Texas

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/25767449

Summary

Jocelynn Rojo Carranza, an 11-year-old girl from Gainesville, Texas, died by suicide after enduring months of bullying over her family's immigration status.

Classmates allegedly mocked her and threatened to report her family to ICE. The school was aware of the bullying but failed to notify Carranza’s family.

Her mother, Marbella Carranza, only learned of the harassment after her daughter's death and is now working with investigators and the school to understand what happened and why she was not notified.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/25717730

Summary

The Dallas Police Department (DPD) announced it will not participate in ICE immigration raids, instead launching outreach meetings to reassure immigrant communities.

Led by the UNIDOS Latino Community Outreach Program, the initiative aims to dispel misinformation and encourage crime reporting.

Interim Chief Michael Igo emphasized that DPD focuses on public safety, not immigration enforcement. However, individuals with outstanding warrants may still face arrest and possible deportation.

Additional meetings, including legal guidance sessions, are planned in Dallas and neighboring areas to support and inform migrant residents.

cross-posted from: https://ponder.cat/post/1650384

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/32822004

State health officials said Friday in a news release that those who are infected are either unvaccinated or their vaccination status is unknown. Thirteen people have been hospitalized.

The cases have been concentrated in a “close-knit, undervaccinated” Mennonite community, Texas Department of State Health Services spokesperson Lara Anton said. Gaines County is highly rural, so many of the families send their children to small private schools or are homeschooled, Anton said.

“The church isn’t the reason that they’re not vaccinated,” Anton said. “It’s all personal choice and you can do whatever you want. It’s just that the community doesn’t go and get regular health care.”

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/18170454

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/25116581

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250204124708/https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/hundreds-rally-against-ice-raids-at-arlington-protest-and-rally/

Today, my kids' school contacted us via recording regarding the upheaval around immigration. They stated that ICE is only going after "criminal" cases and not blanketing schools. What worries me is that they stated that they will comply with ICE on warrants. WTF kind of criminal warrant could be charged against elementary or middle school kids? Is this happening all over Texas?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/36009271

Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said a facility built on this farmland recently bought by Texas will be the final stop for processing migrants before deportation.

She also promised more Texas land for mass deportation: “The new project that the General Land Office is going to bargain that I have created is the Jocelyn Initiative, in which we will locate appropriate land under my jurisdiction to lease for the construction of violent criminal deportation facilities.”

Done it twice now, both after the date of this article. What gives? I don't want to turn off Public safety messages, but Amber alerts are notorious for waking me up in the middle of the night for a child kidnapped 300 miles away.

...

A small, inexpensive item might have averted some of these deaths. Fentanyl testing strips can be used to check for the presence of the synthetic opioid. With an appearance similar to an at-home COVID-19 test, the strips are dipped in water in which a small amount of the drug has been dissolved. A line indicates if fentanyl is present.

But such testing strips are illegal in Texas. They’re considered paraphernalia, and possessing one is a Class C misdemeanor. While the Texas House passed a bill that would have legalized them in 2023, the Senate declined to vote on it.

...

In 2023, the Legislature passed a law allowing prosecutors to bring murder charges in fentanyl overdose cases. Critics say this discourages people from reporting emergencies, and research shows such laws harm public health. Some who overdosed in Austin last April had shared drugs, putting survivors at risk of being charged. In 2021, the Legislature passed a good samaritan law ostensibly meant to protect people who call 911 to report an overdose. The law created a defense for people arrested for low-level possession, but it has so many caveats—you can only use it once in your life, it doesn’t apply if you’ve been convicted of a drug-related felony, you can’t use it if you’ve reported another overdose in the last 18 months—that you’d need a flow chart to understand it. Critics say the statute’s of little use.

...

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/23876879

Summary

A fire at a Dallas shopping center killed over 500 animals, mostly small birds, from smoke inhalation.

The fire, which took two hours to extinguish, caused severe damage to the building but no human injuries.

My SO and I have some contractors coming out to install new windows throughout our home. They will be here for around two days.

SO says that when they were growing up in the Deep South, it was expected that you would provide lunch for the workers if it was a multi-day job. Is that still a thing? What's the proper etiquette in Texas?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/23880992

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/23846986

Summary

Aubrey Vanlandingham, a 17-year-old Texas student, was charged with animal cruelty after poisoning a classmate's show goat, Willie, with pesticide, allegedly because she "does not like cheaters."

Surveillance footage captured her force-feeding the goat with a syringe on October 23, leading to its death the following day.

Investigators found searches on her phone related to poisoning animals. The Texas Future Farmers of America condemned her actions, emphasizing ethical behavior and animal welfare.

Vanlandingham faces up to two years in jail and a $10,000 fine, with a court date set for January 15.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/23814239

Summary

Texas has seen a spike in abandoned newborns since its abortion ban, with some infants found dead in dumpsters or ditches.

Critics link the rise to reduced access to abortion, cuts to prenatal care, underfunded safe haven programs, and fear of deportation among undocumented women.

Texas Republicans have resisted funding awareness campaigns for safe haven laws, instead allocating $165 million to crisis pregnancy centers that prioritize deterring abortion over aiding women.

The lack of support has drawn condemnation, highlighting the broader consequences of restrictive reproductive policies.

Your drinking water is being ruined so cryptobros and AI can run on nuclear power.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/29688238

In the lawsuit, the groups accuse TCEQ of exceeding its authority by allowing the discharges.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/23421291

cross-posted from: https://fedia.io/m/[email protected]/t/1576101

A Republican Congresswoman who has been “missing” for the past six months has finally been found.

Rep. Kay Granger has served as the representative for Texas’s 12th Congressional District since 1997.

However, she suddenly disappeared from the public eye around July this year, when she cast her final vote against an amendment to reduce the salary of Deputy Assistant Administrator for Pesticide Programs to $1.

A curious reporter at the local Dallas Express newspaper did some digging on Granger’s whereabouts and has finally been able to give her constituents some answers.
[...]

We then received a tip from a Granger constituent who shared that the Congresswoman has been residing at a local memory care and assisted living home for some time after having been found wandering lost and confused in her former Cultural District/West 7th neighborhood.

The Dallas Express team visited the facility to confirm whether Granger was residing there and to inquire about how she planned to vote on the spending bill. Upon arrival, two employees confirmed that Granger is indeed living at the facility.