” andrea.leinfel[email protected] AROUND THE REGION Texas entrepreneur tries to revive the dodo Colossal Biosciences Biologist Beth Shapiro and Colossal Biosciences CEO Ben Lamm are trying to de-extinct the dodo. By Andrea Leinfelder STAFF WR ITER Houston is one of the most diverse cities in the country with a large population of Chinese residents who have helped to contribute to thriving commercial corridors such as Asiatown near Bellaire and Asiantown near Katy. How would Senate Bill 147 — a proposed state law barring citizens and companies from China, Russia, North Korea and Iran from buying real estate in Texas — impact the Chinese population in Houston? What effects might we see on residential and commercial real estate? In this podcast episode, “Looped In” co-hosts Marissa Luck and R.A. Schuetz discuss the proposed law and other related legislation with investigative reporter Mike Morris. Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. HOW A BAN ON CHINESE INVESTORS MAY IMPACT HOUSTON
CITY/ STATE HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 • SECTION A For as long as he’s been in office, Gov. Greg Abbott has waged war with Texas cities, warning that the state is being “California-ized” by local overregulation. But until now, the offensive has stuck to single measures, like barring cities from regulating most oil and gas drilling or forcing landlords to accept federal housing vouchers. Republican lawmakers have pushed off more sweeping proposals, including attempts to prohibit local governments from passing any ordinance more stringent than state law. Those sorts of measures are on the table this year in what could be the most productive legislative session yet for conservatives looking to rein in the state’s largest cities and counties, most of which are run by Democrats. Among the ideas are enhancing state oversight of county-run elections, taking aim at progressive judges and prosecutors, slashing local officials’ emergency powers and broadly restricting the types of regulations cities and counties can enact. Local officials are watching a few bills in particular, includingonebacked by Abbott that would bar cities and counties from regulating entire “fields” already controlled by state law. Under the proposal, local regulations covering agriculture, labor and other areas would be limited to what’s “explicitly authorized” in state codes. State Sen. Brandon Creighton, a Conroe Republican who’s carrying the bill in the Senate, said it would “streamline regulations so Texas job creators can have ... the certainty they need to invest and expand.” Bennett Sandlin, executive director of the Texas Municipal League, said the idea would kneecap local business regulations and could jeopardize Bills targeting blue cities at new level Republicans in Legislature are pushing for aggressive crackdown on local government By Jasper Scherer AUST IN BUREAU Bills continues on A8 The Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Houston has performed its first heart transplant, with Air Force veteran and Texas resident John Graves getting a new heart. The Houston hospital is just the second VA hospital in the nation to perform a heart transplant on-site. Six VA hospitals offer heart transplants, but only the McGuire VA Medical Center in Richmond, Va., also performs them on-site rather than at a sister hospital, said Dr. Savitri Fedson, the medical director of the Houston VA’s advanced heart failure and transplant program and a professor of medicine and clinical ethics at Baylor College of Medicine. Graves had ischemic cardiomyopathy, a condition that makes it difficult for the heart to deliver blood to the rest of the body. That led to his heart failure, Fedson said. His surgery took place Jan. 15, and he is recovering “as expected,” Fedson said. He’s currently working with a physical therapist and will soon undergo cardiac rehab. Graves said in a statement that is looking forward to getting back to his active lifestyle once he recovers. VA site does its first heart transplant Hospital continues on A11 By Evan MacDonald STAFF WR ITER When James Nowak took on the mantle as Willis police chief in 2005, he said it was a “stepback in time.” The 61-year-old from Corrigan, Texas, who retired Jan. 31, ended his nearly 20 year tenure with the Lufkin Police Department before arriving at the city north of Conroe. He noted that his former agency was a much larger one, where each shift included a lieutenant, sergeant and five officers. Every police car had computers, which were becoming popular within agencies during the 1980s. As for the Willis Police Department, Nowak said the office was a former fire house down the street from city hall on South Bell Street. In late 2006, the agency had to move out temporarily due to mold from repeated flooding of the building. Only one vehicle had a computer and the policy manual was outdated, Nowak said. “The policy manual needed a lot of work,” he said, noting there were 12 sworn officers when he first arrived. “The training was Police chief in Willis retires after 18 years Chief continues on A6 By Michael Garcia STAFF WR ITER Nowak Kirsten Stokes always had a feeling she’d take over Stokes Hardware & Supply Co. The store had been founded by her grandfather and his brother in 1954, and when she was young, Kirsten and her sister would come in on weekends to work the register and follow the manager around the store. But she had other dreams, too — she loved science, had a “bug for teaching” and she wanted to try living in Florida, she said. In 2016, when she moved to become a middle school science teacher in Orlando, her father sent her an email with one request: take five years to do anything she wanted, and then come back home to run the store with him. Five years later, Stokes was back in Houston. But her father, Bryan, was sick, and died in October 2021, just five months after she returned. If her father had known his time was coming when he gave Kirsten the five-year deadline to come back, he didn’t say it, she said. His death left her not only with the grief of losing him, but also the weight of upholding her family’s nearly 70-year legacy at a critical time. Despite having the business in her blood, and in her last name, rising inflation, difficulty sourcing specific items at times Daughter perseveres keeping family store alive Joseph Bui/Contributor Kirsten Stokes helps a customer at the Heights hardware Store continues on A8 store her grandfather and his brother opened in 1954. By Megan Munce STAFF WR ITER Houston’s third gun buyback collected 793 firearms Saturday— falling well short of a record officials hoped to set and stymied by a temporary issue over redeeming vouchers that participants received for handing over guns. Among the most notable of Saturday’s haul: one AK-47 and one car with more than two dozen firearms, organizers said. “Because of our state’s dangerous gun laws, our communities are drowning in guns. And we’re paying a terrible price,” Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis said Saturday morning at Deussen Park at 12303 Sonnier St. Mayor Sylvester Turner, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and Sheriff Ed Gonzalez also helped organize the county’s third gun buyback in the last seven months. More than 2,000 firearms were collected during the two previous buyback events, held in July and October. By 9:30 a.m., more than 100 firearms had been collected, and more than 170 cars were waiting in line. Houston was hoping to break New York City’s 2019 gun buyback record of more than 3,700 firearms by Attorney Photos by Go Nakamura/Contributor Firearms inspectors examine weapons collected during Saturday’s gun buyback event at Deussen Park in Houston. Third gun buyback misses mark for top haul Bid to break N.Y. record comes up short; nearly 800 firearms brought in By Shaniece Holmes-Brown STAFF WR ITER Buyback continues on A6 An inspector works on a handgun collected during the buyback, Harris County’s third such event since July.
A4 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM NATION MUNICH — The United States has determined that Russia has committed crimes against humanityin Ukraine, Vice President Kamala Harris said Saturday, insisting that “justice must be served” to the perpetrators. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Harris said the international community has both a moral and a strategic interest in pursuing those crimes, pointing to a danger of other authoritarian governments taking advantage if international rules are undermined. “Russian forces have pursued a widespread and systemic attack against a civilian population — gruesome acts of murder, torture, rape, and deportation,” Harris said. She also cited “execution-style killings, beatings, and electrocution.” The Biden administration formally determined last March that Russian troops had committed war crimes in Ukraine and said it would work with others to prosecute offenders. A determination of crimes against humanity goes a step further, indicating that attacks against civilians are being carried out in a widespread and systematic manner. “Russian authorities have forcibly deported hundreds of thousands of people, from Ukraine to Russia, including children,” Harris said. “They have cruelly separated children from their families.” She also pointed to the attack in mid-March on a theater in the strategic port city of Mariupol where civilians had been sheltering, which killed hundreds, and to the images of civilians’ bodies left on the streets of Bucha after the Russian pullback from the Kyiv area last spring. Harris said that, as a former prosecutor and former head of California’s Department of Justice, she knows “the importance of gathering facts and holding them up against the law.” “In the case of Russia’s actions in Ukraine, we have examined the evidence, we know the legal standards, and there is no doubt,” she said. “These are crimes against humanity.” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who also was attending the Munich conference, said in a statement issued as Harris spoke that “we reserve crimes against humanity determinations for the most egregious crimes.” The new determination underlines the “staggering extent” of suffering inflicted on Ukrainian civilians and “also reflects the deep commitment of the United States to holding members of Russia’s forces and other Russian officials accountable for their atrocities,” he said. Russia’s nearly yearlong invasion of Ukraine, has dominated discussions at the Munich conference, an annual gathering of security and defense officials from around the world. Harris told the assembled participants: “Let us all agree — on behalf of all the victims, both known and unknown, justice must be served.” “Such is our moral interest,” she said. “We also have a significant strategic interest.” “No nation is safe in a world where one country can violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of another, where crimes against humanity are committed with impunity, where a country with imperialist ambitions can go unchecked,” Harris added. If Russian President Vladimir Putin succeeds in attacking international rules and norms, “other nations could feel emboldened to follow his violent example,” she said. “Other authoritarian powers could seek to bend the world to their will, through coercion, disinformation and even brute force.” Harris’ audience Saturday didn’t include any Russian officials. Conference organizers decided not to invite them this year. U.S. blasts Russian humanitarian crimes By Karl Ritter and Geir Moulson ASSOC IATED PRE SS COLUMBUS, Ga. — Nine youths — including a 5-year-old child — were wounded after shots rang out at a gas station in a Georgia city bordering Alabama, authorities said Saturday. Officers from the Columbus Police Department responded about 10 p.m. Friday and found multiple gunshot victims amid a large group of people. Police Chief Freddie Blackmon said at a news conference Saturday that an altercation apparently took place at a party nearby and that it spilled over to the gas station when the shooting began. Further details were not provided, but Blackmon said the incident remains under investigation. “I am committed to assuring you that we will find the person or persons responsible for this senseless crime,” he said. Blackmon said detectives have spoken with witnesses, some of whom are cooperating — while others are not. “I encourage anyone with information to contact police. I encourage parents whose child was injured in this incident to make sure that any information they share with them is shared with police. We will work around the clock to resolve this case,” he said. The victims, whose names were not released, ranged in age from 5 to 17. Seven males and two females were hurt, police said. As of Saturday afternoon, at least four had been discharged from hospitals where they were treated, Blackmon said. Authorities said none of the injuries appeared life-threatening. Blackmon urged parents in the community to “know where your children are and what they have in their possession.” “We must work toward helping communicate to our children how to peacefully resolve conflict without resorting to gun violence,” he said. “I’m so grateful to God that we didn’t have anyone lose their life,” said Mayor B.H. “Skip” Henderson III. “I’m tired of seeing folks having a disagreement or argument or maybe even a fistfight who then think they have to reach for a gun. That’s just got to stop. We’ve got to find a way in the community to reclaim our young people.” No arrests have been made, and Blackmon did not indicate whether detectives have pinpointed any suspects. Columbus is about 110 miles southwest of Atlanta and about 85 miles east of Montgomery, Ala. Nine children hurt in Georgia shooting ASSOC IATED PRE SS ATLANTA — Former President Jimmy Carter has entered home hospice care, the charity founded by the longest-living U.S. president in history said Saturday. The Carter Center said on Twitter that after a series of short hospital stays, the 98-yearold former president “decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention.” It said he has the full support of his medical team and family, which “asks for privacy at this time and is grateful for the concern shown by his many admirers.” Carter, a Democrat, became the 39th U.S. president when he defeated former President Gerald R. Ford in 1976. He served a single term and was defeated by Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980. Carter celebrated his most recent birthday in October with family and friends in Plains, the tiny Georgia town where he and his wife, Rosalynn, were born in the years between World War I and the Great Depression. The Carter Center, which the 39th president and the former first lady established after their one White House term, last year marked 40 years of promoting democracy and conflict resolution, monitoring elections, and advancing public health in the developing world. At the time, Carter Center leaders said the former president, who survived a cancer diagnosis in 2015 and a serious fall at home in 2019, was enjoying reading congratulatory messages sent by well-wishers around the world via social media and the center’s website even before the actual birthday. James Earl Carter Jr. won the 1976 presidential election after beginning the campaign as a little-known, one-term Georgia governor. Carter went on to defeat Ford in the general election, largely on the strength of sweeping the South before his native region shifted heavily to Republicans. Ex-President Carter enters hospice care, charity says ASSOC IATED PRE SS EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — The president of Norfolk Southern made a visit to East Palestine, Ohio, on Saturday following criticism from residents and political leaders about the company's response to the fiery derailment of a freight train carrying toxic materials earlier this month. Fox Business reports that company president and CEO Alan Shaw told reporters Saturday he was there “to support the community” but declined further comment. Earlier in the week, representatives of Norfolk Southern were absent from a public meeting attended by hundreds of people, with officials saying they were worried about physical threats. Gov. Mike DeWine was upset by the no-show at the Wednesday meeting and said Shaw needed to go to East Palestine and answer questions. Norfolk Southern said in a statement Friday that it was “committed to coordinating the cleanup project and paying for its associated costs,” saying the company wanted to ensure that East Palestine’s residents and natural environment “not only recover but thrive.” “Our company will be working tirelessly every day to get East Palestine back on its feet as soon as possible,” Shaw said in the statement. “We know we will be judged by our actions, and we are taking this accountability and responsibility very seriously.” Despite repeated assurances that air and water testing has shown no signs of contaminants, residents of the town along the Pennsylvania state line have complained about lingering headaches and irritated eyes and some have said they are afraid to return to their homes. DeWine said a medial clinic opening early next week to evaluate residents and analyze their symptoms will include a team of experts in chemical exposures being deployed to eastern Ohio. Chemicals that spilled into nearby creeks killed thousands of fish, and a smaller amount made it into the Ohio River. While officials said the contamination posed no threat, cities in Ohio and West Virginia that get their drinking water from the river were monitoring a slow-moving plume and a few temporarily switched to alternative water sources. Norfolk Southern CEO visits East Palestine after derailment ASSOC IATED PRE SS GROSSE POINTE FARMS, Mich. — The first funerals were held Saturday for students who were killed in this week’s mass shooting atMichigan State University. Mourners in the Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe Farms filed into St. Paul on the Lake Catholic Church to remember 20-year-old sophomore Brian Fraser, who was one of three students killed in Monday’s attack. “He’s one of those charismatic, smiling, humorous, goodnatured young men that is hard not to like,” Father Jim Bilot said during Fraser’s service. “So this was a great gift he had and he used that gift for the glory and honor of God because he honored the gift that had been given to him. He was very athletic, very competitive. I heard he wasn’t always that great in his sports, but certainly loved being part of the team.” At the same time, a funeral was held for 20-year-old junior Alexandria Verner at the Guardian Angels Catholic Church in Clawson, a suburb a few miles to the northwest. During that service, Verner’s family placed a small wooden cross with her name on it on the church’s remembrance wall. They were among eight students who were shot in the attack at two buildings on the Michigan State campus in East Lansing, including five who were wounded but survived. A memorial service was scheduled for later Saturday for the third student killed, Arielle Anderson, The Detroit News reported. Her funeral is set for next week. Four of the wounded students remained in critical condition Friday at a Lansing hospital. The fifth victim remained hospitalized in stable condition. Fraser previously attended Grosse Pointe South High School. He was president of Michigan State’s chapter of Phi Delta Theta fraternity. At Fraser’s funeral, Bilot told fraternity members and others not to allow evil to make them “fearful.” “To the community of Michigan State University, my heart just goes out to so many that are affected by this,” he said. “But to the students, to the frat brothers, please go back. Go back with determination. Go back with the confidence of the spirit of his love, of God’s love.” Verner was a 2020 graduate of Clawson High School. She was studying integrated biology and anthropology, according to her LinkedIn profile. Anderson graduated from Grosse Pointe North High School. Her family said in a statement that she was pushing to graduate early from Michigan State, hoping to become a surgeon as quickly as possible. Todd McInturf/Associated Press Family and friends stand as the casket is processed after the funeral of Brian Fraser. Fraser was identified as one of three students slain during a mass shooting on the Michigan State campus. First funerals are held after Michigan State mass shooting ASSOC IATED PRE SS Pool/Getty Images Loved ones hold programs during the funeral Mass for Brian Fraser at St. Paul on the Lake Catholic Church.
A6 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM done over the TV. Nobody was sent out to schools. It was the only training they really got...it was pretty basic.” The city had a population of 5,000in 2005, with a crime rate of more than 53.2 crimes committed out of 1,000 people. Since his tenure, the population has increased to more than 9,000 as of 2022. And the crime rate has been reduced to 22.31 crimes committed out of 1,000 people — a more than 58 percent decline. Nowak attributes the drop in crime to the economic growth in the city, noting that with the growth comes economic opportunity, such as being able to send his employees to management and supervision training. Improvements were made towards the department’s equipment, such as being able to put in a computer in every police car, he said. Eventually, he said the department was able to hireits first narcotics detective and obtain its first drug detector dog. Today, Willis receives mostly theft and domestic violence calls, which Nowak said is common among most agencies across the country. Through community policing, he said officers have been able to identify potential concerns and address them. Nowak asked officers to build relationships with landlords and identify troublesome tenants and take steps to evict them. Nowak said immediately after this tactic, crime dropped. He said officers were also tasked with checking in on registered sex offenders monthly to help them be successful in their probation and rehabilitation. As of Feb. 2, Nowak said no new sex offenses in the city have been committed by anyone registered. Officers are also tasked with driving into neighborhoods and introduce themselves to the community, seeing if any resident needs help, he said. “Most of the issues, if somebody had any, was somebody playing loud music at night,” he said. “Their dog was loose, the street light was out, or there was a pothole that never been filled.” Nowak described the city as a “diverse little town,” calling residents hardworking, with some holding two jobs to make ends meet. In 1989, when he was still working in Lufkin, Nowak was juggling work as sergeant for the police department while trying to obtain his master's degree in criminal justice management at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville . He also was a father, raising his then 2-year-old daughter and expecting a second child. Nowak would get home from work at 10:30 p.m., study, sleep, wake-up and study in the morning before returning to work, he said. Alton Lenderman, then lieutenant of the department, would cover for Nowak while he studied. “If I hadn’t had that assistance in consideration, it would have been much more difficult,” Nowak said. Lenderman, 69, captain of the Angelina County Sheriff’s Office, said he scheduled his shift around Nowak’s so that he could go to school on the weekends. “I liked him, and I knew...in the long run...it’d be beneficial for me,” he said, noting he considers Nowak a lifelong friend. On Feb. 1, 2003, both men worked side-by-side during the Columbia shuttle tragedy, where seven astronauts died. Lenderman describes the event as one he would remember for the rest of his life. For Nowak, it was his first day as a lieutenant. “We were in bed that morning and the house just shook,” he said. “I turned on the TV and saw...it was like a gut punch.” Nowak and Lenderman worked as security for the Lufkin Civic Center while the FBI usedit as an operations center. Debris from the shuttle rained down from eastern Texas and western Louisiana. While the agency scouted for remains, both men assisted by creating a motorcade while the agency transported the remains of the dead to the Angelina County Airport. “Those astronauts were taken with dignity,” he said. “I think that was my contribution to that.” Lenderman still continues to stayin contact with Nowak, occasionally training Willis officers at the Angelina College Police Academy, located in Lufkin. “Anytime an officer came from Willis, I always knew that he was going to be professional and courteous,” Lenderman said, noting that many of the officers speaking highly of Nowak. Mayor Leonard Reed said Nowak was instrumental in providing services as the city saw growth during his tenure. “We hate to see chief Nowak leave after faithfully and professionally serving the city of Willis for 18 years of unprecedented growth and demands for service,” said Reed via email. “(I) and city council, along with the staff and citizens of Willis wish chief Nowak the best of luck in his retirement.” Now that he's retired, Nowak said he plans on catching up with family and visiting his son whois an Army captain in Missouri. He said he also plans to visit an aunt in South Carolina. Then, he and his wife, Dwana, plan to take an Alaskan cruise in mid-February. He hopes to make up for the times he was away from his family due to work. [email protected] CHIEF From page A3 General Letitia James, Lee said. “We may not control gun laws on a local level, but we’re not powerless to take guns off the streets,” Ellis said. “Gun buybacks are an opportunity for people to safely remove unwanted guns from their homes and make their communities safer.” Officials adjusted the route of traffic so the long line of vehicles could stay in the limits of the park, instead of impeding oncoming traffic. The city and county each have dedicated $1 million in federal funding to purchase unwanted firearms from residents, with “no questions asked.” Participants will be given gift cards worth $50 to $200, based on the type of gun surrendered and whether it still is functional. Some participants reported having issues redeeming their gift cards, but organizers vowed to resolve those. Spring resident Virgil Hartsfield, 57, received $300 after turning in a revolver and a semi-automatic handgun that belonged to his parents. After years of owning them, Hartsfield decided to turn them in after he heard about the buyback event. This was the first time he participated. “I have nephews who snoop around, so I turned them in to keep them out of danger and also because I have no use for them,” Hartsfield said. “I’m more concerned about accidents involving kids. I don’t know how it affects the gun problem because people can get guns wherever they want.” Each person who turned in their firearms had their reward divided into vouchers worth $50 each. Guadalupe Martinez Jr., 50, turned in a shotgun, a semi-automatic .22 rifle and a nonfunctioning firearm. Martinez said he brought the firearms he no longer needed, and he walked away with $350 worth of vouchers. “I like to believe these are events are effective,” he said. “I’d like to see the community get more involved, and I’d also like to see them speed up the process. But I’m pretty sure they serve a purpose to take some guns off the street because you’re never going to get them all.” Martinez waited for three and a half hours to turn in his firearms. Although this is the third event, attendees are still struggling with the long waits in line to turn in their firearms. Gonzalez said the process has been updated each event, but breaking down the weapons and disposing of them safely still takes time. “We had a great turnout.With the long lines, we’re still trying to figure out how to improve the process for expediting things a little bit more in the future,” Gonzalez said. “But we also don’t want to rush it when we’re dealing with weapons. So it’s something everyone has been very helpful and patient with, and we appreciate it.” Though some are skeptical about whether gun buybacks are effective, officials see them as one step toward decreasing the number of firearms accessible to the public. “I believe in managing expectations. I don’t believe that just a gun buyback alone will be the magic pill for everything,” Gonzalez said. “But I think it’s about doing a number of things. I think addressing the problem takes a multipronged approach of trying different things, not just one thing.” Go Nakamura/Contributor Cars line up at Deussen Park as people bring in their unwanted firearms at Saturday’s gun buyback event. BUYBACK From page A3
A8 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM commonplace ordinances that overlap with state codes, like limits on overgrown grass and local drought management plans. “The problem with these bills is just, we don’t know the scope when you just talk about whole state codes,” Sandlin said. Local leaders are also tracking a bill that would bar cities from regulating commercial activity unless they’re addressing “a uniquely local concern.” Another proposal would prevent cities from regulating state license holders, such as plumbers, in any way that’s “more stringent” than state law. Beyond the anti-regulation measures, Republicans have drawn up bills that would curb the emergency powers used by mayors and county judges to set up COVID-19 restrictions, including banning mask mandates and stripping the ability to fine or jail people for violating emergency rules. Harris in crosshairs Since Abbott took office in 2015, when “local control” emerged as a political issue, the Legislature has clamped down on how much tax revenue cities and counties can collect and rolled back voting initiatives pioneered by Harris County. State leaders have also made it hard for urban areas to cut law enforcement spending and banned so-called sanctuary cities, forcing local police to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. “Over the last several sessions, there’s been an assault on local authority,” said San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg. “I think it erodes the ability of citizens in Texas to govern their own quality of life and have families and businesses thrive in the places they choose to live.” Local officials say blanket regulatory bans fail to account for differences between large urban centers and small rural towns. And they note that state revenue caps limit their ability to pay for basic services, like police, trash pickup and road upkeep, without sacrificing other things their voters also want. But proponents say it’s up to the Legislature to ensure local leaders don’t overstep the powers they were granted by the state. “The county is a subdivision of the state,” said Harris County Commissioner Tom Ramsey, the lone Republican on the five-member body. “When a county has significant issues with crime, elections, and draconian emergency actions, then we should expect the state to engage. “There must be a legitimate reason why Harris County is the target for much of this legislation.” Houston and Harris County have drawn most of the recent attention from Abbott and other Republicans, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who lives in the area. During the pandemic, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo emerged as one of Abbott’s main antagonists in his fight over local requirements like mask mandates. Mayor Sylvester Turner has also battled with state officials over control of Hurricane Harvey relief funds, while Houston ISD leaders have sought to prevent the state from taking over their school board. This session, Republicans have filed a handful of election-related bills aimed at Harris County, which has tried to expand voter access through drive-thru voting and other means, but has also had numerous election stumbles in recent years. During the November election, about two dozen polling locations ran out of paper to print ballots. Republicans have alleged numerous other Election Day blunders, including the release of early voting results before polls closed, though they have not produced an estimate of voters disenfranchised by what happened. Bettancourt steps in Helping lead the GOP legislative response is state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican who previously oversaw the voter rolls as Harris County tax assessor-collector. One of his bills, SB 220, would create teams of election marshals to investigate potential voting violations and enlist visiting judges to quickly review the cases. Bettencourt is also carrying a bill in the Senate that would allow the Secretary of State to suspend an appointed county elections administrator, and appoint a replacement, if there’s “good cause to believe that a recurring pattern of problems with election administration exists.” The bill outlines five causes for suspension, all targeted at Harris County. “There’s a lot of precedent in state government to be able to remove appointed officials for a cause,” Bettencourt said. “So that’s what this bill does. It’s a different take on the same problem: What do you do with an elections administrator that has clearly failed?” State Rep. Jarvis Johnson, D-Houston, said he thinks Republicans are focusing on Harris County because they feel threatened by its potential to swing future statewide elections. The county is the largest in Texas and has voted overwhelmingly for Democrats atop the ticket in recent years. Johnson said he’s also worried election marshals like those under Bettencourt’s plan would be sent disproportionately to voting sites in communities of color. “Allowing the secretary of state to send in election marshals into certain communities — because it’ll only be certain communities — for me, that conjures up visions of yesteryear, when the police were always called into Black precincts, in the Black communities, and used to intimidate them from voting,” Johnson said. jasper.scherer@houstonchronicle.com BILLS From page A3 Jon Shapley/Staff file photo Republican state Sen. Paul Bettencourt’s SB 220 would create teams of election marshals. and the task of bringing the business into the digital age posed new challenges to be overcome as the third generation of Stokes to run the store. Old store, new tricks Stokes Hardware has been at its location on 3719 Irvington since its founding by her grandfather, Bob Stokes. Its shelves of plumbing supplies, tools, paint and more nearly take up an entire city block. Before big box retailers began to move into the area, this was one of the only hardware stores in the area, Stokes said. Bryan Stokes, her father, told the Houston Chronicle in 2011 that what made Stokes Hardware stand out was customer service — meeting customers at the door, helping them find what they need and even carrying certain items for specific customers who need them. That’s one thing Kirsten Stokes said has stayed constant. Employees are knowledgeable and help walk customers through different products, she said, and if they don’t have what the customer needs, they’ll help them figure out where to find it. Nearly every employee is fluent in Spanish to make sure they can properly serve the large Hispanic population of the Heights. Over the past year, inflation has affected almost everything in the store, she said. While Stokes Hardware’s supply chain issues have mostly subsided, she said specific items like spray paints and propane tanks can be hard to get on short notice, especially when extreme weather events cause spikes in demand. But Sandra Robles, who has worked at Stokes Hardware for nearly a decade helping customers on the floor or checking them out at the register, said the customer service is the reason so many people choose Stokes Hardware over the discounts available at big box retailers. Since taking the helm in late 2021, Stokes has taken steps to move the store beyond the purely brick and mortar operation it was under her father and grandfather. She upgraded its website and started posting on every social media platform available, including a YouTube series to showcase everything from the store’s stock of hurricane supplies to her puppy Coral, a golden retriever white German shepherd mix, the Stokes Hardware mascot that hangs out in the store’s office most days. Stokes’ new ideas and new perspective on the store differentiate her from her father and grandfather, said Jason March, the store’s manager, who has worked at the store for 13 years. “I’ve known (Kirsten) since she was 9, I’ve worked for her dad and her grandad, and it’s just been wonderful. That’s why I’m still here,” he said. “Change is not a bad thing, you just have to embrace the change.” ‘Passion’ project A little over a year into running the store, Stokes has good days, bad days and rough days. “There are days that I come out feeling like a rock star and like I blew it out of water. And then there are days that I’ve come in emotional and crying, just feeling the pain and the grief of my dad and granddad,” she said. “It hits you hard some days.” She’s found comfort in trying new hobbies like cycling and having conversations with other people who have lost a parent before. She adopted Coral, who turned 1 just before Christmas. What she holds on to, she said, is the idea that her father, grandfather and grandmother are still with her and watching what she does for the store. Stokes said the store had the best sales numbers they’ve seen in a long time, and she is still getting to know her father and grandfather better each day through the stories customers tell her. Recently, a woman in the store told Stokes about the time her grandfather invited her to go on a boat ride, only to disappear into the store aisles and return with a toy boat. Other times, customers compliment the new things she’s done for the store, and tell her that her family would be proud, she said. Most of the employees at the store also worked for her father and grandfather, Stokes said, and they’ve helped fill in the gaps of what her father couldn’t teach her in the months before his death. Still, every so often, she’ll find a “missing puzzle piece” that she’ll have to figure out for herself, such as the ins and outs of the back end of the business. But every time she hits a roadblock, she’s gotten through it with “passion and perseverance,” she said. “Knowing how happy this place made my granddad and my dad, that passion and that legacy is something I hold value to,” Stokes said. “My dad and granddad made an impact on so many people, I want to do the same.” [email protected] Joseph Bui/Contributor Photos of grandfather Bob Stokes and dad Bryan are displayed at Stokes Hardware & Supply Co. STORE From page A3
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 A9 “Overall, the food here is pretty decent,” UH senior Zafir Minhaj said over a slice of pizza at Cougar Woods. “They spice it up.” The changes are customerdriven — reflective of a more adventurous clientele, the dining officials said. Most university dining operations expect low profit margins and exist solely to keep students happy and fed, said Kristy Vienne, associate vice president of auxiliary services at Sam Houston State. That frees universities to focus on the quality of food and to reinvest any earnings into equipment, robotic delivery and order-ahead dining options, she added. “There’s something about satisfaction and making everyone feel like there’s something here for them to eat that is comfortable to them,” Vienne said. “That helps with (student) retention; it helps with health. But not necessarily profits.” Dining officials said they don’t struggle for customers, since students often can’t leave campus at mealtimes. At UH, as enrollment has grown and food options have diversified, the number of people with dining plans has also increased, according to university data. More than 4,800 people at UH have meal plans, up from over 4,100 in 2019 — numbers not reflecting the additional people without meal plans who still eat at the dining halls, chain restaurants on campus or rotating food trucks. Sam Houston State University this year has about 2,100 oncampus residents and at least 400 commuters with meal plans, Vienne said. And at the state’s largest university, Aggie Dining feeds 60,000 people a day through A&M’s dining halls, retail concepts and catering services, Senior Executive Chef George Charbel said. Meanwhile, operating costs have increased because of inflation, and at UH, the school’s dining budget increased by more than 12 percent between 2018 and 2022. Unlimited meal plans are priced accordingly — at UH, unlimited entry to residential dining facilities costs at least $2,355 per semester for students who live on campus, according to the university. Texas A&M students pay at least $2,375 a semester for unlimited plans, and Sam Houston students pay $2,450. Aaron Calaway, a senior, lives off campus but eats at UH twice a week. It’s a bit healthier than off-campus dining, he said, and on-campus eating is the most cost-effective option for him. “It’s worth the money,” he said. “It’s what you expect from a cafeteria.” Campus dining officials have long pushed dining halls as a method of fighting food insecurity, which was estimated in 2019 to affect about 41 percent of university students. The total dollar amount of dining plans can deter parents and students, but Vienne said she often has to explain that the cost per meal is lower than what they would find elsewhere. Most students in on-campus residential living are required to purchase a plan at SHSU, Texas A&M and UH. “Talking about the cost of higher education, a lot of parents are like, ‘You don’t need a meal plan,’” she said. “When you really look at the value, they do need one. Because without kitchens in their (dorms), they’re going to eat retail every day, they’re going to eat junk … by October they’re broke and they don’t have money.” UH and Texas A&M are both run by Chartwells, which provides “chef-driven” food concepts at university dining halls. On top of giving more variety to students every day, they also throw in the occasional surprise of a celebrity chef or a short-term pop-up station with items like pumpkin cheesecake crepes — a fall offering at UH. Sam Houston State’s dining is operated by Aramark, which operates similarly. While several UH students said they appreciate the variety, most people considered the food just “good enough.” Nmeso Ukachi-Nwata, a sophomore, said she finds some of the meals to be bland, especially because she’s used to Nigerian foods with heavier spices. Despite having fewer dairyfree options than she would like, she said she is generally satisfied with the food at UH. She added that Moody Towers Dining Commons has a station that uses products free of the eight major allergens. “Some things here are kind of ... restaurant-like,” she said. “There are some days where things taste really, really good. My friends make fun of me all the time — I really like the burgers.” Minhaj said he appreciates that the campus serves halal meat because of his religion. And Gino Troiano, an international student from Argentina, said the options keep him from being bored with his food. On Tuesday, he got seconds of tostadas. “I assume you would have to be used to some really good quality food to hate it here,” he said. Becky Tolle, director of dining services at Texas A&M’s Sbisa Dining Hall, said she feels the difference between the campus dining of now and even a decade ago is generational. “Our company as an organization really drills into the food trends,” she said. “What are the Gen Zers eating? Because maybe five years ago, it was chili mac … but now it’s like, no they’re not eating that. They want Indian food or African cuisine, or they want more cultural experiences, not just your mom-and-pop Hamburger Helper-type menu.” Pereira, at UH, said he feels that Gen Zers’ upbringings have also paved the way for more technologically-centered dining trends. UH in 2017 began offering mobile order-ahead pickup services, and two years later became the first campus in Texas to offer robots that deliver food to students. Most Sam Houston State University buildings have “pods” where they can quickly buy sushi or sandwiches. A&M last fall also converted about 40 percent of its dining kiosks to be equipped with technology that allow customers to order themselves, without interacting with someone behind a register. “They’ve grown up with the phone in their hands. Robotic delivery, mobile ordering … we’re seeing that that’s the demand and we’re evolving our dining program to ensure we’re staying current and relevant with the demographic we’re serving every day,” he said. “Not everything that we bring is going to be a hit out of the park, but part of being an innovative campus is bringing new, fun experiences to the dining program to keep things fresh.” Outside the dining hall Some of the biggest, most rapid changes in campus dining center around retail — restaurant spaces either owned and operated by the university or contracted through an outside business. UH is set to open a new food hall in spring 2024 containing a mix of internal, local and national restaurants, expanding, in a way, on the local food trucks that come through campus each week. Sam Houston State University officials have meanwhile embraced “ghost restaurants” since COVID, making use of unused restaurant space to create short-term pop-ups. Most attractively to dining officials, they allow the university to shirk the cost of franchising and still bring variety to the campus food scene, Vienne said. The evolution of campus dining has also ushered in changes to food sustainability efforts on university campuses, including with increased attempts to compost. Every kitchen at A&M composts their leftovers, Charbel said, and one of two residential dining halls at UH rid of its waste that way. While officials say they’re working to start composting at the second location, they already divert 15 to 20 cubic yards of waste from landfills each week, or three to five large dumpsters, according to university dining. Chartwells at UH also purchases its products from more sustainable vendors, including cage-free eggs, chicken that is free from hormones and antibodies, and fair-trade coffee, Pereira said. Similar efforts at A&M have benefited food quality, Charbel said. “Six years to now, it’s a huge difference. Food quality, food options, food education,” the chef said. “As far as food sustainability, it takes nothing from taste. Actually, it helps.” At Cougar Woods, freshman Sara Larin finished a burger. Hearing how some of her friends at other Texas universities eat, she said she sees where UH dining halls might have come a long way in the past few years. That doesn’t change that she’d prefer to be eating elsewhere. “When I went home for the break, I loved my mom’s food,” she said. “But I think compared to other schools … I never feel like I’m going to starve.” samantha.ketterer@houstonchronicle.com DINING From page A1 Photos by Raquel Natalicchio/Staff photographer The University of Houston in 2017 began offering mobile order-ahead pickup services and in 2019 became the first campus in Texas to offer robots that deliver food to students. UH students also can find Starbucks, McDonald’s and other fast-food options in a retail area on campus. The UH dining hall includes a Farmshelf, a vertical farm that grows produce onsite year-round. Student Angel Razo orders at a food truck, one of many that come through the University of Houston campus every week.
