SUNDAY

UH ROMPS
PAST UT
Coogs manhandle
Horns 82-61 before
raucous home crowd.

SCENE
STEALER
Houston leaves its
mark in 15 movies shot
and set here.

TRUMP LEGAL DEBT
Judgments exceed $500M, but will he pay?

PAGE C1

PAGE G1

PAGE A3

HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

•

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

•

VOL. 123, NO. 128

MAP POINTS TO
TICKET INEQUALITY
HPD: Complaints drive where ‘encampment’ citations are issued

•

$4.00

Hidalgo
probe led
by a GOP
operative
Ogg hired outside
lawyer despite having
corruption division
By Nicole Hensley
STAF F WRI TE R

Jon Shapley/Staff photographer

Alfred Lovings hopes to avoid being ticketed for encampment in Midtown in January while he waits for permanent housing.

By R.A. Schuetz and Matt Zdun
STAFF WRIT E RS

O

n a Wednesday in January, Felicia Babineaux,
60, was awakened in her
tent by a Houston police
officer. They wrote her a ticket for
seven infractions, each accompanied by a three-digit fine.
Encamping in a public place:
$361. Encamping near an intersection: another $361. Lying down on
the sidewalk: $194. Placing bedding
on the sidewalk: $194. Blocking the
sidewalk near an intersection: $361.
Blocking the sidewalk on a block:
$361. Littering: $344.
Babineaux began to cry, she later
recounted. Her friend, Alfred Lovings, helped her move her tent and
things a few blocks away to a vacant
lot overgrown by weeds. At that
time, he said — and city records

Encamping tickets issued largely
in ‘Houston arrow’
Points show where police ticketed people for encamping between August
and December 2023. Shaded areas represent high concentrations of white
residents, carving out the Houston arrow.

8
290

610
45
69
10
10

69

45

90A

610

288

8

Sources: Houston Municipal Courts; U.S. Census

Map: Matt Zdun/Staff

show — the police had not been issuing tickets for living on the grassy
plot.
Babineaux’s encamping citations
were two of over 1,000 issued in the
past year. Ticketing for living or accumulating possessions on public
property has soared in recent years,
from two dozen in 2017 to over a
thousand every year since 2020. In
2020, Houston, Harris County and
their partners began “decommissioning” camps, offering housing,
then making the area off-limits for
anyone else looking for a place to
live outdoors.
A Houston Chronicle analysis
found that, outside of downtown,
Midtown and Memorial Park,
Houston police officers are not writing the most tickets where the most
homeless people live. They’re also
not writing them solely in the areas
Tickets continues on A10

An outside lawyer hired by
the Harris County District Attorney’s Office to scrutinize corruption claims under the county’s highest-elected Democrat
came with a surprising pedigree
— a career as a Republican operative.
Rachel Palmer Hooper’s hiring added a dose of political intrigue into a high-stakes legal
showdown after she logged
hundreds of hours of work that
helped lead to indictments
against three of County Judge
Lina Hidalgo’s former staffers.
Now District Attorney Kim Ogg
is facing fresh criticism for hiring the state Republican Party’s
general counsel to work on a politically fraught case despite
having a full-time public corruption division at the time.
“District attorneys, when
considering
prosecutions,
Ogg continues on A5

WELCOME WILSON SR.:
1928-2024

Real estate
developer
was regent
for UH
Navy vet who served
under presidents was
‘pillar of community’
By Hana Ikramuddin
STAF F WRI TE R

Match programs offer
hope of cheaper college
By Samantha Ketterer
STA FF WRIT E R

At first Payton Pinkard felt
like a test subject, chatting with
a couple of dozen other high
school seniors in a circle of office chairs while adults stood
on the outside listening in.
They were at the end of a
lengthy scholarship process
with the Posse Foundation,
having already submitted a few

Advice.........G9
Comics.........U1

Directory ....A2
Editorials.A23

essays, sat through two interviews and matched to a participating school. This one was
Texas A&M University, ready
to admit a handful of the finalists and cover their full tuition.
Pinkard let her guard down
as she heard the other teens
share their stories, though she
knew the eavesdropping admissions officers were taking
notes. She was in awe. Wildly
College continues on A8

ObituariesA28
Puzzles ........G8

Real Estate.R1
Sports...........C1

Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer

Payton Pinkard, a senior at Young Women’s College Prep, is a
Posse Foundation scholarship finalist.

Texas Inc .....B1
TV.................G8

Weather ...A22
Zest ................G1

TWITTER: @HoustonChron
LINKEDIN: Houston-Chronicle

Welcome Wilson Sr., a real estate developer of more than 60
years who served as a member of
the University of Houston System
Board of Regents,
died early Friday
in his Houston
home. He was 95.
Wilson
was
born in San Angelo in 1928 and
grew
up
in
Brownsville. He
Wilson
graduated from
the University of Houston with a
bachelor of business administration degree in 1949, when he married his college sweetheart on the
same day. Graduating first in his
class in officer school, Wilson
Wilson continues on A7

INSTAGRAM: HoustonChron
FACEBOOK: @HoustonChronicle

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A2 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

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Zoo saves grasshopper with tiny neck brace
By Hana Ikramuddin
STAFF WRIT E R

Where someone else
might see a Q-tip, the
Houston Zoo sees a medical device for a tiny
friend.
The veterinary team at
the zoo jumped into action after one entomology
keeper noticed that a Peruvian jumping stick had
a weakened area of her
thoracic region, which resembles a neck. Staff created a neck brace “using
the shaft of a sterile Q-tip
and some soft microspore
tape to secure it to the insect’s body,” said the zoo’s
online news blog.
The crease appeared
after the grasshopper
shed her exoskeleton as
she was molting when
she was around 6 months
old. The weak spot
caused her head to flop
back as she climbed upward — Peruvian jumping sticks spend a lot of
time in tree branches.
The cast, which was
only on for a few days,
helped provide some flexible support while the
grasshopper’s exoskele-

Houston Zoo

The stem of a Q-tip creates a makeshift neck brace while an injured Peruvian jumping stick recovers at the
Houston Zoo. The cast, which was on for only a few days, provided support while its exoskeleton hardened.

ton hardened and she
could hold her head up
on her own.
“A step up from the
cone of shame, my pets
have had to wear,” one
Facebook comment said
in response to the zoo’s
post about the neck
brace.
Peruvian
jumping
sticks come from the upper Amazon Basin of
Peru and Ecuador. Females are much bigger
than their male counterparts and are usually
brown.
“She has a small visible
mark where the original
crease happened, but
she’s able to climb and
move about like normal
in her exhibit,” a news release said.
Visitors can see the Peruvian jumping stick
when they stop by the
Houston
Zoo’s
Bug
House.
“Together, with the
help of our entomology
team, one of our smallest
critters is now back to
normal thanks to the ingenious design of a temporary neck brace,” the
blog post read.

City
emergency
officials
prepare for
the final
nuclear air
raid siren test
on top of City
Hall in 1992.
Houston and
Harris
County don’t
sound similar
sirens for
tornado
warnings.
Staff file photo

Why tornado warnings won’t
prompt wailing of air sirens
By Justin Ballard
N EWSRO O M MET EO RO L O G I ST

As a line of strong
storms pushed through
Southeast Texas last
weekend, the National
Weather Service issued
tornado warnings for
areas north of Houston.
Although no tornado
warnings were issued in
Harris County, don’t expect to hear the wailing of
sirens during future severe weather events.

Why don’t sirens wail
in Harris County?

Harris County is no
stranger to tornadoes. In
late January 2023, a tornado ripped through Deer
Park and Pasadena with
estimated peak winds of
140 mph. Despite the familiarity Houston and
Harris County have with
tornadoes, sirens aren’t
going to sound during instances of tornado warnings, said Brian Murray,
deputy coordinator and
spokesperson for the Harris County Office of
Homeland Security and
Emergency Management.
“Warning sirens are
used in Harris County to
alert people to shelter in
place during a chemical
event,” Murray said.
While Southeast Texas
isn’t a stranger to severe

weather, tornado sirens
are more common in the
northern part of the state,
where major cities like
Dallas and Fort Worth are
more frequently in the
path of damaging supercells, which are large,
powerful storm systems.
Tornado
warnings
from
local
National
Weather Service offices
have gotten so timely that
many people rely on getting severe weather alerts
sent straight to their cellphone, Murray added.

Preventing mixed
messaging

After last year’s tornado in southeast Harris
County, many people
wondered why warning
sirens can’t be used for
both chemical events and
tornadoes.
According to Murray,
the biggest issue with
making sirens sound for
both events is the confusion that can cause. Emergency management officials and meteorologists
alike want to avoid confusion during disasters, natural or otherwise. Warning sirens that were installed in Harris County
have almost entirely been
used for chemical events
and emergencies involving hazardous materials.
Changing that now, es-

pecially on the county’s
southeastern side where
chemical plants are so
concentrated,
would
cause senseless confusion, he said.

Sheltering in place
during chemical event

If you live in Harris
County and hear the
warning siren, Murray
said the process for sheltering in place during a
chemical event is different
than sheltering in place
during tornado warnings.
During an emergency involving hazardous materials, residents are asked
to stay inside and to turn
off all fans and heating or
cooling units.
Similar to sheltering in
place during a tornado
event, residents should also go to an interior room
or closet with no windows
to ensure that you’re in
the safest location possible.
Murray
emphasizes
that the most important
thing Harris County residents can do is have multiple ways to get emergency alerts. Whether it’s for
severe weather or chemical events, getting information from trusted
sources will set you and
your family up to stay prepared and safe as much as
possible.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 A3

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

How much money does
Trump owe now?

The verdict in the civil fraud
trial requires Trump to pay interest on some of the deal profits he has been ordered to give
up. New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought
the case, said the interest payments totaled $99 million and
would “continue to increase every single day until it is paid.”
Between Friday’s ruling and
the two judgments in Carroll’s
case, Trump would be on the
hook for about $542 million in
legal judgments.
Trump
owes
another
$110,000 for refusing to comply
with a subpoena in the civil
fraud case and $15,000 for repeatedly disparaging the judge’s law clerk in violation of a
gag order. As part of Friday’s
ruling, the judge also ordered
both of Trump’s sons to pay $4
million apiece.
Trump’s
court-ordered
debts don’t end there. Last
month, he was ordered to pay
nearly $400,000 in legal fees to
the New York Times after suing
the newspaper unsuccessfully.
He is currently appealing a
judgment of $938,000 against
him and his attorney for filing
what a judge described as a
“frivolous” lawsuit against Hillary Clinton.

Can he get any of these
judgments reduced?

It’s not uncommon for the
size of judgments, particularly
high-dollar amounts, to be reduced on appeals.
The appeal in Trump’s civil
fraud case will go before an intermediate-level court first. If it
returns an unfavorable ruling,
Trump could try to get the case
taken up by New York’s top appellate court, though legal experts say that is unlikely.

How quickly does Trump
have to pay?

Trump has already deposited $5 million owed to Carroll
for the first defamation case into a court-controlled account,
along with an additional
$500,000 in interest required
by New York law. Carroll will
not have access to the funds until the appeals process plays
out.
He may soon be forced to do
the same for the $83.3 million
judgment in the second Carroll
verdict. Alternatively, he could
secure a bond and pay only a
portion up front — though that
option would come with interest and fees and likely require
some form of collateral. Trump
would have to find a financial
institution willing to front him
the money.
In the civil fraud case, it will
be up to the courts to decide
how much Trump must put up
as he mounts his appeal. And
he may be required to pay the
full sum immediately after the

to pay all the money they now
owe.

Could he use campaign
contributions — or PAC
money — to pay?

Federal election law prohibits the use of campaign funds
for personal use. But the rules
are far murkier when it comes
to tapping political action committees — or PACs — for a candidate’s expenses.
Over the last two years,
Trump’s Save America political
action committee, his presidential campaign and his other
fundraising organizations have
devoted $76.7 million to legal
fees. Campaign finance experts
expect Trump will try to spend
PAC money to defray the cost of
his judgments in some way.
“The likelihood of the Federal Election Commission in its
current configuration pursuing these violations is not terribly great,” said Daniel Weiner, director of the Brennan Center’s Elections and Government Program.
Rebecca Blackwell/Associated Press

Former President Donald Trump returns to his Mar-a-Lago estate Friday in Florida after a news
conference. A New York judge on Friday ordered Trump and his companies to pay $355 million.

Can he or his businesses
declare bankruptcy?

Trump’s legal debts
now exceed
$500M, but will he
have to pay?

Under the judge’s ruling Friday, Trump would still be liable
to pay even if the Trump Organization declares bankruptcy.
If Trump personally declared
bankruptcy, the enforcement
of the judgment would be
paused. But political commenters say such a step is unlikely.
Despite the fact that several
of his previous companies have
gone bankrupt, Trump has repeatedly bragged about the fact
that he has never, personally,
declared bankruptcy.

By Jake Offenhartz

Legally, Trump would face
the same consequences as any
American refusing to pay a legal judgment, including the
possibility of having his assets
seized and wages garnished.
“The president is not a king
and the president’s assets are
not sacrosanct just because he
happened to be the president,”
Weiner said.
On Friday, the judge overseeing Trump’s civil fraud case appointed an additional monitor
to oversee the Trump Organization’s finances, finding they
could not be trusted to follow
the law. In the event Trump refused to hand over payments,
the courts would have additional discretion to go after
Trump and his businesses.
“They have a huge amount of
power particularly for someone like Trump who has physical assets inside the state,”
Thomas, the law professor,
said. “The court might say
we’re going to freeze your bank
account. Or even worse, they
could say, ’We’re seizing
Trump Tower and we’re putting it up for sale.’”

A S SO C I AT ED P R E SS

NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s legal debts might now exceed a half-billion dollars.
A New York judge on Friday ordered Trump and his companies to pay $355 million in
fines, plus interest, after ruling that he had manipulated his net worth in financial statements.
The stiff penalty comes just weeks after Trump was ordered to pay $83.3 million to the
writer E. Jean Carroll for damaging her reputation after she accused him of sexual assault.
A separate jury last year awarded Carroll $5 million from Trump for sexual abuse and
defamation.
Add interest payments on top of that, and the judgments could deal a staggering blow to
the personal fortune that remains core to Trump’s political appeal. He has adamantly denied wrongdoing and pledged to appeal, a process that could take months or even years.
In the meantime, here’s what we know about what Trump owes, whether he’ll have to
pay up, and what comes next:
appellate court rules, which
could come as soon as this
summer, according to University of Michigan law professor
Will Thomas.
“New York’s judicial system
has shown a willingness to
move quickly on some of these
Trump issues,” Thomas said.
“When we hear from the first
appellate court, that’s a point
where money is almost certain-

ly going to change hands.”

Can Trump afford to pay?

Trump has claimed he’s
worth over $10 billion. Most estimates, including an assessment by the New York attorney
general, put that figure closer
to $2 billion.
In his 2021 statement of financial condition, Trump said
he had just under $300 million

in “cash and cash equivalents.”
He has since made a number of
sales, including his New York
golf course and his Washington, D.C., hotel, and may also
soon get a windfall when his
social media company, Truth
Social, goes public.
But even with those income
streams, it’s unclear whether
Trump and his family members have enough cash on hand

What if Trump simply
refuses to pay the money?

Trump’s criminal cases continue winding through courts
A S S OC IAT E D PR E SS

WASHINGTON — From allegations of plotting to overturn a lost election to illegally
stowing classified documents
at his Florida estate, former
President Donald Trump faces
four criminal indictments in
four different cities as he vies to
reclaim the White House.
The cases, totaling 91 felony
counts, are winding through
the courts at different speeds.
Some might not reach trial this
year, while one is set to begin in
a matter of weeks.
A look at each case:
Alyssa Pointer/Associated Press

Classified documents

Special counsel Jack Smith
has been leading two federal
probes related to Trump, both
of which have resulted in
charges against the former
president.
The first charges to result
from those investigations came
in June when Trump was indicted for mishandling top secret documents at his Florida
estate.
The indictment alleges that
Trump repeatedly enlisted
aides and lawyers to help him
hide records demanded by investigators
and
cavalierly
showed off a Pentagon “plan of
attack” and classified map.
A superseding indictment issued in July added charges accusing Trump of asking for
surveillance footage at his Mara-Lago estate to be deleted after
FBI and Justice Department investigators visited in June 2022

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee is presiding
over the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump.

to collect classified documents
he took with him after leaving
the White House. The new indictment also charges him with
illegally holding onto a document he’s alleged to have
shown off to visitors in New
Jersey.
In all, Trump faces 40 felony
charges in the classified documents case. The most serious
charge carries a penalty of up to
20 years in prison.
Trump has pleaded not
guilty.
U.S. District Judge Aileen
Cannon set a trial date of May
20, though she has signaled
that it may be pushed back.

Election interference

Smith’s second case against
Trump was unveiled in August
when the former president was

indicted in Washington on felony charges for working to overturn the results of the 2020
election in the run-up to the violent riot by his supporters at
the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The four-count indictment
includes charges of conspiracy
to defraud the United States
government and conspiracy to
obstruct an official proceeding:
the congressional certification
of Joe Biden’s victory.
It says that Trump repeatedly told supporters and others
that he had won the election,
despite knowing that was false,
and how he tried to persuade
state officials, then-Vice President Mike Pence and finally
Congress to overturn the legitimate results.
After a weekslong campaign
of lies about the election re-

sults,
prosecutors
allege,
Trump sought to exploit the violence at the Capitol by pointing to it as a reason to further
delay the counting of votes that
sealed his defeat.
The Trump campaign called
the charges “fake” and asked
why it took two and a half years
to bring them. He has pleaded
not guilty.
The case had been set for trial on March 4 in federal court
in Washington.
But that date was canceled
amid an appeal by Trump on
the legally untested question of
whether a former president is
immune from prosecution for
official acts taken in the White
House. Trump’s lawyers have
asked the Supreme Court to intervene, but it’s not clear if the
justices will.

Hush money scheme

Trump became the first former U.S. president in history to
face criminal charges when he
was indicted in New York in
March on state charges stemming from hush money payments made during the 2016
presidential campaign to bury
allegations of extramarital sexual encounters.
That case is set to be first to
proceed to trial, with a judge
setting jury selection for March
25.
Trump has already pleaded
not guilty to 34 felony counts of
falsifying business records.
Each count is punishable by up
to four years in prison, though
it’s not clear if a judge would

impose any prison time if
Trump were convicted.
The counts are linked to a series of checks that were written
to his lawyer Michael Cohen to
reimburse him for his role in
paying off porn actor Stormy
Daniels, who alleged a sexual
encounter with Trump in 2006,
not long after Melania Trump
gave birth to son Barron.

Georgia

Trump is charged alongside
18 other people — including former New York Mayor Rudy
Giuliani and former White
House chief of staff Mark
Meadows — with violating the
state’s anti-racketeering law by
scheming to illegally overturn
his 2020 election loss.
The indictment, handed up
in August, accuses Trump or
his allies of suggesting Georgia’s Republican secretary of
state could “find” enough votes
for him to win the battleground
state; of harassing an election
worker who faced false claims
of fraud; an, attempting to persuade Georgia lawmakers to ignore the will of voters and appoint a new slate of Electoral
College electors favorable to
Trump.
A trial date for Trump and
the others has not yet been set,
and the case in recent weeks
has been consumed by revelations of a personal relationship
between Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis,
whose office brought the case,
and an outside prosecutor she
hired.

A4 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

NATION & WORLD

Navalny allies: Russia won’t release body
By Emma Burrows
A SS O CIAT E D PRE SS

Alexei Navalny’s spokesperson
confirmed Saturday that the Russian opposition leader had died at
a remote Arctic penal colony, saying he was “murdered,” but it was
unclear where his body was as his
family and friends searched for
answers.
Navalny’s death at age 47 has
deprived the Russian opposition
of its most well-known and inspiring politician less than a
month before an election that will
give President Vladimir Putin another six years in power.
Although neither the imprisoned anti-corruption crusader
nor other Kremlin critics were in
position to challenge Putin for the
presidency, the loss of Navalny
was a crushing blow to Russians
who had pinned their future
hopes on Putin’s seemingly indefatigable foe. It also prompted
questions about what killed him.
Russian officials told the politician’s team Saturday that the
cause of Navalny’s death had not
yet been established and that the
results of a new investigation
would be released next week, said
Navalny spokesperson Kira Yarmysh.
A note handed to Navalny’s
mother stated that he died at
2:17 p.m. Friday, Yarmysh said.
Prison officials told his mother
when she arrived at the penal colony Saturday that her son had
perished from “sudden death
syndrome,” Ivan Zhdanov, the director of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Dmitri Lovetsky/Associated Press

Police detain a man Saturday as he tried to lay flowers for
Alexei Navalny at a monument memorializing victims of the
first Gulag prison camp in St. Petersburg, Russia.

A prison colony employee said
the body was taken to the nearby
city of Salekhard as part of a postmortem investigation, Yarmysh
said. When Navalny’s mother and
one of the late politician’s lawyers
visited the morgue in Salekhard,
it was closed, Navalny’s team
wrote on its Telegram channel.
But the lawyer called the morgue
and was told the body was not
there, his team said.
Another of Navalny’s lawyers
went to Salekhard’s Investigative
Committee and was told that the
cause of Navalny’s death had not
yet been established and that new
investigations were being done
with the results to be released
next week, Yarmysh said. Russia’s Investigative Committee informed Navalny’s team that the
body would not be handed over to
his relatives until those investiga-

tions were complete, she said.
“It’s obvious that they are lying
and doing everything they can to
avoid handing over the body,”
Yarmysh wrote on X, adding that
his team demanded that Navalny’s body “be handed over to his
family immediately.”
Russia’s Federal Penitentiary
Service reported that Navalny felt
sick after a walk Friday and fell
unconscious at the penal colony
in the town of Kharp, in the Yamalo-Nenets region about 1,200
miles northeast of Moscow. An
ambulance arrived, but he
couldn’t be revived, the service
said, adding that the cause of
death is still “being established.”
Maria Pevchikh, head of the
Anti-Corruption Foundation’s
board, said the opposition leader
would “live on forever in millions
of hearts.”

“Navalny was murdered. We
still don’t know how we’ll keep on
living, but together, we’ll think of
something,” she wrote on X.
Meanwhile, arrests continued
Saturday as Russians came to lay
flowers in Navalny’s honor at memorials to the victims of Sovietera purges. OVD-Info, a group
that monitors political repression
in Russia, said Saturday that
more than 359 people had been
detained since Navalny’s death.
His team said it would pay the
fines of anyone arrested while
paying tribute to the late opposition leader.
Memorial items laid Friday
were removed overnight, but people continued trickling in with
flowers on Saturday. In Moscow, a
large group of people chanted
“shame” as police dragged a
screaming woman from the
crowd, video shared on social media showed.
More than 10 people were detained at a memorial in St. Petersburg, including a priest who came
to conduct a service for Navalny.
In other cities across the country, police cordoned off some of
the memorials and officers were
taking pictures of those who
came and writing down their personal data in a clear intimidation
attempt.
“After the murder of Alexei Navalny, it’s absurd to perceive Putin
as the supposedly legitimate head
of the Russian state,” Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
said at the Munich Security Conference in Germany Saturday.
“He is a thug who maintains power through corruption and violence.”

U.K. Foreign Secretary David
Cameron said Saturday that Britain “will be taking action” against
the Russians responsible for Navalny’s death.
Speaking to broadcasters in
Munich, Cameron said “there
should be consequences” for “appalling human rights outrages
like this.” He said Britain would
“look at whether there are individual people that are responsible
and whether there are individual
measures and actions we can
take.” Cameron did not say
whether the response would consist of financial sanctions or other
measures.
U.S. President Joe Biden said
on Friday that Washington
doesn’t know exactly what happened, “but there is no doubt that
the death of Navalny was a consequence of something Putin and
his thugs did.”
The Kremlin bristled Friday at
the outpouring of anger from
world leaders. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, called the
statements — issued before medics have released the cause of Navalny’s death — “unacceptable”
and “outrageous.”
Navalny had been jailed since
January 2021, when he returned to
Moscow after recuperating in
Germany from nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin.
He was later convicted three
times, saying each was politically
motivated, and received a sentence of 19 years for extremism.
After the last verdict, Navalny
said he understood he was “serving a life sentence, which is measured by the length of my life or
the length of life of this regime.”

AROUND THE NATION AND WORLD
VIRGINIA

Home explosion kills
firefighter, injures 10
When firefighters arrived at a
home in a Washington, D.C.,
suburb to investigate a report
about a gas smell Friday night,
they discovered a 500-gallon
underground propane tank with
a leak on the side of the Sterling,
Va., residence.
Shortly after they arrived, the
house exploded and burst into
flames. Crews rushed in to try to
rescue firefighters trapped inside
from the debris that covered
them, but one firefighter was
killed and 10 others were injured,
Loudoun County Fire and Rescue officials said Saturday.
Four of the firefighters hurt in
the blast remained in hospitals
Saturday morning, according
Loudoun Fire and Rescue System Chief Keith Johnson.
Johnson said all four are expected to survive.
Johnson said investigators
have not determined the cause of
the explosion, but “we can assume it was propane-related.”
He said the tank had leaked fuel
into the house.
Two people inside the house
were escorted out before the
explosion and suffered only
minor injuries from the blast.
NETHERLANDS

Eritreans’ dispute
erupts into rioting
Rioting broke out between
two rival groups of Eritreans in
the Netherlands on Saturday
night, police said. Officers used
tear gas in an attempt to quell
the unrest in the Hague as rioters torched police cars and a bus.
The Hague Municipality
spokesman Robin Middel said a
group loyal to Eritrea’s government was holding a meeting
when the venue was attacked by
Eritreans who oppose the African nation’s government.
Police spokeswoman Kristianne van Blanken said she
could not immediately say if
anybody was injured or if any
rioters were arrested.
UKRAINE

Russia: Troops have
taken control of city
Russian forces have taken
complete control of the Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, Russia’s
Defense Ministry said Saturday.
Russian Defense Minister
Sergei Shoigu told the Kremlin
that Russian forces were now
working to clear the final pockets of resistance at the Avdiivka
Coke and Chemical Plant, officials said in a statement.
The announcement came the

same day that Ukraine’s military
chief said he was withdrawing
troops from the city in eastern
Ukraine.
IRAN

Rural gunman kills
12 of his relatives
A 30-year-old man gunned
down 12 of his relatives Saturday
in a rural area in southeast Iran,
the deadliest shooting reported
in decades.
Head of the justice department of the province of Kerman,
Ebrahim Hamidi, told the semiofficial ISNA news agency the
gunman opened fire on his father, brother and other relatives
early morning in a village because of family disputes.
The report, which did not
identify the assailant, stated he
used a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
Iranian citizens are only legally allowed hunting rifles.
SOUTH AFRICA

Thousands rally for
opposition party
Thousands of South Africans
gathered in the capital of Pretoria on Saturday to show support
for the country’s biggest opposition party as it prepares for a
much-anticipated national election in which it hopes to wrest
control of the government from
the ruling African National
Congress.
Many of the Democratic Alliance backers expressed faith the
party would deliver better basic
services and address some of the
country’s daunting challenges.
These include a worsening
electricity crisis that has caused
rolling power blackouts for
households and businesses on a
daily basis. Participants at the
Democratic Alliance conference
also highlighted South Africa’s
unemployment rate of over 32%,
with the party promising to
create at least 2 million new jobs
if it prevails in this year’s general
election.
The date for the National
Assembly and provincial elections has not been set, but it is
expected to be sometime between May and August.
South Africa’s upcoming
elections have been touted as one
of the toughest yet for the ruling
party, with recent polls suggesting the ANC may receive less
than 50% of the vote for the first
time since the country’s white
minority rule ended in 1994.
Under South Africa’s system
of government, lawmakers elect
the president, so a party or coalition with a majority in parliament control both the executive
and legislative branches.
From wire reports

Charlie Riedel/Associated Press

A law enforcement officer stands amid debris after a shooting during the Kansas City Chiefs’
Super Bowl celebration Wednesday in Kansas City, Mo.

City rallies in shooting’s wake;
children released from hospital
A SSO C I AT ED P R E SS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —
Members of the Kansas City
community gathered Saturday
afternoon to “demand a future
free from gun violence” a day
after authorities announced
that two juveniles had been detained on gun-related and resisting arrest charges in the
shooting after the Chiefs’ Super Bowl celebration.
The shooting Wednesday
outside the city’s historic
Union Station was a tragic end
to the happy occasion that
brought an estimated 1 million
people to the city. One woman
was killed and 22 people were
injured — about half of whom
were under the age of 16.
A children’s hospital treating 11 kids who were wounded
in the shooting announced Saturday that all patients had been
discharged. Victims were taken
to several hospitals. Most of
them have been released.
A news release Friday from
the Jackson County Family
Court said the juveniles detained on gun-related and resisting arrest charges were being held at a juvenile detention
center. Additional charges are
expected as the investigation
continues.
Police said a dispute may
have led to the shooting, which
happened despite the presence
of more than 800 police officers.
Police initially detained

three juveniles but released
one who they determined
wasn’t involved in the shooting. Police are looking for others who may have been involved and are calling for witnesses, victims and people
with cellphone video of the violence to call a dedicated hotline.
The 22 people injured range
in age from 8 to 47, according to
police Chief Stacey Graves. Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a mother of
two and the host of “Taste of
Tejano,” was killed, her radio
station, KKFI-FM, confirmed.
The Chiefs have coordinated
with the local branch of charity
organization United Way to
create an emergency fund for
victims, first responders and
violence prevention organizations. They announced a
$200,000 donation in conjunction with the Hunt Family
Foundation and the NFL.
A local T-shirt company selling a red, yellow and white
shirt emblazoned with “Kansas
City Strong” said it would donate proceeds to the fund. A
bakery in a surrounding suburb decorated cookies with
messages of “KC Strong” to
raise money for the cause.
Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs
quarterback and Super Bowl
MVP, donated $50,000 to the
fund. He also paid a hospital
visit to two girls, 8 and 10, from
the same family who were recovering
from
gunshot
wounds, according to a family
statement.

“We want to give a personal
thank you to the staff of Children’s Mercy Hospital and Patrick & Brittany Mahomes for
their outpouring care, love, and
support,” the Reyes family
wrote.
GoFundMe pages set up for
the Lopez-Galvan and the
Reyes family topped $330,000
and $180,000, respectively.
Taylor Swift was among
those donating to funds for Lopez-Galvan’s family. Swift, who
is dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, made two $50,000
donations Friday.
Wednesday’s shooting occurred in a state with few gun
regulations and historic tension over how cities handle
crime.
Kansas City has struggled
with gun violence, and in 2020
it was among nine cities chosen
by the U.S. Justice Department
in an effort to crack down on violent crime. In 2023, the city
matched its record with 182 homicides, most of which involved guns.
Lucas has joined with mayors across the country in calling for new laws to reduce gun
violence, including mandating
universal background checks.
But what, if any, action Missouri’s Republican-led Legislature would take in response to
the shooting is unclear. Efforts
to make it harder to own and
possess firearms are unlikely
to pass in the state’s GOP-led
Legislature.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 A5

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

OGG
From page A1
should bend over backwards to make everything
appear apolitical as possible,” said Richard Painter,
chief ethics lawyer under
former President George
W. Bush.
The circumstances behind Hooper’s hiring on
the so-called Elevate
Strategies investigation
amid her representation
of state Republicans presented a problematic look
that could risk politicizing
the investigation, he said.
The investigation started with a complaint from
former Republican County Commissioner Jack Cagle, who alleged that Hidalgo’s office handed an $11
million vaccine outreach
contract to a political ally.
Then, in April 2022, three
of Hidalgo’s former staffers — Alex Triantaphyllis,
Wallis Nader and Aaron
Dunn — were indicted.
Lawyers for the trio have
adamantly denied wrongdoing by their clients.
Revelations that Ogg
hired Hooper to work behind the scenes, unbeknownst to the defense
teams involved, intensified fury that the district
attorney was using the
case to retaliate against
Hidalgo’s administration.
Hidalgo, whose Democratic-led court has increased funding for Ogg’s
office annually but denied
requests for additional
prosecutors, has painted
the indictments as part of
a political vendetta. Ogg
has refuted that characterization.
Much of the criticism
that surrounded Ogg’s initial hiring of Hooper’s law
firm has resurfaced as the
district attorney tries to
fend off a former employee’s bid to unseat her in
the Democratic primary
this March.
Political opponents —
including her primary
challenger Sean Teare —
have questioned Ogg’s decision to hire Hooper out
of all the former prosecutors in the Houston area,
noting that her conservative credentials are evident in almost every aspect of her life. She’s a former Harris County Republican precinct chair.
She has represented Republicans in court, donated to Republicans and advocated for Republican
causes.
The district attorney
denied knowledge of the
extent of Hooper’s political activities, beyond being a Republican, in a recent Chronicle editorial
board meeting.
She also downplayed
Hooper’s involvement in
the Elevate probe.
Ogg says Hooper was
retained through an existing contract with her employer BakerHostetler, a
national law firm covering
a wide variety of commercial and criminal matters.
Her role was focused on
reviewing records obtained through grand jury
subpoenas and search
warrants, Ogg said.
However, the Chronicle
has found that Hooper’s
role was extensive. Hooper returned to working for
the DA’s office in November 2021 and started immediately writing subpoenas. She later worked on
numerous search warrants and motions related
to the case. She clocked
more than 420 hours on
the investigation through
July 2022, billing the county more than $175,000 as
outside counsel on the
case, according to several
invoices filed with the
Harris County Auditor’s
Office.
Hooper ended her contract in May 2023, emails
show.
In addition, there was a
wealth of publicly available information at the
time of Hooper’s hiring
spelling out her political
activities ranging from
state finance reports to
her role as a party precinct
chair. Her personnel file
with the DA’s office also

makes claims of a “character attack” over her political affiliation.
Hooper did not respond
to a request for comment.

Ties to Texas GOP

Hooper’s
political
views became the subject
of much discussion years
after she joined the DA’s
office in 2003. She worked
her way up to misdemeanor division chief under
former District Attorney
Pat Lykos, a Republican,
when her character came
into question.
She pleaded the Fifth
Amendment — invoking
her constitutional right to
not incriminate herself —
when asked to testify during a 2011 grand jury investigation centered on police
vehicles used to gather potentially problematic DWI
evidence. Hooper was not
the target of the investigation, but the jurors were
eyeing Lykos’ office for
possible misconduct.
She pushed back on testifying, alleging a wild political plot as the genesis of
the case. She tied political
donations, marriages and
the grand jury foreman to
Lykos’ political challengers. Her claims were outlined in a motion to recuse
the judge from the case.
The judge eventually
ruled that Hooper was not
compelled to testify.
Her shocking refusal
made lasting waves in her
career at the office even
though the investigation
never produced charges
against anyone.
One of her last performance reviews in 2014
stated that fellow prosecutors felt they could no longer trust her.
Hooper challenged the
review and resigned from
the office months later. By
that point, Hooper had donated hundreds of dollars
to Republican groups, including those involved in
the local tea party movement.
“I am undergoing a
character attack because
of my political affiliation
and the fact that I exercised my Constitutional right
to remain silent in objection to a sham grand jury
process,” Hooper wrote.
She moved on to BakerHostetler. She has since
represented the interests
of conservatives in Texas
and elsewhere.
She filed an amicus
brief for state GOP chair
Matthew Rinaldi while
she was in the thick of the
Elevate case and later represented him in another
legal matter involving the
Texas Nationalist Movement, court records show.
In North Carolina, she
most recently represented
a former Republican Party chair and politician in
federal court over claims
of gerrymandering.
Her work has also
aligned with attempts by
Republicans to crack
down on voter fraud.
Hooper lodged a complaint against parolee
Hervis Rogers following
his widely reported hourslong wait to vote in the
2020 presidential primary. He endured a yearslong legal nightmare that
started with illegal voting
charges that were eventually dismissed. Hooper’s
role in making the complaint was publicly disclosed in a July 2021 report
by The Guardian.
During a February 2021
call with the Office of the
Attorney General, Hooper
cited Republican politics
and her own nagging curiosity as a former prosecutor to explain why she reported Rogers, according
to an audio recording of
the call obtained by the
Chronicle. The lawyer
looked him up, learned he
was a parolee who
shouldn’t have voted and
reported him days after
the election, she said during the call.
“We’re very concerned
about election fraud and
election integrity, just in
general,” said Hooper,
identifying herself as a Republican precinct chair
during the call.
The attorney general’s

Michael Wyke/Contributor

Rachel Hooper, shown in court last April, worked behind the scenes of the DA’s
office’s inquiry into the role of County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s office in a contract bid.

Jason Fochtman/Staff photographer

DA Kim Ogg denied knowing the extent of Hooper’s
political activities, beyond her being a Republican.

office passed the voting
case from Montgomery
County to Harris County
to review. Prosecutors
presented the case to a
grand jury, which declined to have him
charged. Local Democrats
admonished Ogg for even
taking the case to a grand
jury to begin with. State
law requires district attorneys to investigate a complaint, but the code does
not specify whether a
complaint should be presented to a grand jury.
In Hooper’s call to Paxton’s office, the former
prosecutor said she also
made a formal complaint
about Harris County’s
drive-thru voting, a pandemic-era attempt to improve voter access that
drew the ire and litigation
of county conservatives.
Ogg has known Hooper
since 2009, when Hooper
sought judicial office on
the Republican ticket.
Hooper’s husband, Don
Hooper, blogged years later about supporting Ogg
over a Republican opponent and pinned their
meeting to a campaign
fundraiser for his wife. On
his own social media, he
has publicly questioned
Hidalgo’s law enforcement budget decisions
and linked the pandemic’s
rise in violent crime to her
tenure.
Rachel Hooper mirrored similar sentiment
when she urged former
Mayor Sylvester Turner in
February 2021 to call out
Democratic judges “who
are giving low or free
bonds delaying trials.”
“Call out the supporters
of ‘bond reform’ that
would put individuals accused of violent offenses
back on our streets,” she
said during a City Council
meeting. Her comments
came at a time when lawmakers and law enforcement officials, Ogg included, began urging Democratic judges to change
their bail practices.
Ogg described having a
distant relationship with
Hooper.
“I’ve known her a long
time,” Ogg said during a
recent meeting with the
Chronicle’s
editorial
board. “I’ve been to dinner
with (her) and her husband, but would I describe it as a close, personal relationship? No.”

Ogg’s hiring decision

Ogg offered an array of
reasons for why she hired
Hooper. She blamed a
staffing shortage, saying
that three prosecutors
were on military leave, to
explain the need for extra
help.
But timecards obtained
through records requests

dispute that claim.
The office had five prosecutors assigned to the
public corruption unit
when Hooper joined the
investigation, and none of
those lawyers were absent
on military leave when
she was sworn in, according to a review of office
rosters and timecard records. The unit underwent staffing changes in
March 2022, according to
an internal memo, swapping in two prosecutors
from other divisions. One
of those prosecutors had
taken military leave shortly before joining the unit,
records show.
A roster from January

2024 shows the unit at
some point grew to eight
employees, some of whom
have military experience,
but those prosecutors
were assigned to trial
courts or other divisions
at the time of Hooper’s
hiring.
The Chronicle asked
Ogg’s spokesman Joe
Stinebaker to clarify
which employee’s military
leave prompted Hooper’s
hiring, but he declined to
elaborate on that.
Ogg also had a simpler
explanation for Hooper’s
hiring.
“I knew it’d be easy,”
said Ogg, noting that
Hooper is a former prosecutor with a firm that had
earlier contracted with
Harris County for unrelated matters.
Ogg’s network of former prosecutors was also
limited
after
having
purged the office of about
40 lawyers before she took
over in January 2017, an act
that strained her relationship with those lawyers.
Ogg described the nixed
prosecutors at the time as
those who were either loyal to her predecessor or
were tied to scandals.
“There’s not a lot of
them that I deal with, and
that’s because of the harsh

feelings about when I
came in,” Ogg said during
the editorial board meeting.
Emails show Barbara
Armstrong, then Ogg’s
deputy general counsel,
communicated
with
Hooper on Oct. 27, 2021,
about hiring her for a
“special project” later revealed to be the vaccine
outreach
investigation.
The emails make no mention of Hooper’s role with
the Republican Party, and
none of her partisan ties
are discussed.
Hooper was sworn in
Nov. 5 and got to work. She
drafted 25 subpoenas her
first week on the job, according to invoice records. The following
week, subpoenas were
handed to Harris County
officials seeking records
related to the contract’s
procurement.
One of the subpoenaed
county employees hired
Murray Newman to handle the requests, which
Newman characterized as
overly broad and confusing. He didn’t know at the
time that Hooper was
working
behind
the
scenes. None of the motions or communications
had her name on it, and
she never appeared in
court, he said.
While Ogg’s office was
not obligated to disclose
all the prosecutors involved in the case, Newman says he would have
been less cooperative had
he known of Hooper’s involvement.
“I would have raised
hell about it,” he said. “If
we had known that then, it
would have clearly shown
us that they weren’t interested in the truth — they
were interested in a war.”
Hooper
continued
working in December analyzing documents and
writing responses to requests by defense attorneys, the invoices show.
She attended team meetings and drafted questions for Cagle, Harris
County Public Health emOgg continues on A6

A6 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

Mediator: Talks on Gaza cease-fire bog down
By Wafaa Shurafa
and Samy Magdy
AS S OC IAT E D PRE SS

RAFAH, Gaza Strip —
Talks on a potential ceasefire deal in Gaza “have not
been progressing as expected” in the past few days
after good progress in recent weeks, key mediator
Qatar said Saturday, as Israel’s prime minister accused the Hamas militant
group of not changing its
“delusional” demands.
Speaking during the
Munich Security Conference, Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin
Abdurrahman Al Thani,
noted difficulties in the
“humanitarian part” of the
negotiations.
Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, who
is under pressure to bring
home remaining hostages
taken in the Oct. 7 Hamas
attack, said he sent a delegation to cease-fire talks in
Cairo earlier in the week at
President Joe Biden’s request but doesn’t see the
point in sending them
again.
Hamas wants a permanent cease-fire in Gaza and
the release of Palestinians
held by Israel.
Netanyahu also pushed
back against international

concern about a planned
Israeli ground offensive in
Rafah, a city on southern
Gaza’s border with Egypt.
He said “total victory”
against Hamas requires the
offensive, once people living there evacuate to safe
areas. Where they will go
in largely devastated Gaza
is not clear.
New airstrikes in central
Gaza on Saturday killed
more than 40 people, including children, and
wounded at least 50, according to Associated
Press journalists and hospital officials. Israel’s military said it carried out
strikes
there
against
Hamas.
Five people were killed
in an Israeli airstrike that
targeted a house outside
Khan Younis in the south,
according to health officials, and another five people, including three children, were killed in an airstrike on a building north
of Rafah.
Dr. Marwan al-Hams,
director of Abu Yousef alNajjar Hospital, said other
bodies were being pulled
from the rubble.
Israel’s air and ground
offensive was triggered by
the Oct. 7 attack, which
killed some 1,200 people in
Israel and took 250 others

Adel Hana/Associated Press

Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of
the Gaza Strip on Saturday are brought to a hospital
in Deir al Balah. More than 40 people were killed,
including children, and at least 50 wounded.

hostage.
The Gaza Health Ministry on Saturday raised the
overall death toll in Gaza to
28,858, saying the bodies of
83 people killed in Israeli
bombardments
were
brought to hospitals in the
past 24 hours.

Many women, kids

The count does not differentiate between combatants and civilians, but the
ministry says two-thirds of
those killed are women
and children.
The war also has caused
widespread destruction,
displaced some 80% of Gaza’s
population
and
sparked a humanitarian

crisis in the Hamas-run enclave.
More than half of Gaza’s
2.3 million people are
packed into Rafah, which
Israel portrays as the last
significant stronghold of
Hamas fighters.
Egypt has said an operation could threaten diplomatic relations.
Israel has said it has no
plans to force Palestinians
into Egypt. New satellite
photos, however, indicate
that Egypt is preparing for
that scenario. The images
show Egypt building a wall
and leveling land near its
border with Gaza.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who

also spoke at the Munich
Security Conference, said
“it is not our intention to
provide any safe areas or
facilities, but … we will provide the support to the innocent civilians, if that was
to take place.”
Two senior Egyptian officials said their nation is
building additional defensive lines in an existing
buffer zone that extends 3
miles from the border.
They spoke on condition of
anonymity because they
were not authorized to discuss details with the media.
Israel has not presented
specific evidence for its
claim that Hamas is diverting U.N. aid, and its targeted killings of Gaza police
commanders
guarding
truck convoys have made it
“virtually impossible” to
distribute the goods safely,
a top U.S. envoy said in rare
public criticism of Israel.
David Satterfield, the Biden administration’s special Middle East envoy for
humanitarian issues, said
criminal gangs are increasingly targeting the convoys
after the departure of police escorts after Israeli
strikes.
Israel has alleged repeatedly that Hamas is diverting aid, including fuel, after
it enters Gaza, a claim de-

nied by U.N. aid agencies.
This month, an Israeli airstrike on a car killed three
senior police commanders
in Rafah. Two officers were
killed in another strike.
Satterfield also addressed challenges for the
main U.N. agency aiding
Palestinians in Gaza,
whose director accused Israel in remarks published
Saturday of trying to “destroy” the organization and
warned that its operations
will halt in April without
more support.

Suspects arrested

In recent weeks, Israel’s
military has focused on
Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city and a
Hamas stronghold.
The army said Saturday
that it had arrested 100 suspected Hamas militants at
the city’s Nasser Hospital.
Israel’s defense minister
has said at least 20 of those
detained were involved in
the Oct. 7 attack.
The Health Ministry
said troops turned the hospital into “military barracks” and detained a large
number of medical staff. Israel says it does not target
patients or doctors, but
staff say the facility is
struggling under heavy
fire.

From page 5
ployees and others, ahead
of grand jurors hearing
evidence.
She logged the most
hours in January as she
researched “disobedience
of grand jury subpoenas”
and drafted motions to
compel aimed at top county employees, records
show.
She later spent hours
reviewing grand jury
transcripts and drafting a
brief for the judge overseeing the grand jury proceedings. Some days she
focused on revising unspecified search warrants, records show. Judges signed off on four warrants before the indictments.
As the indictments
neared, Hooper prepared
“work product regarding
evidence review,” according to her invoices. On the
day of the indictments,
Hooper analyzed transcripts and documents.
Defense attorney Rusty
Hardin, who has since endorsed Ogg’s primary opponent, had no knowledge of Hooper’s involvement when one of his clients, Hidalgo’s former
chief of staff Joe Madden,
testified before the grand
jury. Even then, he views
Hooper’s work on the case
as a political conflict, rather than a legal one, he
said.
Triantaphyllis’ lawyer,
Marla Poirot, questioned
Hooper’s hiring when
Ogg’s office already had
an “army of prosecutors.”
“They have hired a
partner at a private law
firm to work on the case
from the very beginning
to draft search warrants,
to review evidence, to respond to my motions. It’s
all in her detailed time invoices,” Poirot said.
The criminal cases
against the three former
staffers have not gone to
trial, and Hidalgo believes
they won’t — at least not
until after the election.
“She’s not going to do
that before the election
because she’s going to flop
and fall flat on her face,”
Hidalgo said last November.
Separately, two of the
defendants have asked the
judge to disqualify Ogg’s
office from handling the
prosecution, arguing Ogg
can’t be neutral given her
ongoing feud with Hidalgo. The request, filed in
June 2022 before Hooper’s
involvement was known,
remains pending.
The invoices show
Hooper spent nearly 16
hours on a response to
that request.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 A7

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COMHHH

WILSON
From page A1
served as a naval officer for two
years in Japan during the Korean
War.
“Welcome was a pillar of the
community who exemplified the
heart of a leader,” University of
Houston System Chairman Tilman J. Fertitta said in a news release. “He used his success to
support education and the university he loved. The work he did
for the UH System and throughout his life left a legacy of excellence.”
Cindy Wilson Proler, his eldest daughter, said she was with
her father when he died, and over
the last few months the family
noticed that he was “slowing
down.” Growing up, she said, her
father used to sing “You are My
Sunshine” to her and her siblings.
“I asked him what was the
purpose of life, and he said ‘to
make the next generation better
off than you were,’” she said.
He served as chairman of the
Welcome Group LLC., a real estate development firm that owns
and leases facilities around the
country. In the 1950s and ’60s,
Wilson worked on Jamaica
Beach and Tiki Island, masterplanned communities that are
now cities in Galveston County.
Wilson served in the Executive
Office of the President under
Dwight Eisenhower and John F.
Kennedy in the 1950s and ’60s,
and he witnessed the atom bomb
and hydrogen bomb tests. He
was later appointed as special
ambassador to Nicaragua by
President Lyndon B. Johnson.
In 1958, he was given the Arthur S. Flemming Award, which
honors outstanding federal employees, joining other recipients
such as astronaut Neil Armstrong and Defense Secretary
Robert Gates.
After he had served as assistant to Houston Mayor Roy Hofheinz, Wilson helped with efforts
to desegregate lunch counters in
downtown Houston in the 1960s.
He would go on to be a supporter
of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, which protected transgender Texans from discrimination. The ordinance was revoked
in 2015.
During his career, Wilson once
owned 10% of the Astros baseball

Staff file photo

Welcome Wilson Sr., right, explains a project to Jamaica Corp. executives and multimillionaire R.E. “Bob” Smith for his approval.

Gary Fountain/Contributor file photo

Welcome and Joanne Wilson attend the Bill Hobby Roast in
January 2015 with Don Foss.

team and served on its board of
directors. He also served as
chairman of two Houston banks.
Wilson, who served as chairman of the University of Houston
System from 2007 to 2010, recruited Renu Khator as president. He also worked to establish

the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication.
“Welcome Wilson was a true
titan whom I was honored to
work with and humbled to call a
friend,” Khator said in a news release. “The personal guidance he
gave me was invaluable and his

Brett Coomer/Staff file photo

Wilson stands by the Desparados wagon after arriving at
Memorial Park with the Salt Grass Trail Riders in 2018.

support for the UH System and
UH laid the foundation for the
success that our students and
community reap today and will
for years to come.”
Wilson was chairman emeritus of the UH Political Action
Committee and was serving as

director emeritus of the Greater
Houston Partnership when he
died.
Wilson is survived by his wife,
Joanne Guest Wilson, as well as
their children, grandchildren
and great-grandchildren.
Funeral services are pending.

A8 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

COLLEGE
From page A1
different life experiences led
them all to this same office
building in downtown Houston
in hopes of a cheaper ticket to
college.
“Everybody knew how big
the scholarship was, but we sat
there as if, ‘Hey, this is just a
cool little meetup,’” the 18-yearold said. “There’s (thousands)
on the line for us, but we didn’t
really think about it like that.”
Pinkard is a member of a
generation applying to colleges
with tuition near all-time highs
and the national student loan
debt at a crisis point. They see
news stories about graduates
drowning in bills and hear
warnings from their family
members, too. Deciding on a
university often becomes a
numbers game: Maybe they’ll
get more financial aid if they
forgo their dream school and go
somewhere less prestigious, or
even somewhere that feels less
right for them. That’s if they get
into the dream school at all.
The combination of money,
prestige and admission is what
makes competitive scholarship
programs like Posse and
QuestBridge so attractive.
Whether the result feels right is
more of a toss-up — in the socalled match programs, the
school that chooses the student
might not be their top choice. In
that case, they still must go to
the college, bound by a contract
signed before they get the final
answer.
Students like Pinkard think
it’s a worthwhile gamble. If the
college doesn’t end up being a
perfect match, the possibility of
minimizing or evading loans is
still too good to pass up.
“I really wasn’t feeling
A&M,” said Pinkard, a student
at HISD’s Young Women’s College Preparatory Academy. “Financial (aid) is really what a lot
of my family members are
planting in my head, but also
what I’m thinking about … my
future after college and how my
choice now will affect that,” she
said.

The prestige

Posse and QuestBridge are
two of the country’s biggest col-

Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer

Payton Pinkard, getting ready for practice with her club volleyball team in Katy in January, applied
for the Posse match program in hopes of avoiding loans or financially burdening her mother.

lege match programs, known
for their roster of selective
schools and built-in resources
that ease the student transition
out of high school and to a college degree. Applicants compete against thousands of other
highly qualified students in an
intense admissions process,
and each participating institution only chooses a small fraction.
It’s an illustrious prospect,
even though scholars who
study higher education say the
applicants already have the credentials to be successful at
many schools. The programs
offer students opportunities
they might not have been able
to afford. “My life is completely
different now,” said 17-year-old
Abdullah Naim, a Houston senior who matched with Duke
University through QuestBridge. “If I didn’t get QuestBridge, I know I would have
had to struggle a lot more. …
Now I can relax a little more
and focus on building up my
skills for college instead of worrying about how I’m going to
pay for college.”

QuestBridge has become one
of the most coveted scholarships in America since it
launched its National College
Match in 2003, helping pair
low-income students with
some of the country’s most elite
colleges and universities.
Think of the medical field’s
National Resident Matching
Program but for undergraduate degree programs. Seventeen- and 18-year-olds fill out a
college application through the
QuestBridge
organization.
They rank up to 15 of the college
partners. After being whittled
down to a group of finalists,
students learn whether they get
an early decision spot: They go
to the highest school on their
list that also wants them, and
the college or university covers
the cost of attendance including tuition and fees, housing,
food, books and supplies and
travel expenses.
Participating
institutions
have grown in recent years, and
so has the application pool.
More than 50 colleges and universities in the U.S. now partner — including Stanford Uni-

La

versity, Swarthmore College,
Rice University and all of the
Ivy League schools but Harvard University.
Posse has similarly grown in
popularity from the time it
started offering scholarships in
1989. It takes a wide pool of students, culls them down in an
evaluation process and matches them with a participating
college on a ranked list. But unlike QuestBridge, the scholarship isn’t need-based and seniors are nominated on the
grounds of demonstrating leadership in their schools, families
or communities. Full tuition
and fees are covered, still a significant help despite not being
the full cost of attendance.
It’s also regional. Students
rank schools on a list limited to
the area they’re from, so while
more than 50 institutions partner with Posse, students from
Houston choose from five:
Bryn Mawr College, Carleton
College, Colby College, Texas
A&M University and Vanderbilt University.
“A lot of students haven’t
thought about Vanderbilt or

Bryn Mawr,” said Deborah
Bial, Posse’s president and
founder. “But there are students who are brilliant and talented and capable, who we
should be finding and should
be connecting so they do get onto the radar screen of the institution.”
The application process is intense for both programs, occurring earlier in the school year
than most students apply for
college. Students who apply
through “early decision” usually have an early November
deadline and are only able to
submit to one school because of
the binding contract. Applicants for match programs apply to the scholarships even
sooner, and then go through
the college’s application process. QuestBridge finalists
must submit enough supplemental essays to cover each
school on their list.
Posse, QuestBridge and similar programs are considered
relatively successful because
they foster a combination of
factors that lead to high retention and graduation rates, said
Stella M. Flores, associate professor of higher education and
public policy at the University
of Texas at Austin. (Posse reports a 90% graduation rate
among scholarship recipients;
QuestBridge does not appear to
publish its data.)
“These are programs that
place students in generally
pretty selective schools, which
means they tend to select from
a pretty higher achieving pool
of students,” Flores said. “The
catch is that they come with a
lot of financial support, they
usually have some coaching,
and they usually have these financial support-plus (benefits). And the ‘plus’ is the secret
sauce.”
At Posse, she said, it’s having
your “posse” — a small group of
students who are also in the
program and form a supportive
community. QuestBridge is especially known for its mentorship and alumni network, Flores said.
QuestBridge officials did not
respond to requests for comment, but Rice officials who
work with the organization say
their internal analyses show
College continues on A9

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 A9

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

From page 8
the students graduating at
similar rates as other firstgeneration and limited-income student populations at
the private institution. And
Texas A&M officials who work
with Posse said they have seen
the benefits year after year.
“Access to full tuition and
fees, and such a large network
of not only Aggies but also
Posse alum, I think that really
helps them tremendously,”
said Theondre Peoples, Texas
A&M’s Posse Foundation program coordinator for the Office of Student Success.

