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DALLAS – The Dallas Morning News says Texas schools won’t receive A-F accountability grades after a judge granted a new order temporarily blocking them on Wednesday. A coalition of school districts sued over the system alleging the grades are invalid because they’re based on flawed STAAR tests. A trial on the case is set for February. Travis County Judge Daniella DeSeta Lyttle temporarily granted dozens of districts’ requests to prohibit Education Commissioner Mike Morath from publishing campus grades for last school year. Texas Education Agency officials plan to appeal the decision, agency spokesman Jake Kobersky said.

The grades are based largely on how well students perform on the STAAR tests. This is the second year in a row some districts sued to block the grades’ release. The current lawsuit alleges grades released by the state would be invalid. The suit questions the use of computers to score students’ essays on the assessment. Large numbers of students scored zeroes on their written answers last year. “During the 2023–24 school year, the Commissioner radically changed the way the new STAAR test is being administered by replacing human graders with AI grading,” their lawsuit states. “This change was made without ensuring that this radical change would not impact the new STAAR test’s validity and reliability.” Morath has repeatedly defended the A-F system as valid and critical to students’ success. Supporters of the system argue families need to know how their local schools are performing and school leaders need to know where to direct resources. Some school district leaders in North Texas, including those in Dallas ISD, released their projections for how schools would perform on A-F, saying it was important to remain transparent with families.

TEXAS (TEXASTRIBUNE) – In 2020 and 2021, the number of deaths due to pregnancy or childbirth in mothers rose in the state of Texas. The Texas Tribune reports that the rates are the highest since the state started tracking maternal deaths in 2013. Even excluding deaths related to COVID-19, the numbers were worse than usual. The maternal mortality rate in 2020 was 27.7 deaths per 100,000 live births, compared to 17.2 in 2019. With COVID-related deaths excluded, the rate was 24.2. This is according to a report released this month by the Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee. In 80% of these cases, the committee determined there was at least some chance of saving the patient’s life – a decline from 90% from the previous report. A quarter of women died due to infections, the most common cause of death, followed by cardiovascular conditions, obstetric hemorrhage, embolisms and mental health conditions.
Continue reading Maternal deaths surged in Texas in 2020 and 2021

DEER PARK (AP) — A pipeline fire that forced hundreds of people to flee their homes in the Houston suburbs burned for a third day Wednesday, with officials saying they don’t expect it to be extinguished until sometime Thursday evening.

Officials said residents who had to evacuate would be allowed to return to their homes starting Wednesday evening.

Authorities have offered few details about what prompted the driver of an SUV to hit an above-ground valve on the pipeline on Monday, sparking the blaze.

Here are some things to know about the situation with the pipeline fire:

What caused the fire?

Officials say the underground pipeline, which runs under high-voltage power lines in a grassy corridor between a Walmart and a residential neighborhood in Deer Park, was damaged when the SUV driver left the store’s parking lot, entered the wide grassy area and went through a fence surrounding the valve equipment.

Authorities have offered few details on what caused the vehicle to hit the pipeline valve, the identity of the driver or what happened to them. The pipeline company on Wednesday called it an accident. Deer Park officials said preliminary investigations by police and FBI agents found no evidence of a terrorist attack.

Deer Park police won’t be able to reach the burned-out vehicle until the flame has been extinguished. Once the area is safe, the department will be able to continue its investigation and confirm specifics, city spokesperson Kaitlyn Bluejacket said in an email Wednesday.

The valve equipment appears to have been protected by a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. The pipeline’s operator has not responded to questions about any other safety protections that were in place.

Who is responsible for the pipeline?

Energy Transfer is the Dallas-based owner of the pipeline, a 20-inch-wide (50-centemeter-wide) conduit that runs for miles through the Houston area.

It carries natural gas liquids through the suburbs of Deer Park and La Porte, both of which are southeast of Houston. Energy Transfer said the fire had diminished overnight and was continuing to “safely burn itself out” on Wednesday.

Energy Transfer also built the Dakota Access Pipeline, which has been at the center of protests and legal battles. The company’s executive chairman, Kelcy Warren, has given millions of dollars in campaign contributions to Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

What’s being done to extinguish the fire?