A10 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM lines to help pass the first new gun law in 30 years and to legalize same-sex marriage. Gonzales and Democratic U.S. Reps. Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen and Henry Cuellar of Laredo — the top Democrat on the panel overseeing Department of Homeland Security funding — are poised to have a big say in any immigration legislation that emerges in Congress, even as experts and some key lawmakers say passing such a bill is a serious long shot. U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, the Arizona independent who has led efforts in the Senate to craft a bipartisan framework on immigration reform, specifically named the three Texans as key to her effort in an event this month to the Washington Post. “Tony Gonzales represents the largest stretch of the border in our county,” she said, before also mentioning Cuellar and Gonzalez. “There’s a group of folks who are already working on this in the House, and we’re working with them to try and figure out how to get this across the finish line, onto the president’s desk this year.” All three members are optimistic that some type of immigration legislation can pass this Congress, even if there is a slim window to do so before the 2024 presidential election eats away at political will to work across the aisle. Among the possible areas of agreement: a pathway to citizenship for so-called Dreamers who were brought to the country as children, visa reforms for workers and border security funding. A steep hill to climb Experts say it’s unlikely that Congress will pass any major legislation — let alone immigration reforms that have eluded lawmakers for decades. Negotiations over the debt ceiling are already dominating much of what is happening in Congress and will likely continue for months. Beyond that, the House is controlled by McCarthy, a Republican who will be under pressure to toe the line from the farright members who delayed his speaker election for days. He told Fox News last week that he won’t permit any immigration reform, including a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, until the border is secure. “The key for bipartisan legislating in this atmosphere is to keep bills focused on very specific goals,” said Dan Diller, director of policy at the Lugar Center, a think tank focused on bipartisanship. “If you have a good idea that isn’t regarded as clearly partisan, you can pass bipartisan bills or potentially get your amendment attached to moving legislation,” Diller said. “But anybody who succeeds will have climbed a steep hill to do it.” That hasn’t dissuaded Gonzales, who has already demonstrated some sway on the issue. He was a key figure in stopping a plan to make one of the first votes by the GOPcontrolled House on an immigration bill by U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, that would require the federal government to detain asylum seekers while their claims are being decided. The San Antonio Republican said it went too far, calling it a “backdoor way of ending all asylum claims.” The bill has yet to get a committee vote. Separate issues Now Gonzales said he is working to figure out what immigration reform might actually be able to get enough support from Republicans and Democrats to pass both chambers. Gonzales said he has discussed immigration with U.S. Reps. Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, and Tom McClintock, a California Republican, as well as U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, a Florida Democrat and member of the House Progressive Caucus. He has also met with U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican who has voiced skepticism about an immigration deal, especially as border arrests topped 2 million for the first time last year. Gonzales thinks border security and immigration reform should be considered two separate issues. “You can be absolutely in favor of a strong border security posture … and be absolutely warm and welcoming to those that want to come through the front door to live the American dream,” he said. “That’s something that takes a lot of energy to instill in members.” For Democrats, a path to citizenship for Dreamers is key, especially as Texas and other red states are pushing in court to end the program that has allowed them to live and work in the U.S. Republicans, meanwhile, want tougher border security measures. And with major worker shortages, Gonzalez, the McAllen Democrat, said businesses are applying more pressure than ever before to make it easier for migrants to fill those jobs. Gonzalez is also pushing an idea to create a socalled “safe zone” in Guatemala or southern Mexico where migrants would be required to await decisions on their asylum claims. He said the idea would cut out the cartels, which currently control who gets across the border from Mexico. Cuellar is more skeptical about what might actually get done. The Laredo Democrat, who has been in office since 2005, has seen multiple failed attempts to pass immigration reform through Congress, even when Democrats controlled both chambers and the White House at the beginning of the Obama administration. “I believe in full immigration reform, but with this Congress, it won’t happen,” he said. But something more piecemeal could stand a chance, he said. That could include a bill offering “sensible” border security measures, a pathway for Dreamers and a guest-worker plan that would make it easier for migrants to cross the border for work, while allowing border patrol to focus efforts elsewhere. “If Kevin McCarthy is willing to put a small package like that, it would pass,” Cueller said, “because you get Republicans and Democrats to vote on it.” [email protected] CONGRESS From page A1 Staff file photo Rep. Tony Gonzales says he is working to find what immigration reform might get enough bipartisan support.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 A11 “When I first came to this VA, I was in bad shape,” he said. “Now I feel like there is no stopping me. I plan to come all the way back from this, and I’m not afraid of working hard to get there.” After his rehab, Graves may be able to return to the activities he loves, such as running and hiking, Fedson said. “It is quite possible to go back to a very, very active life after a transplant.” The Houston VA team evaluated Graves for a heart transplant or a left ventricular assist device, or LVAD, which helps the heart pump blood. A heart transplant is the preferred option for most patients, but some might need an LVAD to “bridge” them to a transplant if a heart doesn’t become available in time, Fedson said. Graves’ condition declined while he waited for his transplant. In May, he could walk about 1,200 feet in six minutes. By December, he could walk only about 200 feet in the same period, Fedson said. The Houston VA team worked with him to improve his stamina before his surgery because the added strength would help him recover afterward. A physical therapist helped him do laps around his hospital wing, which helped him build up enough stamina to walk 300 steps before the operation, Fedson said. Performing heart transplants on-site at the Houston VA is beneficial to veterans, Fedson said. They have a continuity of care with other doctors they’ve seen within the VA system. They also have access to services such as mental health treatment, which is critical for veterans with conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, she said. “The VA is set up to provide the type of counseling and awareness for mental health that lay hospitals just aren’t,” she said. “It’s not that they don’t have the capabilities. I just don’t think they understand the degree to which mental health is such an issue for our veterans.” The Houston VA had been working to get its heart transplant program off the ground since 2016. It previously offered most other heart surgeries aside from transplants and LVAD implantation; the hospital implanted its first LVAD last year. In the future, the Houston VA hopes to perform 15 to 20 heart transplants per year, Fedson said. “Now people can come here and they know they can stay here to get all the care they need,” Fedson said. “It’s not that they’ll come here and then we’ll have to transfer them someplace else. Once they come here, we can take care of them.” The hospital also launched a liver transplant program in 2007 and a kidney transplant program in 2013. evan.macdon[email protected] Courtesy Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center John Graves is the Houston VA’s first on-site heart transplant recipient. His care team is Drs. Steven Antoine, from left, Savitri Fedson and Alexander Schutz. HOSPITAL From page A3 “It is quite possible to go back to a very, very active life after a transplant.” Dr. Savitri Fedson
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HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM OUTLOOK • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 • SECTION A W hen my family and I moved here from the East Coast in the early 1970s, Houston was a booming oil-based metropolis, riding the key resource of the industrial age to continuing prosperity. It was also world-famous for having imposed the fewest restrictions on development of any large American city. This was the undisputed energy capital of the world, the “Golden Buckle of the Sun Belt,” the bastion of classical laissez-faire capitalism, the epitome of “free enterprise” America — a city to be built almost entirely by developers’ decisions. In the spring of 1982, it fell to my lot to teach a research methods class to sociology majors at Rice University. A friend had just started a new survey organization, and we invited the students to participate in a study to measure how area residents were balancing the exhilaration of the city’s burgeoning prosperity with growing concerns about crime, traffic, pollution and the other “social costs” of Houston’s unfettered growth. Suddenly, two months after that first survey was completed, in May 1982, the oil boom collapsed. A global recession had suppressed the demand for oil and gas just as new supplies were coming onto world markets. By mid-1983, this once-booming city had lost almost 100,000 jobs. It was clear that we would need to conduct the survey again the following year to measure the impact of the new circumstances, and then in every year after that. Thus it is that for more than four decades, the Kinder Houston Area Survey has been tracking systematically the demographic characteristics, life experiences, attitudes and beliefs of successive representative samples of Harris County residents. Through intensive interviews reaching a total of more than 50,000 Houstonians, we have been asking many of the same questions from one year to the next. Now, after 50 years in Houston, I’ll be moving soon to the Washington, D.C., area to be closer to children and grandchildren. Before I leave this remarkable city of ours, let me share what I think we’ve learned from the 41 years of surveys. The research documents significant developments in the way area residents perceive and understand their changing city. Not yet, however, have Houston’s political and civic leaders been able to fully come to grips with the shifts that have occurred in the public’s opinions and beliefs. Not yet has the city been able to build on the attitude changes the surveys reveal to develop targeted public policies capable of responding effectively to our critical challenges. Houston’s demographic transformations have been truly remarkable. In the census of 1980, this was still essentially a biracial Staff file photo Sharon Steinmann/Staff photographer The view of Fannin and Main looking toward the Texas Medical Center from atop the Warwick Hotel in January 1983, left, and from Hotel ZaZa this past week. ESSAY It’s time that leaders catch up with residents After 42 years, Kinder Houston Area Survey reveals the next generation’s changing demographics and needs Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer Dr. Stephen Klineberg is founding director of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University. “What happens in Houston matters. This is where, for better or worse, the American future is going to be worked out.” Stephen Klineberg Survey continues on A16 By Stephen L. Klineberg I was recently watching a film on my laptop, cell phone at the ready as always, when I was struck with an observation I just had to tweet. This happens all too often; it comes with the territory of social media addiction, from which I surely suffer. But when I tapped the familiar blue birdie icon on my phone, I was met with a message brand new to me: My account had been suspended for posting graphic material. Surely this was a mistake. After all, I run a pretty milquetoast Twitter account. I write for several publications, and I generally try to reflect their content standards. I swear very rarely, certainly when compared to my real-life habits. I don’t get overtly political. I don’t like to argue; I’m more likely to mute someone I don’t like than hurl barbs their way. What could I have done to offend? I launched a quick appeal, which was just as quickly denied. Then I learned the nature of my cybercrimes. The previous evening I had been watching the 1930 version of the American antiwar movie “All Quiet on the Western Front.” A German film of the same name, and based on the same novel, was among the most decorated films of 2022, garnering nine Oscar nominations; I was researching a story comparing and contrasting the two movies. I had come to a stunning and rather famous shot from the earlier film, which you can make out only if you’re looking closely: a soldier has been blown away in one of the movie’s powerhouse battle scenes, TWITTER Account suspension is one part McCarthy, one part Kafka Associated Press file photo The author suspects his account was suspended over a 1930s war movie and a Goya painting. By Chris Vognar Tweet continues on A16
A14 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM OPINION Nancy A. Meyer • PUBL ISHER & PRE S IDENT Jack Sweeney CHA IRMAN Jennifer Chang MANAG ING ED ITOR Maria Reeve EXECUT IVE ED ITOR Chris Fusco MANAG ING ED ITOR Lisa Falkenberg VP/ ED ITOR OF OP IN ION Raj Mankad DEPUTY OP IN ION ED ITOR F o u n d e d 1 9 0 1 • A H e a r s t N e w s p a p e r F or months, Republican state leaders have broadcast their support for school vouchers. In his State of the State address Thursday, Gov. Greg Abbott touted more vouchers as central to his vision for the state. Vouchers have been rejected before but this time, advocates are hopeful that the upheaval of the pandemic and the deep-pocketed campaigns fueling school board fights about gay characters in library books and critical race theory will buoy their efforts to a win. That shouldn’t happen. There are some signs it won’t. Speaker of the House Dade Phelan’s education committee seems to be leaning against vouchers. Nine of the 13 members have voted to ban them in past sessions. A broad coalition of opposition including Democrats and Republicans who represent rural areas still seems intact. Yet, proponents believe they can win. Here are the best arguments for vouchers — and why they’re wrong. Claim: Vouchers increase choice. Who could be against choice? Not us. We’re just against a lack of accountability. Texas is already awash in choice. Take Houston ISD, with its mix of magnet schools, charter schools and traditional public schools. Texas also allows districts to participate in interdistrict open enrollment. And even if the districts don’t participate, students in certain low-performing schools can still request a transfer to another school in their district or even in another district. If lawmakers want more choice, the state should be looking for ways to double down on what’s already working —and in some people’s eyes, that includes charters. Research is mixed there, too, on whether charter schools really perform any better than traditional public schools but at least there’s a thin layer of oversight. Over private schools, there could be none. Claim: Vouchers increase choice for all students. As more states adopt large-scale voucher systems, a clearer picture of who tends to benefit first is emerging: families already enrolled in private schools. “The only people it’s going to help are the kids who don’t need the help,” was how one rural Republican representative put it in November. In Arizona, 80 percent of recipients were already enrolled in private schools. And when private school tuition at the top schools is tens of thousands of dollars, the benefit of a $10,000 subsidy might close the gap for a middle-income family, but is decidedly less able to do so for a low-income one. Those top tier private schools aren’t, by and large, the ones suddenly within reach. And they’re still able to reject students. So what does that leave? “The typical voucher school is what I call a sub-prime provider,” said Joshua Cowen, a policy analyst and professor of education policy at Michigan State University. “They often pop up once a state passes a voucher program.” Claim: Vouchers improve outcomes. In the early days of smaller, more targeted voucher programs, the research seemed promising. But that promise has largely evaporated as programs have scaled up. “I’ve been in both eras of this work,” Cowen explained. The early studies “are still the best evidence we have that vouchers work and they are 20 years old.” Instead, he said, more recent studies of Louisiana, Ohio and other largescale voucher programs have shown “catastrophic, devastating outcomes” in student test scores, on par with the disruption caused by disasters including Hurricane Katrina. Why? In part, lack of accountability. “They don’t have to take STAAR, they don’t have to fall under A-F, they don’t have to accept all kids with a voucher,” said Bob Popinski, the senior director of policy at Raise Your Hand Texas, a public policy nonprofit that advocates for public education. There are some programs that have added accountability guardrails with some positive effect, but without knowing what might take shape in Texas, a state that already struggles to regulate the proliferation of choice that exists today, we’re not hopeful. Claim: Vouchers fight indoctrination. In Texas, this latest fight for “school choice” has been tied just as often to supposed fights over curriculum and library books as it has been to improving learning. It’s a dubious argument, alleging that public schools are indoctrinating children with what Abbott called “woke agendas.” Meanwhile, private schools that actually do follow a particular dogma of one stripe or another would actually stand to benefit the most through expanded voucher programs that suddenly mean public dollars can, in fact, support private religious schools free to teach whatever they believe. That fight has been funded by conservative groups with deep pockets and focuses on buzz words and book titles — things that most parents aren’t really concerned about. Literacy. Math. Bullying. Responsiveness. Those are the issues that Colleen Dippel, director of Families Powered, hears most often from the parents who rely on her service to help navigate the many school choices currently available. Her organization supports more choice, including in the form of an effective voucher program, but she stressed that she’s equally likely to steer a parent to a public school as she is a charter or private school. “It’s not the job of the parents to fix the schools,” she said of helping parents find the best fit for their child. “We have to start listening to them.” We agree but we believe the solutions should and can happen within our public schools. Claim: We can fund both vouchers and public schools. “We can support school choice and, at the same time, create the best public education system in America,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wrote in support of vouchers back in 2022 when he was gearing up for this legislative session. “These issues are not in conflict with each other.” In the State of the State, Abbott promised that public schools will remain fully funded if the state expanded its limited education savings accounts available to families with students with special education needs. These statements are laugh-to-keepfrom-crying wrong. Despite Abbott’s repeated “all-time high” claims about school funding, Texas already fails to support schools adequately now, falling well below the national average in per pupil spending. Other states, meanwhile, are already showing just how costly voucher schemes are and how they can further drain public education in the long-term. At first, school district funding looks stable, maybe even stronger thanks to occasional sweeteners such as a boost in the basic allotment or a one-time teacher pay increase, according to Cowen. “Those are all short-term ways to make it harder to vote against,” he said. “But you can’t sustain that in the long run.” Within two or three budget cycles, he said, the state can’t keep up funding two parallel education systems. And eventually the state aid to school districts takes a hit. That’s what public school districts say happened in Ohio in a lawsuit that claims the state’s voucher system has siphoned “hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer funds into private (and mostly religious) institutions.” Here in Texas, one-ranking official even confirmed as much in a secretly recorded conversation in which he said that public schools could lose out on funding if a student opted for a voucher: “maybe that’s one less fourth grade teacher,” the official explained. In short: vouchers don’t make sense, or cents, for Texas. Lawmakers should reject them. Again. EDITORIAL Arguments for vouchers are wrong Backers look to school board fights, book bans and CRT. What’s in name-calling Regarding “Lina Hidalgo hits back over Mattress Mack’s election lawsuit, calling ‘the mattress guy’ ‘comical’,” (Feb. 16): After last November’s election, Houston furniture salesman Jim McIngvale got offended when County Judge Hidalgo referred to him as, well, “a furniture salesman.” Now, as McIngvale sues Harris County over the election in which the candidate he heavily backed lost to Hidalgo, he gets offended when she refers to him as “the mattress guy,” even though he cheerfully promotes himself as “Mattress Mack.” I wonder if Ray Kroc would have been offended if referred to as “the hamburger guy,” or Henry Ford as “the car guy.” I doubt it. If anyone should be offended, you’d think it would be Hidalgo, whom Mattress Mack and his surrogates have called, among other things, “arrogant,” “insecure,” “spiteful,” “smug,” and “a sanctimonious bully.” Given the choice, I’d much rather be called a furniture salesman or the mattress guy. David Bradley, Spring People tell you who they are if you listen. McIngvale, aka “the mattress guy,” attacked Hidalgo after she criticized his arguably frivolous lawsuit over the November 2022 election by asking what Hidalgo has “ever accomplished in her life.” It’s an odd question to ask the county judge of the thirdmost-populous county in the United States. Hidalgo immigrated to the United States as a teenager and attended public high school in Katy. She graduated from Stanford University and was part of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law’s honors program. She also received the prestigious Omidyar Network Postgraduate Fellowship. At only 27 years old, she was elected Harris County’s first female county judge. She has been on the cover of Time magazine and was named to the magazine’s 100 Next list and Forbes 30 under 30 list. She received the Jack Brooks Foundation Leadership Award and the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award. She identifies dozens and dozens of her major accomplishments on her government website. She became a U.S. citizen by choice. If McIngvale believes Hidalgo is a nobody who has accomplished nothing, imagine what he thinks of the teachers, firefighters, reporters, police officers, construction workers, homemakers, janitors, engineers, architects and all the other ordinary Houstonians who are his customers. Imagine what the guy who took out a newspaper ad in which he referred to himself in the third person as an “icon” and who was caught on camera screaming curse words at opposing sports fans thinks of you. Rand Nolen, Houston Republicans continue to exemplify the meaning of the term “sore loser” — first the election losers in the midterms and now Mattress Mack. One has to wonder, would Mattress Mack be so concerned if Alexandra del Moral Mealer had won the Harris County judge election? Nah. I did not think so. Ike Harper, Sugar Land Criminal justice system Regarding “Opinion: How Texas can improve prisons, drug policy and the justice system,” (Feb. 12): Marc Levin’s recent op-ed on improvements to the criminal justice system is appreciated. I conclude from his article that the Texas Senate is not doing its job to make necessary improvements. John Whitmire heads the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. He should push harder to make necessary improvements. Also, Levin does not address the Texas death penalty, an unnecessary punishment since we now have “life without parole” as an optional punishment for capital murder. Life without parole safeguards society and can be less expensive than the death penalty to implement. Since the death penalty was reinstated in the 1970s, Texas has executed 581 people, far more than any other state in the nation. It is an archaic punishment that should be barred in a civilized society. David Atwood, Houston LETTERS County judge is right to mock the ‘mattress guy’ Jim McIngvale has asked what Lina Hidalgo “has ever accomplished in her life”; she has referred to him as “the mattress guy.” SEND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Viewpoints c/o Houston Chronicle, P.O. Box 4260, Houston, Texas 77210 or [email protected]. We welcome and encourage letters and emails from readers. Letters must include name, address and telephone numbers for verification purposes only. All letters are subject to editing. BIBLE VERSE Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 1 Peter 3:8
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 A15 OPINION Russian air force pilots are scaredy-cats who have been surprisingly absent over Ukraine. Russian ground forces are being mowed down as cannon fodder, and one of the best-known examples of Russian military discipline involves an officer using a sledgehammer to execute a fellow Russian. But the Russian war effort does excel in some areas: • It stands out at committing atrocities. In my interviews in Ukraine, I was struck by how commonly Russian troops engaged in torture, rape and pillaging. • Russia’s government has become a leader in child trafficking, transferring more than 6,000 Ukrainian children to Russia or Russian-controlled territory, with some put up for adoption. • Russia has manipulated Western fears that it might use nuclear weapons, thus deterring the United States from fully supporting Ukraine in this war. We give Ukraine enough to survive but, so far, not enough to win. So a year after Vladimir Putin’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, it’s time for President Joe Biden to reassess and give Ukraine what it needs to end this war and save Ukrainian and Russian lives alike. “We are well past the point of trying to measure this a few systems at a time,” said James Stavridis, a retired four-star admiral and supreme allied commander at NATO. “Putin is all-in, and we should be as well. That means fighter aircraft, ATACMS, high-end antiship cruise missiles — the kitchen sink.” More on specific hardware in a moment. But many military experts agree that while Biden has generally done well in supporting Ukraine, we should be doing even more. “We’re modulating what we’re giving Ukraine,” said Wesley Clark, a retired fourstar general and NATO supreme allied commander. “We’re bleeding out the Ukrainians. People are dying as a result. “If we want to end the war with a negotiated peace, we have to figure out the battlefield situation that will lead to a successful negotiation,” Clark added. “That probably requires going after Crimea in a serious way to convince Putin that he can’t win.” It is also important to send a message — to Xi Jinping as well as Putin — that invasions do not pay. Of all the geopolitical nightmares ahead, perhaps the most horrific is a war over Taiwan — and one way to reduce that risk may be to ensure that Putin lives a nightmare today. So this is not just about Ukraine. Viktor Yushchenko, a former president of Ukraine who was mysteriously poisoned after he challenged Russian interests, said that Ukraine is a hostage in the larger Russian challenge to the global order. “It is disappointing that the West has failed to grasp this and to define what victory really means. It is not just ensuring that Ukraine wins, but also guaranteeing future international security.” To his great credit, Biden has strongly backed Ukraine, held together support of allies and provided training for Ukrainian forces and increasingly powerful weaponry. Over time, the United States has agreed to send HIMARS rocket launchers, Patriot missile systems and M1 Abrams tanks — although the Patriots and Abrams tanks have yet to arrive. Biden has pursued gradualism because of legitimate concerns that if Putin is backed into a corner, he could lash out at NATO territory or use tactical nuclear weapons. But most analysts think it is unlikely that Putin would use tactical nuclear weapons, partly because they would achieve little on the battlefield and would antagonize China and India. Nicholas Kristof is a columnist for the New York Times. Biden should give Ukraine what it needs By Nicholas Kristof NEW YORK T IME S LIBKOS/Associated Press A growing number of analysts and military officials say Ukraine’s ultimate victory is the only way to secure a negotiated peace with Moscow and ward off an invasion of Taiwan. WASHINGTON — Here we go again. In 2022, Republicans blew a historic opportunity to take back the Senate because, in state after state, they nominated extreme candidates whose only qualification was fealty to former President Donald Trump. While positive, forward-looking conservative reformers such as Govs. Ron DeSantis of Florida, Mike DeWine of Ohio, Chris Sununu of New Hampshire and Brian Kemp of Georgia trounced their Democratic opponents, MAGA Senate candidates including Herschel Walker in Georgia, Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, Don Bolduc in New Hampshire and Blake Masters in Arizona lost winnable races. Voters’ message could not have been clearer. So, Republicans learned their lesson, right? Apparently not. When former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels announced he was exploring a 2024 bid to succeed Sen. Mike Braun, who is running for governor, Republicans should have been elated. Daniels (a Washington Post Opinions contributing columnist) was a whirlwind of reform in the governor’s mansion. He ended collective bargaining for state employees, privatized Indiana’s toll road, established one of the country’s largest school choice program for low-income students and created a conservative alternative to Medicaid that gave citizens more control over their health care choices. He inherited a $700 million deficit but left the state with a $2 billion budget surplus — achieved while he implemented the biggest tax cut in Indiana history. Then, as president of Purdue University, he earned a reputation as the United States’ most innovative college president. Daniels rejected vaccine mandates and COVID lockdowns, replaced full-time dining hall employees with student workers, scrapped the vast fleet of university-owned buses in favor of a private contractor and froze tuition for 10 years. In other words, Daniels is exactly the kind of bold, thoughtful conservative reformer voters flocked to in 2022. And he was well positioned to win the GOP nomination. A December poll showed him leading Rep. Jim Banks — a Trump loyalist who voted against certifying Joe Biden’s election — by 22 points. Then came the RINO hunters. The Club for Growth released an ad excoriating Daniels as a taxand-spend “old-guard Republican clinging to the old ways of the bad old days.” Donald Trump Jr. tweeted, “The establishment is trying to recruit weak RINO Mitch Daniels” to run for Senate, adding that “he would be Mitt Romney 2.0.” It worked. Like Republican Govs. Doug Ducey in Arizona and Sununu — who both declined Senate runs in 2022 rather than face a barrage of MAGA hate — Daniels decided that life is too short to spend the next two years fending off attacks and distortions of his record from the right. He opted not to run. If Ducey and Sununu had been their state’s Senate nominees in 2022, instead of Masters and Bolduc, the GOP would probably hold the majority today. Indiana is probably red enough that Banks can win — much as J.D. Vance won in Ohio by six points, despite running on the same ballot as DeWine, who won by 25. But the anti-Daniels campaign should set off early warning signals: MAGA world is not chastened by its disastrous failures in 2022. And if they are allowed to drive candidates like Daniels out of races across the country, the GOP will jeopardize its best chance in a generation to take back the Senate. In 2024, Democrats will be defending 23 seats, including three in Trump-won states (Montana, Ohio and West Virginia) and five (Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin) that Biden won by five points or less. Meanwhile, Republicans will be defending 10 seats, none of which are in Biden-won states and one (Florida) in a state where DeSantis won re-election by nearly 20 points last year. The Senate is the GOP’s for the taking in 2024 — provided Republicans learn from their 2022 mistakes. In Arizona, two 2022 losers, Masters and Trump-backed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, are reportedly considering Senate runs. In Montana, Rep. Matthew M. Rosendale — one of the last holdouts opposing Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., for House speaker — is reportedly considering challenging Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., to whom Rosendale lost in 2018. In Michigan, former congressman Peter Meijer would be a strong Senate candidate — but he was targeted by Trump in last year’s GOP primary after voting to impeach. Meijer lost the nomination to Trump-backed John Gibbs, who went on to lose a perfectly winnable GOP House seat. It’s doubtful Trump would let bygones be bygones. In West Virginia, Trump loyalist Rep. Alex Mooney, who voted against certifying the 2020 election results, has declared he will challenge Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin III. Republican leaders are working to recruit Gov. Jim Justice. A poll commissioned by the Sen. Mitch McConnellaligned Senate Leadership Fund shows Mooney losing to Manchin 55-40, while it predicts Justice winning 52-42. The new chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, , is wisely not leaving things to chance (in contrast to his disastrous predecessor, Sen. Rick Scott of Florida) and has pledged to get involved in contested primaries. “Republicans are sick of losing,” Daines says. “We want to make sure we have candidates that can win general elections.” He’s 100 percent correct. As 2022 showed, losing just a couple of winnable races is all it takes to cost Republicans the Senate majority. The GOP needs candidates who can win general elections — candidates such as Mitch Daniels. Marc Thiessen writes a twiceweekly column for the Washington Post on foreign and domestic policy. MAGA’s attack on Daniels is an early GOP alarm bell Marc Thiessen SYND ICATED COLUMN IST WASHINGTON — Assembling superlong freight trains and employing fewer workers to staff them works out well for the nation’s big railroad companies. For the desperate residents of East Palestine, Ohio, not so much. It has been two weeks since 38 cars of a Norfolk Southern train derailed catastrophically in East Palestine, a town of about 5,000 near the Pennsylvania border. Eleven of those overturned cars carried toxic chemicals that were immediately released into the town’s air, water and soil — or later deliberately set ablaze in a “controlled” burn that sent a vast mushroom cloud of acrid black smoke into the winter sky. Since the Feb. 3 derailment, anguished local officials and residents have been seeking answers. Among the chemicals released was vinyl chloride, which can be lethal in large doses and carcinogenic in small ones. Thousands of dead fish have turned up in local streams, and the whole town smells like a swimming pool. State and federal officials claim that the air is now safe to breathe and the municipal water safe to drink. That’s a different source than the private wells some residents rely on, which is just one of the reasons we can forgive residents for being skeptical. Some complain of persistent headaches. Others refuse to go back to their homes and are depleting their savings on motel rooms and restaurant meals. What caused the disaster? The National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday that surveillance video shows “what appears to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment.” That is one wheel bearing on one single car of a 151-car train, measuring in total length about 9,300 feet — a mile and threequarters — and weighing 18,000 tons, or 36 million pounds. I grew up across from some railroad tracks and, as a kid, I would sometimes count the cars in the freight trains that rumbled by. I never got anywhere close to 100. Admittedly, that was a long time ago; like virtually all methods of transportation, technology has made freight rail safer and more efficient. But 151 cars? Consolidation has left the nation with only seven major freight railroad companies, and six of them — including Norfolk Southern — have adopted a profit-boosting strategy called “precision-scheduled railroading,” or PSR. According to a Government Accountability Office report issued in December, PSR involves reductions in staff, longer trains and reductions in some key assets such as locomotives. According to the report, “the overall number of staff among the seven largest freight railroads ... decreased by about 28 percent from 2011 through 2021” and “all seven railroads said they have increased the length of trains in recent years.” PSR was at the heart of the labor dispute that threatened a potentially crippling strike by rail workers last year. The employees were seeking what in other fields is a noncontroversial demand: a modest amount of paid sick leave. But the railroad companies resisted fiercely, because unplanned absences due to illness disrupt the PSR imperative of having the minimum number of workers in place to get any given job done. So now we have longer and heavier freight trains, with fewer people on the job making sure they operate safely. What could go wrong? CBS News quoted unidentified Norfolk Southern employees as saying the train that crashed in East Palestine had already experienced at least one breakdown since beginning its journey in Illinois on Feb. 1. Identifying and fixing problems mid-route, which is not uncommon, requires walking the length of the train — in this case, the better part of 2 miles. I have no idea whether it might have been possible to spot the problematic bearing before it failed. But rail workers say that PSR has resulted in fewer timely inspections of key equipment; they also say that scheduling demands cause fatigue that can lead to critical errors. The GAO report said that “available data are inconclusive” as to whether PSRinspired operational changes have affected safety. Let me suggest that East Palestine offers an additional data point worthy of analysis. Basic principles of physics would indicate that the sheer mass of such a long, heavy train would make any derailment more violent than that of a shorter, lighter train. A Norfolk Southern spokesperson, speaking to CBS, defended the “uniform” weight distribution of the train and the fact that it included a mid-train locomotive, “which helps manage the dynamic forces.” No amount of word salad can repeal Isaac Newton’s second law of motion, F=ma. Force equals mass times acceleration. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan visited East Palestine on Thursday. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg should go there, too, and see firsthand what happened. In overseeing freight rail, our government has erred on the side of efficiency versus safety. That balance must be corrected. Eugene Robinson is a columnist for the Washington Post. Ohio train wreck shows risk of valuing efficiency over safety Eugene Robinson WASH INGTON POST
A16 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM OPINION Southern city: 63 percent of all area residents were Anglos, 20 percent Blacks, 16 percent Hispanics, 2 percent Asians. After the collapse of the oil boom, the Anglo population stopped growing. Virtually all the city’s expansion since 1982 has come from the influx of Asians, African Americans and Hispanics. Houston has been transformed into one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse metropolitan areas in the country. By the time of the 2020 census, Harris County was just 28 percent Anglo, along with 43 percent Hispanic, 19 percent African American and 10 percent Asian. It’s not just about the numbers; it’s also a matter of age. The 76 million Americans who were born between 1946 and 1964 (the bulging “Baby Boom” generation) are now aged 59 to 77, and they are disproportionately composed of Anglos. The younger populations, who will be the workers, citizens, voters and taxpayers in the years ahead, are predominantly nonAnglo. Of all the Harris County residents today who are under the age of 20, 51 percent are Hispanics, 19 percent are Blacks, 9 percent are Asians and 21 percent are Anglos. No force in the world will stop Houston, or Texas or America from becoming more Asian, more African American, more Hispanic and less Anglo as the 21st century unfolds. Meanwhile, in the wake of globalization and automation, most of the city’s good bluecollar jobs have been disappearing. The gap between rich and poor in Houston is expanding, predicated above all on access to the educational credentials and technical skills that today’s jobs require. As indicated earlier, fully 70 percent of all area residents under the age of 20 are Hispanic or African American, the two communities that are by far the most likely to be living in poverty and that have been the least well-served by the city’s educational institutions. Clearly, if Houston’s Black and Hispanic young people are unprepared to succeed in the 21st century economy, it is hard to envision a prosperous future for the city as a whole. In response to these new realities, significant changes have been taking place in the public’s support for policies designed to reduce the inequalities. Here are some of the survey findings: • Since the mid-1990s, we have been asking area residents to indicate which of these statements comes closer to their opinion about the public schools in Houston: “The schools have enough money, if it were used wisely, to provide a quality education”; or “In order for the schools to provide a quality education, significantly more money will be needed.” In 1997, 61 percent said the schools have all the money they need. But in 2022, 67 percent asserted that the schools will need significantly more money in order to provide a quality education. These findings underscore a consequential shift among area residents in their understanding of the need for more generous and sustained investments in public schools if the city is to succeed in the new economy. Yet Houston and Texas are still near the bottom among U.S. cities and states in their per capita spending on public education. • We asked the survey participants what they would do if they suddenly had to come up with $400 to meet an emergency expense. One-third said they would either have to borrow the funds or they would simply not be able to come up with that kind of money. This was the case for 7 percent of Asians and 13 percent of Anglos, but for more than 40 percent of African Americans and Hispanics. In sum, close to half of all Houston’s Blacks and Hispanics are living on the edge, just one small unexpected expense away from bankruptcy. • Houston has one of the greatest conglomerations of medical institutions in the world, but it is also among the U.S. cities with the highest percentage of children who have no health insurance. Fully onefourth of all the respondents in the 2022 survey said they were uninsured, in numbers ranging from 11 percent among Asians to 41 percent for Hispanics. Area residents also appear to be rethinking their traditional beliefs about the causes of poverty in America and reconsidering their opposition to government programs. Growing numbers now acknowledge that people can fall into poverty through no fault of their own, and that government needs to play a more active role in strengthening the social safety net and in fostering greater economic opportunity across the board: • We have asked area residents if they thought that “Most people who receive welfare payments are really in need of help, or are they taking advantage of the system.” The proportions who believe that welfare recipients are truly in need of the help they receive grew from 34 percent in 2010, to 56 percent in 2020, and to 69 percent in 2022. • The survey respondents who agreed that “The government has a responsibility to help reduce the inequalities between rich and poor in America” increased from 55 percent in 2009, to 63 percent in 2019, to 89 percent in 2021. • Support for “federal health insurance to cover the medical costs of all Americans” grew from 64 percent in 2010 to 77 percent in 2022. The findings make it clear that area residents have been changing significantly in their understanding of the most important challenges facing this city. It remains to be seen whether Houston’s business and civic leaders will be able to build on the attitude shifts the surveys reveal to undertake the kinds of collective and sustained investments that will clearly be needed for broadbased prosperity in this time of economic, demographic and technological transformation. What happens in Houston matters. This is where, for better or worse, the American future is going to be worked out. By 2050, all of America will have the same demographic mix as Houston today. This city is called upon to take the lead in building something that has never existed before in human history — a truly successful, equitable and inclusive multiethnic society, made up of virtually all the peoples, all the ethnicities, all the religions of the world, gathered together in this one remarkable place. Houston has been getting many things right in its efforts to enhance the city’s prospects in the 21st century. (Consider, for example, the recent public and private investments that have transformed the bayous and parks, and have helped to turn Houston into one of the greenest cities in America.) Where the city is failing most spectacularly is in its seeming inability to invest in its citizens, to expand significantly area residents’ access to high-quality lifelong education. These are the investments that will ultimately determine whether or not Houston is positioned for lasting success in today’s hightechnology, knowledge-based, global economy. It is good to know that the Kinder Houston Area Survey will continue to track the ongoing changes in area residents’ beliefs, attitudes and experiences through the next 40 years of the city’s evolution. Klineberg is professor emeritus of sociology at Rice University and the founding director of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research. He is the author of “Prophetic City: Houston on the Cusp of a Changing America” (Simon & Schuster 2020). Staff file photo An original Shipley’s Do-nut and Grill is shown on Houston’s West Gray in November 1982. Sharon Steinmann/Staff Photographer An Office Depot now stands where the all-night Shipley’s was located at West Gray and Dunlavy. SURVEY From page A13 but his hands remain, clinging to a wire. This kind of thing was rarely shown in 1930, which is what I pointed out when I included the image in my tweet. That was strike one. Strike two was my profile picture, which has been up for a couple of years now. It’s taken from the long-canonized painting “Saturn Devouring His Son,” by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya. Based on the Greek myth of the Titan Cronus eating one of his offspring — a safeguard against a prophecy predicting one of his children would overthrow him — it’s kind of grisly, in a 19th century way. It’s also widely considered a masterpiece of Western civilization, easily viewable online and elsewhere. I appreciate it as a dark reflection of our dark times. But Twitter didn’t view it that way, even though it had remained part of my profile literally for years. The message Twitter sent said I could be suspended for a week or longer. My sentence turned out to be just 12 hours, more than enough time to consider my crime and punishment. I thought about leaving Twitter when Elon Musk bought the company last October and quickly began reinstating purveyors of hate speech (including a certain former president) and gutting the company’s quality control staff. Glitches have popped up frequently under the Musk regime; the day I was reinstated brought an onslaught of posts from users who had received strange messages about not being able to respond to tweets, or having reached some invisible threshold of followers. In December, Twitter suspended several journalists who cover Musk, including Ryan Mac of the New York Times and Drew Harwell of the Washington Post. At times Twitter management seems like a storm of incompetence and pettiness. Unfortunately, I really like Twitter. I signed on pretty early, in 2009, and since then I’ve built valuable relationships, professional and personal, through the platform. There are people I’ve never met whom I still consider friends because of Twitter. As a freelancer I’ve made valuable contacts on Twitter, including editors that I work with to this day. I like its capacity for quick wit. I like it as a way to get my work in front of eyeballs I know and respect. I signed up for other social media in the wake of Musk’s purchase: Hive, Post, Mastodon. But my relationships aren’t there. I still haven’t developed a grasp of what they’re about. So it kind of stung to get exiled from the kingdom. I couldn’t spit out my pithy, abbreviated thoughts to my 8,000 followers. I couldn’t blast the link to my latest story. I felt isolated — technically I was isolated, sitting alone in my living room — and cut off from my cultivated community. And it all got me thinking about the capriciousness of the whole process. It’s impossible to speak with a human being at Twitter about such matters, so file this under “careful deduction.” But I would wager my suspension didn’t come about because someone at Twitter was actually offended by “All Quiet” or Goya. I think someone didn’t like my profile, with all of its mainstream media shingles, or didn’t like what I was tweeting about. Or maybe someone didn’t think “All Quiet” should have won Best Picture in 1930. People get suspended from Twitter when they get reported (unless, perhaps, they’re tweeting about Musk; then, it’s easy to imagine he or his henchmen pulling the switch). Of course I have no way of confronting whoever reported me; that would rupture the whole McCarthy-meets-Kafka vibe of the whole thing. Suffice it to say someone didn’t like the cut of my digital jib and got me kicked off for a little while. And now I’m back, still hooked on a deeply flawed platform, and the immediate gratification and ready distraction it provides. Still amazed that celebrated works of art and culture get censored by the same system that still permits vitriolic attacks against all comers. It seems Musk’s “free speech” mantra has extremely subjective limits, and those limits include, among others, Spanish Enlightenment painters. To think, Goya survived the Inquisition and the French occupation of Spain, only to get booted from Twitter. Chris Vognar, a Houston writer, tweets as @chrisvognar. TWEET From page A13