The money

Pinkard wasn’t thrilled by
any of the five partner schools
in Posse’s Houston program,
but she chose to see the process through to the end. She’s
the only child of a single mother whose earnings place them
in a middle income bracket —
she doesn’t expect as much
federal financial aid as she anticipates she will need.
“She’s going to be the sole
provider to pay for my college,” Pinkard said. “I don’t
want all of that responsibility
on her.”
A teacher at Young Women’s
College Preparatory had nominated Pinkard for Posse in
late spring, putting faith in her
leadership at the top-ranked
school. She’s the class president, for one, but she also
plays varsity and club volleyball, has an internship at an oil
and gas company and is a
member of National Honor Society and her chapter of the
National Society of Black Engineers.
Pinkard wants to study electrical engineering, and Posse
matched her to A&M, which
would have the final say in the
admissions
process.
She
walked into her finalist interview knowing she would get a
good education in College Station but feeling unsure whether the student culture was a fit.
She wasn’t sure whether she
would be supported as a Black
woman in a STEM major.
Black women made up less
than 1% of A&M’s College of
Engineering in fall 2023.
A few other Black students
were finalists, too, and some of
them made Pinkard feel more
at ease. One said they knew
their post-college job opportunities would be ample because
of the massive Aggie network,
and someone else said they
wanted to help bring diverse
perspectives to the campus.
The students themselves
were what sold Pinkard on the
Posse experience. She would
get to continue on and become
friends with a group of people
who truly wowed her. The
scholarship isn’t need-based,
but many of the students there
had overcome significant
hardships. Getting to know
them was eye-opening, and
she got through the next few
hours of questioning feeling
grateful to have had the opportunity. “When I walked out, I
was like, ‘You know what, I
may not get this scholarship,
but I’m glad I just met those
people,’” she said.

The access

While financial status isn’t
considered in Posse, officials
said the program still draws a
diverse set of students based
on merit alone. QuestBridge is
income-based, and students
who received the scholarship
said they believe it opened
doors to higher education that
they didn’t think was possible.
Michelle Do, a senior at Harmony School of Innovation in
Sugar Land, said her parents
encouraged her to use the
QuestBridge program to apply
out-of-state because they felt
she deserved the chance to explore. She is a caretaker for her
ailing father, and she was
tempted to stay closer to home,
a tendency of low-income students that scholars believe
contributes to lower graduation rates due to the difficulty
of juggling responsibilities.
Do, who is 18, landed the scholarship to Emory University’s
nursing program in Georgia.
“QuestBridge isn’t the only
way. A lot of times for low-income students, if you’re instate, you get free tuition anyways or a lot of financial aid,”
she said. “This was my opportunity to pursue not only a
higher education for free, but
meet new people and experience the full college life.”
Estimates place 20% to 40%

Photos by Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer

Payton Pinkard, who wants to study electrical engineering, was matched with Texas A&M, which decides the finalists it accepts.

of high school seniors as “loan
averse,” or displaying an unwillingness to take on debt for
college. Additionally, students
have been able to rely less on
loans as more scholarships
and grants have become available, according to federal data.
Brent Joseph Evans, associate professor of public policy
and higher education at Vanderbilt University, said the
main concern with loan aversion comes when people
underinvest in higher education. Students don’t always realize the mechanics of student
loans or understand that the
payoff of higher education is
good, and they might delay enrollment, enroll part time instead of full time, shoot below
their potential, or work for pay
during college as a result, he
said.
“Loan aversion is also related very clearly to the information and knowledge that students have,” Evans said. “If
you’re in high school and you
have to make the borrowing
decision then, you might not
be aware of all the benefits of
the student loan processes …
so you don’t make the investment decision up front.”
QuestBridge estimates that
every year, about 30,000 “outstanding” high school students from low-income backgrounds are qualified to attend
top colleges, but over 80%
don’t apply to even one selective school. Programs like
QuestBridge and Posse help
some students tackle the
underinvestment
problem:
Naim, one of Do’s classmates,
said he considered going to
community college if he didn’t
get the QuestBridge scholarship to Duke.
Flores, of UT-Austin, said
she agrees that the programs

“My life is completely different now. If I didn’t
get QuestBridge, I know I would have had to
struggle a lot more.”
Abdullah Naim, 17, a Houston senior who matched with Duke University

are great for creating access to
selective schools, which are
known to carry higher earning
potential. But she cautioned
that the programs don’t touch
a much wider population of
students who need access the
most, and programs for students who aren’t as highachieving remain less resourced.
“The students who really
need the information about
how to go to college, those are
the ones that don’t even know
that they can apply for financial aid,” she said. “So by the
time we get to the students
who are hoping to apply for a
selective program like QuestBridge, Posse, you’re already
talking about the students
who have had access.”
QuestBridge this year received more than 20,800 applications and matched with
2,242 finalists, its highest
number to date, according to
the organization. On average,
students have a 3.94 unweighted GPA, and 93% were in the
top 10% of their class. About
40% of non-matched students
get into at least one college
partner in regular decision admissions.
Posse reports similarly competitive metrics: This year,
more than 16,000 students
competed for 890 scholarships. Four in five of its scholars usually go on to become officers of college organizations.
They are also diverse, with an
alumni network that is 34%
Black, 31% Latinx, 11% Asian

and 9% white.
“Post the SCOTUS decision
on affirmative action, Posse is
still finding incredible students from huge diversity of
backgrounds,” said Bial, the
Posse founder. “But we don’t
screen for race, we don’t
screen for need, and everything is done through the lens
of merit. You get an initiative
that cares about access and
equity and diversity, but it’s
really a leadership initiative
that happens to have a very diverse group of students participating.”
A&M officials said they took
50 total Posse students from
Houston, New Orleans, Atlanta, a veterans program and an
online program, up from 20 in
its first year participating in
2013. At Rice, 77 QuestBridge
students were accepted early
decision into the class of 2028,
up from three students in its
first year as a partner in 2003.
“QuestBridge finalists and
scholars share incredibly inspiring stories of achievement
in the face of daunting challenges,” said Tamara Siler,
Rice’s interim co-director of
admission. “In addition to being outstanding academic
scholars they demonstrate exceptional time-management
skills, intellectual spark and
curiosity, determination, extensive life skills, strength in
character, fortitude and motivation to succeed not only for
themselves but for the benefit
of their family.”
Abdullahi Adeboye, one of

Pinkard, who was nominated by one of her teachers for the Posse program, is class president,
has an internship at an oil and gas company and is a member of the National Honor Society.

Do’s classmates, viewed the
QuestBridge program through
the eyes of fate. He lives apart
from his mother and father,
who are a doctor and business
owner in Nigeria, respectively.
The currency is worth less
there, so matching with the
California Institute of Technology was a blessing.
“I always believed that God
would put me in the best place
possible,” Adeboye, 18, said. “I
was, like, whatever happens,
happens. And plus, it’s free tuition at school.”

Another route

Pinkard heard back from
Posse one day after her interview. She didn’t get the scholarship.
“A little bit of me was kind of
relieved, but then also sad, just
because, again, the financial
aspect,” she said. “I wouldn’t
have had to worry about anything.”
She faced some of the selfdoubting questions that come
with rejection, and then the realization that her mother
might have to shoulder more of
the burden of her education.
The teen called her mom, who
reassured her and let her
know how impressive it was
that she made it so far in the
process, going from a group of
more than a thousand students in Houston to a couple
dozen.
Pinkard is now waiting for
final acceptances and financial
aid offers to roll in, and in the
meantime, she’s applying to
every scholarship she can. The
goal is not to take out any loans
if she can help it.
“When it comes to applying
for scholarships, I think at
times it’s like a robot,” she
said. “I copy my essays, paste
them, and I just move on. And
then my mom and my godmother are like religiously
sending me a scholarship every day.”
She’s also getting more excited about some of the colleges in front of her. Pinkard has
looked deeper into what each
school and engineering program offers minority students,
and she is interested in playing
volleyball at the collegiate level, maybe at a place she can
walk on.
Without Posse, she still has
options.
Louisiana State University
has offered her a competitive
scholarship package, and so
has the University of Oklahoma — which she loved during a
visit on a diversity weekend.
She’s waiting to see what another favorite, Texas Tech University, gives her. And Pinkard
has also applied to three Ivies,
two historically Black colleges
and universities, Georgia Tech
University, Clemson University and Duke University.
“I’m holding off for some of
the other schools that I applied
to, just to see,” she said. “You
never know what’s going to
happen.”

A10 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

TICKETS

Felicia
Babineaux
moved her tent
from the
sidewalk to a
nearby field
after Houston
police officers
issued her
tickets for
encamping in
Midtown. The
tickets come as
the Supreme
Court readies to
weigh in on
whether
penalizing
people for
encampment
when there’s no
available shelter
is “cruel and
unusual
punishment.”

From page A1
that have been decommissioned. Instead, they’re
writing them primarily in a
swath of the city that radiates outward from downtown to the west — an area
colloquially known as the
“Houston arrow,” where
the population tends to be
wealthier, whiter and have
better health outcomes.
The Houston Police Department said the distribution of tickets is driven by
where they’re getting complaints. “We’re responsive,”
said Larry Satterwhite, the
department’s executive assistant chief. “So it’s really
about when the public calls
us.”
He called citations “a last
resort,” explaining that officers offer to help people
travel to family or friends
who would provide them
with a place to stay. They
can also bring people to the
Navigation Center, a referral-only location where
they can live until they receive permanent housing.
The goal, he said, was to get
people off the streets and
into housing for safety reasons.
The Coalition for the
Homeless in Houston and
Harris County said it could
not speak to Houston’s policy for encampment tickets.
The tickets come as the
Supreme Court readies to
weigh in on whether penalizing people for encampment when there’s no available shelter is “cruel and
unusual
punishment.”
Donald Whitehead, executive director of the National
Coalition for the Homeless,
argued that the practice is
unconstitutional, and the
resources used to ticket
those without homes
should be used to create af-

Photos by Jon
Shapley/Staff
photographer

8

45

ZIP codes
with most
tickets

69

290

Ticketing differs for ZIP codes with
similar homeless populations

99

69

Houston and its partners
have decommissioned
camps, shown with blue
dots, largely along
highways.

610

10

45
290

610

10
8

45
69

610

288

But tickets for encamping,
shown with red triangles, do
not always happen where
camps have been cleared by
offering everyone housing.
Top ZIP codes for tickets
were downtown,
Midtown, the Near
Northside and
Memorial Park.
8

Sources: Houston Municipal Courts;
Coalition for the Homeless in Houston
and Harris County; City of Houston

fordable housing. While
the typical ticket is for hundreds or thousands of dollars, court records show
cases usually result either
in a dismissal or a warrant
for failure to appear.
Since 2021, Houston,
Harris County, the Coali-

Map:
Matt Zdun/
Staff

tion for the Homeless and
other groups have decommissioned more than 100
encampments.
Officials
have focused on decommissioning
encampments
along major freeways. Once
an encampment has been
cleared, people are not al-

10

8

69
288

610

45

All of the ZIP codes shaded in yellow
have similar homeless populations
(anywhere from 20 to 50).
However, the darkly shaded ZIP
codes have seen many more
8
tickets, represented with
dots, than the lightly
shaded ones. For
10
example, nearly 200
encamping tickets were
issued between August
and December.

Sources: Houston Municipal Courts; Coalition for the Homeless in Houston and Harris County

lowed to return. City law
requires that officers provide a written warning before ticketing or arresting a
person for encamping.
In some cases, officers issued tickets near the camps
they closed. In many other
cases, officers issued encampment tickets downtown and in neighborhoods
west of downtown, often in
areas not necessarily close

to the decommissioned
camps.
Officers issued the most
tickets downtown and in
Midtown, the southwest
corner of Near Northside
and Memorial Park. Montrose and the northern corner of Third Ward also saw
high volumes of tickets.
Babineaux was part of a
cluster in Midtown where a
camp had not been decommissioned. One person
who also received a ticket
for sleeping outside in the
area said she moved there
after police ramped up ticketing and arrests of people
living outside of the Beacon, a downtown homeless
day shelter. The police have
issued at least 48 tickets for
encamping outside the Beacon since March of last year.
She said that many who
moved away from the Beacon set up near Lord of the
Streets, which similarly
gives people a place to receive mail, take a shower
and connect with social
workers and other resources. Records show regular
ticketing outside Lord of
the Streets picked up in October.
On a recent Tuesday, a
list of people whom the
church had given permission to stay on the porch
was taped to the window of
Lord of the Streets. But
Brad Sullivan, vicar of Lord
of the Streets, said that the
church may not be able to
shield people looking to
sleep there for much longer.
“I don’t want to be a bad
neighbor to the folks in
Midtown,” he said.
Sullivan called Houston’s housing-first approach “a good thing.”
Houston’s strategy of concentrating resources on
housing means it can afford
to move more people into
apartments instead of into
shelters, where they would
still be homeless. But, he
said, “it’s not perfect. What
it’s missing is a place to go
when people clear an encampment.”
Three people who were
ticketed for encamping told
the Chronicle that they
were not offered a spot at
the Navigation Center.

Map: Matt Zdun/Staff

Another way to look at
the distribution of tickets is
by comparing it to that of
the homeless population.
The ZIP code encompassing downtown, Minute
Maid Park and portions of
Midtown has the highest
homeless population in the
area at nearly 200 residents, according to 2023
Point-in-Time Count data.
That ZIP code, 77002, also
has seen the highest volumes of tickets by far.
An analysis of the next
several ZIP codes that have
the greatest number of
homeless residents — each
has between 20 to 50 residents — shows a widely
varied number of tickets.
In many ZIP codes with
that number of homeless
residents, officers wrote six
or fewer tickets. Several
saw no tickets at all. However, in other ZIP codes
with that homeless population, which include the
swath of Midtown where
Babineaux was staying, officers wrote dozens of tickets. Nearly 200 were written in the ZIP codes encompassing Midtown, Memorial Park and Third Ward.
In other words, there
were far fewer tickets written in areas east and northeast of downtown and in
the southern portions of
the city, even though those
areas have just as high of a
homeless population as
areas west of downtown
where officers wrote many
tickets.
Shortly after Lovings
helped Babineaux move
her tent from the area
where police were repeatedly ticketing, others began
moving to the grassy lot.
Lovings worried the increasing numbers meant
the spot wouldn’t escape attention for long.
He only needed to stay a
few more weeks — he had
applied for permanent
housing, and his apartment
was scheduled for inspection in mid-February. He
just had to lay low until
then.
But a police officer soon
came by the lot and wrote
him a ticket for encamping
in a public space.

Construction continues across the street from a
vacant lot where homeless people camp in Midtown.

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 A11

A12 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

CITY/ STATE
HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 • PAGE A13

Lawsuits target Black female candidates
JOY SEWING
C OLU MNIST

Before 17 Black women were
elected to the bench in Harris
County in 2018, there was not
much concern about the qual-

ifications needed to run for a
Texas judicial position. The
women made history as the
largest group of Black female
judges elected in Texas.
Now, a state law, HB 2384,
which took effect in September and had nearly unanimous
bipartisan support, is being
used to question the qualifications of three Black women running for Harris County
judicial positions in the March
primary. In each instance, a
white, male incumbent judge

has tried using the new law to
remove a Democratic primary
challenger from the ballot.
The law, which is neutral
and vague, was designed to
ensure those who run for office as district court or appellate court judges meet certain
educational and training requirements, such as courtroom experience, a current
law license and practicing law
in the last five years.
Sounds fair, but this is Texas.

In practice, it sets up fresh
candidates for a slap in the
face. They get bad publicity
and steep legal bills before
they can even get their campaigns off the ground, even
when a judge ultimately finds
that they’re qualified for the
offices they seek. It’s also a
way to discredit Black women,
who are a steadfast voting
bloc.
The women named in the
lawsuits are: Erica Hughes,
who was one of the judges

Haley discusses
border security, energy

elected in 2018 and is running
for the 151st District Court
position held by incumbent
Mike Englehardt; Amber
Boyd-Cora, who is seeking the
1st District Court of Appeals
position held by incumbent
Peter Kelly; and TaKasha
Francis, who is running for
the 152nd Civil District Court
seat held by Robert Schaffer.
The suits have alleged various improprieties, including
not having the qualifications
Sewing continues on A21

Cancer
scientist
disputes
lawsuit
Researcher says
she didn’t try to
falsely take credit
By Evan MacDonald
and Julian Gill
STAF F WRI TE RS

Jon Shapley/Staff photographer

Nikki Haley, a former U.N. ambassador, came to Texas last week to continue her bid for the GOP presidential nomination.

By Yilun Cheng
STAFF WRIT E R

Republican presidential candidate
Nikki Haley discussed border security,
energy policies and state power during
an interview Thursday with the Houston Chronicle’s editorial board.
With the March 5 primary fast approaching, Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations, arrived in
Texas last week to press on with her
bid for the GOP nomination. After a series of primary defeats to former President Donald Trump, Haley’s campaign
recently discussed its focus on open
primary states such as Texas, where
Democrats can cross over and vote in a

GOP presidential
hopeful calls herself
‘new generational
conservative leader’
Republican primary.
A recent poll by the University of
Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs showed Haley trailing Trump by a
60% margin in the Texas Republican
primary. During a Thursday interview
with the Chronicle, the former ambassador called on Texas voters of all party
affiliations to cast a ballot for her in
March, referring to herself as “a new

generational conservative leader” who
can take the nation in a new direction.
“This is about, do you want more of
the same or do you want somebody different?” she said. “I don’t ask who’s Republican, who’s Democrat, who’s independent. But what I do talk about is
how we need to get our debt down and
our economy back on track. I do talk
about the fact that we gotta get our kids
reading again and back to the basics in
education. I talk about the fact that we
need to secure our borders with no
more excuses.”
After her stop in Houston, Haley
went to Dallas for a rally in the evening
and to San Antonio for a meet and
Haley continues on A20

Ammo among items found at shooter’s home
By Catherine Dominguez
and Matt deGrood
STA FF WRIT E RS

Bulletproof vests, ammunition, plastic bottles filled with
unknown substances, antisemitic books and a white mask
that read “Free Gaza Trump”
were pulled from the Conroe

home of the suspect in the
shooting at Houston’s Lakewood Church, records show.
The inventory list from an
executed search warrant on
the home shows that officers
collected more than 32 pieces
of evidence from the home of
Gennesse Moreno, including a
cellphone, a laptop, three

iPads, a thumb drive, several
notebooks, printed text messages, two soft-shelled bulletproof vests and ammunition
for a 9 mm handgun and an
AR-15.
Details about what police
found in the home come as the
unfolding investigation shows
that several agencies dealt with

Moreno’s family in the years
leading up to last Sunday’s
shooting, in which she was
killed, her 7-year-old was seriously wounded and a man was
injured.
Before she was killed, Moreno said she had a bomb, according to the warrant. DetecShooting continues on A22

A prominent MD Anderson
Cancer Center scientist pushed
back on a lawsuit that claims she
tried to take credit for a junior faculty member’s research, saying a
third-party review determined
she should be acknowledged for
her contributions, according to a
Friday court filing.
The filing also says the lawsuit
should be amended to remove Dr.
Padmanee Sharma, a senior MD
Anderson faculty member and a
major figure in the field of immunotherapy, as a defendant. Sharma is an employee of a University
of Texas System institution, and
government employees are protected against lawsuits related to
actions they take as part of their
official duties, according to the
court filing from Sharma’s attorneys with the Texas Attorney
General’s Office.
The court filing says the researcher who filed the lawsuit,
Dr. Jamie Lin, should amend it to
name MD Anderson as the defendant rather than Sharma. If the
change is not made within 30
days, the suit should be dismissed, the court filing says.
Lin’s suit, filed in August, accuses Sharma of improperly taking credit for research and making false and defamatory statements that damaged Lin’s career.
Lin has asked for $5 million in
damages and a judgment naming
her to her appropriate authorship
positions.
Sharma has denied the allegations in court documents, including in a declaration attached to
Friday’s court filing.
“The conduct complained of
by Dr. Lin — the merits and accuracy of which I vigorously dispute — are within the course and
scope of my employment with
MDACC and relate solely to my
employment with MDACC,” she
said in the filing.
Lin, an onco-nephrologist,
said in a statement that she hadn’t
reviewed the motion and was unable to comment by press time.
Julie Haines, a member of Lin’s legal team, said she and her colScientist continues on A18

Cy-Fair ISD board avoids vote on
whether to hire school chaplains
By Elizabeth Sander
STAFF WRIT E R

Nearing the five-hour mark of
Monday’s board meeting, the
Cypress-Fairbanks ISD board of
trustees voted to affirm its existing chaplain volunteer policy,
opting out of a vote on whether
to adopt a policy of employing
chaplains.
With a conservative supermajority of 6-1, it was a surprising
decision for many community
members who were anticipating

that the board would approve a
policy employing chaplains.
Some members were so concerned that some in the group
Cypress Families for Public
Schools organized an effort to
speak out against the policy proposal, printing out U.S. historythemed signs for parents to hold
up during the meeting reading:
“Don’t mess with our parental
rights” and “Don’t mess with religious freedom.”
The board, which includes
some new members, had only

two weeks left to take a record
vote on the measure before the
law’s March 1 deadline. Senate
Bill 763 allows school districts to
open a chaplain position in their
schools and pay them through
the safety and security allotment
from the state.
The board meeting Monday
night drew a large crowd, with
30 speakers on the item — 17 in
opposition and 13 in favor.
Though the agenda item for the
chaplains discussion did not beChaplains continues on A16

Elizabeth Sander/Staff

Parents involved in the nonprofit Cypress Families for Public
Schools hold up signs opposing the chaplain hiring proposal.

A14 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

Over 82K apply for cash assistance program
By Jen Rice
STA FF WRIT E R

Harris County’s guaranteed
basic income program received
more than 82,000 applications
from residents before the online portal closed earlier this
month.
Around 1,900 households
will be randomly selected from
the applicant pool to participate in Uplift Harris, which
will provide $500 monthly payments to low-income households for 18 months.
Applicants who are selected
to participate will be notified by
Feb. 26, with the first cash payments going out April 3, according to County Judge Lina
Hidalgo’s office.
Nearly 90% of residents who
applied for the program identified as Black or Hispanic, Hidalgo said.
“The huge amount of interest
in this program shows how

great the need is in Harris
County for a program like Uplift Harris, especially among
vulnerable communities,” Hidalgo said. “Reducing poverty
and helping families who are
struggling to meet basic needs
should not be a political debate.”
Harris County Precinct 1
Commissioner Rodney Ellis attributed the program’s “overwhelming response” to “unchecked inequality and soaring
costs.”
“People want government to
do something about the economic divide, and that’s what
Harris County is doing,” Ellis
said in a statement. “In a state
with vast prosperity, we refuse
to be bystanders as 750,000
Harris County residents endure a relentless cycle of poverty.”
County officials are looking
into how they can continue to
fund the guaranteed income

Jen Rice/Staff file photo

County Commissioner Rodney Ellis attributed the response to
Uplift Harris to “unchecked inequality and soaring costs.”

program after the 18-month pilot phase concludes, Hidalgo
added.
The $20.5 million pilot program is one of many initiatives

the county is launching in using its allocation of federal
American Rescue Plan Act dollars.
Others efforts include creat-

ing affordable child care slots,
boosting eviction legal aid resources and training more than
1,500 low-income county residents for higher-paying employment.
Republican state Sen. Paul
Bettencourt has questioned the
legality of Uplift Harris, requesting an opinion from Texas
Attorney General Ken Paxton’s
office about whether counties
have the authority to carry out a
guaranteed income program
and whether such a program
would violate a state constitutional clause prohibiting the
gift of public funds to any person.
In response, Harris County
Attorney Christian Menefee
sent a brief to Paxton’s office in
which he argued that the guaranteed income program is on
firm legal ground.
Paxton’s office has yet to respond, according to the county
attorney’s office.

Lamar CISD undergoing period of ‘hypergrowth’
By Chevall Pryce
STAFF WRIT E R

Lamar Consolidated ISD expects to open more than 20 new
campuses, including four new
campuses this fall, driving numerous job opportunities for all
campuses to meet the “hypergrowth” the nearby suburban
communities are experiencing.
According to a presentation
by Zonda Education representative Bob Templeton, Lamar
CISD saw its total school-age
population increase by more
than 10,000 within district
boundaries from 2020 to 2024.
The district also saw its total enrollment increase by more than
8,000 within the same period,
with a consistent capture rate of
81%.
“I’ve seen this (for) about ten
of our clients right now, and I
can tell you out of the 10 that I’ve
seen, this is the highest capture
rate,” Templeton said. “For most
of them have seen a drop from
that 2020 capture rate to the

2023 capture rate. It’s dropping
because of the increase in home
school enrollment. It’s also
dropping because of what’s happening with charter school enrollments.”
Zonda Education offers enrollment projections, attendance zone planning and other
services to school districts.
Templeton referred to parts
of Lamar CISD as hypergrowth
areas when discussing homes
being built within elementary
school zones. Lamar CISD is
considered a hypergrowth district due to 400 to 700 homes being built within several elementary school boundaries in the
third quarter of 2023
Zonda Education considers
100 to 300 homes being built
within a school boundary within a year to be fast growth for a
district. For example, Tamarron
Elementary had 768 home starts
in the third quarter of 2023.
Lamar CISD had the most annual new home starts at 3,818 and
closings at 4,110 in the third

Juhi Varma/Staff

Lamar Consolidated ISD is expecting to open more than 20 new
campuses, including four this fall.

quarter.
“(Lamar CISD) feels like (it is)
four districts in terms of size
and where the growth is happening,” Templeton said. “A lot
of our fast growth districts
might be 40 to 50 square miles
and they’re building 1500 homes

a year. (Lamar CISD) is the
equivalent of three to four of
those. ”
To meet the demands of four
campuses opening this fall and
future growth predicted by Zonda Education, Lamar CISD is
now hosting a job fair March 2.

xamin

The district has positions
available for more than 50 campuses and departments from
teaching to counseling.
“The more we grow, the more
we need good people to fill
teaching positions across the
district,” Lamar CISD Superintendent Roosevelt Nivens said.
“We are proud to develop leaders that inspire innovation and
foster growth to support and
celebrate every student’s success.”
Jose Sanchez-Garcia, human
resources recruiter for Lamar
CISD, said the district is looking
forward to meeting applicants
face to face.
“It will also give us the opportunity to provide guidance, recommendations, and insight to
educators interested in joining
our team as it continues to
grow.”
The Lamar CISD Job Fair will
be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
March 2 at Foster High School.
For more information, or to register, visit the Lamar CISD site..

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 A15

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

Council delays support for housing projects
By Yilun Cheng
STA FF WRIT E R

City Council has postponed a vote on supporting
19 new affordable housing
projects after a council
member objected to a proposed development in his
district.
Developers behind the
proposed projects are seeking the city’s endorsement
to move forward with their
applications for this year’s
highly competitive 9% tax
credit program. Federally
funded and managed by
the state, the program allows developers to charge
lower rents by offsetting a
portion of their federal tax
liability.
On Wednesday, District
F Council Member Tiffany
Thomas and At-Large 1
Council Member Julian Ramirez delayed a council
vote on the resolution of
support by a week. Thomas did not provide a reason
for her decision. Ramirez
said he had asked the city
administration for a list of
the principals behind the
developments but was told
to look up the information
himself.
“That is information
that the city should be collecting,” Ramirez said. “I
think it goes to the heart of
transparency in government and what we do. I
think the public deserves
to know who is benefiting
financially from the decision that we make.”
The tax credit program
has been one of the largest
drivers of affordable housing in Texas for decades.
Even though state officials
will ultimately decide who
gets the tax breaks, without local government backing, a project has little
chance of approval.
In Houston, these applications often have encountered protests from nearby
residents, particularly in
neighborhoods not accustomed to higher numbers
of low-income units. Last

year, for example, supporters and opponents of two
proposed developments
clashed repeatedly in the
City Council chamber,
leading City Council to
withhold support for one
project.
This year’s discussions,
in contrast, have been relatively subdued, dominated
largely by developers
championing their own
projects. District E Council
Member Fred Flickinger,
however, broke the consensus last week by sending a
letter to other members,
voicing objections to one of
the three developments
proposed for his district.
He told the Chronicle on
Wednesday that he is concerned about adding three
complexes to an area already experiencing rapid
growth. His primary concern is with the Forest Pine
development planned near
the Eastex Freeway in
Kingwood. The lack of
sidewalks, absence of a
Metro stop and its proximity to a highway, he said,
render the location unsuitable.
“Obviously people that
have moved to an area
where there wasn’t low-income housing wanted to
live in an area that didn’t
have low-income housing,”
Flickinger added.
He emphasized, however, that his opposition was
not against all such projects, and he supports the
other two proposals in his
district that aim to provide
affordable housing for seniors.
Flickinger said he has
not heard of any complaints from nearby residents against Forest Pine.
But this could have been a
result of insufficient engagement by the developer
and a rushed timeline from
the city, he said.
The city typically first
unveils its recommended
tax credit projects at a
Housing and Community
Affairs Committee meet-

Jon Shapley/Staff file photo

Mayor John Whitmire said the city needs to make sure
the projects are representative of “all of Houston.”

ing. That did not happen
this year, as Mayor John
Whitmire has yet to set up
the council committee
structure or appoint any
members.
Thomas, who led the
housing committee under
former Mayor Sylvester
Turner, attempted to hold a
committee meeting two
weeks ago. Whitmire, however, intervened the evening before to call off the
meeting. Mayoral spokeswoman Mary Benton said
that calling a meeting without the mayor’s approval
was not the right way to advance the projects.
Thomas previously cited
the urgent nature of the
resolution as the reason
she tried to organize the
meeting. With the state’s
March 1 application deadline fast approaching, she
expressed concerns that
the mayor’s timeline might
not allow enough time for
council members, residents and developers to
thoroughly review and discuss the proposed projects.
I am “acutely aware of
the depleted housing legacy in Houston, the ‘Not-inMy-Backyard’ campaigns,
and the limited knowledge
the general public has
about how the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit
Program works in our city
and our role,” she said in a
statement released after
Whitmire called off the
committee meeting. “At the

current pace, I am concerned the city may not
create space for robust dialogue regarding projects
that can potentially guard
against the growing unaffordability in Houston.”
She did not respond to
requests for comment on
her assessment of the process since then.
The city reviewed 34 tax
credit applications for 2024

and proposed support for
19 based on a competitive
scoring system that takes
into account factors like
housing needs, income levels and the presence of
high-performing schools
and transit options. The
scoring system aims to
avoid concentrating affordable housing developments in lower-income
areas.
“We need to also make
sure that the projects are
representative and inclusive of all of Houston and
not let folks pressure us or
the department to place
them in communities that
are readily receiving them
instead of where they need
to be,” Whitmire said during a City Council meeting
last week.
Meanwhile, the city received no applications this
year for Districts C or G,
which boast the highest
median household incomes in Houston —

$114,100 and $94,900, respectively, compared to the
citywide
average
of
$56,000, according to city
data based on the U.S. census. In fact, the two districts were home to the two
contentious projects that
sparked quick backlash
last year.
Alan Watkins, executive
director of the Houston
Housing
Collaborative,
said the Whitmire administration needs to produce
a comprehensive housing
plan and come up with creative ways to incentivize affordable housing developers to also consider building these projects in affluent neighborhoods.
“What it boils down to is
that in order for us to plan
effectively and thoughtfully, we need a comprehensive housing plan, not just
for one district, not for several districts, but we need it
for the entire city,” Watkins
said.

A16 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

Fulshear council unanimously votes to fire city manager
By Chevall Pryce
STA FF WRIT E R

Fulshear City Manager
Jack Harper was fired
from his position after a
unanimous vote by City
Council on Monday.
Council met privately
before the 6-0 vote to oust
Harper.
Fulshear officials have
not yet provided information on Harper’s salary or
how long he had worked

CHAPLAINS
From page A13
gin until roughly four
hours into the meeting,
much of the crowd remained, awaiting a decision.
One retired Cy-Fair
school counselor, Heidi
Rothschild, spoke in opposition to the proposal,
leaning on her experiences
with students in the district and the struggles
they’d faced.
“Being an unchurched
family in Cy-Fair … can be
very
uncomfortable,”
Rothschild said. “Having
official chaplains in our
school would raise that
discomfort to alienation. It
would serve as a daily official reminder to non-religious students that ‘You
don’t fit.’”
Two current Cy-Fair
students spoke in opposition as well. One asked the
board how they thought
the bill would affect her.

for the city.
Officials and Harper
have not yet responded to
a request for further comment.
Harper was put on paid
leave after a Feb. 6 special
session, where city council members discussed
complaints against Harper during an executive
session that lasted nearly
four hours.
The reason for Harper’s termination has not

been revealed by city
council, but was found to
be with good cause, according to Mayor Aaron
Groff and the meeting
agenda.
“We’ll get through all
that’s coming in the coming days,” Groff said Feb.
6.
“But one of the most
important factors in this
moment is that the public
and staff understand that
retaliation of any sort will

not be tolerated when a
member of staff or public
brings a complaint to the
city,” Groff added. “It will
not be tolerated.”
The city manager position will be filled by Assistant City Manager
Zach Goodlander, according to a news release from
the city.
“I think last night
marks an end as well as a
beginning,” Goodlander
said in a release. “Every-

one has already been
working on a number of
projects and those will
continue.
“At the same time, I
think everyone should
feel empowered,” Goodlander said. “The citizens demand a lot of us,
we need to keep pushing
forward. Again, my door
is literally open, always
is.”
Groff said the city is
looking to move forward.

“It’s been a long couple
of days,” Groff said during the Feb. 12 meeting.
“Mr. Harper, we thank
you for your service to the
city of Fulshear. Staff, we
look forward to a new tomorrow and we will, as a
city, move forward and
we will continue to be
Fort Bend County’s premiere address, a place
that residents and staff
want to work, play and
call home.”

Elizabeth Sander/Staff

position.
After some back-andforth, including trustee Julie Hinaman’s recommendation that the board vote
against adopting any policy regarding the resolution, Blasingame made a
motion to create a role for
paid chaplains and codify
a different role for volunteer chaplains, which the
district’s attorney and the
superintendent cautioned
against due to employment legality concerns.
It took some clarification for board members to
understand the motion
Blasingame was making
and it ultimately failed to
get the second it needed
from another trustee to go
to a vote.

“I am also agnostic and I
don’t follow a specific
faith. How would this new
chaplain bill affect me?
How would it affect other
students of other religions?” asked student Olivia Penrod.
Penrod explained how
she had recently experienced bullying at her
school, and that her counselor had made her feel
safe. She wasn’t sure a
chaplain could have done
the same, she said.

High-profile backers

The crowd included
State Board Education
Member Julie Pickren,
who has been emailing letters of support to districts
around the area and attending meetings in her
jurisdiction to urge support for the measure. Pickren is also a member of the
National School Chaplain
Association’s board.
Rocky Malloy, CEO and
founder of the NSCA, and
his wife, Joske Malloy,

Rocky Malloy, CEO and founder of the National School Chaplain Association,
speaks at a Cy-Fair ISD board meeting before a vote on hiring chaplains.

were also both present at
the meeting, alongside
other supporters of the
measure.
Both Malloys spoke
during the public com-

ment section. Rocky Malloy became heated when
urging the board to vote
“yes,” citing a study by a
research scientist with the
U.S. Army, that said that

not providing spiritual
care contributes to mental
illness, he said.
“Vote ‘yes’ on the evidence. And I’m not looking for anybody else’s evidence!” he said, pointing
to a large binder on the podium and turning to the
crowd.
Malloy has been traveling across Texas speaking
at board meetings in support of the policy his organization helped push
through the Texas Legislature last year. One week
ago, Malloy was in Galveston ISD at a board policy
meeting speaking in support of the measure, and
the week before that, he
appeared in San Antonio’s
Judson ISD to speak.

Pair of proposals

With an NSCA ally on
the board, Board Vice
President Natalie Blasingame, who testified in support of the measure during
the legislative session,
community members opposed to the legislation
were particularly concerned that Cy-Fair might
be one of the few districts
in the state to adopt a policy hiring chaplains.
And the board certainly
considered it.
After a board work session on Thursday that
brought up some questions about whether the
proposed policy revisions
addressed the law at hand,
General Counsel Marney
Sims drew up some clearer options labeled A and B
and screen-shared them
for the audience to see.
Option A stated that in
the employment policy,
the board chose not to create a chaplain position but
did
not
discriminate
against hiring otherwise
qualified employees who
are also a chaplain. It
amended the volunteer
policy as well to more
clearly define the role of a
volunteer chaplain already allowed in Cy-Fair
ISD.
Option B created a paid
position for chaplains in
the board’s local employment policy, along with an
edit to the volunteer policy
stating that the board had
created a position for
chaplains, so it would not
need a volunteer chaplain

Funding question

The financial concern
about the bill was also
brought up by Superintendent Doug Killian. He reiterated that there wasn’t
much funding in the safety
and security allotment,
which the Legislature increased by only $15,000
per
Cy-Fair
campus,
which is not enough to
cover a single salary.
He then aired a little
sarcasm about the Legislature’s proclivity to unfunded mandates.
“This may just be a crazy observation, but you
know, I’ve always been
told if you want something
to happen, you incentivize
it financially, correct?” Killian said. “So it was so important to the Legislature
with a $30-something billion surplus, they passed a
bill with no money attached to it.”
Trustee Lucas Scanlon
mentioned that his wife is
a mentor in the district
and that she and her mentee have found it a fulfilling experience, alluding to
the fact that faith-based
leaders already have the
opportunity to lend the
same kind of support they
might provide in the role
of a paid school chaplain.
Trustee Justin Ray
made a second motion,
which was ultimately approved in a 5-0 vote, with
two abstaining, Blasingame and trustee Christine Kalmbach.
Ray’s motion asked to
drop the consideration of
an employment policy regarding chaplains altogether, instead simply affirming the district’s preexisting comprehensive
volunteer policy for faithbased leaders to serve as
mentors.
“I believe that it’s in our
best interest to continue
having chaplains and people engaged in our community as volunteers and
mentors,” he said, allowing the board to circumvent the issue without having to vote “no” outright to
paid chaplains.
The board must take a
second vote on the issue in
March after gathering
more feedback, at which
time trustees could vote to
amend Monday’s motion.
“We will do this all over
again in March!” Sims
said.

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 A17

A18 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

SCIENTIST
From page A13
leagues were reviewing the
motion. “We … are not surprised that defendant Sharma is trying to escape the
consequences of her individual behavior.”
The lawsuit represents
an unusual public clash at
one of the leading cancer
research hubs in the world.
Sharma is a major figure in
the field of immunotherapy, a type of treatment that
helps a patient’s immune
system fight cancer. She is
married to Dr. James Allison, a Nobel Prize winner
and the namesake of MD
Anderson’s Allison Institute.
One of the manuscripts
at the center of the dispute
deals with tertiary lymphoid structures — clusters of immune cells that
can develop in inflamed tissues. TLS is associated
with conditions like autoimmune disorders, infections and cancer.
Lin’s complaint says her
spouse, Dr. Cassian Yee,
conceptualized the idea in
November 2020 of a TLS
signature in immune nephritis or kidney damage
caused by the immunotherapy. In the complaint,
Lin said she and her spouse
led the research laid out in
the paper. The research
and findings are not detailed in court documents.
Sharma painted a different picture in the declaration she filed Friday.
Sharma said in the declaration that she used to be
“close personal friends”
with Lin and acted as a
mentor to her. Starting in
2020, Lin wanted to develop a research project looking at kidney toxicities associated with immunotherapy, and collaborated with
other researchers to collect
and analyze kidney samples, according to the declaration. Lin asked for Sharma’s assistance, according
to the declaration, and the
senior researcher helped
decipher the data.
Sharma said she had ex-

Jason Fochtman/Staff photographer

MD Anderson Cancer Center researchers Dr. Jamie
Lin and Dr. Padmanee Sharma are in a legal dispute.

perience in this area of immunology, pointing to research she had previously
published in the journals
Nature Medicine and Nature to identify a signature
for TLS. She also wrote that
she has patented at least
one application of TLS
through MD Anderson’s
Office of Technology Commercialization, according
to the declaration.
In August 2021, Sharma
learned that Lin intended
to submit a manuscript to
the journal Cancer Immunology Research, and that
Sharma was not acknowledged as a contributor, according to the court filing.
The following month,
Sharma learned that Lin
and Yee intended to submit
a report to MD Anderson
that indicated their interest
in obtaining a patent for the
TLS signature.
In the court filing, Sharma expressed her concerns
about not being identified
as a contributor to the research. It also says Sharma
told Lin and Yee that she
and two other MD Anderson colleagues should be
named on documents that
would help them obtain a
patent.
After learning that Lin
did not intend to give her
credit for her role in the
project, Sharma told Lin
that she intended to contact
CIR to inform them of a
dispute about authorship,
the court filing says. The
journal eventually returned the manuscript because the dispute could not

be resolved.
In Lin’s complaint, she
accused Sharma of threatening her at the Santa Barbara Airport and demanding to be added to the
manuscript as a senior corresponding author. She also accused Sharma of
threatening to pull financial support for Lin’s research, and of making false
and defamatory statements
to CIR, court documents
say.
In December 2022, Sharma learned that Lin and
Yee planned to publish a
second manuscript in the
Journal of Clinical Investigation Insight. She emailed
the journal to express concern that she and her colleague were not being given
credit for their contributions, according to her declaration.
Lin’s complaint accused
Sharma of emailing the
journal editor and falsely
accusing Lin of plagiarizing data, patient sources
and research results.
The same month, MD
Anderson hired outside
counsel, Ropes and Grey
LLP, to conduct a thirdparty review of the dispute.
The review ultimately
found that Sharma and
other MD Anderson employees were entitled to attribution in the manuscripts, according to Friday’s court filing.
The court filing says Lin
filed the lawsuit against
Sharma because she was
dissatisfied with the results
of the review.

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 A19

A20 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HALEY
From page A13
greet Friday afternoon.
She then returned to South
Carolina, where she previously served as governor.
Here are three takeaways from the interview:

Immigration

Haley signed one of the
strictest immigration bills
in the country as South
Carolina’s governor. The
2011 legislation aimed to
prevent
undocumented
immigrants from securing
employment in the state by
utilizing the federal E-Verify database.
The candidate said
Thursday that, if elected
president, she would seek
to implement the E-Verify
system nationwide. She
said she would also defund
so-called “sanctuary cities,” empower border patrols and reintroduce a
controversial Trump-era
border policy known as
“remain in Mexico,” which
sent people seeking asylum back across the U.S.-

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

Mexico border to await a
ruling on their applications for U.S. protection.
Haley also criticized the
nation’s current asylum
laws, arguing that the vetting process is not stringent enough.
This month, Senate Republicans blocked a bipartisan border deal and foreign aid package amid opposition from top Republican leaders including
Trump. Despite significant
decreases in arrests for illegal crossings at the border in recent weeks, Haley
said federal officials from
both parties need to take
responsibility for failing to
strengthen border security
or reform immigration
laws through legislation.
“Everybody in D.C. is to
blame for this, Republicans, Democrats, the president, Congress, all of them,
because there is no excuse
for going one more day
without securing that border,” she said.

Energy

Haley said Thursday
that the energy sector must

partnering with them,”
Haley said. “They want to
help when it comes to the
environment, but they
don’t want to be forced.
They don’t want to be mandated, and they don’t want
to be slowed down. They
want to be part of the solution.”

Empowering states
Jon Shapley/Staff photographer

Nikki Haley says the energy sector must play a key
role in revitalizing the U.S. economy.

play a key role in revitalizing the nation’s economy.
She criticized current environmental
regulations,
particularly those enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency, as
too restrictive and harmful
to economic growth.
“We get the EPA out of
the way, we start up the
pipelines, we speed up permitting, we start to focus
on nuclear,” she said. “We
can actually turn our energy sector into an economic
powerhouse that will help
us pay down debt, that will

help us get inflation down,
that will strengthen every
American family.”
While acknowledging
the need to address climate
change, Haley said China
and India should bear a
greater responsibility in
contributing to global
emission reduction efforts.
She also emphasized the
importance of federal officials building stronger relationships with current
energy sector stakeholders.
“Stop demonizing energy producers and start

The presidential candidate outlined a plan to
scale down the federal government by shifting more
programs to the states in
key areas such as education, health care and mental health. This would allow each state to tailor
these services to better fit
the needs of its residents,
she said.
The policy would bring
benefits “to every Houstonian family, to every
American family in terms
of making sure the resources go to the ground
where it should be,” she
said.
Haley, describing herself as “unapologetically
pro-life,” also voiced her
support for states having

the primary authority to
regulate abortion laws. At
the same time, she acknowledged that many
states, including Texas,
might need to revise their
laws to ensure they are feasible.
“Texas had an issue
where it was clear that they
gotta make some adjustments and fix it, and they
should be willing to do
that,” she said.
Haley recently stirred
controversy by suggesting
Texas could secede from
the United States if it chose
to. She later walked back
her comment, saying the
Constitution does not allow for secession, CNN reported. She added Thursday that her intention was
to advocate for residents in
every state to decide how
they want to be governed.
“Texas has talked about
(secession) for a long time.
The reality is we all know
that they’re not going to,”
she said. “What they want
to do is be free. They don’t
want to be told how to live.
… And we should want
them to have that.”

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 A21

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

SEWING
From page A13
for the positions, failure to
disclose certain information,
and even forgery of the required signatures needed for
application to run for office.
The latter claim has little to do
with this law but is another
way to disqualify a candidate.
Incumbents, by the way, are
exempt from meeting the new
requirements.
“This has never been an
issue before we had a sweep of
African-American women
who became judges, and no
one was concerned,” said Vanessa Gilmore, retired US
district judge who recently
joined Roberts Markland LLP.
“I feel like this new law has
been weaponized against
Black women to protect the
incumbents. It doesn’t have to
have discriminatory intent to
have a discriminatory impact.”
In the cases of Hughes and
Boyd-Cora, the suits went to
the Texas Supreme Court and
were dismissed. A judge set
Francis’ case for a jury trial,
but it is uncertain it will go to
trial in light of previous rulings. There is no indication
that non-Black judicial candi-

Jon Shapley/Staff file photo

Erica Hughes is running for the 151st District Court seat. She is one of three Black female judicial
candidates who have faced lawsuits from white incumbents in efforts to disqualify them.

dates running against incumbents are facing similar lawsuits.
“The Texas Democratic
Party is trying to resurrect the

white Primary by using the
subjective test to disqualify
Black candidates,” said Lloyd
E. Kelley, an attorney who has
represented the women, in his

HoustonChronicle.com/Place-Legals

argument to the state Supreme
Court in January regarding
Boyd-Cora’s case. “Such a use
of this legislation, though it
may appear neutral on its face,

legals@chron.com

as practiced by the Democratic
incumbents … is unconstitutional.”
Frankly, to target these
women for being unqualified
is ridiculous. Take Hughes, a
U.S. Army veteran, who has
served as a U.S. immigration
judge and has presided over
courtrooms in Harris County
Criminal Court and Harris
County Veterans Court.
“I would have never voted
for a law that would be weaponized against Black women,”
said state Rep. Jolanda Jones,
D-Houston. “These women are
not the only people running
against incumbents, but also
we know based on the last
elections that when Black
women run against white men
in Harris County, they’ve
won.”
As our state continues to
become more Black, Hispanic,
and Asian, I imagine the old
guard of Texas politics will
roll out the red carpet for other tactics to discredit candidates and disenfranchise
votes.
“Every time we start running the race, they move the
finish line. This is another
effort to create an obstacle,”
Gilmore said.
We’ve been here before.

713.362.6868

REQUEST FOR STATEMENT OF QUALIFICATIONS
CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL TESTING (CMT) SERVICES AND FORENSIC INVESTIGATION AND EVALUATION OF IN-PLACE CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS
FOR THE 365 TOLLWAY PROJECT
Request for Statement of Qualifications (SOQ) packets may be obtained from the
Hidalgo County Regional Mobility Authority’s (HCRMA) website from which a CivCAST
link will be posted at www.hcrma.net. To be considered, each firm should submit their
proposal in seven (7) complete hardcopy sets and a PDF version on a flash/USB drive.
Proposals should be submitted to Mr. Pilar Rodriguez, P.E., Executive Director, Hidalgo
County Regional Mobility Authority, 203 W. Newcombe Avenue, Pharr, TX 78577 in
sealed envelopes clearly marked:
SOQ – CMT Lab & Forensic Services - 365 Tollway Project– 2024-01
Any informational questions regarding this SOQ may be submitted in writing via
CivCAST to Ramon Navarro, P.E, Chief Construction Engineer.
Deadline to submit your proposal is March 1, 2024, at 4:30 PM . Any SOQs received past
this deadline will not be considered. SOQs will be evaluated on the firm’s technical ability, experience, and ability to perform the work.
The Hidalgo County Regional Mobility Authority , in accordance with the provisions of
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (78 Stat. 252, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000d to 2000d-4)
and the Regulations, hereby notifies all respondents to the SOQ that it will affirmatively
ensure that for any contract entered into pursuant to this advertisement, disadvantaged
business enterprises will be afforded full and fair opportunity to submit SOQs in response to this invitation and will not be discriminated against on the grounds of race,
color, or national origin in consideration
for an award.

Request for Proposals
RFP #24-02
Property Management Services
Harris County Housing Authority is soliciting proposals for property management
services for one senior citizen apartment complex of 90 units in Humble, Texas. This
RFP contains submission requirements, scope of services, periods of services, terms
and conditions, and other pertinent information for submitting a proper and responsive proposal. Interested Respondents may download the RFP and all amendment(s)
to this solicitation from HCHA’s website ( www.hchatexas.org ). Prospective Respondents desiring any explanation of interpretation of the solicitation must submit the
request in writing by email no later than 5:00 PM (CST), March 1, 2024 to Harris
County Housing Authority, ATTN: RFP #24-02 Property Management Services at
Procurement@hchatexas.org. Proposals must be received by HCHA no later than
2:00 PM (CST) on March 28, 2024.

NOTICE TO BIDDERS
The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas (METRO) is planning to issue
the procurement documents listed in this advertisement.
IFB No. 4023000183: Addition of Second Hydraulic Elevator at West Bus Operating
(BOF) Facility. Solicitation will be available on or about 02/20/2024.
IFB No. 4024000087: Fannin South Station Bus Drive Lanes Landscaping Maintenance
Rehab. Solicitation will be available on or about 02/19/2024.
IFB No. 4024000088: Grand Parkway P&R Landscaping Maintenance Rehab.
Solicitation will be available on or about 02/19/2024.
Prospective bidders/proposers can view and download these solicitations by visiting
METRO’s website at ridemetro.org/Open Procurements.
If you are unable to download the documents or are having difficulty, please contact
713-615-6125 or email Contracts/Property Services at propertyservices@ridemetro.org
INVITATION TO BIDDERS
CONSTRUCTION MANAGER-AT-RISK SERVICES
FOR WEST LOOP SHARED-USE PATH AND BAYOU BRIDGE PROJECT
Harris County Improvement District No. 1 (the “District”) is soliciting responses
(“Bids”) to a Request for Proposals (“RFP”) for Construction Manager-at-Risk
Services for West Loop SharedUse Path and Bayou Bridge Project (the “Project”).
Bid documents (including the RFP, schematic design documents and a cost
estimate) can be viewed without charge during normal business hours at 1980 Post
Oak Boulevard, Suite 1700, Houston, Texas 77056 (the “District Office”), or
requested from cmartinson@uptown-houston.com for delivery by email beginning
9:00 a.m., Central Time, on Friday, February 16, 2024.
Copies of the bid documents may be obtained from www.CivcastUSA.com: search
West Loop Shared-Use Path and Bayou Bridge Project. Bidders must register on this
website in order to view and/or download plans and specifications for the Project.
There is NO charge to view or download documents from Civcast.
Amandatory pre-bid meeting will be held at the District Office on Thursday, March 7
at 2:00 p.m., Central Time, and questions from potential bidders can be sent in
writing using email to cmartinson@uptown-houston.com until March 21, 2024.
Responses to questions or clarifications will be sent to all parties who have
requested bid documents.
By submitting a Bid, Bidder acknowledges and agrees that the Contract Documents
may be accepted, executed, or agreed to through the use of an Electronic Signature.
Sealed Bids, in duplicate, addressed to the District, Attention: Clark Martinson, will
be received at the District Office OR electronically through www.CivcastUSA.com
until 12:00 p.m., Central Time, on April 12, 2024. A Bidder submitting an Electronic
Bid must submit its Bid and bid security through www.CivcastUSA.com. Bidder
must register on this website in order to submit a Bid and bid security. There is no
charge to submit Bids and bid security on this website. Electronic Bids submitted by
telegraphic or facsimile transmission will not be accepted.
Bids will be publicly opened, and pre-construction and construction fees, read aloud
at the District Office at 2:00 p.m., Central Time, on April 12, 2024.
The District intends to award the contract for the Construction Manager-at-Risk
Services on a Best Value basis and responsive bids will be scored by an Evaluation
Committee based on predetermined scoring for qualifications, pricing proposal, and
oral presentations. The District reserves the right to reject any and all Bids and to
waive all defects, irregularities, and/or informalities in Bids or the bidding process,
except time of submitting a received.