Energy Transfer said its crews were working Wednesday to install specialized isolation equipment on both sides of the damaged section that will help extinguish the fire.

Once the equipment is installed, which could take several hours of welding, the isolated section of the pipeline will be purged with nitrogen, which will extinguish the fire, company and local officials said. After that, damaged components can be repaired.

“The safest way to manage this process is to let the products burn off,” Energy Transfer said.

Late Wednesday afternoon, Deer Park officials said repair work on the pipeline to help speed up the process to put out the fire wasn’t expected to be completed until 6 p.m. on Thursday. Once finished, the fire was anticipated to be extinguished within two to three hours.

How have residents been impacted?

Authorities evacuated nearly 1,000 homes at one point and ordered people in nearby schools to shelter in place. Officials said that starting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, residents in Deer Park and La Porte who had to evacuate would be allowed to return to their homes. A portion of a highway near the pipeline would remain closed, officials said.

Hundreds of customers lost power. Officials said Wednesday afternoon that only two customers remained without electricity in the Deer Park and La Porte area. Repairs to all of the power distribution lines affected by the fire had been completed.

Deer Park’s statement said Energy Transfer was “prioritizing the safety of the community and environment as it implements its emergency response plan.”

“We appreciate the patience and understanding of all residents during this ongoing situation,” Deer Park officials said.

By late Tuesday, about 400 evacuees remained, and some expressed frustration over being forced to quickly flee and not being given any timeline for when they will be able to return.

“We literally walked out with the clothes on our backs, the pets, and just left the neighborhood with no idea where we were going,” said Kristina Reff, who lives near the fire. “That was frustrating.”

What about pollution from the fire?

Energy Transfer and Harris County officials have said that air quality monitoring shows no immediate risk to individuals, despite the huge tower of billowing flame that shot hundreds of feet into the air, creating thick black smoke that hovered over the area.

Houston is the nation’s petrochemical heartland and is home to a cluster of refineries and plants and thousands of miles of pipelines. Explosions and fires are a familiar sight, and some have been deadly, raising recurring questions about industry efforts to protect the public and the environment.

DANIA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Scientists have moved about 300 endangered sea corals from South Florida to the Texas Gulf Coast for research and restoration.

Nova Southeastern University and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi researchers packed up the corals Wednesday at the NSU’s Oceanographic Campus in Dania Beach. The sea creatures were then loaded onto a van, taken to a nearby airport and flown to Texas.

Researchers were taking extreme caution with the transfer of these delicate corals, NSU researcher Shane Wever said.

“The process that we’re undertaking today is a really great opportunity for us to expand the representation of the corals that we are working with and the locations where they’re stored,” Wever said. “Increasing the locations that they’re stored really acts as safeguards for us to protect them and to preserve them for the future.”

Each coral was packaged with fresh clean sea water and extra oxygen, inside of a protective case and inside of insulated and padded coolers, and was in transport for the shortest time possible.

NSU’s marine science research facility serves as a coral reef nursery, where rescued corals are stored, processed for restoration and transplanted back into the ocean. The school has shared corals with other universities, like the University of Miami, Florida Atlantic University and Texas State University, as well as the Coral Restoration Foundation in the Florida Keys.

Despite how important corals are, it is easy for people living on land to forget how important things in the ocean are, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi researcher Keisha Bahr said.

“Corals serve a lot of different purposes,” Bahr said. “First of all, they protect our coastlines, especially here in Florida, from wave energy and coastal erosion. They also supply us with a lot of the food that we get from our oceans. And they are nurseries for a lot of the organisms that come from the sea.”

Abnormally high ocean temperatures caused widespread coral bleaching in 2023, wiping out corals in the Florida Keys. Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi turned to NSU when its partners in the Keys were no longer able to provide corals for its research. Broward County was spared from the majority of the 2023 bleaching so the NSU offshore coral nursery had healthy corals to donate.

“We’re losing corals at an alarming rate,” Bahr said. “We lost about half of our corals in last three decades. So we need to make sure that we continue to have these girls into the future.”