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 A17 Ashby, Dorothy Berrios, Javier Burkett, Gerald Chassay, Charles DiMatteo, Mark Grossman, Betty Harrison, Joyce Huggett, Thomas Sr. Lueking, Darlene Nelson, Walter Nihill, Michael Sales, James Saxenian, Thomas Takehara, Marion Williams, Kelly Gerald Gene Burkett of Houston, known to family and friends as “Gerry”, passed away on Tuesday, the 14th of February 2023, at his home with his wife and family by his side. Gerry was born in Newcastle, Oklahoma, on the 22nd of December 1929, to Ed and Auda Burkett, the youngest of seven siblings. Gerry graduated from Newcastle High School and enrolled at Oklahoma University where he obtained an undergraduate degree in Geology. After graduation, Gerry applied for the Air Force Pilot training program. Gerry attained the rank of 1st Lt. in the Air Force and served four years, where he flew B-29s. During his last assignment, he was stationed in Albany, Georgia, where he met the love of his life, Betty Adams. After dating for a year, they were engaged and married two weeks later in Morgan, Georgia. Gerry and Betty then moved back to Oklahoma where Gerry again enrolled at Oklahoma University and earned a Masters of Geology. He started his career with Atlantic Refining Company, moved to Midwest Oil, Tesoro Petroleum and finally McCormick Oil and Gas. Throughout his career he lived in Cody, Wyoming; Jackson, Mississippi; Lafayette, Louisiana; and finally Houston, where Gerry and Betty planted permanent roots. Gerry’s passions were God and church, his family, his friends and sports. Gerry’s love for his family was unmatched. He adored Betty with all of his heart and embodied the spirit of a servant husband. He doted on his children and grandchildren and never missed a sporting or school event that someone was playing in. He coached his children in their little league sports and played recreational basketball and softball with them into his 60s. Gerry was so proud of his boys, and he would talk on and on about them to anyone who would listen. He loved planning annual trips with the family where he could spend more time with them. He was the kindest and most friendly man you had ever known and always offered words of wisdom for people who needed help. He served as an active member of Tallowood Church for almost 50 years. During that time, he taught and led many classes and was an active member of the deacons. Gerry was always true to his faith and was a man of integrity. Gerry is survived by his loving wife of 66 years, Betty; sons, Greg Burkett and wife Janet of Katy, and Tim Burkett and wife Danna of Houston. He was affectionately known as “Papa” to his four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren: Brett Burkett, Blake and Erin Burkett and their three boys, Davis, Thomas and Beau; Parker and Mary Burkett, Preston and May Burkett and their daughter Hallie. He was preceded in death by his parents and his six brothers and sisters. A Celebration of Life is to be conducted at two o’clock in the afternoon on Monday, the 20th of February, in the Sanctuary of Tallowood Baptist Church, 555 Tallowood Drive in Houston, where Rev. Duane Brooks, Senior Pastor, is to officiate. Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family during a reception in the Chapel Reception Hall. Prior to the service, the family will gather for a private interment at Memorial Oaks Cemetery in Houston. In lieu of customary remembrances, the family requests with gratitude that you please consider making a memorial contribution to Tallowood Baptist Church - Praisers Mission Fund, 555 Tallowood Drive, Houston, TX 77024. The family would like to thank Homewatch CareGivers of Houston for the incredible care they provided him. Please visit Mr. Burkett’s online memorial tribute at GeoHLewis.com where fond memories and words of comfort and condolence may be shared electronically with his family. GERALD GENE BURKETT 12/22/1929 - 02/14/2023 Charles Eugene Chassay, 80, entered into God’s heavenly presence February 10, 2023. His strong will to live a full life, unwavering faith in God, and the love and prayers of family, friends, and many supporters carried him throughout his recent courageous struggle. Charles was born on April 24, 1942 in Chicago, IL to Roger Paul Chassay, Sr. and Ruby Ruth Taylor, the youngest of four children. The family lived in Columbia, MS and both DeRidder and Iowa, Louisiana before settling in Lake Charles. He was a first-class baseball player and played a significant part in his high school’s appearance in the football state championship game. He was voted Most Likely to Succeed by his classmates. After graduating from LaGrange High School (LA) in 1960, he attended Louisiana State University. He was active in social life and occupational societies, and a member of Lambda Chi Alpha and Alpha Phi Omega. In addition, Charles was elected president of the College of Engineering. He married his high school sweetheart, Janice Marie DeRouen, on September 7, 1963 at St. Margaret Catholic Church in Lake Charles. He graduated with his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering August 1964 and moved to the Houston area for his new position at Shell Chemical. In October 1966, he moved his pregnant wife and toddler son to Sagemont. In March 1967, he accepted his dream position at what is now NASA Johnson Space Center as an engineer in the Life Sciences Division. He was on the Space Technology Applied to Rural Papago Advanced Health Care (STARPAHC) Telemedicine System Project Team in the 1970’s. He played significant roles in the Landing and Recovery Division with the Apollo flights programs. He spent most of his career at NASA as a Payload Integration Manager for the Space Shuttle’s Middeck. He successfully prepared a Saudi Arabian prince for flight as well as both Teacher-In-Space payload specialists Christa McAuliffe and backup Barbara Morgan. He finished his career at NASA with the Space Station team and retired in 1997 after 30 years. After a brief stint with Hernandez Engineering post retirement, he worked for Boeing for 5 years as a senior engineering specialist. He then retired again in 2005 to care for his wife Janice until her death in 2014. Married for 50 years, Charles and Janice raised their two sons, Mark and Trent, in Houston. Residing in Sagemont for 56+ years and surviving three floods, Charles loved activities with his family and the community. He enjoyed playing bridge with his wife and neighbors. He particularly was fond of his time as a youth sports coach in the South Belt Area. After the Sagemont / Beverly Hills Little League (SBHLL) was forced to relocate in 1974, Charles helped lead the efforts for the USA Fields on Dixie Farm Road. He had a servant’s heart. When Janice would go play bridge, Charles would take his young sons and drive to the fields to work. With only the lights of his car to guide him, he would put Mark and Trent on his lap and bulldoze the fields making way for the ballparks and parking lot as fast as he could before his wife returned home. Charles was a manager for nine straight years for his sons in both SBHLL and South Belt Area Pony Colt. Three of those years he coached both boys on the same team. His teams won often and he was frequently appointed by the leagues to lead various tournament and all-star teams. He also coached for the Sagemont Knight youth football teams and assisted in the inaugural Sagemont Spurs youth soccer season. Charles also participated with his boys in the East End YMCA Adventure Guides and in leadership as an assistant chief. He also was an advocate for the Sagemont community after the flood in 1979. He petitioned the Harris County Flood District many times to enlarge the Beamer ditch, which was ultimately done. He was a devout Catholic and volunteered as an usher at St. Luke the Evangelist for many years. He served as the president of the J. Frank Dobie Booster Club from 1983-1984. A beloved, brother, husband, father and Grandpa, he will be missed for his altruistic spirit, intellect, love of Corvairs and coin collecting. He is survived by his sons Mark (Kimberly) and Trent, grandsons Huston and Weston Chassay. Brother Roger Chassay, sister-in-law Becky DeRouen, and many beloved cousins, nieces, and nephews also survive him. Visitation will be Sunday, February 19, from 3:00pm until 5:00pm at Peevey Funeral Home, 12440 Beamer Rd. The Funeral Mass will be Monday, February 20 at 11 a.m. at St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church, 11011 Hall Rd. with Rev. Sean P. Horrigan presiding. A reception to follow in the parish hall. The Rite of Committal will be at Goos Cemetery in Lake Charles. In lieu of flowers and for those wishing, memorial donations may be made to Dobie Hall of Honor Scholarship Fund (check payable to Dobie High School; memo Hall of Honor Scholarship; mailing address 10220 Blackhawk Blvd., 77089) or Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston (www. catholiccharities.org). CHARLES CHASSAY 04/24/1942 - 02/10/2023 Dr. Javier Berrios, 55, went to be with our Heavenly Father on Monday, February 13, 2023. He is survived by his daughter, Anika Christina Berrios-Cinelli; the son of Leonor Rivera and Salvador Berrios (deceased); the brother of Lesby Berrios and Elvis Berrios; sister and brother-in-law Elka and Sean Bresnahan; brother and sister-in-law Ronnie and Janina Berrios; and Lilian Ruiz. He had 7 nieces and nephews; Manuel Pineiro, Rylee and Justin Bresnahan, Catiria, Cristina, Elvis and Joey Berrios. Dr. Berrios enjoyed a successful, growing practice helping people, and loved to travel. DR. JAVIER BERRIOS 10/31/1967 - 02/13/2023 Mark Edward DiMatteo, 65, passed away unexpectedly on January 3, 2023 in Houston, Texas. His deep love of family and always ready wit will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved him. Services were held at Klein Funeral Home, Houston TX. MARK DIMATTEO 06/17/1957 - 01/03/2023 Dr Michael Robert Nihill January 18, 1936 – February 10, 2022 On Friday February 10 at 4.30am, at the age of 87, Michael passed away peacefully. For more details visit: https://josephjearthman. funeraltechweb.com/tribute/ details/684/Dr-MichaelNihill/obituary.html#tributestart MICHAEL NIHILL 01/18/1936 - 02/10/2023 Betty Morris Grossman was born on May 13th 1930 in Franklin Louisiana. She attended School in Franklin and graduated from Southwestern Louisiana Institute ( Now LSU Lafayette) and was employed by the FBI and later Humble Oil & Refining for several years after graduation. In 1953 she married Gene Lively Grossman in 1953 and they lived in Houston until 1980 when Gene retired and they moved to Kerrville Texas. Preceding her in death were her husband of 51 years, her parents, her infant son Andrew, and brothers Marvin and Wayne Morris. Survivors are daughter Gwyn Thrower, son in-law Ron Thrower, son Guy Grossman, daughter in-law Paula Grossman, 6 grandchildren, and 5 great-grandchildren. Burial will be held in Seymour Texas at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to St.Jude Children’s Research Hospital. BETTY GROSSMAN 05/13/1930 - 02/11/2023 Dorothy Cheville Mazur Ashby was born at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Port Arthur, Texas, to Herman and Cheville Mazur. She was a graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur and The University of Texas at Austin, where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. She was preceded in death by her mother, her father, and her stepmother, Carol McEwan Mazur. Dorothy’s most loved activities in life were being a wife to Lynn, her husband of 60 years; enjoying her three wonderful children and their spouses, Christopher “Kit” and Leslie Ashby of Houston, Lari and Mark Passmore of Houston, and Tristan Ashby and Jeff Chu of Grand Rapids, Michigan; and being a grandmother to her cherished grandchildren: Lynn, Pierce and Lillian Ashby, and Alexei and Ana Passmore. She also enjoyed teaching CCD at St. John Vianney Catholic Church, being a docent at the Houston Zoo, and serving as a member of the Zoo Advisory Board, where she tried for many years to keep the zoo a free place that all people could enjoy, as well as the Assistance League. In lieu of flowers, please send a donation to the Port Arthur Higher Education Foundation, to benefit the Herman and Carol Mazur Scholarship at Lamar State College - Port Arthur (1500 Procter Street, Port Arthur, TX, 77641), or The Star of Hope, Houston. Rosary and visitation will be held at Geo. H. Lewis & Sons (1010 Bering Drive, Houston) on Thursday, February 23, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Funeral Mass will be at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church (1801 Sage Road, Houston) on Friday, February 24, at 2 p.m. DOROTHY ASHBY 12/29/1938 - 02/16/2023 Joyce Casey Harrison passed into the arms of her heavenly Father on January 21, 2023, in Webster, Texas. Joyce was born in Alvin, Texas on November 4, 1948. She grew up in League City, Texas and graduated from Clear Creek High School in 1966. Joyce always wanted to be a teacher, and she obtained her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Education and a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Houston. Joyce taught for more than 30 years at Sally K.Ride Elementary School in The Woodlands, Texas.. While a student at the University of Houston, Joyce met her future husband, Ralph Harrison. They were married on May 20, 1972. Their long and happy marriage produced two children, Jeffrey Jay Harrison in 1975 and Kasey Joy Harrison in 1980. Joyce was a loving and caring mother to her children. Joyce was preceded in death by her father, Jesse C. Casey and her mother, Betty Reeves She is survived by her husband of 50 years, Ralph Harrison of League City, Texas, her son, Jeffrey Harrison of Houston, Texas, her daughter, Kasey Harrison of The Woodlands, Texas, her brother, Royce Casey of League, City, Texas, her sister, Carolyn Foley and husband Kevin of Houston, Texas, and her sisters -in -law Marcia Harrison Rayne of Kaufman County, Texas, and Kelly Herring and husband Dave, of Flower Mound, Texas. A Celebration of Life ceremony will be held for Joyce on Saturday, February 25, 2023 at Forest Park - The Woodlands, with a reception beginning at noon and ceremony beginning at 1 p.m. All who know Joyce are invited to attend. JOYCE HARRISON 11/11/1948 - 01/21/2023 Thomas J. (Tom) Huggett, Sr. 1940 – 2023 Thomas J. (Tom) Huggett, Sr. passed away on February 12, 2023, in Kingwood, Texas. He was born on April 9, 1940, in New Orleans, La. to parents William A. Huggett, Sr and Gladys R. Borne Huggett. While still in school he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps which was a highlight of his life. He served 8 yrs. in the USMC reserve, 5 yrs. active and 3 yrs. inactive. He was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps in November 1965. Tom married his first wife, Betty F. Corvers in May 1960 and they had four sons. He worked for Lykes Bros. Steamship Co. in New Orleans in the Operations Division for 35 years. He also worked for the Greater New Orleans Expressway Commission (Lake Ponchartrain Causeway) for 11 years as a Radar Operator/Bridgetender. Tom married his second wife, his inseparable companion and partner, Anita Garofalo Johnson, in February 2000 after living together for over a decade. They relocated from Chalmette, La., to Kingwood, TX in April 2006 following the loss of their home from Hurricane Katrina. Tom was predeceased by his parents, his older brother William A. (Bill) Huggett, Jr., and his son, Mark A Huggett. Survivors include his loving wife Anita, three sons, Thomas J. (Tom) Huggett, Jr. (Eric) of Orlando, FL, Michael P. (Mike) Huggett (Brenda) of New Orleans, LA and Kevin C. Huggett of St. Rose, LA. His surviving grandchildren are Brandon Huggett of Metairie, LA, Ashley M. Huggett, Jenna C, Huggett and Logan C. Huggett, all of St. Rose, LA. He is also survived by his younger brother, Robert A. (Bob) Huggett of Bedford, Tx. His surviving extended family are stepson Rene E. Johnson (Martha) and step-grandchildren Christy Johnson Woodworth (Kyle), Kaitlin Johnson, Rene W. Johnson, step-great grandchildren Tate V. and Cora J. Woodworth, all of Kingwood, TX. Tom requested no funeral, and instead his remains will be placed in his crypt in St. Bernard Memorial Gardens in Chalmette, La. In lieu of flowers, donations to his favorite charity, St. Jude Hospital for Children, are preferred in order to help save the life of a child. THOMAS J. HUGGETT, SR. 04/09/1940 - 02/12/2023
A18 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM Beloved mother, loyal wife, precious Nana, steadfast friend. Darlene passed away February 10, 2023, in Dallas, surrounded by her family following a long and courageous battle against cancer. She was born in Brownsville, Texas December 18, 1942 to Warren A. and Annie K. Hailey Darling. She was preceded in death by her brother, Warren Arthur Darling, Jr. Darlene is survived by her husband of 61 years, Lloyd Dale Lueking; daughter, Paige; sister, Joyce Darling Mouser (Richard); grandchildren, Jack and Caroline Pease; cherished nieces and nephew, numerous friends; and her precious neighbor and best friend, Betty Leach. Darlene was a creative talent, devoting her love of baking, calligraphy, art and crafts to family, friends, and school children. She enjoyed holidays, especially Christmas, sharing her love of decorating and traditions at every opportunity. Her Christmas ornament collection was breathtakingly delightful. It was a joy to receive her homemade treats- whether cookies or specialty birthday cakes. For forty-one years she served the students and teachers of Pearland Independent School District as a teacher’s aide / paraprofessional starting at Shadycrest Elementary and concluding her career at H. C. Carleston Elementary. She loved reading to the children and celebrating their successes and helping the teachers with various events and projects. Darlene truly had a servant’s heart as her actions reached many of the most vulnerable in her community. Her love of family, Pearland, friends and giving permeated all she did. Her quiet sweet spirit, generosity, encouragement of others and willingness to help is legendary. She will be missed as Nana, Mother, Spouse and friend. Caroline and Jack were the apples of her eyes; she encouraged and loved them only as a Nana can. Darlene was not only a “Darling” by name, but in all she did, said and stood for. She looked for and saw the good in everything and everyone. To honor Darlene’s lifetime of giving, we ask you to send a card, give some cookies, bake a cake for a friend or donate to the charity of your choice. Her kindness lives on in all she met and knew. A celebration of her life with her Pearland friends will be held in Pearland at a later date when the sun is shining in her hometown. DARLENE DARLING LUEKING 12/18/1942 - 02/10/2023 Thomas Michael Saxenian, 68, a local businessman, died after a brief illness. The son of Stephen Saxenian and Mary O’Malley, he was born on April 27, 1954, and reared in Houston Texas. His parents founded and operated Bagdad Carpet Company for nearly 50 years. Tom took a great deal of pride in his Armenian roots and in the rug business where his charming personality made him a successful salesman. It was in this family-owned enterprise that Tom and his brother, Steve, developed their own entrepreneurial skills. The two brothers worked together as partners for five decades as private investors in commercial ventures and real estate. Tom will be remembered for his generous, helpful nature, love of golf and Houstonian pride. Tom is survived by his son, Adam Paul Saxenian, daughters Mary Kathryn Aston and Susan Saxenian Burton, and their husbands, husband Brian Aston and Charles Burton, grandchildren, Caroline, Thompson, Brooks and Davis Aston and Charles and Cora Grace Burton. He is also survived by his brother Stephen Saxenian Jr. and his wife Esmerelda, nephew and nieces, Brian, Amy and Jasmine Saxenian. A small ceremony was held for family this past weekend. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to St. Kevork Armenian Apostolic Church where his father was a founding member and served as chair of the board for many years. THOMAS SAXENIAN 04/27/1954 - 02/03/2023 Marion Konishi Takehara passed away peacefully at the age of 97 at a personal care home in Katy, TX where she resided for the past 2.5 years. Marion was a lifelong teacher. In Houston, she taught at Terrace Elementary (SBISD), and at Owens Elementary and Lieder Elementary (CFISD). Later in life she spoke publicly about the multi-generational effects of World War II on her family. Outside of the classroom she enjoyed hosting family dinners on Sunday evenings and helping grandkids with homework. She was a dog lover, a golfer and a bridge player, and she was a regular at exercise classes into her 90’s. Marion was preceded in death by her husband of 67 years, Kenneth Nobuaki Takehara. She is survived by three children: Anne Takehara Wilson (married to Butch, living in Houston), John Takehara (married to Renee, living in Prescott, Arizona), Amy Takehara Lilly (married to Jim, living in San Antonio, TX); four grandchildren, Meredith Wilson Montgomery (married to Josh Montgomery, living in Nashville, TN), Michael Wilson (partner Patrick Bravo, living in Akron, OH), Devon Lilly (married to Elizabeth Hilton Lilly, living in Austin, TX) and Trevor Lilly (living in Houston, TX) plus three great grandchildren Aiden McClaine, Mays Montgomery and Thatcher Montgomery; and her brother, James Konishi and his wife Rose living in Cleveland, OH. In lieu of flowers, it was Marion’s request that donations be made to support the Amache Preservation Society where her family was incarcerated during WWII. Please send your donations to: Amache Preservation Society, P.O, Box 259, Granada, CO 81041 or online at amache. org. A memorial service will be held at St. Philip Presbyterian Church, 4807 San Felipe, Houston, TX 77056, on Saturday, March 18 at 2 p.m. (CST). The service will also be live streamed and archived for future viewing (http://www. saintphilip.net/). A private inurnment will be held at the Houston National Cemetery. A complete obituary can be found at https://www. kleinfh.com/obituary/mariontakehara MARION KONISHI TAKEHARA 05/07/1925 - 02/04/2023 James B. Sales grew up in Weimar, Texas in the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s. In Weimar, Jim served as an altar boy at St. Michael’s Catholic Church, worked agricultural, construction and mechanical jobs, and played every sport at Weimar High School, where he finished Valedictorian of his class. Despite a humble but loving upbringing, Jim attended the University of Texas by cobbling together academic and ROTC scholarships and by working throughout school. He was the first member of his family to attend college. At 5’8” tall and 155lbs, he played football on the Longhorn freshman football team until a knee injury ended his soon to be anyway short college football career. Jim graduated UT in 1955, married his high school sweetheart and love of his life Beuna Mae Vornsand, and then served two years as a Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corp. Following Marine Corp service, Jim attended the University of Texas Law School where he graduated with honors in 1960. He then joined Fulbright, Crooker, Freeman and Jaworski, where he was trained as a trial lawyer under legendary trial lawyers Leon Jaworski and Kraft Eidman. Jim became a partner at Fulbright & Jaworski in 1971, and he served as head of the firm’s litigation department from 1982 until 2000. He served as of counsel at Norton Rose Fulbright for the next 22 plus years of his life. Jim viewed all of his colleagues at his life-long law firm as his brothers and sisters. During his legal career, Jim became recognized as one of the preeminent trial lawyers in America. He tried many of the cutting-edge product liability cases, many for GM, which set the contours of product liability law in Texas and nationally for decades. Jim authored one of the seminal text books on product liability, and he taught Continuing Legal Education courses and law school classes throughout the country. Jim also was hired to work on the appeal of the Pennzoil v. Texaco case. Like several other legendary Texas trial lawyers of his generation who learned discipline, tenacity, and guts in the Marine Corp. – Joe Jamail, Dick Miller, and Joe Reynolds to name a few – Jim is identified as one of the One Hundred Legal Legends in Texas. Jim was recognized as a Fellow of both the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. UT Law School and his Fulbright & Jaworski Partners dedicated a teaching courtroom at the law school in his honor. Jim was a passionate leader of the Bar, pro bono service, and professionalism. While serving in nearly every leadership capacity possible – President of the Houston Bar Association, President of the State Bar of Texas, Chair of the Texas Access to Justice Commission, Delegate of the American Bar Association House of Delegates, and many others, he also initiated and founded the Houston Volunteer Lawyer Program, the Houston Bar Foundation (and served as its first Chair), the Texas Lawyers’ Assistance Program, and other programs designed to aid citizens and lawyers in need of help. In recognition for his selfless dedication to the profession and to those in need, Jim received the Appleseed J. Chrys Dougherty Good Apple Award, the Texas Bar Foundation Outstanding Fifty Year Lawyer Award, the American College of Trial Lawyers’ Samuel E. Gates Litigation Award, the Anti-Defamation League Karen Susman Jurisprudence Award for Legal Public Service, the University of Texas Law School Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award, the Emily Jones Lifetime Achievement Award and countless other honors. The Houston Bar Association Pro Bono Leadership Award is named in his honor, and he coined the motto for Texas Access to Justice in Texas – “we need more boots on the ground,” in the fight to provide low income Texans access to legal representation. And despite all his professional accomplishments, his passion ultimately rested firmly with his family. He loved Beuna with all his soul and shared everything in life with her for over 66 years of marriage. He cherished his three children Mark, Debbie, and Travis, their spouses, his grandchildren and his great grandchildren. And in accord with the old adage that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” Jim and Beuna’s three children and one of his grandchildren are all lawyers. Jim is preceded in death by his parents Henry and Agnes Salas and his sister Mary Ann Salas. Jim is survived by his wife, Buena Mae Sales; son Mark Sales and his wife Nancy; daughter Debbie Sales Elmore, her husband Phil and their daughters Laura Elmore and Kristin Elmore; son Travis Sales and his wife Sandy; grandchildren Alexandra Sales, Marshall Sales, Harrison Sales and his wife Katie, Katie Sales Kirbo and her husband Brad; Emily Sales Marmillion and her husband Brian, and James Austin Sales; and great grandchildren George Travis Kirbo and Reese Elizabeth Kirbo. He is also survived by his brother Frank Sales and his wife Bonnie, and his sister-in-law Doris Brown. Visitation for Jim will be held on Monday, February 20, 2023 from 5:00PM to 8:00PM at Memorial Oaks Funeral Home, 13001 Katy Freeway, Houston, Texas 77079. A Mass funeral service will be held on Tuesday, February 21, 2023 at 10:30AM at St. John Vianney Catholic Church, 625 Nottingham Oaks Trail, Houston, Texas 77079. Father Leon Streider will officiate the service. Following the funeral service, Jim will be interred to eternal rest at Memorial Oaks Cemetery. A reception to celebrate Jim’s amazing life will follow at 12:30PM at the Houston Racquet Club, 10709 Memorial Drive, Houston, Texas 77024. Marshall Sales, Harrison Sales, James Sales, Brad Kirbo, Brian Marmillion and Doug Leach will serve as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers will be all former and current partners of Fulbright & Jaworski (now Norton Rose Fulbright), the current and former Presidents of the State Bar of Texas, the current and former Presidents of the Houston Bar Association, and the Texas Fellows of the American College of Trial Lawyers. In lieu of flowers, those wishing to recognize and celebrate the life of James B. Sales can make donations to the Texas Access to Justice Foundation, the Houston Bar Foundation (which Jim helped establish), or the Wounded Warrior Project. One of Jim’s favorite and often used quotes came from Winston Churchill: “we make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.” By that standard, what a life Jim Sales lived. JAMES B. SALES 08/24/1934 - 02/11/2023 On February 10th, one of the last true gentlemen, Walter F. “Ted” Nelson, left this world with his beloved family by his side. Ted spent his forty-year career developing award-winning communities for thousands of families. He most recently served as President of the Newland/ NASH portfolio at Brookfield Properties and was widely recognized for his leadership in the development of master-planned communities like Cinco Ranch, Elyson, Greatwood and Telfair. He was an active member of the Urban Land Institute and the West Houston Association where he served as past chairman. He was the recipient of the Association’s prestigious Impact Award for leadership in quality sustainable development, including spearheading the Association’s 2050 Plan. He was also a member of Greater Houston Builders Association and an integral part of the Association’s “Build PAC” leadership committee. In 2013, he was appointed by the Governor of Texas to the board of the Texas Real Estate Advisory Committee and continued in that capacity throughout his career. Born on May 11, 1950, Ted grew up in Anahuac, Texas, and graduated from the University of Texas with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. He did post graduate study in Accounting at the University of Houston. He served in the United States Army in the mid seventies. Ted began his career with The Woodlands Corporation and subsequently held leadership positions with American General, Terrabrook, Newland Communities and Brookfield. Married to wife Kathryn for 47 years, family was very important to Ted. His love of family was one of the driving forces in his desire to develop and sustain vibrant communities where families could live, work, play and create lasting memories. He loved spending time with his daughters Meredith Jackson and Lauren M. Nelson and his grandson Brooks Nelson Hill. An avid outdoorsman, Ted enjoyed fishing with his girls in Texas coastal waters and fly fishing with them in Montana rivers and the Tsiu River in Alaska. He also loved fishing and hunting with his grandson, Brooks Nelson Hill. Ted was commonly described as a gentleman, second father, role model, true friend, and mentor who was humble and selfless. He had a way of leading without being in front, a trait which endeared him to his colleagues and fellow community leaders. Ted was preceded in death by his parents Judge Oscar Nelson and LaVerne Nelson and younger brother Randall Nelson. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center for Dr. Nizar Tannir’s research “In Memory of Ted Nelson” or to the “Ted Nelson Rising Leader Education Fund” established by the West Houston Association. A “Celebration of Life” will be held on February 23rd at River Oaks Country Club. WALTER F. “TED” NELSON 05/11/1950 - 02/10/2023 Kelly Dan Williams, 92, passed away on February 11, 2023 after a courageous battle with cancer. He was born in Corsicana, TX, on July 11, 1930, to J. Howard and Floy Williams, both of whom predeceased him. He graduated in 1948 from Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, TX, where he met his lovely wife, Marianne of 55 years. After graduating from TCU and UT Law School, he joined Fulbright and Jaworski law firm in Houston where he became a partner. He later established the new practice of Williams and Blizzard. His legal career as a trial lawyer spanned 50 years. Kelly worked hard and played hard. His weekends were spent with his family either motorcycling or sailing on Galveston Bay. Many treasured, lifelong relationships were formed at Houston Yacht Club. After his wife’s passing, Kelly began a new chapter in Georgetown, Texas, with a determined focus of serving others. This was as a result of a personal experience with the living God. He was motivated by the example in Scripture of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. Many years were spent volunteering with Meals on Wheels, taking people to doctors appointments with Faith in Action, and itinerant preaching in retirement facilities. Kelly was preceded in death by his lovely wife Marianne, daughter Cynthia Williams Carter, his brother J. Howard Williams, and his sisters, Martha Genne Williams Sandford-Hawkes and Carolyn Williams Mason. He is survived by his children: Kelly Dan Williams Jr., Laura Williams Hall (James), Karen Williams Nelson (Will), John O. Williams (Deborah), Marianne “Anne” Williams Trevino (Charles), David B. Williams (Amy), his youngest sister, Floy Kate Williams Woodruff of Paso Robles, CA., his 24 grandchildren, 32 great grandchildren, and many nieces, nephews, and cousins. A memorial service will be held at 1:00pm on March 4, 2023, in the J.H.Williams Reception Room at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, TX. In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to Samaritan’s Purse, Meals on Wheels or The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. KELLY DAN WILLIAMS 07/11/1930 - 02/11/2023
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 A19 TOPEKA, Kan. — Adam Kellogg was a self-described nerdy 16-year-old preparing to board a flight from Kansas City to Florida for a space and science camp trip to Cape Canaveral when security held him up for 30 minutes because his driver’s license identified him as female. Three years later, the University of Kansas student’s driver’s license identifies him as male, but legislative proposals in at least eight states could prevent transgender people like him from changing their driver’s licenses and birth certificates. The Republican-controlled Kansas Legislature is considering a bill that would define male and female in state law and base people’s legal gender identities on their anatomy at birth. Nationally, conservatives are pushing dozens of proposals in statehouses to restrict transgender athletes, gender-affirming care and drag shows. But in measures like Kansas’, LGBTQ-rights advocates see a new, sweeping effort to erase trans people’s legal existence, deny recognition to nonbinary or gender-fluid people and ignore those who are intersex — people born with genitalia, reproductive organs, chromosomes and/ or hormone levels that don’t fit typical definitions for male or female. “Something that’s really important for me is being able to just simply exist as a man, not even think about it,” Kellogg said this week while visiting the Statehouse with other transgender people and LGBTQ advocates. Kellogg laughs now about his experience at the airport, but it was no laughing matter at the time. Back then, he bound the breasts that he’d later have surgically removed and, “They thought I had a bomb strapped to me.” Doctors say reproductive anatomy at birth doesn’t always align with strict definitions of sex and that binary views of sexual identity can miss biological nuances. LGBTQ-rights advocates say having a driver’s license or birth certificate confirm a transgender person’s identity is important by itself but also can prevent daily hassles or harassment. They believe Kansas’ bill also would prevent transgender people from using restrooms and other facilities aligned with their gender identities. Republicans have put transgender issues at the center of their agenda, a tactic that many observers see as an effort to keep conservative voters energized and to push voters sympathetic to Democrats on other issues into the GOP camp. In the Republican response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders derided the Democratic president as “the first man to surrender his presidency to a woke mob that can’t even tell you what a woman is.” The Kansas bill had a hearing Wednesday before the state Senate’s health committee and is similar to a Republican measure introduced in the U.S. House last year. Oklahoma’s Legislature is weighing a similar proposal, while North Dakota lawmakers are considering a resolution that would urge public schools and other “public entities” to distinguish “between the sexes according to biological sex at birth.” Mississippi lawmakers had three proposals like Kansas’, but none advanced this year. New Hampshire, Tennessee and Texas also have proposals to define male and female in state law, and a Republicanlawmaker in South Carolina has proposed an amendment to the state’s constitution to declare that legally, a person’s gender would be based on anatomy at birth, not a “psychological, chosen, or subjective experience of gender.” “They’re afraid of what they don’t understand,” said Luc Bensimon, a transgender man who serves on Topeka’s antidiscrimination commission and is an activist for the Black Trans Advocacy Coalition. ”Anything or any lifestyle that is different or outside the norm, they’re not OK.” The Kansas measure would declare that legally, “sex” means “biological” sex, “either male or female, at birth.” It says females have a reproductive system “developed to produce ova,” while males have one “developed to fertilize the ova.” It’s not clear how far the measure will go, though the state Senate committee could vote on it next week. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly twice vetoed bills to ban transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s club, K-12 and college sports, and she opposes restricting gender affirming care. Supporters of the Kansas bill contend that they’re responding to parents and others who are uncomfortable with “biological men” or “biological boys” sharing spaces meant for women and girls — especially bathrooms and locker rooms but also prisons and domestic violence shelters. They also are trying to frame the debate as protecting the rights of “biological” women, and the Kansas bill is called, “The Women’s Bill of Rights.” In Kansas, Republican state Sen. Renee Erickson, the Senate health committee’s vice chair, asked it to sponsor the measure. A former college basketball player, she has also led the push to restrict transgender athletes. She said defining male and female in state law would not prevent anyone from “living how they choose to live.” In North Dakota, Republican state Rep. SuAnn Olson decried what she called “radical gender ideologues” and said they want to redefine womanhood as a subjective state. In Kansas, conservative activist and Statehouse lobbyist Phillip Cosby called young people’s increased identity as transgender or nonbinary “a social contagion.” Dr. Kristyn Brandi, a fellow with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said she doesn’t automatically assume female reproductive anatomy means female gender. “It’s helpful to know what anatomical structures are present when I’m doing an exam, when I’m recommending tests,” she said. “I often ask my patient, how do they like to be identified? And I go with that.’’ Brandi also said proclaiming that sex is binary ignores that intersex conditions and differences in gender identity exist. At birth, external genital anatomy can be ambiguous, sometimes because of differences in sex development, or intersex conditions, which affect about 1 percent of the population. Intersex conditions can involve external genitals that don’t match a person’s sex chromosomes. In one condition, testes develop internally but external genitals and breasts appear female. These babies are usually assigned female at birth, but their bodies will never produce eggs. “There’s variation,’’ Brandi said. “Not everyone fits into this exact box.’’ Jae Moyer, a Kansas City-area activist, has a driver’s license and birth certificate identifying them as male, although they identify as nonbinary. The Kansas measure feels designed to force them into “molds that I personally don’t fit into.” “They want to make sure that they’re taking every avenue possible to just erase who I am as a person,” Moyer said. Are some states trying to erase trans people? By John Hanna ASSOC IATED PRE SS Rogelio V. Solis/Associated Press Cole-Finley Nelson, right, speaks at a protest of Mississippi House Bill 1125, which bans gender-affirming care for trans children. Stella Stevens, a prominent leading lady in 1960s and 70s comedies perhaps best known for playing the object of Jerry Lewis’s affection in “The Nutty Professor,” has died. She was 84. Stevens’ estate said she died Friday in Los Angeles after a long illness. Born Estelle Caro Eggleston in Yazoo City, Miss., in 1938, she married at 16 and gave birth to her first and only child, actor/producer Andrew Stevens in 1955 when she was 17, and divorced two years later. She started acting and modeling during her time at Memphis State University and made her film debut in a minor role in the Bing Crosby musical “Say One for Me” in 1959, but she considered “Li’l Abner” her big break. “The head of publicity at Paramount basically made me a worldwide sex symbol,” Stevens told FilmTalk in 2017. “He had me doing a lot of layouts with photographers — indoors, outdoors, here and there — being seen in different places, going to the best restaurants, meeting with wonderful actors and directors … those were the golden years of Hollywood. It was a very exciting time.” Soon after, she won the New Star Golden Globe, was named Playboy’s Playmate of the Month and got a contract with Paramount Pictures, leading to film work and “Girls! Girls! Girls!” with Elvis Presley, which she only agreed to do because she was promised to a Montgomery Clift movie if she did it. It was a miserable six days of filming, she said, due to the temper of director Norman Taurog, though she said Presley was nice. The Clift picture didn’t pan out either, at least with her promised co-star. It turned into John Cassavetes’ “Too Late Blues,” with Bobby Darrin. “Bobby was a very fine actor, but as you can imagine, he was no Montgomery Clift,” she said. Next came “The Nutty Professor” as Lewis’ student, Stella Purdy, who he is infatuated with. “Jerry Lewis had told the bosses at Paramount he wanted to cast the most beautiful ingénue working at the studio — or something like that — and so I got the gig,” she said. “We all tried to make the characters he had created in the script special, wonderful, unique — and if you ask me, I do believe that’s why the film still holds up after all those years.” Stevens worked steadily in television in the 1970s and 80s, appearing in the pilots for “Wonder Woman,” “Hart to Hart” and “The Love Boat” and in series like “Night Court,” “Murder She Wrote” and “Magnum, P.I.” STELLA STEVENS: 1938-2023 ’60s bombshell played student in ‘Nutty Professor’ By Lindsey Bahr ASSOC IATED PRE SS Stevens ATLANTA — Roslyn Pope, a college professor and musician who wrote “An Appeal for Human Rights,” laying out the reasons for the Atlanta Student Movement against systemic racism in 1960, has died. She was 84. Pope died Jan. 18 in Arlington, where she moved from Atlanta to be with her daughters after her health began to fail in 2021, according to her family’s obituary. The document Pope wrote as a 21-year-old senior at Spelman College launched a nonviolent campaign of boycotts and sit-ins by Black college students protesting discrimination not just in voting but in education, jobs, housing, hospitals, movies, concerts, restaurants and law enforcement. “We do not intend to wait placidly for those rights, which are already legally and morally ours, to be meted out to us one at a time,” the Appeal declared. “We plan to use every legal and nonviolent means at our disposal to secure full citizenship rights as members of this great Democracy of ours.” Atlanta’s white-owned newspapers wouldn’t publish it, and Georgia’s segregationist leaders tried to dismiss it, saying it couldn’t possibly be the work of college students. But the New York Times ran it on a full page, as did other publications across the U.S. It was read into the Congressional Record as a testament to how segregation was stifling the ability of people to coexist with equality and dignity. “She really kicked off our movement and made it acceptable,” Charles Black, who was a Morehouse College student when he joined Pope and others organizing the campaign, recalled Monday. Pope showed that change doesn’t depend on “great men” like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and that a few committed people can make a real difference, Black said. “Because of her words, everybody understood what we were trying to do, and that’s why we had such broad, community-wide support.” Born Oct. 29, 1938, in Atlanta, Pope was exceptional from an early age. She belonged to an allBlack Girl Scout troop and was sent as Georgia’s representative to a national camp in Cody, Wyoming, that no Black Scout had attended before. “I was one little dark person among 50 white faces,” she recalled in an AP interview in 2020. “It became national news. Nobody in Atlanta could fathom that such a thing could happen.” A celebration of Pope’s contributions to racial equality will be held at Spelman College on March 9, Black said. ROSLYN POPE: 1938-2023 Professor wrote an epic screed on racism By Michael Warren ASSOC IATED PRE SS Pope