LEGAL NOTICE
BakerRipley, a non-profit human services organization, announces a Request for Proposal (RFP) #24-02 for Salesforce Expense
Financial Obligation Tracking System.
The RFP will be posted on our website at https://bakerripley.org/get-involved/become-a-vendor/ on Tuesday, February 27, 2024.
Interested Vendors can submit a proposal to abrown@bakerripley.org.
The deadline for submitting a proposal is Tuesday, April 9, 2024 by 10:00 AM (CST).

Houston Gateway Academy is seeking
Requests for Competitive Sealed
Proposals (CSP) from qualified general
contractors for new construction of an
outdoor classroom space. Proposals must
be delivered to 7310 Bowie St. Houston,
TX 77012 no later than March 21, 2024 at
11:30 am CST. For inquiries, contact
Shaun Garibaldi at
garibaldis@hgaschools.org. To view the
bid package, visit
www.hgaschools.org/apps/pages/rfp24

BAKERRIPLEY ENCOURAGES SMALL AND HISTORICALLY UNDERUTILIZED BUSINESSES TO APPLY.

NOTICE TO BIDDERS
The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas (METRO) is planning to
issue the procurement documents listed in this advertisement.
RFP No. 4024000063: Financial and Management Consultant Service. Solicitation will
be available on or about 02/12/2024.
IFB No. 4024000084: Solid Waste Disposal. Solicitation will be available on or about
02/13/2024.
Prospective bidders/proposers can view and download these solicitations by visiting
METRO’s website at ridemetro.org/Open Procurements
If you are unable to download the documents or are having difficulty, please contact 713615-6125 or email Contracts/Property Services at propertyservices@ridemetro.org.

Goodhelpis
EASYtofind
Post a listing today.
Chron.com/jobs

LEGAL
NOTICES
& SNORING SPOUSE

TWO THINGS YOU BETTER
NOT FORGET ABOUT

Stay legal and get noticed
by emailing our team at
legals@chron.com

ZIMMERMAN PROPERTIES
CONSTRUCTION, LLC is now
accepting bids from all Subcontractors
to help construct Pinehurst Villas
located in Pinehurst, TX. Pinehurst Villas will be a Senior housing community
consisting of 60 units, 1 building and a
maintenance garage. All interested bidders, including Minority Business
Enterprises, Women’s Business
Enterprises and Section 3 Business
Enterprises should contact Zimmerman Properties Construction, LLC at
the following number: 417-883-1632 or
email relliott@wilhoitproperties.com. A
job fair will be held at a later date at
the location of the project.
Zimmerman Properties Construction,
LLC is an EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
EMPLOYER

Medicare tips
chron.com/medicareguide

A22 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

WEATHER
HOUSTON’S SEVEN-DAY FORECAST

| Go to AccuWeather.com

59
39

67
47

78
59

80
63

83
58

75
49

TODAY
Mostly sunny and
warmer

MONDAY
Sunny to partly cloudy

TUESDAY
Sunny, pleasant and
warmer

WEDNESDAY
Partly sunny and very
warm

THURSDAY
Breezy in the a.m.; sun
and clouds

FRIDAY
SATURDAY
Partly sunny; pleasant, Sunshine
less humid

Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.

TODAY: Mostly sunny. High 56
to 61. Winds north-northwest
6-12 mph. TONIGHT: Clear
and chilly. Low 36 to 41. Winds
northeast 3-6 mph.

110s
100s

Calgary

Seattle

90s

Africa

Saskatoon

Vancouver

Regina

Thunder Bay
Montreal
Portland

60s

Ottawa

Minneapolis

50s

Detroit

40s

AIR QUALITY
Today’s forecast for the entire
metro area by the TCEQ:

30s
20s

New York

Salt Lake City

Chicago

San Francisco

Washington

Denver

10s

Boston

Toronto

0s
-0s

Ozone watch

-10s

Unhealthy
Very unhealthy
Hazardous

Good
Moderate
Unhealthy
for sensitive
groups

Countpercubicmeterofair
Heavy
None
Low
Low

457
2
5009

Low
Medium

Heavy
Extremely heavy

Note: No measurements on weekends;
charts in Sunday and Monday papers reflect
forecast ratings from the previous Friday.

COMFORT INDEX
The comfort index takes into
account how the weather will
feel based on a combination of
factors. A rating of 10 feels very
comfortable while a rating of 0
feels very uncomfortable.
Today Mon.

5

9

Tue.

Wed.

Thu.

Fri.

10

10

8

10

UV TODAY
Values indicate the exposure to
the sun’s Ultraviolet rays.
8 a.m. 10 a.m. Noon 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 6 p.m.

2

4

5

4

2

0

8-10, Very high
11+, Extreme

0-2, Low
3-5, Moderate
6-7, High

SUN AND MOON
Full
moon

Feb 24

Little Rock

Phoenix

Rain

El Paso

Showers

Last
quarter

Mar 3

New
moon

First
quarter

Mar 10

Sunset tonight
Sunrise Monday
Moonrise today
Moonset today

Mar 16

6:12 p.m.
6:58 a.m.
12:57 p.m.
2:56 a.m.

Hermosillo
Chihuahua

Ice

Miami

Jet stream
Monterrey

Havana

tives searched for evidence of a bomb as well as
her motive and intentions
for the shooting.
Officers also found a
book titled “All Remainers are Neo-Nazis.” It’s
unclear what the book is
referring to, but the term
remainers is often used in
the United Kingdom to
describe people who voted for the country to stay
in the European Union.
Seven handmade poster
signs were found in a
trash can, but the warrant
does not indicate what
they said.
Since 2019, Conroe police have responded to
more than 20 calls tied to
the address where Moreno lived, records show.
The calls ranged in severity from neighbors reporting strange interactions with the woman to
one who said Moreno
tried to hit her with her
vehicle.
Representatives for the
Conroe Police Department said that in review-

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Forecasts and
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front
front
front
©2024
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Madrid
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Paris
FOR THE RECORD
TEXAS
NATIONAL cont.
Prague
George Bush Intercontinental
Today
Mon.
Today
Mon. Rome
Airport through 3 p.m. Sat.
Abilene
56/39/s
75/49/s Cleveland
36/25/s
40/27/s Stockholm
57/33/pc
67/40/s Columbus
37/20/s
45/26/s Vienna
Temperature
Degrees F Amarillo
Austin
56/35/s
69/46/s Denver
50/31/c
57/37/s Warsaw
High
64 Beaumont
60/35/s
66/48/s Des Moines
43/23/s
53/26/pc Zurich
61/46/s
74/58/s Detroit
39/23/pc
41/27/s Latin America
Low
46 Brownsville
St. 56/36/s
66/49/s Duluth
28/15/pc
30/21/s Bogota
Normal high
68 Bryan/College
Corpus Christi
60/41/s
72/52/s Fairbanks
14/4/c
24/17/pc Buenos Aires
Normal low
48 Dallas/Ft. Worth 56/37/s
69/44/s Great Falls
41/26/c
40/35/pc Caracas
64/42/pc
73/47/pc Hartford
37/26/pc
40/19/s Havana
Record high
86 in 1907 El Paso
56/45/s
63/59/s Honolulu
79/67/pc
78/69/pc Kingston
Record low
16 in 1895 Galveston
Kingsville
61/40/s
73/51/s Indianapolis
40/20/s
51/28/s Lima
Precipitation
Inches Laredo
60/42/s
74/52/s Jackson, MS
53/27/s
61/37/pc Rio de Janeiro
54/30/s
64/42/s Juneau
42/33/c
44/33/c San Juan
24-hour total
0.00 Longview
55/37/pc
72/42/s Kansas City
54/29/s
58/29/pc San Salvador
Month to date
1.90 Lubbock
McAllen
61/43/s
73/59/s Las Vegas
69/50/s
69/52/pc Santiago
Normal month to date
1.75 Midland/Odessa 55/35/s
74/45/s Little Rock
57/29/s
63/38/pc Sao Paulo
58/37/s
77/46/s Los Angeles
64/55/c
61/55/r St. Thomas
Year to date
10.67 San Angelo
57/37/s
69/45/s Memphis
50/31/s
58/39/pc
Normal year to date
5.51 San Antonio
Texarkana
55/33/s
65/44/s Miami
75/62/r
73/55/c Mexico
Other readings
Victoria
60/35/s
70/48/s Milwaukee
41/23/s
43/31/pc Acapulco
54/34/s
68/42/s Minneapolis
36/19/s
41/26/pc Cancun
Top wind speed
22 mph Waco
Nashville
50/26/s
60/36/s Guadalajara
High barometer
30.19 in.
New Orleans
57/41/s
64/45/pc Guanajuato
NATIONAL
Low barometer
30.00 in.
New York City
41/32/pc
42/30/s Mazatlan
Today
Mon. Oklahoma City
55/32/pc
61/38/s Merida
High dewpoint
50°
NY
37/25/c
36/18/s Orlando
62/51/r
67/46/pc Mexico City
Low dewpoint
34° Albany,
Albuquerque
57/34/c
63/39/s Philadelphia
44/29/s
44/26/s Puerto Vallarta
Average dewpoint
38° Anchorage
34/30/i
40/36/c Phoenix
76/51/s
79/53/c Tampico
54/35/s
59/36/pc Pittsburgh
38/22/pc
43/24/s Veracruz
High humidity
71% Atlanta
49/28/s
48/28/s Portland, OR
51/42/r
52/41/sh Middle East
Low humidity
58% Baltimore
Billings
40/29/c
47/34/s Sacramento
66/54/r
63/52/t Baghdad
Birmingham
52/26/s
61/33/pc St. Louis
50/26/s
61/37/pc Beirut
Boise
52/36/sn
50/40/c Salt Lake City
52/40/r
55/41/c Dubai
KEY TO CONDITIONS Boston
38/30/pc
38/24/s San Diego
65/54/c
65/57/c Jerusalem
s - sunny
r - rain
Buffalo
33/22/sf
32/21/c San Francisco
64/55/r
62/52/t Kabul
pc - partly cloudy
sf - snow flurries
Charleston, SC
54/35/c
63/37/s Santa Fe
53/31/c
61/34/s Mecca
c - cloudy
sn - snow
Charlotte
54/29/s
62/32/s Seattle
50/40/r
49/40/sh Riyadh
i
ice
sh - showers
Chicago
43/27/s
48/31/s Tucson
75/47/pc
79/48/pc Tehran
t - thunderstorms
Cincinnati
43/23/s
49/29/s Washington, DC
49/31/s
49/30/s Tel Aviv
Anchorage

Guadalajara

Mérida

Kirk Sides/Staff photographer

From page A13

Asia/Pacific

Canada

New Orleans

Decorations adorn the outside of a Conroe home tied to last Sunday’s shooting at
Lakewood Church. Conroe police have responded to numerous calls at the home.

SHOOTING

Atlanta

Dallas
Houston

Flurries

Yesterday’s readings by the
Houston Health Department:
Tree pollen
Weed pollen
Grass pollen
Mold spores

Los Angeles

T-storms

Snow

POLLEN AND MOLD

Cairo
Cape Town
Casablanca
Dakar
Johannesburg
Lagos

Winnipeg

80s
70s

ing the calls, which originated both from and
against Moreno and her
family, they determined
that officers responded
appropriately according
to the law.
“Nothing relayed to officers would give authority to arrest or require
mental health emergency
detention,” officials said
in a prepared statement.
“Nor would any of the information have been an
indication that the suspect would commit such a
heinous crime.”
Harris County Sheriff
Ed Gonzalez, whose office reported several interactions with Moreno
over the years, wrote
Thursday that lawmakers
should reconsider red
flag laws in Texas as evidence mounts of officers’
interactions with her.
“As more details are
learned about Lakewood
Church shooter Genesse
Moreno, including repeated arrests and mental
health history,” he wrote,
“I continue to believe that
red flag laws could help
save lives by giving law
enforcement the tools

GALVESTON BAY: Wind from
the north at 7-14 knots today.
Seas 2 feet or less. Visibility
clear to the horizon. Tonight:
Wind from the northwest at 4-8
knots. Seas less than a foot.
Clear.

75
53

INTERNATIONAL

NORTH AMERICA TODAY

METRO AREA
OUTLOOK

they need to keep deadly
weapons out of the hands
of dangerous criminals
and folks who pose a
threat to their communities.”
One neighbor called
police in December 2022
to report a concern that
tensions were rising with
Moreno and that they
worried the matter could
escalate without intervention, according to police reports. Another
called in July 2022 to say
Moreno tried to hit her
with her vehicle. That call
ended with responding
officers determining that
attempted aggravated assault hadn’t occurred.
Call logs also show an
ongoing feud between
Moreno and her former
mother-in-law.
At one point, Moreno
called Conroe police to request charges against the
former relative for allegedly making false allegations that Moreno was
under investigation by
Child Protective Services.
The former mother-inlaw also called detectives
to report that Moreno was
under CPS investigation.

Cancún

COASTAL FORECAST

Today

Mon.

69/55/s
86/60/s
73/49/s
89/72/s
85/60/t
96/80/t

70/53/pc
93/64/s
68/57/s
89/72/pc
83/60/pc
95/80/t

50/32/c
95/78/s
80/69/pc
63/53/sh
89/78/t
82/72/pc
96/77/c
90/78/s
79/58/pc
55/49/r
81/59/pc
90/78/pc
83/72/pc
84/65/s
61/55/s

41/21/c
96/78/s
80/71/r
61/48/r
90/78/r
83/67/pc
96/77/t
91/76/pc
81/60/s
55/34/r
72/44/r
92/79/pc
78/69/sh
89/68/pc
64/59/c

40/15/pc
32/5/s
32/12/sn
35/19/sn
46/39/sh
21/3/s

39/24/s
32/14/s
21/4/pc
33/20/pc
50/39/sh
24/11/c

51/45/r
64/45/s
52/45/c
43/39/r
56/45/r
53/46/r
54/40/c
48/40/c
59/44/r
64/39/pc
34/16/sn
54/49/r
52/43/c
63/48/s
34/29/pc
53/40/pc
41/30/pc
55/45/c

50/43/r
62/48/s
47/44/r
43/38/c
53/47/c
54/42/c
56/36/c
49/40/c
56/41/sh
66/34/s
25/12/c
55/41/pc
47/40/r
61/40/pc
34/29/i
55/43/r
43/39/r
54/40/r

74/44/pc
81/70/t
91/76/s
79/68/t
89/78/pc
84/74/c
85/76/t
89/74/s
90/66/pc
97/56/s
77/67/r
85/74/s

74/48/sh
83/71/pc
91/76/c
76/56/pc
89/78/pc
85/74/pc
84/76/t
89/73/pc
91/64/s
88/57/s
81/67/t
85/75/pc

86/67/s
75/62/r
76/43/s
71/44/s
77/55/s
77/63/t
70/44/pc
79/61/s
64/55/pc
70/60/c

86/68/s
79/61/pc
82/42/s
79/45/s
80/54/s
80/59/s
76/44/s
82/62/s
74/59/s
77/65/pc

69/48/s
63/54/r
81/65/c
55/45/pc
44/35/r
84/59/pc
75/51/pc
53/37/pc
65/55/pc

71/52/s
62/53/sh
76/65/s
53/40/sh
39/20/r
84/58/pc
77/55/pc
50/39/c
65/51/sh

MATAGORDA SHIP CHANNEL TO HIGH ISLAND OUT
20 TO 50 MILES: Wind from
the north-northwest at 7-14
knots today. Seas 2 feet or less.
Visibility clear to the horizon.
Tonight: Wind from the
north-northeast at 4-8 knots.
Seas 2 feet or less. Clear to
partly cloudy.

GALVESTON TIDES
Highs Feet
3:20 p.m. 1.2
--- ---

Lows Feet
5:47 a.m. -0.6
--- ---

RIVERS, CREEKS AND
through 7 a.m. Saturday
BAYOUS
Flood Latest 24-hr.
Location
stage stage chg.
Brays Bayou South Main 54 17.01 +0.17
Brazos River Bryan
43 14.61 -1.44
Hempstead 50 19.87 -0.53
Richmond
48 18.87 +5.11
Buffalo Bayou Piney Point 50 28.55 +0.07
Shepherd Dr. 23 2.09 -0.04
Clear Creek Friendswood 12 1.28 -0.09
Colorado R. Austin
29 11.41 -0.19
Bastrop
25 2.69 -0.10
La Grange
32 3.43 -0.12
Columbus
34 10.54 -0.24
Wharton
39 10.68 -0.68
Bay City
44 5.49 -0.94
Greens Bayou Eastex Fwy. 61 39.30 +0.13
Guadalupe R. Hunt
12 7.73 none
Comfort
26 3.34 none
Spring Branch 36 1.90 -0.09
New Braunfels 13 9.55 -0.03
Gonzales
31 11.82 -0.03
Cuero
20 8.08 -0.10
Victoria
21 6.80 -0.14
Dupont
20 14.42 -0.39
Little River Little River 30 2.02 -0.04
Cameron
30 3.00 -0.14
Navasota R. Easterly
19 10.65 -4.38
Neches River Evadale
19 16.56 +0.02
Pine Island B. Sour Lake
25 17.38 -1.97
Sabine River Bon Wier
30 23.86 -0.36
Deweyville 24 24.73 none
Orange
4 0.67 +0.25
Burkeville
43 23.29 -0.04
San Bernard R. E. Bernard
17 8.02 +0.45
E. San. Jac. R. Cleveland
19 6.30 -1.31
W. San. Jac. R. Conroe
116 97.51 -1.43
San Jacinto R. Sheldon
10 1.87 -0.06
Sims Bayou Telephone Rd. 30 1.36 -0.23
Trinity River Goodrich
36 20.53 -0.02
Liberty
26 23.94 +0.08
Village Creek Kountze
20 7.15 -0.51
White Oak B. Heights Blvd. 48 8.05 +0.23

TEXAS LAKES
through 7 a.m. Saturday

Canyon Dam
Conroe
Houston
Lake Travis
Livingston

Full Latest Release
pool level
cfs
909 887.75
36
201 201.17 530
41.73 42.59 N.A.
681 632.02 106
131 131.88

OUTLOOK

HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 • SECTION A

DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY: HARRIS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY

Challenger focuses
on morale, integrity

Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg and primary challenger Sean Teare discuss the job on Jan. 30 with the Houston Chronicle Editorial Board.

Teare is neither an activist nor a ‘soft on crime’ reformer
Houston Chronicle Editorial Board

I

t took nearly three years for Alfred
Washington to finally walk free after
sitting in a Harris County Jail cell
awaiting trial for a murder he insisted he didn’t commit. It took only
one day of trial for a judge to conclude prosecutors didn’t have the evidence to bring
the case in the first place.
Few in the media took notice. But the
dismissal of Washington’s case wasn’t the
only failure for the Harris County District
Attorney’s Office in December 2021. In a
seven-day span, prosecutors lost five total
cases, including three involving murder and
two involving sexual assault charges. It
wasn’t simply a bad week. It appears to be
part of a troubling pattern of poor judgment.
When we endorsed Harris County’s top
prosecutor, District Attorney Kim Ogg, for a
second term in 2020, we credited the Democrat with prioritizing a fair criminal justice
process “that engenders trust in the system.” We have applauded her bold reforms
and brave calls, such as diverting low-level
marijuana cases, ending prosecutions of
people found with trace amounts of drugs,
tossing wrongful convictions, supporting

unpopular exonerations of innocent men,
and instituting a cultural sea change that
prioritizes justice above winning.
“The exoneration of innocent individuals
is as important as the conviction of guilty
ones,” Ogg said after the exoneration of
Lydell Grant in 2021, flipping the script of
some of her predecessors. “The highest
responsibility of a prosecutor is to see that
justice is done.”
Nearly four years later, with a string of
high-profile case losses on her record, a
stubbornly high backlog of criminal cases
dating back to Hurricane Harvey, a reputation for mercurial management, frayed
relationships with the commissioners who
fund her office, and a perception that she
lets personal grudges and politics cloud her
judgment, she has lost some of that trust.
Even among once-ardent supporters.
That includes Sean Teare, the former
prosecutor now vying for her job in the
Democratic primary. He says he returned in
2017 to the DA’s office from private practice
specifically to work for Ogg, who immediately promoted him to lead the vehicular
crimes division. Over time, he says he observed how Ogg’s decisions and shortcom-

ings as a manager affected the agency’s
mission to protect public safety: “I’m running to restore the integrity, to restore the
competence in that office,” Teare told this
editorial board in a side-by-side interview
with Ogg. He added: “What you haven’t
heard in seven and a half years is the elected DA admit that she’s part of the problem
and in some cases, the problem.”
To be clear, the DA’s office isn’t an island.
It’s part of an intricate system in which
stakeholders such as prosecutors, police,
judges, forensic lab staff and politicians
weighing budget requests must depend on
each other to keep the gears of justice turning. No matter what. No matter if a hurricane floods the courthouse, as happened in
2017, or a global pandemic sends crime surging, as happened from 2020 through 2022.
In her own office, which processes tens of
thousands of criminal cases each year, Ogg,
64, often must delegate life-altering decisions to her subordinates.
“We can’t micromanage every case,” Ogg
told us. “So, we rely upon the training we’ve
provided them and the supervision that we
try to provide them to make the best deciDA continues on A27

DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY: 18TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Jackson Lee brings seniority, experience for constituents
Houston Chronicle
Editorial Board
Cesar Espinosa bought his
plane ticket in the morning,
not knowing if he’d be able to
make the 7 p.m. flight from
Houston to Mexico City. His
grandmother had passed
away, and he wanted to take
his mother and other family
members home to the funeral.
But first, Espinosa needed
special emergency permission
to leave the country, because
he’s here as a “Dreamer,” an
immigrant awarded Deferred
Action for Childhood Arrivals
status. Getting that permission required physically showing up to a federal office and,
hopefully, securing the support of his U.S. congressional

representative, Sheila Jackson
Lee.
He got more than that.
Jackson Lee, 74, wasn’t in
her office. She happened to be
sitting in a conference room
with this editorial board and
one of her primary challengers, former Houston City
Councilmember Amanda Edwards. All through the endorsement interview, she kept
one eye on her buzzing phone.
As soon as the interview ended, she set up office on a
couch in the Chronicle’s lobby
and began working that
phone, calling everyone she
could on Espinosa’s behalf.
The moment was pure Sheila Jackson Lee. It was theatrical: It could not have escaped
her notice that the unfolding

Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee faces her first real challenge in
former City Council member Amanda Edwards.

drama showed her in action,
and might impress the editorial board before we made this
endorsement. And everything
hinged on her web of connections, both in the federal government and here on the
ground in Houston. Espinosa
is director of FIEL Houston,
an immigration advocacy
group, and a leader in progressive circles. And now he’s
one more person who owes
Jackson Lee a favor: Because
of her, he made the flight.
But she’s been known for
helping individuals in similar
situations for years.
Jackson Lee, Espinosa told
us, “has a track record of really stepping in for families.”
That record rarely shows up
Jackson Lee continues on A27

A24 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

OPINION
Alejandra Matos

Jack Sweeney

MA NAG I N G E D I TO R F O R AU D I E N C E

Lisa Falkenberg

C HA I R MA N

A ND C O N TE N T STRATE GY

V P/ E D I TO R O F O P I N I O N

F o u n d e d 1 9 0 1 • A H e a r s t N e w s pa p e r
Nancy A. Meyer

•

PU BLIS H ER & PRE S I D EN T

Kelly Ann Scott

Jennifer Chang

Raj Mankad

SV P/ ED I T O R-I N-C H I EF

SE N I O R D I RE C TO R O F

D E P U TY O P I N I O N E D I TO R

EX P ER I MEN TAT I O N AN D I N N OVATI O N

EDITORIAL

Here are our choices in contested constable races
Most of us don’t give constables
much thought. We know they’re cops
of some kind, and in some parts of
town their patrol cars are the ones we
see most often. Their presence is reassuring.
Elected constables date to Texas’
frontier days. The state’s constitution
empowers them to deliver warrants
and other court documents, enforce
the law and provide bailiffs in justice
of the peace courts.
Based on reporting in the Chronicle’s news pages, however, we know
that Harris County’s eight precincts,
each headed by an elected constable,
can be a tangle of competing interests,
inefficiency and occasional corruption.
Meanwhile, voters fret about how best
to use tax dollars to ensure public
safety.
Mayor John Whitmire has called for
better coordination among law enforcement, and perhaps consolidation
of some duties. Besides constables,
there’s the sheriff ’s office, Houston
police, state troopers and dozens of
municipal, university, transit and other
agencies.
Harris County Commissioners Court
draws the constable precinct lines with
each decade’s U.S. Census, often to
achieve political aims. The process has
produced wide disparities in precincts’
geographical areas and budgets — the
latter also in the hands of commissioners. Precinct 5 in west Harris County,
for example, encompasses 370 square
miles with 1 million-plus residents.
Precinct 6, in Houston’s East End,
covers 32 square miles and serves
about 170,000 residents.
Unsurprisingly, people running for
constable in this year’s election contend that constables have a unique
place in local law enforcement. They
run programs that voters like, such as
keeping an eye on kids and senior
citizens, focusing on crime trouble
spots and fighting animal cruelty.
They also oversee popular contract
deputy arrangements in neighborhoods that pay the county for extra
patrols. We wonder if pay-for-police
deals disadvantage neighborhoods that
can’t afford them, but advocates say
increased police presence in one area
benefits adjacent ones too.
Democrats in six Harris County
precincts will nominate candidates in
contested primaries. No Republican
candidates are opposed in their party’s
primary, though some will face Democrats in the November general election.
The constable system would benefit
from streamlining and thoughtful
redistricting. Since we don’t expect
that anytime soon, we offer these recommendations in contested races.
Alan Rosen for Precinct 1, Democrat

Since becoming constable of Precinct 1 in 2012, Alan Rosen has tried to
help the young, the old, the mentally
ill, the homeless, the drug-addicted.
He also serves those everyday folks
just trying to live their lives in safe
neighborhoods. We think Rosen, 55,
should continue that work.
Nevertheless, this endorsement is
giving us heartburn.
In 2021, the undercover anti-prostitution task force under Rosen was
involved in a scandal that cast a pall
over his whole department.
Early in Rosen’s current term, several acting deputies and former deputies
filed a lawsuit in federal court, accusing department supervisors of sexual
misconduct against female subordinates. Though Rosen and two men
who reported to him were named, all
three were dropped from the suit.
But the women are still suing Harris
County, claiming in part that they were
told to dress as prostitutes and act the
part at “bachelor parties.” During
these events, the women allege, they
were subjected to “sexual harassment,
unwarranted touching, unwanted kissing, molestation and sexual ridicule.”
Rosen says he believes the whole
case will be dismissed, that he’s disappointed a lawsuit was ever filed, that
people can say anything in a lawsuit.
After that he says he can’t really talk
about it because he will be a witness if
the case does continue.
“I take all these things very seriously,” Rosen says. “It’s never my intention for any undercover officer to

have anything less than a good working environment.”
But those 2021 bachelor-party stings
were not the only operations that put
female officers in danger of intimate
crimes.
Chronicle files also show that a sting
at a Massage Heights near the Texas
Medical Center resulted in the sexual
assault of a Constable 1 undercover
deputy in 2019. Supervisors knew of
the risk because a colleague had been
assaulted by a massage therapist there
just days earlier.
Immediately after the attack, Rosen
held a press conference, proclaiming
that his employees apprehended the
bad guy — even as a supervisor told
the deputy to drive herself to the hospital for a sexual assault examination.
In this primary, Rosen faces the
same opponent as in 2020. Gilberto
Reyna, a retired law enforcement officer, spent 35 years with the Harris
County Sheriff ’s Office and other police agencies, including Precinct 1. But
we’ve seen little evidence that he has
management experience or even an
active campaign. He did not accept our
invitation to meet with the editorial
board.
Rosen makes a solid case for his
fourth term. There’s no question the
office has grown under his direction.
In addition to the normal constable
chores, Rosen and his staff are responsible for security at the downtown
courthouse complex. And for the entirety of Harris County, they handle
mental health warrants, juvenile processes and environmental and animal
cruelty investigations. Rosen also has
established teen leadership summits, a
crimes against children task force, a
game room task force and hotlines to
report everything from human trafficking to stray dogs.
Some think he will run for sheriff
one day. “At the moment,” Rosen says,
“my only plan is to get re-elected.”
Jerry Garcia for Precinct 2, Democrat

Precinct 2 Constable Jerry Garcia
needs few words to explain why he
deserves a second term: “Proven results. I did what I said I would do.”
His record supports that.
Garcia, 51, took office in 2021, assuming responsibility for a precinct that
covers 108 square miles in east and
southeast central Harris County, and
has an annual budget of $12.2 million.
He had three priorities:
1) Crime. Garcia has added 26 deputies who patrol under contract with
neighborhoods and other entities that
pay for the extra security. His office’s
total authorized deputy strength is
now 92, with just one of those positions vacant.
2) Homelessness. He created a
homeless outreach team, which cleared
encampments under freeways and
found housing for 200 people.
3) Training. With police nationwide
under fire for violent incidents, Garcia
has almost quadrupled the hours devoted to training.
His opponent in the Democratic
primary is David Garza, who has
served 28 years as a Pasadena officer
after seven years as a Harris County
deputy constable and three in the University of Texas Police Department.
Garza chose not to meet with the
editorial board, and though his résumé
is impressive, we believe Garcia has
earned another term.
Constable Sherman Eagleton for
Precinct 3, Democrat

In early 2022, 11-year-old Darius
Dugas was killed by gunfire as he
went to retrieve his jacket from his
mother’s car. When Precinct 3 Constable Sherman Eagleton learned of the
death, he picked up the phone.
Soon Eagleton was talking to Mark
Herman, constable of Precinct 4. Each
man agreed to donate $5,000 of his
own money to pay for the child’s funeral.
“Hey man,” Eagleton remembers
saying. “I think this family is having a
hard time.”
Eagleton talks passionately about
Darius and all the residents of Precinct
3, where he has worked for 31 years,
the last seven as constable. The district
stretches from Baytown north to Lake
Houston.
Eagleton is eloquent about fighting

crime, getting drugs off the street and
stopping illegal dumping. He embraces
body cameras and citizen videos. And
he is adamant that statistics are part of
modern policing.
But there’s something old-fashioned,
in a good way, about Eagleton, 58. He
brags about wellness checks for senior
citizens, and he loves a program called
“Coffee with a cop.”
The controversies on Eagleton’s
watch don’t faze us.
Chronicle stories from 2021 show
that he hired Chris Diaz, a former
Precinct 2 constable who was voted
out of office after egregious errors in
his campaign finance reports surfaced.
“I gave him a second chance, and
he’s doing a great job,” Eagleton says.
“He told me he had baggage, and I told
him, if you don’t do what’s right, I’ll
send you down the road.”
In 2017, Eagleton took a different
approach with Milton Rivera, a Precinct 3 chief deputy accused of sexual
harassment and inappropriate workplace behavior. After a Harris County
Attorney’s Office investigation, Eagleton fired him.
We consider Eagleton far superior to
his challenger, John Jay Portillo, a businessman and former law enforcement
officer with a checkered history.
A KHOU investigation showed that
Portillo was fired from his job as police chief of Coffee City last year, and
the entire police force was disbanded.
Among Channel 11’s findings was that
Portillo swelled the police force to 50
officers in a town whose entire population was only 250, often hiring officers who’d run into trouble in previous
jobs. The officers wrote far more traffic tickets than you expect for a town
so small, and used their law enforcement credentials to get contract jobs in
other jurisdictions.
Portillo dismissed the complaints as
“just politics.”
Jerome Moore for Precinct 5
constable, Democrat

Two Democratic primary candidates
for Precinct 5 constable, both experienced law enforcement officers, know
how it feels to be mistreated by police.
Gerardo “Jerry” Rodriguez, 41, says
he was 19 and leaving a hot dog restaurant when he and his friends were
wrongly arrested and hauled off to jail.
Jerome Moore, now 50, says he was
24 and in a car with three other young
Black men when police ordered them
to halt. “We’re gonna teach you guys to
stop,” he remembers one officer shouting. “Shut up!”
Moore and Rodriguez say those
run-ins inspired them to become law
enforcement officers.
“We have to treat people the way
they want to be treated,” Moore says.
“Be the change,” says Rodriguez.
The two share other similarities.
Both have master’s degrees and endless appetites for training and continuing education.
They work and live in Precinct 5,
which encompasses much of west
Houston and west Harris County.
Both respect their boss, Precinct 5’s
popular incumbent Ted Heap, who is
retiring.
But, the candidates say, the office
needs a refresh, including a more diverse workforce.
It’s a close call, but we give the nod
to Moore.
Currently a lieutenant, he spent two
years working as chief deputy to the
constable in Precinct 2. He has more
administrative experience than Rodriguez, a sergeant. Moore can manage
the precinct’s complicated budget.
“I can do the job on day one,” he
says.
The other two Democratic primary
candidates, who chose not to meet
with the editorial board, are Don Dinh
and William Gorman.
Sylvia Treviño for Precinct 6
Constable, Democrat

Precinct 6 Constable Silvia Treviño
is part of a political dynasty in Houston’s East End. She no doubt benefited
from name recognition when she won
the office — two years after her husband stepped down from it because of
a criminal conviction.
Her challenger in the Democratic
primary, Art Aguilar, 49, is a former
Precinct 6 deputy who has some good

ideas and understands the office’s
inner workings. But we believe running a multimillion-dollar agency requires more management experience
than appears on his résumé.
Treviño, a former Houston police
officer, didn’t respond to the editorial
board’s invitations to discuss her reelection bid. In the past we’ve criticized her for gaps in her knowledge of
the constable’s office and law enforcement issues.
We recommend her this year in
hopes that eight years of on-the-job
training have alleviated those shortcomings.
No Republican is seeking the office
this year, so the Democratic primary
will decide the race.
On her campaign website, Treviño
lists accomplishments including adding a fourth patrol district, posting
regular crime reports on social media
and dispatching bicycle deputies to
patrol parks and bayou trails.
But we didn’t get to ask her about
Aguilar’s claims that she has been slow
to fill budgeted deputy positions.
Treviño’s husband, longtime Constable Victor Treviño Jr., resigned in
2014 after pleading guilty to charges
that he took money for personal use
that was intended for a charity he
founded. He was sentenced to 10 years’
probation.
Silvia Treviño was not charged in
that case. She won the seat in 2016, and
again in 2020.
Her son, Victor Treviño III, won
election that year as a justice of the
peace in Precinct 6, ushering in a new
generation of Treviño-family politicians.
James “Smokie” Phillips for Precinct
7 constable, Democrat

Three veteran Houston lawmen are
running in the Democratic primary to
succeed longtime Precinct 7 Constable
May Walker. Walker, who’s retiring,
has not endorsed a successor.
Precinct 6 is home to half a million
people in south Harris County, including Third Ward, South Park, Sunnyside and Reliant Park. No Republican is running in the historically
Democratic district, so this primary
will decide the election.
Seeking the office are Gary Hicks
Sr., Michael Coleman, and James
“Smokie” Phillips.Hicks, 62, a former
HPD officer, works now as a warrant
officer and mental health specialist in
Constable Precinct 1.
His knowledge of community-oriented policing reflects his decades as a
street cop, but we believe he comes up
short in administrative experience
necessary to run an agency like Precinct 7.
That leaves a hard choice.
Coleman, 57, was a deputy for 20
years in Constable Precinct 5 in West
Harris County, retiring as a captain in
2016. He then served as a captain in the
University of Houston Police Department until August of 2023, when he
began his third campaign for Precinct
7 constable.
He holds a master’s degree in criminal justice from Lamar University, and
said he would push education and
training for officers.
Phillips, 63, has 37 years in law enforcement, including 18 years as a captain in Precinct 7.
He expressed passion for fighting
violent crime and illegal dumping. He
wants to look into establishing a “termination board,” including community
members, to review deputy firings. To
recruit young deputies, he advocates
relaxing Walker’s rules on tattoos and
facial hair.
Phillips’ law enforcement history
includes a blemish: In 1996, he was
named in a federal indictment alleging
he used his position to provide security and surveillance for a drug ring. A
jury convicted him, but the judge ordered a new trial. The charge was
dismissed at prosecutors’ request in
August of 1997.
Phillips contends the charges were
political and prompted by his complaints about racial inequities in county law enforcement. In any case, his
police career has continued for almost
30 years since then.
We believe Phillips’ experience in
the Precinct 7 office gives him an edge.

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 A25

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

OPINION
TEXAS SUPREME COURT

Walker, Sarosdy and Goldstein are best picks
Houston Chronicle
Editorial Board
Republican voters have a
choice to make in one contested primary for the Texas
Supreme Court while Democrats have two.
Justice, Supreme Court,
Place 4, Republican —
Brian Walker
In 2022, a sex abuse case
against former Southern
Baptist Convention leader
Paul Pressler came before
the Texas Supreme Court.
The justices had to decide
whether to allow the lawsuit
to move forward even
though the statute of limitations had passed.
The details of the case
appeared to implicate others
around Pressler. Jared
Woodfill, who was a law
partner with Pressler, testified in a deposition that he
paid young men to work out
of Pressler’s home despite
warnings of predation.
The court’s 5-2 ruling allowed the suit to move forward in a victory for sexual
assault survivors who, because of the profound effects
of trauma, may not come
forward for decades. This
week we learned, thanks to
the Texas Tribune, that one
of the dissenting justices,
John Devine worked at
Woodfill & Pressler LLP at
the time of the alleged abuse
but failed to recuse himself.
That’s a big deal: Judges
are supposed to recuse
themselves if there might be
even the appearance of a conflict of interest. By comparison, two other justices recused themselves from the
case simply because they
had once worked for the firm
representing the plaintiff,
the former employee who
Pressler allegedly molested

— which is to say, they’d
once worked for a law firm
that was just arguing the
case, not at the very center of
it.
Devine, 65, did not respond to our requests for an
interview but has said elsewhere that he was not a
partner at Woodfill & Pressler. The Tribune, though,
found that he served as an
attorney or guardian ad litem on nine cases while the
plaintiff was working as
Pressler’s personal aide.
Devine was even listed as
co-counsel on cases with
Pressler.
It’s not as if this is Devine’s first brush with controversy. Those who have
followed his career since his
time as a district court judge
in Harris County won’t be
surprised by the results of
the 2022 Houston Bar Association judicial evaluation.
When it came to determining
“legal issues impartially and
based on thorough and
proper application of the law
to the record,” nearly half of
the responding bar members
rated him “needs improvement,” the lowest rating.
Challenger Brian Walker,
46, has served on the 2nd
Court of Appeals in Fort
Worth for three years. A
lifelong Republican and “follower of Jesus Christ,” as his
website states, he worked as
a civil and criminal lawyer
and served nine years as a
judicial advocate with the
U.S. Air Force Reserves before becoming a judge. To be
a conservative jurist, he told
the editorial board, means
that “we’re supposed to follow the law and follow it
narrowly, and do everything
we can to be authentic and
faithful to the Constitution
and to the laws.”

Brian Walker,
left, Randy
Sarosdy and
Bonnie Lee
Goldstein
earn endorsements.

Republicans should vote
Walker onto the ballot for
the general election.
Justice, Supreme Court,
Place 2, Democrat —
Randy Sarosdy
Born in Dallas and a graduate of the University of
Texas law school, Randy
Sarosdy worked for 24 years
in Washington D.C. with
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer &
Feld, often defending corporate clients in labor, environmental and intellectual property cases. Those are the
sorts of complex civil cases
that go before the Texas Supreme Court. He relocated to
Austin and, after six more
years with Akin Gump,
joined the Texas Justice
Court Training Center and
became a teacher for new
judges, including justices of
the peace, who are not required to have a law degree.
Sarosdy, 71, also served as
the executive director of the
Texas Center for the Judiciary. One of the important but
underappreciated aspects of
the job on the Supreme
Court is leading statewide
initiatives that improve the
judicial system or increase
access to justice. Sarosdy is
particularly well suited for
that work. His motivation to
run, he told us, is to protect
fundamental rights under
the Texas Constitution. He
notes, correctly, that in the
wake of recent U.S. Supreme
Court decisions, state courts
now play a greater role than
before around abortion and
voting rights.

One concern Democrats
may have is that he’ll have to
retire after four years, two
years before the end of his
term, and his successor will
be appointed by the governor, unless voters pass a new
attempt to amend the state’s
age limit for judges set in the
constitution.
The other candidate in the
Democratic primary, DaSean
Jones, has served as a judge
in a Harris County felony
district court since 2019.
That experience doesn’t
translate directly to the Texas Supreme Court, which
considers only civil cases.
Moreover, when Jones ran
for reelection in 2022, this
editorial board did not endorse him because he exercised poor judgment in
granting personal bonds to
defendants charged with
violent crimes, including
murder. He didn’t meet with
us in either 2022 or this year,
so we couldn’t get his side of
the story.
The best choice for Democrats is clearly Sarosdy.
Justice, Supreme Court,
Place 6 — Bonnie Lee
Goldstein
Voters have the choice
between a deeply qualified
justice serving on an intermediate appellate court and
a district judge who appears
to be drawn to quixotic
quests to effect change.
Bonnie Lee Goldstein, 62,
has a breadth of experience
that’s well suited to serving
on the Texas Supreme Court.
She has 20 years in the judi-

ciary including 11 as a municipal judge, six as a civil district judge and three on the
5th District Court of Appeals
in Dallas. If she wins in the
primary, she would face Jane
Bland, a well-respected justice. Goldstein told us she
believes voters should always have a choice, and she’s
certainly the most qualified
one.
The other primary candidate is Joe Pool, a district
judge in Hays County who
has run for Supreme Court
three times before in Republican primaries, though he
seems to be more of a crusader than a partisan. He
didn’t meet with us, but in a
response to a Dallas Morning News questionnaire, he
writes that he sued to stop
the Trump administration
from funding the Islamic
Republic of Afghanistan on
the grounds that it violated
the First Amendment ban on
the establishment of a state
religion. His main priority,
though, is less odd: He
wants to restore “Texans’
right to a civil jury trial.” He
writes that judges elected
with political contributions
from “well funded juryaverse organizations” have
diminished the ability of
plaintiffs to get jury trials.
He is right that adding
Democrats to the mix on the
Supreme Court could change
outcomes, even in complex
civil cases that don’t seem
political. One study has
shown that the waves of
Democrats elected to intermediate courts in recent
years have led to fewer reversals of jury verdicts and
judgments favoring plaintiffs. If that’s the goal, we
believe Goldstein’s experience would give her a better
chance at bringing balance.

14TH COURT OF APPEALS, PLACE 4

McLaughlin has right mix of qualities for post
Houston Chronicle
Editorial Board
The rulings made in appeals courts typically have to
do with narrow questions.
Did the police properly obtain the evidence used in a
trial? Did a judge give proper instructions to a jury?
How should a decades-old
precedent about privacy
apply to the search of a
smart phone? While the
cases as a whole may involve
heart-wrenching stories or
be politically charged, the
justices spend most of their
day reading. The testimony,

the cross-examinations, the
presentation of
shocking evidence — that
all happens in
lower courts.
McLaughlin Appellate justices are generally bookish, researching
their way to answers that are
determined either by threejustice panels or by an en
banc hearing of all nine
members of the court. To
win the day, they must persuade their colleagues.
We believe Tonya
McLaughlin, 43, has the

right mix of real world experience and appellate nerdiness. She’s served as a prosecutor and a defense attorney — an important background not well represented
on the current court — and
has won cases in the courts
of appeal. In 2022 we endorsed her for the 262nd
Criminal District Court, but
she was defeated in the
Democratic sweep of Harris
County. Her mix of “empathy
and no-nonsense” impressed
us then, and still does. She
can be tough on crime while
respecting fundamental
American rights.

Steve Rogers has served as
judge on the 268th District
Court in Fort Bend County
for one year and, to our
knowledge, doesn’t have
appellate experience. He
didn’t meet with us, but
according to his website and
an interview with Katy
Christian Magazine, he
worked primarily as legal
counsel for an oil and gas
company. He made an unsuccessful run for Fort Bend
county attorney before his
district court win. In an
email response to the editorial board, he wrote, “People
are tired of judges not doing

their job and tired of all the
woke politics. My judicial
philosophy is simple, I follow the law and I enforce the
law. I’m running for Justice
to keep criminals off the
streets, enforce our laws,
protect Texans, and to get
the justice system back to
work!”
Rogers’ rhetoric strikes us
as better suited for an aspiring district attorney, or even
a judge at a district court
like the one he just started
serving. If conservatives are
looking for an effective appellate justice, McLaughlin
is the better fit.

REPUBLICAN PRIMARY: TEXAS RAILROAD COMMISSION

Matlock faces an uphill battle against Craddick
Houston Chronicle
Editorial Board
James Matlock is no politician. He’s a former Marine
who’s never run for office
before. You won’t find him
palling around with lobbyists and lawmakers in the
halls of the state Capitol.
Yet for nearly 20 years as
an independent consultant
for oil and gas companies,
Matlock, 51, has observed the
Texas Railroad Commission’s apathetic approach to
regulation. While the state
agency is ostensibly supposed to be a watchdog over
the oil and gas industry,
Matlock said it instead repeatedly allows producers to
cause earthquakes by injecting fracking wastewater
into the ground and flare
toxic pollutants into the air
without regard for the environment or public health.
Ultimately, he decided to do
something about it, launching a long shot primary campaign against Christi Craddick, the incumbent Republican who currently chairs
the commission.

Matlock is
no tree hugger.
He’s not calling
for shutting
down any oil
and gas production or instituting a
Matlock
plethora of new
rules that would cut into
producers’ bottom line. He’s
most concerned with what
has become a common practice among oil and gas drillers who inject briny, contaminated wastewater that they
pull up from fracking deep
into porous rock formations
underground, which researchers have linked to
earthquakes. Rather than
continue the commission’s
practice of temporarily shutting down drilling in areas
that have temblors, Matlock
said, if elected, he would
focus on responsible water
management. He would push
the Railroad Commission to
invest in facilities and pipelines that recycle the produced water used for drilling.
“There’s technology available that would recycle the

water to be used for irrigation purposes,” Matlock told
us. “It would help farmers
with food production, textile
production such as cotton
and help eliminate the
quakes in West Texas.”
Though we’re not yet convinced such irrigation is
safe, we’re encouraged by
his search for solutions.
Matlock is also concerned
with the amount of flaring
permits the commission
issues, allowing oil and gas
producers to spew toxic
pollutants such as methane
into the air. Matlock said
flaring should be rare and
that the commission will
need to hire far more inspectors than it currently
has to ensure producers are
complying with the Biden
administration’s rule to limit
methane emissions, which
the agency will be tasked
with enforcing.
These ideas strike us as
commonsense, low-hanging
fruit solutions and a stark
contrast to Craddick’s
hands-off approach to an
industry which has made
her fabulously wealthy.

Craddick, 53, and her family
own mineral rights and
stock in oil and gas companies her agency is supposed
to regulate and she’s accepted thousands of dollars in
campaign donations from
the industry. We have little
faith that she would work to
implement critical federal
pollution regulations, such
as the new methane rule,
which she has referred to as
a government overreach and
“unrealistic”. Worse, after
the deadly 2021 Winter
Storm Uri, Craddick testified
before Congress that frozen
natural gas pipelines weren’t
to blame for millions of power outages, despite federal
regulators concluding the
opposite. We called on her to
resign for misleading the
public. She did not respond
to our request to meet with
her.
Craddick has drawn several other challengers in this
race.
Christie Clark, 48, is a
civil attorney licensed in
Louisiana who moved to
Houston three years ago.
Clark and Matlock share

similar concerns about curbing groundwater contamination and stopping earthquakes, but she lacks Matlock’s experience and knowledge of the industry. Two
other challengers, Petra
Reyes and Corey Howell, did
not respond to our interview
requests.
As reasonable as Matlock
seemed to be about relevant
policy, we were concerned to
learn he’d signed on to the
“Texas First” pledge, which
supports the possibility of
seceding from the U.S.
Matlock said he would
only support secession under “extreme” circumstances, and that his pledge was
primarily in the interest of
backing policies that put the
people of Texas first, such as
ensuring that the state has a
secure, sustainable supply of
food, water and energy.
We hope he keeps his focus there.
Matlock will face an uphill
battle in a campaign against
a well-financed incumbent
but he has the experience to
do the job. He’s our pick in
the primary.

A26 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

OPINION
REPUBLICAN PRIMARY: 18TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Neither candidate appears up for the challenge
Houston Chronicle
Editorial Board
You have to have a lot of hutzpah to run as a Republican in the
congressional district drawn
with an overwhelming Democratic majority and long held by
U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee.
And the two candidates facing
each other in the primary certainly have that.
Lana Centonze, 51, is an immigrant and former federal
officer, with years of experience
at the international airport in the
district, where she said she saw
the inner workings and failures
of our immigration system. She
resigned from that job in order
to run on a campaign around
defending the border, investing
in infrastructure, setting term
limits and promoting the Texas
conservative version of parental
rights. She doesn’t live in the

district, just across from it, but
she says she’s motivated to serve
it. She was reluctant to share
specific policy ideas for fear that
they would be stolen by her
opponent, but when pushed she
said she’d do away with birthright citizenship for the children
of immigrants and wants to help
small businesses flourish.
Aaron Hermes, 45, by contrast
was not at all shy about sharing
his ideas. He does live in the
district and is perhaps better
known as a sitar player. But he’s
hoping to win votes with his
platform of human rights — by
that he seems to mean: You have
a right to do anything as long as
you’re not hurting anyone. He
wants to eliminate income taxes
for the bottom half of earners,
legalize marijuana and require
hand-marked paper ballots and
receipts in elections as well as
open source software to record

Elizabeth Conley/Staff file photo

Lana Centonze, 51, and Aaron Hermes, 45, will face off in the
GOP primary for the 18th Congressional District.

votes.
Our decision not to endorse
comes down to beliefs espoused
by both candidates that show a
troubling disconnect with established facts or the demeanor we
think is necessary to participate
in governing. Hermes called

most of his would-be colleagues
“idiots” and suggested Jan. 6 was
in fact a “fedsurrection” — the
idea that federal agents incited
the violence that day. When
asked about the possible need to
clarify exceptions to abortion
bans when a mother’s life is in

danger, Centonze went so far as
to say that there would never
realistically be a need for a medical exemption since modern
medicine is advanced enough to
avoid all life-threatening situations for mothers, citing her own
high-risk pregnancy. And while
Hermes said he would support
exceptions in limited circumstances to save the mother’s life,
he also said he believes the emergency contraception Plan B
counts as abortion.
We believe every race, no
matter how blue or red the district, deserves a good challenger,
but we don’t think either of these
candidates are up for the challenge. We try to avoid nonendorsements, but we see no benefit to voters in recommending
affable yet unpredictable candidates who ultimately stand very
little chance of winning the general election.

REPUBLICAN PRIMARY: 36TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Babin’s platform the less-extreme option
Houston Chronicle
Editorial Board
Since his first election to Congress in 2014, we’ve disagreed
with many of Brian Babin’s policy
positions.
He’s been a vocal supporter of
impeaching President Joe Biden
and Homeland Security Secretary
Alejandro Mayorkas, efforts that
have little merit and are mostly
partisan exercises. His rhetoric
on illegal immigration is inflammatory, such as when he compared a standoff between the
state and federal government over
laying razor wire at the border to
the Alamo and vowing to stand
his ground “if this becomes a hill
to die on.”
That hasn’t stopped us from

endorsing him in
previous elections, reasoning
that his priorities
align with many
voters in his
heavily Republican district.
Babin
There is a
difference, however, between
hewing to a conservative policy
platform and blind partisan loyalty that threatens our democratic
institutions. Babin, 75, crossed
that line with his actions after the
2020 election. During a hearing
held by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol, it
was revealed that Babin and his
colleague, Rep. Louie Gohmert,
attended a meeting at the White

House in December 2020 where
an adviser to former President
Donald Trump presented a plan
to have the vice president overturn the election results.
To this day, we have no clue as
to the extent of Babin’s involvement in this insidious plot. Babin
rarely grants interviews and he
did not respond to multiple requests to meet with the editorial
board to be interviewed for our
endorsement. While Babin did
publicly disavow the violence on
Jan. 6, he proceeded to vote
against certifying the 2020 election results anyway. We saw
those actions as disqualifying and
endorsed his Democratic opponent in the 2022 general election.
So why are we endorsing him
now in the primary? Simply put,

we believe the policy platform of
his only opponent is too extreme.
Jonathan Mitchell, 33, is a
pipeline technician from Liberty
County. His platform includes
positions such as abolishing the
IRS and replacing the personal
and corporate income tax and
payroll tax with a single rate. Yet
Mitchell’s primary motivation for
challenging Babin is because of a
bipartisan bill he co-authored:
The TAPS Act would establish a
national behavioral threat assessment and management process to identify people who could
violently harm others. The bill
would also provide states with
the training and resources to set
up threat assessment units within
law enforcement agencies.
Mitchell believes this bill is an

infringement on Second Amendment rights and an excuse for the
federal government to invade
people’s privacy by monitoring
social media accounts. We disagree. At a time when mass
shootings are far too common
and federal gun reforms remain
nearly impossible to pass into
law, this bill is a rare commonsense solution that members of
both parties have co-signed, even
though it hasn’t yet passed.
Writing this bill doesn’t exonerate or excuse Babin for his
disturbing actions four years ago
but it sets him apart from a challenger running far to his right. If
he wins, we hope a qualified
challenger emerges in the general
election that can finally hold him
accountable.