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi is using some of these corals to study the effects of sediment from Port Everglades on coral health. The rest will either help the university with its work creating a bleaching guide for the Caribbean or act as a genetic bank, representing nearly 100 genetically distinct Staghorn coral colonies from across South Florida’s reefs.

“We wanted to give them as many genotypes, which are genetic individuals, as we could to really act as a safeguard for these this super important species,” Wever said.

DEER PARK, Texas (AP) — A pipeline fire that forced hundreds of people to flee their homes in the Houston suburbs burned for a third day Wednesday, with officials saying they don’t expect it to be extinguished until sometime Thursday evening.

Officials said residents who had to evacuate would be allowed to return to their homes starting Wednesday evening.

Authorities have offered few details about what prompted the driver of an SUV to hit an aboveground valve on the pipeline on Monday, sparking the blaze.

Here are some things to know about the situation with the pipeline fire:
What caused the fire?

Officials say the underground pipeline, which runs under high-voltage power lines in a grassy corridor between a Walmart and a residential neighborhood in Deer Park, was damaged when the SUV driver left the store’s parking lot, entered the wide grassy area and went through a fence surrounding the valve equipment.

Authorities have offered few details on what caused the vehicle to hit the pipeline valve, the identity of the driver or what happened to them. The pipeline company on Wednesday called it an accident. Deer Park officials said preliminary investigations by police and FBI agents found no evidence of a terrorist attack.

Deer Park police won’t be able to reach the burned-out vehicle until the flame has been extinguished. Once the area is safe, the department will be able to continue its investigation and confirm specifics, city spokesperson Kaitlyn Bluejacket said in an email Wednesday.

The valve equipment appears to have been protected by a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. The pipeline’s operator has not responded to questions about any other safety protections that were in place.
Who is responsible for the pipeline?

Energy Transfer is the Dallas-based owner of the pipeline, a 20-inch-wide (50-centemeter-wide) conduit that runs for miles through the Houston area.

It carries natural gas liquids through the suburbs of Deer Park and La Porte, both of which are southeast of Houston. Energy Transfer said the fire had diminished overnight and was continuing to “safely burn itself out” on Wednesday.

Energy Transfer also built the Dakota Access Pipeline, which has been at the center of protests and legal battles. The company’s executive chairman, Kelcy Warren, has given millions of dollars in campaign contributions to Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
What’s being done to extinguish the fire?

Energy Transfer said its crews were working Wednesday to install specialized isolation equipment on both sides of the damaged section that will help extinguish the fire.

Once the equipment is installed, which could take several hours of welding, the isolated section of the pipeline will be purged with nitrogen, which will extinguish the fire, company and local officials said. After that, damaged components can be repaired.

“The safest way to manage this process is to let the products burn off,” Energy Transfer said.

Late Wednesday afternoon, Deer Park officials said repair work on the pipeline to help speed up the process to put out the fire wasn’t expected to be completed until 6 p.m. on Thursday. Once finished, the fire was anticipated to be extinguished within two to three hours.
How have residents been impacted?

Authorities evacuated nearly 1,000 homes at one point and ordered people in nearby schools to shelter in place. Officials said that starting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, residents in Deer Park and La Porte who had to evacuate would be allowed to return to their homes. A portion of a highway near the pipeline would remain closed, officials said.

Hundreds of customers lost power. Officials said Wednesday afternoon that only two customers remained without electricity in the Deer Park and La Porte area. Repairs to all of the power distribution lines affected by the fire had been completed.

Deer Park’s statement said Energy Transfer was “prioritizing the safety of the community and environment as it implements its emergency response plan.”

“We appreciate the patience and understanding of all residents during this ongoing situation,” Deer Park officials said.

By late Tuesday, about 400 evacuees remained, and some expressed frustration over being forced to quickly flee and not being given any timeline for when they will be able to return.

“We literally walked out with the clothes on our backs, the pets, and just left the neighborhood with no idea where we were going,” said Kristina Reff, who lives near the fire. “That was frustrating.”
What about pollution from the fire?

Energy Transfer and Harris County officials have said that air quality monitoring shows no immediate risk to individuals, despite the huge tower of billowing flame that shot hundreds of feet into the air, creating thick black smoke that hovered over the area.