A20 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM WORLD ADIYAMAN, Turkey — A 17- year-old high school student has captured Turkish hearts after he filmed a farewell message to his loved ones as he was trapped under the rubble of his home during last week’s earthquake. Taha Erdem and his family were fast asleep when a 7.8 magnitude quake hit their hometown of Adiyaman in the early hours of Feb. 6. Taha was abruptly woken by violent tremors shaking the four-story apartment building in a blue-collar neighborhood of the central Anatolian city. Within 10 seconds, Taha, his mother, father and younger brother and sister were plunging downward with the building. He found himself alone and trapped under tons of rubble, with waves of powerful aftershocks shifting the debris, squeezing his space amid the mangled mess of concrete and twisted steel. Taha took out his cellphone and began recording a final goodbye, hoping it would be discovered after his death. “I think this is the last video I will ever shoot for you,” he said from the tight space, his phone shaking in his hand as tremors rocked the collapsed building. Showing remarkable resilience and bravery for a teenager believing he was speaking his last words, he lists his injuries and speaks of his regrets and the things he hopes to do if he emerges alive. During the video, the screams of other trapped people can be heard. “We are still shaking. Death, my friends, comes at a time when one is least expecting it.” says Taha, before reciting a Muslim prayer in Arabic. “There are many things that I regret. May God forgive me of all my sins. If I get out of here alive today there are many things that I want to do. We are still shaking, yes. My hand isn’t shaking, it’s just the earthquake.” The teen goes on to recount that he believes his family are dead, along with many others in the city, and that he willsoon join them. But Taha was destined to be among some of the first saved from the destroyed building. He was pulled from the rubble two hours later by neighbors and taken to an aunt’s home. Ten hours after the quake, his parents and siblings also were saved by local residents who dug at the wreck of the building with their bare hands and whatever tools they could find. When the Associated Press spoke to the family on Thursday they were living in a government-provided tent, along with hundreds of thousands of others who survived the disaster that hit southern Turkey and north Syria, killing more than 43,000. “This is my home,” said Taha’s mother Zeliha, 37, as she watched excavators digging up their old life and dumping it into heavy trucks. “Boom-boom-boom, the building went down floor by floor on top of us,” she recalled, describing how she had kept yelling her son’s name while trapped under the debris in the hope that all five of them could die together as a family. The Erdems’ younger children — daughter Semanur, 13, and 9-year-old son Yigit Cinar — were sleeping in their parents’ room when the quake hit. But Taha could not hear his mother’s calls through the mass of concrete. Nor could she hear her son’s cries in the dark, and both believed the other was lying dead in the destroyed building. It was only when Zeliha, her husband Ali, 47, a hospital cleaner, and the other children were taken to her sister’s home that they realized Taha had survived. “The world was mine at that moment,” Zeliha said. “I have nothing, but I have my kids.” Trapped Turkish teen filmed ‘last moments’ By Robert Badendieck and Mucahit Ceylan ASSOC IATED PRE SS Mehmet Mucahit Ceylan/Associated Press Taha Erdem, 17, center, his mother Zeliha and father Ali stand near the destroyed building where Tahan was trapped after the earthquake in Adiyaman, Turkey. MUNICH — China’s top diplomat on Saturday renewed Beijing’s criticism of the United States for shooting down what Washington says was a Chinese spy balloon, arguing at a conference in Germany that the move doesn’t point to U.S. strength. Beijing insists the white orb shot down off the Carolina coast early this month was just an errant civilian airship used mainly for meteorological research that went off course due to winds and had only limited “self-steering” capabilities. Wang Yi, the director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, repeated that insistence in a speech to theMunich Security Conference and accused the U.S. of violating international legal norms in destroying the object with a missile fired from an Air Force fighter jet. “The actions don’t show that the U.S. is big and strong, but describe the exact opposite,” Wang said. The majority of Wang’s brief remarks and responses to questions amounted to a defense of China’s policies toward self-governing Taiwan, which it regards as a renegade province, and refusal to condemn Russia over its invasion of Ukraine — while still insisting that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries deserve “the highest respect.” Wang also accused the U.S. of denying China’s economic advances and seeking to impede its further development. “What we hope for from the U.S. is a pragmatic and positive approach to China that allows us to work together,”Wang said. His comments came shortly before an address to the conference by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who didn’t mention the balloon controversy or respond to Wang’s comments but stressed the importance of upholding the “international rules-based order.” She saidWashington is “troubled that Beijing has deepened its relationship with Moscow since the war began” and said that “looking ahead, any steps by China to provide lethal support to Russia would only reward aggression, continue the killing and further undermine a rules-based order.” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who spoke at the same event several hours later, also didn’t address the balloon issue publicly. China diplomat renews criticism of balloon downing ASSOC IATED PRE SS Chad Fish/ Associated Press A fighter jet strikes down a balloon above the Atlantic Ocean, ending its weeklong traverse over the U.S. SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea launched what South Korea called an intercontinental ballistic missile off its east coast on Saturday, a day after vowing to take “unprecedentedly persistent and strong” counteractions against the joint military drills that the United States and South Korea plan for this spring. The launch was the North’s first missile test since New Year’s Day, when it fired a short-range ballistic missile, and its first ICBM test since Nov. 18, when it fired the Hwasong-17, the North’s most powerful long-range missile. So far, all of the North’s ICBMs have been launched at a deliberately steep angle, so that they fly high into space rather than over Japan toward the Pacific. But flight data from the Hwasong-17 testindicated thatiflaunched at a normal angle, the missile theoretically could reach the United States. The South Korean military said that the most recent ICBM was launched Saturday from near the international airport in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, and flew about 560 miles to the east. Because this missile, like previous ones, was fired at a lofted angle, it fell into waters west of the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, according to both Japanese and South Korean officials. Japan’s defense minister, Yasukazu Hamada, told reporters that the North Korean missile had reached an altitude of roughly 3,540 miles. If fired at a normal ICBM trajectory, the missile could have traveled about 8,700 miles, enough to reach anywhere in the entire continental United States, he said. On Saturday, South Korea condemned the launch as a “clear violation” of U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban the country from testing ballistic missiles and nuclear devices. With North Korea continuing its nuclear and missile brinkmanship, Washington and Seoul agreed to expand their annual military exercises this year to strengthen their combined deterrence against the North. One such exercise, a tabletop drill, is scheduled for Wednesday at the Pentagon. Afterward, delegates from both sides are to visit an American naval base with nuclear submarines, as Washington seeks to reassure South Korea ofitsintention to defend it using all means, including nuclear, under the socalled extended deterrence doctrine. The allies are also scheduled to hold a large combined field exercise in South Korea in midMarch. North Korea denounces such drills as a rehearsal for invasion. Seoul reports a North Korean ICBM launch off east coast By Choe Sang-Hun NEW YORK T IME S WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s president said Saturday that he thinks a two-day visit by U.S. President Joe Biden to mark the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will produce developments of global significance. Biden is set to arrive in Warsaw on Tuesday. During the trip, he plans to hold talks with the leaders of NATO’s nine eastern flank nations and to give a speech on “how the United States has rallied the world to support the people of Ukraine,” according to the White House. “I have no doubt that the visit of President (Joe) Biden in Poland and his address in Warsaw will be of world dimension,” Polish President Andrzej Duda said at theMunich Security Conference in Germany. Poland’s leaders are stressing it will be Biden’s second visit in less that a year to Poland, a country offering Kyiv substantial military and humanitarian support. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who also was in Munich on Saturday, said Biden “will make a very significant speech in Poland next week.” “I think it’s safe to say that as well, that he’s likely to talk about the road that we’ve traveled together over the last year, where we are today and, as I said, our enduring commitment to Ukraine’s success, which is all of our success,” Blinken said. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he thinks Biden’s address will be “far more significant and consequential” than the state of the nation address Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to give Tuesday to the Federal Assembly, Russia’s national legislature. Putin sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Stiff Ukrainian resistance and supplies of Western weapons have forced Moscow to scale back its military goals. But the diplomatic consequences of the yearlong war have reverberated worldwide. Poland’s president hails significance of Biden trip ASSOC IATED PRE SS Israelis carry torches during Saturday’s protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government to overhaul the judicial system. The demonstration is part of weekly protests in the central city of Tel Aviv. ISRAEL PROTEST HEADS INTO SEVENTH WEEK Tsafrir Abayov/Associated Press
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 A21 Sending cash to parents, with few strings attached. Expanding Medicaid. Providing child care subsidies to families earning six figures. The ideas may sound like part of a progressive platform. But they are from an influential group of conservative intellectuals with a direct line to elected politicians. They hope to represent the future of a post-Trump Republican Party — if only, they say, their fellow travelers would abandon Reaganomics once and for all. These conservatives generally oppose abortion rights. They’re eager to promote marriage, worried about the nation’s declining fertility rate and often resist the trans rights movement. But they also acknowledge that with abortion now illegal or tightly restricted in half the states, more babies will be born to parents struggling to pay for the basics — rent, health care, groceries and child care — when prices are high and child care slots scarce. “A full-spectrum family policy has to be about encouraging and supporting people in getting married and starting families,” said Oren Cass, executive director of the American Compass think tank. “It has to be pro-life but also supportive of those families as they are trying to raise kids in an economic environment where that has become a lot harder to do.” The idea of spending heavily on family benefits remains an outlier within the Republican Party, which only recently rejected Democrats’ attempts to extend pandemic-era child tax credits. But a number of conservative members of Congress have embraced new benefits for parents, including Cass’ former boss, Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, as well as Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, Josh Hawley of Missouri and J.D. Vance of Ohio. And in President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address Tuesday, he called on Republicans to join him in providing families with child care, paid leave, child tax credits and affordable housing. Now, Cass and conservative allies are hoping to shape ideas for the 2024 Republican presidential primary and beyond, targeting ambitious governors who have emphasized making their states family-friendly, such as Ron DeSantis of Florida, Kristi Noem of South Dakota and Glenn Youngkin of Virginia. A key priority for this new network of conservative thinkers is for the federal government to send parents cash monthly for each child, a sea change from decades of Republican thinking on family policy. They hope the cash could encourage people to have more children, and allow more parents to stay home full or part time when their children are young. “The work of the family is real work,” said Erika Bachiochi, a legal scholar who calls herself a pro-life feminist and has written influential essays and books. She and others debate to what extent benefits should be tied to work requirements, but even the more stringent proposals do not require full-time work. These conservatives believe that many young children are better off at home and are skeptical of policies that would place more in child care centers. And they point to polls that show many parents would prefer to cut their work hours and take care of their babies and toddlers themselves. In a Republican Party hoping to become the party of parents, these conservative intellectuals do not share the outraged tone of right-wing activists like Christopher Rufo, the “parental rights” crusader battling what he sees as leftist ideology in school curriculums. While they may agree with much of that cultural critique, supporting families financially, they say, is a pragmatic way to prop up conservative values alongside new restrictions on abortion. In arguing this, Bachiochi, Cass and others in this network are making a big ask: for Republicans to reject what they call the outdated, rigid agenda of the Reagan era, which not only cut working parents from welfare programs but also vilified mothers receiving public benefits, often in starkly racist terms. If Republicans are to grow support among working-class, multiethnic voters, they say, the party must match profamily rhetoric with profamily investments. The group has founded think tanks, published statements of principle and organized discussions with policymakers to push its cause. Cass, 39, said his ideas on policy had been shaped by his own family life. His wife has her own career, and they both work from home in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts. Cass was the domestic policy director for Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. In 2020, he founded American Compass, a think tank that has tried to build conservative momentum for more generous government support to working families. Its priorities include child cash benefits, wage subsidies and even reviving the labor movement. Bachiochi, themother of seven children, 4 to 21, is a fellow at two think tanks: the Abigail Adams Institute and the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Her husband is a tech executive and, she said, much more of a baby person than she is. In an interview, she recalled struggling to get reading and writing done while her babies were napping. She celebrates mothers finding paid work that adds meaning to their lives but believes government should help parents of both sexes spend more time on child-rearing. The job of parents, in her view, is to create “adults with virtue who can go out and be good friends, spouses, good employees, good citizens.” The primary problem, she said, is that “the family is so overtaxed economically that they don’t have time with one another to do that work” of raising children, which is, by nature, time intensive. Patrick T. Brown, 33, a former congressional staffer and current fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, previously cared for his children full time. Now, he works part time from home in Columbia, South Carolina, and takes charge of his four children after school while his wife works as a college professor. He supports child cash benefits, expanding Medicaid to more mothers and increasing the supply of affordable housing. “There are definitely some conservatives who still point to the 1950s as a normative vision for family life,” Brown said, referencing the “Leave It to Beaver” white, suburban family with a stay-at-home wife. “That debate is stale,” he added. “We shouldn’t expect we can turn back the clock — and we shouldn’t really want to.” Brown, Cass and Bachiochi are well known on Capitol Hill. Their influence can been seen in Romney’s bill to expand the child tax credit, which would provide families earning up to $400,000 with $350 in cash per month for each child under 6 and $250 per month for children 6 to 17. Romney and Rubio have a separate proposal to allow workers to draw from future Social Security payments to fund parental leave. And last year, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., introduced a bill that would subsidize child care for families earning up to 150% of their state’s median income, which in some states approaches $200,000 for a family of four. These proposals have attracted criticism from both conservatives andliberals. When Romney first introduced his Family Security Act in 2021, it offered cash to parents no matter their work history. After an outcry from Republicans and Cass, he revised the proposal in 2022 to require $10,000 in family income to receive the full benefit. Hawley, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, has also proposed monthly cash payments to parents of children younger than 13 who meet a modest work requirement. Progressives have criticized these plans for favoring married couples and leaving out caregivers without earnings, such as college students, parents with disabilities or retired grandparents. The family policy ideas in the Democrats’ Build Back Better bill were more sweeping. But none became law. Now, some Republicans and Democrats say that a bipartisan deal on family policy would likely require Republicans to rally around proposals like Romney’s — a difficult goal. Romney is committed to building support for “federal policies to be more pro-family,” he said in a written statement. “This includes earning support from Republican colleagues.” A GOP-driven welfare emerges post-Roe By Dana Goldstein NEW YORK T IME S Lauren Lancaster/New York Times Some conservatives — such as Oren Cass, who served as domestic policy adviser for Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign — back ditching Reagan-era family policies. CHARLESTON, S.C. — Nikki Haley’s campaignstyle speech Wednesday formally announcing her bid for the Republican presidential nomination included a solitary reference to her former boss, Donald Trump. At the same time, her repeated calls for a new generation of Republican leadership — “to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past”— left a message for those voters who wanted to hear it: The GOP must move on. But the former South Carolina governor’s hits at the president who made her ambassador to the United Nations were subtle, underscoring how difficult it will be for many Republican candidates to persuade the party’s base that they should bear the standard for the GOP, not Trump, who maintains the loyalties of so many voters. One of her introducers was Cindy Warmbier, whose son Otto died after apparent mistreatment in custody in North Korea — a country whose dictator, Kim Jong Un, exchanged with Trump what the former president gushingly called “love letters.” John Hagee, an evangelical pastor and staunch ally of Trump who has been criticized as anti-gay, antiMuslim and antisemitic, delivered the invocation. Haley, 51, pointedly did not name names when she repeatedly pleaded for voters to turn away from the politicians of older generations, even when she reminded a packed crowd behind the visitors’ center in Charleston, South Carolina, that the Republican nominee had lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential contests. “We have failed to win the confidence of a majority of Americans,” said Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, born in the vanguard of Generation X. “Well, that ends today. If you’re tired of losing, put your trust in a new generation.” Instead, her pitch seemed calculated to appeal to Republican voters who are ready to turn the page from the Trump era without burning the book of Trump’s presidency. “We won’t win the fight for the 21st century if we keep trusting politicians from the 20th century,” she said, clearly a dig at President Joe Biden but one that would include Trump for those inclined to hear it that way. Haley’s conundrum about how to approach Trump will surely apply to other potential competitors. Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who shares Trump’s pugnacious instincts and is the only Republican within striking distance in early polls of the field, has nevertheless been reluctant to trade insult for insult with the former president. Like Haley, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Vice President Mike Pence served in the Trump administration. Overt critics of Trump, like Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas and Larry Hogan of Maryland, both former governors, risk not being taken seriously by Republican voters. But the Trump campaign has signaled no reluctance to challenge Haley. In a mass email castigating “the real Nikki Haley,” the campaign tied her to Hillary Rodham Clinton and said Haley wanted to cut Social Security and Medicare, would escalate the war in Ukraine and was weak on border control. Haley has time to devise a strategy for challenging Trump, but moving on from the last Republican presidency will be tricky, said Chip Felkel, a longtime Republican consultant in South Carolina and a critic of Trump. Since leaving his administration in 2018 and making halting efforts to criticize him after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, Haley has tacked back into his orbit. “She’s got a pretty bad tightrope to walk,” Felkel said. In fact, her arrival in the Republican primary — and the expected entry of another South Carolinian, Sen. Tim Scott, as well as of Hutchinson, who is leaning hard on his degree from the state’s evangelical conservative Bob Jones University— could make it easier for Trump to win the state by dividing Republican voters who want to move past him. “They are fighting over non-Trump conservatives who’d like to see the party win elections and who are tired of the chaos,” Felkel said. “I’m not sure in South Carolina that’s a majority.” Difficulties lie ahead for candidates who choose not to take on Trump directly in hopes that they can create distance from him without going too far in the eyes of Republican voters. And if DeSantis can consolidate a bloc of voters, it remains to be seen whether the other rivals can make an affirmative case for their own candidacies beyond hoping DeSantis struggles. Every dig Haley leveled at older politicians, including a call for “mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old,” could have applied to Trump, who will turn 77 in June, but the partisans in the audience clearly saw them directed at Biden, who is 80. One of her introducers Wednesday, Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, an ardent conservative, praised Trump as one of the “great leaders of all time,” saying, “During the Trump years, folks, the American people recognized what qualities we needed in a leader. Nikki Haley has those very qualities.” Even Haley’s resume seemed like a credential to tread on lightly. In her announcement video Tuesday and her speech Wednesday, she pointed to her experiences in the governor’s mansion in Columbia, South Carolina, and to her time as a U.N. ambassador. But she was light on listing accomplishments to burnish a claim to the highest elective office in the land. Still, Haley’s biggest advantage will be her deep connections in the state, the third to vote in the primary season next year. Retail politics and local organization matter in South Carolina, and regardless of the results in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, its results have a track record. Victory in the state propelled Biden to the Democratic nomination in 2020 and vaulted George W. Bush ahead of John McCain in the 2000 election. Chad Connelly, a former chair of the South Carolina Republican Party, said that Haley remained “wildly popular” in the state but that so did Trump, Scott and DeSantis — an unpredictable situation that he said he had not seen in his 25 years in South Carolina Republican politics. But Trump has never paid attention to organization, and DeSantis has little connection to the state. “People expect retail politics here,” Connelly said. “People expect you to meet them at Bill and Fran’s in Newberry for waffles.” Even at Haley’s event Wednesday, supporters expressed skepticism that she could win the nomination. Lonnie Knight, a Charleston small-business person, said he would probably vote for her but predicted that DeSantis would win the nomination, then choose between Haley and Scott for his running mate. Haley’s disinclination to attack Trump by name could be about keeping a Trump-Haley ticket as an option as well. In 2016, Pence, then Indiana’s governor, helped shore up Trump’s appeal with conservative evangelical Christians, who had been leery of him. In 2024, with many of those voters still loyal to Trump, Haley might help Trump with perhaps his biggest weakness: suburban Republican women. An adviser to Scott, who insisted on anonymity to discuss preliminary campaign preparations, said that because Haley worked for Trump, she would have a harder time separating herself from him. While Scott can fly above the fray, the adviser said, Haley will be under more pressure to confront the former president headon. “It’s going to be one of the most fascinating things to watch that I’ve ever seen in politics,” Connelly said. They’re trying to topple Trump without uttering his name By Jonathan Weisman and Maggie Haberman NEW YORK T IME S Haiyun Jiang/New York Times Nikki Haley, former Republican governor of South Carolina, greets supporters after announcing her bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
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HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 A23 WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday hosted a screening of the movie “Till,” a wrenching, new drama about the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till, who was brutally killed after a white woman said the Black 14-year-old had made improper advances toward her. “History matters,” Biden said in brief remarks before the lights in the East Room came down on invited guests, including members of Till’s family. He noted that while some might want to ignore the nation’s history, “Only with truth comes healing and justice.” Biden said he’s come to learn that “hate never goes away,” and that the only thing that stops it is for the entire country to condemn it. “There’s only one thing that stops it: all of us,” Biden said. “Silence is complicity.” Among the members of Till’s family was a cousin who is suing in federal court to force a Mississippi county sheriff to serve a recently discovered 1955 arrest warrant on the now nearly 90-year-old woman who complained about the young man. Biden did not comment on the suit, but thanked members of Till’s family for “never, ever, ever giving up” in the pursuit of justice. Others attendees included actors Danielle Deadwyler, who stars as Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley; Jalyn Hall, who plays Emmett; Whoopi Goldberg, who had the supporting role of Emmett’s maternal grandmother; and Chinonye Chukwu, the Nigerian American filmmaker who directed “Till.” Also in the audience, where popcorn and candy were passed out and a pack of tissues placed on each seat, were students, civil rights leaders, historians and families of victims of hate-fueled violence. Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said this week that it was important to the president to host the screening during Black History Month “to lift this movie up” and to make sure that Till’s story is not forgotten. Last March, Biden signed legislation named for Till that made lynching a federal hate crime. Congress had first considered such legislation more than 120 years ago. Hours before the screening, Biden signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to conduct annual reviews aimed at increasing access by disadvantaged communities to federal programs, services and activities. Biden also held a White House summit last year on violence inspired by hate. “There’s still a lot more work to be done. The work is not done,” Jean-Pierre said. “But the president is going to do everything that he can in his power at — in the federal government, in thisWhite House, to make sure that we address issues like this.” She declined to comment on the lawsuit. The torture and killing of Till in the Mississippi Delta became a catalyst for the civil rights movement after his mother insisted on an open-casket funeral in Chicago to show his mutilated body to the world. Jet magazine published the photos. Till’s cousin, Priscilla Sterling, and her lawyers said they planned to try to deliver copies of the suit to the Justice Department on Friday. Till family members, including Sterling, said Thursday at an appearance in Washington that they will appeal to the department to reopen the investigation into his death. Lawyer Malik Shabazz said the investigation was unfairly narrow. “A movie is nice. Justice is much better,” he said. Last June, a team doing research at the courthouse in Leflore County, Miss., found an unserved 1955 arrest warrant for Carolyn Bryant, listed on that document as “Mrs. Roy Bryant.” Sterling filed the suit last week against Ricky Banks, the current Leflore County sheriff, seeking to compel Banks to serve the warrant on Bryant, who now goes by Carolyn Bryant Donham after remarrying. Till had traveled from Chicago to visit relatives in Mississippi in August 1955. Donham accused him of making improper advances on her at a grocery store in the small community of Money. A cousin of Till who was there has said Till whistled at the woman, an act that flew in the face ofMississippi’s racist social codes of the era. Evidence indicates a woman, possibly Donham, identified Till to the men who later killed him. The arrest warrant against Donham was publicized in 1955, but the county sheriff at the time told reporters he didn’t want to “bother” her since she was raising two young children. Weeks after Till’s body was found in a river, Roy Bryant, Donham’s first husband, and his halfbrother J.W. Milam were tried for murder and acquitted by an all-white jury. Months later, the men confessed in a paid interview with Look magazine. Now in her late 80s, Donham has lived in North Carolina and Kentucky in recent years. She has not commented publicly on calls for her to be prosecuted. Sterling said she would plead the Tills’ case to Biden. “The family has been waiting 68 years for Carolyn Bryant to be prosecuted,” she said. “Will he do it? Will he help us prosecute Carolyn Bryant while she’s still alive?” The Justice Department announced in December 2021 that it had ended its latest investigation into the lynching of Till, without bringing charges against anyone. After researchers found the arrest warrant last June, the office of Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch said there was no new evidence to try to pursue a criminal case against Donham. In August, a district attorney said a Leflore County grand jury had declined to indict Donham. Biden hosts a screening for the film ‘Till’ By Darlene Superville ASSOC IATED PRE SS Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press Supporters and family members of Emmett Till gather after a news conference on Thursday in Washington. WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has ordered the federal government to do more to address racial inequality as the challenges and complexities of systemic racism are again drawing the public’s attention. The order, signed last week during Black History Month, requires that an initial review into long-standing disparities in government services and treatment that he ordered on his first day in office become an annual requirement for federal agencies. The reviews are aimed at increasing access to federal programs, services and activities for disadvantaged communities. The new order also directs federal agencies to have equity teams and name senior leaders who would be accountable for increasing equity and addressing bias. “My administration has embedded a focus on equity into the fabric of federal policymaking and service delivery,” Biden wrote in the order, adding that “by advancing equity, the federal government can support and empower all Americans, including the many communities in America that have been underserved, discriminated against and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality.” Last month, Tyre Nichols died several days after he was severely beaten by five police officers following a traffic stop in Memphis, Tenn. Nichols was one of several Black men across the United States who died after encounters with police recently. The problem also extends to racial disparities in wealth, housing, crime and education that reflect decades of discriminatory policies. Chiraag Bains, the president’s deputy assistant for racial justice and equity, said the new order shows Biden is “doubling down” on the commitment he made on his first day as president “to put equity at the center of how this government operates.” The order institutionalizes Biden’s pledge that government be open and accessible to all and “is a recognition that achieving equity is not a one- or a two-year project. It’s a generational commitment,” Bains said. Federal agencies would need to improve the quality and frequency of their engagement with communities that have faced systemic discrimination. The order also formalizes Biden’s goal of a 50 percent bump in federal procurement dollars that go to small and disadvantaged businesses by 2025. Under the order, agencies must also focus on new civil rights threats, such as discrimination in automated technology and access for people with disabilities and for those who speak languages other than English. It also includes a push to improve the collection, transparency and analysis of data to help improve equity. Biden order pushes feds to do more on racial equity By Josh Boak and Darlene Superville ASSOC IATED PRE SS disarray in the lower courts because not only are they not reaching the same conclusions, they’re just applying different methods or applying Bruen’s method differently,” said Jacob Charles, a professor at Pepperdine University’s law school who focuses on firearms law. “What it means is that not only are new laws being struck down ... but also laws that have been on the books for over 60 years, 40 years in some cases, those are being struck down — where prior to Bruen — courts were unanimous that those were constitutional,” he said. The legal wrangling is playing out as mass shootings continue to plague the country awash in guns and as law enforcement officials across the U.S. work to combat an uptick in violent crime. This week, six people were fatally shot at multiple locations in a small town in rural Mississippi and a gunman killed three students and critically wounded five others at Michigan State University before killing himself. Dozens of people have died in mass shootings so far in 2023, including in California, where 11 people were killed as they welcomed the Lunar New Year at a dance hall popular with older Asian Americans. Last year, more than 600 mass shootings occurred in the U.S. in which at least four people were killed or wounded, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The decision opened the door to a wave oflegal challenges from gun-rights activists who saw an opportunity to undo laws on everything from age limits to AR-15-style semi-automatic weapons. For gun rights supporters, the Bruen decision was a welcome development that removed what they see as unconstitutional restraints on Second Amendment rights. “It’s a true reading of what the Constitution and the Bill of Rights tells us,” said Mark Oliva, a spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation. “It absolutely does provide clarity to the lower courts on how the constitution should be applied when it comes to our fundamental rights.” Gun control groups are raising alarm after a federal appeals court thismonth said that under the Supreme Court’s new standards, the government can’t stop people who have domestic violence restraining orders against them from owning guns. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals acknowledged that the law “embodies salutary policy goals meant to protect vulnerable people in our society.” But the judges concluded that the government failed to point to a precursor from early American history that is comparable enough to the modern law. Attorney General Merrick Garland has said the government will seek further review of that decision. Gun control activists have decried the Supreme Court’s historical test, but say they remain confident that many gun restrictions will survive challenges. Since the decision, for example, judges have consistently upheld the federal ban on convicted felons from possessing guns. The Supreme Court noted that cases dealing with “unprecedented societal concerns or dramatic technological changes may require a more nuanced approach.” And the justices clearly emphasized that the right to bear arms is limited to law-abiding citizens, said Shira Feldman, litigation counsel for Brady, the gun control group. The Supreme Court’s test has raised questions about whether judges are suited to be poring over history and whether it makes sense to judge modern laws based on regulations — or a lack thereof — from the past. “We are not experts in what white, wealthy, and male property owners thought about firearms regulation in 1791. Yet we are now expected to play historian in the name of constitutional adjudication,” wrote Mississippi U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves, who was appointed by President Barack Obama. Some judges are “really parsing the history very closely and saying ‘these laws aren’t analogous because the historical law worked in a slightly different fashion than the modern law’,” said Andrew Willinger, executive director of the Duke Center for Firearms Law. Others, he said, “have done a much more flexible inquiry and are trying to say ‘look, what is the purpose of this historical law as best I can understand it?’” Firearm rights and gun control groups are closely watching many pending cases, including several challenging state laws banning certain semi-automatic weapons and highcapacity magazines. A federal judgein Chicago on Friday denied a bid to block an Illinois law that bans the sale of so-called assault weapons and highcapacity magazines, finding the law to be constitutional under the Supreme Court’s new test. A state court, however, already has partially blocked the law — allowing some gun dealers to continue selling the weapons — amid a separate legal challenge. Already, some gun laws passed in the wake of the Supreme Court decision have been shot down. A judge declared multiple portions of New York’s new gun law unconstitutional, including rules that restrict carrying firearms in public parks and places of worship. An appeals court later put that ruling on hold while it considers the case. And the Supreme Court has allowed New York to enforce the law for now. Some judges have upheld a law banning people under indictment for felonies from buying guns while others have declared it unconstitutional. A federal judge issued an order barring Delaware from enforcing provisions of a new law outlawing the manufacture and possession of so-called “ghost guns” that don’t have serial numbers and can be nearly impossible forlaw enforcement officials to trace. But another judge rejected a challenge to California’s “ghost gun” regulations. In the California case, U.S. District Judge George Wu, who was nominated by President George W. Bush, appeared to take a dig at how other judges are interpreting the Supreme Court’s guidance. The company that brought the challenge —“and apparently certain other courts” — would like to treat the Supreme Court’s decision “as a ‘word salad,’ choosing an ingredient from one side of the ‘plate’ and an entirelyseparate ingredient from the other, until there is nothing left whatsoever other than an entirely-bulletproof and unrestrained Second Amendment,” Wu wrote in his ruling. RULING From page A1 John J. Kim/Triune News Service Firearm rights and gun control groups are watching pending cases, including several challenging state laws banning certain semi-automatic weapons.
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HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM HEALTH • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 • SECTION A Nearly 3 in 5 teenage girls felt persistent sadness in 2021, double the rate of boys, and 1 in 3 girls seriously considered attempting suicide, according to data released Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The findings, based on surveys given to teenagers across the country, also showed high levels of violence, depression and suicidal thoughts among lesbian, gay and bisexual youth. More than 1 in 5 of these students reported attempting suicide in the year before the survey, the agency found. The rates of sadness are the highest reported in a decade, reflecting a longbrewing national tragedy only made worse by the isolation and stress of the pandemic. “I think there’s really no question what this data is telling us,” said Dr. Kathleen Ethier, head of the CDC’s Adolescent and School Health Program. “Young people are telling us that they are in crisis.” The Youth Risk Behavior Survey was given to 17,000 adolescents at high schools across the United States in the fall of 2021. The survey is conducted every two years, and the rates of mental health problems have gone up with every report since 2011, Ethier said. “There was a mental health crisis before the pandemic — it just didn’t catch everyone’s attention the way it does now,” said Dr. Cori Green, the director of behavioral health education and integration in pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. Still, Green said that she is seeing more of her young patients test positive on screenings for depression. “The pandemic led to more social isolation — a risk factor for depression,” she said. She also pointed out that depression symptoms sometimesmanifestdifferCDC: Teen girls are reporting record levels of sadness By Azeen Ghorayshi and Roni Caryn Rabin NEW YORK T IME S Girls continues on A33 WASHINGTON — The overdose-reversing drug naloxone should be made available over the counter to aid the national response to the opioid crisis, U.S. health advisers said Wednesday. The panel of Food and Drug Administration experts voted unanimously in favor of the switch after a full day of presentations and discussions centered on whether untrained users would be able to safely and effectively use the nasal spray in emergency situations. The positive vote, which is not binding, came despite concerns from some panel members about the drug’s instructions and packaging, which caused confusion among some people in a company study. The manufacturer, Emergent Biosolutions, said it would revise the packaging and labeling to address those concerns. The FDA will make a final decision on the drug Panel urges making Narcan opioid antidote easier to get By Matthew Perrone ASSOC IATED PRE SS Panel continues on A29 Associated Press file photo A panel of experts unanimously says the FDA should make the nasal dose of Narcan readily available over the counter. Kizzmekia Corbett had gone home to North Carolina for the holidays in 2019 when the headlines began to trickle in: A strange, pneumonialike illness was making dozens of people sick in China. By the first week of January 2020, the number of infected people in China had climbed to the hundreds. Corbett, a viral immunologist, was back at her desk at the National Institutes of Health, where she served as a senior research fellow at the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. And that’s when the news was confirmed: The mysterious illness was a novel coronavirus, exactly the category of infection that she had been studying for the past five years in a bid to develop a vaccine. Coronaviruses can cause all kinds of illness, like the common cold or more crippling diseases like MERS and SARS. Novel coronaviruses are new strains that areidentifiedin humans for the first time. And when it came to the race for a vaccine against COVID-19, Corbett, who was part of important work on other coronavirus outbreaks, was at the vanguard. Next month will be the third anniversary of the World Health Organization’s declaring COVID-19 a pandemic, on March 11, 2020. In those fraught months that followed, Corbett helped lead a team of scientists that contributed to one of the most stunning achievements in the history of immunizations: a highly effective, easily manufactured vaccine against COVID-19, delivered and authorized for use in less than a year. On Jan. 6, 2020, that goal started to take on a new urgency. As the number of sick people in China began to climb, Corbett huddled with her supervisor, Dr. Barney Graham, the deputy director of the Vaccine Research Center and chief of the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory. Both noted that this new disease bore eerie similarities to SARS and MERS, which each killed hundreds. Corbett’s work, and the work of her entire team, suddenly had urgent implications. “At the time, we had no idea it would become a global pandemic,” she said. “So what I felt was excitement about being able to prove myself and my work to the world.” Corbett, 37, was used to having to prove herself. As a Black woman in science, she is accustomed to asserting her worth in rooms filled with white men. In early 2020, she had been at the National Institutes of Health for five years and had already published groundbreaking research about the structure of other coronaviruses and how the viruses’ spike proteins — which form a distinctive crown shape on the surface of the virus and latch onto healthy cells in the body — act as the doorway to infection. This research was part of the foundation, laid by scientists including Graham, Katalin Kariko and Dr. Drew Weissman at the University of Pennsylvania, for the COPhotos by Kayana Szymczak/New York Times Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett helped lead a team of scientists at Harvard contributing to one of the most stunning achievements in the history of immunizations. She helped unlock the COVID vaccine Her research into coronaviruses five years earlier laid the foundation By Debra Kamin NEW YORK T IME S Kizzmekia Corbett’s coronavirus research led to the development of Moderna and Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine. Vaccine continues on A33
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HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 A27 The most popular abortion method in the U.S. could vanish from the market, leaving providers scrambling to find alternatives after the end of Roe v. Wade. A Texas judge is expected to rule soon on a case seeking to remove the Food and Drug Administration’s decadesold approval of mifepristone, one of two pills commonly used together to terminate a pregnancy. The antiabortion group behind the suit is arguing the FDA fast-tracked the drug’s authorization and lacked sufficient evidence to make its final decision. Research has shown that medication abortion is safe and effective. Mifepristone is approved for use in over 80 countries, including Canada, Sweden and the U.K. Losing access to the pill “really would be catastrophic,” said Hayley McMahon, a public health researcher and doctoral student at Emory Rollins School of Public Health. Over the past 20 years, medication abortion has become increasingly popular in the U.S. The most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that it accounted for more than half of all abortions in the country as of 2020. The number is likely higher now due to rule changes in recent years that have made it easier to prescribe via telemedicine and send to patients by mail. Ahead of the ruling, abortion providers have started to make contingency plans. Telehealth clinics Honeybee Health and Abortion on Demand said they’ll stock up on misoprostol, the pill currently prescribed along with mifepristone to induce abortions, if the ruling doesn’t go their way. Misoprostol is approved for treating stomach ulcers, but studies have found that on its own can induce an abortion safely, though less reliably than the two-pill regimen. Together the two pills have a 95 percent success rate on average. Aid Access and Choix are among the telehealth abortion services that allow people who aren’t yet pregnant to purchase mifepristone — which has a shelf life of about five years — to save for later use. They offer slidingscale payments, but experts caution it still might not be an option for lowincome people. Aid Access also continue prescribing the pill and shipping it from overseas. Major retail pharmacies Rite Aid, Walgreens Boots Alliance and CVS Health have plans to sell it in locations where state law allows. CVS Chief Executive Officer Karen Lynch said in an interview that the company follows state and federal laws in distributing medication. Walgreens spokesperson Fraser Engerman wouldn’t comment on pending litigation. Rite Aide is monitoring the latest developments, spokesperson Terri Hickey said, and dispenses medication in accordance with state and federal laws. Abortion providers have had to adapt to fastchanging rules in postRoe v. Wade America, where suits can alter state law from one week to the next. But the Texas abortion pill suit threatens to have lasting, national implications. Without FDA approval, the drug would be pulled from the U.S. market, with a potential yearslong process to regain approval. The looming ruling, which Greer Donley, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh has called “unprecedented,” has left clinics with more questions than answers. They’re unclear on when they would have to comply and what it would mean for their current supply of mifepristone. Clinics that see patients in person say they’ll try to shift as many people as they can to procedures. But that will likely mean fewer overall abortions because supply is limited and not everyone can afford the time and travel costs. “You just can’t simply see as many patients in a day if they’re all procedures versus the medication option,” Ashley Brink, the clinical director of Trust Women Wichita, said at a virtual roundtable on Feb. 9. The clinic, which is the closest option for millions of people living in border states to the south with near-total bans, told Bloomberg News last year that its already overloaded and has to turn patients away. Abortion clinics prepare for the end of FDA-approved pill By Ella Ceron BLOOMBERG NEWS Robyn Beck/AFP/TNS Mifepristone and Misoprostol, pills that terminate pregnancy, could be banned.