REPUBLICAN PRIMARY: 7TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Kane’s broad policy agenda should appeal to voters
Houston Chronicle
Editorial Board
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, when government-mandated shutdowns
forced many of Caroline Kane’s
friends and neighbors out of
work, she began thinking seriously about running for office.
Kane, 53, had never run for
anything before. She dutifully
voted in every election, including
in midterms, yet mainly kept her
head down, paid her taxes and
focused on running her business
managing multifamily properties.
Yet something about how the
state and federal government
decided which businesses were
“essential” during the pandemic
irked her. Why should she get to

continue working
while others she
knew suddenly
lost their jobs
through no fault
of their own?
“I was one of
those people
Kane
thinking, where’s
the Constitution?” Kane told us.
“Everybody’s business is essential, we’ve all got to put food
on the table.”
So Kane started doing her
research. Even in a congressional
district that voted for a Democratic incumbent, U.S. Rep. Lizzie
Fletcher, by 27 points in 2022, she
reasons there are plenty of independent, Republican and even
some Democrat voters who don’t
like the direction the nation is

headed. Kane believes she can
connect with people who care
about reducing government
spending, securing the U.S.Mexico border and curbing illegal
immigration and energy independence.
In fact, on energy it's easy to
see where Kane could have some
cross-party appeal. She's in favor
of investing heavily in hydrogen
as a potentially clean fuel source.
She also wants to make nuclear
power a bigger part of the nation's
energy portfolio, particularly with
the advent of smaller modular
reactors that are easier to build.
“I would love to have a whole
lot more new nuclear,” Kane said.
“I think it’s the cleanest and
cheapest thing that we have that’s
available right now, and it’s envi-

ronmentally responsible as long
as we’re not putting it anywhere
near a coast or a fault line.”
On other issues, Kane is clearly
trying to appeal to her Republican
base. She is anti-abortion, although she said that she would
prefer the issue be left to the
states rather than supporting calls
for a nationwide ban. She is a
hard-liner on border security,
telling us she would push to fund
the completion of the border wall
and institute a two-year immigration moratorium in order to “assess what our needs are” as far as
jobs that are available and which
immigrant applicants can best fill
them.
Kane and all of her primary
opponents are first-time candidates, yet she had by far the most

detailed policy platform. Kenneth
Omoruyi, 41, is a first-generation
Nigerian immigrant and accountant who is passionate about
driving down the national debt
but lacked specifics on how to do
so. Tina Blum Cohen, 65, owns a
furniture store in Houston and
believes strongly in border security and revamping the immigration system. Carolyn Bryant, 61, is
a sports nutritionist running
primarily on one issue: to protect
Title IX from what she called the
“gender mutilation agenda on our
children.”
It will be challenging for any of
these candidates to swing this
district red but we believe Kane
stands the best chance. Republican voters should back her in
the primary.

OPINION

Policy, politics played critical roles in failure of border bill
By Ted Cruz
Over the past decade, I’ve
made many trips to our southern
border, often bringing my colleagues in the Senate down with
me. On a recent trip, we had a
conversation with a girl who was
only 10 years old. This girl was
with a man who claimed to be
her father. He had his arm
draped forcefully around her,
and it was obvious to everyone
that these two were not related. It
was horrifying to leave knowing
there was a very real chance that
this girl, like many other children
crossing the border, would be
taken off to be sex trafficked.
This is the reality at our southern border. Since Joe Biden became president, Border Patrol
has seen over 7 million encounters along our southern border,
and many of them are children
like the 10-year-old girl we encountered. Border officials also
estimate that over 1.7 million
“gotaways” have exploited this
chaos by entering the country
illegally and avoiding arrest. This
is nothing short of a humanitari-

an and security crisis.
That’s why I was proud to
help lead the fight against Senate
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s bill on the border, which was
terrible by two metrics: policy
and politics.
When it comes to policy, this
bill would have codified a new
catch-and-release policy and
normalized up to 5,000 illegal
crossing encounters a day. The
emergency authority contained in
the bill, which was supposed to
tame the millions streaming over
our border, would have operated
for only a limited number of days
per year and would completely
disappear after three years. As
my Democratic colleague Chris
Murphy wrote in a post on X,
under this bill “the border never
closes.”
This bill also would have given
immediate work permits to those
who claim asylum and pass their
initial screening, even if they
entered illegally. It would have
provided taxpayer-funded lawyers to unaccompanied minors,
and it would have dedicated
billions of taxpayer dollars to

sanctuary cities and the nonprofits enabling this unprecedented
level of illegal immigration. One
of the provisions I found particularly egregious was that it
would have stripped the jurisdiction from federal courts in
Texas to hear the state’s own
legal challenges to some of the
bill’s most important provisions
and instead give these cases to
the left-leaning D.C. Circuit Court
of Appeals.
This bill was also terrible
politically. Speaker of the House
Mike Johnson said it was dead
on arrival in the House, so it had
no chance of passing there. If it
had no chance of passing into
law, what was the purpose of it?
To give Democrats running for
office political camouflage. Many
Americans are not happy with
how Democrats have handled
this crisis, and a recent poll
found that 68% of voters — including 50% of Democrats —
believe the Biden administration
should make it more difficult to
enter our country illegally. This
bill was designed not to secure
the border, but to give Demo-

cratic candidates the ability to say
they wanted to secure the border.
If the Democrats wanted to
secure the border, there are two
avenues to do so. Number one,
President Biden could work to
secure the border any time he
wants, by reinstating the Remain
in Mexico policy, ending catchand-release and finishing construction on the border wall —
all policies he ended upon coming into office and that, under
President Trump, helped produce the lowest level of illegal
immigration in 45 years. That’s
what Biden inherited, and he
deliberately halted the policies
that were successfully securing
the border.
Number two, the Senate could
have passed House Resolution 2,
or the Secure the Border Act of
2023, which would defund catchand-release, expand detention
and deportation, and mandate
construction of the border wall.
HR2 has the support of the
House of Representatives, which
passed it in May. I’ve introduced
HR2 in the Senate, and my position has been that we should

have attached HR2 to Ukraine
funding, so we can secure our
border and help Ukraine secure
its border. What we should not
do is vote to secure Ukraine’s
border without securing ours,
which is what Senate Democrats
tried to do last week. I believe
Majority Leader Schumer rejected my idea because HR2 would
have been effective in securing
our southern border.
While we were able to stop a
bad border deal in the Senate,
there is a real need for Congress
to act and for the president to
take steps to secure the border.
The border crisis is so bad that
it’s affecting the entire country —
as Democratic mayors such as
Eric Adams and London Breed
can attest — but Texas bears the
brunt of it. What this administration has done to the southern
border is nothing short of a humanitarian crisis, a security crisis
and a sovereignty crisis. We need
to secure the border, and we
need to do it without delay.
Ted Cruz represents Texas in the
U.S. Senate.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 A27

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

DA
From page A23
sion based on their judgment
at the time.”
Even so, Ogg is responsible
for overarching decisions that
influence everything from
employee morale to public
trust in the criminal justice
system to outcomes in the
courtroom. Incidentally, our
concerns with endorsing her
for a third term are not necessarily the same that led county
Democratic precinct chairs to
vote 129-61 to admonish Ogg for
not adequately representing
Democratic values. Their complaints included Ogg’s investigation of fellow Democratic
officeholders. In our view, Ogg
was justified if not duty-bound
to investigate elected officials
regardless of party. We make
no bones about Ogg doing her
job; we’re concerned she’s not
doing it effectively enough.
Alfred Washington’s charge
in the 2017 murder of Angelique Stafford, a mother of five
shot to death in a Houston
supermarket parking lot, is an
example of poor judgment by
Ogg’s prosecutors: a case with
dubious evidence built off
shoddy police work that
should have been flagged well
before trial and was ultimately
dismissed in embarrassing
fashion.
An eyewitness identified
Washington as a suspect. His
attorney, Beth Exley, said he
had a solid alibi that Houston
police didn’t investigate, and
that police were also aware of a
possible alternate suspect,
Washington’s son, who bore a
striking resemblance to his
father. At trial, the state’s eyewitness took the stand and
confidently pointed to Washington as the shooter. But the
case fell apart when Exley
showed the witness a photo of
Washington’s son and asked
him who it was. The witness
again pointed at the elder
Washington. The case was
dismissed due to “identification issues.”
Exley previously worked for
the DA’s office and was one of
37 veteran prosecutors Ogg
fired as part of a changing of
the guard when she took office
in January 2017, an exodus that
Ogg critics believe robbed the
office of crucial institutional
knowledge. She acknowledged
that Ogg likely knew little of
the details in the Washington
case, considering her office’s
massive volume of cases. Still,
Exley was baffled that nobody
in the chain of command questioned whether prosecutors
had the goods to even try the
murder case, let alone get a
conviction.
“You’ve got prosecutors and
division chiefs underneath
(Ogg) who are not bringing it
to her attention,” Exley told us.
“Whether it’s because they
don’t know what they’re doing
or they’re so afraid to go up
and say, ‘Hey, we’ve got this
bad guy that’s been sitting in
jail for 18 months and now we
think maybe he’s not guilty,
can we dismiss it? ’ But I know
that I made them aware of all
these issues in relation to this
case.”
A DA spokesman said prosecutors knew the case would
be tough, but they believed
they could poke a hole in
Washington’s alibi and prove
that he was the shooter.
The number of times judges

JACKSON LEE
From page A23
in the Congressional record,
where the congresswoman is
consistently ranked one of the
most effective lawmakers. But
what really makes her effective is her seniority, her institutional know-how, and her
ability to get the right person
on the phone when her constituents need it — whether
it’s opening an emergency
warming shelter in northeast
Houston during a hard freeze
or making sure a grieving
grandson can make his evening flight.
That’s why we are sticking
with Congresswoman Sheila
Jackson Lee and encourage
voters to do the same.
We did not meet with Robert Slater, whose fundraising
numbers suggest he’s not a
viable candidate in this competitive race.
But the other competitor in

have found that a prosecutor’s
case didn’t meet the lowest
burden of proof have doubled
since Ogg took office. In 2022,
the period examined in a
Houston Chronicle investigation, more than 4,500 criminal
cases were found to have “no
probable cause.”
That issue may stem in part
from oft-criticized changes Ogg
made early on to the intake
division, a team of prosecutors
who take calls from police in
the field to assess whether
evidence is strong enough to
accept criminal charges. It’s an
extra level of screening that
doesn’t exist in many counties,
where law enforcement officers can file charges without
consulting with a DA gatekeeper. Before Ogg, intake was
a rotating shift open only to
experienced prosecutors with
felony or misdemeanor trial
experience. They earned overtime pay by working nights
and weekend shifts. Ogg got
rid of overtime pay, citing budget constraints, and assigned
more than two dozen prosecutors on a permanent basis. Ogg
has also asked senior prosecutors to oversee intake shifts on
weekends without overtime
pay.
Ogg said she made the
change to “bring consistency”
to the process but more than a
dozen people we spoke to in
the legal and law enforcement
communities argue it’s done
the opposite, weakening a
critical safeguard against dubious prosecutions that waste
time and resources and alter
the lives of those wrongly accused. Ogg showed us a list of
intake prosecutors, indicating
some have decades of experience, but critics say longevity
doesn’t always mean relevant
experience or quality. An outside consulting firm hired by
county commissioners seemed
to agree, concluding in 2022
that intake was staffed by too
many unseasoned or unqualified attorneys, many lacking
trial experience.
“It’s not just a political attack,” Teare told us. “Intake is
broken.” He said he’d promptly
reverse Ogg’s changes.
Teare says Washington’s
case isn’t an outlier and that
his opponent’s administration
has been rife with mismanagement, leading to low morale
and a culture of fear among
rank-and-file prosecutors wary
of running afoul of her and her
leadership team.
“We had these cases that
should have never been indicted, but you had people
terrified of even going to the
administration and asking for
murders to be dismissed,”
Teare told us. “A real DA’s
office does not lose three murders in a week, period, full
stop.”
Teare, 44, worked as a Harris County prosecutor for 11
years, trying both misdemeanor and felony cases. He’s tried
two capital murders to verdict
and personally handled 10
others. He also served on the
DA’s Capital Committee for six
years, a group of senior prosecutors who sign off on every
capital plea bargain and decide
whether to pursue the death
penalty. He resigned last year
to run for her job.
Teare has a reputation as a
diligent prosecutor, and he
notes that losing his mother to
heroin overdose exposed him
to flaws in the criminal justice
system and the need for holis-

this primary cannot be written off. The impressive Amanda Edwards, 42, is the first
real threat to Jackson Lee
since she took office since
1994. Edwards’ policy chops
and savvy (she’s a municipal
finance attorney) made her a
standout on Houston City
Council. She was also out in
the community fixing up
homes after Hurricane Harvey.
Edwards was hailed as a
rising star in 2019, when she
stepped down from City
Council. But since then, she’s
struggled in elections: First
she got buried in a crowded
primary race for U.S. senator
in 2020. Then, after she entered the Houston mayor’s
race, Jackson Lee jumped into
it at the last minute, undermining Edwards’ likely sources of support. Edwards
dropped out of the mayor’s
race, and ran for what appeared to be Jackson Lee’s
open congressional seat.

Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg told the editorial
board that she does not “micromanage every case.”

tic approaches to crimes related to drug addiction and mental health. Those we talked to
who have worked with Teare
describe him as bright, affable
and fair-minded, albeit with a
knack for self-promotion, especially when TV cameras are
present. Some suspect that he
jumped at the vehicular crimes
post because it comes with
relatively high visibility. Teare
often made crime scene coverage on the nightly news, but at
least one law enforcement
source insisted he made lowerprofile scenes, too.
We see bright potential in
Teare as a leader. One exchange that stood out in our
screening came after Teare
described an example of leadership he’d like to emulate to
build morale and employee
loyalty. He said former U.S.
Attorney Ken Magidson, who
was appointed to oversee the
DA’s office for a time after
Chuck Rosenthal’s resignation,
would stop by for brief, casual
visits with junior prosecutors
just to check how they were
doing. Ogg seemed oddly dismissive, arguing that pay raises are the key motivator. Both,
of course, would be ideal.
Teare seems to be running
as the more progressive Democrat in the race, but rejects any
notion that he might be lenient
on those who threaten public
safety; he says he’d be “smart”
on crime instead. We hope he’d
be just as diligent in rooting
out corruption, regardless of
party affiliation.
Frankly, we don’t see much
ideological daylight in their
policy views, with one exception: bail practices. While both
candidates maintain that they
don’t believe in jailing nonviolent, low-level defendants
merely because they’re too
poor to afford bail, Ogg has
waffled on the issue. After
initially expressing support for
misdemeanor bail reform as a
candidate in 2016, she ended up
opposing a settlement to end
Harris County’s unconstitutional system of poverty jailing.
Ogg says her opposition was
specific to the settlement and
not its overall goal. But later, as
crime surged during the pandemic, Ogg claimed that the
implementation of bail reform
was a “driving factor in the
crime crisis gripping our community.”
In an October 2021 editorial,
we took Ogg to task for seemingly scapegoating misdemeanor bail reform, in part with a
flawed report that didn’t account for a long-festering
courthouse backlog and mischaracterized data to skew
how many defendants were

re-offending or missing court
dates. Her rhetoric seemed to
mirror that of partisan Republican objections to bail reform
and even those of bondsmen,
who have a financial incentive
to oppose bail reform. Incidentally, we’re troubled by Ogg’s
financial support from the bail
bond industry, including more
than $56,000 in a recent reporting period.
Teare, who vowed to refuse
contributions from the bail
bond industry, supports misdemeanor bail reform, and
actually said he would push
the Legislature to phase out
cash bail. He wants, as we do,
to see Texas move closer to the
federal system in which judges'
decisions on whether to detain
someone without bond are
based on assessments of flight
risk or danger to the community.
“My only vehicle right now,
in the vast majority of cases, is
a cash number to hold people
that I can prove to a magistrate
are a danger, so I will use
that,” Teare said. “But I don’t
believe we should be tying it to
money.”
This position, we should
note, is one shared by many
Republican criminal justice
experts, including Nathan
Hecht, the chief justice of the
Texas Supreme Court.
Teare says his transition
from an Ogg supporter to a
rival was spurred, in part, by
her actions after county commissioners in 2019 rebuffed her
request for a 31 percent budget
increase to hire 102 additional
assistant DAs and more than
40 support staff, a request we
supported in part because it
would help her clear the growing case backlog. Commissioners increased her budget by
only 7 percent.
What followed was a succession of investigations
against county politicians —
namely County Commissioner
Rodney Ellis and aides for
County Judge Lina Hidalgo,
both fellow Democrats — and
public statements critical of
bail reform and accused commissioners of “defunding” her
office by not giving her the
exact dollar figure she asked
for in budget requests.
In Ellis’ case, Ogg investigated whether he was illegally
storing hundreds of pieces of
African art in a government
warehouse on the taxpayers’
dime. While a grand jury declined to charge Ellis, Ogg
issued a statement saying that
while Ellis’ actions were not
illegal, taxpayers deserved to
have their dollars “spent wisely and in a transparent manner.”

Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer

Democratic primary candidates, challenger Amanda Edwards,
left, and incumbent Sheila Jackson Lee, discuss District 18 needs.

If Jackson Lee had won the
mayor’s race, Edwards would
have been a shoo-in for this
seat. But of course, Jackson
Lee didn’t win. And now she
wants to keep her old seat.
There’s a chance that Jackson Lee’s mayoral loss has
hurt her enough to leave the
door open for Edwards. In
this race, Edwards has raised
far more money than Jackson
Lee. The younger candidate
has, it seems, used that money

in part for glossy campaign
videos that present her as the
candidate with a fresh perspective with deep Houston
roots, ready to take the torch.
On policy issues, there’s
little difference between the
two candidates. And in a few
areas, including technology,
we even believe Edwards
would be the better policymaker. She wants to think
about systems — whether
immigration or disaster recov-

In Hidalgo’s case, Ogg has
already indicted three of her
former aides on felony charges,
accusing them of giving inside
information to a political consulting firm with Democratic
ties to help them win an $11
million COVID-19 vaccine
outreach contract in June 2021.
What’s troubling about that
case, however, is Ogg’s decision
to hire an outside lawyer, Rachel Palmer Hooper, a former
Harris County prosecutor who
is now general counsel to the
Texas Republican Party, to
investigate Hidalgo’s aides. As
the Houston Landing reported,
Hooper’s husband is a conservative blogger who has blasted
Hidalgo, Ellis and other local
Democrats as “Marxists.”
Meanwhile, Ogg has been
criticized for closing a case
against Houston attorney and
GOP activist Jared Woodfill,
who was accused of taking
hundreds of thousands of
dollars from his clients’ trust
accounts. Earlier this month, a
former client of Woodfill’s
asked state and federal investigators to re-examine the
case, alleging that Ogg mishandled it and that she was
improperly influenced by Rachel Hooper.
Ogg disputed any improper
influence and said she allowed
the time clock to run out on
the case because she wasn’t
convinced of its merit and
remained concerned about the
ham-fisted way DA investigators had raided Woodfill’s
office. Even if that’s true,
there’s no excuse for Ogg appointing Hooper, a highly partisan Republican to probe Hidalgo, a liberal lightning rod.
Ogg, a savvy politician, should
have known bad optics don’t
inspire trust.
Ogg contends that Teare’s
acceptance of Hidalgo’s endorsement in the primary
qualifies as a conflict of interest. Teare currently works
for the law firm of defense
attorney Dan Cogdell, who is
representing Hidalgo’s aides in
their criminal case. Teare says
that he has been walled off
from any involvement. The
case files, he said, are password protected and he claimed
he has never seen a shred of
evidence uncovered in the
investigation, either as a prosecutor or as a defense attorney.
Even so, Teare vowed if elected
to recuse himself from the
Hidalgo investigation “on day
one” — a move that would
seem to signal his commitment
to integrity and awareness of
optics.
“It’s the way it should be,
you have to remove politics
from the actual job of the DA,”
Teare said.
Teare is neither an activist
nor a “soft on crime” reformer.
His critiques of Ogg’s leadership are not gratuitous, but
substantive and specific. Even
Ogg acknowledged his reputation for being an “aggressive” prosecutor whom she
took an interest in promoting
to lead an important division.
We believe he is sincere in his
desire to boost morale through
effective leadership and restore
integrity among the rank-andfile prosecutors, to recruit and
retain qualified staff, and ensure that defendants have honest brokers evaluating their
cases.
We urge Democratic primary voters to give him a chance
to be the county’s next DA in
November.

ery or health care — to get
things done more efficiently.
In our meeting, she recalled
her father’s battle with cancer:
“I happen to be someone who,
at a very early age, witnessed
systemic breakdowns,” she
said.
We hope that she’ll run for
public office again.
But in this race, we urge
voters to back Jackson Lee.
Though we think Edwards
would be a great first-term
representative, she’d be just
that: a newbie. She wouldn’t
have Jackson Lee’s seniority or
the web of influence that the
congresswoman doggedly,
tirelessly deploys on her constituents’ behalf. When someone in Jackson Lee’s district
needs help with the federal
government, they know who
to call.
“I’m not over the hill,” Jackson Lee told us. “I’m on the
Hill.”
We believe she should stay
there.

A28 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

Burch, Patsy
Carpenter, Patrick
Earthman, Deborah
Fendley, Mary
Franklin, Eugene
Fodell, Harvey DDS
Gartland, Jo

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

Halpin, Rosalie
Hurlbut, Gladys
Krazynski, Diane
Lehman, Constance
Lutz, Donald Dr.
McCullough, George
Meyer, Kathleen

HARVEY WALLACE FODELL, DDS
12/01/1930 - 12/28/2023

Dr. Harvey Fodell, DDS
– known as Doc or Harvo
to many – died peacefully
at home the age of 93 on
December 28, 2023, with his
wife of nearly 70 years and his
daughters by his side.
Born December 1, 1930,
Harvey Wallace Fodell was
the fifth child and second
son born to George Nehman
Fodell and Matilda Curry
Fodell. He spent his childhood in Houston Heights,
where “Fleet-Footed Fodell”
lettered in football at Reagan
High School. After a brief
stint at Tulane where he
admittedly “majored in the
French Quarter,” Harvey
attended Baylor University
from 1950-1954, serving as
President of the Tri-C
fraternity. He minored in
Chemistry and Psychology,
graduating with a Bachelor
of Arts.
It was during those
Baylor days that Harvey met
Kathleen Coe, the younger

sister of his college pal, Dick
Coe. Their brief and passionate courtship culminated in
elopement at ages 23 and
17. Those who thought it
wouldn’t last were wrong.
Harvey and Kathy danced
through their early years in
Dallas, where he attended
Baylor College of Dentistry
and made lifelong friends.
They were the first in their
group to have a baby, Cynthia,
in 1956, who was a fixture
during student study groups.
Harvey graduated dental
school in 1958 and moved
back to his hometown of
Houston to start his practice.
Harvey’s story is unique. He
was among the young professionals who shaped the city at
a time when Houston was a
small town: Westheimer was
a shale road, and the Galleria
was a Westmoreland Dairy.
Local bars such as the
Hi-Hat Bar and Grill, owned
by a relative, swanky Maxim’s,

PATSY RUTH BURCH
11/30/1925 - 02/15/2024

Patsy Ruth Burch of Bellaire, Texas died on Thursday,
February 15, 2024. She was
born in St. Louis, Missouri to
Richard Hughes and Anna
Cunningham Hughes. Patsy
attended Colorado University
at Boulder and Northwest
Shoals Community College.
She had a big and interesting
life, including working as a
messenger for Robert Oppenheimer at Los Alamos, 9 years
of ex-pat life in Brazil, as well
as years living as an adult in
Asheville, North Carolina,
Florence, Alabama and Las
Cruces, New Mexico before
moving to Bellaire to be near
her son in 2016.
Patsy is survived by her son
Ralph Burch (Vicki West),
her grandchildren Bobby
Burch (Emily), Blake Burch
(Kaitlyn), Michael Burch
(Stephanie) and Tristin
Burch, great grandchildren

and nephews and nieces
including very special nieces
Martha Wade (Michael) and
Mary Raney (Tim). She was
predeceased by her husband,
Donald Burch, her children,
Robert Burch and Donna
Burch Evans, her daughter in
law, Felicia Moody Burch, her
son in law Donald Evans and
her brothers, Robert Hughes
and Richard Hughes.
Special thanks to Drs. Stephen Incavo, Masroor Khan
and Maureen Beck for their
loving care which added years
to Patsy’s happy life.
No services are planned at
this time.

PATRICK DOUGLAS CARPENTER
10/03/1969 - 02/01/2024

Our dear Patrick, beloved
husband, son, brother
and uncle passed away on
February 1. He will be greatly
missed by his family, friends
and all who knew him.
Pat was born in Alameda,
California on a warm Fall
day in 1969. He moved to
Houston with his family the
following year. As a child he
enjoyed exploring the trails
and lakes of the Sandalwood
neighborhood with his pals.
Vacations were spent all over
California, as well as Hawaii
and the Virgin Islands. A favorite was a raft trip through
the Grand Canyon.
Patrick was educated in
Spring Branch schools and
the Tenney School where he
met Sylvia Martinez, the love
of his life. Following his studies at Blinn College, Patrick
and Sylvia were married in
December 1994.
Survived by devoted wife
Sylvia and mother-in-law

Hilda, brother-in-law Steve
Martinez and wife Stahr,
niece Hailee, nephew Kayne.
Treasured dogs Oreo, Sophie
and Moo.
Proud parents Bernie and
Bob Carpenter, brother John
and wife Tammie, brother Allen and wife Linda, and niece
Caroline.
Patrick, you are always on
our minds and forever in our
hearts.
A memorial service will be
held in the future.

ELVA NELSON
01/01/1930 - 01/31/2024

Elva Y. Nelson, age 94,
passed away January 31, 2024
in Houston, Texas. She was
born January 1,1930 to loving
parents Harry and Elsie
Engstrom of Minneapolis,
Minnesota. Elva attended the
University of Minnesota as an
Art major. A woman of many
talents, she was an exceptional seamstress, knitter, artist,
baker, chef, interior designer,
floral designer and gardener.
She travelled the world extensively with family and friends,
later becoming a travel agent
and tour director. Former
President of The Houston
Federation of Garden Clubs,
Flower Show Judges Group,
Ikebana, member of the
Junior League and Blue
Bird Circle volunteer, among
many other activities, she
was always eager to learn
something new and meet new
people. Elva had a vivacious
personality, superior style and
was unforgettable. Survived

by her husband of 74 years,
Russell H. Nelson, daughters,
Pam Dougherty and Gail
(Robert) Foti, grandchildren
Elsa and Nelson (Emanuella)
Dougherty, Heather and
Ben Foti and great grandson
Sidney Dougherty. Memorial
Service: Saturday March 2,
2024 at 11 AM, Chapelwood
UMC Chapel, 11140 Greenbay
St., Houston, TX. In lieu of
flowers, the family suggests
memorials to the Houston
SPCA.

Nelson, Elva
Ramey, Norma
Shult, Milton
Waldron, George
Wirt, George

Ye Olde College Inn, and
the Shamrock Hotel were
their favorite meeting places.
Children of the Greatest
Generation, Houston’s own
“Mad Men,” met in dimly lit
smoke-filled bars, working
together to shake things up
and put their city on the map.
A colorful group of folks
from all walks of society could
be seen huddled in his office’s
tiny bar area at all hours.
Shoulder-to-shoulder stood
members of local media,
Houston’s S.W.A.T. team,
sports icons, entertainers,
and local “gangsters” mingled
with H.P.D. officers and
county sheriffs. These were
Dr. Fodell’s first patients.
A proud member of the
American Dental Association,
Texas Dental Association,
and Harris County Dental
Association, he loved his work
and reveled in his patients,
many of whom he counted
as close friends. Serving as
team dentist for the Houston
Cougars basketball team
during the late 60s – mid-70s
was among Harvey’s fondest
memories. He manned the
sidelines with Guy Lewis dur-

ing the “Game of the Century,”
where the Cougars beat the
U.C.L.A. Bruins, 71-69, in
front of over 52,000 in the
Astrodome. Then of course,
he hosted the victory party.
Harvey dedicated much
time and energy to pro
bono work, named as one of
Marvin Zindler’s “Marvin’s
Angels” for his generosity in
giving smiles back to those in
need. At his retirement party,
he said to those in attendance: “The hardest part of
retirement from my practice
was leaving my beloved
patients who were also my
friends that became such a
huge part of my life.”
Like his father, Harvey
loved to fish near the jetties in
Galveston and offshore in the
waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
He felt at peace, saying “Being
on the water at sunrise is
as close to God as you can
get.” He loved watching (and
betting on) sports, music
(especially Sinatra) and fast
things, like cars and horses.
But most of all, he loved his
wife.
Harvey’s love for his

beautiful Kathleen intensified
every year of the nearly 70
they were married. She was
his soul mate, angel, advisor,
and best friend. Their shared
love for music, dancing, and
entertainment lasted a lifetime, even if their argument
about which was the best
singer, Frank Sinatra or Tony
Bennett, was never resolved.
An honorary member of
“The Rat Pack,” Harvey never
doubted it was Sinatra.
Harvey left his mark on
the world, doing it his way.
If you met him, you never
forgot him, and if you knew

him, you loved him. Harvey
is survived by his wife, Kathy;
their two daughters, Cynthia
Fodell Mott and Nanette
Fodell; three grandchildren,
Oren Porterfield, Chloe’ Laura
Parker and TessRiley Warren
and their children; and his
sister, Beverly Fodell Saleh of
Colorado.
A private memorial service
will be held the afternoon of
Saturday, Feb. 24. Contact the
family at hwfmem@gmail.
com for details. In lieu of
flowers, put a few bucks on
the sports team of your choice
in his name.

DEBORAH ANN EARTHMAN
05/31/1948 - 02/04/2024

Deborah Ann Earthman
was born on May 31, 1948 in
Washington DC. She died at
home on Sunday, February
4, 2024 after complications
from an illness. She was 75
years old.
Deborah was born into
an Air Force family; in her
younger years she had the
opportunity to live and travel
around the United States and
the wider world, including
living in Italy and England as
a child, and returning from
England on the SS United
States, which she fondly remembered as a very fun trip,
especially as she learned how
to swim in the ship’s pool.
Deborah attended high
school at Randolph Air Force
Base in San Antonio, Texas
where she was a cheerleader,
completing her secondary
school education at Greenbrier College in WestVirginia.
She then attended SMU in
Dallas, Texas, for two years,
where she pledged Phi Beta
Phi sorority, transferring to
the University of Texas in
Austin, where she graduated
with a Bachelor of Arts degree
in education. Following her
student teaching,
Deborah earned a Masters
Degree in art therapy from
the University of Houston.
After her educational
endeavors, Deborah found
the job that meant so much
to her, at the Art Institute of
Houston, where she worked
for many years and made
many enduring friendships.
Deborah’s colleagues at

the Art Institute recall that
Deborah was not only a
treasured friend, she was a joy
to work with, nurturing and
guiding the students in her
care with her great listening
skills, boundless generosity,
clear thinking and common
sense.
Deborah had a lifelong
love affair with art, and all
things art-related, with a real
eye for color and design, and
was a talented artist herself.
She was blessed to find a
fellow art lover in her beloved
husband, Jack Earthman,
and worked with him in
his architectural practice,
handling much of the interior
designing for the buildings
he worked on. They were
fortunate in being able to
travel extensively, visiting
many different countries,
thoroughly enjoying every art
museum they encountered
along the way.
Deborah was a champion swimmer in her youth,
participating in many swim
competitions, while living
on various Air Force bases
(she never lost a breaststroke
race). She was a lifelong
Texas Longhorns fan and an
avid follower of the Houston
Rockets and the Houston
Astros. She also loved Coca
Cola.
Deborah’s real passion
though was for her family,
friends and her standard poodles. If you were lucky enough
to be a friend or relative of
Deborah’s she never forgot
you, you always received a

kind remembrance from her,
lovingly wrapped, every year
on your special day. She was
a devoted stepmother, aunt,
grandmother and sister. Her
love was unlimited.
The Dusard family would
like to express their profound gratitude to Deborah’s
husband, Jack Earthman, for
his care, kindness and love
for our sister, especially in her
final months.
Deborah was preceded in
death by her father, Major
General Leo F. Dusard, Jr.
and her mother Beatrice
Ann Dusard, of San Antonio,
Texas.
Deborah is survived by her
devoted spouse, Jack Earthman of Houston, Texas; her
stepchildren, John Earthman
and his wife Marguerite
of Nome, Alaska, Stephen
Earthman and his partner
Raina Bajpai of Brooklyn,
New York and Sharon Beach
and her husband Scott of
Knoxville, Tennessee; grandchildren, Ava, Tyson and Carl;
her brother Leo F Dusard, III
and his wife Erin of Wilmington, North Carolina and

her two children Spencer and
Oliver; her sister Joan Dusard
of West Hartford, Connecticut, her brother Christopher Dusard and his wife,
Patty of Phoenix, Arizona; her
nephew, Matthew Dusard and
his wife Jasmine and their
son Leo of Redondo Beach,
California and her niece,
Lindsay Dusard of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
A private funeral service
was held on February 14,
2024 in Houston, Texas. The
family will gather for an interment at a later date.
In lieu of customary
remembrances, the family
requests with gratitude that
memorial contributions in
her name be directed to the
American Kidney Fund or Big
Brothers/Big Sisters or the
charity of your choice.

care of her mother, spending
countless hours caring for her,
until Nancy’s death in February 2020 from cancer. Diane
then moved to Yorkville, Illinois to live with her younger
daughter Susan, and Susan’s
husband Bob. They too took
great care of Diane as her
physical health continued
to decline. Through it all,
her sons, Rudy and Joseph,
were frequent visitors to
Sugarland and then Yorkville.
Notwithstanding her physical
ailments, Diane remained
mentally active, daily reading
books and her beloved Bible
and always being devoutly
Catholic.
Diane was preceded in
death by her parents, her first
husband and father of her
four children, Rudy Bonaparte, her second husband Len
Krazynski, her daughter
Nancy, and her step-son Scot
Krazynski. She is survived by
her older son, Rudy Bonapar-

te (Anna), daughter, Susan
Thomas (Bob), younger son
Joseph Bonaparte (Christine),
ten grandchildren, and five
great-grandchildren. She is
also survived by her half-sisters Yvonne Parisi and Jeanne
Nielsen.
Upon Diane’s passing, her
son Joseph wrote “She was
beautiful inside and out,
a caring, loving, kind, and
giving person who made
friends wherever she went.
She has always been there for
me both through calm waters
and stormy seas. I love my
mom dearly and will miss her
terribly.” These are sentiments
shared by all who knew her.
The family plans a private
service at a later date with
interment next to her husband Len at Memorial Oaks
Cemetery in Houston, Texas.
In lieu of flowers, memorials
may be made in Diane’s name
to the charity of your choice.

DIANE MERRILL KRAZYNSKI
09/13/1931 - 02/06/2024

Diane Krazynski (formerly Diane Bonaparte) of
Yorkville, Illinois passed away
on February 6, 2024 with her
daughter Susan by her side,
after a period of declining
health. She was born on
September 13th, 1931 in Fort
Lee, New Jersey as Diane
Elizabeth Merrill to parents
Marguerite and Willard
Merrill.
Diane spent many of her
childhood years living in Fort
Lee with her maternal grandmother Jeanne Deshusses,
her Aunt and Uncle Martha
and Charlie Keane, and her
cousins to whom she was very
close Jeanne and Nanette
Keane. She graduated from
Fort Lee High School in 1949.
Marguerite later married
Arthur Caldwell and Diane
was blessed with two younger
half-sisters, Yvonne and
Jeanne.
In 1947, Diane met WWII
veteran Rudolph (Rudy)
Bonaparte and they were
married in February 1950 at
Corpus Christi RC Church
in Hasbrouck Heights,
New Jersey settling there
through the birth of their
four children. Diane was a
wonderful and loving wife to
Rudy, fantastic mother to her
children, and caring friend to
so many more. In 1964, the
family moved to Allendale,
New Jersey where they lived
happily for several years. In

July 1969, Rudy passed away
from sudden heart failure.
Her tremendous strength and
resolve as a person were revealed in the following years
as she raised her children
while taking on employment
to help make ends meet.
In 1972, through neighborhood friends, she met Leonard (Len) Krazynski whom
she later married. Shortly
thereafter, Len, Diane, and
the younger two of Diane’s
children moved to the Houston, Texas area (first Bunker
Hill Village, then Sugarland)
where Len established
the Texas operations for a
national engineering consulting firm. There, they happily
made their home for the next
nearly 40 years. Diane made
many good friends in Texas
and she took up golf, often
playing with Len and her
friends at Lakeside Country
Club. She and Len enjoyed
travel throughout the U.S.
and Europe. She also rejoiced
in her ten grandchildren and
five great grandchildren, all
of whom fondly knew her as
Mimi. In Texas, she became
active at St. Cecilia Catholic Church and then at St.
Laurence Catholic Church. A
few years after Len’s passing
in 2011, Diane moved into
her older daughter Nancy’s
home and lived with her. As
Diane’s physical health slowly
declined, Nancy took great

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 A29

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

MARY FENDLEY

DR. DONALD S. LUTZ

09/27/1945 - 02/09/2024

09/02/1943 - 01/14/2024

Mary Elizabeth was born in
El Dorado, Arkansas to Earl
Julius and Audrey Clare Hare
Jenkins. Mary spent her early
years in El Dorado until 1952
when she moved with her
parents and sister Martha to
Houston, TX. She graduated
from Stephen F Austin High
School in 1964. After High
School, Mary went to work
at Aramco Steel, at which
time she met Joe Fendley at
a fraternity party at the University of Houston. Joe spent
the next two years courting
her until he finally got her to
agree to wed, which they did
on 2/11/1966. Mary passed
away two days before their
58th wedding anniversary.
Mary spent her married life
in Houston, Richmond, and
finally Fulshear. Her favorite
places to vacation with Joe
were Colorado and Santa Fe,
New Mexico. Throughout
their lives, Mary and Joe
regularly enjoyed evenings on
their patio.
Mary was fiercely devoted
to her family. As a daughter,
wife, sister, mother, motherin-law, grandmother, great
grandmother, or friend, she
was always eager to selflessly
help the ones she loved. Mary
was the backbone of her family, she supported them with
healthy doses of hugs, encouragement, and the occasional
criticism when warranted.

She loved having everyone together and enjoyed being the
mastermind behind a good
joke. Affectionately known as
Nanny by her grandchildren,
she and Papaw (husband
Joe) enjoyed watching their
grandchildren grow into
young adults. Nanny enjoyed
her last four years with a close
and beautiful relationship
with her great granddaughter,
Avery. Her lasting influence
will be felt for generations.
Mary will be greatly missed
by her husband Joe Jr., sons
Joe III and Michael, daughters-in-law Serena and Susan,
grandchildren Lauren, Joe IV
(Ty), Brooke, and Kayla, great
granddaughter Avery, and her
sister Martha.
As per Mary’s wishes, there
will be no service. Mary’s and
Joe’s ashes will be mixed and
spread in the snow by their
family in Colorado.

JO ANN GARTLAND
12/14/1952 - 02/09/2024

Jo Ann Gartland passed
away peacefully February 9,
2024. Jo Ann was a loving
spouse, a cherished aunt
to her extended family and
friend to all who knew her. Jo
Ann’s grace and humor put
new acquaintances at ease
and made her a dear friend
to so many. She was born to
Verdo and Hazel Salter in
Kinston, North Carolina on
December 14, 1952. Jo Ann
graduated from Bradford
High in Starke, Florida in
1970. She worked and studied
at the University of Florida.
She received a BS degree in
Information Technology from
the University of Southwestern Louisiana in 1982. It was
while she was secretary in the
geology department at U of
F that she met the love of her
life, Jeff Garttland. They married in 1979 in Gainesville,
Florida and moved to The
Woodlands, Texas in1982. Jo
Ann enjoyed a long career at
Mitchell Energy as Manager
of Database Administration.
She was proud of the contribution her work made and
of the many good friendships
that developed.
Jo Ann had a sharp intellect
and a strong work ethic that
drove her to excellence in
her career and hobbies. She
retired form Devon Energy
in 2003. Her focus shifted to

ism and constitutional theory
in general. One of the appealing aspects of Lutz’s work
was his success in blending
both halves of the discipline theoretical and empirical - to
create a better understanding
of constitutions themselves,
or what he often referred to as
“constitutional design.”
During his career, Donald
published a dozen books,
countless book chapters
and essays, and numerous
scholarly articles. His books
Preface to American Political
Theory (1992), The Origins of
American Constitutionalism
(1988), Colonial Origins of
the American Constitution: A
Documentary History (1997),
and Principles of Constitutional Design (2006) continue to be read by students
and cited by scholars. Donald
continued teaching for eleven
years following a debilitating
stroke, and he continued to
read, research, write, and
publish even in retirement.
Donald was active in building lasting programs at the
University of Houston. He
was instrumental in helping
found the UH Honors College, serving as the Honors
program director in the 1970s
and identifying and recruiting
Honors leadership thereafter.
The programs he founded in
Honors continue to inspire
and educate the top undergraduate students at UH.
Donald also served as the

home remodel and design,
creating several beautiful
homes that reflected her
personality as she and Jeff
relocated over the years. Jo
Ann kept strong friendships,
Nurturing those relationships
gave her great joy throughout
her life and during her final
struggle with cancer.
Jo Ann is survived by her
husband, Jeff: in-laws Steve
and Joanne Gartland, David
and Nancy Beal and Sue
and Ross McGill: nieces and
nephews Phil Gartland, Anne
Newell, Sarah Scheidler,
Lauren Toerner, Kelly Olin
and Mike McGill. Her legacy
of excellence, love and friendship will live on through all
who were fortunate enough to
have known her.
A celebration of life will be
held at the home of Jeff and
Jo Ann Gartland Saturday,
March 2, 2024.

01/04/1924 - 02/15/2024

was his family. His wife and
partner Linda was his intellectual and spiritual companion for more than 50 years
of marriage. They taught
together at the University of
Houston for several decades.
His son Austin was his pride
and joy. Donald was a kind
and generous person who
delighted in the company of
others and formed communities no matter where he
went. Nowhere was this more
true than at Annunciation
Orthodox School in Houston.
Serving on the School Board
during Austin’s attendance
was one of the most meaningful experiences of his life.
Friends and former students will miss Donald and
his hearty laugh, dry humor,
and distinguishing eye patch.
He was a friend, mentor, and
teacher to many.
Cards of remembrance
and prayer can be sent to his
wife Linda at 300 Riverfront
Drive, Apt. 4K, Detroit, MI
48226.

table, and Chairman of the
Conference Board Council
Management and Personnel. He was a member of
The Salvation Army National
Advisory Board.
Following retirement,
he was a Senior Fellow at
Organizational Resources
Counselors, and Chairman
of National Energy Group in
Dallas TX.

George is predeceased by
his wife of 71 years, Colleen
Beacham McCullough, and
his son Glen McCullough.
He is survived by his son
Greg of Point Venture, TX.,
son Patrick and his wife
Carol of Fairfield, CT, and son
Michael and his wife Vicky of
Silverthorne, CO. He is also
survived by 10 Grandchildren
and 11 Great grandchildren.

a particular and lifelong
interest in Palmer’s bell tower.
Ultimately, he mobilized
Palmers, led the financing,
and directed the installation
of a full 8 change-ringing bell
system and a nine-bell chime
system. Kirk then sponsored
and rang for years with the
bell ringers who affectionately referred to him as the
“Captain of the Bells.”
Kirk is welcomed into
heaven by his parents Dr. &
Mrs. George Waldron, his
loving Uncle Bob, his beautiful and amazing wife Donna,
and pets he loved and lost too
numerous to name. Surviving
Kirk are his loving daughter
Kristen Leigh, Kristen’s son
Chad Martin, several close
family members, and hundreds of friends who all will
miss him terribly.
The family wants to thank
the medical teams that helped
Kirk in his final 6-week
journey to the Lord. They are
Hermann Memorial Hospital,
the Garden Terrace Skilled
Nursing and Rehabilitation
Center and Houston Hospice.
All were professional and

kind to Kirk, but they were
also enormously kind and
sympathetic to his family at
every stage.
Palmer Church will hold a
joint celebration of life service
at 11 am, March 1, 2024, for
both Kirk and Donna, who
preceded him in death by 2
years. The service will also
be live streamed for those
unable to get to the church:
https://www.PalmerChurch.
org/live. At the completion
of the service, their ashes
will be placed together in the
Palmer Columbarium. This
will be followed by a reception at the church. All are
welcome. Donations in Kirk’s
name should be directed to
the Building Fund at Palmer
Memorial Episcopal Church
at 6221 Main St, Houston,
TX 77030.

GEORGE MCCULLOUGH

She dearly loved her grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
The family gratefully appreciates the care she received at
Medallion Assisted Living
and her special caregivers,
Jennifer, LaQuita and LaWanda. A graveside service will
be held on Sunday, February
18, 2024 at 2:00 PM at Beth
Yeshurun Post Oak Cemetery,
7445 Awty School Lane,
Houston, TX 77055. In lieu
of flowers, the family requests
donations be sent to Seven
Acres/Medallion, 6262 N.
Braeswood Blvd., Houston,
TX 77074, or the charity of
your choice.
For the full obituary, visit
https://www.houstonjewishfunerals.com/obituaries/Rosalie-Halpin/#!/TributeWall.

George was born in
Chicago, Illinois, moved to
Brooklyn NY, and relocated to
Tyler TX after the death of his
father at age 7. He attended
Tyler High School and Tyler
Junior College.
In 1943, he joined the U.S.
Navy and was assigned to the
Navy’s V-12 program at Tulane University. Upon graduation, he was transferred to
the OSS (predecessor to the
CIA) in charge of submersible motorboats to be used
in transporting agents into
mainland Japan to gather
intelligence for the planned
invasion of Japan. At age 19,
George was one of the youngest agents in the OSS, and
probably the last survivor. In
2022, he was awarded the
Congressional Gold Medal for
his service in the OSS.
After discharge, he re-

turned to Tulane and earned
his BA and MBA. He joined
Humble Oil (now ExxonMobil Corporation) where he
served in Louisiana, Texas,
London, and New York City.
He retired as Vice President
of Employee Relations of
Exxon Corporation.
Throughout his career,
George was active in a
number of activities with the
U.S. Government. He was
a member of the Advisory
Council to the Chief of Naval
Personnel, Chairman of the
State Department Council
on Overseas Schools, and
as a member of the U.S.
delegation to the International Labor Organization in
Geneva. He served the ILO as
Chairman of the Employers
Group.
He served as Chairman of
the U.S. Personnel Round-

GEORGE VAN KIRK WALDRON
09/10/1941 - 01/22/2024

George Van Kirk Waldron,
82, passed away peacefully in
Houston, TX on January 22,
2024.
Kirk was born in California, on September 10, 1941.
He was educated at the elite
Harvey and Lawrenceville
Boarding Schools. He then
joined the Air Force and
worked as a machinist in
California. After finishing his
service, Kirk helped his stepmother, Olivia, run her many
successful carnivals. There,
he perfected his skills with
large machinery, maintaining
the operation and safety of
multiple rides and managing
all the staff.
It was in California that
Kirk met and married the
love of his life, Donna Polites,
after which they moved to
Houston. While they did not
have children naturally, God
brought Kristen into their
lives in 1981. They welcomed
Kristen into their home at age
11 and she quickly became
all but their birth child. That
bond lasted for the rest of
their lives.
Kirk ran his own successful
construction companies for
over 40 years and remained
a critical support to the construction services businesses
of others throughout his
retirement. Outside of work
and family, Kirk had two lifelong loves: all things outdoors
and everything Palmer, that is
Palmer Memorial Episcopal
Church.
His daughter Kristen,
her son Chad, and his many

NORMA CARTER RAMEY

friends shared in endless
ways his love of the outdoors.
He was an avid hunter and
fisherman; and he dedicated
his life to the conservation
of all wildlife through Texas
Parks and Wildlife and lifelong active memberships in
the Safari Club and the Rocky
Mountain Elk Foundation.
Kirk was born into,
baptized at, and became a
lifelong member of Palmer
Church. He spent his youth
serving as an acolyte. It was
there that he had his first
experience with the church
bells, learning how to and
then ringing them. He spent
the next 60 years serving the
needs of Palmer in a range of
important volunteer positions that included multiple
separate tenures of vestry
service, many finance committees, and many cycles of
official and ex officio service
as Junior Warden. It was in
the latter that Kirk combined
his love for Palmer with
his skills and knowledge of
construction and his heart of
gold. He became “Mr. Facilities” in the management of a
currently nearly 100-year-old
Palmer church campus where
he also supervised a major
expansion in 2001-2005.
In that many decades-long
capacity, Kirk became not
only the knowledge repository
and protector of facilities but
the cheer leader of members,
ministries, and clergy alike
whom he harnessed to meet
the challenges of Building
God’s Kingdom. Kirk took

08/15/1931 - 02/10/2024

Norma Carter Ramey of
Houston, Texas has passed
away on the 10th of February
2024. She was born in Houston, Texas to Ovetus Earl and
Lettie Mae Carter on the 15th
of August 1931. Norma was
married to the late John Carter Ramey and was blessed
with a wonderful daughter,
the late Gayle Ramey Singer.
Norma is survived by her
son-in-law, Andrew Scott
Singer of Houston, Texas and
her grandson, Daren Ramey

Director of Graduate Studies
in Political Science (currently
a top 50 Ph.D. program) and
was the UH Faculty Senate
President from 1978-79.
Like all good teachers,
Donald left his mark on
generations of students. Many
of his former students are
now teachers themselves, and
channel Donald’s wisdom
and scholarship to a new generation of students. Donald’s
constitutional design simulation - the fictional island of
“Tubdub” - is still used by
many of his former students
in their own classes. Shortly
before his retirement, his
former students and admirers
contributed to a festschrift
in his honor - an important
scholarly body of work unique
in that such a rare honor is
typically bestowed after the
honoree’s passing. The work
was nominated for best book
in 2009 for Political Science
and History by the American
Political Science Association.
The greatest love of his life

01/24/1925 - 02/07/2024

ROSALIE DUBINSKI HALPIN
Rosalie Dubinski Halpin,
beloved wife, mother and
grandmother and friend to
all, died on Thursday, February 15, 2024, having recently
celebrated her 100th birthday.
She was born on January 4,
1924 in San Antonio, Texas
and moved to Houston at the
age of five. She was a proud
graduate of San Jacinto High
School. She was predeceased
by her husband of more than
60 years, Max L. Halpin, and
her daughter, Sheryl Halpin
Fuhr. She is survived by her
son and daughter-in-law, Steven and Phyllis Halpin, and
son, Michael Halpin, and her
sister-in-law, Cherrill Dubinski. She was also predeceased
by her parents, Leo and Henrietta Dubinski, father and
mother-in-law, Abraham and
Bessie Halpin, brother, Sylvan
Dubin and sister-in-law, Eva
Dubin, and brother, Maurice
(“Duby”) Dubinski, brother
and sisters-in-law, Morris and
Frieda Halpin, Harry J. and
Marilyn Halpin, and Charles
and Flora Brandt.

Dr. Donald S. Lutz, retired
Professor of Political Science
at the University of Houston,
died on January 14th, 2024,
at the age of 80. Preceded in
death by his mother Eva Beatrice Groh and father Stephen
Alexander Lutz, he is survived
by his wife Linda Westervelt,
son Austin Westervelt-Lutz,
daughter-in-law Stephanie
Brinker, and grandchildren
Charles and Beatrice Lutz.
Donald was the eldest of
seven siblings: Mary Proctor,
Lawrence, James (deceased),
Brian, Yvonne, and Stephen.
Born in Detroit, Donald was a
faithful Tigers fan who rooted
for the team and followed
them closely throughout his
life.
Donald was an award-winning, popular professor at the
University of Houston. He received his B.A. from Georgetown University in 1965,
and his Ph.D. from Indiana
University in 1969. He joined
the faculty at the University of
Houston in 1968 and was an
active member of the Political
Science department until his
retirement in 2013. Donald
taught classes in political
theory with an emphasis on
constitutions. His research
interests were generally
in the area where political
theory and American politics
intersect, with a focus on
American state and national
constitutionalism, as well as
cross-national constitutional-

Singer of Dallas, Texas.
A graveside service for Mrs.
Ramey will be conducted at
ten o’clock in the morning on
the 20th of February 2024 at
Memorial Oaks Cemetery.

I am not afraid of the future for I have seen yesterday and I love today!

MILTON DONALD SHULT
11/01/1954 - 01/07/2024

Milton Donald Shult, “Don”
passed away on January 7th
in Mesquite New Mexico.
Eileen, Don’s wife of 45 years
and son James were at his
bedside. Don was the son of
Rose and Milton Shult of El
Campo Texas. He is survived
by his son James, daughters
Bridgitt Haarsgaard and
Francesca Medina. He is also

survived by 6 grandchildren
and 2 great grandchildren.
A graveside interment will
take place at the Swedish
cemetery in El Campo Texas
at 2 pm Saturday February
24th.
In leu of flowers donations
to the Shriners Hospitals will
be appreciated.

View today’s and past obituaries at chron.com/tributes

A30 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HENRY FAMBROUGH 1938-2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

GEORGE FLAVIOUS WIRT
05/25/1934 - 02/09/2024

Carlos Osorio/Associated Press

Henry Fambrough, left, joins fellow members of
The Spinners Jessie Peck and G.C. Cameron in 2023
at the Motown Museum in Detroit.

Last original member
of R&B’s The Spinners
AS S OC IAT E D PRE SS

DETROIT — Henry
Fambrough, the last surviving original member of
the iconic R&B group The
Spinners, whose hits included “I’ll Be There,” “It’s
a Shame,” “Could It Be I’m
Falling in Love” and “The
Rubberband Man,” died
Feb. 7, a spokesperson for
the group said. He was 85.
Fambrough died peacefully of natural causes in
his northern Virginia
home, spokesperson Tanisha Jackson said in a statement.
The group was inducted
into the Rock & Roll Hall of
Fame in November. Along
with Fambrough, Billy
Henderson, Pervis Jackson, Bobby Smith, Philippé
Wynne and John Edwards
were listed as inductees.
Last May, Fambrough
took a tour of Motown’s
Studio A in Detroit as part
of a ceremony that included
the donation to the Motown Museum of 375 outfits
worn by the group during
performances.
It “was a long time ago,”
Fambrough said at the time

of the 1960s, when he first
walked into the studio. “I
used to dream about this
place.”
He told reporters that he
had to convince his wife
that the studio was where
he was going for 3 a.m. rehearsals and recording sessions with other members
of the group. Their first big
hit for Motown was “It’s A
Shame,” which peaked at
No. 14 on Billboard’s Hot
100 chart in 1970.
The Spinners would later sign with Atlantic Records and turn out a string
of hits that included “Then
Came You,” which featured
singer Dionne Warwick
and reached No. 1 on the
Billboard Hot 100 in 1974.
Their songs received six
Grammy Award nominations and earned 18 platinum and gold albums.
Originally called The
Domingoes, the group was
formed in 1954 just north of
Detroit in Ferndale. The
Spinners joined Motown
Records 10 years later.
Fambrough’s survivors
include his wife of 52 years,
Norma, and daughter
Heather Williams.