Houston is the nation’s petrochemical heartland and is home to a cluster of refineries and plants and thousands of miles of pipelines. Explosions and fires are a familiar sight, and some have been deadly, raising recurring questions about industry efforts to protect the public and the environment.

___

Follow Juan A. Lozano: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70

AUSTIN (TEXASTRIBUNE) – Gov. Greg Abbott has declared the Venezuelan gang a foreign terrorist organization and asked the Department of Public Safety to create a strike team targeting them.

What is Tren de Aragua?
Tren de Aragua is a Venezuelan gang that started in a prison in the state of Aragua and has since expanded into Central America and the United States, including Texas, New York, Colorado and Wisconsin. The group focuses on human smuggling and other criminal activity that targets migrants, such as kidnapping, extortion, and drug trafficking.

According to a report from Transparency Venezuela, the group adopted its name between 2013 and 2015 but may have begun operations earlier.
What is Texas doing to target the gang?

Gov. Greg Abbott signed a proclamation on Sept. 16 that declares the gang a foreign terrorist organization. He also directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to mobilize a strike team with state troopers, Texas Rangers, and other law enforcement groups to pursue the gang wherever they are known to be operating in Texas.

Declaring the gang a foreign terrorist organization means gang members could face increased sentences for crimes such as distributing illegal drugs. State law also authorizes civil penalties against foreign terrorist organizations.

Texas doesn’t have a database that tracks individuals affiliated with Tren de Aragua, but Abbott announced that law enforcement officers would work to create one.

How does the gang operate?
The group started by extorting businesses in Venezuela and then began trafficking humans into Colombia, Peru and Chile. According to Abbott, the organization seeks to infiltrate countries and set up a base of operation for their criminal activity. DPS Director Steve McCraw said El Paso was the gang’s “ground zero.”
Is the gang a major public safety threat in Texas?

According to Abbott, there has been Tren de Aragua activity in Texas since 2021. He said more than 3,000 undocumented immigrants from Venezuela have been arrested in Texas for crimes such as human smuggling, and another more than 200 are wanted.

Michael Shifter, a senior fellow with the Inter-American Dialogue, a foreign policy think tank, said the gang poses a greater risk to Latin American countries such as Peru, Colombia and Chile. Still, Shifter said, the organization should be taken seriously.

“It is clearly a major problem that needs to be dealt with,” he said. “I think there’s reason to be confident that U.S. law enforcement can handle it.”
Did the gang take over a hotel in El Paso?

During his press conference, Abbott noted that more than 100 TDA members had been arrested at the Gateway Hotel in downtown El Paso on charges including human smuggling and possession of illegal drugs. Some media reports described it as a “takeover” of the hotel by the gang.

The 121-year-old hotel was shut down on Sept. 12 because of broad criminal activity, not because of any specific gang, according to the El Paso County Attorney. The hotel had operated without a valid certificate of occupancy and was the scene of persistent criminal activity including aggravated assaults, criminal trespass, public intoxication and burglary, according to the county attorney’s office. Police reports note that criminal activity increased in the hotel because of Tren de Aragua.

How is the gang’s activity playing into U.S. politics?
When he announced the state crackdown on the gang, Abbott said Texas has seen “slow but increasing activity of TDA in our state” which he blamed on President Joe Biden. “The fact of the matter is, this is something that has exploded in the aftermath of the president saying that if you’re from Venezuela, you’ll be allowed in the United States.”

In January, the Biden administration announced a humanitarian parole program allowing certain people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to live and work lawfully in the U.S. for up to two years.

Abbott’s press conference came on the heels of the presidential debate, where former president Donald Trump brought up online right-wing reports of Venezuelan gangs “taking over” a Colorado apartment complex.

Shifter said Abbott’s move must be looked at in the context of the upcoming presidential election, since Trump has hammered on the narrative that undocumented immigrants are invading the country, committing crimes and stealing jobs from Americans.

“Trump has clearly highlighted this in the debate and is trying to stoke fear,” Shifter said. “I think Gov. Abbott is trying to ratchet it up saying this is a major transnational group and the Biden-Harris administration has not been effective in containing it.”

This article was originally publishing in The Texas Tribune.