A28 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM coke, a petroleum byproduct that can be used to power steel and aluminum manufacturing. Michael Holtham, Oxbow’s plant manager, had been preparing for this moment. He had been on the job for nearly a decade. He loved coordinating his 60-person team and had enjoyed watching many of them grow in their jobs. But they were now facing a new challenge. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, or TCEQ, was allowing Oxbow to capture nearly real-time data from the monitor. The data was technically available to the public on request, but Oxbow was the only company in the state to have sought it — and it used the information to its advantage. Every time the wind blew in the direction of the monitor and the readings ticked upward, Holtham and other Oxbow employees received email notifications on their cellphones. Then they improvised ways to decrease the brownishyellow sulfurous plume spilling out of the smokestacks, stopping the company from running afoul of the law. The Port Arthur plant was built in the 1930s and has four cavernous, cylindrical kilns that are constantly rotating, each about half the length of a football field. Raw petcoke, the bottom-of-thebarrel remainder from refining crude oil, is fed into the kilns and heated to temperatures as high as 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit — a fourth of the temperature of the surface of the sun. The intense heat helps burn off heavy metals, sulfur and other impurities into the air. It emits more than double the amount of sulfur dioxide, which can cause wheezing and asthma attacks, than the average U.S. coal-fired power plant. Holtham struggled to find the best way to stop setting off the monitor that January day. At 2 p.m., 12 hours into the ordeal, he increased the air being forced through one of the kilns, in hopes of dispersing the emissions. When that didn’t sufficiently decrease the sulfur dioxide readings, he contemplated shutting down one of the four kilns. At 6 p.m., he finally turned one of them off. But the damage was already done: A year later when the data from the monitor was reviewed and certified, TCEQ staff would see that the facility had clearly exceeded the federal one-hour standard for sulfur dioxide by nearly 20 percent. The emissions were so high that they set off a monitor more than 2 miles away. Studies have shown that even short-term exposure to sulfur dioxide can increase the risk of strokes, asthma and hospitalization. Multi-city studies in China have found that a roughly 4 ppb increase in sulfur dioxide levels is correlated with a 1 to 2 percent increase in strokes, pulmonary diseases and deaths. The asthma rate in the residential neighborhood surrounding the plant, West Port Arthur, which is more than 90 percent Black, is 70 percent higher than the national average, according to federal data. And Black residents in Jefferson County, where Oxbow is located, are 15 percent more likely to develop cancer and 40 percent more likely to die from it compared to the average Texan. In 2017 and the first half of 2018, Oxbow’s emissions often spiked above federal standards by as much as 47 ppb — 62 percent higher than the limit. And all through that time, Holtham and his colleagues continued to improvise. They turned down fans that spewed the emissions into the air, increased the amount of air forced through the kilns, and even tried a chemical treatment. They regularly turned off certain kilns when the sulfur readings at the monitor got too high. Oxbow has argued that these operational changes were “experiments” that the company conducted to try to bring the plant into compliance. The goal, Oxbow lawyers have said, was to identify a set of operational conditions that would keep them in the good graces of regulators. Oxbow acknowledges in court records that these “experiments” were conducted for at least a year. But a Grist analysis of 2.5 years of internal operational data shows that, for at least another year, Oxbow’s kiln modifications continued — and occurred primarily when the wind blew in the direction of the air monitor, a likely violation of the Clean Air Act. We spoke to more than 40 public health and environmental researchers, former Oxbow employees and environmental attorneys, and reviewed thousands of pages of legal filings and public records from state and federal agencies. We found that the data Oxbow collected — which was filed in a Texas district court during an unsuccessful lawsuit against the company — show that high winds in the direction of the air monitor predicted decisions to shut down kilns, which reliably led to the monitor registering lower sulfur dioxide levels. About 40 percent of the time, at least one of a subset of kilns were shut down when the wind was blowing to the north. However, when the wind was not blowing Oxbow’s pollutants toward the monitor throughout this one-year period, the facility did not alter its operations. By ensuring that the monitor was incapable of recording a comprehensive, untampered view of the facility’s emissions, experts say Oxbow flouted environmental law — in essence, by guaranteeing any air violations would not be detected — and continued to deteriorate air quality in the area. “There is clearly a criminal violation of the Clean Air Act,” said Joel Mintz, an emeritus professor of law at Nova Southeastern University in Florida and former enforcement attorney with the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA. Mintz reviewed Grist’s findings and said that Oxbow’s actions are “fairly egregious” violations of the law. He added that the EPA should open “an investigation with the Justice Department pursuing criminal action.” Presented with Grist’s findings, an EPA spokesperson said the agency “will follow up based on the information” provided. According to the latest public data, Oxbow still emits more sulfur dioxide than any facility in Texas aside from five coal- and gas-fired power plants. One simple but pricey solution is to install sulfur dioxide scrubbers, which run emissions through a slurry of chemicals to mitigate their toxicity. But for at least three decades, in four different states, Oxbow has been trying to outrun environmental regulations that might require this expensive step. The costs of continuing to pollute are felt most acutely by those who live near the plants. The three plants Oxbow currently operates in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma are the largest sulfur dioxide polluters in their respective counties — which combined are home to more than 750,000 people — and taken together emit more than 38,000 tons of sulfur dioxide a year. “They’ve been causing air quality conditions that we now know are harmful to human health since this thing began operating,” said Colin Cox, an attorney with the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project, part of a coalition that filed a civil rights complaint against TCEQ, asking the EPA to look into the agency’s issuance of a permit to Oxbow. The complaint has since been accepted and the EPA is currently investigating. Brad Goldstein, a spokesperson for Oxbow, called Grist’s review of the company’s data “flawed” and said that the findings are ”reckless and unsupportable.” He added that the company is “proud of its compliance record,” emphasizing that the sulfur dioxide readings at the monitors in Port Arthur are consistently below federal standards. “Oxbow values its reputation as a responsible corporate citizen and will vigorously defend it,” he said. Holtham, the plant manager, declined multiple interview requests. (Accounts of his activities are drawn from sworn depositions he provided in court.) For those like Ronald Wayne, a 65-year-old longtime resident of West Port Arthur, the combined emissions from Oxbow and the town’s other industries have meant never getting used to the stench of sulfur, a rottenegg smell that just “stink, stink, stink.” He’s woken up to find his car coated in a layer of thin yellow or black dust, and changes the ruined filters on his air conditioner three or four times a month. Worst of all, he’s become accustomed to waking up in the middle of the night gasping for air. “You gotta force air in because it feels like my lungs are closing up,” Wayne said. “You never get used to it — and then again, there’s nothing you can do about it. This story is published in collaboration with Grist, a nonprofit media organization covering climate, justice and solutions. The project was supported by the Fund for Investigative Journalism. OXBOW From page A1 Photos by Jacque Jackson/Grist Oxbow Calcining’s Port Arthur plant emits more sulfur dioxide than the average U.S. coal-fired power plant. Jacody Boone, 28, a native of Port Arthur, lives about 2 miles from the Oxbow plant. “People feel like they’re getting sick or their chest is cloudy,” he said.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 A29 in coming weeks. Panel members urged the FDA to move swiftly rather than waiting for Emergent to conduct a follow-up study with the easier-to-understand label. “There’s perhaps a far greater risk of delaying the availability of the product given the climate of this crisis and its devastating consequences,” said Maria Coyle, a pharmacy professor from Ohio State University, who chaired the panel. The prefilled nasal device, Narcan, is the leading version of the drug in the U.S., which is also available as an injection. If FDA approves, Narcan would be the first opioid treatment to make the regulatory switch to a nonprescription drug. The potential move represents the latest government effort to increase use of a medication that has been a key tool in the battle against the U.S. overdose epidemic that kills more than 100,000 people annually. The decades-old drug can counteract the effects of an opioid overdose in minutes. Narcan is already available without a prescription in all 50 states, where state leaders have issued standing orders for pharmacists to sell the drug to anyone who asks for it. But not all pharmacies carry it and those that do must keep it behind the counter. Also, the stigma of opioids can discourage people from asking for the drug. “We believe that nonprescription naloxone may help address these barriers,” said FDA’s Dr. Jody Green, noting the switch would allow the drug to be sold in vending machines, convenience stores and supermarkets. Emergent presented results from a 70-person study designed to show that people of various ages and backgrounds could quickly and correctly understand how to use the device in an emergency. About a third of people in the study had low reading ability, a group that FDA said should have been larger. FDA staffers also cautioned that a number of participants had trouble following the directions, in part because of the way the multi-step instructions were laid out across two sides of the carton, FDA noted. “Where is step one?” one participant asked, according to interview transcripts from the study presented by the FDA. Emergent said it plans to move all the directions to a single panel and add pictograms, per FDA’s suggestion. Despite flaws in the original packaging, the panel of 19 pain and medical education experts expressed confidence that the product could be used effectively by most adults and adolescents. “Perfect should not be the enemy of the good and the evidence we saw today provides clear indication that the drug can be used without the direction of a health care provider,” said Dr. Brian Bateman of Stanford University. Government officials hope that moving naloxone beyond the pharmacy counter will boost sales, with the potential to lower costs. Currently the drug can cost $50 for a twopack, when not covered by insurance. Community advocates and organizations that favor distributing the drug welcomed the potential approval of an over-thecounter version. “It’s going to make a tremendous impact on how people view the medication,” said Sheila Vakharia, deputy director of research and academic engagement at the Drug Policy Alliance. “It will help to destigmatize it and make people know it’s safe and easy to use.” But Maya Doe-Simkins, a co-director of Remedy Alliance/For The People, worried that an over-the-counter version of Narcan could also lead to a perception that it’s better than other forms of naloxone. “We have some trepidation about how companies that have ‘over-thecounter’ products may misrepresent injectable products,” said Doe-Simkins, who has long advocated for an over-thecounter version. U.S. overdose death rates began steadily climbing in the 1990s, driven by painkillers. Waves of deaths followed, led by other opioids like heroin and — most recently — illicit fentanyl. Nearly 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2021, an all-time high, though recent data suggests deaths may be plateauing. Gaithersburg, Maryland-based Emergent Biosolutions makes most of its money from medical products purchased by the federal government for the Strategic National Stockpile, including drugs and vaccines against anthrax. In 2021, the company came to the public’s attention for its disastrous handling of COVID-19 vaccine production for Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca. Contamination problems at the company’s Baltimore plant ultimately forced the drugmakers to discard the equivalent of hundreds of millions of vaccine doses. PANEL From page A25 “Perfect should not be the enemy of the good.” Dr. Brian Bateman of Stanford University
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HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 A33 VID-19 vaccine, the fastest vaccine ever developed. Vaccines can take more than a decade to develop from scratch. The mumps vaccine, which was created in 1967 after four years, was considered a wild success of timing. By Jan. 10, 2020, at the urging of scientists including Graham, scientists in China shared the genetic makeup of the virus that was sweeping through Wuhan. He and Corbett immediately saw that their research on other illnesses caused by coronaviruses like SARS and MARS could be adapted relatively simply. “Over the course of five years,” Corbett said, “we had already determined which parts of the virus would excite the body’s immune system in a way that would cause protective immunity.” Understanding that spike proteins were at the heart of an adequate defense against infection, Corbett and other scientists had created experimental vaccines against SARS and MERS. Now, by swapping in the genetic code for the virus that creates COVID-19 — so named by the World Health Organization because it emerged in 2019 — they had a prototype they could already use. Corbett has referred to this ability to apply a template as the “plug and play” approach. Graham credits her with playing a formative role in the vaccine’s development. “Around 2015, Kizzmekia decided that the coronavirus was the project she wanted to focus on,” he said, “and it was her work that led to what we knew about the coronavirus and prepared us for making that vaccine so rapidly.” It took her only a few hours to prepare a modified sequence for a vaccine. By Jan. 14, 2020, the NIH had shared that sequence with the vaccine developer Moderna, which used the code to create synthetic messenger RNA, the genetic material that holds instructions for how to build the spike proteins, which are recognized by the body’s immune system and teach it how to fight the virus. Messenger RNA is the backbone of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine and Pfizer’s vaccine, which also uses synthetic mRNA. ‘Proof of principle’’ By March 2020, Moderna was running the first human trials ofits vaccine, and by December 2020 — less than a year after the first deaths in Wuhan were reported — it was authorized by the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use. Thinking back on those intensely charged first days, Corbett, now at Harvard University, said, “we weren’t racing against the pandemic.” “We were racing ourselves,” she continued. “It was all about proof of principle.” Initially, she was eager to prove that her earlier research could be widely applied. “But when hundreds of thousands of people start to die,” she said, “you realize how important the work you’re doing is.” She also felt pressure beyond the rapidly climbing death toll. Corbett, who has a sharp sense of humor and an easygoing style, grew up in Hillsborough, N.C., and earned her doctorate in microbiology and immunology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2014. She is still working to upend the status quo when it comes to who performs scientific research. “I try to make sure that my lab and the people I hire come from diverse backgrounds so that our thoughts and the way that we do our science shakes the table a little bit,” she said. She first came on the radar of many Americans on March 3, 2020, when photos circulated of her standing in the NIH laboratory, in a crisp white lab coat, amid a crowd of influential white men: President Donald Trump; Dr. Anthony Fauci; Graham; John Mascola, director of the Vaccine Research Center; and Alex Azar, then the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. But just out of the frame, two other young Black female scientists — Cynthia Ziwawo and Olubukola Abiona, both researchers on Corbett’s team — were watching their leader carefully. “I had never seen a Black woman scientist before working with Dr. Corbett,” said Ziwawo, 25, who is now in medical school at Indiana University. “It definitely impacted how I view minorities in science, especially those running the room.” Still carries pressure In May 2021, Corbett joined the faculty at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she is now an assistant professor in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases. But she still carries the same kind of pressure she felt racing the clock in early 2020. “If I fail as a Black woman, this department at Harvard will overlook Black women until infinity,” she said. “People at the NIH would have overlooked Black women if I failed. Being the first in so many kinds of these spaces has so much pressure.” She receives 10 to 20 emails a week from Black women and girls, she said, and whenever she talks to them, she makes a point to let them know that if they, too, want to be a scientist, “I will risk my all to make sure to stand up for them, as long as they are committed. “Women need people to stand up for them,” she continued. “Especially Black women.” And in visits with Black churches, at community forums and on her active Twitter page, where she has more than 160,000 followers, she is vocal about combating vaccine hesitancy and decreasing barriers to health care, particularly among communities of color. Playing a pivotal role in the creation of a COVID-19 vaccine, she admits, is her own hard act to follow. So now she is also focused on paving a path to help other Black female scientists shatter boundaries. “At some point, you get to the point where you can’t beat what you already did,” she said. “But then you get to have a voice in spaces that you generally wouldn’t be able to. That’s where my mission and purpose is.” VACCINE From page A25 ently in boys and girls, which might not be fully reflected in the survey. Although girls with depression often have persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, which the survey asked about, boys with depression often exhibit irritability or aggression, she said. On a handful of topics, the survey results suggested teenagers were doing better than in previous years. They reported lower rates of illicit drug use and bullying at school, for example. And teenagers are having less sex, with fewer sexual partners, than in previous years. But about 57 percent of girls and 69 percent of gay, lesbian or bisexual teenagers reported feeling sadness every day for at least two weeks during the previous year. And 14 percent of girls, up from 12 percent in 2011, said they had been forced to have sex at some point in their lives, as did 20 percent of gay, lesbian or bisexual adolescents. “When we’re looking at experiences of violence, girls are experiencing almost every type of violence more than boys,” said Ethier of the CDC. Researchers should be studying not only the increase in reports of violence, she said, but its causes: “We need to talk about what’s happening with teenage boys that might be leading them to perpetrate sexual violence.” The researchers also analyzed the data by race and ethnicity, finding that Black and Hispanic students were more likely to report skipping school because of concerns about violence. White students, however, were more likely to report experiencing sexual violence. The increase in sadness and hopelessness was reported across all racial groups over the past decade. Although Black students were less likely to report these negative feelings than other groups, they were more likely to report suicide attempts than white, Asian or Hispanic adolescents. The 2021 survey asked about students’ sexual orientation but did not ask about their genderidentity, so data on risk factors for transgender students is not available. Dr. Victor Fornari, the vice chair of child and adolescent psychiatry for Northwell Health, New York’s largest health system, noted that the first smartphone was released in 2012. Although its full impact on adolescents’ mental health is still unknown, he said, there is “no question” of an association between the use of social media and the dramatic increase in suicidal behavior and depressive mood. “Kids are now vulnerable to cyberbullying and critical comments, like ‘I hate you,’ ‘Nobody likes you,’” he said. “It’s like harpoons to their heart every time.” More girls than boys reported being cyber-bullied, according to the CDC report, which found 1 in 5 girls said they had been the target of electronic bullying, almost double the 11 percent of boys. Fornari added that the number of adolescents coming to the emergency room at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, where he practices, for suicidal thoughts or attempts has increased dramatically in recent decades. In 1982, there were 250 emergency room visits by suicidal adolescents. By 2010, the number had increased to 3,000. By 2022, it was 8,000. “We don’t have enough therapists to care for all these kids,” Fornari said. The CDC’s report also noted, however, that the number of adolescents who reported needing medical attention for a serious suicide attempt had been fairly low and stable, hovering around 2 percent or 3 percent, since 2011. “Lots of people think about taking their life. Most of them will not act on it,” said Dr. Jill Harkavy-Friedman, senior vice president of research of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. “We don’t want to panic people with this. We want people to start having these conversations, checking in, and then making a plan to help each other.” The CDC survey follows another bleak report released by the agency last week showing that suicide rates were up among younger Americans and people of color after a twoyear decline. The CDC report stressed that healthy relationships at school can improve adolescents’ mental health. “Young people who feel connected in middle school and high school 20 years later have better mental health, are less likely to be perpetrators or victims of violence, are less likely to use substances and are less likely to attempt suicide,” Ethier said. “So school connectedness is a very powerful protective factor.” GIRLS From page A25 Anie Flanagan/New York Tiimes A teenage girl reflects at her home in Minnesota in 2021. Nearly 3 in 5 felt persistent sadness that year. Health care providers must check pregnant patients’ blood pressure regularly, starting early in pregnancy and continuing for at least six weeks after childbirth, according to new draft recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The task force issued the draft recommendations Tuesday amid growing concern about a rise in maternal mortality. Pregnancy-related deaths in the United States are the highest among industrialized nations, and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are among the leading causes. Blood pressure disorders in pregnancy have doubled in prevalence in the past three decades, affecting 1 in 10 pregnancies now, up from 1 in 20 in 1993. They are a leading cause of death during and after pregnancy among Native American women and the leading cause of death among Black women. The groups face maternal mortality rates that are up to three times as high as those among white women. The disorders pose a high risk of stroke to Black and Hispanic women, the task force noted. Yet women of color were underrepresented in most clinical trials that tested screening regimens for the condition. The task force called on health care providers to offer better support for pregnant women of color, and for physicians to be aware of their increased risks so they can “focus clinical energy and resources to those most likely to suffer morbidity or mortality.” “Our moms are dying,” said Dr. Wanda Nicholson, vice chair of the task force, adding that the new draft recommendations aimed “to call attention to the racial disparities in maternal deaths and morbidity.” The recommendations call for more research into the conditions, and they urge doctors and midwives to use standard, evidence-based treatment for all patients. Not all pregnant women who are affected receive the recommended care for blood pressure disorders, though Black women are more likely to get appropriate care than white women. “The take-home point is that we know, unequivocally, that consistent checking of blood pressure during pregnancy makes a difference for our moms and babies,” said Nicholson, a senior associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. The onset of a severe blood pressure condition called preeclampsia/ eclampsia often occurs after the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. Low-dose aspirin starting at 12 weeks gestation is recommended for women at heightened risk — a large group that includes patients with preexisting conditions such as diabetes or lupus, those who are 35 and older or younger than 15, patients who have undergone in vitro fertilization, and those pregnant for the first time. The report suggests all Black women who are pregnant and have at least one risk factor for preeclampsia/eclampsia should be put on low-dose aspirin, which may prevent or at least delay the development of the condition. Patients with high blood pressure during pregnancy must be monitored very closely, said Dr. Christian Pettker, a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive science at Yale School of Medicine and a co-author of treatment guidelines for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. “People who have elevated blood pressure in pregnancy are managed very differently than those who don’t,” Pettker said. Health care providers should prescribe medication for the blood pressure and run additional blood tests and urine tests to check for abnormalities, as well as fetal ultrasounds to monitor the baby’s growth, Pettker said. In severe cases, the baby may be delivered early. Patients should report to their doctors symptoms including unusual headaches, sharp upper abdominal pain and blurry vision. The postpartum period is a critical one, as the risk of dying of a hypertensive disorder is highest then. Pettker warned that there may be a tendency among some health providers to dismiss high blood pressure readings in pregnant patients because they are generally young and healthy. But that is a mistake. “We sometimes try to normalize it — they look healthy and seem to be doing great. But it might be an important signal,” Pettker said, adding that the medical community had “a lot of work to do to make sure that we take even mild blood pressure as a signal to pay attention to, and to pay attention in the same way for all the different people who present to us for prenatal care.” Blood pressure disorders have potentially serious long-term repercussions for the mother and the baby, and they are linked to preterm births and stillbirths, as well as to a long-term risk of heart disease in the mother. Hypertension can restrict fetal growth because it impedes blood flow, and can result in a medically induced preterm birth because delivery of the baby resolves the disease and may be necessary to save the mother’s life and health. Women who had preeclampsia when they delivered are also at high risk of developing heart failure after childbirth, and Black women are at double the risk of white women, according to new findings by Truveta Research, the research arm of Truveta, a for-profit collective of health systems that uses de-identified patient data for research. Although the reasons for the disparity are not known, some may be caused by unequal access to care and by the failure of caregivers to listen when women report unusual symptoms, said Dr. Charlotte Baker, Truveta’s director of epidemiology. Baker lost a friend to the condition just months after the friend gave birth. “My friend had complained multiple times to her physicians, but they brushed her off,” she said. No one knows exactly why hypertensive disorders have doubled in prevalence in the past three decades, but women are having children at older ages than in the past. They are heavier than they used to be, as are all Americans, and a greater number have high blood pressure even before they become pregnant. Living conditions, known as social determinants of health, also play a role in maternal health, and recent studies have implicated housing instability and food insecurity in blood pressure disorders and other pregnancy complications. Disparities in access to health care services may also play a role. Maternal mortality rates in the United States have been rising in recent decades and rose in 2021 to 1,178 deaths, up from 861 deaths in 2020, according to provisional figures in a recent Government Accountability Office report. Blood pressure tied to pregnancy deaths By Roni Caryn Rabin NEW YORK T IME S Alice Proujansky/New York Times A task force urges that patients’ blood pressure be checked early in pregnancy and after childbirth.
A34 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM Scientists got their first up-close look at what’s eating away part of Antarctica’s Thwaites ice shelf, nicknamed the Doomsday Glacier because of its massive melt and sea rise potential, and it’s both good and bad news. Using a 13-foot pencilshaped robot that swam under the grounding line where ice first juts over the sea, scientists saw a shimmery critical point in Thwaites’ chaotic breakup, “where it’s melting so quickly there, there’s just material streaming out of the glacier,” said robot creator and polar scientist Britney Schmidt of Cornell University. Before, scientists had no observations from this critical but hard-to-reach point on Thwaites. But with the robot named Icefin lowered down a slender 1,925-foot hole, they saw how important crevasses are in the fracturing of the ice, which takes the heaviest toll on the glacier, even more than melting. “That’s how the glacier is falling apart. It’s not thinning and going away. It shatters,” said Schmidt, lead author of one of two studies in Wednesday’s journal Nature. That fracturing “potentially accelerates the overall demise of that ice shelf,” said Paul Cutler, the Thwaites program director for the National Science Foundation who returned from the ice last week. “It’s eventual mode of failure may be through falling apart.” The work comes out of a massive $50 million multiyear international research effort to better understand the widest glacier in the world. The Florida-sized glacier has gotten the nickname the “Doomsday Glacier” because of how much ice it has and how much seas could rise if it all melts — more than 2 feet, though that’s expected take hundreds of years. The melting of Thwaites is dominated by what’s happening underneath, where warmer water nibbles at the bottom, something called basal melting, said Peter Davis, an oceanographer at British Antarctic Survey who is a lead author of one of the studies. “Thwaites is a rapidly changing system, much more rapidly changing than when we started this work five years ago and even since we were in the field three years ago,” said Oregon State University ice researcher Erin Pettit, who wasn’t part of either study. “I am definitely expecting the rapid change to continue and accelerate over the next few years.” Pennsylvania State University glaciologist Richard Alley, who also wasn’t part of the studies, said the new work “gives us an important look at processes affecting the crevasses that might eventually break and cause loss of much of the ice shelf.” The good news: Much of the flat underwater area they explored is melting much slower than they expected. The bad news: That doesn’t really change how much ice is coming off the land part of the glacier and driving up sea levels, Davis said. Davis said the melting isn’t nearly the problem at Thwaites that glacier retreat is. The more the glacier breaks up or retreats, the more ice floats in water. When ice is on ground as part of the glacier it isn’t part of sea rise, but when it breaks off land and then goes onto water it adds to the overall water level by displacement, just as ice added to a glass of water raises water level. And more bad news: This is from the eastern, larger and more stable part of Thwaites. Ted Scambos of the National Snow and Ice Data Center, who wasn’t part of the studies, said the results add to understanding how Thwaites is diminishing. “Unfortunately, this is still going to be a major issue a century from now,” Scambos said in an email. “But our better understanding gives us some time to take action to slow the pace of sea level rise.” When the skinny robot wended its way through the hole in the ice — made by a jet of hot water — the cameras showed not just the melting water, the crucial crevasses and seabed. It showed critters, especially sea anemones, swimming under the ice. “To accidentally find them here in this environment was really, really cool,” Schmidt said in an interview. “We were so tired that you kind of wonder like, ‘am I really seeing what I’m seeing?’ You know because there are these little creepy alien guys (the anemones) hanging out on the iceocean interface. “In the background is like all these sparkling stars that are like rocks and sediment and things that were picked up from the glacier,” Schmidt said. “And then the anemones. It’s really kind of a wild experience.” Pencil-shaped robot measures eroding Doomsday Glacier By Seth Borenstein ASSOC IATED PRE SS Schmidt Lawrence/Associated Press A robot nicknamed Icefin is giving scientists their first look at the forces eating away at the critically important Thwaites glacier.
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HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM BUSINESS • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 • SECTION B Brookfield Properties unveiled plans for a farmers market at the central gathering areas of its two largest downtown Houston campuses in a move that provides a new option for office workers, downtown residents and visitors. The market, organized with Casey Barbles, curator of the Rice Village and Heights Mercantile farmers markets, is set to open March 1 and continue through 2023, according to Brookfield. The market, which will offer locally sourced produce, baked goods and other products, will be held on alternate Wednesdays at the Acre at Allen Center in southern downtown and the Central Plaza at Houston Center, a few blocks from Discovery Green. Sponsored by Activated by Brookfield Properties, the company’s tenant engagement platform, the events are part of an effort to build a sense of community, while providing experiences for employees. The markets come as fewer employees go to the office with the rise of remote work, and landlords and companies are creating places and programs that give people more reasons to show up. About 58 percent of workers had returned to the office in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared with pre-pandemic levels, according to Central Houston, a downtown economic development organization. Wednesday was chosen as the day for the market because it’s the highest occupancy day across Brookfield’s campuses, is the midway point in the week for restocking essentials and groceries, and works well with farmers’ weekly production schedules, according to a Brookfield spokesperson. The Smith Street Farmers Market at Allen Center, 1200 Smith St., will be held on the first and third Wednesdays of the month. The market kicks off Downtown Houston getting workday farmers market By Katherine Feser STAFF WR ITER Peter Molick/Brookfield Properties Brookfield Properties will hold a farmers market on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month at Houston Center. Market continues on B2 As the ranks of America’s super wealthy grow, the roster of major philanthropists is expanding to include not-sotypical megadonors — among them, a professional clarinetist, a Ph.D. in meat science and a lawyer who regularly argues before the U.S. Supreme Court. That’s according to a Chronicle of Philanthropy analysis of giving by the country’s 50 biggest donors in 2022. Twenty-six of the 50 are new to the Chronicle’s annual ranking, which dates to 2000. They include big names from business such as Airbnb’s Brian Chesky (who gave $100 million to the Obama Foundation), FedEx’s Fred Smith ($65 million to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation), and Roku founder Anthony Wood ($71.5 million to several charitable giving vehicles). Also, Jacklyn Bezos, mother of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, made her debut on the list with her husband, Miguel. The two gave $710.5 million to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. Other Philanthropy 50 firsttimers, however, lack the national profile, the Silicon Valley address, or Wall Street credentials that are commonplace in today’s philanthropy world, where such tech and finance titans as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Warren Buffett set the tone. The ranking’s newcomers include: • Edward Avedisian, a retired Boston Pops clarinetist who amassed a fortune trading stocks on the side. Avedisian Gates tops list of most generous Mogul donated $5B; Fertitta ranked 36th By Maria Di Mento and Drew Lindsay CHRON ICLE OF PH ILANTHROPY Fertitta Donors continues on B2 Why put a refinery in Oregon? It’s a question that Houston-based NEXT Renewable Fuels CEO Christopher Efird hears a lot. While there are surely more hospitable places closer to his Houston home, Efird said he saw untapped potential along the Columbia River, the natural boundary between Oregon and Washington — two states offering incentives for the renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel he plans to produce. It’s also an area devoid of competing refineries. “We wanted to be on the West Coast,” Efird said. “We wanted to be on deep water; we knew that trying to go on the coast in California was going to be very, very difficult, and we were going to be competing head-to-head with some very large companies.” NEXT, scheduled to go public through a merger with a blank-check company later this year, has caught the attention of major players such as BP, Shell and United Airlines, which have each struck deals to support the facility. The refinery, which aims to process waste oils and animal fats into fuel, is expected to cost as much as $3 billion to develop and could produce 750 million gallons per year of fossil fuel alternatives, or around 50,000 barrels per day — nearly enough diesel to fuel the entire state of Oregon. Renewable diesel is quickly growing as an alternative to fossil fuels that is otherwise chemically identical to petroleum-based diesel, meaning it can be used in existing pipelines and engines without modifications. Its meteoric rise is helped by a shortage of petroleum diesel and tight oil refining capacity exacerbated by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Renewable diesel production capacity more than tripled to 170,000 barrels per day in 2022 from around 50,000 barrels per day in 2020, the Energy Department said in a report earlier this month, noting production could reach 384,000 barrels per day in 2025 if projects such as NEXT’s continue as planned. “This has made renewable diesel the fastest-growing segment within biofuels,” Beatriz Pupo, global biofuels manager for S&P Global Commodity Insights, said, “as strong incentives in low-carbon fuel markets are enticing investments and boosting demand.” The NEXT facility, scheduled to come online in 2026, is the second-largest renewable diesel project under development in the U.S. RENEWABLE DIESEL Lydia Ely/Contributor NEXT plans to build its renewable diesel refinery on 100 acres of wetlands along the Columbia River at Port Westward, Ore. Houston’s NEXT heads to Oregon With a merger later this year, the refinery should ready in 2026 By Amanda Drane STAFF WR ITER Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Christopher Efird says he sees untapped potential in Oregon, with state incentives and less competition. Diesel continues on B2 FUEL FIX CARBON CONCEPT Alaska looks to tap into its carbon reserve, to the chagrin of some. PAGE B4 EMPLOYMENT NEW BABY, LOST JOB What happens when you’re laid off while on family leave? PAGE B7 TECH BACK AND BETTER Apple’s HomePod returns a tad smaller but less costly. PAGE B5 Chris Tomlinson is on vacation. His column will resume Wednesday. CHRIS TOMLINSON COMMENTARY