George Flavious Wirt, 89,
died on February 9, 2024
in Tomball, Texas, after a
tough battle with prostate
and bone cancer. He was
born in Houston, Texas at
the Heights Hospital on May
25, 1934 to Roy David Wirt
and Vera Virginia Bleyl Wirt.
He graduated from Spring
Branch High School in 1951.
In school he played football
and baseball, was in the FFA
and raised cows, chickens,
and hogs. He served in the
Navy from 1951 to 1955 and
was stationed in San Diego
working on planes. After that,
he sold magazines door to
door all around the US. He
married Tania Marlene Wert
of Newton, Iowa in 1957 and
they lived and worked on the
Bullock Ranch until 1959.
He then joined the Houston
Fire Department and worked
there until 1965. While in the
fire department he studied
real estate and got his Brokers
License and started George
F. Wirt Realty, Inc., then

Wirt-Kleb Realty and became
The Wirt Company in 1967
with his office at the corner
of Jones Road and Hwy. 290
hiring 30+ agents specializing
in acreage and commercial
investments with a special
thank you to his brilliant secretary, Judith Schultz along
with his top agent, Joe Evans.
George loved the Real Estate
(people) business along with
his pastime activities with his
slow-pitch and flag football
teams which had some of the
best athletes from the city and
state on his teams. His office
was filled with trophies! He
had a great appreciation for
nature, wildlife, and art. He
was an avid hunter and fisherman. Lots of time was spent
with Bobby Taylor, Charlie
Arnold, and other friends
fishing the Lower Laguna
Madre and Port O’Connor,
hunting and exploring for
fossils and flint with Frank
Lenk and Frank Fontana at
the ranch in Terrell County.
He loved picking up shells

and had quite a collection.
He also loved working in his
garden and planting Live Oak
trees. George also loved playing the piano and harmonica.
He was an avid Astros fan
and was a season ticket holder
for 25 years.
George had 5 children
with Tania - Vernon, Freddy
and wife, Alissa and their
5 children, Andy and wife,
Delia, Roy, and Amy and her
4 children and 4 grandchildren. Later, he married Debra
Johnson and had a son, John
(Buster) and wife, Lexie and

their 2 children.
He is preceded in death by
his parents, brother Ferdy
Wirt, sister Shirely Gent, and
son Vernon.
George was always a fair
businessman and very generous. Many people that he did
business with became life
long friends. He will be dearly
missed. In lieu of flowers he’d
say Go Fishing!
A graveside service will be
held at Woodlawn Cemetery
at 1101 Antoine Drive, Houston, Texas 77055 on February
20th at 11:00.

GLADYS GAIL HURLBUT

KATHLEEN MEYER

06/30/1941 - 02/01/2024

11/04/1951 - 02/02/2024

Gladys Gail Hurlbut, 82,
most recently of Keller, Texas,
passed away peacefully on
Thursday, January 25, 2024
after a brief illness. A family
memorial is currently being
arranged.
She was born on June 30,
1941, in Houston, Texas, to
Claude and Jewell Galloway.
She met her future husband,
Jack Hurlbut, while attending Aldine High School. She
graduated in 1960 and they
were married on August 10,
1961. She followed Jack to
Alabama where their only
son, Stephen Craig Hurlbut
was born in 1963. She lived
briefly in Galveston and then
in College Station, Texas
where Jack coached football
for Texas A&M. They finally
settled in Forney, Texas in
1974 and were there for over
20 years. She was very active
in the First Baptist Church in
Forney and always considered
Forney to be home.
She eventually moved back
to the Houston area living in
Spring, Texas. While there
she worked as a teachers’
aid helping disadvantaged
children. Gail felt that helping these children was one of
the most rewarding times in
her life. They then retired to
Mount Calm, Texas. Her final
move was to Keller, Texas
to be closer to her son after
Jack’s death.
She is survived by her son,

Stephen, and daughter-in-law
Tammy; her grandchildren
Elizabeth and Matthew; as
well as her two sisters Gloria
Ann Marshall and Mary Frances Matthews.
She believed in God and
loved her family and friends.
Gail was known for her
kind spirit and ability to
make people feel loved and
acknowledged. Her only
regrets were that Jack passed
too soon and that she did not
get to spend more time with
the family she loved. Our
lives are a little bit less with
her passing.
In her final days, the
exceptional people at Whitley
Place Assisted Living in Keller
Texas cared for her with great
love and respect. We can
never thank them enough.
In lieu of flowers, please
send any contributions to
Whitley Place, 800 Whitley
Road, Keller TX 76248.

Kathleen Anne (Delany)
Meyer departed this world to
join our Lord Jesus Christ,
and all the Saints in Paradise,
on February 2, 2024, following an extended period of
illness. Born to Clara Louise
(Soland) Delany and William
Harry Delany in Houston,
Texas on November 4, 1951,
Kathleen was the first of two
children. As a young girl,
Kathleen watched over and
played with her younger
brother and helped her
mother around the house.
She was a good student,
took piano lessons, sang in
the school choir and twirled
batons in the high school
marching cadet corps. After
obtaining an Undergraduate
Degree in Education, she
completed Graduate Masters
and Ph.D. Studies in Child
Psychology at the University of Houston. Kathleen,
a dedicated parishioner of
Saint Joseph Catholic Church,
was happily married to her
husband of 51 years, Michael
Meyer, and was a caring,
loving mother to their son,
Rex Meyer. Kathleen was preceded in death by her father,
Harry Delany. She is survived
by her husband, Michael;
her mother, Clara Peltier; her
son, Rex and his spouse; her
Eugene H. Franklin
08/23/1933- 02/10/2024

CONSTANCE “CONNI” MARIE LEHMANN
05/07/1960 - 02/05/2024

Constance “Conni” Marie
Lehmann, of Friendswood,
passed away on Monday, February 5, 2024, at her home in
Friendswood, Texas at the age
of sixty-three.
She was born on May 7,
1960, in Evanston, Illinois to
Arthur J. Roth, III and Nancy
Schroeder Roth.
The Arthur Roth family moved from Illinois to
Lakeland, Florida when
Conni was 11 years old. She
claims Florida as her home
state, where she developed an
avid and lifelong pursuit of
enjoying the water. She swam
competitively in high school
and pursued competitive
swimming through the U.S
Masters Swimming program
after graduating from Loyola
University-New Orleans with
a BBA in Accounting in 1982.
Conni’s business career started in San Antonio, Texas as
an auditor working for Ernst
& Young, the Federal Reserve
as a staff auditor, then at San
Antonio Savings as a senior
internal auditor and later a
Branch Manager. She received
her MBA from UTSA in 1993
and completed her Doctor
of Philosophy at Texas A&M
in 2001. Conni taught many
undergraduate and graduate
students in the Accounting IT
Audit disciplines during her
21- year career at University
of Houston-Clear Lake. Conni
enjoyed traveling, swimming,
snorkeling, scuba diving, and
hiking. Conni enjoyed many
family reunion gatherings
in Anna Maria, Florida and
spent many pleasant weekends at the family ranch in
Loyal Valley, Texas. Conni was
an accomplished Private Pilot
with Single Engine Land and
Sea ratings and enjoyed flying
her Vans RV-12 airplane.
Conni is survived by her
husband, Maury Lehmann,

her son, William “Ryan”
Lehmann, wife, Meghanne
of League City; parents, Art
and Nancy Roth of Lakeland,
Florida; sister, Cathy Cano
of Houston, Texas, husband,
Manny, and nieces, Caitlyn
and Gabriela; brother Arthur
“Jay” Roth of Naples, Florida,
and nieces Megan and Nicole,
and brother Michael “Mike”
Roth, wife, Casey of Anna
Maria, Florida, niece Trinity,
and nephew, Michael; aunt,
Sharon Roth of Wilmette,
Illinois; as well as other
numerous family members
and friends.
The family wishes to
express their thanks for all
the love and support received
during this challenging time.
The family will receive
friends for a visitation from
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on
Thursday, February 22, 2024,
at the Crowder Funeral Home
in League City, Texas where a
Vigil will be held at 7:00 p.m.
Mass will be celebrated on
Friday, February 23, 2024, at
10:30 a.m. at St. Mary of the
Expectation Catholic Church
in League City with Father
John Rooney, Celebrant.
Interment will take place at
the Loyal Valley Cemetery at a
future date.
In lieu of flowers, please
consider a donation to
Shriners.org or k9sforwarriors.org.

Mr. Eugene H. Franklin
entered into eternal rest on
February 10, 2024.
His life will be celebrated
on Monday, February 19,
2024, 11:00 a.m. at Living
Word Fellowship Church,
Houston, TX 77099.
Final salute and military
honors will take place at
Houston National Cemetery,
2:00 p.m.

grandchildren, Joshua Meyer
and Molly Ammerman and
their respective spouses; her
uncle, Walter Mclendon Soland; and numerous sistersin-law; brothers-in-law;
cousins; nephews and nieces.
Kathleen will be remembered
as a special woman who filled
our lives with love and leaves
us with fond memories and
respect for the importance
of God and family. She asked
little for herself, always putting her family and others
first. She truly left the world a
better place than when she arrived. A memorial service will
be held 10:00 a.m., Friday,
February 23, 2024, at St.
Joseph Catholic Church, 307
Hammond Street, Zwolle,
La. 71486. In lieu of flowers,
Kathleen would want you to
do a kind act for another.

SMART MONEY

FUEL FIX

PERSONAL TECH

GOOD
AS ANY

UNDER
FIRE

DOUBLE
THREAT

Finance theorists’ data
points to solid plan for
investing today.

Atmos Energy facing
scrutiny after blast at
Fort Worth hotel.

OnePlus releases two
phones to compete
with Android.

PAGE B2

PAGE B4

PAGE B5

TEXAS INC.

HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 • SECTION B

AFFORDABLE INTERNET

CHRIS TOMLINSON
C O M M E N TARY

Texas is
still not a
low-tax
state

Brett Coomer/Staff photographer

“When I got signed up, I thought this is wonderful ... now I’m not sure I can afford internet anymore. The price is just so
high,” says Karyn Arceneaux. She is among the 1.6 million Texas households that have access through a Congress stipend.

Broadband program
is running out of money
By James Osborne
WA S H INGT ON B U RE AU

WASHINGTON — Two
months ago, Karyn Arceneaux, a 59-year-old high
school teacher in Humble,
got high-speed internet for
the first time, allowing her to
put aside her slow-loading
smartphone and check out
online courses in sociology,
study up on behavioral
health and watch her favorite television shows.
And two months from
now, she might have to give
it up.
Arceneaux is among the
1.6 million Texas households
— and 23 million nationwide

About 1.6M Texas households are
set to lose access to a federal
$30-a-month stipend for internet
— about to lose access to a
$30-a-month stipend Congress created in 2021 to help
low-income families get access to the internet. The $14.2
billion program, named the
Affordable Connectivity
Program, is expected to run
out of money in April or
May without Congressional
action.
“When I got signed up, I
thought this is wonderful. A
person can grow with this,”

Arceneaux said. “It’s really
opened my world up, and
now I’m not sure I can afford
internet anymore. The price
is just so high.”
Expanding broadband
service to low-income and
rural communities has long
been a popular cause in Congress. In recent months,
Republicans and Democrats
alike have filed legislation to
extend the program for another year while they try to

find a permanent solution.
But with politicians at
odds over the size of the
federal budget, the two parties have been unable to
come to agreement on how
to fund the broadband program.
“There’s still time to make
it happen,” said Jonathan
Spalter, president of the
United States Telecom Association, a trade group for
telephone and broadband
companies. “What time
needs to be paired with is
the political will to get it over
the finish line.”
Currently, 80% of Americans have high-speed inBroadband continues on B2

Homeowners scored $3.5
billion in property tax relief
thanks to the Legislature last
year, the first actual reduction in
a long time, but businesses saved
only $600 million and are paying
a higher proportion of the state’s
budget, a new study revealed.
Despite a constitutional ban
on a personal income tax, Texas
has never been a low-tax state,
but recent property tax changes
are placing a higher burden on
businesses. Property rights
activists believe companies
should pay more, but officials
looking to attract new investments fear it makes Texas look
bad.
Meanwhile, low- and middleincome families still pay more
than their fair share.
Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov.
Dan Patrick and House Speaker
Dade Phelan spent much of last
year bickering about how to cut
property taxes, the sixth highest
in the nation, according to a 2021
report by the Tax Foundation.
High property taxes more than
made up for Texans not paying a
state income tax.
Since property taxes are levied
by school districts and local
authorities, not the state, the
Legislature had to get creative. In
July, lawmakers settled on giving
$12 billion to school districts in
return for a reduced tax rate, a
higher homestead exemption on
5.7 million personal homes to
$100,000 from $40,000, and a
limit on how fast appraised
values can rise on other properties.
Past attempts to cut didn’t
show up on Texans’ tax bills
because higher appraisals offset
any savings. The higher homestead tax exemption took $1.1
trillion in property value off the
tax rolls, a report from the Texas
Taxpayers and Research Association showed.
“Consequently, 57% of the total
market value of homesteads in
the state was not subject to a
school district property tax in
2023 (70% of single-family
homes are homesteads),” the
group calculated. “Only 43% of
the total market value of homestead property statewide was
subject to school district property tax in 2023, in contrast to 93%
of the market value of business
Tomlinson continues on B3

Nine Texas airports to get new looks with federal help
By Alexandra Skores
DA L L A S MORNING N EWS

DFW
International
Airport is revamping its
restrooms in terminals
with an $11 million Department of Transportation grant, one of nine
Texas airports receiving
federal grants for updates and modernization.
On a press call Wednesday, Transportation
Secretary Pete Buttigieg
told reporters the federal
government would extend grants to 114 individual airports across the

country, totaling $970
million. At DFW, the airport will modernize and
reconstruct at least 20 of
the airport’s airside restrooms. In all five terminals, there are 69 total
restrooms designated for
men, women and family.
“We all know that a
flight doesn’t begin just
when you settle into your
seat on board,” Buttigieg
said. “First you’re in the
terminal, and your experience depends in many
ways on the conditions of
that terminal building.”
With
DFW’s
upgrades, Americans with

Disabilities Act compliance and accessibility
will be improved along
with family and assistive
care facilities for mothers’ rooms, nursing
room and amenities. The
grant will expand existing bathroom spaces into
non-public areas or concession areas with expired leases. Interior
changes include increasing water and energy
conservation with lower
flow, auto-shutoff and
touchless fixtures.
Sean Donohue, CEO of
DFW Airport told the
Airports continues on B3

Brett Coomer/Staff file photo

George Bush Intercontinental Airport is getting $5.49 million to reconstruct at
least 10 restrooms in terminals A and D.

B2 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM
Business Editor Jonathan Diamond: Jonathan.Diamond@houstonchronicle.com

THE SMART MONEY

Value or growth: How do stocks stack up?
Q: As a long-term investor,
my interest is in what you
have to say about small-cap
value vs. growth funds and
value vs. growth investments
in general. Don’t get me started on emerging markets and
international funds. I’ve
watched them for many years
and just don’t get the point. I
believe in sticking close to
home, especially with many
larger U.S. companies already
involved in foreign countries’
economies. Anyway, keep the
individual investor articles
coming; they’re my favorite.
Dave M., San Antonio
A: Thanks for your questions
and comments, which give me a
chance to get nerdy on asset
allocation, finance theory and
investing practice.
First, some
definitions. “Value” — in investment rhetoric — usually
Michael
means cheap.
Taylor
You would exC O M M E NTA RY
pect to earn
money through
the steady continuity or recovery
of the business. Such investments often pay dividends that
make up the majority of longterm returns.
By contrast, “growth” usually
means the company isn’t done
innovating within its industry
and may not pay substantial
dividends as it spends for
growth. Growth companies offer
price appreciation as the driver
of long-term returns.
Value is more “fundamental”
investing, and growth is more
“story” investing. Both are valid.
Small-cap these days usually
refers to public companies with
market capitalizations up to $2
billion or a little more. Large-cap
usually means $10 billion or
more, ranging up to trilliondollar-plus companies. Mid-cap
means — you guessed it — between $2 billion and $10 billion.
As an adherent to the efficient
markets hypothesis, my initial
answer to your question is that
both growth and value are fine,
all capitalization ranges are fine,
and that probably none is permanently better than the other.
For multiple years in a row, you
could expect one style or capitalization range to outshine the
other only for that outperformance to be reversed in a subsequent decade.
Beginning in the 1970s and
continuing through the 2000s,
finance theorists Eugene Fama
and Kenneth French studied
whether certain sectors consistently outperformed others. The
short answer to their decades of
research: Value stocks and
small-cap stocks seemed to offer
higher returns in their analysis,
based on data going back to 1928.
There are some intuitive reasons to think small-cap and
value investing might have advantages over other parts of the
stock market.
Small companies’ shares may
be inherently more volatile.
Since investors often don’t like
volatility, it makes sense that less
investor capital would be allocated to volatile assets. That relative
scarcity of capital would then
raise returns for those brave
souls who don’t mind volatility
as much. In finance terms, efficient markets should still allow

BROADBAND
From page B1
ternet service at home, according to a recent survey by the
Pew Research Center. But that
percentage drops precipitously in many rural areas
and low-income neighborhoods, either due to poverty
or the high cost of laying fiber
optic cable to sparsely populated areas.
In West Texas, for instance,
Big Bend Telecom is moving
to provide high-speed internet
to every one of its customers.
But with a service area of
around 18,000 square miles
and roughly 10,000 customers,
residents live so far apart Big
Bend will sometimes have to
install wireless equipment at
the end of fiber optic lines to
connect their most remote
customers.

Fizkes/Tribune News Service

When deciding how to allocate investments, consider the findings of finance theorists Eugene Fama and Kenneth French.

for a greater absolute return to
higher volatility assets, as a
compensation for the volatility.
This could explain a persistent
higher return for small-caps
when compared to large-caps
over the long run.
A similar theory could apply
to value stocks vs. growth
stocks. Sometimes a value stock
is relatively cheap because the
CEO used bad words on social
media or because the company
sells known cancer-causing
products like tobacco. Some
investors don’t like bad words or
cancer, so they don’t invest in
those companies. That leaves a
potential higher return for less
squeamish investors. Like smallcap investing, aversion by some
investors might lead to persistent outperformance of value
stocks for investors with less
aversion.
Now you know which categories might outperform over the
long run, according to respectable finance theory. But, also,
they might not anymore. The
confounding problems that keep
finance nerds awake at night are
these: What is the time horizon
measured? And do we still think
that Fama and French’s findings
hold true?
Also, if investors knew the
results of Fama and French’s
research — few individual investors know it, while many
professional investors know it
and all academics know it —
wouldn’t they then favor value
and small-cap stocks, and the
historical advantage disappear
due to investors’ interest in these
sectors? The higher returns
from any given sector — value
vs. growth, small vs. large —
seem logically ephemeral to me.
Even so, I acknowledge that
such ephemera may last for
years or decades.
Large-caps, for example, have
absolutely crushed small-caps
over the last decade, and particularly in the last few years. In
fact, large growth stocks — currently dubbed the “magnificent
seven” by the financial infotain-

M. Spencer Green/Associated Press

Eugene Fama, left, and Lars Peter Hansen are two of the three
winners of the 2013 Nobel Prize for Economics. Fama and his
fellow winners studied the movement of prices of assets.

ment industrial complex — have
been the place to be for a few
years now. So again, make of
that what you will.
The important thing, at the
end of the day, is that if you can
smoothly name-drop “Fama and
French” and use the phrases
“efficient markets hypothesis”
and “capital asset pricing model”
in certain investment circles,
people’s regard for you will
skyrocket. “There goes a supersmart investor,” they’ll say, shaking their head, wonder in their
eyes, as you saunter past.
And as for actually investing,
maybe just try to own some of
each category? Good luck!
To return to your international-emerging markets investing
commentary and questions, we
disagree.
As an “efficient markets hypothesis” advocate, the optimal
non-U.S. investment exposure
should take into account — and
roughly reflect — the weight of
the U.S. stock market vs. global
stock markets. Since U.S. stocks
account for roughly 43% of global stocks, that’s the right place to
begin — in theory — regarding
how much of your investment

portfolio should be in U.S.
stocks. For a fully developed
explanation of this specific idea,
I highly recommend Lars Kroijer’s excellent “Investing Demystified: How to Invest Without
Speculation and Sleepless
Nights.”
Further supporting Kroijer’s
argument is the diversification
problem that U.S. investors
typically have U.S.-only real
estate, U.S.-only incomes and
U.S. dollar-denominated assets,
so a U.S.-heavy investment portfolio kind of stacks their correlation risks.
Sophisticated citizens of other
countries with substantial investments would never dream of
investing only in their domestic
stock market, domestic real
estate, in their domestic currency, with their in-country
domestic incomes. They are
much more likely to seek to
geographically diversify their
financial risk exposures.
History has borne out their
very good reasons for doing this.
A Japanese investor who bought
domestic Nikkei index in 1990
still would not have reached
break-even levels 34 years later.

That drives up costs exponentially beyond what an
urban carrier would have to
spend, and without the Affordable Connectivity Program the company risks
building broadband lines that
aren’t adequately subscribed,
said Rusty Moore, the company’s general manager.
“Our investments fall flat if
there’s not enough adoption,”
he said. “Thirty bucks is a big
deal for some folks. They can
stretch it a long way.”
In today’s digital economy, a
lack of internet connectivity
can have serious consequences for local economies.
Office work, health care,
business transactions and
education increasingly are
conducted over the internet.
Brett Coomer/Staff photographer
Gov. Greg Abbott called
broadband, “a critical tool to
Karyn Arceneaux got home internet for the first time recently
keep our economy booming,
through a federal program that helps low-income families, but that
children learning and families program runs out of funding in April if Congress doesn’t take action.

You don’t want to be that kind of
undiversified investor. Even if
you believe deeply in American
exceptionalism, which many of
us do.
Now, in practice, I’ve never
met a retail U.S. investor with
U.S. stock market exposure as
low as 43%. And while I’ve told
you my theoretical starting
point, my wife and my retirement accounts are a combined
77% in U.S. stocks. You also
make a fine point that large
multinationals in the U.S. will
have substantial nondomestic
exposure. So you get some international exposure mostly via
large-cap investing without
having to take non-U.S. regulatory, tax and geopolitical
risks.
Still, we have emerging market and developed country index
funds in our retirement accounts. Maybe the best way to
remain open to the idea of international diversification is that
the next world-beating company
just might come out of Brazil or
India or South Korea or Belgium
or South Africa. The top tech
companies in the world won’t
come from Silicon Valley always
and forever, even if they did for
the last 30 years. So I believe it’s
worth having some future exposure to the next “Google from
Bangladesh.”
Finally, my own retirement
portfolio consists of just three
positions, each 100% equity
index mutual funds, in roughly
one-third proportions: one international fund, one small-cap
fund and one high-yield dividend-value fund. So while I’m
somewhat skeptical about the
Fama and French theory, I totally follow their lead anyway. It’s
as good a plan as any.
Michael Taylor is a San Antonio
Express-News columnist, author of
“The Financial Rules for New
College Graduates” and host of the
podcast “No Hill for a Climber.”
michael@michaelthesmartmoney.com | twitter.com/michael_taylor

connected to the best healthcare facilities in the world,”
following the announcement
of a $1.3 billion internet upgrade to Charter Communications’ Texas network last year.
But Texas still has a long
way to go.
Kelty Garbee, executive
director of nonprofit Texas
Rural Funders, estimates it
would cost around $10 billion
to connect up those remaining
parts of Texas without highspeed internet. The federal
government has already set
aside $3.3 billion for Texas to
lay more fiber optic cable,
with the state Legislature
approving another $1.5 billion
last year.
“We’re taking one step forward with (infrastructure
funding) and two steps back if
1.6 million people in Texas lose
internet access because they
can’t afford it,” Garbee said.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 B3

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

TOMLINSON
From page B1
property.”
Homeowners saw actual
savings of $3.5 billion, but
businesses saved only
$600 million, the association report said. A spokeswoman for the association,
backed by the state’s largest business property
owners, declined an interview request, but the
report implies businesses
need tax relief, too.
Real estate developers,
for example, saw their
property taxes rise 12% last
year, the association’s data
showed. Industrial equipment tax collections rose
4% while oil, gas and mineral property taxes rose
3%.
Texas businesses paid
60% of all property taxes
before the 2023 tax overhaul, a study by the Council of State Taxation calculated. They will pay an
even higher percentage
now.
Schools and local authorities rely on property
taxes, but the state relies
on the sales tax, the 13th
highest in the country per
capita, the Tax Foundation
calculated. The Legislature
used sales tax revenue to
pay school districts to cut
their property taxes.
Texas businesses pay
about half of Texas sales
taxes, the Texas Taxpayers
and Research Association
said last year in a report

Staff file photo

In July, Texas legislators gave $12 billion to school districts in return for a reduced tax rate, a higher
homestead exemption and a limit on how fast appraised values can rise.

titled “The Partial Myth of
Texas as a Low Tax State.”
Businesses don’t really pay
taxes; they are passed on
to consumers, deducted
from profits or reflected in
lower employee salaries.
Sales taxes also punish
lower- and middle-income
people. No income tax
means people do not pay
based on their earnings
but on their spending. The
lower the wages, the larger
the percentage of income
they spend on sales or
property taxes.
Texas is a great place if
you are a high-income
doctor or lawyer; it’s a
lousy place if you don’t
earn a lot or your business

AIRPORTS
From page B1
Dallas Morning News that
DFW is undergoing many new
improvements,
mentioning
the airport’s multi-billion capital improvement program
with new terminal spaces, improved roads and other changes to the facilities. The airport
is planning a sixth terminal, as
well as major upgrades to terminals A and C.
“Part of this work includes

Ricardo Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman

Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and former House Speaker Dennis
Bonnen discuss tax reform in 2019.

an ongoing program to enhance and update many of
DFW’s public restrooms,
which are being delivered using innovative, off-site modular construction methods that
save costs, time and reduce
impacts to our customers,”
Donohue said. “We are grateful to the federal government
for supporting DFW projects
with grant funds that directly
enhance the customer experience.”
There are several other Texas airports receiving grants,

too.
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is receiving two
awards.
One,
totaling
$25,260,000, will fund the infill of the airport’s terminal
with a “concrete slab on the
ticketing/concourse
level,”
making the terminal about
13,000 square feet larger. Another will fund the design of
the airport’s midfield concourse B, adding 20 new gates
and opening up the opportunity for an additional 20 gates in
the future. The airport was

awarded $14,250,000 for the
project.
George Bush Intercontinental Airport is getting $5.49 million to reconstruct at least 10
restrooms in terminals A and
D. San Antonio International
Airport is receiving $18 million to review and design a
new terminal connector for
passengers, which would
open up space for more gates.
Valley International Airport in Harlingen, Lubbock
Preston Smith International
Airport in Lubbock, Midland

owns taxable property.
The state’s tax system
also creates extreme volatility in how much money
lawmakers have to spend.
Taxes paid by the oil and
gas industry swing wildly
based on energy prices.
High oil and gas prices
in 2022-2023 provided the
Legislature with the $12.5
billion in revenue to buy
down property taxes in
2024-2025. But prices have
dropped, and so have tax
revenues.
Texas Comptroller
Glenn Hegar reported
sales tax collections from
October to December 2023
rose only 2.2% from the
year before, well below
the inflation rate. In January, collections were down
2% because of lower oil
and gas activity, while
year-over-year inflation
rose 3%.
If the trend persists, the
Legislature won’t have the
money to keep paying
school districts to keep
property taxes low. Until
lawmakers diversify the
tax code, Texas will ride
the energy roller coaster,
and the low taxes will
remain a myth.
Award-winning opinion
writer Chris Tomlinson
writes commentary about
money, politics and life in
Texas. Sign up for his “Tomlinson’s Take” newsletter at
houstonhchronicle.com/
tomlinsonnewsletter or
expressnews.com/tomlinsonnewsletter.

International Air & Space Port
in Midland, Skylark Field Airport in Killeen and Kelly Field
Airport at Port San Antonio
all received federal help, too.
Other major airports receiving grants are Phoenix Sky
Harbor International Airport,
Los Angeles International
Airport and Denver International Airport. Improvements
at these airports include wider
concourses and better baggage systems, additional gates
and making sure airports
meet ADA standards.

B4 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

FUELFIX

Company has history of injuries near lines
By Zaeem Shaikh and
Lauren Caruba
DA L L A S MORN IN G NEWS

Nearly a month after an explosion at a downtown Fort
Worth hotel injured nearly two
dozen people, cleanup has finally begun at the site.
Investigators initially said a
natural gas leak is believed to
have prompted the Jan. 8 blast
at the Sandman Signature Hotel, 810 Houston St., but a cause
has not been officially determined. As lawsuits piled up
against the owners of the building, its gas provider and others,
court orders blocked crews
from removing debris, or possible evidence, from the explosion site.
Atmos Energy Corp., which
distributes gas to most of the
Dallas-Fort Worth area, has
said it has found “no indication” of its equipment or gas
lines being involved in the
blast.
Still, the explosion has
placed the gas distribution
company under increasing
scrutiny as it faces mounting
litigation from about a dozen
people who suffered injuries.
Atmos Energy has asked a
judge to absolve the company of
blame.
“We intend to fully investigate what is causing these explosions,” said Jesus Garcia Jr.,
an attorney and founding partner with Kherkher Garcia,
which filed two lawsuits in January against Atmos Energy in
gas-related explosions.

Fatal blasts

Prior to the Sandman blast,
at least six structures had exploded near Atmos-owned distribution lines throughout
North Texas since early 2019,
according to records from the
Railroad Commission of Texas.
Two people were killed and at
least a dozen people were injured in those blasts. Atmos
was not found at fault in any of
these incidents. The state found
that these half-dozen explosions were either caused by a
leak on the portion of the gas
line for which the customer is
responsible; no leak was detected; or the leak occurred in a
neighboring area.
In an August 2022 explosion
of a house in Garland, two people were killed and another five
were hospitalized. According
to records, a leak was found on
customer-owned portions of
the gas lines near the home. Another house explosion in Plano
in July 2021 sent six people, including three children, to the
hospital. Records noted that no
gas leak could be found.

Tom Fox/Dallas Morning News

Atmos Energy and Fort Worth fire department officials examine the site on Houston Street
where an explosion at the Sandman Signature Hotel injured 21 people in January. Atmos is facing
scrutiny for its history of injuries near its gas lines.

The Railroad Commission
does not have jurisdiction over
customer piping, only on utility
portions of pipelines, spokeswoman Patty Ramon has said.
In some of these cases, Atmos did, however, abandon or
replace service lines near residences where an explosion occurred.
In two other explosions, one
of which was fatal, that occurred near Atmos gas lines,
the state cited the company for
violations.
A Dallas Morning News 2018
investigation identified at least
two dozen explosions that
killed nine and wounded at
least 22 others across North and
Central Texas, with Atmos failing to shut off gas or evacuate
residents before people were
injured or killed.
When asked in January
about the company’s pipeline
safety efforts, an Atmos
spokesperson pointed to its
2022 corporate responsibility
and sustainability report. According to the report, in the
2022 fiscal year, the company
directed about 88% of its capital
spending toward “the continued modernization of the safety
and reliability” of its distribution, transmission and storage
systems.
It said company employees
completed about 94,000 hours
of safety training that year. In
emergency situations, company officials wrote, Atmos emergency responders follow a fourstep procedure: determine hazard, extent of hazard, protect
life and protect property.
The Railroad Commission of

Texas, a state agency that regulates the oil and gas industry, issued citations, which the commission calls “alleged violations,” to the company in two
other incidents: a 2021 explosion at an Atmos facility in Farmersville that killed two hired
non-Atmos workers Deric Tarver and Ethan Knight and a November 2020 fire near Highland
Park High School that injured
two Atmos employees.
The Farmersville blast took
place while employees with
Fesco Petroleum, Bobcat Contracting and Atmos were conducting maintenance on a pipeline using an in-line inspection
tool, also known as a “pig.” Tarver’s family filed a lawsuit over
the explosion. Atmos, Bobcat
and Fesco were named as defendants.
The suit, which also included
Knight’s family, recently was
settled for an undisclosed
amount, Garcia said.
The Railroad Commission’s
cited Atmos for a lack of written
procedures for operations,
maintenance activities and
emergency response; and a failure to replace unsafe sections of
the pipeline. In the incident
near the high school, a fire
started when Atmos employees
were repairing a damaged service line, and the state cited the
company for a similar offense
involving written procedures.
In 2021, the commission fined
Atmos $1.6 million for its role in
the 2018 death of a 12-year-old
girl, Linda “Michellita” Rogers,
after her home in northwest
Dallas exploded. The National
Transportation Safety Board

said natural gas leaked from a
main that was damaged during
a sewer-replacement project 23
years ago. After the gas accumulated, it ignited, the agency
said, causing the blast.
State and federal investigations later revealed that the
company had ignored warning
signs, including identification
of a leak two months prior to
the girl’s death and two other
explosions at nearby homes in
the days leading up to the fatal
blast. In the days afterward, Atmos found at least 28 leaks
throughout the neighborhood.
The company was required
to submit a corrective action
plan addressing several missteps, including:
• Its failure to train workers
to identify and investigate
leaks;
• It’s failure to train workers
how to conduct surveys in
high-risk areas;
• The lack of procedures to
monitor its distribution system
for corrosion and other maintenance needs;
• Using technology that was
not designed for the weather
conditions; and
The year after the girl’s
death, Atmos settled a lawsuit
with her family for an undisclosed amount.

‘Lives are at stake’

Generally, gas leaks occur in
distribution systems nationwide because “the infrastructure is old,” said Abe Scarr, energy and utilities program director for U.S. Public Interest
Research Groups. The News’
investigation, Time Bomb,

found at the time that Atmos
had some of the oldest pipelines
in the country, leaving them
vulnerable to corrosion and
cracks.
At the time in Dallas, there
were 400 miles of cast iron
pipes, typically the oldest and
prone to leaks because of their
age. In 2019, Gov. Greg Abbott
signed House Bill 866, proposed by Dallas Democrat Rafael Anchía, that required pipeline operators to remove all
cast-iron pipes from their systems by the end of 2021. An Atmos spokesperson said all
known cast iron pipes in the
utility’s system were removed
that year.
John Jose, the managing
partner of the Fort Worth office
for Slack Davis Sanger, said
leaks can occur due to problems with the utility portion of
the gas lines, the gas meter or
the customer-owned portions.
“Standard practice is that
pipelines are jurisdictional to
the Pipeline and Hazardous
Materials Safety Administration or the state’s pipeline safety program up to the (gas) meter,” said Bill Caram, executive
director of Pipeline Safety
Trust, a national watchdog
group. “Sometimes the meter is
inside a building, but often is
outside.”
According to the 2018 investigation, the company has settled
at least a dozen lawsuits filed by
families affected by explosions,
and the legal scrutiny continues to pile up. Since 2019, the
company has settled at least
two (one related to Rogers’
death and one related to Tarver
and Knight’s deaths).
On Jan. 20, Carrollton fire department officials responded to
an explosion at a home that left
a man with severe burns. The
man and his wife are suing Atmos Energy, alleging “negligent, careless and reckless disregard.” The lawsuit also accused the company of having a
poor safety record and failing
to implement policies to reduce
serious gas pipeline incidents.
In a statement, Garcia said
the law firm, which is representing the couple, hoped the
legal proceedings would “uncover why this is happening so
often in homes, major commercial buildings, and other sites
when Atmos Energy is the natural gas distributor.”
“We will force Atmos Energy
to re-evaluate how they conduct business, ensuring they
are proactive in identifying potential deadly issues and not
just reactive once a tragedy occurs,” he added. “Corners can
never be cut when human lives
are at stake.”

Experts hopeful that India can rebound on clean energy
By Sibi Arasu
A SS O CIAT E D PRE SS

BENGALURU, India —
For years, renewable projects in this nation have
been growing steadily,
from small-town rooftop
solar installations to largescale projects across the
desert and long stretches of
wind turbines and solar
panels on farmland all contributing to the country’s
climate goal of transitioning to clean energy.
But a mix of policy decisions, politics and supply
chain issues meant solar
projects in 2023 have been
marred in delays and uncertainty, making the
country fall short of its annual clean energy installation target in a year that
saw heat records topple
and devastating floods batter the country. Experts
say this is a significant dent
in the country’s ambitions,
but some are confident that
the shortfall can be made
up this year.
A report by the Institute
for Energy Economics and
Financial Analysis found
that the country installed
only 13.7 gigawatts of clean
energy last year, such as
wind, solar and nuclear,
compared with 16.3 gigawatts in 2022. India needs
to install 40 gigawatts a
year to meet its goal of installing 500 gigawatts of

clean energy — enough to
power 51 million homes in
the country — by the end of
the decade.
The shortfall “means
that meeting the 2030 target for clean energy is highly
challenging,”
said
Charith Konda, part of the
team that put together the
IEEFA’s analysis.
Solar module prices
have dropped substantially
worldwide in recent years,
but in India, they have
been subject to conflicting
import tax policies, with
the government first ordering high import taxes and
then backtracking within
the space of a year. This
created a “wait and watch”
attitude among solar project developers, said Vinay
Pabba, chief operating officer of Hyderabad-based renewables company Vibrant Energy.
It takes up to two years
for solar projects to come
online after all agreements
and paperwork are finalized, he said, so “changing
policies in time frames
lesser than that creates a
lot of uncertainty.”
Numerous
projects,
both big and small and
across different states,
have been hit with monthslong delays because of solar project developers
holding off making new
orders, said Gurpreet
Singh Walia, a consultant

Associated Press file photo

Laborers work at the Pavagada Solar Park north of
Bangalore, India, in 2018.

for renewable energy projects in India.
Konda said incentives to
encourage domestic manufacturing of solar modules,
rather than importing
them from abroad, conflicted with the country’s
goal of installing renewable energy at speed.
And because what was
being domestically produced in India was preferred by countries such as
the United States for their
own energy transition over
Chinese manufacturers, a
huge increase in exports of
solar power parts from India meant there was less
supply available for local
projects, analysts say.
Experts also say fossil
fuel lobbying in the country meant policies to en-

courage renewable growth
have fallen short.
Between 2008 and 2022,
India added the third most
solar power capacity of any
country — behind only
China and the U.S. — and
the sixth most wind power,
according to the Global Energy Monitor. But in those
15 years, the amount of coal
capacity added in the country was well over double
that of wind and solar, the
Global Energy Monitor’s
data shows.
“People in positions of
power and decision-makers do not believe that renewable energy can provide firm power” because
they are not convinced that
batteries can store enough
renewable energy to make
reliable and consistent

electricity when the sun
doesn’t shine or the wind
doesn’t blow, said Alexander Hogeveen Rutter, an
independent energy analyst based in New Delhi.
“When it comes to getting
real power, coal is still considered the best option in
India.”
That view means the
country, the third-largest
emitter of greenhouse gases, is still installing new
coal every year as electricity demand surges because
of development and population growth. More than
75% of India’s electricity is
made from coal, but it
plans to have 50% of its
growing electricity needs
from renewable sources by
the end of the decade.
But some analysts believe that most of these issues have now been ironed
out and that India can
make up for the shortfall of
new projects this year.
There was a sharp rise
in solar modular imports
toward the end of last year,
suggesting that a lot of the
delayed projects will soon
be completed, said Vinay
Rustagi, who tracks and
analyzes the clean power
sector for the financial research firm Crisil.
“We can expect a record
2024 in that sense,” he said.
But he warned that even if
India makes up for lost
ground, “this kind of vola-

tility is not good for the
market on the whole. It detracts from the ambitious
targets the government has
set.”
Hogeveen Rutter added
that a slew of new tenders
for renewable energy projects issued in 2023 is a positive signal that India will
install a lot more clean
power in the coming years.
But he warned that even
if the country does make
up for the slow growth last
year, India’s renewable energy targets are just “arbitrary figures, rather than
linked to the resource
planning process.” India’s
demand growth alone is
enough to justify 50 to 55
gigawatts of clean power
additions annually, and
that demand is expected to
continue to rise rampantly
in the coming decades.
Without more ambitious clean energy targets,
the country’s renewable
growth — however significant — won’t reach its full
potential, Hogeveen Rutter
said.
“There are incredible
entrepreneurs and innovators in both renewables
and storage who are truly
world-class just waiting to
be unleashed,” he said. “As
soon as the targets are
moved in line with India’s
demand, there is no doubt
India can become a clean
energy powerhouse.”

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 B5

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

TECHNOLOGY

OnePlus phones take aim at pricier Androids
OnePlus positions itself as
a smartphone-maker that
sells flagship-quality Android
handsets at prices that undercut the better-known
names. This year, the Chinabased company has a double
threat: the OnePlus 12, its
top-tier offering with the
same processor as Samsung’s
latest models, and the lessexpensive 12R.
This year I’m on the hunt
for a flagship Android phone
for a possible switch. The
OnePlus 12 almost vaults to
the top of that list. In this
column, I’ll offer mini-reviews of both phones. Depending on your needs and
your budget, either would be
an excellent choice off the
Android shelf.

OnePlus 12

$800 for 12 GB of RAM, 256
GB of storage
$900 for 16 GB of RAM, 512
GB of storage

I fell in love
with the OnePlus 11 last year,
saying it was a
phone that I
could definitely
live with
Dwight
should I shift
Silverman allegiances to
the Android
P E R S ONA L
TE C H
camp (see
houstonchronicle.com/oneplus11). It was
fast, stylish and sported an
excellent camera system.
The OnePlus 12 is all that
and more, and it fixes one
drawback that made the 11
less-than-perfect: The 12
brings back wireless charging, which the 11 lacked,
working with any pad or
stand that uses the Qi wireless charging standard. OnePlus is known for offering
super-fast wired charging,
going from zero to full in
about about 30 minutes. Now,
the OnePlus 12 supports zippier-than-usual wireless
charging at 50 watts if you
use the company’s Warp
charging stand ($50), which
can fully charge the 12 in
about an hour. Battery life is
stellar, lasting almost two full
days in my tests.
Its OxygenOS variant of
Android 14 even looks a lot
like iOS, making it the perfect
device for would-be iPhone
switchers. Owners get four
years of OS updates and five
years of security patches, not
as impressive as Google’s and
Samsung’s seven.
The OnePlus 12 is an iterative improvement over its
predecessor. It features a
similar design: curved edges
on its 6.82-inch, 3168-by-1440pixel, AMOLED display that’s
capable of a stunning 4,500
nits, making it easy to see in
the brightest of sunlight. The
camera system on the back,
as with the 11, is mounted in a
round frame that is strikingly
different from other phones.
It comes in two colors: Silky
Black and Flowy Emerald,
the latter being the one I was
loaned. The back glass has a
matte finish, so it’s resistant
to fingerprints.
Inside is Qualcomm’s latest

Photos by Dwight Silverman/Contributor

TOP: The OnePlus
12, above left, and
the 12R are OnePlus’
2024 offerings, and
both stay true to the
company’s goal of
offering top-tier
hardware at lower
prices.

LEFT: The OnePlus
12 takes great photos
when light is
abundant, delivering
realistic colors that
are just slightly
boosted by the
phone’s Hasselblad
photography system.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, the same
system-on-a-chip processor
found in Samsung’s Galaxy
S24 lineup. This is one fast
phone, fluid and stutter-free
whether scrolling, gaming or
watching video. It’s cooled
using a vapor-filled chamber,
so it doesn’t run hot when
playing games or doing wired
fast charging. It supports all
three major U.S. carrier 5G
networks, as well as the latest
WiFi 7 standard.
My only complaint with its
performance is that its onscreen fingerprint reader is
balky, making it a chore sometimes to unlock the phone.
Unlocking with face recognition isn’t much better.
In some ways, the three
cameras are a little better than
the OnePlus 11’s, but in one
way they’re a step back.
There’s a 50-megapixel wideangle camera; a 64-MP periscope telephoto; and a 48-MP

ultrawide. Quality of photos
in daylight and bright indoor
light from all there are excellent, walking a nice line between the ultra-natural colors
found on iPhones and the
saturation-boosted style of
Samsung models. I like the 12’s
images better than those taken
with my iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Sadly, low-light photography can be problematic. So
long as one light source isn’t
particularly strong, the image
is fine. But it’s too easy for a
bright source to get blown
out; the camera’s Hasselblad
imaging system doesn’t do the
best job of light balance in
that scenario.

OnePlus 12R

$500 for 8 GB of RAM, 128
GB of storage
$600 for 16 GB of RAM, 256
GB of storage

The Android universe is
chock-full of lower-priced

smartphones, affordable alternatives to flagship devices
that can approach and blow
past the $1,000 mark. In the
past, OnePlus has offered
such devices in the U.S. typically designated with a “T” in
the name, the last being the
OnePlus 10T. This year, the
OnePlus 12R is the cheaper
offering and it’s worth considering if you’re on a budget.
Like the more expensive 12,
it runs on the OxygenOS version of Android 14, but it will
only get three years of new
Android versions and four
years of security updates. The
12R is powered by last year’s
top-line processor, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2,
which remains a powerful
piece of silicon. Scrolling,
gaming and video are all as
smooth as on the more expensive 12.
The 12R doesn’t include
wireless charging, but still

boasts the uber-fast wired
charging that the OnePlus is
known for. Battery life is as
good as the 12, lasting about a
day and half; the 12R’s battery
is slightly larger than the 12’s.
Also worth noting: Both the 12
and 12R are among the few
phones left that still ship with
a charger, one that pushes 80
watts of power.
The 6.78-inch display boasts
a 1264-by-2780 resolution on
an AMOLED display. Like the
12, and most flagship phones,
it has a variable refresh rate
up to 120 Hz, which is rare for
a lower-tier phone. It also
matches the 12’s claim of 4,500
nits of brightness, and was
very easy to see in bright
Houston daylight.
Some good news: the under-screen fingerprint scanner
works better in the 12R,
though face recognition seems
just as iffy as on the 12.
Not so great news: The
camera system on the 12R is
good, but not stellar. You get a
50-MP wide, 8-MP ultrawide
and a 2-MP macro camera.
There’s no optical zoom,
which means many manually
zoomed shots get noisy and
pixelated.
But the colors are natural
and in bright light, images are
full of detail. Still, this is a
snapshot smartphone, not one
for those who love getting
fancy.
Both phones can be found
with decent discounts: OnePlus will give you at least $100
off on any phone, in any condition, when you order
through the company’s website, for example.
dsilverman@outlook.com
threads.net/@dsilverman

B6 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

FAFSA process delayed, this time until March
There was much apprehension and handwringing again last week
since the U.S. Department
of Education announced
— again — a delay in its
process for federal financial aid for college students.
The department said
that student data from the
newly revamped Free Application for Federal Student Aid would not be
sent to colleges until
March, two months later
than expected, which will
likely mean that students
won’t get their financial
aid packages from colleges until early April.
The reason for the delay is aimed at helping
students: More will be eligible for aid as a result.
But this will significantly shorten the window they have to weigh
their options and reply to
colleges by the traditional
May 1 decision deadline.
In the meantime, financial aid and college access
organizations are encouraging colleges to be flexible with students and
families in light of the delay.
“During the pandemic,
many institutions extended
their
enrollment,
scholarship, and financial
aid deadlines beyond the
traditional May 1 date, and
we urge institutions to
make similar accommodations this year,” said
the nine groups, including the American Association of State Colleges and
Universities and the
American Council on Education.
“We all want students
and families to have the
time they need to consider their financial options
before making enrollment decisions.”
Widener University in
Chester, Pa., announced
Friday that it would sus-

pend its May decision day
in light of the problems.
“These delays have created a lot of stress for college-bound students in
the class of 2024 ...” said
Joseph Howard, Widener’s vice president for enrollment.
“We don’t want Widener’s deadlines to add anxiety to this process.”
Francesca Reed, vice
president for enrollment
management and marketing at Neumann University, a 2,100-student Catholic university in Aston,
Pa., shared her insight into what this means for
students and families.
She has worked in enrollment management for
about 23 years, which includes financial aid.
This interview has
been edited for length and
clarity.
Q: The first delay in
the newly revamped
FAFSA came last year.
The forms weren’t
available for students
to access until December, right?
A: Yes, December. It
was a soft rollout, they
called it. So it was only
live for certain hours during the day. A limited
number of individuals
could actually get on it.
Q: What was the impact of that?
A: There was a lot of
frustration for a number
of families who were having a hard time logging in,
or they might have been
kicked out if they didn’t
have enough information.
I myself have a collegeage son ... and so for me to
experience it firsthand
was very interesting. ...
Then, about the second
week in January, they finally made an announcement that it was fully operational.
Q: Was the form itself any better after the

We had an open house
just this past weekend
and a number of students
who are kind of ready to
commit and make their
decision are holding out
because they want to
make sure they have a
clear picture in order to
make an informed decision. I was just visiting
high schools today, too,
and a number of school
counselors are also concerned because they are
trying to help their students navigate the process.

Dreamstime/Tribune News Service

The U.S. Department of Education has again delayed its process for federal
financial aid for college students. Data won’t be sent to institutions until March.

change?
A: Some parts of it are
better. The ability to add
additional schools is
promising. The fact that it
is available in 11 languages
is wonderful The fact that
it is shorter [a lot fewer
questions] and saves families a lot of time are all
great benefits. And, of
course, the major part of
this is that more students
will have access to needbased aid. So those are all
the good things.
The frustration right
now is families, as well as
institutions, were expecting to have the FAFSA information by the end of
January, if not February.
And so the recent announcement that it won’t
be until mid-March is
really concerning.
Q: Why the new delay?
A: The Department of
Education had created
these tables to estimate a
family’s income and assets. ... When they initially did that, they didn’t include inflation-adjusted
amounts, which is initially something they wanted
to do. Over the past cou-

ple weeks, they decided
they were going to go
ahead and do that. That’s
for the benefit of the student in the long term.
That means potentially
more people may fall into
Pell (grant) eligibility.
(The Washington Post reported that if it hadn’t
been corrected, it could
have cost families $1.8 billion in aid.) But what that
means is now they have to
go back in and make these
adjustments to the tables.
Q: What will the new
delay mean for students and families?
A: Typically, the FAFSA was available Oct. 1. So
families would start receiving financial offers
from institutions late in
the fall, early in January.
Now, you are talking
about institutions not receiving the information
until the middle of March.
Then we have to do some
testing to make sure that
everything in our system
is working accurately before we’re actually able to
send out official award
notifications.
Right now, the timeline
for many institutions is

probably looking like early April. When you are
talking about a May 1
deadline (for students to
accept an enrollment offer), you’re really giving
families a very, very short
window to make decisions, especially families
that are first-generation
going through this process for the first time,
weighing their options
from multiple institutions. (Before,) you had
time to review that, go
back to the institution,
potentially appeal, and do
all those things. Now that
window is cut.
Q: Could this be especially difficult for students from first-generation and lower-income
families?
A: Absolutely. They are
waiting to find out if they
are going to be receiving
anything to help cover
that gap for them to make
college education affordable. This delay just kind
of furthers that agony.
Q: Have you been
hearing concerns from
students and families?
A: Oh yes, absolutely.

Q: What should colleges do to assist families at this point?
A: We have been trying
to update our families as
soon as changes arise. We
are telling them these are
the things you can do
now: Even with delays,
families still should go
through and file the FAFSA, because as soon as we
are able to receive that information, we want to
make sure that families
have done all this and
don’t have to wait any longer. In addition, find out
what other types of scholarships or aid may be
available through the institution that is not necessarily based on FAFSA
information, for example,
merit award aid and other
types of scholarships.
Q: Is there anything
else that you think is
important to add?
A: Be patient. We’re all
in the same boat, and so
it’s really important for
families to continue to
communicate with the
colleges that they are
working with. Find out if
they have any particular
deadlines or things that
they are changing. Look
at studentaid.gov. They
will have updated information. And then, of
course, institutions will
have their own information.

1,200-megawatt power plant
planned for outside Austin
By Alexandra Skores
DA L L A S MO R N I N G N EWS

US

By Susan Snyder
P HIL A DE LPHIA IN QU IRE R

Sandow Lakes Energy
Company will construct a
1,200-megawatt gas-fueled
power plant to operate
within the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, eventually powering as many as
800,000 Texas homes.
The
company
announced it would construct
the plant on the Sandow
Lakes property, which
stretches between Milam
and Lee counties outside
Austin, with construction
beginning next year and
powering homes by 2028.
Sandow Lakes has an
agreement with Siemens
Energy for two gas turbines, which the companies are calling “ultra-efficient.”
“As Texas continues to
grow, increasing the capacity and reliability of our
power grid is critical,” Gov.
Greg Abbott said in a statement.

“This project and others like it is
exactly what we need to continue
powering the nation’s leading
economy.”
Pablo Vegas, ERCOT CEO and president

The site is formerly a
1950s industrial coal plant
with 1,200 megawatts of
coal-based power generation. In 2018, Sandow owner Luminant, which is
based in Dallas, closed the
plant and two others in
Texas because they weren’t
profitable thanks to cheap
natural gas and plentiful
wind energy.
“We are pleased to see
developers bringing more
dispatchable capacity to the
Texas market,” said Pablo
Vegas, ERCOT CEO and
president. “This project
and others like it is exactly
what we need to continue
powering the nation’s leading economy.”
Meanwhile, state regula-

tors have been working
with Pattern Energy, a private company, to create the
“Southern Spirit Transmission.” The partnership
could create a 400-mile
transmission line from the
Texas/Louisiana border,
through Louisiana and into
Mississippi to connect with
grids in the southeastern
part of the country. Garland
Power & Light is also a part
of the plan because the lines
would connect to Texas in a
partnership with Garland.
The utility would operate a
substation on the Texas
border and 30 miles of
transmission lines leading
to it.
Recently, Texas’ grid has
been running up against
capacity issues during extreme hot and cold weather
events. ERCOT occasionally calls for conservation
based on power demand.
Texas’ total generation
capacity is about 84,000
megawatts, with more than
half of that coming from
natural gas, according to
ERCOT and the Texas
Comptroller’s Office. But
that capacity is being
pushed by the state’s growing population, which added about 470,000 people
between 2021 and 2022 and
surpassed 30 million people.
Texas power demand
peaked at 85,435 megawatts
on Aug.10, 2023, when temperatures climbed to107 degrees in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Sandow Lakes Energy
Company was incorporated in Delaware in November.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 B7

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

Companies reducing variety of offerings
By Anne D’Innocenzio
A SS O CIAT E D PRE SS

NEW YORK — How
much choice is too much?
Apparently for CocaCola, it’s about 400 types
of drinks.
That’s why the beverage company recently decided to discontinue half
of them, shedding brands
such as Tab, Zico coconut
water, Diet Coke Feisty
Cherry and Odwalla juices but still leaving about
200 others to choose from.
It’s a move that other
businesses are making as
well, reducing the variety
of offerings from mayonnaise to cereals to cars and
instead focusing on what
they think will sell best.
Stew Leonard’s, a supermarket chain that operates stores in Connecticut, New York and New
Jersey, now has 24 cereal
flavors or types, down
from 49 in 2019. Edgewell
Personal Care Co., the
maker of Schick razors
and Banana Boat suntan
lotion, has trimmed certain varieties of its Wet
Ones anti-bacteria wipes,
among others. And Dollar
General, based in Goodlettsville, Tenn., used to
stock six kinds of mayonnaise on its shelves and is
now looking to drop a
couple of them.
“The consumer is not
going to know the difference,” Todd Vasos, CEO of
Dollar General, told analysts in December. “Actually, it’s going to make her
life a little simpler when
she goes to the shelf.”
Just a year ago, a Kohl’s
store in Clifton, N.J., had
tables stacked high with
sweaters and shirts in a
rainbow of colors as well
as dress racks crammed
with a wide assortment of
styles. Now it boasts a
more edited approach —
tables have slim piles of
knit shirts that focus on
fewer colors, and many
dress racks have been reduced to just three or four
styles.
Under new CEO Tom
Kingsbury, Kohl’s has
been cutting back on the
colors and variations of
sweaters, jeans and other
items, while sending its
buyers into the New York
market more frequently to
bring in fresh trendy merchandise.
“We would go out, and

Photos by Seth Wenig/Associated Press

Kohl’s has been cutting back on the colors and variations of its sweaters, jeans and other items while
sending buyers into the New York market more frequently to bring in more trendy merchandise.

we would buy a lot of
goods and it would come
in 12, 14 months later, and
it didn’t perform very
well,” Kingsbury told analysts in a call in November.
“We’re going to be using
the marketplace, so that
we can react to the business quickly, getting into
trends.”
Some customers like
the changes so far.
“It’s pretty organized,”
said Kimberly Ribeiro, 30,
who was at the Kohl’s
store on a recent Friday.
“If it’s not so cluttered,
then you don’t get overwhelmed.”
Even in the auto world,
shoppers are finding fewer choices. General Motors and Ford have been
touting how they are limiting the number of option
combinations customers
can get on their vehicles to
reduce
manufacturing
and purchasing complexity.
That’s a reversal from a
few years ago, when there
was an explosion of choices, encouraged in part by
online shopping that paid
no mind to space constraints.
But that didn’t always
lead to sales, so companies started pruning selections a year or two before the pandemic.
During the pandemic,
the pruning only accelerated, with companies fo-

A merchandiser works at a Kohl’s in Clifton, N.J., that has a new approach to its
offerings, including slimmer piles of knit shirts that focus on fewer colors.

cusing on necessities as
they wrestled with supply
chain clogs. But even after
the pandemic, when
goods began moving freely again, many businesses
decided less was better
and justified the limited
selection by asserting
shoppers don’t want so
much choice. It’s also
more profitable for companies because they’re not
carrying over as many
leftovers that need to be
discounted.
Overall, new items accounted for about 2% of
products in stores in 2023
across categories such as
beauty, footwear, technology and toys, down from
5% in 2019, says market research firm Circana.
Eric O’Toole, president
of
Edgewell’s
North
America division, noted

the pandemic presented
“a really valuable stimulus” for reassessing assortment.
“We avoid jumping on
fads, as the supply chain
and retailer costs required to support getting
to shelf typically don’t
generate a return in the
end,” O’Toole said. “A
tighter, more curated
portfolio
supports
healthy profit manage-

ment. ”
Many think they’re also
doing shoppers a favor,
with studies showing that
fewer choices, not lots of
variety, encourage shoppers to buy more.
In 2000, psychologists
Sheena Lyengar and
Mark Lepper published a
study that showed that
limited selection is better
for the shopper. In their
experiment, Lyengar and

Lepper found that consumers were 10 times
more likely to purchase
jam on display when the
number of jams available
was cut from 24 to 6, even
though they were more
likely to stop at the display
offering more selection.
Subsequent studies have
confirmed this phenomenon.
“Retailers are recognizing that they have to be respectful of shoppers’
time,” said Paco Underhill
whose company, Envirosell, studies consumer behavior.
Still, retailers can’t just
slash products willy-nilly,
said David Berliner, who
leads the business restructuring and turnaround practice at BDO.
“You want to make
these cuts so they’re not
even aware of it, and you
want the store to still look
full,” Berliner said. “If you
do it too much, you might
scare some away.”
Berliner also believes
that reducing variety may
also hurt smaller brands
that relied on retailers to
offer different products —
and will send shoppers
like Bob Friedland to other competitors.
The 48-year-old communications consultant
from Little Falls, N.J., said
that for years, his go-to
barbecue sauce has been
Open Pit. But Friedland
noticed that over the past
few years, his local grocers hadn’t been carrying
it, and he’s since turned to
Amazon to buy it. That
means those local stores
not only lost out on Open
Pit sales to Friedland but
all the other purchases he
used to make while shopping for his favorite barbecue sauce.
“I really don’t love the
idea of a retailer telling me
what I should and should
not be interested in,”
Friedland said. “I like variety. I like specific
brands.”

B8 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

CAREERS

Houston Chronicle
Custom Publishing Group
HoustonChronicle.com

Employing the fastest-growing
city in the nation

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGER

HT Visions
Houston TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Customer Relationship Manager (Houston, TX), Dvlp & foster
relationships w/current clients; Manage communications betw
clients & internal teams; Analyze client feedback, anticipate
account changes & make recommendations for improving
customer satisfaction. Handle escalated complaints; provide
guidance to employees for complex issues; Eval complaints,
identify issues & work to resolve issues reltd to employee
performance or service deficiencies Strategic planning to improve
client results Negot contracts w/the client & estab a timeline of
performance Meet all client needs & deliverables according to
proposed timelines Networking Evaluate processes for was to
improve service levels & efficiency. Reqs: Must be under grad or a
HS Dipl. Min Exp 5 yrs. Must have client relationship exp of 4 yrs.
Mail Resume to : HT Visions 14525 State Highway 249 Ste A
Houston TX 77086

SALON RECEPTIONIST

Gossip & Co Nail Spa Barker Cypress
Cypress, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Salon Receptionist (Cypress, Texas) Responsibilities include
greeting customers upon their arrival & answering clients’ questions
about services via phone, email, or in person. Process transactions
(cash & credit cards) & issue receipts. Update client records
w/contact & billing details, appointments, & services offered. Book
& confirm appointments via phone & email. Maintain Cleanliness of
front desk. Clean & Restock Shelves w/Products. Offer beverages
& chat w/clients who are in the waiting area. No education or
experience is needed. Full time permanent position. Salary
$24,294/yr. Send Resume, Attn: Huong La, Gossip & Co Nail
Spa Barker Cypress, 7751 Barker Cypress Rd. Suite 700, Cypress TX
77433

CHILD CARE ASSISTANT

Juniors Academy
Spring TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Provide a nurturing, patient & loving environment to all children.
Implement a developmentally appropriate curriculum designed to
promote the social, physical & intellectual growth of the children in
a way that is consistent w/the unique needs of each child. Partner
& communicate w/parents, w/a shared desire to provide the best care
& education for their children. Also req’d is taking care of the young
children’s physical needs, which incl but is not limited to
diapering, potty training, Reqs: Must be under grad or a HS Dipl,
8 hrs/shift. Min Exp 3 yrs. Must be able to work 40 hrs/Wk across
7am - 6pm. Mail Resume to : Juniors Academy 20927 Rose
Crossing Lane Spring Tx 77379

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

AIM Insurance Group LLC
Pasadena, TX
See Below to Apply

Ed pref/See Below
Yrs exp/See Below
Full-Time

AIM Insurance Group LLC seeks an Administrative Assistant in
its 3322 Shaver St, Pasadena TX 77504 location to Compile &
transcribe minutes of meetings; Coordinate office services; Answer
phone calls; Open, sort, and distribute incoming correspondence;
Greet visitors Prepare agendas; Perform general office duties.
Candidate should have a High School Diploma or its foreign
equivalent and 24 months of experience in the job offered.
Resume: Sohail Zafar, 3322 Shaver St, Pasadena TX 77504.

CASHIER

Azim Inc. dba Piney Woods Mart
Willis, TX
See Below To Apply

HS Certificate or Diploma
No Exp. Req
Full-Time

Cashier: Receive payments from customers. Answer customers’
questions and provide information on procedures or policies. Help
customers find the location of products. Issue receipts, refunds,
credits, or change due to customers. Greet customers entering
establishments. Require High School Certificate or Diploma. Send
resume to Azim Inc. dba Piney Woods Mart, 11845 CALVARY RD.
WILLIS, TEXAS 77318.

STAFF SOFTWARE ENGINEER

Arthur Lawrence US LLC
Houston, TX
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Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Arthur Lawrence US LLC seeks a Staff Software Engineer to
work in Houston, TX and various unanticipated locations
throughout the U.S. to serve as a technical lead or staff engineer
for software development activities. Must apply online at
https://jobs.arthurlawrence.net/Jobs/16847/Staff-SoftwareDeveloper. Must put Requisition Number TAM_2019_02 on Resume.

DATA ENGINEER(S)

DFS Corporate Services LLC
Houston, TX
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Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

DFS Corporate Services LLC has openings for Data Engineer(s)
$111,800.00 to $146,100.00 in Houston, TX. Design, develop, test,
and maintain complex data solutions for the product. Mentor and
influence peers to achieve commitments on data solutions on time
and with quality. Telecommuting and/or working from home may
be permissible pursuant to company policies. To be considered,
search by title and apply online at http://jobs.discover.com.
Additional incentives may be provided as part of a market
competitive total compensation package. Factors, such as but
not limited to, geographical location, relevant experience,
education, and skill level may impact the pay for this position.
We also offer a range of benefits and programs based on eligibility.
Learn more at MyDiscoverBenefits.com.

AUTOMOBILE FINANCE SPECIALIST

Skyline Auto
Houston TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Analyze active loan files on a regular basis & recommend solutions
to speed up the loan process. Complete loan contracts & teach
clients on policies & regs. Interview applicants to define financial
eligibility & estab debt payment plans. Prep detailed loan proposals.
Reject loan apps & explain deficiencies to applicants. Reqs: Must
be under grad or High School. Min Exp 3 yrs in Auto dealer industry,
uUtilize MS Excel & MS Access Databases. Must able to understand
loan applicant financials & prescreen. Mail Resume to Skyline Auto
152 West Mt Houston Rd., Ste A Houston TX 77037

SUPERVISOR, IOT ARCHITECTURE

ConocoPhillips Company
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

LIVE-IN NANNY

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

LIVE-IN NANNY needed! High School diploma and at least
12 months exp working as nanny for toddlers/little kids req’d.
Must be non-smoker and pass background check and willing to
work occasional nights and weekends. Send applications with
resume to: 16103 Pilot Knob Dr., Cypress, TX 77433

STOCK CLERK

East West Furniture LLC
Houston, TX
See Below to Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

(Cynosure Technologies, LLC has multiple openings in Houston,
TX) Senior Cloud Engineer: Review & approve the development,
creation, & modification of comp. apps. s/w or specialized utility programs. Utilize AWS or Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud Platform,
CI/CD, Cloud Security Architecture & Engineering & DevOps.
Senior Software Developer: Oversee & guide the design &
development of comp. apps. s/w & specialized utility programs &
ensure systems are designed & developed pursuant to company
standards. Utilize ERP (PeopleSoft, SAP, Salesforce, Oracle
Apps,ServiceNow, Pega), RPA, Hadoop, Python, Tableau, R, SQL
Server, & Oracle database programming.
Senior Software Engineer: Oversee & guide the design &
development of comp. apps. s/w & specialized utility programs &
ensure systems are designed & developed pursuant to company
standards. Utilize Javascript, SQL queries, Java, HTML, JSP, CSS,
Shell Scripts, Server patches, SharePoint, C#, .Net, SQL Server,
Oracle Database Programming, iOS, Android, Manual Testing, &
Automated Testing.
All 3 positions above req. MS in Comp. Sci., Engr. (any field), or
related & 1 yr. exp.
Software Engineer: Develop, create, & modify comp. apps. s/w or
specialized utility programs. Utilize Javascript, SQL queries, Java,
HTML, JSP, CSS, Shell Scripts, Server patches, SharePoint, C#, .Net,
SQL Server, Oracle database programming, manual testing, &
automated testing. Req. BS in Comp. Sci., Engr. (any field), or
related & 2 yrs. exp.
All 4 positions above: Will work in various unanticipated locations
throughout the U.S. Send resume to info@cynosuretechnologies.com
& refer to job title.

SENIOR MANUFACTURING ENGINEER

Crane ChemPharma & Energy Corp.
Montgomery, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Exp Req/See Below
Full-Time

Senior Manufacturing Engineer, Crane ChemPharma & Energy Corp.,
Montgomery, Texas: At new manufacturing plant for new business
line, responsible for developing, evaluating & improving manufacturing processes to minimize manufacturing cost & improve efficiency,
utilizing 16949 tools including PFMEA, control plans & process capability studies. Must have Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering, or in
a related engineering field & 5 yrs exp as a Manufacturing Engineer.
Of exp req, must have: (i) 5 yrs providing manufacturing engineering
support in Direct, hands-on Production/manufacturing environment;
(ii) 3 yrs creating standard work instructions to minimize process
variation (human or machinery variation); (iii) 2 yrs assisting, designing & developing new processes or parts of processes for production utilizing CAD modelling; (iv) 2 yrs designing & implementing
manufacturing fixturing; & 1 yr in each of: (v) working in a 16949
controlled environment; (vi) providing manufacturing support &
leadership for new product launches to ensure product can be manufactured to specifics in cost-effective manner; (vii) creating shopfloor layouts for new manufacturing cells; & (viii) making improvements in manufacturing quality and/or manufacturing processes or
products to reduce cost. Alternatively, will accept: Masters in
Mechanical Engineering, or in a related engineering field & 2 yrs as a
Manufacturing Engineer. Of exp req, must have 2 yrs in each of items
(i) – (iv), & 1 yr in each of items (v) – (viii). Up to 5% domestic trave
required. Interested applicants, apply online at
www.craneco.com/careers

DIGITAL OPERATIONS ENGINEER

NexTier Completion Solutions Inc.
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

NexTier Completion Solutions Inc. (Houston, Texas) to be rspnsbl
for reviewng all trtmnt dsgn prmtrs, ensurng adhrnce to custmr
reqs, & anlyzng results to provide tchncl rmmndtns to custmrs. Spcfc
job dties incl: wrkng w/frac crew leadership in pre-job plnning;
conferrng w/ Engnrng & Operations to dvlp & implmnt job operatng
prcdres; wrkng closely w/supply chain cntrl tower to ensre effcnt
field ops spprt; preparng pre-job files & distributng to Field
Engnr/DPO on site & ops & engnrng teams; mntrng frac trtmnt
parmters for mltpl jobs & providng tchncl recmmndtns to best adhre
to cstmr specs, accountng for rsrvoir rspnse to trtmnts; provdng
real-time tchncl spprt for cstmrs & field operations teams; utilizng
mathmtcl & engnrng prncples to dsgn & model stmltion trtmnts as
needed; remtly perfrmng frac diagnstc tsts, prssre Hstry Mtchng, &
other Frac Engineerng duties; mntrng eqpmnt usage & cndtions
utilizng tradtionl trnd idntfction & advncd anlytcl mdls; montrng &
anlyzng new tchnlgy eqpmnt health montrng data; creatng repair &
mntnnce wrk ordrs for eqpmnt; wrkng w/ intrnl & 3rd-party data
scntists to imprve exstng & dvlp new machine learnng tools for
opertng more effcntly; & collaboratng w/ mntnnce & tchnlgy to
perfrm root cause anlyss on premture failre. Mst hld a Master’s
degree in Petroleum Engnrng or dir rel. Mst hve 1 yr of prev wrk
exp in pos off or rel. Mst knw (thru academic trainng or wrk exp)
Salesforce, FracPro, FieldPro; cmputrzd mntnnce mngmnt systm;
entrprse asset mngmnt or exchnge rate mechnsm. Applctions &
resumes to NexTier.IMG@nextierofs.com.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST

ConocoPhillips Company in Houston, TX seeks to fill the position
of Supervisor, IoT Architecture to supervise the work of analysts
and other engineering personnel that will design, consult, implement,
and operate IoT and Digital Twin solutions. Applicant must also hold
Agile methodology certification. To apply, please email resume to
recruitment@conocophillips.com. Must reference job # 6407.2436.3.

Private Household
Cypress, TX
See Below To Apply

MULTIPLE OPENINGS

Cynosure Technologies, LLC
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Ed pref/See Below
Yrs exp/See Below
Full-Time

Stock Clerk, Import/Wholesale Furniture Co. (Houston, TX) Min. 1yr.
related exp.in industry. Receive, store, and retrieve furniture/related
items from warehouse to fill customers’ orders. 40 hrs/wk, 8A-5P.
Resume to: East West Furniture LLC, 175 Southbelt Industrial Dr.,
Houston, TX 77047.

CNA Metals Limited
Stafford, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

PROJECT MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST in Stafford, TX - CNA
Metals Limited, Job Duties: 1. Dvlp & maint new & existing
commercial relationships. 2. Monitor & follow applicable laws &
regs for scrap metal. 3. Examine & analyze chemical & physical
composition of the metals. New trade/traders coordination. 4.
Respon for sourcing of scrap metal & negot prices/discount
terms/transp & arrangements w/suppliers. 5. Buyers & suppliers
orders inspection. 6. Organize & monitor shipment of scrap metal
(logistics, port timing etc..) from suppliers. 7. Review shipment
contracts. 8. Speak to clients in Spanish, English, French or German
while working w/buyers around the world. 9. Manage the
coordination, overall operations & logistics projs. 10. Prep sales,
purchases, & service accounting reports. 11. Analyze scrap metals
trends to determine feasibility for purchase & for sales of these scrap
metals. 12. Manage loading & off-loading of containers from port to
port. 13. Communicate w/consultant, sellers & clients from point A to
Z of projs. 14. Work w/Senior Trader(s). Min deg req’d: Bach’s deg in
Chemical or Biological Engineer or Civil Engineer. Req’d Exp: 72
mnths of exp as Engineer. Special Skills Req’d:
Expert & sound knowledge of CIE software. Knowledge &
experience in operation of NITON Machine. Foreign Language
Req’d: Spanish, English, German or French. Trvl Details: FL, TX
& Central & Latin America. Mail resume to: CNA Metals Limited
4800 Sugar Grove Blvd, Ste. 317. Stafford, TX 77477

Breaking News
at Chron.com

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 B9

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

SENIOR PLANNING ENGINEER

NES Global, LLC
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

NES Global, LLC seeks Senior Planning Engineer to provide
planning, scheduling, earned value management and project
reporting on large scale industrial projects. Must have a Bachelor’s
degree in Industrial Engineering and 60 months of experience in
related occupations. Must have five (5) years of experience working
with project management software Primavera P6. Must have three
(3) years of experience using Acuman Fuse in order to determine
schedule quantitative analysis and technical quality of schedule.
Must have five (5) years of experience planning and scheduling in
the international energy sector to include the petrochemical and
oil and gas business sectors. Must have three (3) years of
experience developing project leadership milestones and the tools
in place to track and update status. Must have three (3) years of
experience directly related to project planning in Engineering,
Procurement, Construction, and Commissioning & Startup of
complex industrial project management principles. Must have
three (3) years of experience with module fabrication planning
including schedule, progress, manpower optimization, productivity
analysis, variance analysis, and critical path analysis. Must have
three (3) years of experience benchmarking in
Upstream/Downstream oil and gas and complex petrochemical
projects. Up to 20% domestic and/or international travel may be
required. Job location: Houston, TX. Please send resumes to
resumesupport@nesfircroft.com and refer to Job ID#2203.

TAX - MANAGERS

KPMG LLP
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

KPMG LLP seeks Managers in Houston, TX. Pos req bach deg or
foreign equiv in Finance or rel field + 5 yrs exp in offrd pos or rel occ.
Emplyr wll accpt mastrs deg + 2 yrs exp. 2 yrs exp must incl. conduct functional anlys interviews to identify cross-border interco
transactions; eval comparability of co. & transactions for Transfer
Pricing studies; prfrm quantitative, competitive, & oper. perf
analysis; Test interco pricing for tangible goods, svcs, intell property
& loans; prepar fincl & econ data for tax & regulatory compliance;
& apply U.S. Transfer Pricing reg & Int’l Transfer Pricing rules.
Interested? Apply online at https://www.kpmguscareers.com/
job-search & type requisition number 110875 in the keyword
search box for Experienced Professionals. Should you have any
difficulty in applying for this position through our website, please
contact: us-hrscatsadmin@kpmg.com for assistance in the
application process. If offered employment, must have legal right
to work in the U.S. EOE. KPMG offers a comprehensive
compensation & benefits package. No phone calls or agencies
please. KPMG, an equal opportunity employer/disability/veteran.
KPMG maintains a drug-free workplace. © 2024 KPMG LLP, a
Delaware limited liability partnership & the U.S. member firm of
the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with
KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”). All rights
reserved.

BODY SHOP ESTIMATOR

EURO COLLISION CENTER LLC
HOUSTON, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

BODY SHOP ESTIMATOR: Work Schedule: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM,
Mon-Fri/ 40 hrs./wk. Wages: $ 69638 /year. Prepare estimates
for walk-in customers. Examine the damaged vehicle to determine
the extent of structural, body, mechanical, or interior damage.
Estimate the cost of labor and parts to repair or replace each
damaged item. In the event of a disagreement with the manager
or foreman on the repair cost, arrange to have the damage
appraised by another appraiser to resolve the situation. Determine
the feasibility of repair versus replacement of parts, such as
bumpers, fenders, and doors. Evaluate the practicality of repair as
opposed to payment of vehicle market value before the accident.
Determines salvage value on total vehicle loss. Prepare insurance
forms to indicate repair cost estimates and recommendations.
Estimates the cost of repainting, converting to special purposes,
or customizing undamaged vehicles. Associate degree in business
administration with 24 MONTHS EXPERIENCE IN ESTIMATING,
EXAMINING, AND DETERMINING VEHICLE DAMAGES. Job
Order#:16359968 Job Location: Houston, TX. Send resume to
EURO COLLISION CENTER LLC 4603 SOUTHWEST FWY,
HOUSTON, TX 77027

CONSTRUCTION PROJECT MANAGER

Linde Engineering North America LLC
The Woodlands, X
See Below to Appl

Ed pref/See Below
Yrs exp/See Below
Full-Time

Construction Project Manager (Linde Engineering North America
LLC, The Woodlands, TX: FT): Responsible for the overall support,
direction & mgmt of the Engineering & Construction portion of the
project, from proposal preparation to mechanical completion.
Review all proposal documents to determine special reqmts, permits
& licenses for Engineering & Construction phases. Define the scope
of work & determine all reqmts to execute the engg & construction
portion. Utilize engg & construction mgmt methodologies, system
& tools as defined by Company. Must have a Bachelor’s deg or
foreign equiv in Engg (any) or rel field plus 5 yrs of exp in the
position offd or rel. Must have 5 yrs of exp in each of the following:
Engineering & Construction mgmt of Air Separation Units &
flammable Projects; Standards & policies including special
materials/processes that request specific procedures to handle
with Oxygen & flammable Installations; Cryogenic & gas projects
to determine the guidance of the Engineering & Construction
phases. 25% domestic travel to Client & Linde sites. Apply
https://linde.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/23/home/requisition/
15711?c=linde & reference req15711. EOE.

STAFF ACCOUNTANT

Griffith Construction Management Solutions Inc.
DBA Anchor Construction & Management Inc. Edu Req/See Below
Missouri, TX
Yrs Exp/See Below
See Below To Apply
Full-Time
Company Hiring: Griffith Construction Management Solutions Inc.
DBA Anchor Construction & Management Inc.
Job Location: 4000 Cartwright Rd., Missouri, Texas, 77459
Job Title: Staff Accountant
Job Type: Full Time Position (40 hours per week)
Job Responsibilities: Assist in the month close out. Assist in the
year end close out. Create job estimates, invoices, and payments
in the system. Project financial health reporting. Assist with
preparing cash flow projections, financial statements. Full Cycle
Accounts Payable & Accounts Receivable
Education: Bachelor’s Degree required.
Experience Required: 60 months minimum experience required
as an Accounting Manager or Staff Accountant
Other Skills/Licenses: Association of Chartered Certified
Accountants. Be a Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
Wage: Starting wage of $112,965 per year
Contact: Andrea Fernandez, 832-631-9564
Please apply by email at: Andrea.f@ANCHORCM.NET

COMPUTER PROFESSIONALS MULTIPLE OPENINGS
OF SENIOR POSITIONS
Techwave Consulting Inc.
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Computer professionals Multiple Openings of Senior Positions –
Software Developer, OSP Quality Control Engineer and Junior
Positions – Software Developer, IT Project Manager -- Houston, TX.
Provide Advisory, Architecture, Research, Design, Develop, Code,
Create, Modify and Test Computer Applications. Support & maintain
applications such as SAP HANA, SAP BPC, Analytics Cloud,
Hyperion, Informatica, Power BI, Tableau, Workday Studio, AWS,
Agile, Splunk, ARAMIS, Ocalc, Sixsigma, IKE, Java, Spring, Java
Script, JSP, Hibernate, AutoCAD, Eclipse, JIRA, Oracle, SQL Server,
Windows NT, Unix/Linux Required: Senior Positions - Master’s
Degree or its equivalent (Bachelor’s with 5 years of experience)
and Junior Positions - Bachelor’s/Associate degree in Computers,
Electronics, Communications, Info. Systems or Business
administration, commerce, finance with major field of study.
Travelling may be required. All applicants must be willing to
relocate as necessary. Apply w/2 copies of resume to HR, Techwave
Consulting Inc, 13501 Katy Fwy, Suite 3305, Houston, TX- 77079.

GENERAL MANAGER

Minuti Coffee, LLC
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Develop strategic & operational plans for regional client needs,
manage execution, & measure results for future expansions.
Lead marketing efforts, develop new food products, maintain
store environment & inventory, identify store-wide problems,
determine system improvements & implement changes. Create,
adjust & conduct training for new employees at multiple locations,
create incentive programs for staff, & ensure employees comply
with all company standards, guidelines & procedures. Ensure
accurate financial duties & reporting including payroll & personnel
matters. S/M/W/F/S 5:30am - 4:00pm (Hours subject to change
with 1 day notice). TWO POSITIONS AVAILABLE. Travel to other
locations in Houston, TX metro area as needed, but main location
at: 12649 Memorial Dr., Ste. G2, Houston, TX 77024. Requires
Bachelor’s Degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management or
Tourism & Travel Management, or foreign equivalent, plus 1 yr.
experience in a hotel or restaurant setting (6 months supervisory
in nature). Mail resumes to: Minuti Coffee, LLC, 10 Leisure Ln.,
Houston, TX 77024.

6 ORIENTAL RUG REPAIRER POSITIONS

Rug Tower, Inc.
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

6 Oriental Rug Repairer Positions. Min. 1yr Exp. Duties: Design,
craft, reweave & repair fine silk & wool oriental & Persian rugs
by hand, using traditional industry methods. Familiar with various
dying & threading techniques of silk and woolen rugs. Ability to
reweave & repair antique rugs by matching designs & using
traditional techniques. Plan & layout rug ideas per client needs.
Send resume to: Rug Tower, Inc.; 9110 Clarkcrest St., Ste 200;
Houston, TX 77063.

MARINE/CARGO SURVEYOR

Maritech Commercial Texas, Inc.
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Marine/Cargo Surveyor - Permanent position w/Maritech
Commercial Texas, Inc. in Houston, TX. Survey ships’ cargo for
condition, damage, and quantity exceptions to certify compliance
w/regulations. Advise as to stowing techniques. Calculate hold
capacities. Recommend procedures for loading/discharge of cargo
to ship masters/operators. Inspect ships for damage, recommend
repairs and write procedures for repairs, search for evidence of
bunker pilferage, and detect magic pipes. Carry out displacement
surveys to quantify cargo discharges/loaded by means of initial,
intermediate, and final draft surveys. Will be stationed at our Texas
office and will be dispatched for attendance on ships only in the
Greater Houston Area (MSA Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land,
TX). Does not supervise any employees. Immediate Supervisor is
the President/Principal Surveyor. Requires two (2) years’ verifiable
employment experience as a Marine/Cargo Surveyor. Please send
resumes to Maritech Commercial TX, Inc., Attn: Chander Gorowara,
1717 Turning Basin Dr., Ste 190, Houston, TX 77029; Tel:
713-674-8700; Email: nola@maritechcommercial.com

CIVIL ENGINEER

Woolpert, Inc.
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Civil Engineer, Houston, TX: Perform engineering duties in
planning, designing, and overseeing construction and maintenance
of irrigation projects, and water and sewage systems. Perform
civil engineering work that specializes in water resources
engineering. Perform hydrologic and hydraulic studies for flood
control projects, storm water drainage systems, master drainage
plans, and highway drainage systems. Implement working knowledge
of standard software for hydrologic and hydraulic modeling,
including USACE HEC Software (HEC-HMS, HEC-GeoHMS,
HEC-RAS, HEC-GeoRAS, HEC-DSS) and ESRI ArcGIS. Perform
hydrologic and hydraulic studies. Perform one- and two-dimensional
modeling to complete hydrologic and hydraulic analyses. Require
Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering, or foreign equivalent, plus
at least 2 years of work experience. Require permanent US work
auth. Resumes to: Woolpert, Inc., 4454 Idea Center Blvd., Dayton,
OH 45430. Attn: BK-SA or by email to: beth.kocol@woolpert.com

LANDSCAPING SUPERVISOR

Environment Design, Inc.
D/B/A Environmental Tree & Design, Inc.
Tomball, TX
See Below to Apply

Ed pref/See Below
Yrs exp/See Below
Full-Time

Environment Design, Inc. D/B/A Environmental Tree & Design,
Inc. has multiple openings for the position of a Landscaping
Supervisor in Tomball, Texas that will require Frequent travel
required to client worksites in the following Texas counties: Hays,
Travis, Harris, Montgomery, Waller, Fort Bend, Galveston, Brazoria,
Denton, Collin, Parker, Tarrant, and Dallas. Will also be required
to travel to out of state (15% of the time). Duties: Transplant
established trees and shrubs at worksites for both residential
and commercial clients. Direct 2-4 crewmembers and troubleshoot
any issues as they arise. Req’ts: Position requires negative
pre-employment drug test and pre-hire background check. Must
be able to lift at least 50 pounds. To apply: You must mail resume
to 23544 Coons Road, Tomball, TX 77375 referencing job code
10422. Incl. complete contact information (incl. e-mail, day/evening
phone, and mailing address) on resume/application.

MULTIPLE OPENINGS

Rite Software Solutions & Services LLC
dba Rite Software
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

(Rite Software Solutions & Services LLC dba Rite Software
has openings in Houston, TX) Software Developer (Job Code 001):
Design, develop, code, modify, test, document & maintain comp.
apps. s/w & specialized utility programs. 1 yr must include exp in
Oracle HCM Cloud, Oracle Cloud ERP, Oracle Transactional
Business Intelligence (OTBI), Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher
(BIP), HCM Extracts, Fast Formulas, Oracle BPM, Oracle Fusion,
Supply Chain Module, Oracle PAAS, & Oracle PL/SQL.
Database Administrator: Administer, design, test, & implement
comp. databases.
All Positions: Will work in various unanticipated locations throughout
the U.S. Req. MS in Comp. Sci., Engr., or related & 1 yr exp OR BS in
same & 5 yrs prog. exp. Send resume to Rite Software Solutions &
Services LLC dba Rite Software 16000 Park Ten Place, Suite 702,
Houston, TX 77084 or email to jobs.usa@ritesoftware.com.

VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER
RETAIL – POWER WIZARD

Gexa Energy, LP.
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Vice President and General Manager Retail – Power Wizard Manage all fin ops of sales & cust srvc dept, inc cost/budgeting,
ops strtgy, sales strtgy, back office, credit/debit, cust retention,
insights, controls, cust srvc lvls, insources & outsources call center
ops, resource allctn, emp mngmnt & vendor mngmnt. Bach’s Deg
or frgn equiv in Bus Admin, Finance, or rltd fld & 10 yrs exp in
bus ldershp role; or in alt, Mstr’s Deg or frgn equiv in Bus Admin,
Finance or rltd fld & 5 yrs exp in bus ldrshp role. Spec Reqs; 5 yrs
bus mngmnt exp; 5 yrs prcess imprvmnt exp; 5 yrs exp w/ cust
rltnshp mngmnt; 5 yrs fin analysis exp; 5 yrs planning & strtgy exp;
3 yrs retail enrgy indus exp & regltry landscape exp. Any suitable
combination of education, training or experience is acceptable.
Remote hybrid work schedule available. Job offer in Houston, TX for
Gexa Energy, LP. Resumes: Nadine Guagliano, 700 Universe Blvd,
Juno Beach, FL 33408 or resumes@nee.com – Ref: “VP GM - Gexa”

MANAGER PROJECT CONTROLS

McDermott, Inc.
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

McDermott, Inc. seeks Manager Project Controls to work in
Houston, TX. Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Engineering, or
related field, plus minimum 4 years of experience in project
controls roles in Oil & Gas Offshore/Subsea with exposure to
execution including leading a project controls team during project
execution; knowledge of budget and relevant CBS implementation;
experience with project set-up activities, analyzing and reporting
man hours analysis and statistics; enabling schedule reviews and
run Critical path analysis; using cost system to manage data,
forecast and produce reports; Risk and Opportunity analysis
with both qualitative and quantitative assessments and exposure
to Montecarlo analysis and relevant output interpretation; utilizing
knowledge of EPC Contract Types. 10% international travel required.
Submit resume at www.mcdermott.com/careers. Must include job
requisition #24000312.

NETWORK ENGINEER

Meta Platforms, Inc.
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/SeeBelow
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.) has the following positions in Houston, TX:
Network Engineer to Perform new deployments and maintenance including upgrades, migrations, and decommissioning of network infrastructure. (ref. code(s) REQ-2401-131298: $137218- $156000).
Individual pay is determined by skills, qualifications, experience, and
location. Compensation details listed in this posting reflect the base
salary only, and do not include bonus or equity or sales incentives,
if applicable. In addition to base salary, Meta offers benefits. Learn
more about benefits at Meta at this link:
https://www.metacareers.com/facebook-life/benefits
For full information & to apply online, visit us at the following
website https://www.metacareers.com/jobs & search using the
ref code(s) above.

VICE PRESIDENT - OPERATIONS

Proceanic, Ltd.
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Proceanic, Ltd. in Houston, Texas seeks a Vice President Operations. Responsibilities include planning, directing, and
coordinating strategic and corporate management for Remotely
Operated Vehicle (ROV) activities serving offshore construction
and maintenance projects. Duties include developing and
implementing corporate technical policies and strategies across
the organization, developing high-quality working relationships
with clients, strategic management of personnel and equipment,
corporate management and enforcement of HSE systems and
procedures, management of HSE and Risk Management systems,
policies, procedures, and activities, and management of ROV
Supervisors. Additionally responsible for Offshore ROV and
other Robotic Inspection Management Activities. International
and domestic travel required 50% of the time. Email resume to:
shamm@proceanic.com REF: VPO

AI AND MACHINE LEARNING ENGINEER IV

Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Spring, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Hewlett Packard Enterprise advances the way people live and
work. HPE is accepting resumes for the position of AI and Machine
Learning Engineer IV in Spring, TX (Ref. #7586043). Develops and
programs integrated software algorithms to structure, analyze and
leverage structured and unstructured data in product and systems
applications. Can work with large scale computing frameworks, data
analysis systems, and modeling environments. Telecommuting is
permissible. Salary Range: $173,349 - $256,000. Variable incentives
may also be offered. Information about employee benefits offered
can be found at https://myhperewards.com/main/new-hire-enrollmen
t.html. E-Mail resume to Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company,
global.employee.mobility@hpe.com. Resume must include Ref. #, full
name, email address & mailing address. No phone calls. Must
be legally authorized to work in U.S. without sponsorship. EOE.

BUSINESS ANALYST, STRATEGY AND TRANSACTIONS
(S&T) (STRATEGY & OPERATIONS - INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY) (MANAGER) (MULTIPLE POSITIONS)
Ernst & Young U.S. LLP
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Business Analyst, Strategy and Transactions (S&T) (Strategy &
Operations - Information Technology) (Manager) (Multiple
Positions), Ernst & Young U.S. LLP, Houston, TX. Serve as a
Strategy & Operations professional to prepare and execute
mergers and acquisition plans to maximize synergies and financial
benefits from transactions focusing on the technology functional
area. Willingness and ability to travel up to 80%, may be national
or international. Employer will accept any suitable combination of
education, training, or experience. $195,000.00 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 Number - 1483419).

HSE LEAN ENGINEER

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Compressor
International Corporation
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

HSE Lean Engineer (Houston, TX) Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Compressor International Corporation: Stay informed of plant
activities on 7x24 hr basis for HSSE need & plan ahead for
necessary levels of spprt. Prfrm on campus training of 5S & HSE
topics. Position reqs 5% domestic travel to customer locs. Master’s
or equiv in Mechanical or Industrial Eng’g. Position does not req
specific yrs of exp but reqs listed skills. Skills req’d: Manufacturing
production line process; Quality control process; Process control;
Root cause analysis; Occupational health or safety in a
manufacturing or construction setting. Employer will accept any
amount of grad coursework, grad research exp or prof’l exp w/
req’d skills. Send resume to jacob.shrull.tq@mhi.com. Specify
req: YA-CC-HSELE-24

QUANTITATIVE ANALYST

Willy, Nanayakkara & Associates
Sugar Land, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Quantitative Analyst - Willy, Nanayakkara & Associates (Sugar
Land, TX), Dvlp, analyze, & implement statistical models for a
firm’s financial strategies by applying math & accntng techniques.
Min Reqs: Mser’s deg in Finance, Math or Statistics + 1 yr exp in
the job offered or as a Business Research Analyst or
Financial/Accounting Analyst engaged in handling large dataset
& complex database w/the ability to interpret, analyze & transform
info using MS Excel & PowerPoint. Must have 1 yr of exp in
collecting data, financial reporting & setting up payment workflows
on fintech platforms such as Law Pay & PayPal. Must have 1 yr of
exp working w/CRM system workflow & translate biz reqmnts into
working solutions w/integration diagrams & flowcharts. Must have
strong analytical & problem-solving skills & be able to maint the
highest level of confidentiality. Email resume to: careers@grwpc.com

SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS

Ikon-Tech Services, LLC
Houston,TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS: Houston,TX & various unanticipated
locations thru-out U.S.: Invlv in all phases of SDLC. Anlz, dsgn,
dvlp, impl sw apps. Dvlp scripts to crte db objt & trans data btn
dbs. Dvlp sw sys test & valdtn prcedrs. Prfm code rvw & dbug
prototype dsgn. Trbshot, idtfy & fix defects.(252): Skills req’d:
Java, J2EE, Python, Oracle, GIT, Jira, AWS & SQL Server.(260):
Skills req’d: C#, .NET, ASP.NET, MVC, Web Services API, Bootstrap,
Jenkins & MySQL.(251): Skills req’d: Salesforce.com, SOQL, SOSL,
Visual Force, Apex Classes, Custom Objects, Eclipse, Data Loader &
Web services. ALL JOBS: Master’s in Sci, Tech, Comp Apps or Engg
(any) w/ 6mon exp in job off’d or rltd occup req’d. Bachelor’s +5 yrs
exp is ok in lieu of Masters +6 mos of exp. Any suitable combo of
edu, training, or exp is ok. Mail CV: Ikon-Tech Services, LLC. 6100
Corporate Dr. Ste.550, Houston TX 77036.

DIRECTOR, SAP CONSULTING

PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory
Services LLC
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Director, SAP Consulting, PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory
Services LLC, Houston, TX. Asst clnts by maxmzng the value of
their SAP invstmnt with offrngs that address sales, fin, spply
chain, engg, & human capital. Req. Bach’s deg or foreign equiv in
Bus Admin, Engg, Comp Sci, Info Sys, or rel + 7 yrs of rel wrk exp,
of whch at least 5 yrs must be post-bach’s, prgssv rel wrk exp; OR
a Master’s deg or foreign equiv in Bus Admin, Engg, Comp Sci, Info
Sys or rel + 5 yrs of rel wrk exp. 80% telecommtng permitted. Mst be
able to commute to designated local office. Dmstc &/or int. trvl up to
80% req. Please apply by sending your resume to
US_PwC_Career_Recruitment@pwc.com, specifying Job Code
TX3945 in the subject line.

RED CEDAR GATHERING COMPANY

•Project Engineer I
•Senior Project Engineer
Ignacio, CO
See Below To Apply

Positions are responsible for providing engineering and project
mgmt related to planning, design, cost estimating, detailed
scheduling, AFE development, procurement specifications, and
construction handover packages of new facilities as well as the
optimization of existing company facilities for the gathering,
compression, treating, and processing of natural gas. BS degree in
an Engineering discipline with 5-12 years’ experience in hydrocarbon
processing, compression, and pipeline facility design. Both positions
must have advanced knowledge in a MS Windows environment and
knowledge of Process Safety Management
development/implementation. Closing date: 5:00 pm 03/01/2024.
For job details and to apply, visit: www.sugf.com

ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT, INSURANCE
UNDERWRITING

Everest National Insurance Company, Inc. Edu Req/See Below
Houston, TX
Yrs Exp/See Below
See Below To Apply
Full-Time
Everest National Insurance Company, Inc. seeks Assistant Vice President, Insurance Underwriting (Houston, TX) (R4883). Dvlp & implmt
undrwrtng strtgs that idntfy prftbl mrkt opts in the envrnmntl &
enrgy busns, new prdct dvlpmt, postve agnt rltshps, oprtnl reqmnts
& fncl assesmnts in collbrtn w/ the exctv team. Min reqs: Bach dgr
(U.S. or frgn eqvl) in fince, econ or rel fld & 6 yrs of prgrssvly resp,
pst-bcclrt exp in job offrd or rltd insrnce undrwrtng postn in the
enrgy or envrnmntl indsty. Dmstc trvl req apprx 25% of the yr. May
telcmmt 3 dys/wk frm w/in the Houston, TX area. Apply online at
https://www.everestre.com/Careers. Click on view job openings,
select Houston, TX for location & search by job title.

CLOUD DEVELOPER III

Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Spring, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Hewlett Packard Enterprise advances the way people live and
work. HPE is accepting resumes for the position of Cloud Developer
III in Spring, TX (Ref. #7112960). Design and implement cloud
applications for company’s SDWAN offering. Telecommuting is
permitted. Salary Range: $160,588.84/year - $214,000.00/year.
Variable incentives may also be offered. Information about employee
benefits offered can be found at https://myhperewards.com/main/
new-hire-enrollment.html. E-Mail resume to Hewlett Packard
Enterprise Company, global.employee.mobility@hpe.com. Resume
must include Ref. #, full name, email address & mailing address.
No phone calls. Must be legally authorized to work in U.S. without
sponsorship. EOE.

ACQUISITION AUTOMATION SOFTWARE ARCHITECT

Schlumberger Technology Corporation
Sugar Land, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Schlumberger Technology Corporation seeks an Acquisition
Automation Software Architect to work in Sugar Land, Texas.
Telecommuting permitted 2 days per week. Responsible for utilizing
knowledge of well-site acquisition software tools and processes to
develop architectural contributions to projects in the critical design
or evaluation phase, ensuring that the project addresses the
business and integration objectives of the Product Line. Collaborate
on and maintain the architectural artifacts for a project prior to
feasibility launch, consisting of design model, architecture
document, architectural bootstrapping session, assessment and
working prototype of a candidate architecture. Telecommuting
permitted 2 days per week. Apply online at
https://apply.slb.com/careers/job/563499715521597?domain=
slb.com.

MANAGER, ACTUARIAL SERVICES

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Manager, Actuarial Services (Mult Pos), PricewaterhouseCoopers
LLP, Houston, TX. Hlp clnts with actuarial mdrnztn, prcss imprvmnt,
risk & capital mgmt, deals, & fin rprtng. Req. Bach’s deg or foreign
equiv in Actuarial Sci, Stats, Econ, Maths, Bus Admin, or rel + 5 yrs
of post-bach’s rel wrk exp; OR a Master’s deg or foreign equiv in
Actuarial Sci, Stats, Econ, Maths, Bus Admin, or rel + 3 yrs rel
wrk exp. Cert(s) req: Fellow of Society of Actuaries (FSA) &/or
Associate of the Society of Actuaries (ASA). 80% telecommtng
permitted. Mst be able to commute to designated local office.
Dmstc &/or int. trvl up to 20% req. Please apply by sending your
resume to US_PwC_Career_Recruitment@pwc.com, specifying Job
Code TX3991 in the subject line.

B10 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

CAREER RESCUE

Get a resume through hiring process with good strategy
Q: I quit my job two
years ago and am ready
to go back to work.
Even though the market seems hot right
now, it takes longer
than I expected to land
KIMBERLY
THOMPSON a job. I would think my
background in operations and management would be a
plus for employers.
While staying home, I lost my
industry connections, and my job
search skills were rusty. What can I
do to ensure my resume is getting
through the hiring process?
A: One of the challenges in getting
back to work after an absence can be
your confidence in how to land a job.
When you lose connections with your
colleagues, you can often feel lost, combined with a sense of doubt about restarting your career.
The good news is it is never too late
to restart your job search. While people
connections are significant throughout
your career, you need to use other strategies as well.
Such as understanding the applicant
tracking systems (ATS) used when
applying for jobs and how to give your
resume the best chance of getting
through the process.
It takes a lot of planning to conduct
an effective job search, with the
continued evolution of social media

playing a larger role.
Keep in mind that any time you send
in your resume or present your information on a social platform, using
keywords should be in your strategy.
There is often a love/hate relationship with applicant tracking systems.
The idea behind the software systems
is to help employers with their recruiting process.
For example, 99% of Fortune 500
companies utilize ATS to help with the
volume of applicants.
ATS software will scan your resume
for things such as keywords, skills,
certifications, college degrees, credentials, and terms used in the job posting.
Highlight key skills or words used in
the job posting and include them
throughout your resume.
The goal is to reflect what the employer is looking for in the job posting.
While you may meet the requirements
and qualifications of the job posting, if
you leave out the skills listed in the job
description, your resume could easily
be excluded.
Here are some ways to update your
resume and make it ATS friendly, making it past the tracking system and into
a pool of qualified candidates:
• Always tailor your resume to the job
description in meeting the employer’s
needs listed.
• Spend time researching the company
for jargon, industry buzz words men-

Shutterstock

tioned in their information to use in
your resume content.
• Avoid the temptation to embellish
your qualifications. If you get selected
for an interview, chances are high the
employer will want to discuss your
experience and skills.
• Keep your format simple.

Be mindful that applicant tracking
systems (ATS) will likely be your resume’s first encounter with an employer.
A resume that effectively uses keywords and phrases is a must if you
want to get past the first line of
defense.

Learn 5 reasons why you can land the job you want
BY KIMBERLY THOMPSON

ground. When answering questions
during an interview or responding to a
job posting, give examples where you
can back up your contributing skills.
For example, making a statement about
your leadership without giving proof by
using results is just a statement.
Those who land jobs faster know
that using figures and facts to back up
your words is more powerful.
Employers remember facts rather than
broad statements.

Q: My goal is to find a new job in
the next couple of months that
keeps my interests and where I
can grow. I keep hearing that the
job market is tighter than in the
last couple of years. Most of my
friends are also searching, and I
believe the competition will be
strong. What advice could you give
me on landing a job?
A: There are some reasons as to why
people find good career opportunities
sooner than others. The speed at which
you land a job is not necessarily an indicator that it is the best job that meets
your goals.
Those who find jobs sooner usually
have a strong network of connections or
have been laying the groundwork for
months.
Regardless of the job market and
competition, there are five reasons you
could discover a job that offers growth
and meets your interests. Keep these in
mind when you start your search and
when you start work.
• Discovering career opportunities will be a mixture of both applying
for positions and accessing the hidden
job market. Most people who start a job
search will likely spend their time applying for posted jobs.
They often forget the hidden job
market, which has more opportunities
than imagined. Stanford University

• Stand out with a personal brand
that describes your unique combination
of skills.
While you may have the same
degrees, certifications, or experience as
other candidates, the distinguishing
factor will be the unique combination of
your abilities that makes you successful.
Take time to identify experiences that
make you unique.
Be sure to make a compelling reason
why employers want to hire you.
• Highlight your transferable
Shutterstock

Professor Mark Granovetter. is known
for his Strength of Weak Ties theory,
which states that you will likely find a
job through unexpected connec-tions
you do not know.
• Think like an employer. Most job
candidates think like someone looking
for a job rather than concentrating on
how to increase profitability and meet

Research is key
to a successful
job hunt today
By Kim Thompson
FREELANCE WRITER

Q: I wanted to get
your advice about researching employers.
Last year was a good
one for me, but my
employer wants everyone to return to the
office more days, and I
want a flexible schedule. I have started to
search and discovered
numerous jobs available closer to my home.
How important is it to
spend time gathering

information about an
employer without an
interview? I am trying
to make my job search
effective without
spending extra time.
A: A couple of years
ago, working from home
was often considered a
perk rather than a permanent shift in the workplace. Most employers
are aware that employees
find remote work beneficial to them. To help
retain talent, employers
appear more willing to

have conversations
around a flexible work
schedule. If you like your
job, it could be worthy of
a discussion before leaving.
Your research question
is an area that job candidates often set aside
without spending too
much time until an employer shows interest.
The challenge with that
approach is that you may
not like the work culture
or match the leadership
values.
Learning how to manage your career will pay
off in the long run.
Knowing what you are
looking for in a new employer is part of an effective job search and is
your map to a fulfilling

the needs of the business. It is a common occurrence that employers may not
read your entire resume, but instead
skim over it and rely on your answers
during the interview.
• Provide proof that you are the
best candidate. It can be a big mistake to
rely only on your resume accomplishments to sell your experience and back-

careerpathway.
As a job candidate, you
may have more opportunities now than in the
past. However, from a
career strategy point of
view — an abundance of
jobs does not always
equal a good career decision. Job-Hunt and partner site FlexJobs conducted a recent survey of
more than 2,200 people
aimed at job seeker’s
perspectives in the fastchanging jobs landscape.
The report found that
69% of respondents believe that looking at
photos or videos of a
workplace or team is not
that important when
evaluating a job.
More than half of the
respondents did not look

skills. While others might not go after
positions because they need to gain all
the skills required to do the job, you,
on the other hand, should focus on
transferable skills.
These skills can easily be transerred to different industries and roles.
Do not make the career mistake of
letting a position of interest pass you
by because you need to have all the
skills listed.

at the work culture of an
employer when considering working there. This
type of belief is a mistake
that could be avoided by
taking time to conduct
research. Accepting a
position only to leave it a
few months later is not a
good career plan.
Researching employers
before an interview is
beneficial to you in several ways. It adds to your
confidence in knowing
their products and the
company’s mission and
gives you talking points
when building rapport
with decision-makers.
But one of the greatest
benefits of research is
determining if the business culture matches
your interests. When you

consider moving to a new
job, there is more to your
decision than the technical aspects of performing the job.
Working with an approachable team combined with a good working atmosphere adds
immeasurable satisfaction. The time spent researching is always a
good plan and will help
you prevent mistakes
instead of making one
that could cost you.
Kimberly Thompson,
M.Ed., is a national boardcertified counselor and
career coach. Send questions to kim@careerrescue.com or visit her blog at
houstonchronicle.com/careers.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 B11

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

MARINE SURVEYOR (F/T)

Pacmarine Services LLC
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Marine Surveyor (F/T): Conduct OCIMF SIRE vetting inspections
on oil tankers & chemical tanker & Rightship Inspection on dry
bulk vessels; perform ship safety inspections & conduct risk
assessments based on local/international regs & industry best
practices, especially in regard to potential safety & pollution
hazards; conduct navigation audits on client operated vessels;
ensure that ship-to-ship operation is carried out safely & efficiently;
review inspection reports & communicate w/ clients. Associate’s
Degree in Mathematics or any Science + 2 yrs work exp in job
offered, SIRE Category 1 Inspector, or marine consultant. Job loc:
Houston, TX. Mail resumes: Attn: HR, Pacmarine Services LLC,
505 N Sam Houston Pkwy E, #390, Houston, TX 77396.

TRANSPORTATION ENGINEER

Transcend Engineers & Planners, Inc.
Katy, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Transportation Engineer (Katy, TX): Conduct intersection
operational/capacity analysis/demand modeling/traffic impact
analysis/data analysis/safety analysis/preparing summary of
results/report writing/ GIS mapping. Traffic data calculations in
Excel/programming languages. Dvlp/review proj reltd docs/reports.
Reqs. Mstr’s deg in Civil eng. w/emphasis on Transp Engrg or
Transp Eng. 1 yr relev exp. Reqs exp in Advanced Statistical Data
Analysis using Python & R/Data Scraping/Machine
Learning/Computer Vision using C++ or Python/Unity
3D/Micro/Macro Traffic Modeling using VISSIM/AIMSUN. Mail
resume to Transcend Engineers & Planners, Inc. 23410 Grand
Reserve Dr. Ste. 101, Katy, TX 77494

CORPORATE PROJECT MANAGER

Mexilink, Inc.
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Mexilink, Inc. seeks in Houston, TX: Corporate Project Manager with
a Bachelor’s degree or foreign equivalent degree in Business Admin.,
Business Mgmt., Industrial Design, or Industrial Engineering, and two
years of experience in the job offered or substantially similar position managing internal and external partner teams in execution of
complex global product innovation and new product development
(NPD) projects; and analyzing industry and internal performance
data to develop strategies and frameworks for building and executing
market launch projects and long-range project planning consistent
with the company’s resource planning, financial, and growth
objectives. Resume to Cynthia Ramos at mexilinkjobs@mexilink.com.