B2 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM Business Editor Jonathan Diamond: [email protected] • 713-362-1513 The largest, being developed by Houston-based Fidelis Infrastructure, is in Baton Rouge, La., Pupo said. In addition to displacing oil, renewable diesel burns more cleanly than standard diesel, giving it high marks for greenhouse gas reduction in low-carbon fuel incentive programs available federally and through state programs in Oregon, Washington and California. Under California’s low-carbon fuels standards program, for example, renewable diesel can earn as much as $1.75 per gallon in incentives alone, Pupo said. Federal and state subsidies for renewable diesel can stack up to around $5 a gallon, or more than 80 percent of a facility’s manufacturing costs, said David Hackett, chairman of Stillwater Associates, an energy consulting firm. The fuel’s manufacturing cost is generally around $6 a gallon and it sells for around $3 a gallon — math that puts makers of renewable diesel in the red without government help, he said. “The problem with it in general is the feedstock is more expensive than the products,” he said, “so it takes government support to make the economics work.” NEXT was founded as a side project for Efird, whose role originally was to be responsible for navigating Oregon politics and other back-office functions. It became a full-time job after its former president, Louis Soumas, was arrested under alleged sex abuse charges in 2020 — an issue Efird said was unrelated to the company. Court records show Soumas’ case remains active in Fort Bend County District Court and is scheduled for a jury trial in May. Efird, 58, who calls himself a serial entrepreneur, has helped launch dozens of companies in the technology, telecommunications and energy industries and co-founded and managed two private equity funds. He has taken heat from opponents of the NEXT project for one of his failed former investments, a biodiesel facility outside Spokane, Wash., called TransMessis, which left behind some of its hazardous materials after the facility abruptly shuttered in 2014. The facility was in working order when his colleagues were locked out of the facility, Efird said, but after nearly a year without maintenance, equipment had fallen into disrepair and began to leak. The unsuccessful TransMessis deal was ultimately a learning experience that taught him to scrutinize equipment sellers more carefully, he said. “Once operators got in there, they discovered a lot of the equipment was not as it had been presented.” It was a lesson that helped him as he founded NEXT, he said, and is an example of the kind of industry experience concentrated in Houston — an industrial hub he said is crucial to developing the energy of the future. “I really do think Houston is going to lead a lot of this energy transition,” he said, “because this is where the expertise is.” Fueling the future That expertise faces a daunting challenge. Access to low-carbon feedstocks is a hurdle for the growing industry and a sticking point for environmentalists, as biofuels makers often are forced to take in soybean oil, which is plentiful but has a high carbon-intensity, to sustain their operations. NEXT’s facility is designed to be “feedstockagnostic,” meaning it can swap out feedstocks from day to day depending on what is most available and has the lowest-possible carbon intensity, whether it be used cooking oil from Asia or fish tallow or animal fats and other tallows from South America. Once up and running, the refinery could need as much as 2 million tons of feedstock per year. “That’s a lot of grease,” Efird said. “We need to be able to bring it in at volume. And we want to bring in the material that will allow us to have the lowest possible carbon intensity.” That was another reason for choosing the Oregon site. NEXT needed access to a deep-water channel capable of delivering massive loads of waste fats from other continents. The site at Port Westward, about 65 miles north of Portland, Ore., is on water that is 72 feet deep. “You never have to dredge that location. That was very important for us, because we wanted to be able to source feedstock from everywhere,” Efird said. The goal is to have no more than 10 percent of its feedstock come from dirtier soybean oils, he said. To that end, Efird said his company is working with BP on developing pathways to get fish grease and used cooking oils onto tankers and to the West Coast, which also could be sold to other regional refiners. “It allows us to lock in, if you will, or to establish proprietary access,” Efird said. “We won’t need that material ourselves until the facility comes online, but the industry overall is growing.” Not everyone is sold on the project. Environmental advocates in Oregon criticize the instability of available feedstocks, NEXT’s plans to use natural gas to power the facility as well as the project’s wetlands destruction. “Simply put, NEXT’s proposal is neither renewable nor sustainable,” said Dan Serres, conservation director for the Columbia Riverkeeper in a statement. Building green The facility would be built on roughly 100 acres of protected wetlands along the Columbia River, which under Oregon rules requires NEXT to restore 400 acres of wetlands to compensate for the habitats that would be displaced. Efird said that plan remains under regulatory review. The merger that will take the company public will inject cash into its coffers and give it access to public markets to raise funds. Houston-based special-purpose acquisition company Industrial Tech Acquisitions II, which raised $172.5 million after its initial public offering in January 2022, will merge with NEXT in a deal valuing the company at $666 million. “Renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel are the most desired liquid fuels in the world, and there is an urgent global need for more,” ITAQ CEO Scott Crist, a partner at Texas Ventures, said in a statement. The merger is expected to close during the second quarter, giving NEXT a cash boost as it prepares to move into the construction phase of the project next year, assuming the company clears the last of its permits. The facility is expected to come online in 2026. United Airlines has also committed up to $37.5 million in investments in the facility in exchange for an equity stake in the company, and Shell has signed an agreement to buy a portion of the resulting fuels. amanda.drane@houstonchronicle.com DIESEL From page B1 Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Christopher Efird says Port Westward, Ore., offers 72-foot deepwater access to feedstock suppliers. Largest mutual funds Name Ticker Last Price Mgmt Annual Fee% YTD %Tot Ret 1Yr %Tot Ret 3Yr %Tot Ret 5Yr %Tot Ret Amcap Fund-A AMCPX 32.99 0.3 9.7 -12.2 3.7 6.7 Amer Bal Fund-A ABALX 29.56 0.4 2.8 -6.2 3.9 5.7 Amer Cap Incm Bl CAIBX 64.47 0.2 2.3 -5.4 3.1 3.9 Amer Cap Wrld G& CWGIX 54.64 0.4 5.9 -9.3 4.2 4.7 Amer Europac Gr AEPGX 52.94 0.4 8.0 -10.6 2.0 2.1 Amer Fundm Inv ANCFX 64.08 0.2 6.4 -6.8 5.8 7.3 Amer New Persp-A ANWPX 51.51 0.4 8.9 -11.3 6.3 8.2 Amer Smallcap Wr SMCWX 61.79 0.6 10.1 -13.3 4.0 6.1 Amer Wash Mut In AWSHX 53.15 0.2 2.2 -2.7 7.7 9.0 Davis NY Vent Fd NYVTX 24.63 0.6 11.0 -10.2 3.5 5.2 Dodge & Cox Bal DODBX 97.94 0.5 4.9 -3.7 7.1 7.1 Dodge & Cox Intl DODFX 46.45 0.6 7.7 -4.4 4.9 2.3 Dodge & Cox Stk DODGX 229.76 0.5 6.5 -3.7 11.0 9.5 Fdlty 500 FXAIX 142.13 0.0 6.8 -7.1 8.3 10.3 Fdlty Bl Chip Gr FBGRX 129.96 0.6 15.6 -19.3 8.7 12.6 Fdlty Contrafund FCNTX 12.87 0.7 8.0 -13.3 5.7 8.9 Fdlty Diver Intl FDIVX 39.32 0.6 7.9 -9.6 2.5 3.6 Fdlty Equity-Inc FEQIX 65.34 0.4 2.5 -2.1 8.3 8.5 Fdlty Free 2020 FFFDX 13.32 0.6 4.4 -9.3 2.2 3.8 Fdlty Grth & Inc FGRIX 51.10 0.4 7.4 -0.2 10.9 10.2 Fdlty Grth Co FDGRX 25.40 0.3 12.8 -15.7 11.5 13.4 Fdlty Low Pr Stk FLPSX 48.29 0.5 4.5 -0.4 10.6 8.3 Fdlty Magell Fd FMAGX 11.51 0.6 7.7 -10.2 5.5 8.6 Fdlty Puritan Fd FPURX 21.51 0.4 4.9 -7.9 5.8 7.3 Fdlty Value FDVLX 13.88 0.4 11.1 0.6 14.2 10.5 Fidelity Bal Fd FBALX 24.28 0.4 5.9 -8.9 6.2 8.1 Franklin Gr Fund FKGRX 109.60 0.4 7.3 -10.5 6.2 9.4 Franklin Income FRIAX 2.30 0.4 3.2 -2.3 6.0 5.7 Harbor Intl HAINX 42.22 0.8 7.3 -6.7 4.3 2.1 Income Fd of Am AMECX 23.04 0.2 1.8 -3.8 4.7 5.5 Pimco Tot Ret II PMBIX 8.15 0.5 1.6 -9.4 -3.0 0.7 Pimco Tot Ret-In PTTRX 8.55 0.5 1.5 -9.4 -2.7 0.7 T Rowe Pr Equity PRFDX 34.15 0.5 4.5 -2.1 8.7 7.8 T Rowe Pr Gr St PRGFX 68.66 0.5 11.4 -23.1 0.1 6.0 The Bond Fd of A ABNDX 11.44 0.2 0.9 -8.4 -1.7 1.2 The Inv Co Amer AIVSX 43.70 0.2 5.9 -5.1 7.5 7.5 Vgrd 500 Idx Fd- VFINX 378.08 0.1 6.8 -7.2 8.1 10.2 Vgrd Eur Stk STK VEURX 32.62 0.2 9.3 -5.3 4.2 3.3 Vgrd Ins Tot Stk VITNX 72.11 0.0 7.5 -7.5 7.9 9.8 Vgrd Tot Int St VGTSX 17.78 0.2 6.7 -9.1 2.8 2.0 Vgrd Tot St Mk I VTSMX 100.10 0.1 7.5 -7.6 7.7 9.7 Vgrd Totl Bd VBTIX 9.54 0.0 1.0 -8.6 -3.0 0.6 Vgrd Wellingtn-I VWELX 39.49 0.2 2.8 -6.7 4.1 6.5 Vgrd WIndsor II VWNFX 39.67 0.3 6.4 -5.0 9.8 9.7 Vgrd Windsor Inv VWNDX 21.75 0.3 7.4 0.7 12.1 9.9 Data provided by Bloomberg Net asset value of selected major U.S. mutual funds two trading days ago. Returns annualized. Dividends reinvested. March 1, then returns March 15. The McKinney Street Farmers Market, 1221 McKinney St., will be held on the second and fourth Wednesdays, March 8 and March 22. Hours are 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. On months with a fifth Wednesday, there will be no market that day. In time for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the inaugural markets will have a custom hat-making booth from Magnolia Mercantile. Other vendors include Wood Duck Farmers, Cranky Carrot Juice Co, Sadie’s Select, Reishi & Health, Grammy’s Cookie Jar, Erbe Ranch, La Lydia, ABJ Farms, Jani’s Waffles, Lather and Co, and Migaloo Chocolatier. Peter Molick/Brookfield Properties The Acre at Allen Center will host a farmers market on the first and third Wednesdays of the month. MARKET From page B1 gave $100 million to Boston University before his death in December. • David Frederick and his wife, Sophia Lynn, who made gifts totaling $40 million to the University of Pittsburgh and Oxford University in England. Frederick is an appellate attorney who’s argued dozens of cases before the Supreme Court. • Sisters Mary Bastian and Emily Markham, the last members of a farming and ranching family, who donated 100 acres of land worth $41.3 million to Utah State University. • Gordon and Joyce Davis, who gave $44 million to Texas Tech, where Gordon — who holds a doctorate in meat science — once taught and coached the university’s meat-judging team to a national championship. The ranking’s changing composition reflects in part the country’s skyrocketing wealth. More than 141,000 Americans have a net worth of $50 million or higher — nearly four times more than just a decade ago, according to the finance company Credit Suisse. Growth accelerated during the pandemic, with the number climbing 75% in just two years. The rise of the super wealthy coincides with and fuels another trend: greater fundraising sophistication and the ambition to snare big gifts. Top-tier, high-profile institutions such as Boston University, the Obama Foundation, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art received individual donations of at least $10 million from Philanthropy 50 donors in 2022. But so did the Air Force Academy; McPherson, a small liberal-arts college in Kansas; and Samford, a Christian university in Alabama. Altogether, half of the Philanthropy 50 made contributions to organizations that reported the donation as the largest in their history. Also, while big philanthropy is often criticized as being too focused on the coasts and urban areas, half of the 34 gifts to U.S. higher education went to institutions in the country’s interior, some to landgrant universities such as Oregon State, Purdue, and Utah State. The University of Pennsylvania was the lone Ivy League recipient. Houston’s own Tilman Fertitta — coming at 36th in the annual ranking — gave $50 million to the University of Houston’s College of Medicine. The gift was the largest for Fertitta, who donated $55.5 million total in 2022. Gates tops the list in his 13th Philanthropy 50 appearance; the Microsoft mogul gave away $5.1 billion in 2022, more than a third of the $14 billion donated by the Philanthropy 50 collectively. The bulk of his gift was a transfer of stock to the foundation he runs with his former wife, Melinda French Gates. Michael Bloomberg — founder of the Bloomberg financialnews empire, a former mayor of New York, and an 18-time veteran of the ranking — finished second; he gave away $1.7 billion to causes that include the arts, education, environment, public health, and programs aimed at improving city governments globally. As in years past, men dominate the list of the biggest donors. There’s also only one person of color: Taiwanese American Jen-Hsun Huang, who debuted on the list with his wife, Lori, in a tie for No. 40. Novelist and highprofile philanthropist MacKenzie Scott is not in the ranking, though she has donated some $14 billion to charities since 2020. It’s likely that Scott made gifts to her donoradvised funds that would have earned her a spot in the ranking, but she and her representatives declined to provide information to the Chronicle. French Gates, another big-name donor, also did not share such information. Despite the new blood in the top tier of philanthropists, last year’s biggest donors hewed closely to decades-old conventions of charitable giving. At least 14 earmarked contributions to scholarships for high-school or college students — a type of gift that dates back at least 1,000 years. Ten made donations of at least $10 million to support research on cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and other diseases that have stymied medicine — and attracted philanthropists hunting answers — for decades. Some philanthropy observers see in these gifts a focus on the future born of the suddenness with which the pandemic and racial reckoning turned society upside down. “We had to throw away our strategic plan because none of it works anymore,” says Trista Harris, a former foundation leader who now runs FutureGood, a consultancy. Donors recognized “that there might be even bigger change around the corner, and it’s my responsibility to understand what those possibilities are.” Others worry that the donors are not addressing the country’s biggest problems. Contributions by last year’s 50 biggest donors toward climate change mitigation and solutions, for instance, reached only $195 million — one-tenth of the more than $2 billion directed to scholarships and disease prevention. Only a handful of gifts aimed to close racial disparities. “The default setting for the biggest donors still seems to be to steer away from addressing some of the thorniest societal challenges related, for example, to inequity, racism, and the future of our planet,” says Phil Buchanan, president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy. After the police murder of George Floyd in 2020 and resulting nationwide protests, a number of major philanthropists stepped forward to learn about racial justice and understand what they could do, says Crystal Hayling, executive director of the Libra Foundation, which is leading a $45 million effort to support small, Black-led racial justice organizations. Now, Hayling says, there’s a reversion to the mean. “Conversation is moving back to a place that’s a little bit more comfortable for people of wealth. They say, ‘Let’s just talk about equal opportunity, job pipelines, and improving schools.’ Those things are important, but they can be slightly evasive of really addressing the issue of racial justice.” This article was provided to The Associated Press by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Maria Di Mento is a senior reporter at the Chronicle. Email: maria.dimen[email protected]. Drew Lindsay is a senior writer at the Chronicle. Email: drew.lindsay@philanthropy.com. The AP and the Chronicle receive support from the Lilly Endowment for coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits. The AP and the Chronicle are solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/ philanthropy. DONORS From page B1 Evan Vucci/Associated Press Bill Gates, seen at the Global Fund conference on Sept. 21, 2022, gave away the most money in 2022.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 B3
B4 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM FUELFIX Source: Bloomberg Rig count U.S. drilling activity was down one at 760 rigs. Drilling in Texas was unchanged at 370 rigs. The offshore rig marketed utilization rate in the Gulf was 83.3 percent, up from last year’s 82.9 percent. Year 2/17 2/10 ago Merc $2.275 $2.514 $4.486 Henry Hub $2.28 $2.37 $4.56 Year 2/17 2/10 ago Merc light cr $76.34 $79.72 $91.76 Spot sour cr $76.14 $80.47 $91.26 Rigs Year drilling 2/17 2/10 ago Texas 370 370 308 Colorado 18 19 14 Louisiana 64 66 53 New Mexico 108 109 94 North Dakota 41 41 33 Oklahoma 64 63 53 Pennsylvania 22 22 25 Wyoming 18 17 14 Canada 248 250 220 U.S. Gas 159 160 150 U.S. Horizontal 702 704 598 Marketed rigs under contract U.S. Gulf 25 27 29 Source: Baker Hughes Source: S&P Global Commodity Insights Source: S&P Global Commodity Insights Natural gas Dollars per million British thermal units: $2.275 $ Light, sweet crude Dollars per barrel: $76.34 $ 760 0 2 4 6 8 10 FJDNOSAJJMAMFJDNOS 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 FJDNOSAJJMAMFJDNOS 500 600 700 800 FJDNOSAJJMAMFJDNOS 581.62 S&P’s energy stock indexes Oil and gas exploration and production Source: Bloomberg 379.88 Oil and gas equipment index 100 200 300 400 500 600 FJDNOSAJJMAMFJDNOS 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 FJDNOSAJJMAMFJDNOS MARKETPLACE NEW YORK — The price of natural gas used to heat homes and generate electricity is plunging this year, thanks to a mild winter in the U.S. and Europe — bringing some relief to consumers and helping drive down inflation. The fuel, which in the U.S. is extracted mainly from shale deposits in Texas and around Pennsylvania, accounts for nearly 25 percent of residential energy needs, making it a big driver in last year's worst bout of inflation in four decades. Since the start of 2023, U.S. natural gas prices have fallen 40 percent and Europe's prices are not far behind. Much warmer than expected weather throughout Europe and North America played a big part in allowing European supplies to hold out amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The winter has been mild enough that large swaths of the Alps have been mostly green instead of white and typically cold and snowy sections of the U.S. have spent most of the winter well above the freezing mark. The Energy Department now expects heating bills for U.S. households that use natural gas to rise by 12 percent this winter instead of 28 percent it forecast in October. The warm winter has also helped inventories in the U.S., which are expected to close March 16 percent above the five-year average. The sharp drop in energy prices comes amid a broader easing of inflation as the Federal Reserve and other central banks fight high prices by raising interest rates. U.S. inflation is at about 6.4 percent, well below a year ago but still far above the central bank’s 2 percent target. The Fed says it'll stay focused on fighting inflation until it's sure prices are on a sustained downward path. Energy companies that made record profits last year are now feeling the pinch of falling prices. Natural gas producer EQT Corp. is down more than 8 percent this year after gaining 55 percent in 2022. Chesapeake Energy Corp. has lost more than 11 percent in 2023 after surging 46 percent last year. OFF THE CHARTS Plunging natural gas prices relieve inflation pressure By Damian J. Troise ASSOC IATED PRE SS Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press A cul-de-sac runs through a new housing development in October in Middlesex Township, Pa. The price of natural gas used to heat homes and generate electricity is plunging in 2023 thanks to a mild winter in the U.S. JUNEAU, Alaska — Oildependent Alaska has long sought ways to fatten its coffers and move away from the fiscal whiplash of oil’s boom-and-bust cycles. The newest idea, promoted by Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, would have the state capitalize on its oil and gas expertise to tap into a developing industry — carbon storage — as a way to generate new revenues without curtailing the extraction industries that underpin Alaska’s economy. It’s also being pitched as a potential way for petroleum and mining companies to head off legal challenges over greenhouse gas impacts. Hearings with state lawmakers are underway on legislation that would charge companies rent and fees for carbon dioxide storage deep underground in places like the Cook Inlet oil and gas basin. Hearings are coming on another bill that would enable Alaska to set up programs so companies could buy credits to offset their emissions. While details are few, such so-called “carbon offset” proposals sometimes include letting trees stand that otherwise might have been logged with the idea that the carbon stays stored in the trees so a company can pollute elsewhere. Dunleavy said the state ultimately could earn billions annually without raising taxes on industry or Alaska residents. Alaskans currently receive yearly checks from the state’s oilwealth fund and pay no statewide sales or personal income taxes. “The reason we landed on this is it doesn’t gore any ox, and more importantly, it’s in line with what Alaska does, and that’s resources,” Dunleavy said, underscoring the idea that the plan wouldn’t harm existing interests. But some environmentalists say the state, which has a front-row seat to the ravages of climate change, should be focused more on investing in renewables and green projects. Many of the oil companies operating in Alaska have emissions reductions targets, but the state itself has no overarching climate plan or emissions reduction goals. The governor “will be the first person to tell you it doesn’t have anything to do with climate change, and it doesn’t have anything to do with solving Alaska’s energy needs,” said Matt Jackson, climate program manager with the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council. It’s unclear exactly how much money Alaska could reap from the proposals, and there are still many questions around ideas such as the potential for other states or countries to ship in carbon dioxide for underground storage. Alaska officials for now have emphasized they want to prepare a regulatory framework for future carbon storage. Shipping carbon dioxide is being analyzed in parts of the world. A project in Norway aims to ship carbon dioxide captured at European industrial sites and pump it into the seabed in Norway, according to the International Energy Agency. Japan is working on shipping technology. Lawmakers want to find experts who can help them analyze Dunleavy’s proposals, said state Rep. Ben Carpenter, who chairs the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee. Carpenter said finding people with the experience necessary has been a challenge. Alaska is rich in traditional resources — oil, gas, minerals and timber — and is home to a largely intact forest the size of West Virginia that is estimated to hold more carbon than any other U.S. national forest. But Alaska is also feeling the impacts of climate change: coastal erosion threatening Indigenous villages, unusual wildfires, thinning sea ice and permafrost that threatens to release carbon as it melts. Dunleavy’s plan would give the Department of Natural Resources, which manages state lands for development including oil leasing, authority to implement carbon offset programs and would set up protocols for underground injection and mass storage of carbon dioxide. Alaska’s concept echoes efforts in other fossil fueldependent states to capitalize on carbon offsets and sequestration or other emissions-reducing technologies while continuing to support the traditional industries they’ve long relied on, such as oil, gas or coal. The proposal for underground storage also would offer a way for companies to mitigate emissions that might otherwise tie a project up in court, said Aaron O’Quinn with the state Division of Oil and Gas. Cook Inlet, the state’s oldest-producing oil and gas basin near Anchorage, could serve as an underground storage site for carbon dioxide pollution from other states or even countries, according to the state Department of Natural Resources. The agency also said federal tax credits aimed at spurring carbon storage could provide a boost for a liquefied natural gas project. As part of its plan, Alaska wants to get authority from federal regulators for oversight of carbon injection wells, something North Dakota and Wyoming have already secured and that other states, like Louisiana, are pursuing or interested in. An Iowa-based company working with Midwest ethanol plants is pursuing a $4.5 billion carbon dioxide pipeline project that would store the gas underground in North Dakota. The idea has gotten pushback from some landowners. In Wyoming, a state law requires utilities to evaluate getting at least some of their electricity from power plants fitted with carbon capture equipment, but utility reports suggest such retrofitting could cost hundreds of millions of dollars per plant with the expense showing up in higher electricity bills. Wyoming’s governor, Republican Mark Gordon, has vowed to make the coal state carbon negative, in part by trapping the carbon dioxide emitted by the state’s coal-fired power plants and pumping it underground. ConocoPhillips Alaska, Alaska’s largest oil producer, is among the companies that have expressed interest in Dunleavy’s carbon plan but said it is too early to make any commitments. The company is pursuing an oil project on Alaska’s far-northern edge that it says could produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil a day. Environmentalists call the Willow oil project a “carbon bomb” that could lead to more development in the region if approved by the federal government. A decision could come by early March. CLIMATE CHANGE Capitalizing on carbon Dan Joling/Associated Press Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has proposed a plan that could use the Cook Inlet basin for carbon sequestration. By Becky Bohrer ASSOC IATED PRE SS
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 B5 TECHNOLOGY Q. Google Chrome is showing pop-up ads in the lower right corner of my screen. They are not anything that I want to see or use. How can I turn these off? A. These notifications in Chrome can be quite annoying. They are often activated inadvertently by clicking on certain things when browsing the Web. They are usually used to send you notifications when a website is displaying new content that you might want to look at. The easiest way to get rid of these is to simply reset Google Chrome. Instructions for this can be found at tinyurl.com/help lineresetchrome. If you are wanting to disable these notifications for certain sites but not for others, it’s a little more complicated. But you may want to do this if you have enabled notifications on things like your Webmail or your various social media accounts. Detailed instructions for this can be found at https://tinyurl.com/helplinenotifications. This also will have instructions for preventing notifications on the future if you just want to disable it completely. Q. I am writing a document in Microsoft Word. I have added page numbering to the document, but instead of showing the actual page number, I see the word PAGE inside of two brackets. How do I get it to show me the page number? A. What you are seeing is an editing tool feature called a Field Code. This is something that basically shows you the underlying code that controls adding things like a page number to your document. You can turn this off in the settings for Microsoft Word. If you are using Word on a Windows PC, toggling Field Codes is a simple matter of typing Alt+F9 when the document is open. If you are using Word on a Mac, click on Preferences and then View and check or uncheck the Field Codes instead of values box in the Show in Document area of the screen. [email protected] Helpline: Putting a stop to those Chrome notification ads Jay Lee HELP L INE When Apple introduced the original HomePod in 2018, it was praised for bringing spectacular sound to the nascent smart speaker category. But critics dinged it for its spectacular price of $349 and for the limitations the device placed on its digital assistant, Siri, which already was challenged enough in the “smart” category. Much has changed since then, but a lot remains the same with the second-generation HomePods, which went on sale this month. The sound quality remains excellent, the price is lower but still formidable and Siri is still more frustrating than useful. In the years between releases, Apple discontinued the original HomePods in 2021, introduced a smaller and significantly cheaper, $99 HomePod mini and beefed up its audio with Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio support. The reappearance of the big HomePod was something of a surprise, but then again, the original model had become a hot item on the resale market, commanding higher prices than when it was new. Clearly, demand was there. The next-gen HomePods are a tiny bit shorter and just a tad lighter than the originals, but otherwise, they’re almost identical in appearance. The new version is still wrapped in an acoustically invisible mesh, in colors dubbed “Midnight” and white, which look very similar to version 1.0’s “Space Gray” and white. Apple sent me one of each color to review, and if I were to buy a pair, I’d opt for “Midnight.” There are two big differences externally. The HomePod now has a removable power cord and surprisingly, it uses the standard figureeight plug found in a lot of consumer electronics. Also, the backlit touchscreen on the new model is slightly inset, similar to the HomePod mini’s design, and lights up edge-to-edge when Siri is engaged, or just in the center when it’s playing music or delivering home-theater audio. It looks good, but it can be hard to see the plus-and-minus volume control indicators etched into the screen when Siri’s lights get all swirly. The processor used in the new HomePod is the S7, the same chip that powers the Series 7 Apple Watch. The original model used the A8 chip, which was found in the iPhone 6. And Apple has made an odd choice in dropping back to an older Wi-Fi standard. The original model used Wi-Fi 5 to connect to the internet, but the new one uses Wi-Fi 4. Yes, it’s probably done to cut costs and fortunately, even highres audio can be delivered well via this older protocol. The guts of the new HomePod actually have less audio hardware than the original. Version 1.0 had seven horn tweeters, but the 2023 model has five. The original had six microphones; the new one has four. These changes are likely a costshaving measure, but it doesn’t seem to impact the speaker’s audio quality, nor Siri’s ability to hear you even when the room is loud and the jams are cranking. The muscle in the HomePod’s sound comes from a downwardfiring, four-inch woofer. This delivers some serious bass, and if you live in a multi-unit building, your neighbors are going to hate you. In fact, the bass can sometimes be overpowering – enough that the only audio control (other than volume) that you get is a bass-reduction switch in the macOS, iPadOS or iOS Home app. As with the original, the HomePod uses its speakers and microphone to sense the layout of the room, and will aim its audio to provide the best effect. For example, if you have the speaker in front of a wall, it will direct sound behind it to bounce back into the room. The new HomePod has support for Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio, both of which provide surroundsound. You can use a single HomePod and still get this effect. In fact, music on just one speaker sounds very good, with a depth you wouldn’t expect. The original HomePod left the same impression, but the support for these more advanced audio features kicks it up a notch. But it’s when you pair two HomePods that you’ll get the most impressive sound. When I reviewed the original HomePod in 2018 (see houstonchronicle.com/homepod), the speaker didn’t yet have the ability to pair with another. That changed later with a software update, but I didn’t get a chance to try it, until now. The difference between one and two speakers is so dramatic that I almost think Apple’s pulled a baitand-switch here. Sure, you can spend $299 for one speaker, but once you hear the possibilities, it’s only going to make you pine for another. Paired HomePods are the way to go. That said, my impressions of how music sounds on them, and the kind of music that sounds best, hasn’t changed much from 2018 when I wrote: “On many tunes, the guitar, bass, drum, vocals, piano and brass can be clearly heard as separate. …This works better on newer songs recorded with modern production techniques. If you’re listening to older music — particularly that which hasn’t been remastered digitally — the sound quality is more like the audio-in-a-can sensation you expect from lesser wireless speakers.” So Taylor Swift’s “Midnights” album sounds great but a nonremastered version of Iggy Pop’s tune “The Passenger” does not. Lizzo’s “About Damn Time” has a layered, powerful sound, while The Clash’s classic “Sandinista” album is muddy and disappointing. If you can find remastered songs of older music, particularly remixed into Apple’s Spatial Audio format — and there’s quite a bit on Apple Music — you’ll be happy. And speaking of Apple Music, it’s the only streaming music service that works directly through the HomePod. You can use AirPlay on your iPhone or iPad to stream other services, such as Spotify or Tidal, but the audio quality won’t be as good. I also am in love with the HomePods as home theater audio speakers. The Dolby Atmos support, clear delineation of individual voices and instruments and its commanding bass make for great movie and TV audio. But you need to use the Apple TV 4K box from 2021 or 2022. You can’t use the HomePods with other streaming TV platforms, including Roku or Google TV. Finally, there’s Siri. As with the original version, the HomePods’ Siri capabilities are music-focused. You can get pretty obscure, and so long as your question is phrased well, you’ll hear the music you want. I asked Siri to play “1950s-era jazz music,” and the HomePods began to play 1950s rock ’n’ roll. When I rephrased it as “play jazz music from the 1950s,” I got what I wanted. (And it was a pretty nice playlist!) But ask it a question that’s the least bit challenging, the type of query that Amazon’s Alexa or the Google Assistant excel at, and the HomePod’s Siri is apt to tell you “ask again on your iPhone.” Siri also can be used to control smart-home devices that work with Apple’s HomeKit system. The new HomePod adds support for Matter, a new smart-home standard support by Apple, Amazon and Google. I’ll write more about this in a few weeks in a column that will focus on Matter, and why it matters. Stay tuned. [email protected] mastodon.social/@dsilverman Apple’s pricey, big HomePod is back — and you’ll want two Dwight Silverman/Contributor Apple’s new HomePod is a lot like the original but with a lower price tag and more audio support. Dwight Silverman PERSONAL TECH Apple The new HomePod has fewer tweeters and microphones but still sounds as good as the original.
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HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 B7 ResponsiveEd Texas a open-enrollment charter school, is issuing a Request for Competitive Sealed oposals (CSP) for a General Contractor to perform construction services on 3 different projects at: Premier High School Houston Greenspoint – 250 N. Sam Houston Parkway, East, Houston, Texas, 77060. Build-out 3 offices, secured vestibule with access controls. Premier High School Longview – 1905 West Loop 281, Longview, Texas, 75064, Secured vestibules with access controls. Premier High School Houston Sharpstown – 6615 Rookin Street, Houston, 77074, Secured vestibule with access controls. Responsive Education Solution Construction Services intends to evaluate responses and select a General Contractor in a one-step selection process in accordance with Sections 2269.251-.258 of the Texas Government Code. To request a CSP package, please contact Jorge Ramirez at [email protected] or call 469-902- 4466. Proposals must be submitted by 2:00 pm, on February 23, 2023 . Sealed proposals will be opened at 2:00 pm, on February 23, 2023 at the School’s central administrative offices located at 1301 Waters Ridge Drive, Lewisville, TX 75057. Responsive Education Solution reserves the right to reject any or all responses to this RFP, to waive technicalities, to re-advertise or to proceed otherwise where in the best interest of the Responsive Education Solutions. Responses should be submitted sealed and plainly marked: “SEALED VESTIBULES” and sent to the attention of T. Lynn Tompkins, Jr., VP of Construction and Real Estate. Late responses will not be accepted and will be returned unopened. Harris-Fort Bend County ESD #100 is accepting proposals for a Construction Manager @ Risk for the construction of the new Community Volunteer Fire Station 95 and Administrative Facility on Thursday, March 2, 2023 until 10:00 A.M. Proposals will be received at Joiner Architects, Inc., 700 Rockmead Dr., #265, Kingwood, TX 77339 (281) 359-6401. Please email [email protected] for Request for Proposal packet. Austin Commercial is soliciting design-consulting proposals for: Architectural Precast, Glazing and Traffic Control for the MD Anderson Clinical Services Building in Houston, TX. Interested parties must email houstonestimating@austi n-ind.com for bidding information. All interested Texas D/M/WBE HUB organizations are encouraged to propose. This public advertisement will run until March 2nd. Request for Proposals Food Service Management Company BOE Bid #2024-01 The Tarkington Independent School District has issued a request for Proposals (RFP) for a qualified Food Service Management Company (FSMC). The FSMC will administer the breakfast and lunch program for 1,900 students under state and federal laws and regulations. Interested respondents must attend a pre-proposal conference and site visitations on March 6, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. at Tarkington I.S.D. Central Office. Proposals are due April 6, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. at 2770 FM 163, Cleveland, Texas 77327. Interested parties can download the RFP on our website: www.tarkingtonisd.net Request for Qualifications RFQ 23-01 General Architectural and Engineering Services Affordable Multi-Family Housing Harris County Housing Authority (“HCHA”) is requesting qualification submissions from qualified Architects and Architectural firms for general architecture and engineering services for affordable multifamily developments. Proposals Due: Rolling Basis until March 13, 2023 at 3:00 PM. Proposal Submission – Sealed submissions shall be submitted to : Harris County Housing Authority, 1933 Hussion Street, Building #3, Houston, TX 77003. Attn: Affordable Housing Department. RFQ 23-01 will be posted on February 20, 2023 and can be downloaded from HCHA’s website www.hchatexas.org. Request for Qualifications RFQ 23-02 Development Consultant for Affordable Multi-Family Housing The Harris County Housing Authority (“HCHA”) is requesting qualification submissions from experienced developer consultants for affordable multi-family housing in Harris County. Proposals Due: Rolling Basis Until March 13, 2023 at 3:00 PM. Proposal Submission – Sealed submissions shall be submitted to : Harris County Housing Authority, 1933 Hussion Street, Building #3, Houston, TX 77003. Attn: Affordable Housing Department. RFQ 23-02 will be posted on and can be downloaded from HCHA’s website www.hchatexas.org. Cause Number: 2020- 59339 Plaintiff: ROBINSON, JENNIFER MOUTON (INDEPENDENT EXECUTOR OF HE ESTATE OF JOSEPH ORA MOUTON) Vs. Defendant: SMITH, CLIFTON AND UNKNOWN HEIRS OF CLIFTON STRAUSS JR IN THE 215TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT OF HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS CITATION BY PUBLICATION THE STATE OF TEXAS County of Harris To: THE UNKNOWN HEIRS AT LAW AND UNKNOWN DEVISEES OF CLIFTON STRAUSS JR WHOSE RESIDENCE AND WHEREABOUTS ARE UNKNOWN YOU ARE HEREBY COMMANDED to be and appear before the 215TH Judicial District Court of Harris County, Texas in the Courthouse in the city of Houston, Texas at or before 10:00 o’clock A.M. Monday, the 27TH FEBRUARY, 2023, being the Monday next after the expiration date of forty-two days after this citation is issued, and you are hereby commanded and required then and there to appear and file written answer to the PLAINTIFF’S FIRST AMENDED ORIGINAL PETITION AND ORDER FOR CITATION BY PUBLICATION, filed in said Court on the 28TH day of SEPTEMBER, 2022, in a suit numbered 2020-59339 on the docket of said court, wherein JENNIFER MOUTON ROBINSON INDEPENDENT EXECUTOR OF THE ESTATE OF JOSEPH ORA MOUTON, is Plaintiff(s), CLIFTON SMITH AND THE UNKNOWN HEIRS OF CLIFTON STRAUSS JR, are Defendants, the nature of plaintiff’s demand and the said petition alleging: “You are hereby notified that suit has been brought by Plaintiff, Jennifer Mouton Robinson, Independent Executor of The Estate of Joseph Ora Mouton, against the Unknown Devisees of Clifton Strauss, Jr. for trespass to try title by adverse possession and to quiet title against 3717 Josephine, Harris County, Texas 77026 legally described as: Lot (8) in Block (7) of Angiers, Section one (1), a Subdivision in Harris County, Texas According to the Map Records of Plat thereof Recorded in the Map Records of Harris County Texas by and through the attorney for Plaintiffs, Jennifer Mouton, 2617C W. Holcombe #275, Houston, Texas 77025 Tel. (713) 419- 6399” Notice thereof shall be given by publishing this Citation once a week for four consecutive weeks previous to the 27th day of FEBRUARY, 2023, in some newspaper published in the County of HARRIS, if there be a newspaper published therein, but if not, then the nearest county where a newspaper is published, and this Citation shall be returned on 23rd day of FEBRUARY, 2023 which is forty two days after the date it is issued, and the first publication shall be at least twenty-eight days before said return day. HEREIN FAIL NOT, but have before said court on said return day this Writ with your return thereon, showing how you have executed same. WITNESS: MARILYN BURGESS, District Clerk, Harris County Texas GIVEN UNDER MY HAND AND SEAL OF SAID COURT at Houston, Texas on 12th day of JANUARY, 2023. (SEAL) Newspaper: Houston Chronicle Issued at the request of: JENNIFER MOUTON Address: 2617C WEST HOLCOMBE, #275 HOUSTON, TEXAS 77025 Bar Number: 14606550 Tel. Number: 713-419- 6399 MARILYN BURGESS, District Clerk Harris Cunty, Texas 201 Caroline, Houston, Texas 77002 P.O. Box 4651, Houston, Texas 77210 By: ____/s/______ MONICA JACKSON, Deputy District Clerk Notice To Creditors Ad $74.00* Call the Legals Team 713-224-6868 Ext. 6435 or 4204 *$74.00 includes first 36 lines and 1 Affidavit of Publication *$1.92 per line over 36 lines Alex Gable spent recent weeks in the bleary-eyed haze of new parenthood. His son was born in November and Gable powered down his laptop, deleted Slack from his phone and focused on caring for his wife while making the most of the four precious hours a day that their baby was awake — there was tummy time and time spent ogling little drawings of snowflakes. Then on Jan. 18, Gable got an early morning notification for an allhands meeting at Coda, the software company where he worked as a data scientist. Four hours later Gable, 30, found himself having to deliver the news to his wife: He had been laid off while on paternity leave — months after choosing the company for its generous paternity leave policy and openness toward worklife balance. “It’s like an earthquake,” he said. “It’s the weight of ‘What am I going to bring him up with? How is his first year going to go? How are you going to make ends meet?’” Workers across the tech and media industries are experiencing a period of immense whiplash. After lavishing their employees with perks, in a tight labor market and a war for talent, companies have turned to mass job cuts, including Alphabet, which laid off 6 percent of its workers last month, and Microsoft, which cut nearly 5 percent. These are the same companies that spent recent years expanding benefits in one area in particular: paid parental leave and caregiver benefits, which fill in the gaps for white-collar workers in a country where the federal government does not require employers to offer paid parental leave. Which means that working parents have felt the turbulence of mass layoffs in an especially visceral way. Now some are spending their early weeks of parenthood adjusting to life without a job. LinkedIn and Twitter have been filled with accounts of workers being laid off while on parental leave or even, in at least two instances, while delivering a baby. That comes with a mental health toll — as so many laid-off workers across different backgrounds have experienced, including those who are immigrants with visas tied to employment. Employees across tech have felt that their companies engaged in a bait and switch, after selling not just a job but a lifestyle, with child care, mental health support and plentiful paid time off. For new parents, generous leave was part of the draw. Many had assumed that their parental leave came with some legal protection, and were distraught to learn they were caught up in mass job cuts. Being on parental leave does not protect someone from mass layoffs unrelated to their leave. The United States has no federal paid-familyleave policy. About 23 percent of private employees have paid maternity leave, according to September 2022 data from the career site Zippia. More than 90 percent of women take the full amount of leave offered, compared with about two-thirds of men, according to a survey by the Boston College Center for Work and Family. But in the past five years, companies scaled up family-friendly benefits for some workers in what human resources experts called the “golden age” of corporate benefits. A study from Mercer found that 54 percent of large companies covered in vitro fertilization in 2022, compared with 36 percent in 2015, and 19 percent covered egg freezing compared with 6 percent in 2015. Tech companies were especially generous on parental leave compared with other industries. Google increased its parental leave to 24 weeks from 18 in 2021, Meta offers parents 20 weeks, and Microsoft gave 20 weeks for birthing parents and 12 weeks for nonbirthing parents. California, too, increased parental leave benefits to eight weeks from six. ZipRecruiter found that 849 out of 100,000 job postings offered paid parental leave in 2022, up from 95 out of 100,000 in 2017. This expansion of family-friendly benefits was partly a bid for female talent, as historically male-dominated workplaces made commitments to bringing in more women. It also reflected a cultural shift, as a new generation of workers, across genders, made it clear they wanted the flexibility to play an active role in child care, according to Joan Williams, a professor at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco. “There’s a sizable portion of young men who would be bent out of shape if they couldn’t take family leave,” Williams said. “Tech companies realized they could try to steal talent by having the best set of family leave policies around.” With these new perks also came an uptick in the share of men taking paternity leave. In 2011, fewer than 5 percent of new fathers took more than two weeks of paternity leave. Today, 90 percent of men take more than seven weeks of leave if they are offered eight weeks, according to the Boston College Center for Work and Family. Some managers started proactively asking male workers how they planned to use their leave time, leaving behind the culture of assuming that fathers would take off only a few days. People on parental leave typically have no special legal protection when it comes to mass layoffs. Many workers have a legal right to take parental leave for the birth or adoption of a child, under the Family and Medical Leave Act, a federal law, or similar state laws. But being on leave, including for disability, doesn’t usually protect people from job cuts that would have happened anyway. “It’s jarring because people do view it as jobprotected leave without understanding that there are limits on the protection,” said Megan Bisk, head of the employment law practice at Ropes & Gray. “Many people view it as a time when they’re not in a position to be job searching.” If workers were laid off because they were on parental leave, that would be illegal — but it would be difficult to prove, Bisk explained, because the criteria companies use for layoffs aren’t disclosed to laid-off workers. The lack of legal guidelines has resulted in a patchwork of policies among companies. For those laid off while on parental leave, Amazon is offering to pay out the remainder of their time off, as well as severance packages. Meta and Google, on the other hand, aren’t paying for any remaining parental leave but are offering all employees several months of pay and additional severance. Several workers who were laid off while on parental leave declined to speak for this article, citing fears of retribution because their severance packages are tied to agreements that they won’t speak to the media. Niki Woodall, who was an engineering leadership recruiter at one of the world’s largest tech companies, agreed to share her experience without naming her employer. She had been at the company for five years when she told her bosses that she planned to take six months of maternity leave starting last summer. Their family-friendly attitude gave her the confidence to completely unplug from work. She said she left without thinking: “My job is at stake.” A month before she was set to return, she received a personal email letting her know that her job was being eliminated. She turned to her 4- month-old daughter, who was sitting beside the family cat, Wesa, and said, “Mommy lost her job.” “There’s a big misperception that you can’t be let go during maternity leave,” said Woodall, 39. She was disappointed to lose her job but not surprised because the layoffs hit many fellow recruiters. Other parents who lost their jobs said they wondered whether their absence from the office contributed to executives deciding their position was redundant. Some parental leave experts worry that fear of future layoffs could deter new fathers from taking their leave. As Brad Harrington, executive director of the Boston College Center for Work and Family, put it: “This will have a sobering effect.” Gable had a previous layoff experience, from Zillow, in 2021 — at the height of the pandemic’s white hot job market. The career opportunities felt endless — including many at companies with generous policies toward parents. He chose Coda because he sensed that managers there were supportive of workers taking time for their families. As he prepares to apply for tech jobs yet again, his options feel far more limited. “It’s weird to have that pulled out from under you,” he said. “The market conditions are basically the opposite right now.” EMPLOYMENT When having a baby and losing your job collide Grant Hindsley/New York Times Alex Gable, who was laid off from his job while on paternal leave, cuddles his son in Burien, Wash. By Emma Goldberg and Tripp Mickle NEW YORK T IME S Todd Anderson/New York Times Niki Woodall, laid off a month before she was set to return from maternity leave, works at home in Orlando, Fla.