MANAGER, CORPORATE TAX (MULT POS)

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Manager, Corporate Tax (Mult Pos), PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP,
Houston, TX. Hlp clnts meet their tax obligatns while mngng the
impct tax has on their bus. Req Bach’s deg or foreign equiv in
Acct, Bus Admin, Taxation or rel + 5 yrs post-bach’s, prgrssv rel
wrk exp; OR Master’s deg or foreign equiv in Acct, Bus Admin,
Taxation or rel + 3 yrs rel wrk exp. Certs Req: US CPA lic or foreign
equiv, Enrolled Agent or Member of Bar. 80% telecommtng prmttd.
Mst be able to commute to designated local office. Domestic &/or
int. trvl up to 20% req. Please apply by sending your resume to US_
PwC_Career_Recruitment@pwc.com, specifying Job Code TX3984 in
the subject line.

QUALITY MANAGER

Pinnacle Machine Holdings LLC
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

(Pinnacle Machine Holdings LLC has an opening in Houston,
TX) Quality Manager: Design, implement, & maintain quality
assurance controls for coupling production workshop & pipe &
tubing threading/processing & inspection facility. Req. Master’s
degree in Metallurgical Engr. or a related field & 2 yrs. exp. 2 yrs.
must include exp. with development & implementation of Quality
Management Systems, Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG),
ultrasonic testing, & pressurized hydrotesting. To apply visit:
https://pinnaclemw.com/contact-us/ - click on “Click HERE” for
job openings, select the referenced job Quality Manager and
complete “Apply Now”.

STAFF ENGINEER

Kenall, Inc
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Prep. bid docs, construction schedule, specs for design proj until
letting; Prep. RFI response, change orders on construction drawings,
proj reports & cost and support client until closeout; Develop
documtn. like tech’l memo to assess damages for natural disasters
& obtain funding for mitigation against hazards for critical
infrastructure incl. consolidation / relocation alternatives;
Determine flood elevations using flood profiles, ArcGIS, FEMA
maps. Req. MS in Civil Engg. w/1 yr. exp. as EIT & CFM Certifn.
Travel require w/in TX State.
Mail Resume to HR, Kenall, Inc 2500 City West Blvd, #700, Houston,
TX 77042

TECHNICAL

Cisco Systems, Inc.
Spring, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Cisco Systems, Inc. is accepting resumes for multiple positions in
Spring, TX: Consulting Engineer (Ref#: SPR102A): Provide network
planning, design, implementation, operation, and optimization of
company’s networking systems. Telecommuting permitted. Site
Reliability Engineer (Ref#: SPR178A): Identify threats to company
organization and maintain the performance of company product.
Telecommuting permitted. Please email resumes including position’s
reference number in subject line to Cisco Systems, Inc. at
amsjobs@cisco.com. No phone calls please. Must be legally
authorized to work in the U.S. without sponsorship. EOE.
www.cisco.com

MARKETING MANAGER

DM Clinical Research
Houston, TX
See Below to Apply

Ed pref/See Below
Yrs exp/See Below
Full-Time

DM Clinical Research seeks a Marketing Manager in its 7908 North
Sam Houston Pkwy W, Ste 200, Houston, TX 77064 location to Identify B2B & B2C mktg strategies, maximizing co. objectives; Continually recalibrate mktg prgms; Coord w/ vendor; Dvlp trial specific
mktg & engagement initiatives; Manage resources with respect to
budgeted goals. Candidate should have a Bach’s deg in Mgmt or its
foreign equiv & sixty months of progressive exp in the job offered or
related field of Mktg. Int’l exp, or exp working w/ dispersed teams is
strongly preferred. Resume: Jacki Strack, 7908 North Sam Houston
Pkwy W, Ste 200, Houston, TX 77064.

PROJECT ENGINEER

CONSOR Engineers, LLC
Houston TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Project Engineer for Houston, TX to utlze cvl eng theories & prctcs
to pln, dsgn & execute eng prjcts. Requires Bachelor’s in Civil
Engineering or closely-related field & 2 yrs experience wrkng on
eng prjcts dlvrd thru dsgn-bd-bld &/or dsgn-bld mthds; wrking
w/ fdrl & state brdg dsgn stndrds, incl AASHTO LRFD stndrds; dvlpng
dsgn drwngs; dsgnng brdg cmpnts, incl cncrte sprstrctres
& sbstrctrs; prfrmng brdg ld ratngs; dvlpng cnstrctn stgng anysis;
usng LEAP Bridge, CSiBridge, BridgeLink, LPILE, spColumn, VBA,
AutoCad and/or MicroStation s/w pkgs. Mail resume to K. Washington, CONSOR Engineers, LLC, 15310 Park Row, Houston TX 77084.

SALES AND NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
REPRESENTATIVE PVA/PVOH

Kuraray America Inc
Houston TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Kuraray America Inc seeks Sales and New Business Development
Representative PVA/PVOH in Houston TX to identify leads for
increased sales of PVA/PVOH products. Requires up to 40%
domestic and 10% intl travel. May telecommute but must reside
near Houston, TX. Need Bachelor’s degree in Business Admin,
Mktg, or related field + 5 years’ experience as a sales/service
representative in chem indus. Need Lean Six Sigma Green Belt
certification. Apply: http://www.kuraray.us.com/careers/.

ENGINEER IN TRAINING

CONSOR Engineers, LLC
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Engineer in Training for Houston, TX to supprt planning & dsgn of
rdwys, hghwys and trnsprt infrstrctr. Requires Bachelor’s in Civil
Eng or closely-related fld & 6 months exp rvwng rdwy & hghwy
dsgn plns usng CAD; prprng &/or rvwng plns, specs & estmts;
rvwng bld plns & schmtcs; prprng tchncl rprts, specs & cst estmts;
rvwng pvmnt dsgn per AASHTO stndrds; cndctng road & brdg
cnstrctn inspctns; dvlpng cnstrctn schdls. Mail resume to K.
Washington, CONSOR Engineers, LLC, 15310 Park Row, Houston,
TX 77084.

A&D ADVANCE CUSTOMS LLC TINT WORLD Edu Req/See Below
MISSOURI CITY,TX
Yrs Exp/See Below
See Below To Apply
Full-Time
Office Manager(MISSOURI CITY,TX) organizing office operations
and procedures, preparing payroll,Resolve and respond to customers,
making reports ,scheduling the staffs,Maintain records pertaining to
inventory, personnel, orders, supplies. High School/GED.18 month
experience as Office Manager or similar Knowledge or experince of
Tracking budget expenses,Staffing, Inventory control,Reporting skills,
customer service, managing files and records.microsoft
office- A&D ADVANCE CUSTOMS LLC TINT WORLD-contact
Store049@tintworld.com

PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT

ERM, Inc.
Houston, TX
See Below to Apply

ConocoPhillips Company
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

ConocoPhillips Company in Houston, TX seeks to fill the position
of Crude Optimization Trader to manage ConocoPhillips’ Lower
48 Canadian/heavy marketing activity including rail and pipeline
optimization into Cushing, Gulf Coast and international markets
and to assist with determining economics of the Diluent Recovery
Unit facility in Port Arthur, optimizing the entire logistical chain
and determining best potential re-blends with Canadian bitumen.
To apply, please email resume to recruitment@conocophillips.com.
Must reference job # 6407.2433.14.

CHEMISTRY TEACHER

Harmony Public Schools
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Chemistry Teacher (Houston, TX): Teach Chemistry at secondary
school. Bachelors in Chem, Chem Edu or Chem Eng.+1 yr exp as
Chem teacher at sec. sch. Mail res.: Harmony Public Schools, 9321
W Sam Houston Pkwy S Houston, TX 77099, Attn: HR, Refer to
Ad#ASO

Ed pref/See Below
Yrs exp/See Below
Full-Time

Principal Consultant (ERM, Inc., Houston, TX): Supp biz leadrs
in selctn, config, impl & sustnmt of EHS & EHS&S MIS. Reqs BS
(or frgn eqv) in Envir Sci, IT, or rel’d fld & 5 yrs exp as Envir IT
Consltnt, EMIS Conlstnt or rel’d occu. Prtl WFH bnft avail. ~10%
dmstc trvl req. Apply: https://erm.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/
en-US/ERM_Careers/job/Houston-Texas/PrincipalConsultant_R00021794?q=principal%20consultant&locationHierarch
y2=4d7d7c99b7b101cb45abcca12228c448

PROJECT ENGINEER

Global Edge Consultants, LLC
The Woodlands, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Global Edge Consultants, LLC, The Woodlands, TX seeks a
Project Engineer that will be responsible for managing and directing
cost, material and labor estimates for engineering projects within
the vertical energy sector including but not limited to Oil & Gas,
Renewables, Civil Engineering, and Environmental. Assists other
engineering project management strategies, design, purchasing,
and procurement responsibilities to ensure a high level of customer
satisfaction is maintained. Travel U.S. required 10% of the time
Email resume to: kirsten@globaledgegroup.com. REF: SCEJ

P.R. SPECIALIST

Kabob Korner Inc.
Houston, TX
See Below to Apply

Ed pref/See Below
Yrs exp/See Below
Full-Time

Kabob Korner Inc. seeks a P.R. Specialist in its 12039 Antoine Dr,
Houston, TX 77066 location to Post content on the company’s Web
site and social media; Study the objectives to develop public relations strategies that will influence public opinion; Plan or conduct
market or public opinion research to test, communicating results to
management. Candidate should have a high school diploma or its
foreign equivalent and twenty-four months of experience in the job
offered or related field of marketing. Mail Resume: Syed Ali, 12039
Antoine Dr, Houston, TX 77066.

SENIOR APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT SCIENTISTS,
MEDICAL TEXTILES

Ascend Performance Materials
Operations LLC
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Ascend Performance Materials Operations LLC seeks Senior
Application Development Scientists, Medical Textiles to work in
Houston, Texas, to create and develop new fiber solutions for the
apparel, industrial, consumer and medical textiles industry. Interact
with customers at a technical level and translate fundamental
application needs into product solutions. May telecommute.
Must apply online at: https://www.ascendmaterials.com/work/.

SENIOR CONSULTANT

FTI, LLC
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

FTI, LLC: Senior Consultant – Houston, TX. Provide overall
project cost, schedule, estimating, progress measurement, &
change management expertise. Job req a Bachelor’s. in Engg,
Construction Management, Comp Sci and 3 yrs of project controls
exp in any job title focused on cost control, estimating, planning
& schedule control. Req up to 25% domestic and intl travel to
client work sites for projects/engagements. Slry $99,736$120,000/yr. Send cover letter/resume identifying job code AJ to
GMJobs@FTIConsulting.com. No calls.

SENIOR MANAGER, CONTRACTS/MARKETING

Precision Drilling Company, LP
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Precision Drilling Company, LP has an opening for a Senior
Manager, Contracts/Marketing in Houston, TX to create competitive
bids and win contracts with customers while maintaining customer
satisfaction and growth. Deliver results through a professional
sales process using formal techniques to drive growth in strategic
and targeted accounts. Position requires travel to various,
unanticipated sites throughout U.S. May telecommute. To
apply, send resume to Aron Ferchuk at 10350 Richmond Avenue,
Suite 700, Houston, TX 77042 and reference job #11507.32.9.

SOFTWARE DEVELOPER(S)

Atser Systems, Inc.
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Atser Systems, Inc., is looking to hire Software Developer(s) to
test, analyze & integrate systems for IT applications; analyze
business procedures & data processing problems; convert business
requirements to electronic code & provide constructive feedback
to enhance code quality; and identify and resole technical issues
and bugs. Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science/IT/Engineering
with 1+yrs of experience in Software Development required.
Qualified applicants mail resume to: Human Resources, Atser
Systems, 1150 Richcrest Dr., Houston, TX 77060.

DIRECTORS (MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS)

Alvarez & Marsal Private Equity
Performance Improvement Group
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Directors (Management Consultants) w/ Alvarez & Marsal Private
Equity Performance Improvement Group in Houston, TX. Work
alongside other A&M professionals to lead and deliver large,
complex client engagements. Domestic travel approx. up to 75%
of time. Apply online and see position requirements at
www.alvarezandmarsal.com Job#: 202400316. An EOE/AAE
employer.

ELECTRICAL ENGINEER

Infinity MEP Consultants PLLC
Houston TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Responsible for the design, drawings, specifications, calculation,
sizing, and selection of electrical systems and equipment; and direct
and manage the interface between Engineering and the other
disciplines on the project including Architecture, Project Controls,
Structural Engineering, Civil Engineering, and the Client Team.
Requires: Bachelor’s in electrical engineering. Mail resume to:
Infinity MEP Consultants PLLC, 10260 Westheimer Road #400
Houston TX 77042.

HighRadius Corporation
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

HighRadius Corporation seeks Implementation Engineer to work
in Houston, TX to conduct process analysis, design, and optimization
during the implementation of company’s intelligence solutions to
ensure complex product implementation in multiple verticals.
Need Master’s degree in Engineering, Technology or Management
w/combined knowledge and technologies. Upload resumes to
https://www.highradius.com/about/careers/. Must put job
code (RFF24-01) on resume.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CONSULTANTS

Clinical Trial Network LLC
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

LEAD SOFTWARE ENGINEER (MULT POS)

New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc.
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Lead Software Engineer (Mult Pos), New York Mercantile Exchange,
Inc., Houston, TX. Indpndntly engnr secure, scalable & reliable tech
sols to advnc CME Grp in the glbl mrktplc & srv risk mngmnt needs
of custmrs arund the wrld. Req Bach’s deg, or foreign equiv, in Info
Tech, Comp Sci, Info Sys, Elctrcl Engg, Comp Engg or a rel, + eight
(8) yrs of post-bach, prgrssv, rel wrk exp in sftwr dvlpmnt.
Telecmmtng prmttd within Texas.To apply, please email resume to:
Careers@cmegroup.com and reference: TX0045.

MULTIPLE POSITIONS

OFFICE MANAGER

IMPLEMENTATION ENGINEER

CRUDE OPTIMIZATION TRADER

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Clinical Trial Network LLC has two full time positions of Information
Technology Consultants in Houston Texas, M-F, Duties include Advise and suggest information technology solutions, test technology,
advise on software and hardware, content and upgrade systems,
train users, diagnose issues and understand customer Requirement.
Manage IT initiative. Masters in Business or Finance or IT plus 12
months or Bachelors plus five years experience required. Mail
Resume to HR 7080 Southwest Freeway Houston Texas 77074.

CINDERELLA NAILS AND
SPA CORPORATION
Pearland, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Receptionist: Greet customers, determine nature and purpose of
visit. Schedule appointments and update appointment calendars.
High School Edu req’d.
Janitor: Keep facility in clean and orderly condition. Requisition
supplies or equipment needed for cleaning and maintenance duties.
No edu/exp req’d. Send resume to Cinderella Nails and Spa
Corporation. 1849 Pearland Parkway #104, Pearland, TX 77581

OPERATIONS MANAGER

Winport Group LLC
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Operations Manager, Rug Department. Direct and coordinate the
operations of the rug dept. at a retailer of classic Mediterranean
home furniture. Coordinate activities concerned with the purchase,
import, logistics, and pricing of rugs, esp. from Turkey. Negotiate prices. Inspect samples. Monitor suppliers. Oversee in-store rug
layout. Mail resume to Winport Group LLC, 3226 Hillcroft St.,
Houston, TX 77057, Attn: Mr. Duran. Refer to Ad#HC. Job in
Houston.

SENIOR F&PA ANALYST

ConocoPhillips Company
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

ConocoPhillips Company in Houston, TX seeks to fill the position
of Senior F&PA Analyst to serve as a key member of the Finance
team within the Corporate Staffs Finance organization and directly
support the Global Exploration organization and other technical
functions as well as support all areas of F&PA including financial
analysis, reporting, budgeting, and forecasting. To apply, please
email resume to recruitment@conocophillips.com. Must reference job
# 6407.2465.2.

SPECIALIST ACCOUNTING & EXTERNAL REPORTING

Woodside Energy USA Services Inc.
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Woodside Energy USA Services Inc. has an opening for
Specialist Accounting & External Reporting in Houston, TX to
perform governance oversight ensuring compliance with
Accounting Policies, SOX and Core Controls. Liaise with Global
Shared Services, Treasury & Banking, Supply, Finance Business
Partners, and respond to queries as required. Send resume to
Global Mobility at 1500 Post Oak Blvd, Houston, Texas 77056
and reference job# A114.520.

SR. ENGINEER RELIABILITY

Celanese Corporation
Pasadena, TX
See Below To Apply

Education: Unspecified
Yrs. Exp: Unspecified
Full-Time

Sr. Engineer Reliability needed by Celanese Corporation in
Pasadena, TX to improve the safety, reliability, and efficiency
of plant assets through the application of engineering expertise
in providing effective, solutions to reliability and maintenance
issues. Apply at https://www.celanese.com/careers, select
SEARCH FOR ROLES and enter job number: 17729 or e-mail
resume to Kayla Hudson at Kayla.Hudson@celanese.com and
reference job number: 17729.

TECHNOLOGY ANALYSTS

Surge Technology Solutions Inc
Katy, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Technology Analysts: Analyze highly complex business
requirements; generate technical specifications to design or
redesign complex software components and applications for
Financial, Telecom, Healthcare Industries. Jobs based in
Katy, TX but require travel/relocation to various unanticipated
client locations throughout the U.S. Email resume to
hr@surgetechinc.com or mail to Surge Technology Solutions
Inc, 26622 Cook Field Road, Suite 100, Katy, TX-77494. No Walk-ins.

DATA INTEGRATION DEVELOPER

ConocoPhillips Company
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

ConocoPhillips Company in Houston, TX seeks to fill the position
of Data Integration Developer to work within the Operations and
Production capability and be responsible for designing and
building data integrations from source systems into applications,
warehouses, and analytics environments. To apply, please email
resume to recruitment@conocophillips.com. Must reference
job # 6407.2467.7

GENERAL MANAGER

Unity Four 4800 Business LLC
Alleyton, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Direct and coordinate sales and distribution, formulate policies,
staffing, purchasing, sales and promotion activities, operational
records, security measures and procedural changes. 2 yrs. exp as
a GM or Management required.
Mail Resume: Unity Four 4800 Business LLC; Attn: S. Mahesania,
4800 IH 10 West, Alleyton, TX 78935.

PRODUCT OWNER, TRANSACTIONAL PROCUREMENT

ConocoPhillips Company
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

ConocoPhillips Company in Houston, TX seeks to fill the position
of Product Owner, Transactional Procurement to serve as the
primary functional representative, Global Subject Matter Expert
and key decision maker for the design, build, and enhancement
of Supply Chain capabilities in the ERP (Enterprise Resource
Planning) solutions. To apply, please email resume to
recruitment@conocophillips.com. Must reference job # 6407.2426.4.

RETAIL BUYER

Samoo Enterprises LLC
Baytown, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Manage day-to-day purchasing activities for retail sales. Examine
buying trends and introduce new items. Monitor product availability
and inventory levels. Research vendors and negotiate contracts.
Maintain a list of approved vendors and approve payments. 2 years’
experience as Retail buyer or Sales req. Mail resumes: Samoo
Enterprises LLC, Attn: N. Lugo, 7710 Garth Rd. Suite # 400, Baytown,
TX 77521

SENIOR CFD ENGINEER

Reactor Eye Inc dba CPFD Software
Houston TX
See Below to Apply

Ed Req/See Below
Yrs exp/See Below
Full-Time

Senior CFD Engineer: use mechanical engineering principles to
develop, design & optimize equipment and support the software
development team. A master’s in mechanical engineering or
computer science is req’d; one year of experience as a mechanical
engineer is req’d. M-F, 40 hrs/wk send resume to Reactor Eye Inc
dba CPFD Software 13501 Katy Fwy #3505 Houston TX 77079 Attn
R. Barua

SENIOR SOLUTION CONSULTANT

AspenTech Corporation
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

AspenTech Corporation seeks Senior Solution Consultant to work
in Houston, TX with telecommuting benefit to identify customer
problems and understand their business and operational issues
by applying consultative skills in customer-facing situations.
Domestic (30%) and international (20%) travel required up to
50% of the time. Email resumes to jobs@aspentech.com and
include the job code AT-SSC in the subject line and on resume.

SOFTWARE DEVELOPER

Arthur Lawrence US LLC
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Arthur Lawrence US LLC seeks a Software Developer to work
in Houston, TX with telecommuting benefit. Design and build user
interfaces for applications to improve customer experience. Design
and code technical solutions in tools such as Angular/React JS,
Node.js, jQuery to deliver value to tax customers. Must apply
online at: https://jobs.arthurlawrence.net/Jobs/ERP_JobBoard.aspx.
Must put Requisition Number TAM_2019_01 on Resume.

B12 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

ACCOUNTANT

West Fuqua LLC
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Prepare month-end accounting journal entries, account
reconciliation, prepare financial and operational reports, payroll,
tax & govt. reporting, investigate outstanding issues, cashflow
management, and retail auditing. 2 years’ experience required.
Mail resume to West Fuqua LLC, Attn: I. Maredia, 3602 W. Fuqua
St., Houston, TX 77045

ACCOUNTING CLERK

Professional Traffic Control, LLC
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Werazon, Inc.
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Business Systems Analyst. Identify and analyze business problems to
implement solutions to software applications and system
administration issues. Analyze software functionality. Identify
needed IT requirements and functionalities. Verify adequacy of the
solution. Mail resume to Werazon, Inc., 7501 Harwin Dr., Suite 110B,
Houston, TX 77036, Attn: Mr. Okumus. Refer to Ad#TA.

ELECTRICAL ENGINEER/LEAD PERSON

DRAKE CONTROLS, LLC.
Houston, TX
See Below to Apply

Edu Req/See below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Electrical Engineer/Lead Person for DRAKE CONTROLS, LLC.
in Houston, TX: Will be focused on application development for
Governor, Compression & Power Generation Control products. Reqs:
Bach’s + 3 yrs. exp. Trvl: Harris County only. Mail resume: 8731
Fallbrook Dr., Houston, TX 77064. Ref. Job ID MW

ENDOD. ASSOCS

W. Houston Endodontics PLLC
(dba Contemporary Endodontics)
Houston TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

In search of Endod. Assocs. to examine, diagnose, and treat
diseases/injuries of human dental pulp/assoc. periadicular tissues.
D.D.S. or D.M.D., TX dental license, and CODA-accred. Endod.
Residency Prgm req’d. To apply, send resume to
katy@ceteamendo.com.

GENERAL MANAGER

SJD Gold & Diamonds LLC
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Direct and coordinate sales and distribution, formulate policies,
staffing, purchasing, sales and promotion activities, operational
records, security measures and procedural changes. 2 yrs. exp as
a GM or Management required. Mail resumes: SJD Gold & Diamonds
LLC; Attn: Mr. S. Keshwani, 7500 Bellaire Blvd #317, Houston, TX
77036

MARKETING SPECIALIST

Chad Car Care
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Hectom Industries, Inc.
Katy, TX
See Below To Apply

Kiewit Energy Group, Inc. has a role in Houston, TX. *Project
Engineer [KWT-HTX22-REBHU] – Perform engineering duties
in planning & designing tools, engines, machines, & mechanically
functioning equipment. 15-20% domestic and international as
needed. Resume to Kiewit.Recruit@kiewit.com & specify Job ID#
in the subject line. EOE

SALES SUPERVISOR

Klass Time Ltd.
Sugar Land, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Klass Time Ltd. has a role in Sugar Land, TX. Sales Supervisor
[KLA-TX23-JCBX] – Analyze market trends and data for food
and beverages categories; & define initiative and strategies for
customer growth. Travel to unanticipated worksites may be
required and anywhere in the U.S. Submit resume to
hrusa@klassco.com & note Job ID# in the subject line. EOE

SOFTWARE ENGINEER

JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Software Engineer – Houston, TX. Telecommuting permitted up
to 40% of the week. Design, develop & implement software
solutions on distributed enterprise platform. For reqs & to apply,
visit https://careers.jpmorgan.com & apply to job #: 210486879.
EOE, AAE, M/F/D/V. JPMorgan Chase & Co. All rights reserved.
www.jpmorganchase.com.

STATISTICAL BUSINESS ANALYSTS

Altus ACE Management LLC
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Altus ACE Management LLC seeks Statistical Business Analysts in
Houston, TX. Adapt statistical methods to provide business solution
processes to support the clinical, network, and operations teams.
Master’s degree required. Mail resume to Michael Mumma, Altus
ACE Management LLC, 11111 Wilcrest Green Dr., Suite 300, Houston,
TX 77042.

GENERAL MANAGER

La Porte Business Inc
Pasadena, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Direct and coordinate sales and distribution, formulate policies,
staffing, purchasing, sales and promotion activities, operational
records, security measures and procedural changes. 2 years exp. as
General Manager or Management required. Mail Resume: La Porte
Business Inc.; Attn: A. Ali, 2204 Red Bluff Rd., Pasadena, TX 77506.

GEOPHYSICS PRODUCT ARCHITECT

LMK Resources Inc.
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Daniel Albert Law Firm
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Responsible for greeting clients, answering calls, sorting mail, and
providing refreshments. No min. education or exp. req’d. Jobsite:
Houston, TX; Starting Salary $24,294/yr or $11.68/hr. Send cover
letter and resume to Daniel Albert Law Firm, 10925 Beechnut St
Ste A106, Houston, TX 77072.

PRINCIPAL SOFTWARE ENGINEERS

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Requires Bachelor degree in Marketing or Art Design plus at least
2-yr experience in position offered or as a marketing manager.
Mail resume to Hectom Industries, Inc. at job site 440 Cobia
Dr. Suite 204, Katy, TX 77494. Attn: Mr. Y. Zhang.

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

LMK Resources Inc. seeks Geophysics Product Architect to work
in Houston, Texas to develop and design proprietary geophysics
related software and tools. Master’s degree and relevant experience
required. 15% domestic travel required. Apply online at
www.lmkr.com or email resume to careers@lmkr.com.

LEGAL RECEPTIONIST

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Chad Car Care seeks Marketing Specialist in Houston, TX. Research
marketing opportunities; develop customer loyalty program; develop
customer satisfaction surveys; create company accounts on social
media; manage marketing budget; maintain customer portfolios.
Degree and experience required. Mail resume to Chad Daher, President, Chad Car Care, 8620 Richmond, Suite H, Houston, TX 77063.

MARKETING SPECIALIST

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

PURCHASING AGENT

Keystone Tile Inc.
Houston, TX
See Below to Apply

Ed pref/See Below
Yrs exp/See Below
Full-Time

Purchasing Agent. Acquire stone and tile products from suppliers
located in Turkey. Analyze price proposals. Negotiate with suppliers.
Prepare purchase orders. Mail resume to Keystone Tile, Inc., 12608
Hempstead Rd., Houston, TX 77092, Attn: Mr. Ceylan. Refer to
Ad#IC. Job in Houston.

TAX ASSOCIATE

Professional Traffic Control, LLC in Houston, TX seeks Accounting
Clerk to review time sheets for staff to attribute cost to various
projects and clients. Prepare payroll, financial records, tax
deductions, and insurance cost. Prepare reports. Education and
experience in accounting required. To apply, please mail resume
to ATTN: HR to 222 W. Little York Rd., Houston, TX 77076.

BUSINESS SYSTEMS ANALYST

PROJECT ENGINEER

Kiewit Energy Group, Inc.
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Pioneer Works Inc. dba Homebase
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Pioneer Works Inc. dba Homebase seeks Principal Software
Engineers in Houston, TX. Drive product engineering end-to-end
for the mobile software components that make up our product
platform. 100% telecommuting permitted within the Houston MSA.
Apply @ www.jobpostingtoday.com REF# 90727

Haynie & Company
The Woodlands, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Haynie & Company, Tax Associate, The Woodlands, TX: Prep
federal & state tax returns for individual, partnership, S corp,
C corp, trust, & not-for-profit filers. Full time. Equal
Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer. To apply, visit
https://www.hayniecpas.com/careers/ & search Job Title.

MARKET RESEARCH ANALYST

TransGlobal Insurance Agency, Inc.
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

TransGlobal Insurance Agency, Inc. seeks Market Research Analyst.
Bach. reqd. Research & prepare reports on mkt conditions. Work
site: Houston, TX. Salary $42,099/yr. Mail resume to: 185 W.
Chestnut Ave., Monrovia, CA 91016

MATH TEACHER

Harmony Public Schools
Katy, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Math Teacher (Katy, TX): Teach Math at secondary sch. Bachelors
in Math or Math Edu.+1 yr exp as Math tchr at mid or high sch. Mail
res.: Harmony Public Schools, 9321 W Sam Houston Pkwy S
Houston, TX 77099, Attn: HR, Refer to Ad# YE.

PSYCHIATRIST

Health Center of Southeast Texas
Cleveland, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Health Center of Southeast Texas needs Psychiatrist in Cleveland, TX
for treatment of mental illnesses and disorders, etc. Reqs: MD
or DO or foreign equivalent; have Texas medical license; 4 yrs
Psychiatry residency. Apply at bharwell@hcset.com.

SYSTEM ANALYST

Foxconn Assembly LLC
Houston, TX
See Below To Apply

Edu Req/See Below
Yrs Exp/See Below
Full-Time

Worksite: Houston, TX. Send resume to: Foxconn Assembly LLC.
8303 Fallbrook Dr. Houston, TX 77064, or Harlan.chen@fii-na.com

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know your
brand?
Reach millions of dedicated
shoppers when you advertise with
Houston Chronicle.
Place a digital ad today.

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SPORTS SUNDAY
HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 • SECTION C HHH

Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer

HOME DEFENSE
Jamal Shead and No. 3 UH deliver another physically dominant performance,
blowing out Texas and stretching its Fertitta Center winning streak to 19 games. C3

SOLOMON: COUGARS’ TENACITY ON DISPLAY IN ROUT OF LONGHORNS. C2

•

COMMITTEE’S BRACKET PREVIEW HAS UH AT NO. 3 OVERALL SEED. C3

TEXAS A&M

ROCKETS

ASTROS

ROLLED
BY TIDE

ALL-STAR
RESET

BOYS OF
SPRING

Mark Sears powers
No. 15 Alabama to a
blowout of Aggies.

Playoff hopes rest on
a quick bounce-back
after the break.

Stars Altuve, Alvarez
hit camp ahead of
full-squad workouts.

PAGE C4

PAGE C5

PAGE C7

C2 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

COLLEGE BASKETBALL
JEROME SOLOMON

Sampson’s Cougars put on another display
of elite tenacity with blowout win vs. Texas

Photos by Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer

Guard Emanuel Sharp scored 15 points and collected four of UH’s 13 steals as the Cougars topped Texas 82-61 to secure a series sweep of the Longhorns.

TOUGHER THAN THE REST
Scrappy isn’t a favored compliment in modern basketball.
Players would prefer to be
described as skilled.
But scrappiness is one of
UH’s skills.
Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars
play basketball on an advanced-tech court like they’re
playing on dirt with hula
hoops and jump ropes.
Dust flying everywhere.
They attack the ball relentlessly. Hands, feet, elbows,
knees, the Cougars will throw
whatever it takes to make the
game difficult for an opponent.
Saturday, it was the Texas
Longhorns’ turn to get caught
in the dust storm. As you
might imagine, it wasn’t pretty.
The Cougars treated a
standing-room-only, record
crowd of 7,904 at the Fertitta
Center to a dirty beatdown of
the Longhorns, who simply
couldn’t handle UH’s pressure.
UH’s oppressive defensive
attack might not be Nolan
Richardson’s trademarked “40
Minutes of Hell,” but it’s hell
for 40 minutes.
Ask the Longhorns.
“They out-toughed us,”
Texas guard Max Abmas said
after he was held to 2-of-14
shooting and 10 points below
his average in the 82-61 rout.
The Cougars jumped on the
Longhorns inside and out and
on both ends of the floor, holding Texas to its lowest scoring
output this season. The 21point margin of victory is tied
for the third-best for the Cougars in the series history, behind Phi Slama Jama blowout
wins in 1981 and ’83.
UH had 13 steals, seven
blocked shots and bodychecked UT into its worst
shooting game of the season.
You could tell by the way
Sampson and his coaching

The Cougars forced the Longhorns into 14 turnovers and converted those into 19 points en route
to racking up the second-most points they have scored in a Big 12 game this season.

staff were at several points in
the game — all standing, barking instructions or mimicking
defensive stances to players on
the court — that they wanted
this one.
We’re talking Texas, and the
three staffers seated closest to
the Cougars players on the
bench all played for Sampson
at Oklahoma. They have that
Red River Rivalry in their
blood.
Sampson downplayed the
victory.
“We’ve won too much to be
excited about winning,” Sampson said.
On to Iowa State. The 10thranked Cyclones will be at

Fertitta Center on Monday
night, with first place in the
Big 12 Conference on the line.
Sampson knows that his
team must continue to get
better to contend for a national
championship. There is a long
way to go. The Final Four is
almost two months away.
Charles McClelland, the
SWAC commissioner and
former TSU athletic director,
announced on CBS just before
the game that the Cougars
currently hold a No. 1 seed and
are ranked No. 3 overall.
Barring a late-season collapse — UH has six games
remaining before the Big 12
Tournament — the Cougars

are almost certainly headed to
the South Region, where the
regional semifinals and final
will be at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
Sampson and Co. aren’t
thinking anywhere near that
far ahead. They were locked in
on the Longhorns.
After taking a 40-27 lead at
the half, UH forced a turnover
on the first possession of the
second half, leading to a Jamal
Shead 3-pointer to begin a 13-2
run, and the rout was on.
With officials allowing a
more physical game, the Longhorns didn’t stand a chance.
“They’re really relentless on
the glass, and they’re a phys-

Sports Editor: reid.laymance@houstonchronicle.com • sptletters@houstonchronicle.com

ical team,” UT coach Rodney
Terry said. “If you give them
second-chance opportunities,
they really crack you on the
glass, it’s going to be a long
night for you.
“You gotta stand your
ground. These guys are elite.”
UH, which won the rebounding battle 45-34, thanks
to a whopping 17 offensive
boards, attacked offensively
with the same vigor as its
always stout defense, putting
up the second-most points it
has scored in a Big 12 game.
L.J. Cryer, who was off last
week, making just 4-of-17
shots in wins over Oklahoma
State and Cincinnati, led UH
with 26 points and six 3-pointers.
Shead was all over the
court, contributing 16 points, 11
rebounds, six assists, six steals
and two blocked shots.
UH is 19-1 when it makes
40% of its shots. If the Cougars were more skilled at
shooting, they would be virtually unbeatable. UH is 255th in
the country (out of 351) in field
goal percentage and 145th on
3-pointers.
Good thing they hold teams
to the fewest points and the
worst field-goal shooting.
They’re this tough, this
unyielding defensively, despite
not having a rotation player
over 6-foot-8. They are much
more than scrappy.
“The most overrated thing
in basketball is how tall you
are,” Sampson said. “It’s your
toughness level. You’re competitiveness level. It’s not getting on the ground for a loose
ball, it’s being the first on the
floor.
“There is a huge difference
in playing hard and competing. Every team we play
against plays hard. But they
don’t all compete. Our kids
compete.”

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 C3

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

COLLEGE BASKETBALL
NO. 3 UH 82, TEXAS 61

Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer

UH guard L.J. Cryer, right, battles Texas forward Brock Cunningham for a loose ball during the Cougars’ 82-61 win on Saturday at Fertitta Center.

Cougars demolish Longhorns
Cryer’s career-high 26 points power program’s biggest win over UT since Phi Slama Jama days
By Joseph Duarte
STAFF WRIT E R

L.J. Cryer came back
home for moments like
this.
A floater in the lane to
crush any thought this
would be Upset Saturday.
A 3-on-1 fastbreak as Jamal Shead stopped and
flipped the ball to him for
a 3-pointer.
Then another 3-pointer.
And another.
And another.
Cryer had a career-high
26 points, including six 3pointers, and Shead added 16 points, 11 rebounds
and six assists as thirdranked Houston demolished Texas 82-61 before a
rowdy, “Horns Down” Tshirt-wearing
record
crowd of 7,904 at Fertitta
Center.
With a dozen sports celebrities in the crowd —
among them Hall of
Famer Hakeem Olajuwon,
Heisman Trophy winner
Andre Ware, Texans stars
C.J. Stroud and Tank Dell
and current NBA players
Marcus Sasser, Jarace
Walker and Marcus Sasser — the Cougars built as

much as a 24-point lead in
the second half.
UH swept the regularseason series from Texas
— bound for the Southeastern Conference this
summer — for the first
time since beating the
Longhorns three times in
1993. The 21-point margin
of victory matched UH’s
third largest over UT and
most since Phi Slama Jama delivered a 43-point
win in 1983.
It was an exclamation
point win for the UH (22-3,
9-3 Big 12), which notched
their ninth Quadrant 1 win
of the season and remained in a first-place tie
with Iowa State — a 82-74
winner over Texas Tech
on Saturday — in the Big 12
race. The two teams meet
in a top-10 showdown
Monday at Fertitta Center.
This is why Cryer, a 6foot-1 senior guard who
played at Morton Ranch,
came back home.
Cryer won a national title as a true freshman at
Baylor in 2021 — coming at
UH’s expense with a win
over the Cougars in the
national semifinals — but
he’s always wanted more.

“I didn’t have as big a
role on the team,” Cryer
said of his role off the
bench. “Being a part of the
team and winning it was a
good feeling, but I wanted
to go out there and win my
own. That’s why I came
here.”
With six games left in
the regular season, a path
filled with “booby traps
and trap doors” as coach
Kelvin Sampson said, the
Cougars are getting ready
for what could be another
deep March run. On Saturday, UH was a No. 1 seed
in the NCAA Tournament
selection committee’s reveal of its current top 16
seeds a month before Selection Sunday.
That’s why Cryer came
back home.
“When Coach Sampson
brought me here, he
brought me to do what I
did today,” Cryer said. “I
feel like that’s what I came
here to do. I came here to
win games.”
Once again, the Cougars relied on their lethal
backcourt of Cryer and
Shead. The duo combined
to shoot 15 of 24 from the
field — including seven 3-

UP NEXT
UH VS. IOWA STATE
When/where: 8 p.m.
Monday at Fertitta Center.
TV/radio: ESPN; 950 AM.

No. 3 UH 82, Texas 61
Texas
UH

27
40

34
42

—
—

61
82

TEXAS (16-9)
Disu 5-13 4-5 16, Mitchell 1-2 1-2 3, Abmas 2-14 2-3 7,
Hunter 3-9 0-0 7, Weaver 4-6 3-5 11, Horton 1-3 1-1 3,
Cunningham 2-3 0-0 5, Shedrick 3-6 0-0 7, Onyema 1-1
0-0 2, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-57 11-16 61.

UH (22-3)
Francis 3-6 1-2 7, Roberts 4-10 1-3 9, Cryer 9-13 2-3 26,
Sharp 5-11 4-4 15, Shead 6-11 3-4 16, Wilson 1-6 1-2 3,
Tugler1-10-2 2, Walker 0-12-2 2, Dunn 0-21-21, Elvin 0-1
1-2 1, Lath 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-62 16-26 82.
Halftime—Houston 40-27. 3-Point goals—Texas 6-18
(Disu 2-4, Shedrick 1-1, Cunningham 1-2, Hunter 1-3, Abmas 1-5, Weaver 0-1, Horton 0-2), Houston 8-23 (Cryer
6-9, Shead1-4, Sharp1-5, Dunn 0-1, Elvin 0-1, Walker 0-1,
Wilson 0-2). Rebounds—Texas 30 (Disu 7), Houston 43
(Shead 11). Assists—Texas 9 (Abmas 4), Houston 12
(Shead 6). Total fouls—Texas 19, Houston 16. A—7,904
(8,479).

pointers — for 42 points.
Emanuel Sharp, another
of the Cougars’ talented
guard lineup, added 15
points.
Cryer had 12 points in
the first half, including a
pair of free throws and a
floater in the lane as the
Cougars snapped a 17-all
tie and never looked back.
UH never trailed in the
game, extending their nation-best home winning

streak to 19 games.
“It’s always good to see
your first (shot) go in,”
Cryer said. “It gives me
confidence to keep letting
them go. Once I start putting a streak together, the
basket gets bigger, I
guess.”
Cryer fought through
an early slump, posting a
season-low five points in
back-to-back losses to Iowa State and TCU in early
January. He posted 23
points in a big road win
against BYU and had 24 —
including a hot stretch of
18 straight points — in a
loss at No. 8 Kansas. It was
in the loss to the Jayhawks
that Sampson said the
Cougars found ways to get
Cryer open looks off passes and screens.
“L.J. beat himself up
more than anybody,”
Shead said. “He just trusted his work. He put in a little more work and the result is here. He was our
leading scorer for a while.
You go into a slump that
doesn’t change. Fill in for
your brother until he gets
back. He’s back now.”
After UT’s Tyrese
Hunter hit a 3-pointer to

tie the game at 17, the Cougars ended the first half on
a 23-10 run.
Cryer hit four of his six
3-pointers in the second
half, including a pair that
put UH ahead 65-41.
Dylan Disu, UT’s 6foot-9 star forward, had 16
points on 5-of-13 shooting.
Guard Max Abmas was
held to seven points, going
2-of-14 from the field, as
the Longhorns were overmatched in the rematch
from a 76-72 overtime loss
to UH on Jan. 29.
UH controlled the
boards (45-34) and points
in the paint (32-22). The
Cougars had 13 steals and
seven blocked shots.
“We didn’t come out
with what we have to do in
terms of physicality,” UT
coach Rodney Terry said.
“These guys are elite when
you let them get second
chance opportunities.”
This is why L.J. Cryer
came back home.
This is why he could be
the piece that finally delivers UH that elusive title.
“My goal is to win a Big
12 championship and national championship,” he
said.

NCAA TOURNAMENT

UH is No. 3 overall seed in bracket preview
Selection committee’s projection has
Cougars sitting atop South Regional
By Joseph Duarte
STA FF WRIT E R

The
University
of
Houston was the No. 3
overall seed in the NCAA
Tournament men’s basketball selection committee’s bracket preview Saturday, setting up the possibility of playing in a regional close to home.
UH was the No. 1 seed
in the South Regional,
which plays the second
weekend (Sweet 16 and
Elite Eight) at American
Airlines Center in Dallas.
“Different league, same
results,”
committee
chairman Charles McClelland, the Southwestern Athletic Conference
commissioner and for-

mer athletic director at
Texas Southern, said during the CBS preview
show.
This was the eighth
consecutive year the
NCAA has revealed the
top 16 seeds. UH has been
among the top seeds in
three of the last six years,
including a No. 1 seed in
2023.
“We’ve won too much
to get excited about winning,” UH coach Kelvin
Sampson said about being a No. 1 seed following
the third-ranked Cougars’ 82-61 win over Texas
at Fertitta Center. “I hope
you don’t take that the
wrong way. We expect to
win, and being a one seed
… I don’t know, it just

doesn’t matter to me.”
The other No. 1 seeds:
Purdue (Midwest), defending champion Connecticut (East) and Arizona (West).
Purdue was the No. 1
overall seed.
North Carolina, Tennessee, Marquette and
Kansas were the No. 2
seeds.
The 3-seeds were Alabama, Baylor, Iowa State
and Duke.
Auburn, San Diego
State, Illinois and Wisconsin were the 4-seeds.
Considered the top
basketball conference in
the country, the Big 12 accounted for four of the top
16 seeds.
Along with UH, the
South Regional included
Marquette, Alabama and
Illinois.
McClelland said all 12

SWEET 16: A SNEAK PEEK
The NCAA selection committee’s released its current top
16 seeds for the men’s basketball tournament. (Overall
seed in parenthesis.) Selection Sunday is March 17:

MIDWEST (DETROIT)

SOUTH (DALLAS)

1. (1) Purdue

1. (3) Houston
2. (7) Marquette

2. (6) Tennessee
3. (10) Baylor
4. (14) San Diego State

3. (9) Alabama
4. (15) Illinois

EAST (BOSTON)

WEST (LOS ANGELES)

1. (2) UConn

1. (4) Arizona

2. (5) North Carolina

2. (8) Kansas

3. (11) Iowa State

3. (12) Duke

4. (16) Wisconsin

4. (13) Auburn

committee members had
the same exact order for
the top four seeds.
“Parity is a word that
gets thrown around a lot,
but I believe we have seen
much more of it than in
most years, which makes

me think we are in for a
wild ride down the
stretch and as we get to
March Madness,” he said.
At 22-3 and tied with
Iowa State for first place
in the Big 12, the Cougars
ranked first nationally in

the NCAA Evaluation
Tool (NET), No. 3 in both
major polls and are 10-3 in
Quadrant 1 and 2 games, a
key metric used to decide
postseason seeding.
UH’s seed in the early
preview has held the previous two times, when
the Cougars were a No. 3
seed in 2019 and No. 1 last
season.
“If the history of the
Bracket Preview Show is
an indicator, these four
teams will be prime candidates to be No. 1 seeds
next month,” McClelland
said.
This was the only mock
bracket preview of the
season in advance of Selection Sunday on March
17.
The Final Four will be
played April 6 and 8 at
State Farm Stadium in
Glendale, Ariz.

C4 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

HHH

COLLEGE BASKETBALL
NO. 15 ALABAMA 100, TEXAS A&M 75

Aggies’ agony extended by rolling Tide
By Brent Zwerneman
STA FF WRIT E R

Texas A&M in the fall
boasted the Southeastern
Conference’s Preseason
Player of the Year in
guard Wade Taylor IV.
No. 15 Alabama in the
spring possesses the
SEC’s leading candidate
for Player of the Year in
guard Mark Sears.
Advantage Alabama,
including in the leagueleading Crimson Tide’s
100-75 unraveling of the
Aggies on Saturday afternoon in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
With retired Alabama
football coaching icon
Nick Saban and his wife,
Terry, taking in the onesided action in Coleman
Coliseum, Alabama relied
on its typically high-flying offense along with a
smothering defense to
grab the 25-point victory.
“We
weren’t
good
enough in any category to
have a chance against this
team and their style of
play,” A&M coach Buzz
Williams said on his postgame radio show.
Sears turned to his catalog of dynamic plays on
offense to help keep Taylor & Co. at arms’ length
for most of two hours.
The league’s likely Player
of the Year led the Crim-

son Tide (18-7, 10-2 SEC)
with 23 points and scored
20-plus points for the 12th
time in his last 13 games.
“He’s improved every
year he’s been here,” Williams said of the senior
Sears. “He’s hard to guard
off the bounce, and weapons surround him.”
With about 12 minutes
remaining in the first half,
Alabama built a 12-point
lead by doubling A&M’s
12 points. The Aggies (1510, 6-6) missed eight of
their first 10 3-point attempts, trailed 49-35 at
halftime and never threatened the rolling Crimson
Tide over the final 20 minutes. Taylor even chose to
dribble out the first half
instead of heaving a long
shot at the buzzer and
with the Aggies trailing
by 14.
Alabama finished with
a higher 3-point shooting
percentage (18-of-41 for
44%) than A&M’s overall
shooting percentage (28of-74 for 38%). The Aggies
also shot 17% (4-of-23)
from the 3-point line.
The Aggies were coming off a demoralizing 7473 loss at Vanderbilt on
Tuesday, as the Commodores won their second
league game in 11 tries at
the time. Just prior, A&M
had defeated then-No. 6

Brandon Sumrall/Getty Images

Alabama guard Mark Sears, left, scored 23 points in
the Crimson Tide’s lopsided win over Texas A&M.

Tennessee 85-69 on Feb. 10
in Reed Arena in the Aggies’ last home contest before the two-game road
swing to Nashville, Tenn.,
and Tuscaloosa.

“We didn’t give ourselves the best chance (at
Alabama) … it was a
rough week for our program with the loss on
Tuesday and (Saturday’s)

loss and the way it transpired,” Williams said.
“We’ve got work to do
over the next three weeks,
and that starts (on Sunday).”
A&M will try to get
back on track and bolster
its suddenly semi-unsteady NCAA Tournament résumé on Tuesday
night in Reed against Arkansas. Guard Tyrece
Radford led the Aggies on
Saturday with 22 points
while Taylor, in a showdown with Sears, finished
with 10 points on 4-of-15
shooting.
The Crimson Tide were
picked to finish fifth in the
SEC this season — three
spots behind the Aggies.
Alabama reached 100plus points for a schoolrecord eighth time this
season on Davin Cosby’s
3-pointer at the buzzer.
The Crimson Tide now
have 10 100-plus point
games in league play in
Oats’ five-season tenure
— the rest of the SEC has a
combined 10 over the
same span, according to
Alabama sports information.
For his part Saban, who
has more time on his
hands these days following his January retirement after winning a
combined seven national

UP NEXT
TEXAS A&M VS.
ARKANSAS
When/where: 6 p.m.
Tuesday in College Station.
TV/radio: ESPN; 92.5 FM,
97.5 FM.

No. 15 Alabama 100
Texas A&M 75
Texas A&M
Alabama

35
49

40
51

—
—

75
100

TEXAS A&M (15-10)
Garcia 0-2 3-4 3, Washington 5-9 4-714, Carter 2-112-4 7,
Radford 10-17 2-4 22, Taylor 4-15 0-0 10, Coleman 5-11
2-2 12, Obaseki 1-5 2-2 5, Hefner 1-4 0-0 2, Leveque 0-0
0-0 0. Totals 28-74 15-23 75.

ALABAMA (18-7)
Nelson 4-5 0-0 9, Estrada 5-12 0-0 11, Griffen 6-13 1-117,
Sears 8-14 3-3 23, Wrightsell 6-10 0-016, Pringle1-11-2 3,
Stevenson 1-4 0-2 3, Walters 4-6 1-111, Dioubate 1-2 2-4
4, Wague 0-0 0-0 0, Cosby 1-5 0-0 3, Scharnowski 0-0 0-0
0, Spears 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 37-72 8-13 100.
3-Point goals—Texas A&M 4-23 (Taylor 2-5, Obaseki 1-2,
Carter 1-8, Coleman 0-1, Radford 0-2, Washington 0-2,
Hefner 0-3), Alabama 18-41 (Sears 4-7, Wrightsell 4-8,
Griffen 4-10, Walters 2-4, Nelson 1-1, Stevenson 1-2, Cosby 1-4, Estrada 1-5). Fouled out—Garcia, Stevenson. Rebounds—Texas A&M 44 (Garcia13), Alabama 36 (Walters
8). Assists—Texas A&M 6 (Taylor 3), Alabama 20 (Estrada 7). Total gouls—Texas A&M 15, Alabama 20.

titles at Alabama (six) and
LSU (one), gave a speech
to the Alabama basketball
players on Friday leading
to the home game against
A&M.
“He’s the best team
sports coach in college
history,” Oats said of Saban. “I thought it would
be good for our guys to
hear from a respected
coach like him.”
Brent Zwerneman reported
from College Station.

MEN’S GAMES

WOMEN’S GAMES

Iowa State tops Texas Tech

Booker powers
Texas to blowout

NO. 8 TENNESSEE 88
VANDERBILT 53

W I R E R EP ORT S

AMES, Iowa — Keshon
Gilbert had 24 points and
eight rebounds to lead No.
10 Iowa State past Texas
Tech 82-74 on Saturday.
Curtis Jones contributed
12 points for Iowa State
(20-5, 9-3 Big 12), which
has won all 15 of its home
games this season. Tamin
Lipsey, Robert Jones and
Milan Momcilovic each
added 10 points.
“There is not an ego out
there that is trying to make
a shot or play for themselves,” Cyclones coach T.J.
Otzelberger said. “It’s
everything for the team
and together.”
Iowa State visits No. 3
UH on Monday night with
first place on the line in the
Big 12. The Cyclones and
Cougars are currently
conference co-leaders.
Iowa State beat UH
57-53 at home on Jan. 9.
“It’s a huge deal,” Jones
said of the rematch.
“We’ve got to go down
there and it’s a hostile
environment as opposed to
playing in Hilton. So,
we’ve got to be even more
locked in and together.”
The Cyclones scored 28
points off of the Red Raiders’ 16 turnovers.
Joe Toussaint led the
Red Raiders (18-7, 7-5) with
16 points.
NO. 12 BAYLOR 94
WEST VIRGINIA 81

Freshman Ja’Kobe Walter scored 23 points to lead
six players in double figures for the Bears in a win
over the host Mountaineers.
Jayden Nunn added 20
points, RayJ Dennis had 18
points and eight assist and
Yves Missi scored 13 for
Baylor (19-6, 8-4 Big 12),
which has won five of its
last six.
After living in the paint
early in the game, Baylor
put on an impressive outside shooting display after
halftime. There was little
West Virginia could do to
stop Walter and Nunn.
SE LOUISIANA 81
HCU 78

Nick Caldwell scored 24
points, including a 3-pointer with three seconds left,
to lift the Lions over the
Huskies in Hammond, La.
Houston Christian (6-18,
4-9 Southland Conference)

Dalton Knecht and
Zakai Zeigler scored 14
points apiece to lead the
Volunteers to a lopsided
win over the visiting Commodores.
NO. 9 DUKE 76
FLORIDA STATE 67

Jared McCain set a team
freshman record with
eight 3-pointers and
matched a school freshman mark with 35 points
as the Blue Devils beat the
Seminoles in Durham,
N.C.
LSU 64
NO. 11 SOUTH CAROLINA 63

David Purdy/Getty Images

Robert Jones and Iowa State won Saturday to set up a
battle with UH on Monday for first place in the Big 12.

was led by Michael Imariagbe, who posted 19
points and nine rebounds.

Deon Stroud scored 14
points to lead TSU (9-4, 7-5
SWAC), and PJ Henry
added 12.

TCU 75, KANSAS STATE 72

Micha Peavy scored a
career-high 26 points and
Jameer Nelson Jr. hit a
fadeaway 3-pointer with 1.1
seconds left to lift the
visiting Horned Frogs to a
win over the Wildcats.
Nelson was called for a
foul as Kansas State (15-10,
5-7 Big 12) was trying to
inbound the ball with 15.6
seconds left. That allowed
the Wildcats to tie the
game on two Cam Carter
free throws. But Nelson
redeemed himself with a
heavily contested winner
for TCU (18-7, 7-5).
TULSA 93, RICE 82 (OT)

PJ Haggerty scored 30
points, including six in the
overtime, as the host Golden Hurricane beat the
Owls.
Isaiah Barnes and Cobe
Williams each hit a 3pointer as Tulsa (13-12, 4-9
AAC) outscored Rice 14-3
in the extra period.
Travis Evee led the way
for the Owls (9-16, 3-9)
with 21 points.