B8 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM CAREERS Employing the fastest-growing city in the nation Q: I recently had an unexpected change at work that continues to bother me, and I would like your suggestions on how to deal with it. I had been working on a massive project that took months to plan and was suddenly taken off the lead role when the launch date was near. A newly recruited leader decided that I needed more experience to manage the project, and their decision made me rethink my career. How can I move past this? A: Change will happen at work regardless of your ability to lead. The skills employers look for are managing change without disrupting your motivation or creating doubt within yourself. The way you bounce back is often related to the perspective you take. Emotional intelligence is recognizing emotions and applying thought to situations that help you become aware of your behavior, empathy, social interactions, and reactions. Becoming selfaware of your behavior will be one of the essential skills in your career. High levels of emotional intelligence are often good predictors of career success. In fact, out of the 10 traits that recruiters look for in candidates, emotional intelligence is listed. Any time a change happens at work, it can take you off focus and, if you are not self-aware, can create a loss of momentum. It takes time and effort to coordinate a large project, and the relationships you made while planning the project are also significant. When you experience disappointment or setbacks at work, anger could be one of the first emotions. Recognizing that anger could influence your decision to rethink your career could be an excellent example of self-awareness. Dealing with setbacks is not about denying you are disappointed. It is instead how you accept change and move on. Consider how many co-workers and senior management are observing how you handle this decision. The newly elected leader may need to meet with you more often to know you well enough to feel comfortable in having you lead a project that will reflect their leadership. Being confident in your ability to manage a large-scale project comes from within and the experience you build over time. Allowing the decision to choose another project lead does not need to be a stumbling block. Instead, turn it into a leverage of support. The new project lead might need your insight and knowledge. You can move forward by stepping back and recognizing how your emotions could be taking you off course. Confide in people you trust who will offer honest feedback and help you process the change. Take time to gather your thoughts and emotions. Identify the ones that are getting in the way of you moving forward. Being resilient in bouncing back from unexpected change builds good leadership skills. When you accept change positively, others will notice, and your influence will likely open the way for future project completions. The key is not allowing setbacks to affect your attitude or your ability to relate to people. Focus on problem-solving and setting goals to get your career back on track by allowing your emotions to work for you instead of creating career blocks. Kimberly Thompson, M.Ed., is a national board-certified counselor and career coach. Send questions to kim@careerrescue.com or visit her blog at HoustonChronicle.com/careers. CAREER RESCUE Use emotional intelligence when dealing with change KIMBERLY THOMPSON Josep Suria/Shutterstock STORE MANAGER South Post Oak Business, LLC Ed pref/See Below Houston, TX Yrs exp/See Below See Below to Apply Full-Time Store Manager (Houston, TX) sought by South Post Oak Business, LLC. Responsibilities include: Directly supervise and coordinate activities of retail sales workers; Assign specific duties and coordinate employee schedules; Perform daily station cleaning and enforce safety, health, and security rules; Provide customer service by greeting and assisting customers with inquiries and complaints; Prepare food and drinks; Clean and maintain food prep areas in compliance with health codes; Examine merchandise to ensure it is correctly priced and displayed; Perform cash and credit sales transactions; Operate price scanners and point of sales systems; Confer with vendors to obtain product and service information such as price, availability, and delivery schedule; Discuss defective or unacceptable goods/services with inspection or quality control personnel, users, vendors, and others to determine source trouble and take corrective action; Maintain procurement records such as items or services purchased, costs, delivery, product quality and performance, and inventories; Prepare purchase orders, bid requests, and budget reports; Issue purchase orders to suppliers and confirm delivery date, quantity ordered, and price are correct. Special requirements include: coputer skills, ability to multi-task, basic math skills. Minimum education: high school degree or equivalent; minimum work experience 24 months in Store Manager or related field. Please send resume to worksite location: ATTN: Store Manager, 13501 S Post Oak Road, Houston, TX 77045. FOOD PREPARATION WORKER Texas Jin Yu LLC (dba: Sapporo Japanese Bistro & Sushi) Ed pref/See Below Houston, TX Yrs exp/See Below See Below to Apply Full-Time Food Preparation Worker (Houston, TX) - 3 Full Time Positions. Perform a variety of food preparation duties other than cooking, such as preparing cold foods, slicing meat, and brewing coffee or tea. Store food in designated containers and storage areas. Portion and wrap the food, or place it directly on plates for service to patrons. Clean and sanitize work areas. No education nor experience required. Tuesday through Saturday 11:00 am to 07:00 pm. Contact employer via email at: Texas Jin Yu LLC (dba: Sapporo Japanese Bistro & Sushi), Attn: Nhi Boi Truong, Manager at: [email protected] TILE INSTALLATION CREW LEADER Paulo’s Tile, LLC Edu Req/See Below Houston, Tx Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Tile Installation Crew Leader. Responsible for supervision and coordination of work crew involved in tile installation. Review job order and verifies measurements. Determines proper tools, equipment, and supplies needed for job completion. Assigns duties to individual crew members. Conducts training of crew members as may be necessary; must undergo background check and drug screening. Requires 12 months job experience, 75-80% travel to customer locations within the greater Houston MSA. For consideration, mail resume & employment references to Paulo’s Tile, LLC. (Attn: Paulo Mejia), 13714 Spring Point VW, Houston, Texas 77083. RESTAURANT MANAGER Thai Cottage II, Inc Ed pref/See Below Sugar Land, TX Yrs exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time RESTAURANT MANAGER sought by Thai Restaurant in Sugar Land, TX. Require 2 yrs. experience on job offered. In lieu of the required experience, applicants with any suitable combination of education, training or experience are acceptable, including Associate degree or higher in Hospitality Industry or Business Administration or its academic equivalency. Respond by mailing resume only to: Mr. N. Porncharaenchaiyasilp, Thai Cottage II, Inc., 4723 Sweetwater Boulevard, Sugar Land, TX 77479. NANNY The Bells Ed pref/See Below Houston, TX Yrs exp/See Below See Below to Apply Full-Time Nanny sought by The Bells in Houston, TX, to provide care for their two children. Workhours are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mon thru Fri, however candidate might be reqd to spend evenings, late nights, weekends or holidays w/ children based on couple needs. Min Req: Reqs a High School Diploma or GED or foreign equiv & 6 months of exp as Nanny, Babysitter, or Au Pair. Send resume to [email protected]. Ref# NANNY HEALTHCARE OPERATIONS MANAGER Ezzy OMS PLLC Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Managing the revenue cycle; and overseeing patient billing, claims, and reimbursement. Managing the healthcare facility’s policies and procedures, ensuring that best practices are followed. Assists with preparation and arrangements for activities and compliance with regulations. Master’s degree in Healthcare Management is required. Mail resume: Ezzy OMS PLLC Attn: A. Millwala, 11620 Louetta Rd. Suite B, Houston, TX 77070 SALES DIRECTOR – EUROPE AND ASIA Unconventional Gas Solutions, LLC Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Roles & Responsibilities • Implementation of long-term, short-term and operational strategies for Company sales in the region. • Generation of price and product policies of the Company in the region Investigation and analysis of market outlets in the region. Monitor competitive environment in the region. • Obtain leads and work with prospective clients. • Work will include preparation of commercial offers, technical and commercial negotiations and technical support of Company’s products • Augmentation and extension of current clientele and sales channels. • Supervise preparation of contractual documents and monitoring performance of contractual terms and conditions of projects. • Oversee production and quality control of locally manufactured equipment and units in the region. Type of projects and equipment: Natural gas treatment systems- Sour gas treatment, Acid gas treatment, Compression and Catalytic de-oxygenation and dehydration units Membrane based Nitrogen generators with Compression and Pre-treatment. Membrane based Helium Recovery units with Compression and Pretreatment • Travel required: Middle East & West and East Europe, 4 times/year, each visit could be week/two weeks duration Education & Experience • MBA and/or other advanced degree in Engineering or related field. • Minimum 5 years as sales director or manager in natural gas treatment industry Skill Required • Process simulation & modeling • Process calculations and equipment sizing & selection • System design and pricing • Specifications of sub-ordered equipment and components, conforming to the regional specifications and standards • Development and adaptation of Quality control methodologies and practices for the regional specifications and standards • Development of Testing and commissioning procedures applicable for the region’s require Contact • Resumes may be submitted to: [email protected] • Phone: 346-624-9280 MARKETING ANALYST American Power Buying LLC dba Wireless Liquidation Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time American Power Buying LLC dba Wireless Liquidation seeks Marketing Analyst (Houston, TX). Research market conditions to assess potential sales of products of consumer goods. Create marketing and distribution plans to enhance sales and online products availability and visibility. Take ownership of analyses required on an ad-hoc, daily, weekly, quarterly, and yearly basis. Coordinate efforts for online content optimization and management. Support team in compiling and communicating documents, reports, and presentations for meetings. Prepare documents for team and address projects on marketing and distribution implementation as required. Perform marketing analysis to develop and maintain reports, dashboards, and insights based on same to highlight customer trends, and performance and provide recommendations on areas of opportunity. Help determine what products are in demand, who will purchase same and price they are willing to pay. Research other market viability in increment revenues. Requirements: Bachelor degree in Market Research, Business Administration or related field and 2 yr. exp. with marketing analysis and research. Submit CVs via email to: Rahim Ali - [email protected] QUALITY ENGINEER SUPERVISOR Anchor Fabrication Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Position Summary: Quality Engineer Supervisor in a fast paced, quality centered environment. This role is vital to ensuring the conformance of the Quality Management System is maintained and constantly improved. A unique blend of the following characteristics is needed: • Strong integrity, committed to principle-centered leadership, and highly accountable. • Ability to exude high energy, solution-based thinking, while focusing great attention to detail and maintaining a service-oriented disposition. • Contribute to a work environment that promotes pride in being part of a winning team and encourages personal and professional growth and success. • Assure productivity and high-quality standards are constant so the company and employees collectively enjoy optimum financial returns, job security, personal career growth and excellent service to customers. • The ability to supervise and lead the Quality Assurance team, lead employee improvement and accountability. Primary Responsibilities: • Manage effective Corrective and Preventative Action process designed to prevent quality exceptions. • Identify, introduce, and lead quality improvement initiatives. • Develop and utilize statistical analysis system. • Drive quality certification processes, with duties to include maintaining effective documentation control and change control process, ensuring company remains current on all quality certifications and seeking out new certifications for company to qualify to. • Work with Purchasing Manager to manage vendor qualification process. • Oversee and manage customer quality qualification. • Effectively and efficiently respond to customer requests for documentation. • Develop and implement metrics designed to measure quality system. • Prepare and present data pertinent to company’s quality system. • Work with Executive Management to design quality development strategy. • Further develop and deploy company’s training program, ensuring training is consistent with ISO 9001:2008 requirements. • Have an action-oriented approach, with a sense of urgency and responsiveness in solving problems and meeting the business needs. Minimum Skills: • Management experience with previous oversight of employees. • Bachelor’s degree or 10 years of relevant quality experience. • Knowledge and experience with quality systems (ISO 9001). • Knowledge of structured problem-solving techniques. • Ability to clearly communicate in terms that are understandable by internal and external customers. • Experience and understanding of APQP including: o Process Flow Diagrams o Process FMEA o Process Control Plans o Process Capability Studies • Experience building, or helping to build, a scalable quality system. • Experience training individuals to his/her quality system and managing accountability measures. Preferred Competency • Experience applying programmatic quality initiatives (i.e. Six Sigma) and managing with metrics. • Ability to prioritize urgent and important issues between quality, process improvement, Six Sigma and production demand. • Exhibit ownership and accountability for enhancing customer satisfaction through a professional working relationship, ultimately creating high trust between the two companies. • Possess ability to provide constructive feedback regarding any circumstance that could impede the company meeting its objectives. Environment/Physical Requirements This position is carried out in a fabrication shop environment and as such has the following physical work requirements: • Position requires ability to stand for prolonged periods of time. • Position may require bending, kneeling, and stooping. MECH ENGR Occidental Petroleum Corp Edu Req/Unspecified Houston, TX Yrs Exp/Unspecified See Below To Apply Full-Time Occidental Petroleum Corp has an oppty in Houston, TX for an Engr Advsr Artfcl Lift. Up to 10% dmstc trvl reqd. Email resume w/Ref# oxy23-003 to [email protected]. Must be legally auth to work in the US w/o spnsrshp. EOE
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 B9 IT POSITIONS Sapphire IT Services Inc. Edu Req/See Below Katy, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time IT POSITIONS: Katy, TX & various unanticipated locations throughout the U.S.: APPLICATION DEVELOPERS: Invlv in SDLC. Crte data dctnry for map key entities & User stories. Dcmnt defintn of key biz matrices, trace data srces & crte doc for dvlpmnt team. Estblsh data pplne from source data sys to dwh. Rvrse engg complex vws & stored procdres to docmnt data srce info & biz logic. Skills req’d: Java/J2EE, Python, Oracle, Tableau, Data Warehouse, Teradata & Snowflake objects. Master’s in Sci, Tech, Prfsnl Studies, Engg, Biz Admin, or any rltd fld w/6 mos exp in job offrd or rltd occup req’d. CLOUD DEVELOPERS: Dply, mntn & trblsht apps on Cloud infra. Prfrm queries in databricks & log analytics for valdtns. Gather reqd info & prfm data ingstn into storage. Install pkgs, config & deply blds. Work w/ data mgrtn, dcmnt data manpltn prcss & scripts. Prfrm SIT & UAT. Trblshot issues. Skills req’d: Java, Azure, AWS, ANT, Maven, GitHub, Python, Jira, Kubernetes & Splunk. Master’s in Sci, Tech, Engg, or any rltd fld w/1 yr exp in job offrd or rltd occup req’d. SYSTEMS ANALYSTS: Gather rqmnts & crte detail dsgn sys specs. Use intfcs to bld cxns b/w extnl sys & SAP. Dlvr sols w/in client environ covering dvlpmnt pltfms incldng configs & web environs. Work w/ cmptng environs - sftwre, hdwr, technlgs & tools. Mnge dvlpmnt, unit & QA testing, & implmntn of biz change sols in SAP environ. Skills req’d: SAP S/4 BRIM, S/4 HANA, BAPI, SAP SD, SAP ERP, SAP FICO & MS Visio. Master’s in Sci, Tech, Engg, or any rltd fld w/1 yr exp in job offrd or rltd occup req’d. SOFTWARE ENGINEERS: Dsgn, dvlp, code, test, docmnt, impl, support & mntn web apps. Prepare technl dsgn/spec docs from biz rqmts. Dsgn, dvlp, & impl apps & progrms using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Angular, AJAX, Bootstrap, Microsoft Azure, & jQuery. Prfrm unit, integration, system, & regression testing. ID & rslve bugs. Bachelor’s in Sci, Tech, Engg, or any rltd fld w/2 yrs exp in job offrd or rltd occup req’d. ALL JOBS: Mail CV: Sapphire IT Services Inc., 633 E Fernhurst Dr., Ste 1302, Katy, TX 77450. SENIOR MANAGER Macquarie Global Services (USA) LLC Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Senior Manager, Macquarie Global Services (USA) LLC, Houston, TX. Responsibilities: Responsible for leading technical team aligned to Commodities and Global Markets Division, including providing support for Front Office Support and Market Operations Division applications; driving automation of manual support tasks; participating in technology-enabled projects, including confirming, testing, and implementing technical requirements; and providing support for front office utilizing UNIX, Java, Python, AWS, and SQL with focus on middle-office and back-office market operations and processes, including commodities and foreign exchange; participating in development and leadership of strategic improvements in relevant systems to identify possible gaps in knowledge, detect areas of improvement, and implement changes that will benefit efficiency of Commodities and Global Markets Division /Market Operations Division/Front Office Support; and providing support to front office applications that facilitate rates recovery, day-to-day positions reporting, trade booking, and end-of-day reporting/processing. Requirements: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field (Computer Engineering or Software Engineering) plus 5 years of experience in job offered or 5 years of DevOps experience within financial services industry. Prior experience must include 3 years working with Calypso technologies; 3 years working with SQL/Sybase; and 3 years working with Java. To apply, go to www.macquarie.com/careers. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, marital status, gender identity or any other impermissible criterion or circumstance. Macquarie also takes affirmative action in support of its policy to hire and advance in employment of individuals who are minorities, women, protected veterans, and individuals with disabilities. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR Macquarie Global Services (USA) LLC Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Associate Director, Macquarie Holdings (USA) Inc., Houston, TX. Responsibilities: Serve as senior physical crude oil trader with primary responsibility for all buying and selling of US Gulf Coast offshore physical crude oil volumes across at least six different grades, including maintaining and developing relationships with wide range of oil producers in area; forming new relationships with future customers, both offshore producers and local gulf coast refiners; constructing proprietary book and trading strategies specific to market space; and originating deals ranging from one month to several years in duration. Requirements: Bachelor’s degree in Finance or related field (Accounting, Business Administration, or Economics) and 5 years of experience in job offered or 5 years of experience as oil cargo trader. Prior experience must include 5 years identifying, developing, and executing entrepreneurial crude oil trade strategies; 2 years working with regulatory rules in both physical and financial crude oil markets; 2 years working with financing structures in oil trading; and 2 years performing both crude oil cargo trading and offshore US Gulf Coast crude oil pipeline trading. To apply, go to www.macquarie.com/careers. ?All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against?on the basis of?race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, marital status, gender identity or any other impermissible criterion or circumstance. Macquarie also takes affirmative action in support of its policy to hire and advance in employment of individuals who are minorities, women, protected veterans, and individuals with disabilities. INTERNATIONAL IN-HOUSE LEGAL CONSULTANT Fulkrum Technical Resources Inc. Ed pref/See Below Houston, TX Yrs exp/See Below See Below to Apply Full-Time Fulkrum Technical Resources Inc. seeks an International In-House Legal Consultant to work in Houston, TX to assist technology teams with legal assistance and problem solving in judicial and normative matters in the various European jurisdictions the company operates in. Review general compliance practices for project teams, particular if operating in the different European jurisdiction areas. Need Master of Laws, plus 3 years of experience as a professional lawyer advising on European and Italian tax legislation, business compliance, import export compliance, court litigation, drafting and negotiating all legal documents for number of Italian and international clients. Advising clients on commercial contracts and agreements, company law and corporate compliance involving Italian and European laws. Submit resume to Cheryl Villette at [email protected]. Must put job code GMS667PE on resume. commercial contracts and agreements, company law and corporate compliance involving Italian and European laws. Submit resume to Cheryl Villette at [email protected]. Must put job code GMS667PE on resume. MANAGER, AUDIT (MULTIPLE POSITIONS) KPMG LLP Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time KPMG LLP, Manager, Audit (Multiple Positions), Houston, TX. Apply US GAAP, US GAAS, or PCAOB Auditing Standards. Req’ts Incl.: Master’s deg. or foreign equiv. in Acctg, Fin., Bus. Admin., Mgmt, or rel. field, & 2 yrs of rel. work exp.; OR a Bach’s deg. or foreign equiv. in Acctg, Fin., Bus. Admin., Mgmt, or rel. field, & 5 yrs of post-bach’s, progressive rel. work exp. Must have an active TX CPA license. Travel to various loc. throughout the US req’d up to 5%. Employer will accept any suitable combo of edu., training, or exp. Apply online at https://www.kpmguscareers.com/job-search & type req. # 98337 in the keyword search box for Experienced Professionals. Please contact [email protected] if you have difficulty applying. If offered employment, must have legal right to work in the U.S. EOE. KPMG offers a comprehensive compensation and benefits package. No phone calls or agencies please. KPMG, an equal opportunity employer/disability/veteran. KPMG maintains a drug-free workplace. © 2023 KPMG LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership and the U.S. member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved. MULTIPLE OPENINGS Saipsit, Inc. Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Saipsit, Inc. has multiple openings in Houston, TX) Cybersecurity Risk Analyst: Design, plan, implement, & maintain security policies, procedures, & practices in accordance with business & regulatory reqs. Req. BS in Comp. Sci., Comp. Info. Sys., Engr. (any field), or related & 3 yrs of exp. Employer will accept a combo. of edu. & exp. equiv. to a BS in Comp. Sci., Comp. Info. Sys., Engr. or related as determined by a professional eval. service. Software Engineers (JAVA): Dev. & modify Web Based Apps. using open source Java & J2EE technologies. Req. MS in Comp. Sci., Engr., or related & 1 yr exp. Senior Security Consultant: Install & Configure ISIM & ISAM. Req. MS in Comp. Sci., Engr. (any field), or related & 1 yr exp. Software QA Analysts: Conduct QA design & analysis. Req. BS in Comp. Sci., Engr. (any field), or related & 3 yrs exp. Business Analyst: Gather reqs. & check feasibility of apps. Req. Master’s in Bus. Admin., Comp. Sci., Engr. (any field), or related & 1 yr exp. All Positions: Will work in unanticipated locations. Send resume & refer to job title to [email protected]. INFRASTRUCTURE ENGINEER DFS Corporate Services LLC Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time DFS Corporate Services LLC seeks Infrastructure Engineer in Houston, TX to work on holistic eng’g deliverables across different stages of product lifecycle & determine technology patterns for overall solution. Req’mts: Bachelor’s or equiv in CS, Electronic Eng’g, or rel. field & 3 yrs of exp: installing, deploying, & maintaining WebSphere technologies, incl IBM, WebSphere App Server, Tomcat, & Apache; troubleshooting outages, determining root causes, & performing repairs in a high availability computing environ; renewing & installing SSL certificates; troubleshooting live production issues in SOA environs w/ multiple integrated apps; dsgning, installing, & maintaining large size SOA environs, incl performance tuning large apps on WebSphere App Server; performing automation utilizing Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment tools, incl Jenkins; & utilizing tools that incl SQL & relational databases, incl Oracle & DB2. Telecommuting &/or working from home may be permissible pursuant to company policies. Pls apply directly through our website at https://jobs.discover.com for Job ID R24968 by clicking on “Apply Now.” EOE/D/V. LEAD INDUSTRIAL ENGINEER Petricore Edu Req/See Below Houston, Tx Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Oversee the scientific research in industrial physics engineering of the company. Determine company’s research and scientific priorities & line them up with the overall mission and goals of the company. Provide physics, applied physics, & engineering principles to define the scope & development plan of multiple research projects related to the data management & data analytics solutions as well as new engineering products of the company. Develop scientific methods, labor standards, quality control objectives, & cost analysis systems to promote efficient staff & workflow utilization. Requires a Master’s in Modeling & Instrumentation in Physics, or foreign equivalent, plus 2 yrs.’ experience in a lead capacity with each: application of algorithms for data quality assessment; evaluation & quality control of data from specialized laboratory or industry-related instrumentation; management of costs, labor, workflows, & scope for engineering and/or technology projects; & data management applied to engineering processes. Mail resumes to: Petricore, 2703 Highway 6 South, Suite 280, Houston, Texas 77082. ATTN. HR. TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST Keystone Tile Inc. Ed pref/See Below Houston, TX. Yrs exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST - KEYSTONE TILE INC. (HOUSTON, TX) Responsible for planning and conducting facility training, including new employee orientation, refresher training, and continuing training to provide an effective transition to new tasks, tools, and technologies using approved training programs and materials. Offer specific educational programs to help workers improve job skills and effectively use the company’s business tools and upgrades. Assist in designing and developing training programs and preparing other training materials, such as manuals and e-learning modules related to staff training and development. Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resources, any field of education in Education OR Instructional Design. Special Requirement: Completion of one university-level course on Instructional Technology, OR, in the alternative, 6 months of experience in a job which required the selection and use of instructional technology to train or educate employees. M-F, 40hrs/wk; Mail resumes to KEYSTONE TILE INC. at 12608 HEMPSTEAD RD HOUSTON TX 77092 or email to: [email protected] APPS DEV TECH LEAD ANALYST Citibank, N.A. Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Apps Dev Tech Lead Analyst for Citibank, N.A. (Houston, TX) Design, develop, test new s/w modules & apps using functional programming in test-driven manner. Reqs Bachelor’s dgr in IT, Comp Sci, Comp Engrng or related & 5 yrs of prgrssv post-bach exp as Apps Dev Tech Specialist, Prgrmmr Analyst, S/W Developer, Mgr, S/W Engnr Ld or related invol dev tech solutions for the financial svcs industry. 5 yrs of exp must incl C#, XAML, WPF; Oracle PL/SQL, JSON, XML, Tibco; HTML, Javascript, HP Svc Mgmt, ServiceNow. 3 yrs must incl Python, Jupyter Notebooks, Typescript; TeamCity, Bitbucket, uDeploy; Reuters, Bloomberg integration; Commodities business process flows. Proof of full vacc against COVID-19 reqd prior to commencing employmt. Salary range: $167K to $182K /yr; 40 hrs/wk. Qualified applicants submit resumes ref job code JC/ADTLA/VB at https://jobs.citi.com/ or to Citigroup Recruiting Dept., 3800 Citigroup Center Drive, Tampa, FL 33610. Citigroup is an EOE Employer. MULTIPLE POSITIONS A & B Environmental Services, Inc. Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Mult. jobs. Send résumé w/JC# to A & B Environmental Services, Inc., 10100 East Freeway, Ste 100, Houston, TX 77029 (JC1) Environmentl Specialist – BS/equiv & 1yr exp incl. conducting chemical anlyses of gas stream sampls using gas chromatogrph w/ mass-spectromtry, electron captur, flam ioniztion, & thermal conductivty detectrs; conduc. chemical anlyses of procss water & wastwater dischargs; comparing findings w/ industry declared data & legal requiremnts to find variations; develop. new procedurs for the use of laboratry equip.; & maintenanc & calibrtion of the Gas Chromatogrph instrumnts. (JC2) Environmentl Scientist 2: MS/equiv & 6 mos exp incl. Anlysis of environmentl sampls from different matrix, accord. to EPA, ASTM & Standrd Methds; interprtation of data & meeting strict guidelins when record. in LIMS DB; calibrate instrumntation & other equipment; & knowledg of techniques & instrumntation, such as Gas chromatogrphy, liquid chromatogrphy, & mass-spectroscopy. ESTIMATOR Durotech, Inc. Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Durotech, Inc. (Houston, TX) seeks Estimator to develop cost estimates on architectural commercial construction projects. Review & read drawings. Estimate job costs & assist in bid prep by evaluation of job specs & drawings. Perform quantity take-off & pricing of all work scopes. Prep conceptual, schematic & design development estimates. Prep cost analysis in computer by recapitulating material, labor, equipment, subcontractor & overhead costs incurred in installation of items. Analyze bids & work scopes, evaluate quotations, prep bid-day top-sheet & submit final quotations to owner. Review methods & procedures proposed by Architects/Engineers & suggest alternate methods of construction. Reqs a Bach’s deg in Building Construction or Construction Management or Architecture w/ 5 yrs of relev work exp. Mail resumes to HR, 11931 Wickchester Ln Ste. 205., Houston, TX 77043 MANAGEMENT ADVISOR , TRANSFORMATION EXECUTION - COMPLEX PROGRAM MANAGEMENT (MANAGER) (MULTIPLE POSITIONS) Ernst & Young U.S. LLP Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Management Advisor, Transformation Execution - Complex Program Management (Manager) (Multiple Positions), Ernst & Young U.S. LLP, Houston, TX. Help clients across multiple functional areas with business performance management, analytics enablement, growth/strategy, process improvement, cost reduction, technology implementation and enterprise transformation. Requires travel up to 80%, of which 20% may be international, to serve client needs. Employer will accept any suitable combination of education, training, or experience. $207,642.00 per year. For complete job description, list of requirements, and to apply online, go to: ey.com/en_us/careers and click on "Careers - Job Search”, then “Search Jobs" (Job # - 1407718). SR. ANALYST, RISK CONTROL Constellation Energy Generation LLC Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Constellation Energy Generation LLC, a Constellation Energy Corp. seeks a Sr. Analyst, Risk Control in Houston, TX. Pos. reqs. bach. deg, in math, acc’ting, finance, or closely rel’d field & 3 yrs. exp. in risk, financial, and/or oper. analy. in energy field. Job duties during 3 yrs, of req’d exper. must include: analy. large data sets w/ complex outcomes; valid’g & report’g processes pertaining to pricing & markets; retail and/or wholesale pricing analy. incl. markets, prod. struct’s, pricing models & cost compon.; support’g other grps, w.r.t. prod. & pricing; collabor. in analy. of impact d/t mark. & regul. changes. Job duties during 1 yr. of req’d exper. must include program. in SQL & VBA; & compl. Excel fxs, incl. VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, SUMIF, COUNTIF, IF Statements, Basic Statistical Functions, summarizing data using PIVOT tables and/or matrices, & working w/ several thousand rows of data. Send resumes to [email protected]. LAND RECORDS ANALYST I AND II (2 POSIT.) Red Willow Production Co. SW, Colorado Call/Fax/email/See Below Land Records Analyst I and II Red Willow Production Co. (SW Colorado) Obtains and maintains land and lease records, including all related documents and contracts. Advises other departments of changes related to holdings and works with landmen and partners to obtain/maintain accurate records. BA in Business, Accounting, Finance or other relevant discipline and 1 - 5 yrs experience performing title examinations, title research, curing title, working with land and/or legal documents in an oil and gas environment OR HS diploma or equivalent and 5 - 9 yrs exp in title examination, title research, curing title, and working with land and/or legal documents in oil/gas. Closing date: 5:00 pm on 3/6/2023. For job details and to apply online please visit: www.sugf.com MICROSOFT DYNAMICS 365 FINANCE FUNCTIONAL CONSULTANTS Avanade Inc. Degree required Houston, TX See below for yrs. exp See below to apply Fulll-Time [MULTIPLE POSITIONS] Avanade Inc. seeks Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance Functional Consultants in Houston, TX to collect & analyze business requirements, solve problems, & provide technical & operational support to Avanade clients to implement/upgrade/support ERP solutions. Domestic & int’l travel is expected, depending on the needs of the project/client. Must live w/in reasonable commuting distance of Houston, TX. Position requires a bach. degree, or foreign equiv., plus at least 3 yrs. exp. For full position details and requirements, and to apply online, please visit www.avanade.com [Click Careers: Choose “Search for your dream job”: Search by Keyword: [62591]] OR visit https://careers.avanade.com/jobsenus/JobDetail/ Microsoft-Dynamics-365-Finance-Functional-Consultants/62591 TAX PREPARER Syntax Management, PC Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Syntax Management, PC seeks a Tax Preparer (Houston, TX). Prepare federal and state tax returns and review bookkeeping work for clients. Lead and plan end of year meetings, advise clients regarding inquiries from IRS or state authorities. Research ongoing tax issues affecting clients. Review and evaluate clients’ tax structures. Advise clients regarding Canada--US cross border issues/transactions for dual citizen clients & work with Canadian accountants to ensure Canadian taxes/reporting are prepared correctly. Software used: Microsoft office, ProSeries for Tax software. Requirements: Bachelor’s degree in accounting or related field w/concentration in accounting. 2 years’ experience with Canadian tax rules & principles and cross border transactions. 10% U.S. travel.Submit CVs via email to: Loren Cook - [email protected] TRAVEL AGENT Tour Discounters, Inc Houston, TX Call/Fax/email/See Below Welcome customers, answer phone, plan & sell transportation & accommodations tour packages for agency customers. Advice customers destination, customs & weather. collet payments through mode of cash-credit card or checks. Handle travel issues, conflicts complaints, conciliation & refund. Maintain records booking, payments transaction, phone call, e-mail: Fwd. Resume To Attn; Manager Tour Discounters, Inc. 4151 Southwest Fwy Ste. 340 Houston, Texas 77027 ASSET INTEGRITY ENGINEERING SPECIALIST, PROJECTS & OPTIMIZATION Enbridge Employee Services, Inc. Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Enbridge Employee Services, Inc. seeks in Houston, TX an Asset Integrity Engineering Specialist, Projects & Optimization to develop and coordinate Asset Integrity (Al) driven non-routine projects through the projectlife cycle: from the initial project identification through in-service and project close out. Travel up to 10% (US and Canada) required. Info for Applicants: Applications submitted via online recruiting system only; only applicants selected for interviews will be contacted; final candidates for position may be required to undergo security screening, including criminal records check. TO APPLY: Go to “Job Search” and “View Opportunities” at www.enbridge.com/work-with-enbridge/careers and type requisition number 59624 in search box. EOE. No recruiters. ELECTRICAL ENGINEER SOAP Engineering, LLC Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Configure and install DCS, PLC, RTU, and EFM systems such as Delta V. Prepare and design specific documentation, control panel. Prepare and define implementation for instruments; design and commission standard network distributed Server-Client architecture; design the SCADA, DCS, and instrumentation network handling multiple industrial protocols; configure and install SCADA, Program PLCs; make daily process reports to clients. $110,178.00/yr. Bachelor’s in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering or related field; 48 months experience with EE; configure/install DCS, PLC, RTU, and EFM systems such as Delta V, Honeywell, Siemens, ABB, Fisher ROC, OMNI, and SCADAPack. Mail resume to: COO Maurice Rios, ATTN: EE Position Ref: R.S., 1409 Brittmoore Rd., Houston, TX 77043.
B10 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM DENTAL LABORATORY TECHNICIAN G.S. PROSTHODONTICS, PLLC Ed pref/See Below Spring, TX Yrs exp/See Below See Below to Apply Full-Time Dental Laboratory Technician in Spring, TX. Resp. for managing & operating several dental machines including MCX5, CEREC, PRIMESCAN. Mgmet of dental software including EXOCAD, CAD/CAM & Open Dental. Train or supervise other dental technicians or dental lab. bench workers on mgmet of dental machines & software. Process in-house dental prosthesis, among others duties. Req:2 years of exp. in the position. Exp. must include: Mgmet of digital software for the design of metal & porcelain crowns & bridges. CAD CAM Dental Certificate is required. Send resumes to: G.S. PROSTHODONTICS, PLLC at 4540 Spring Stuebner Road, #500, Spring, TX 77389. OFFICE CLERK Tour Discounters, Inc Houston, TX Call/Fax/email/See Below General recordkeeping; File and organize records; Distribute memos ; Handle incoming inquiries; Answer and route phone calls; Sort/distribute mail and send outgoing mails; Arrange logistics for conferences, including travel and reservations; Monitor and replenish office inventories/supplies Transcribe meetings, memos and agendas; Process invoices, bills, quotes, and receipts; Package and ship mail and mail orders. Fwd. Resume: Attn; Manager Tour Discounters, Inc. 4151 Southwest Fwy Ste. 340 Houston, Texas 77027. PRINCIPAL INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROLS ENGINEER CB&I LLC Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time CB&I LLC seeks Principal Instrumentation and Controls Engineer to work in Houston, TX. Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Control Systems Engineering, or related field, plus 15 years of experience, including 3 years as a Senior Engineer, applying control system work for onshore and offshore projects, testing control systems at the manufacturer’s facility, and project site assignment or equivalent during the construction and commissioning phases of a project for testing and pre-commissioning control systems and their peripherals required. 5% domestic and international travel required. Submit resume to www.mcdermott.com/careers. Must use job requisition #23000477. SOFTWARE DEVELOPER Pinwheel Solutions Inc. Ed pref/See Below Katy, TX Yrs exp/See Below See Below to Apply Full-Time Software Developer - Pinwheel Solutions Inc. (Katy, TX) Participate in dsgng & detailing processes related to the s/ware dvlpmt life cycle. Min. Reqmts: Bach’s deg in Comp Sci, Comp Engg, or related field, or equiv +5 years of exp in the job offered or related position engaged in dsgng & detailing high-performance solutions for large datasets.Must have 5 yrs of exp using Big Data, Hadoop Ecosystems, Cloud Platforms, Spark, SQL, Python, .NET & Java. Must be able to work in unanticipated locations to interact w/ clients & train users for short- & long-term assignments. Mail Resume: Pinwheel Solutions Inc., 26077 Nelson Way, #502, Katy, TX 77494. SOFTWARE ENGINEER II TrueCommerce Ed pref/Bachelor’s deg Houston, TX Yrs exp/Unspecified See Below to Apply Full-Time Software Engineer II sought by TrueCommerce in Houston, TX. Telecomm permitted. Apply at jobpostingtoday.com. Ref# 66390. SUPERVISOR SUBCONTRACTS KBR Technical Services, Inc. Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Subcontracts Supervisor (KBR Technical Services, Inc. Houston, TX): Provides leadership and daily direction to a team of Subcontract Administrators performing the subcontracting work in support of multiple projects. Travel international and domestic up to 60%. Must be willing and able to travel to meet business needs. For complete job description, list of requirements, and to apply go to https://careers.kbr.com/us/en [Scroll to “Find your next opportunity”; Keyword Search “R2064200” and click “Apply Now” within position listing]. Should you have any difficulty in applying for this position through our website, please contact [email protected] for assistance in the application process. DATABASE ADMINISTRATOR Chirality Research Inc. Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Database Administrator (Houston, TX) (multiple positions) Design & develop efficient applications on back-end & front-end. Develop methods for integrating different products so they work properly together & database to fit specific needs. Plan & implement security measures to safeguard info in computer files against accidental or unauthorized damage, modification or disclosure. Test programs & databases, correct errors, & make necessary modifications. Manage existing customers’ data & support other data scientists w/data cleaning & python scripting. Reqs: Mstr’s in Management Information Systems or Computer Science. Mail resumes to HR, Chirality Research Inc., 2900 Wilcrest Ste. 270 Houston, TX 77042. FACULTY CLINICIAN Baylor College of Medicine Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Baylor College of Medicine. Houston, Texas. Faculty Clinician. Primarily responsible for treating a wide range of medical conditions, developing long-term, personal relationships w/ patients, & producing individualized healthcare programs based on patient historical data, & offer continuous support and health management advice. Create patient-specific health programs that make use of historical data. Treats both adults and children. Requires a Medical Degree (MD) & completion of 3-year family practice residency. The Faculty Clinician must be licensed to practice medicine in the State of Texas & BC/BE in Family Medicine. To apply, please visit - https://jobs.bcm.edu/job-invite/14620/ OFFICE MANAGER Fifth Rent A-Car Houston, TX Call/Fax/email/See Below OFFICE MANAGER: Oversee daily operations under supervision of department heads; Relay policy changes and important information from upper management; Implement policies, standards and incentives to enhance employee productivity; Answer and route telephone and email inquiries from clients to relevant staff; Create and implement office budget; Monitor office supplies, orders, deliveries, stationary, furniture, appliances and electronics; Interview and train new office employees; Ensure cleanliness and hygiene in the office; Fwd Resume Attn; HR Fifth Enterprises, Inc. P.O. BOX 272224 Houston, TX 77277-2224 PRINCIPAL TECHNICAL PROFESSIONAL – CEMENTING Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. in Houston, TX seeks to fill the position of Principal Technical Professional – Cementing to work closely with Business Development, match Halliburton’s technical, commercial and operational capabilities to customer needs through developing a clear understanding of customer’s business and technical issues and drivers, effective delivery of technical sales presentations, and developing and maintaining personal relationships to effectively sell tailored cement solutions. To apply, please mail resumes to: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. – Human Resources L-30, 3000 N. Sam Houston Parkway E., Houston, TX 77032. Must refer to job #173187. Q: I work at a small company, so I accept whatever task asked of me. The company owner is nice and personable. I like the work, too, which is why I put myself out for him. My helpful attitude has enabled me to take on more responsibilities, which means more work. When an employee left, I took on her job in addition to my own so the owner could take the necessary time to find the right person for the position. He has repeatedly thanked me for not having to hire someone quickly, which could lead to a bad hire. I worked on both jobs for about two months because it showed him what I could do and how dependable I am. He trusts me, so he has even asked me to take on some tasks of his so he can focus on growing the business. I gladly accepted the extra responsibility. I am beginning to feel like his assistant, but I now think I deserve a raise. I don’t know how long I should be performing in this capacity before asking for one; I have never before asked for a raise. I always waited for the yearly increases. The thought of negotiating scares me because I don’t want him to think I will leave if I don’t get one. What should I do? A: You will need to prepare yourself in several areas before you forge ahead and ask for a raise. Since you have waited passively to be given increases in the past, you have work to do. It would not be wise to press for such a meeting before you feel prepared, confident and knowledgeable about the company’s history and the owner. Discreetly gather as much information as you can about the salaries of other employees, the issues around why others have resigned and the typical length of employment for employees. In a small, privately owned company, it is important you do not ask questions or express concerns with anyone there. Just take note of the information you hear. Be observant. Consider how the owner spends money — both personally and for the company. Is he frugal when purchasing office supplies, business cards, furniture and more? How generous are the employee benefits? Has he held employee celebrations at a restaurant or at the office? Have parties included meals or just snacks, alcohol or soft drinks? Is he flashy in his personal life? Does he own luxury cars and boats? Small-business owners are free to spend as they wish. Some put money into the business, while others are known for taking money out, even when they shouldn’t. According to Valeria Stokes, a vice president of human resources, “You need to have the courage to advocate for yourself. Asking for a raise is based on an expanded scope of work that is not in your job description. This may be due to a special project beyond your expected work or added work that has stretched you to reach greater value through new job duties. Working hard or longer hours without a change in the job scope will not justify a raise. You will have to determine your value.” Stokes said you should also decide what is most important to you — your job or the money. Your boss trusts your work and knows he can rely on you, so he will not fire you for asking for a raise. Once you believe in yourself, you can meet with him and present your request with your reasoning. The worst he can say is no. You know him to be a good person, so he may thank you for your dedication and explain he simply cannot afford to give you a raise at this time. You will feel better for learning how to be your own advocate, and you can continue in the job you love until you decide the money is more important. B B B Q: I come from a family where all my younger brothers got jobs in the trades, as I did. I’m in my late 40s now, and with all the people I meet with college degrees, I feel like I missed out on an important part of life. I’m in a trade union, so I make good money and always get assigned to new jobs when needed, but I can’t stop thinking about what it would’ve been like to go to college. I was a slower learner in high school, but I still can’t stop thinking about college. Should I try to get into college? What are the odds of me getting a job in a business major at this point in my life? A: It’s hard to discourage a person with a strong desire, so consider the possibilities before taking action so you can make an educated decision. You have a lot in your favor now with your job; you learned a trade well enough to join a union and collect union wages. Unions negotiate and protect their members by ensuring they work under safe, acceptable conditions and receive wages to allow for a comfortable lifestyle. Also, union employees are not judged by their likability. Most business jobs don’t have unions to represent and protect them. Employees in the business field have to meet many expectations in soft skills (personal character traits such as amenability, diplomacy, resourcefulness, creativity, analytical abilities and more) in addition to their hard skills, efficiency, accuracy and dependability. New business hires may not realize how important likability is, but the majority of people who are fired in a corporate environment have been considered to be stubborn, argumentative, disagreeable and just plain difficult at work. People like to work with pleasant, positive people, which isn’t a serious consideration in a union job. Changing careers when nearing 50 can be done successfully, but adding to previous knowledge in a field is easier than learning an entirely new field. According to a 2020 article from Harvard Medical School titled “How Memory and Thinking Ability Change With Age,” scientists see the brain as continuously changing and developing across the entire life span. That doesn’t mean you should abandon your dreams. Since you remember being a slow learner in school, start by taking one course at a time to see how well you do. Rushing into this life change and leaving your job could set you on the road for failure, which might not have occurred had you been patient. Check out programs at local or community colleges. Many schools have evening divisions and weekend courses. Also, keep this personal activity confidential at work. Hearing negative comments or being taunted by coworkers will only thwart your efforts in the course. Establishing an additional routine takes time. If you do well after several courses, consider taking two per quarter/ semester, but don’t leave a good job to attend school full time. Finding a business job may still be a long shot. If you complete your degree, you will be competing in a job market with new graduates in their 20s. To take advantage of your 20 years working in the trades, apply for jobs on the business side of the construction industry. Email career and life coach at [email protected] with your workplace problems and issues. For more information, visit www.lindseynovak.com. AT WORK Unsure about asking for a raise? By Lindsey Novak CREATORS SYND ICATE Shutterstock You will need to prepare yourself in several areas before you forge ahead and ask for a raise. Breaking News at Chron.com Breaking News at Chron.com Taylor’s International Svcs, Inc. Lafayette, LA HIRING EXPERIENCED STEWARDS, NIGHT COOKS, BAKERS & GALLEYHANDS Due to expansive growth,Taylor’s International Services, Inc. is looking for experienced offshore Stewards, Night Cooks, Bakers and Galleyhand personnel. Must have valid TWIC card and be able to pass a comprehensive pre-employment physical and background check. If you are looking for a career, not just another job, come in at 2301 S. College Ext., Lafayette, LA 70508 Apply online at: www.taylors-international.com/careers Email resume to: [email protected] Fax resume to: 337-269-5558 Taylors International Services, Inc. is an EEO/Affirmative Action Employer M/F/D/V Brazosport College is committed to the policy of affirmative action and equal opportunity in its employment decisions without regard to gender, pregnancy, race, national origin, color, religion, age, disability, veterans’ status, genetic status, or any other protected category. To apply for this position and see additional posting details, please visit our website at https://employment.brazosport.edu VICE PRESIDENT HUMAN RESOURCES HUMAN RESOURCES Posting #70783 SCHOLARSHIP AND LOAN COORDINATOR FINANCIAL AID Posting #70786
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 B11 PRODUCT OWNER, TECHNOLOGY + INNOVATION LAB Enbridge Employee Services, Inc. Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Enbridge Employee Services, Inc. seeks in Houston, TX a Product Owner, Technology + Innovation Lab to coordinate and lead the development and provide guidance to the design teams during the Technology product development. Travel up to 10% required. Info for Applicants: Applications submitted via online recruiting system only; only applicants selected for interviews will be contacted; final candidates for position may be required to undergo security screening, including criminal records check. TO APPLY: Go to “Job Search” and “View Opportunities” at www.enbridge.com/work-with-enbridge/careers and type requisition number 59834 in search box. EOE. No recruiters. PRODUCT SPECIALIST, ONBOARD SUPPORT Alfa Laval Inc. Ed pref/See Below Houston, TX Yrs exp/See Below See Below to Apply Full-Time Product Specialist, Onboard Support for Pureballast is sought by Alfa Laval Inc. in Houston, TX to provide tech’l support for commissioning, installation, field test, demonstrations & trouble shootings on board ships for Pureballast Water Treatment System. Req: Bach’s deg in any engg field + 2 years of related marine field service engineer exp onboard vessels w/ Pureballast water treatment systems incl commissioning, installation, maintenance & troubleshooting & system compliant w/ USCG/IMO regulations. 25% travel is reqd incl 2/3 for domestic & 1/3 for int’l. Email CV to [email protected] CONSULTING, MANAGER Deloitte Consulting LLP Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Deloitte Consulting LLP seeks a Consulting, Manager in Houston, Texas & various unanticipated Deloitte office locations & client sites nationally to manage information technology projects, including software advisory and implementation services to help bring world class Supply Chain network capabilities, operational know-how, digital technologies, advanced analytics, and industry-specific hybrid solutions. 50% travel required nationally. Telecommuting permitted. To apply visit apply.deloitte.com. Enter XBAL23FC0223HOU267 in “Search jobs” field. EOE, including disability/veterans. DATA ENGINEERING CONSULTANT Accenture LLP Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Data Engineering Consultant (Accenture LLP; Houston, TX): Manage and support enterprise reports build on MicroStrategy using Netezza Database, perform issues troubleshooting, batch job management, root cause analysis, and provide periodic updates to client stakeholders. Must have willingness and ability to travel domestically approximately 80% of the time to meet client needs. Multiple Positions Available. For complete job description, list of requirements, and to apply, go to: www.accenture.com/us-en/ careers (Job# R00145039) . Equal Opportunity Employer – Minorities/Women/Vets/Disabled. IMMIGRATION LAWYER ONAL GALLANT & PARTNERS PC Ed pref/See Below Sugar Land, TX Yrs exp/See Below See Below to Apply Full-Time Immigration Lawyer sought by ONAL GALLANT & PARTNERS PC (Sugar Land, TX) Prep & file a wide range of immigrant & nonimmigrant petitions, incl H-lB, 0-1, EB-1, EB-2, EB-3, E2, & J-1. Prep responses to RFE’s NOIR’s & NOID’s. Conduct immigrationrelated legal research. Draft & prep letters & legal docs & advise clients in relation to Business Immigration matters. JD or Master’s of Law (LL.M.) deg & license to practice law in one of the states of the United States. Please send your resume to Aaron Murat Bayram, Partner, 800 Bonaventure Way, Ste 120, Sugar Land, TX 77479. MEDIA & COMMUNICATION WORKER The Pakistan Publications, Inc Houston, TX Call/Fax/email/See Below MEDIA & COMMUNICATION WORKER: Work under the direction of Director-producer, Create effective communication strategies. develop, write & edit marketing & communication material including Press release, blog posts & social media content. design sketched of mass media communication. Fwd Resume: Attn: HR The Pakistan Publications, Inc. P.O. Box 272224 Houston, Texas 77277-2224 PROJECT ENGINEER SOAP Engineering, LLC Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Prepare specs, implementation for instruments, and drawings. Install and configure DCS, PLC, RTU and EFM systems, such as Delta V, and SCADA software, such as OASys and iFix. Program PLCs. Conduct test scenarios for electrical instruments and equipment. $71,573.00/yr. Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering (EE) or related field; 24 months experience with EE or related field; experience with Human Machine Interface (HMI) and SCADA. Mail resume to COO Maurice Rios, ATTN: Project Engineer Position Ref: P.W., SOAP Engineering, 1409 Brittmoore Rd., Houston, TX 77043. STAFF ENGINEERS infraTECH Engineers & Innovators, LLC Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time infraTECH Engineers & Innovators, LLC. is looking for Staff Engineers to work in Houston, TX. Must possess Master’s degree in Civil Engineering or related field and 12 months of exp in Design of Prestressed concrete Beams for Bridges using OpenBridge and PGSUPER Software’s. Design of Concrete structural elements such as Culverts, Abutments, Wingwalls, Retaining walls, Foundation Slabs etc. Load Rating Various types of Bridges using AASTHOWARE software. Design of Steel Bridges using Open Bridge. Drafting using AutoCAD & MicroStation. Design of Cold formed steel Structures using STAADPro. Email resumes to [email protected]. ANALYST, FINANCIAL Conn Appliances, Inc. d/b/a Conn’s Ed pref/See Below The Woodlands, TX Yrs exp/See Below See Below to Apply Full-Time Analyst, Financial sought by Conn Appliances, Inc. d/b/a Conn’s in The Woodlands, TX for oversight & administration of depart expenses, forecasting & budgeting. Reqs: Bach’s Deg in Bus. Admin, Finance, Accounting, or rltd field & 1 yr exp in job offered or rltd role. Must also possess exp w/Dept expenses, forecasting, & budgeting; Operating forecasts; partnering w/vendors & working w/internal teams to complete tasks; & etc. Telecommuting is permitted w/in commutable distance to office. Apply online at: https://www.conns.com/careers BOOKKEEPER Fifth Rent A-Car Houston, TX Call/Fax/email/See Below BOOKKEEPER Maintain company’s financial accounts and records; Check accounting records for accuracy; Track invoices and payments; Maintain a system for organizing company documents; Document transaction details; Create financial reports; Communicate inconsistencies/errors to senior management; Calculate interest charges; Record financial transactions; Track payroll data; Create comprehensive reports and present to management. Fwd.Application Attn: HR Fifth Enterprises, Inc. P.O. BOX 272224 H ouston, TX 77277-2224 BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ANALYST Gustavo Salas, DDS, MS PLLC (DBA Portal Family Dentistry and Orthodontics) Edu Req/See Below Katy, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Gustavo Salas, DDS, MS PLLC (DBA Portal Family Dentistry and Orthodontics) seeks to work in Katy, TX, a Business Management Analyst to Conduct organizational studies and evaluations, design systems and procedures. propose ways to improve the company’s operations efficiency. Design systems and procedures manual. Develop alternative practices and recommend new systems, procedures, or organizational changes. Resumes via mail only to 2720 N. Mason Rd, Katy, TX 77449. NO CALLS INFORMATION SYSTEM ANALYST Cellular & More Inc Edu Req/See Below South Houston, TX Yrs Rxp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Analyze company’s data, record keeping, general modes of operation, existing operation procedures and inefficiencies. Communicate findings to management and assist in implementing accepted proposals. Monitoring inventory movement using software tools and utilities. Provide top management with inventory, sales, and payables analytical data. provide technical assistance in setting up new systems that increases business’s capacities. Bachelor in Information Technology. Mail Resume: Cellular & More Inc; Attn: T. Merchant 1630 Spencer Hwy, South Houston, TX 77587. MANUFACTURING ENGINEER Hudson Products Corporation Edu Req/See Below Beasley, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Hudson Products Corporation seeks Manufacturing Engineer in Beasley, TX to utilize lean concepts to develop and implement improvements in manufacturing processes and organize kaizen events. Master’s in Ind. or Mfg. Engr. or rel. + 3 yrs exp working w/ Lean methodol. in ind. mfg. env. OR Bachelor’s in Ind. or Mfg. Engr. or rel. + 5 yrs exp working w/ Lean methodol. in ind. mfg. env. 5% regional travel required. Send your resume to [email protected] and include reference number #201JG. MULTIPLE OPENINGS Pepon, Inc. Edu Req/See Below Sugar Land, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time (Pepon, Inc. has multiple openings in Sugar Land, TX) Software Developer: Dev. & validate comp. apps. that correlate all security and sys. logs. Reqs. BS in Comp.Sci., Engr., or related & 2 yrs exp. Senior Software Developer: Oversee the devt. & validation of comp.apps. that correlate all security and sys. logs. Reqs. MS in Comp. Sci., Engr., or related & 1 yr exp. BOTH POSITIONS: Will work in unanticipated locations. Send resume & refer to job title to [email protected]. OFFICE CLERK Fifth Rent A-Car Houston, TX Call/Fax/email/See Below OFFICE CLERK Answer phones direct calls, provide information & take massages & relay messages to staff. Communicate with customers & with co workers. Collect deposit, payments , Process Checks, Debit / Credit card. maintain & update customer info. Mail bills, prepare carrier packages. take dictation type & edit correspondence, photocopying, scanning, faxing, & emailing using office equipment Fwd application: Attn: HR Fifth Enterprises, Inc. P.O. BOX 272224 Houston, TX 77277-2224 SENIOR MECHANICAL ENGINEER Schlumberger Technology Corporation Edu Req/See Below Rosharon, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Schlumberger Technology Corporation is seeking a Senior Mechanical Engineer in Rosharon, TX who will apply the principles of solid mechanics, fluid mechanics, and machine element design for the design of downhole well completions tools. Must have a Master’s Degree, or foreign education equivalent, in Mechanical Engineering, or a related Engineering Degree + 3 yrs post-baccalaureate mechanical engineering exp. To apply: email resume to [email protected], ref: 52190. No phone calls or walk-ins, pls. EOE. TANK TRAILERS SALES ENGINEER Trailers of Texas, Inc. Edu Req/See Below Cleveland, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Tank Trailers Sales Engineer needed in Cleveland, TX.Plan and modify product configurations to meet customer needs and interests for tank trailers for products’ transportation. Research and identify potential customers for tank trailers’ products or services. Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering or Systems and Industrial Engineering or related Engineering degree plus two years’ experience in the job offered or as Key Account Manager. Mail resume to Mr. Harmon, 12650 Cole Dr, Cleveland, TX 77328, Trailers of Texas, Inc. TAX MANAGERS S. Yu & Associates PC Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Tax Managers: Supervises Staff accountants. Monitors workload on a weekly basis. Completes all financial statements, tax returns and special service engagements. Maintains client contact throughout the year. Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and 5 years of related experience, or Master’s degree in the same field and 3 years of related experience. Must have tax research and state and local tax filing experience. Mail resumes to Attn: Human Resources, S YU & ASSOCIATES, PC., 8700 Commerce Park Drive STE 116, Houston, TX 77036. Refer to XL001 when applying. ENGAGEMENT MANAGER - IMPLEMENTATION McKinsey & Co, Inc. Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Engagement Manager - Implementation positions avail w/ McKinsey & Co, Inc. US in Houston, TX. Dvlp relationships w/ clients; be expert in impl & delivering results. Req’s Master’s in Bus Admin, Fin, Econ, or non-bus adv degree, & 2 yrs of exp w/ a major top-tier int’l mgmt consulting firm as Assoc-Implementation or Consultant. Domestic & int’l travel typically required. Dest & freq impossible to predict. Email resume to [email protected] and refer to HTN0211. Multiple positions. LATIN AMERICA RELATIONSHIP COORDINATOR Ultramar Enterprises, Inc. Ed pref/See Below Spring, TX Yrs exp/See Below See Below to Apply Full-Time Latin America Relationship Coordinator: Ultramar Enterprises, Inc.; Spring, TX 77381. Resp. for establsh’g & maintn’g commrcl relationships w/customers in Lat. America. Req.: Bachlr’s in Bus. Admin or Accnt’g or Finance. +12 mos emplynt exp as Finan. Mngr. Knwld o/underly’g financial & prjct eval. Includ’g develp’g & plan’g o/prjct. Knwld o/Mexican tax law & cultural sensitivity to Mexican culture. Fluency in Span. langg. Email CV: [email protected]. PRODUCTION ENGINEER Daikin Comfort Technologies Manufacturing, L.P. Edu Req/See Below Waller, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Daikin Comfort Technologies Manufacturing, L.P. seeks Production Engineer to work in Waller, Texas and be responsible for the continuous improvement of manufacturing processes, fabrication and assembly, cost reduction initiatives, processing of engineering changes, and introduction of new products. Apply online at https://careers.daikincomfort.com/. Must put Req # 2023-22262 on resume. PROJECT ENGINEER, SENIOR Audubon Engineering Operations, LLC Education:Unspecified Houston, TX Yrs Exp/Unspecified See Below To Apply Full-Time Audubon Engineering Operations, LLC in Houston, Texas seeks Project Engineer, Senior to be accountable for the overall direction, coordination, implementation, execution, control, & completion of assigned projects. Qualified applicants will possess a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in Engineering or closely related field and seven (7) years exp. To apply, please apply online at https:// auduboncompanies.com/careers/ and reference job code AES-3417 on resume. SOFTWARE ENGINEER Maddisoft, LL Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Software Engineer analyze business needs & develop IT tech specs. Design, develop programs & apps. Illustrate solutions in the form of flow diagrams showing data flow & process integration working in Unix & advanced web-based Java apps. Write programs using Oracle, PL/SQL. Will work in Houston, TX and/or various client sites throughout U.S. Must be willing to travel and/or relocate. Apply to: Maddisoft, LL, 2900 Wilcrest Dr, Ste. 405, Houston, TX 77042 or email to [email protected] WAREHOUSE OPERATIONS MANAGER Awesung, Inc. Edu Req/See Below Missouri City, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Warehouse Operations Manager: Manage warehouse operation procedures. Recommend & implement term & annual section plans, budgets & targets to support business objectives. Reqs: Bach’s in supply chain management, engineering, logistics, or related. 1 yr exp as Operations Specialist, Logistics Analyst, Project Eng, Mechanical Eng, or related. Job in Missouri City, TX for Awesung, Inc. Send cover letter, CV, salary reqs, & references to Attn: HR, 1 Broadwa Rd., Ste. 1, Cranbury, NJ 08512 ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT The Pakistan Publications, Inc Houston, TX Call/Fax/email/See Below ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Work under direct supervision to manage the office during the assigned shift. Assist clients over the phone & in person. Gather information from advertiser/customer update customers list help in resolving customers concern, report billings & daily operations. Report unpleasant events to office manager Submit Resume Attn HR P.O. BOx 272224 Houston, Texas 77277-2224 DATABASE ADMINISTRATOR Warner Wireless Gears LLC Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Administer company’s computer database system. Coordinate changes to computer database, including its inventory maintenance and POS system. Plan and implement security measures to safeguard computer database. Provide technical support to desktop users. Bachelor’s of Computer Science is req. Mail Resume: Warner Wireless Gears LLC; Attn: M. Kommu, 10161 Harwin Dr, Ste. 190, Houston, TX 77036 DESKTOP PUBLISHER RCJ TRANSPORT LOGISTICS INC Edu Req/See Below Spring, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time DESKTOP PUBLISHER. Create and format flyers, brochures, etc.; use company templates & custom-designed PPT layouts; format and import copy and graphics into design templates; design graphics for traditional and online advertising; problem-solve file issues. High School. Worksite: 918 SHIREFIELD LN, SPRING TX 77373. Mon-Fri 9am to 6pm. $23899/yr . Send resume: RCJ TRANSPORT LOGISTICS INC, 918 SHIREFIELD LN, SPRING TX 77373 INTERIOR DESIGNER Urbanika, LLC Ed req/Unspecified The Woodlands, TX Yrs exp/4 Yrs See Below to Apply Full-Time Interior Designer needed in The Woodlands. Plan, design & advice in furnishing interiors of residential, commercial, or industrial buildings; Advise clients on interior design factors; Estimate material requirements and costs. Req: 4 years of exp in the job offered or in any managerial position related to the interior design or interior spaces. Mail resumes to Mr. Alfonso Guerrero @25814 Budde Rd Ste B5, The Woodlands TX 77380. Urbanika, LLC. PROCESS ENGINEER Technip Energies USA, Inc. Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Technip Energies USA, Inc. has an opening for a Process Engineer in Houston, TX. Job duties include analyzing project specifications, tender and proposals requirements, contributing to the development of design parameters and methodologies, and provide technical support for environmental engineering projects. Please apply by emailing resumes to [email protected], Attn. Lorena Rodela. Must reference job 1659.2257.9. REGIONAL BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGER Wrist North America Inc. Edu Req/Unspecified Pasadena, TX Yrs Exp/Unspecified See Below To Apply Full-Time Wrist North America Inc. seeks Regional Business Process Manager in Pasadena, TX. Gather and interpret data sets to maximize operational efficiency across all branches. Master’s degree and experience required. Up to 30% domestic and international travel required. To apply, mail resume to ATTN: Jerry Mitchell, 1485 East Sam Houston Parkway South, Ste. 100, Pasadena, TX 77503 SEISMIC IMAGING ANALYST CGG Services (U.S.) Inc. Education: See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp: Unspecified See Below To Apply Full-Time CGG Services (U.S.) Inc. in Houston, TX seeks Seismic Imaging Analyst. Qualified applicants will possess a Master’s degree in Geophysics, Physics, Mathematics, Electrical, Mechanical Engineering, or other closely related field. To apply, submit resumes to [email protected]. Must refer to job code SeisImgAnalyst2023 on resume. SR. DATA ENGINEER Tailored Shared Services Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Tailored Shared Services, Houston TX or unanticipated locations in US seeks Sr. Data Engineer to develop and enhance Big Data process pipelines. Must have legal auth to work permanently in US. BS Mgmt Info Sys or rel + 96 mos exp. EOE Mail CV to 6100 Stevenson Blvd. Bldg. A Fremont CA 94538 Attn: Shabnam Jolly. Ref Job No: SDE-ND22. VICE PRESIDENT FOR STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT NEOPAL LLC Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Defining, developing and directing long term goals and plans. Making decisions on allocating resources to attain strategic goals, control mechanism for guiding and evaluating the implementation of the strategy. Master of Business Administration. 5 years executive experience, full time, 40 hrs/week. Send resume to: NEOPAL LLC, 5100 Cross Continents Dr, Houston, TX 77032. ACCOUNTANT MD & Associates LLP Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Accountant: apply accounting principles to coordinate & prepare financial documents; analyze accounting data & research accounting issues; US Master’s degree in Accounting required. M-F, 40 hrs/wk. Send resume to MD & Associates LLP 8303 SW Fwy #960 Houston TX 77074 Attn S. Dhairyawan COMPUTER TEACHER Harmony Public Schools Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Computer Teacher (Houston, TX): Teach Comp at secondary sch. Bachelors in Comp Sci, Comp Engineer. or rltd field +1 yr exp as Comp teacher at mid or high sch level. Mail res.: Harmony Public Schools, 9321 W Sam Houston Pkwy S Houston, TX 77099, Attn: HR, Refer to Ad#OS. DERIVATIVE TRADER Atlantic Trading & Marketing, Inc. Edu Req/Unspecified Houston, TX Yrs Exp/Unspecififed See Below To Apply Full-Time Atlantic Trading & Marketing, Inc. seeks a Derivative Trader to work in Houston, TX developing, implementing, directing, and coordinating petroleum products trading and marketing strategy. Email resumes to [email protected]. Must put job code "DT23" on resume and subject line.
B12 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM ENGINEER 1 City of Sugar Land Edu Req/See Below Sugar Land, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Researches, reviews, and provides recommendations regarding all site plans within the city limits of Sugar Land, Texas. Must have a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering; Work 40 hours/week; Mail résumé to: City of Sugar Land, Attn: HR Department. Texas, 2700 Town Center BLVD. North, Sugar Land, Texas 77479; IT PROFESSIONALS American Tech Vision Solutions, LLC. Houston, TX See Below To Apply Entry level to senior level software engineers, systems / network engineers, QA Engineers, IT / Business Analysts are needed. May require travelling. Please send resume, cover letter & salary required to American Tech Vision Solutions, LLC. at 1880 S Dairy Ashford Rd, Ste 216, Houston, TX 77077 PATIENT HEALTH EDUCATOR Texas Behavioral Health PLLC Ed Req/Unspecified Friendswood, TX Exp/2 Yrs See Below to Apply Full-Time Educate patients about nutrition, exercise, medication compliance and treatment regimen. Assist patients in coordinating health maintenance referrals as needed. Monitoring patient progress. 2 yrs. exp. is required. Mail resume: Texas Behavioral Health PLLC, Attn: R. Tayyeb. 104 Whispering Pines Avenue, Friendswood, TX 77546. OIL & GAS Occidental Petroleum Corp Edu Req/Unspecified The Woodlands, TX Yrs Exp/Unspecified See Below To Apply Full-Time Occidental Petroleum Corp has an oppty in The Woodlands, TX for a Ops Excllnce Mgr – GOM Ops. Up to 10% dmstc trvl reqd. Email resume w/Ref# oxy23-004 to [email protected]. Must be legally auth to work in the US w/o spnsrshp. EOE PHYSICIAN, HOSPITAL MEDICINE Memorial Hermann Health System Edu Req/See Below Houston metro area Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Physician, Hospital Medicine for Memorial Hermann in multiple locations in Houston metro area to provide medical expertise & oversight of care. Req: MD & 5 yrs exp as Physician. Must possess MD TX license or ability to obtain one. This is a roving position. CV to Liliana Herrera [email protected] SOFTWARE ENGINEER JPMorgan Chase & Co. Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Software Engineer – Houston, TX. Design, develop, & implement software app. solutions for company’s FX trading app. For reqs. & to apply, visit https://careers.jpmorgan.com & apply to job #: 210384100. EOE, AAE, M/F/D/V. JPMorgan Chase & Co. All rights reserved. www.jpmorganchase.com. SOFTWARE ENGINEER JPMorgan Chase & Co. Edu Req/See Below Houston, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Software Engineer – Houston, TX. Design, develop & implement software solutions. For reqs & to apply, visit https://careers.jpmorgan.com & apply to job #:210385860. EOE, AAE, M/F/D/V. JPMorgan Chase & Co. All rights reserved. www.jpmorganchase.com. TAEKWONDO COACH Beomseok Hong TKD Edu Req/See Below The Woodlands, TX Yrs Exp/See Below See Below To Apply Full-Time Taekwondo Coach - Req’d BA dgr in Taekwondo or Physical Edu concentrating TKD. F/T. $37,690/yr. Send CV to Job Site at Beomseok Hong TKD, Attn: Master Hong, 8000 McBeth Way #150, The Woodlands, TX 77382
SPORTS SUNDAY HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 • SECTION C HHHH SMITH EYES ON FUTURE Rockets still believe in their process despite mounting losses. PAGE C2 SOLOMON LEARNING CURVE MLB’s rule changes will bring a better game in the end. PAGE C2 ASTROS SHOW AND TELL Martín Maldonado has something to prove this season. PAGE C3 TEXANS BRAIN TRUST Team is counting on its two new coordinators. PAGES C4-5 NBA READY FOR SHOT Top draft prospect Scoot Henderson exudes confidence. PAGES C8 Staff illustration Marching home? Early projections have the Cougars as the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Regional in next month’s NCAA Tournament, a big step toward earning a spot in the Final Four in their own backyard, while Texas and Baylor are projected as No. 2 seeds LONGHORNS STORM BACK TO BEAT SOONERS IN OT. C6 • WILSON, KANSAS KEEP PACEWITHWIN OVER BEARS. C6
C2 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2023 HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM COMMENTARY Sports Editor: [email protected] • 713-362-2734 • [email protected] How much pain can you tolerate? How much losing are you willing to accept? And I’ll say again what I first wrote last November, when the rebuilding Rockets were supposed to be a better team and represent a tough opponent every night: How much longer can it go on like this? Local frustration, especially on Rockets Twitter, is mounting. National criticism shadowed the trade deadline, as the Rockets finally moved on from veteran guard Eric Gordon, then engaged in veteran buyouts that initially will only benefit opposing teams. Normally, this would be the time to fire the head coach of an NBA-worst 13-45 squad that entered the All-Star break by losing twice to a rebuilding Oklahoma City team by a combined 69 points. There’s bad. Then there’s horrible, and those losses by Stephen Silas’ team weren’t even worth watching. But this is also Adam Silver’s NBA. Kevin Durant, Chris Paul and Devin Booker now play on the same team. Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving play on the same team. Joel Embiid and James Harden play on the same team (for now). LeBron James and Anthony Davis also play on the same team, while Russell Westbrook is promised $47 million for a year of work, then is traded yet again and doesn’t play for anyone. Superstars still run the real show while The Association briefly promotes a small market during All-Star weekend. If you are a big-city franchise with potential franchise changers Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson one draft away? You’re better off losing every remaining game and finishing dead last again. If that sounds harsh and depressing, just look at what San Antonio is doing with once legendary Gregg Popovich. The Spurs (14-45) entered the NBA’s Salt Lake City celebration with 14 consecutive losses and had pulled within a half game of the Rockets for the worst record in the league. I mean, chill out, San Antonio. Detroit is an atrocious 15-44. Charlotte is a horrendous 17-43. With the three worst teams receiving the same shot (14 percent) of picking at No. 1 overall in just four months, the Rockets are sticking to their plan, believing in their process and hoping that, somehow, this will all work out beautifully in the end. Heck, since this is the NBA, there’s a possible future scenario in which a more mature Harden returns to Toyota Center to help unite the growing Rockets. Of course, the Rockets aren’t allowed to say that they’re tanking or OK with losing forgettable games now to win real ones later. Because they’re not. Or that they’re not playing veterans because they don’t need them right now. All the youth needs all the minutes, especially with just 24 games left during an 82-game evaluation. This is what third-year general manager Rafael Stone said Friday. This summer should be the first real turning point in a rebuild that could still be a few years away from reaching full ignition. The post-Harden Rockets only had a few possible paths to choose and this one was clearly the best to take. “If you paid no attention at all, you could say, ‘Hey, these guys don’t even have a plan,’ ” Stone said. “No, we absolutely have a plan. We told everybody what the plan was. So I don’t think the ‘They don’t have a plan’ is a valid criticism. If someone wants to be skeptical about our ability to execute it, that’s TBD and we’re cognizant of that. And I think this summer we intend to use our cap space and bring in some veterans.” My biggest problem with these Rockets: They were supposed to be hard to play. High energy. Fast and full court. Relentless and entertaining. Instead, they rank next to last in point differential (minus 8.4) and have the second-worst scoring offense (109.8 points) in the league. OKC is 28-29 and playing around with the play-in tournament, despite spending the season without No. 2 pick Chet Holmgren. Have the 2022-23 Rockets met Stone’s expectations? Has this team been hard to play, like it was supposed to be? “To a certain extent, it’s hard to judge because it’s not over. We’re at the two-thirds mark or something. And especially with a young team, the last (24) games you don’t blow through those. In some ways they can be the most important,” Stone said. “One of the things that I do like about this group, to be positive, is we’re the No. 1 offensive rebounding team in basketball and we’re one of the better rebounding teams overall in basketball.” The super-young Rockets could/should have beaten Sacramento and Miami last week. They ended up with two supremely painful losses that captured a season that has blended in glimpses of forward momentum (Jalen Green scoring 40-plus points, Alperen Sengun almost averaging a double-double) with a .224 winning percentage that is worse than the last two years, when the Rockets went backto-back as the NBA’s worst team. “Our goal has just been to acquire talent and acquire it and see where it would go and give these guys lots of minutes, and try — in some respects artificially — to speed up their progress,” Stone said. “That was very much a goal and we thought we had a very tight window because, again, we have these outstanding picks that we had traded and they come due starting in ‘23-’24. “We had a window where we controlled our own picks, we controlled our own destiny. We knew we were going to have a very, very hard time being really competitive in that timeframe, given what we inherited, given what I inherited and my group inherited. I think we articulated that to our fanbase and I think locally people paid attention.” Like Silas, Stone holds an upside-down 50-162 record as GM. But the team now has young talent and serious salary-cap space, and could soon draft a franchise-changer. Stone was adamant that he’s aligned with Tilman and Patrick Fertitta as the rebuild approaches year four. “We all bought into this,” Stone said. “We knew what we were getting into.” The next stage will begin as soon as another long, painful regular season is over. Stone has spent years drafting, evaluating, trading away and tearing down. The Rockets owe it to themselves to finish this year the right way: last in the NBA. That’s playing by the rules in The Association. Then a summer of addition and change. Then the Rockets can start dreaming of reaching .500 again. “Part of the execution is the people we have on our roster need to get better. We need to bring in people who are already good; they need to complement one another. And we just need to grow as an organization,” Stone said. “I’m cognizant that the work is very, very far from being done — and none of us feel like it’s done. But in terms of alignment and belief in what we’re doing, I feel very strongly that we’re all on the same page.” [email protected] twitter.com/chronbriansmith Despite 13-45 record, GM Rafael Stone says ownership still aligned on rebuilding plan BRIAN T. SMITH FOCUS ON BIG PICTURE Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer Rafael Stone, right, and owner Tilman Fertitta are thinking long-term rather than looking for a quick fix. Most sports fans have a love-hate relationship with new rules. Old-school baseball fans tend to have a hate-hate approach to change. Baseball is a great sport. Major League Baseball isn’t always a great game. With that in mind, MLB passed a set of rules that will make the 2023 season unlike any we have seen. That the league is willing to take serious steps to improve the game will not ruin the sport. It will be better. Progress is often messy. So, there will be confusion when the rules start to be enforced when spring training games begin next week. I’m not sure the changes are all that drastic, but the baseball world will act as if the world is ending when a rule change leads to a game-winning run. Tightening up the pitcher movement rules will affect only a handful of players, including the Astros’ Luis Garcia. Taking the dance steps out of a handful of pitchers’ windups won’t grow the game, just take some of the personality out of it. Who doesn’t love Garcia’s rock-a-bye-baby delivery? Not that we need more balks in baseball, but there is not much there to complain about. Umpires will just enforce the rules that are in place. The rule says a pitcher is allowed to take a single step back and one forward, not do the Griddy before a pitch. The implementation of a pitch clock — 15 seconds to throw a pitch when the bases are empty and 20 seconds to deliver with runners on — is a significant, but outstanding change. No rational fan should be against shortening games. It’s incredible for a game that has changed so little in its basic form to have stretched so drastically in length over the years. MLB games averaged three hours, 11 minutes in 2021. They took only 2:33 in 1981. The length of playoff games has increased 22 minutes in the past decade. Great sport, not-so-great games. Much of the added time is due to the amount of time taken (wasted) between pitches. Spitting, scratching, thinking, walking, rubbing, thinking … it takes forever. Then the batter steps out of the box and the maddening process starts all over again. The pitch clock will fix that. Taking too long will result in an automatic ball. It could be problematic for some. Creatures of habit will find it difficult to adjust. But the next generation of players will play like their grandfathers did: in a reasonable amount of time. Restrictions on when position players can take the mound to pitch is another positive change. This approach to losing a game was getting out of hand. Such a move should be a rare occurrence, and it used to be that way. Teams called on position players to pitch just 57 times in the entire decade of the 1990s. They did so a record 132 times last year alone. It cheapened the game. Speaking of cheapening the game, like the college football overtime rule with offenses starting at the 25-yard line, I’ll never like MLB’s extra-inning “ghost runner.” Placing a runner at second base to start an inning is just not how baseball should be played. At least this won’t extend into the postseason, so we can learn to live with it. Outlawing the shift that has grown in popularity in recent years is a good move. MLB now requires teams to have four infielders with two on either side of second base. The traditional setup. Don’t be shocked if some teams bring in an outfielder and turn him into a rover of sorts to thwart power pull hitters, but it is better than what we have been watching. With batting averages dropping, it is no fun watching what should be a sharp, linedrive single turned into an easy out into a shift. There was an easy fix, and MLB decided to do it. Yay baseball. There is no way to know the unintended consequences or the long-term effects these changes will have on the sport, but let’s give these measures a chance. The great sport deserves better games. [email protected] twitter.com/jeromesolomon Early pain from MLB’s rule adjustments will be well worth it for the long-term gains JEROME SOLOMON IT’S AWHOLE NEW BALLGAME Morry Gash/Associated Press While MLB’s rule changes, like the pitch clock, may take some time to get used to, speeding up the game is for the best.