NO. 1 CONNECTICUT 81
NO. 4 MARQUETTE 53

Donovan Clingan had 17
points and 10 rebounds to
help the host Huskies rout
the Golden Eagles to take
control of the race for the
Big East regular-season
title.
Tristen Newton added 15
points, eight rebounds and
eight assists for Connecticut (24-2, 14-1), which has
won 14 straight games.
Cam Spencer and Hassan
Diarra each had 14 points.
NO. 6 KANSAS 67
NO. 25 OKLAHOMA 57

Hunter Dickinson had
20 points and 16 rebounds
as the visiting Jayhawks
rallied after trailing for
much of the game and beat
the Sooners.
Johnny Furphy had 15
points, nine rebounds and
three steals for Kansas
(20-6, 8-5 Big 12). Kevin
McCullar, the leading
scorer in the Big 12, returned after missing the
previous two games with a
knee injury.

GRAMBLING 66, TSU 63

Kintavious Dozier
scored 20 points and added six rebounds, two assists and two steals to lead
the visitors to a narrow
victory in a battle of Tigers.

NO. 7 NORTH CAROLINA 96
VIRGINIA TECH 81

Armando Bacot had 25
points and 12 rebounds as
the host Tar Heels led
most of the way in a victory against the Hokies.

Jordan Wright had 14
points, including two free
throws with five seconds
left, as the visiting Tigers
erased a 16-point secondhalf deficit to beat the
Gamecocks.
LSU (13-12, 5-7 Southeastern Conference) trailed
41-25 after Zachary Davis’ 3
pointer with 16:58 to play.
That’s when the Tigers
found their offensive flow
and stormed back for the
win.
NO. 22 KENTUCKY 70
NO. 13 AUBURN 59

Antonio Reeves scored
22 points as the Wildcats
led throughout to end the
cold-shooting Tigers’ 16game home winning
streak.
NO. 14 ILLINOIS 85
MARYLAND 80

Terrence Shannon Jr.
scored 27 points as the
Illini earned their first
road victory against the
Terrapins since 2011.
NO. 16 DAYTON 78
FORDHAM 70

DaRon Holmes II got
his eighth double-double
of the season with 29
points and 10 rebounds to
lead the host Flyers past
the Rams.

WI RE RE P O RT S

AUSTIN — Freshman
Madison Booker had 18
points and 10 assists and
led a fourth-quarter serge
as No. 5 Texas overwhelmed Iowa State 81-60
on Saturday for its sixth
straight win.
Booker also made three
steals. Shaylee Gonzales
added 18 points for Texas
(24-4, 11-3 Big 12), which
outscored Iowa State
23-10 in the fourth quarter.
Shay Holle had 16
points, six assists and
three steals. Taylor Jones
grabbed 13 rebounds and
made three blocks. Aaliyah Moore produced 12
points and seven rebounds, most of her contributions coming in the
second half.
UAB 87, RICE 74

5-9 Big 12) jumped out to
an early 11-2 lead in the
first quarter, but cooled
off as the game went on,
turning the ball over 16
times. UH (13-12, 4-10) got
11 points from Laila Blair
andfour 3-pointers from
Shalexxus Aaron, who
finished with 12 points.
NO. 7 KANSAS STATE 60
UCF 58

Jaelyn Glenn's layup
with 2 seconds left lifted
the Wildcats to a victory
over the Knights in Manhattan, Kan. Glenn
caught a three-quarter
court pass from Serena
Sundell after UCF tied it.
Gregory led Kansas
State (22-4, 11-3 Big 12)
with 19 points.
NO. 17 GONZAGA 91
PACIFIC 78

Yvonne Ejim scored 13
of her season-high 28
points in the decisive
third quarter and the
visiting Bulldogs won
their 20th straight game
and clinched their eighthstraight West Coast Conference title.

Mia Moore racked up a
game-high 22 points and
nine rebounds as the
Blazers beat the Owls in
Birmingham, Ala., snapping Rice’s three-game
winning streak.
Rice (15-10, 9-5 AAC)
got 22 points from Malia
Fisher and 16 points off
the bench from Jazzy
Owens-Barnett but
couldn’t keep page with
UAB (18-8, 9-5 AAC) in a
second half in which the
Owls were outscored
49-37.

Ja’Naiya Quinerly
scored 18 points and the
Mountaineers edged the
Sooners in Morgantown,
W. Va., ending Oklahoma’s nine-game winning
streak.

HOUSTON 65
OKLAHOMA STATE 57

NO. 25 PRINCETON 70
YALE 25

Nyah Boyd scored 14
points and grabbed eight
rebounds as the Cougars
halted a three-game slide
with a win over the Cowgirls in Stillwater, Okla.
Oklahoma State (12-13,

NO. 24 WEST VIRGINIA 70
NO. 22 OKLAHOMA 66

Kaitlyn Chen led the
way with 18 points, and
the visiting Tigers held
the Bulldogs just nine
field goals in winning
their 15th consecutive
game.

OKLAHOMA STATE 93
NO. 19 BYU 83

Freshman Jamyron
Keller scored 22 points in
his first start to help the
host Cowboys beat the
Cougars.
IOWA 88
NO. 20 WISCONSIN 86 (OT)

Tony Perkins’ layup
with 1.3 seconds left handed the Hawkeyes an upset
of the Badgers.

Eric Gay/Associated Press

Madison Booker, left, has scored in double figures
in 16 straight games after tallying 18 points Saturday.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 C5

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COMHHH

NBA
ROCKETS

AT A GLANCE
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Minnesota
Oklahoma City
L.A. Clippers
Denver
Phoenix
New Orleans
Dallas
Sacramento
L.A. Lakers
Golden State
Utah
Houston
Memphis
Portland
San Antonio

W
39
37
36
36
33
33
32
31
30
27
26
24
20
15
11

L
16
17
17
19
22
22
23
23
26
26
30
30
36
39
44

Pct
.709
.685
.679
.655
.600
.600
.582
.574
.536
.509
.464
.444
.357
.278
.200

GB
—
1½
2
3
6
6
7
7½
9½
11
13 ½
14 ½
19 ½
23 ½
2

EASTERN CONFERENCE
Boston
Cleveland
Milwaukee
New York
Philadelphia
Indiana
Miami
Orlando
Chicago
Atlanta
Brooklyn
Toronto
Charlotte
Washington
Detroit

Karen Warren/Staff photographer

Rockets center Alperen ށengun, right, averaged 17.7 points over his last 10 games, a drop of over eight points per game from the previous 17.

‘Clock’s ticking’ on uneven season

Players believe they have a lot left to play for despite backslide heading into the All-Star break
By Jonathan Feigen

UP NEXT

STAFF WRIT E R

The Rockets and delusion both lost Wednesday.
Had the Rockets gone into the All-Star break with a
win at Memphis, even if
only by overcoming their
early slow-motion crash to
eke out a win against half
the Grizzlies, they might
have been able to enjoy the
respite, convincing themselves they were escaping
the rocky and disappointing past six weeks.
They cannot tell themselves that now. With too
many losses following the
same pattern — inexplicably lethargic start, poor
shooting and familiar mistakes — the Rockets had to
face that this is who they
are, at least until they
change it.
Coach Ime Udoka is
ready to consider a change
he has not made all season.
After Wednesday’s eightpoint loss, Udoka said he
will use the break to weigh
changing his rotation and
possibly his starting lineup
for the first time other than
when forced by injuries.
Dillon Brooks said it will
be useful to have the break
not just to recharge, but to
stew over the latest bad loss
in hopes it will inspire
something better.
“Let it sit with you
throughout the break so
we can come back and be
better,” Brooks said.
It has come to that, as the
Rockets step back a seasonhigh six games below .500,
three games outside playin position and with a
stretch of five consecutive
games against top-six
Western
Conference
teams, including four on
the road, waiting for them
after the break.
They have run out of
games at Detroit and Charlotte, the only places they
have won outside Toyota
Center since Dec. 23.
The Rockets are convinced they are better than
their 24-30 record and have
looked it at times. But that
has made the bad starts
and worse losses more disappointing.
“It’s really simple: We’ve
shown on numerous occasions how good we can be,
and we’ve shown how thin
the line is,” said guard Fred
VanVleet, who missed the
last six games but is expected back after the break.
“The good thing is it’s up to
us. We have a tough schedule coming after the break.
We’ll see what we’re made
of. The clock’s ticking.
“There should be no relaxing, for sure. We can ob-

ROCKETS AT
PELICANS
When/where: 7 p.m.
Thursday at New Orleans.
TV/radio: SCHN; 790 AM,
93.3 FM (Spanish), 1010
AM (Spanish).

Jason Fochtman/Staff photographer

Guard Jalen Green, right, is having the worst shooting season of his three-year
career, making just 41.1% of his shots overall and 30.7% on 3-pointers.

viously clear your head
(during the break), but we
should come back hungry.”
The Rockets return to
play the Pelicans, the last
winning team they have
beaten on the road, at New
Orleans on Thursday. After playing the Suns at
home, they’ll face the
Thunder in Oklahoma City
and the Suns twice in
Phoenix.
“We have been struggling this month,” center
Alperen ށengün said.
“We’ve just got to come
back. Fred was out for a
while. He’s going to come
back. We need to do better.
Everyone needs to do a job
better. I need to do my job
better. I believe we’re going
to come back good after the
break.”
Those five games have
the potential to revive or
bury the Rockets’ hopes to
be at least a play-in team.
After seeming certain to be
in the thick of that race
through the first two
months of the season, they
have stumbled ever since.
“We’ve still got to be better, man,” forward Jae’Sean
Tate said. “There is no way
we should lose that game
(in Memphis) if we came
the way we did the last couple games, with the mindset to play the way we’re
supposed to play. That’s going to be a big focus for this
break: to get our mental
(side) back to where it
needs to be and finish out
the season right.
“It’s still a pretty tight
race. There’s still things
that we can accomplish.”
Only two days earlier,
before the Rockets topped
the Knicks at home, Udoka
and Rockets general manager Rafael Stone spoke of
the virtues of patience with

their core six players: firstround picks Jalen Green, ށ
engün, Jabari Smith Jr., Tari Eason, Amen Thompson
and Cam Whitmore.
That patience likely remains when it comes to
team building. But just as
the Rockets’ season will be
judged by the games still
left, so will the young players. Stone and Udoka
showed confidence in their
core players when they did
not add immediate help at
the trade deadline. But
Udoka has also shown he
will not let blind faith rule
his decision-making, having benched regulars at the
end of games in favor of
players performing well.
Twice in the last four
games, Green sat out the final 15 minutes.
“For me, it’s having to
understand … that balance
of trying to be competitive
but also developing our
young guys,” Udoka said.
“I think that’s one of the
biggest parts: showing
them what winning basketball is, but also not
handing anything out. I
think you’ve seen that
across the board. Guys
who play well are going to
play. That’s the biggest
teacher for a lot of these
guys.
“That’s the thing we said
from day one: that youth is
not an excuse with our
guys. They have to have
carry over from game to
game. When you’re 50
games in, you want to see
some real improvement in
the last 30 or so games.”
Udoka has spoken often
of the Rockets needing to
break bad habits developed
in recent seasons when
they were scraping the bottom of the Western Conference standings. But prog-

ress has been slow when it
comes to his charge that
they “show progress and
show some carryover from
game to game and not
make the same mistakes.”
There is also a need to
find the balance between a
belief that the team is better
than its record, given the
number of close games that
got away, and the shortcomings those losses reveal.
In games with a margin
of five or fewer points in the
final five minutes, the
Rockets are10-18, the NBA’s
fourth-worst record in
such games. They are 3-13
in those games on the road,
better only than the Washington Wizards.
“We had some games we
let get away, no doubt, and I
think our record could be
different as far as that,”
Stone said. “Young guys
have taken some steps, at
times up and down. Consistency is the biggest
thing, whether it’s Jalen, Jabari, Alpi, guys in and out
with injuries, the other
three (Cam Whitmore,
Amen Thompson and Tari
Eason). We just want to see
progress. The last 30 games
coming out of All-Star
break is another barometer
and a chance to grow.”
Green has in some ways
become more well-rounded, but he has shot poorly
all season and shows no
signs of turning that
around. After missing all
four of his 3-pointers Wednesday and totaling a season-low four points (the
second fewest in his career), he is making 41.1% of
his shots and 30.7% of his
3s. He has scored in single
digits three times in the last
six games, averaging 24
points in the other three.

ށengün has regressed
defensively since his encouraging start to the season. In the past 10 games,
he has averaged 17.7 points
after averaging 25.8 in his
previous 17. In the three
games before the break, he
averaged five rebounds after getting at least 10 in the
previous six games, the
longest streak of his career.
Smith has been extremely inconsistent offensively,
scoring in single digits in
four of his past eight
games.
All might benefit from
the break, having seemed
to wear down. Since the
start of January, only the
Pacers have played more
games. (The Rockets have
gone 9-15 in that stretch.)
But the shooting, especially
on the road, has been an issue all season.
The Rockets have been
among the league’s worst 3point shooting teams, making 35.1% to rank 25th. They
rank second-to-last in 3point shooting on the road.
Though the Rockets cannot consider themselves to
have been inordinately depleted by injuries, Brooks,
VanVleet, Smith and Whitmore have all been out for
extended stretches since
January. Eason has not
played since Jan. 1 and was
on a minutes restriction in
the 22 games he did play.
The issues on the road
have been especially vexing. The Rockets lost their
first eight road games and
won just two of their last 13
road games going into the
break. Their 5-21 road record beats only the lastplace Pistons. They have
trailed by double digits in
each of their past six road
games and are just 4-26
overall
when
they’ve
trailed by 10 or more.
At some point, a team is
whatever its record is. The
Rockets do not believe they
can be judged yet, with
their youth and still-clear
potential allowing for
growth through the remainder of the season. But
the loss at Memphis, with
its familiar failings, was a
hard slap of reality.
“We can just … try to
grow from it,” Smith said.
“Get away from the game a
little bit, come back and try
to be better.”

W
43
36
35
33
32
31
30
30
26
24
21
19
13
9
8

L
12
17
21
22
22
25
25
25
29
31
33
36
41
45
46

Pct
.782
.679
.625
.600
.593
.554
.545
.545
.473
.436
.389
.345
.241
.167
.148

GB
—
6
8½
10
10 ½
12 ½
13
13
17
19
21 ½
24
29 ½
33 ½
34 ½

Friday’s result
Rising Stars semifinal 1
Team Jalen 40, Team Tamika 35
Rising Stars semifinal 2
Team Detlef 41, Team Pau 36
Rising Stars final
Team Jalen 25, Team Detlef 13
Sunday’s All-Star game
East All-Stars vs West All-Stars, 7 p.m.
Monday’s game
No games scheduled

ALL-STAR ROSTERS
Western Conference
Starters
LeBron James, forward, L.A. Lakers
Kevin Durant, forward, Phoenix
Nikola Jokic, center, Denver
Luka Doncic, guard, Dallas
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, guard, Oklahoma City

Reserves
Devin Booker, guard, Phoenix
Stephen Curry, guard, Golden State
Anthony Davis, forward/center, L.A.
Lakers
Anthony Edwards, guard, Minnesota
Paul George, forward, L.A. Clippers
Kawhi Leonard, forward, L.A. Clippers
Karl-Anthony Towns, forward/center,
Minnesota
Head coach: Chris Finch, Minnesota

Eastern Conference
Starters

Giannis Antetokounmpo, forward, Milwaukee
Jayson Tatum, forward, Boston
Joel Embiid*, center, Philadelphia
Tyrese Haliburton, guard, Indiana
Damian Lillard, guard, Milwaukee

Reserves
Bam Adebayo, center/forward, Miami
Paolo Banchero, forward, Orlando
Scottie Barnes, forward, Toronto
Jaylen Brown, guard/forward, Boston
Jalen Brunson, guard, New York
Tyrese Maxey, guard, Philadelphia
Donovan Mitchell, guard, Cleveland
Julius Randle, forward, New York
Trae Young, guard, Atlanta
Head coach: Doc Rivers, Milwaukee
Note: * — denotes injured, will not play.

NOTEBOOK
BUCKS’ LILLARD DEFENDS
3-POINT SHOOTOUT TITLE

Bucks star Damian
Lillard defended his NBA
3-point contest title by
finishing with 26 points in
the final round during
All-Star Saturday night.
Lillard became the eighth
player to win at least two
3-point crowns and the
first to repeat since Jason
Kapono in 2007 and 2008.
CURRY BESTS IONESCU

Stephen Curry was on a
roll — and it was barely
enough to beat Sabrina
Ionescu. And fittingly, he
won by three.
The Golden State star
and NBA’s all-time 3-point
king beat Ionescu 29-26 in
the Steph vs. Sabrina
competition.
ODDS AND ENDS

A new honor is awaiting
Miami’s Bam Adebayo:
He’ll be an All-Star starter
for the first time. Adebayo
was announced as the
replacement for the 76ers’
Joel Embiid in the Eastern
Conference starting lineup
for Sunday’s All-Star
Game. … Tyrese Haliburton made a half-court shot
with 20.5 seconds to go in
the tiebreaking timed
portion to give Team Pacers the Skills Challenge
win over Team All-Stars.
Haliburton, Myles Turner
and Bennedict Mathurin
beat Scottie Barnes, Tyrese
Maxey and Trae Young.
Wire reports

C6 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

HHH

ASTROS

BUILDING ON A BREAKOUT

McCormick aims to stay grounded after emerging as key contributor for team’s loaded offense
By Matt Kawahara
STA FF WRIT E R

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —
An emergent third season leaves
Chas McCormick to build on his
breakout. McCormick finished
last season fourth in OPS-plus
and fifth in home runs on a loaded Astros offense, production
that should result this year in
regular playing time and raised
expectations.
“My third year, I just learned
some things,” McCormick said
Friday. “I knew that (pitchers)
changed up the plan day in and
day out. I knew you had to come
up with a plan every single night
at the plate and you have to earn
that stuff.”
The strides McCormick made
in 2023 were evident. He fared
better against breaking pitches
while he continued to clobber
fastballs. He unlocked pull-side
power and still sent drives to the
opposite field. Among American League hitters with at least
450 plate appearances, he posted the 11th-highest OPS.
Afterward,
McCormick
turned an eye to a drop-off in the
final month-plus. His OPS by
month went from 1.128 in July to
.822 in August to .703 in September, and he notched one extrabase hit in 31 postseason plate
appearances. That finish lent
some focus to his offseason hitting.
McCormick said he widened
his stance slightly to help him
“use the ground more” in his
swing, noting he “kind of lost my
legs” as he struggled down the
stretch.
“Obviously, (pitchers) attack
me low and away soft, or hard
and in low,” McCormick said. “I
want to make sure I have good
discipline up there and good direction in my swing so I can hit
that low and away soft pitch. But
the way to do that is to use the
ground, widen out a little bit. I
got a little too tall. And my head
started moving. I started missing some things.”
McCormick hits from a
closed-off stance and said set-

Karen Warren/Staff photographer

Astros outfielder Chas McCormick ranked fifth on the team in home runs last season with 22.

ting up a little taller helped him
stay on top of high pitches. He
feels he can still do that from a
wider stance with the right bat
path. His lull arrived late in a
season that brought a careerhigh 457 plate appearances, but
McCormick doubts fatigue
played a part.

“I think I just got a little lazy
in my preparation or I just didn’t
make adjustments,” McCormick
said. “I was kind of going so well
from June to July and even the
beginning of August and then
teams started to make adjustments and I think I stopped
making adjustments.”

That evaluation applies to only part of an encouraging season. McCormick missed three
weeks to a back injury in April
and May and returned to sporadic playing time, starting 40 of
Houston’s first 81 games. He finished with 22 home runs and an
.842 OPS, about 100 points high-

er than the OPS he produced
over 50 fewer plate appearances
in 2022.
McCormick did make valuable adjustments against righthanders and sliders, two previous nemeses. He hit .268 against
sliders, up from a .119 average in
2022. Inability to solve righties
made him a platoon player his
first two seasons. McCormick
still fared better against lefties
last season, but his splits were
less severe. He also stole 19 bases, profiting from new MLB
rules to benefit the running
game.
General
manager
Dana
Brown has said McCormick will
be “an everyday player” this
year in a malleable outfield. He
is likely to open in left field,
sharing time with Yordan Alvarez, with Jake Meyers getting an
opportunity to win the center
field job. If Meyers struggles,
McCormick could also shift to
center. New manager Joe Espada, who succeeded Dusty Baker,
will delegate playing time.
Having Meyers in center field
gives Houston arguably its
strongest defensive outfield. McCormick fared well in center last
season, though, with his range
garnering positive metrics. The
Astros did not make a major addition to their outfield after Michael Brantley’s departure, an
indication of trust in the current
group that McCormick deemed
“huge.”
McCormick reported to West
Palm Beach about a week prior
to full-squad workouts and in
the wake of a celebration. He
and longtime girlfriend Courtney Zadinski were married on
Feb. 3 in Philadelphia. McCormick said he arrived in Florida
early to escape the Northeast
cold and start preparing outdoors for a season in which he
considers nothing guaranteed.
“Personally, I have to go out
and perform,” McCormick said.
“If I perform, I’m going to play. If
I don’t, I’m not going to play. So
it’s the same thing. I’ve got the
same mindset going in. I don’t
really care what I did last year.”

Whitley ready to take on relief role
By Matt Kawahara
STA FF WRIT E R

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —
The scene for Forrest Whitley is
at once familiar and not. February again finds him at Astros
spring training, on the doorstep
of a desire yet to be realized. Life’s
natural progression measures his
wait.
“I think as the years have gone
on, I’ve definitely been more comfortable walking into this locker
room,” Whitley said Friday. “I’m
26 now. I’m married. I feel like I’m
a little bit more of an adult showing up in this locker room than I
have been the past few years.”
Whitley first showed up in 2019
as a touted 21-year-old, the top
pitching prospect in baseball. Ensuing years dimmed that hype.
Whitley has thrown129 2⁄3 innings
across the last four minor-league
seasons with a 7.01 ERA. Tommy
John surgery sidelined him in
2021. A lat muscle strain derailed
him last season after eight outings at Class AAA.
A major-league debut still
eludes him. The Astros are taking
a different approach this spring
to pursuing it. Whitley will pitch
as a reliever in camp and try to
claim a role in a Houston bullpen
with several up for grabs, a shift
aimed at finally bringing to fruition the scenario that once
seemed so certain.
“I’ve felt like the last few
camps, I’ve put way too much
pressure on myself, just kind of
giving myself unrealistic goals
out of camp,” Whitley said. “But
this is my fifth big-league camp,
so I have a pretty good idea of
what the coaches like to do here. I
kind of know what to expect.
And just trying to keep my goals
in a lane that’s not going outside
of those, so if it goes another way
I’m not extremely disappointed
or anything like that.
“But yeah, I’ve got a good feeling about this camp. I feel like if I
can make it through healthy, I’ve
got a good chance.”

After five years, former top prospect hopes to debut at last

Karen Warren/Staff photographer

Astros pitcher Forrest Whitley, center, is healthy and hoping to make his big league debut soon.

Health is a recurring question
with Whitley. The righthander
put forth an encouraging showing in major league camp a year
ago, pitching with command and
good life in Grapefruit League
games before being optioned in a
procedural move. He posted a
5.70 ERA in 30 innings at Triple-A Sugar Land before injuring
his lat in late May.
Whitley described the injury
Friday as a “pretty significant”
tear. He did not pitch again last
season. It spurred him to try a different regimen this winter. Whitley relocated to Arizona, where
Tim Naiman, a sports performance trainer he’d worked with
remotely, is based. The two began
a thorough effort to prepare

Whitley for what may be a pivotal
2024.
Whitley deems his injury history “confusing.” He struggled to
pinpoint anything he was doing
to cause it. Naiman suggested
starting with a deep biometric
dive. They discussed Whitley’s
diet and sleep patterns. Naiman
ran tests to tailor a training program for Whitley aimed at building resiliency in his muscle tissue
and his body’s ability to recover.
It included workouts to build
strength and then isolate specific
areas that are prone to injury in
pitchers, said Naiman, the director of athletic performance for a
Scottsdale-based program called
4APP Sports. A focus on recovery took into account Whitley’s

potential relief role, which offers
a less structured routine than
starting on a regular schedule.
“We really taught Forrest and
taught Forrest’s body how to
adapt to any given circumstance,”
Naiman said. “If his body can’t
adapt and it can’t handle the
stress of a game or a relief outing,
he’s not going to be sustainable.
“Forrest, leaving here, I would
say he as an athlete can adapt
based off any given environment
he has. And in his current state,
the resiliency he worked for is a
recipe perfect for this season for
him and making sure that he
stays on the mound and does not
have any hiccups.”
Whitley termed it “the most involved offseason I’ve ever had.”

He said he is curious to see how it
will translate into the season but
arrived at camp in a positive mental and physical place.
“I feel good — I mean as good
as I have ever,” Whitley said.
“Right before I came out here, I
threw three live (bullpen sessions). Fastball was mid-to-upper
90s, so kind of right where I
wanted to be. All my stuff pitch
shape-wise is exactly where I
want it to be. I don’t feel like I
could be in a better spot.”
Whitley’s arsenal remains enticing, though his minor league
numbers hardly reflect it. Astros
general manager Dana Brown
said this winter Whitley’s “power” makes him an intriguing bullpen candidate. Houston must replenish a unit that lost three relievers who combined for 185 innings in 2023 to free agency and
could have competition for up to
four spots this spring.
“We know his capabilities
when he’s healthy,” manager Joe
Espada said.
Whitley said a relief role will
not be “super-foreign” to him. He
pointed to pitching in tandem at
times in the minors and Grapefruit League games. Fourteen of
his 78 minor-league appearances
are in relief. Whitley said he may
narrow his pitch repertoire and
his “usages may change a little bit,
but that’s kind of what I’m here to
figure out in camp.”
That the Astros sought a
fourth minor-league option year
for Whitley reflects a cautious
hope that this season will be different. Whitley harbors the same
hope. He said a “finger thing
popped up” before he reported to
camp but he is throwing normally. He shared his New Year’s resolution: “No MRIs in 2024.”
“I feel like I’ve been at the doorstep here for a number of years,”
Whitley said. “It’s clearly been
pretty frustrating, as you all have
seen. But it is what it is. It’s made
me a more resilient player. I’m
thankful for that. So we’ll just
keep moving forward.”

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 C7

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COMHHH

ASTROS

BOXING

Foster turns it on
late to defend title

By Matt Young
STA F F W R I T ER

Photos by Karen Warren/Staff photographer

Astros left fielder Yordan Alvarez signs autographs Saturday during workouts
for pitchers and catchers at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches.

Astros second baseman Jose Altuve arrived at the team’s Spring Training
facility Saturday 10 days after signing a five-year contract extension.

Altuve, Alvarez add
star power to camp
By Matt Kawahara
STA FF WRIT E R

WEST PALM BEACH,
Fla. — Ten days after cementing his future with
them, Jose Altuve joined
the Astros at spring training. He arrived early. Fullsquad workouts begin
Monday. Altuve strode into
the clubhouse on Saturday
morning wearing a smile.
The practice fields were
still quiet an hour later as
Altuve, Mauricio Dubón
and bench coach Omar López made their way to one.
Dubón began to field
grounders spit by a machine. López knelt and underhanded short-hops to
Altuve. The Astros’ franchise player plucked them
to his backhand with a
gloveless palm.
The scene was instruc-

tive. Altuve signed a fiveyear, $125 million contract
extension this month that
may comprise the rest of his
career. Finality is still far
away. A season looms for
the second baseman. A
simple drill began his
buildup toward it.
Altuve and Yordan Alvarez both reported to West
Palm Beach on Saturday.
Astros pitchers and catchers held their fourth day of
official workouts. Altuve
cycled in with the catchers
in batting practice, drawing
fans and photographers into an attentive crowd.
Altuve swung easily at
bullpen catcher Javier Bracamonte’s pitches. He
punctuated sharp thwacks
with a yell of “Buena!” His
final swing lofted a fly ball
that carried over the leftfield fence. Bracamonte

laughed. Catcher Yainer Diaz raised his hands behind
the cage.
No other outcome was
likely, but Altuve’s extension removed any questions or tension about his
contract status entering
camp. His manner Saturday was typically relaxed.
He stopped to sign autographs for fans on his way
to and from the practice
fields.
Alvarez also hit the field
briefly with Astros outfielders already in camp
and played catch. Other position players will arrive in
the next two days. Manager
Joe Espada said Altuve and
Alvarez offered a welcome
sight.
“Those guys are the ones
to lead by example and it’s
exciting to have them here
early,” Espada said.

MLB NOTEBOOK

Jung out with strained calf
W I R E R EP ORT S

SURPRISE, Ariz. —
Full squad workouts
haven’t officially begun
and the Texas Rangers are
already down the left side
of their infield for the a
significant part of spring
training. Wearing a compression sleeve on his left
calf, third baseman Josh
Jung on Saturday confirmed he’d suffered a calf
strain while taking ground
balls a day earlier.
Manager Bruce Bochy
later said Jung was expected to miss about three
weeks with the injury. If
so, it would still give him
about three weeks worth
of game time to get ready
for the March 28 season
opener against the Chicago Cubs. His availability
for that is not yet in question.
“It’s going to be a little
bit of time,” Bochy said. “I
guess the good news is the
timing of this. So, we’re
hopeful he will be ready
for opening day. We will
just monitor his progress
and see where we are in a
couple of weeks.”

The Rangers are already expected to be without shortstop Corey Seager for most of spring training while he recovers from
surgery to repair a sports
hernia. The Rangers are
optimistic that Seager also
will be ready for the start
of the season.

Diamondbacks
sign OF Grichuk
The Arizona Diamondbacks and veteran outfielder Randal Grichuk
agreed Saturday on a $2
million, one-year contract
with a mutual option for
2025, a person with direct
knowledge of the deal told
The Associated Press.
Grichuk will be paid
$1.5 million this season
and would make $6 million in 2025, or the Dbacks could pay a
$500,000 buyout.
The 32-year-old Lamar
graduate has 191 career
homers with the Cardinals, Blue Jays, Rockies
and Angels. He split time
between the Rockies and
Angels last season, hitting
.267 with 16 homers.

Players finish 9-6
in arbitration
Lefthander Tanner
Scott beat the Miami Marlins on Saturday in the
year’s final salary arbitration case, leaving players
with a 9-6 margin in decisions this year.
Scott was awarded
$5.7 million instead of the
Marlins’ $5.15 million offer
by Robert Herman, John
Woods and Allen Ponak,
who heard arguments
Friday.
Teams have a 353-266
advantage since arbitration started in 1974.

Odds and ends
The Red Sox traded
veteran righty John
Schreiber to the Royals on
Saturday in exchange for
22-year-old David Sandlin,
a righthander who finished last season playing
with Class A Columbia. ...
The White Sox agreed to a
minor league contract
with reliever Bryan Shaw
that includes an invitation
to big league camp for
spring training.

O’Shaquie Foster is a
boxing technician. At
times, he starts slow as he
figures out the angles and
timing of his opponent.
Once he’s done all the calculations, he pours it on.
Abraham Nova was on
the receiving end of that
flurry with Foster knocking him down in the final
round and earning a split
decision win to retain his
World Boxing Council junior lightweight title Friday night at The Theater at
Madison Square Garden in
New York City.
The 30-year-old Foster,
who grew up in Orange but
lives and trains in Houston, won the fight on two
judges’ scorecards 116-111
and 115-112, while losing on
another 114-113. Two of the
judges had the fight even
through six rounds, but
Foster (22-2, 12 KOs) took
over in the seventh as Nova
(23-2) appeared to tire.
“My rhythm was off tonight. It’s all good. We
came home with the win,
so I can’t complain,” said
Foster, who won his first
world title a year ago and
now has successfully defended it twice. “I’m a 12round fighter and I know
how to make judgments
through the night. So, he
came on strong in the beginning, but I found my
rhythm and his timing,
and then I started picking
it off.”
That much was clear in
the 12th round when Foster
landed a right hand to the
temple, then followed with
a left hook that landed
cleanly on the jaw and sent
Nova into the ropes for a

Frank Franklin II/Associated Press

O’Shaquie Foster, left, knocks down Abraham Nova
during the 12th round of Friday night’s bout at
Madison Square Garden in New York.

knockdown with just 20
seconds left in the fight.
Nova argued that he actually slipped, but replays
confirmed it as a clean
knockdown
“O’Shaquie is a great
fighter. He did hit me, but I
did slip,” Nova said. “I lost
my balance. I wasn’t hurt.”
Foster landed 88 power
punches in the fight compared to Nova’s 74. He also
landed those shots at a 39%
clip, compared to Nova’s
22%.
Foster appeared to be in
a bit of trouble early. He
wasn’t hurt, but he also
wasn’t landing many
punches and in the fifth
round, Nova hit him in the
bicep on the right arm with
an inadvertent elbow. For
the rest of the fight, Foster
appeared to be shaking his
right arm trying to loosen it
up.
“I don’t want to make
any excuses, but when I
went to throw a right hand,

his elbow hit the middle of
my bicep, so it kind of
tightened my stuff up, but
it’s all good,” Foster said.
Foster, who signed a
deal with Top Rank late
last year, is expected to
fight on ESPN again this
summer. Ideally, he’d like
one of the other champions
at130 pounds, but he’s been
public about the difficulty
of getting WBO champion
Emanuel Navarrete or IBF
champion Joe Cordina to
agree to a fight. That leaves
WBA titleholder Lamont
Roach as an option. Foster
also mentioned the possibility of fighting the winner of Oscar Valdez and
Liam Wilson, who face
each other March 29.
Roach must have been
watching, because soon after the fight was over, he
tweeted congratulations to
Foster, saying, “Call Bob
(Arum), tell him to handle
that business and we can
make it happen.”

DAYTONA 500

Toyota riding a hot streak
into ‘Great American Race’
By Jenna Fryer
A SSO C I AT ED P R E SS

DAYTONA
BEACH,
Fla. — Denny Hamlin
leaned into the window of
Christopher Bell’s winning
Toyota to congratulate his
Joe Gibbs Racing teammate
on beating him in a Daytona 500 qualifying race.
Hamlin then gave Bell
detailed directions to victory lane.
“Been to victory lane at
Daytona a time or three,”
Hamlin wrote on social media. “Had to show (Bell) the
way.”
After a dismal showing
in time trials for Sunday's
season-opening Daytona
500, the Toyota camp
roared back and swept the
two150-mile qualifying races Thursday night that set
the field for “The Great
American Race.” The wins
by Tyler Reddick of 23XI
Racing and Bell marked the
first sweep of the Daytona
qualifying races for Toyota
since 2014.
Adding in Hamlin’s victory in the exhibition Clash
at the Coliseum earlier this
month, Toyota heads into
the Daytona 500 a perfect 3
for 3 on the season in its
new Camry XSE. With all
nine Toyota drivers qualified for Sunday’s field, the
automaker is hoping to remain undefeated in 2024.
The nine entries are the
most Toyota has had in the
Daytona 500 since 2011.
Paul Doleshal, group
manager of motorsports at
Toyota North America,
said the automaker was
“disturbed” when no Toyota driver cracked the top 20
in time trials. Erik Jones
had the fastest lap for the
OEM at 22nd, and seventime NASCAR champion
Jimmie Johnson, the Legacy Motor Club co-owner
and Jones’ teammate, was
35th and forced to race his

NASCAR Cup Series
Daytona 500 Lineup
At Daytona International Speedway
Daytona Beach, Fla.
Lap length: 2.50 miles
(Car number in parentheses)
1. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 181.947 mph.
2. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford, 181.686.
3. (19) Tyler Reddick, Toyota
4. (16) Christopher Bell, Toyota
5. (3) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet
6. (2) Austin Cindric, Ford
7. (9) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet
8. (17) Denny Hamlin, Toyota
9. (20) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet
10. (19) John H. Nemechek, Toyota
11. (12) Erik Jones, Toyota
12. (5) Harrison Burton, Ford
13. (10) Daniel Suárez, Chevrolet
14. (18) Zane Smith, Chevrolet
15. (15) Ty Gibbs, Toyota
16. (12) Brad Keselowski, Ford
17. (2) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet
18. (3) William Byron, Chevrolet
19. (8) Chris Buescher, Ford
20. (7) Chase Briscoe, Ford
21. (5) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet
22. (15) Justin Haley, Ford
23. (18) Jimmie Johnson, Toyota
24. (14) Bubba Wallace, Toyota
25. (7) Ryan Preece, Ford
26. (21) Kaz Grala, Ford
27. (14) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota
28. (10) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet
29. (17) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet
30. (11) Josh Berry, Ford
31. (6) Todd Gilliland, Ford
32. (9) Ryan Blaney, Ford
33. (4) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet
34. (4) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet
35. (16) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Chevrolet
36. (6) Riley Herbst, Ford
37. (13) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet
38. (8) Noah Gragson, Ford
39. (62) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet
40. (13) David Ragan, Ford

way into the 40-car field.
“I think we were a little
bit disturbed — probably a
strong word — but just surprised about the lack of
qualifying speed,” Doleshal
said a day after the Toyota
sweep. “But then felt that
the car would race well, and
that proved out, so we’re
encouraged with that.”
Hamlin, who is Toyota’s
only Daytona 500 winner
with three previous victories, will be going for a
fourth and initially was listed as the race favorite by
FanDuel Sportsbook. The
odds Friday had tilted
slightly toward both Joey
Logano, who will start from
the pole for Team Penske in
a new Ford Dark Horse
Mustang, and Kyle Busch,
who crashed in the qualifying race and will start 34th
in a Chevrolet for Richard
Childress Racing.
Logano will try to continue a hot streak for team

owner Roger Penske. The
run started last May when
Penske won a record-extending 19th Indianapolis
500 with driver Josef Newgarden. He won the Cup
championship in November with Ryan Blaney, won
the Rolex 24 at Daytona
sports car race last month
for the first time since 1969,
and now has his first driver
on the pole for the Daytona
500.
“There’s not a cooler race
team that you can work for
when it comes to motorsports in general. There’s
not another motorsports
team in America that’s decorated as much as Team
Penske and what Roger
Penske has done, whether
it’s in NASCAR, sports
cars, IndyCar, you name it,
the guy’s been involved in
all of it,” Logano said.
The last driver to win the
Daytona 500 from the pole
was Dale Jarrett in 2000.
Weather is expected to
play a role in Sunday’s race,
as rain was expected to hit
Daytona on Saturday. The
forecast is so poor that
NASCAR on Friday decided to run the ARCA race
scheduled for Saturday after Friday night’s Truck Series race.
The final practice session ahead of the Daytona
500 was canceled Saturday
morning because of rain at
the track.
There’s less chance of the
Daytona 500 being prematurely altered from its
scheduled Sunday afternoon start time, even
though NASCAR moved
up the Clash by a full a day
earlier this month because
of heavy rain in Los Angeles. Unless the weather conditions are dangerous,
NASCAR is most likely to
wait it out as long as possible Sunday before deciding
if the race needs to be postponed until Monday.

C8 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

HHH

FOR THE RECORD
SCOREBOARD

ON THE AIR

Odds

Television
Auto racing
Beach soccer

Home team capitalized

College basketball
Sunday
FAVORITE
Florida Atlantic
CHARLOTTE
Loyola Chicago
Purdue
IONA
FURMAN
Bradley
FAIRFIELD
DRAKE
Rider
Canisius
EAST CAROLINA
TEMPLE
QUINNIPIAC
Belmont
ILLINOIS STATE
UAB
INDIANA
SMU
ST. JOHN’S
MINNESOTA
UCLA

LINE
4½
6½
4½
8½
6½
2½
1½
4½
9½
2½
2½
½
5½
7½
2½
3½
2½
½
5½
5½
3½
2½

UNDERDOG
SOUTH FLORIDA
Wichita State
RHODE ISLAND
OHIO STATE
Saint Peter’s
Chattanooga
NORTHERN IOWA
Mount St. Mary’s
Murray State
MANHATTAN
SIENA
Tulane
UTSA
Niagara
UIC
Evansville
North Texas
Northwestern
Memphis
Seton Hall
Rutgers
Utah

NHL
Sunday
FAVORITE
New York
COLORADO
PITTSBURGH

LINE
-150
-240
-122

UNDERDOG
at N.Y ISLANDERS
Arizona
Los Angeles

Colleges

Men’s basketball
Friday’s results
EAST
Columbia 73, Dartmouth 63
Cornell 75, Harvard 62
Iona 73, Manhattan 63
Marist 78, Canisius 55
Niagara 65, Fairfield 63
Princeton 72, Brown 63
Rider 61, Mount St. Mary’s 57
St. Peter’s 75, Siena 53
Villanova 70, Georgetown 54
Yale 76, Penn 62

SOUTH
North Florida 82, Kennesaw St. 81
Queens (NC) 74, Jacksonville 65

MIDWEST
Toledo 85, Ohio 83
VCU 95, Saint Louis 85

WEST
San Diego St. 81, New Mexico 70

Saturday's results
EAST

Akron 73, Buffalo 62
Army 59, Holy Cross 53
Binghamton 69, NJIT 55
Boston College 85, Miami 77
Boston U. 74, Navy 65
Duquesne 66, Saint Joseph’s 56
Fairleigh Dickinson 93, St. Francis (Pa.) 74
Hofstra 82, Northeastern 62
Howard 90, NC Central 82
La Salle 82, UMass 81
Lafayette 68, American 62
Le Moyne 75, Stonehill 67
Lehigh 75, Loyola (Md.) 70
Mass.-Lowell 86, Bryant 77
Merrimack 83, LIU 68
Monmouth (NJ) 84, Stony Brook 61
Morgan St. 70, Md.-Eastern Shore 65
Richmond 90, George Washington 74
Sacred Heart 63, Wagner 53
St. Bonaventure 81, Davidson 80 (OT)
UConn 81, Marquette 53
UMBC 80, Albany (NY) 75
Vermont 68, Maine 57

SOUTH
Alabama 100, Texas A&M 75
Alabama A&M 80, MVSU 57
Alcorn St. 69, Bethune-Cookman 54
Appalachian St. 85, Louisiana-Lafayette 73
Ark.-Pine Bluff 80, Alabama St. 74
Arkansas St. 76, South Alabama 73
Cincinnati 76, UCF 74
Coastal Carolina 74, Marshall 67
Delaware 62, NC A&T 54
Duke 76, Florida St. 67
Elon 73, UNC-Wilmington 72
Florida 88, Georgia 82
Gardner-Webb 73, SC-Upstate 65
Georgia St. 68, Old Dominion 65
Georgia Tech 65, Syracuse 60
Hampton 67, Towson 61
High Point 99, Radford 74
Jackson St. 77, Florida A&M 55
James Madison 87, Georgia Southern 80
Kentucky 70, Auburn 59
LSU 64, South Carolina 63
Lamar 94, New Orleans 72
Longwood 81, Presbyterian 73
Louisiana Tech 75, FIU 68
McNeese St. 74, Nicholls 47
Mercer 88, Samford 84
Middle Tennessee 96, UTEP 90 (2OT)
Mississippi St. 71, Arkansas 67
Norfolk St. 71, SC State 67 (OT)
North Carolina 96, Virginia Tech 81
SE Louisiana 81, Houston Christian 78
Southern Miss. 78, Texas St. 74
Stetson 61, Florida Gulf Coast 60
Tennessee 88, Vanderbilt 53
Troy 85, Louisiana-Monroe 57
Virginia 49, Wake Forest 47
W. Carolina 70, ETSU 65
W. Illinois 68, Tennessee St. 61
W. Kentucky 72, New Mexico St. 58

MIDWEST
Cent. Michigan 69, W. Michigan 42
Cleveland St. 81, Youngstown St. 73
Creighton 79, Butler 57
Dayton 78, Fordham 70
E. Illinois 72, Lindenwood (Mo.) 57
E. Kentucky 75, Bellarmine 65
E. Michigan 69, Bowling Green 60
Fort Wayne 83, Detroit 69
Iowa 88, Wisconsin 86 (OT)
Iowa St. 82, Texas Tech 74
Kent St. 85, N. Illinois 47
Miami (Ohio) 80, Ball St. 59
Missouri St. 82, Valparaiso 74
Nebraska 68, Penn St. 49
Oakland 107, IUPUI 59
TCU 75, Kansas St. 72
Wright St. 101, Robert Morris 71

SOUTHWEST
Abilene Christian 63, Stephen F. Austin 62
Grambling St. 66, Texas Southern 63
Houston 82, Texas 61
Kansas 67, Oklahoma 57
Lipscomb 85, Cent. Arkansas 68
Northwestern St. 81, Incarnate Word 61
Oklahoma St. 93, BYU 83
Sam Houston St. 83, Liberty 73
Southern U. 77, Prairie View 71
Texas A&M-CC 86, Texas A&M Commerce 63
Tulsa 93, Rice 82 (OT)
UALR 80, S. Indiana 62

WEST
Denver 77, N. Dakota St. 71
N. Colorado 80, Sacramento St. 75
UC Santa Barbara 77, Hawaii 71
Weber St. 90, E. Washington 84

Women’s basketball

Friday’s results
EAST

Columbia 80, Dartmouth 56
Creighton 71, St. John’s 51
Elon 53, Northeastern 37
Harvard 74, Cornell 51
Penn 66, Yale 52
Princeton 74, Brown 62
Stony Brook 81, Hofstra 48
Towson 51, Drexel 48 (OT)
UConn 85, Georgetown 44

SOUTH
Monmouth (NJ) 53, Campbell 49
NC A&T 73, Hampton 58

WEST
Arizona 64, Washington St. 45
Arizona St. 73, Washington 66 (2OT)
Hawaii 59, Cal Poly 47
Oregon St. 79, UCLA 77
Southern Cal 88, Oregon 51
Stanford 84, California 49
Utah 77, Colorado 76

Saturday’s results
EAST

Army 58, Holy Cross 43
Lafayette 64, American 57
Le Moyne 55, Stonehill 44
Manhattan 72, Quinnipiac 66 (OT)
Merrimack 61, LIU Brooklyn 59
Niagara 90, Marist 64
Rhode Island 61, Davidson 49
Sacred Heart 79, Wagner 55
Seton Hall 91, DePaul 78
VCU 63, UMass 49
West Virginia 70, Oklahoma 66
Wisconsin 61, Rutgers 43

SOUTH
Alabama A&M 64, MVSU 51
Alcorn St. 51, Bethune-Cookman 40
Appalachian St. 93, Georgia St. 67
Austin Peay 73, Lipscomb 60
Chattanooga 56, ETSU 41
Coppin St. 53, Delaware St. 46
FIU 68, Louisiana Tech 51
Florida Gulf Coast 86, Queens (NC) 60
George Mason 60, George Washington 57
Georgia Southern 85, South Alabama 70
High Point 67, Radford 50
Jacksonville 73, North Florida 60

LINE
+125
+195
+100

Beach soccer
Beach soccer
Beach soccer
Bowling
Col. baseball
Col. baseball
Col. baseball
Col. baseball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. basketball
Col. softball
Col. softball
Col. softball
Col. softball
Col. softball
Col. wrestling
Col. wrestling
Golf
Golf
Golf
Horse racing
NBA
NHL
Skiing
Soccer
Soccer
Soccer
Tennis
Tennis

AROUND SPORTS

Pearland 67, Beaumont West Brook 41
Hightower 53, Cypress Creek 34
Shadow Creek 44, Atascocita 36

Class 5A

NASCAR Cup: Daytona 500
World Cup (group stage):
Belarus vs. Japan
World Cup (group stage):
Mexico vs. Oman
World Cup (group stage):
Colombia vs. Senegal
World Cup (group stage):
Brazil vs. Portugal
PBA: Pete Weber Missouri Classic
Cactus Jack Classic:
Grambling St. vs. Jackson St.
San Diego at Texas
Cactus Jack Classic:
Prairie View A&M vs. Alcorn St.
Cactus Jack Classic:
Texas Southern vs. Southern
Pittsburgh at Clemson (w)
Michigan St. at Michigan (w)
Loyola-Chicago at Rhode Island
Georgia Tech
at North Carolina St. (w)
Florida Atlantic at South Florida
Wichita St. at Charlotte
Florida at Kentucky (w)
Georgia at South Carolina (w)
Purdue at Ohio St.
Syracuse at Virginia (w)
Chattanooga at Furman
Virginia Tech at Louisville (w)
Bradley at Northern Iowa
Columbia at Harvard (w)
Tennessee at Vanderbilt (w)
Northwestern at Indiana
Southern Cal at Oregon St. (w)
Florida St. at Miami (w)
Memphis at SMU
Texas Tech at Baylor (w)
Missouri at Arkansas (w)
Seton Hall at St. John’s
UCLA at Oregon (w)
North Carolina at Wake Forest (w)
Rutgers at Minnesota
Utah at UCLA
North Carolina vs. Washington
Texas vs. Northwestern
LSU vs. Minnesota
Central Florida vs. UCLA
Florida St. vs. Tennessee
Wisconsin at Iowa
Nebraska at Penn St.
Saudi Ladies International
PGA: Genesis Invitational
PGA Champions: Chubb Classic
America’s Day at the Races
All-Star Game: East vs. West
N.Y. Rangers vs. N.Y. Islanders
Alpine World Cup
Brighton & Hove Albion
at Sheffield
Essen at Bayern (w)
Manchester United at Luton Town
ATP: ABN AMRO Open
ATP: Argentina Open

James Madison 73, Coastal Carolina 60
Liberty 86, Sam Houston St. 56
Louisiana-Lafayette 59, Arkansas St. 46
Marshall 89, Old Dominion 75
Memphis 72, East Carolina 70
NC Central 70, Howard 64 (OT)
Nicholls 81, McNeese St. 67
Norfolk St. 87, SC State 25
SE Louisiana 60, Houston Christian 40
Southern Miss. 68, Texas St. 58
Stetson 64, Kennesaw St. 54
Tennessee St. 84, W. Illinois 71
Troy 81, Louisiana-Monroe 77
UAB 87, Rice 74
UT Martin 70, Morehead St. 54

MIDWEST
Akron 65, Buffalo 54
Ball St. 75, Ohio 60
Kansas St. 60, UCF 58
Kent St. 77, Cent. Michigan 54
Miami (Ohio) 58, W. Michigan 50
Minnesota 88, Northwestern 63
Missouri St. 73, Evansville 56
N. Dakota St. 86, Denver 65
N. Illinois 61, E. Michigan 52
N. Kentucky 77, Wright St. 63
Nebraska 77, Purdue 65
Oral Roberts 102, North Dakota 57
S. Dakota St. 79, Omaha 57
S. Illinois 80, Indiana St. 70
SE Missouri 67, SIU-Edwardsville 57
TCU 79, Cincinnati 72
Wichita St. 74, Tulsa 65

SOUTHWEST
Cent. Arkansas 83, E. Kentucky 49
Grambling St. 60, Texas Southern 55
Houston 65, Oklahoma St. 57
Incarnate Word 53, Northwestern St. 45
Middle Tennessee 56, UTEP 41
S. Indiana 88, UALR 51
Southern U. 75, Prairie View 68 (OT)
Stephen F. Austin 89, Abilene Christian 83
Texas 81, Iowa St. 60
Texas A&M-CC 86, Texas A&M Commerce 69
Texas-Arlington 71, Texas Rio Grande Valley 55

WEST
Cal Baptist 71, Grand Canyon 65
Colorado St. 75, Wyoming 70
E. Washington 74, Weber St. 54
Fresno St. 74, San Jose St. 59
Gonzaga 91, Pacific 78
Idaho 49, Idaho St. 48
Montana 72, Montana St. 50
Nevada 68, Boise St. 65 (OT)
New Mexico St. 64, W. Kentucky 61
Utah Tech 89, Seattle 75

Golf

PGA Tour
The Genesis Invitational
Saturday’s third round

At Pacific Palisades, Calif.
Yardage: 7,322; Par: 71
Patrick Cantlay ..............................................64-65-70—199
Xander Schauffele ........................................70-66-65—201
Will Zalatoris..................................................66-70-65—201
Luke List ........................................................65-69-68—202
Jason Day ......................................................65-69-69—203
Harris English ................................................69-69-65—203
Corey Conners ...............................................70-65-70—205
Hideki Matsuyama .......................................69-68-68—205
J.T. Poston.....................................................68-71-66—205
Adam Hadwin...............................................69-70-67—206
Tom Hoge ......................................................66-70-70—206
Beau Hossler .................................................68-70-68—206
Mackenzie Hughes........................................69-65-72—206
Adam Svensson ............................................67-72-67—206
Eric Cole .........................................................73-69-65—207
Tony Finau.....................................................70-67-70—207
Ben Griffin......................................................72-69-66—207
Adam Scott ...................................................72-68-67—207
Cameron Young ............................................72-66-69—207
Christiaan Bezuidenhout..............................69-69-70—208
Lucas Glover...................................................69-71-68—208
Russell Henley...............................................70-69-69—208
Max Homa.....................................................73-65-70—208
Kurt Kitayama...............................................70-69-69—208
Scottie Scheffler ...........................................68-70-70—208
Brendon Todd................................................68-71-69—208
Byeong Hun An.............................................67-72-70—209
Sam Burns .....................................................70-71-68—209
Tommy Fleetwood........................................70-68-71—209
Viktor Hovland ..............................................70-69-70—209
Rory McIlroy...................................................74-66-69—209
Seamus Power..............................................74-68-67—209
Nick Taylor .....................................................70-69-70—209
Ludvig Aberg..................................................68-72-70—210
Rickie Fowler ..................................................70-69-71—210
Brian Harman.................................................69-70-71—210
Tom Kim.........................................................69-69-72—210
Taylor Moore..................................................69-73-68—210
Cameron Davis...............................................65-73-73—211
Sungjae Im ......................................................71-71-69—211
Denny McCarthy ............................................69-74-68—211
Collin Morikawa..............................................70-71-70—211
Sahith Theegala ............................................72-69-70—211

High schools

Boys basketball playoffs
Bi-district pairings
Class 6A

Region II
Cypress Falls vs. Tomball
7 p.m. Tuesday, Klein Collins HS
Willis vs. Nimitz
7 p.m. Tuesday, Summer Creek HS
Klein Oak vs. Cypress Springs
7 p.m. Monday, Cypress Woods HS

Fox
FS2

1:30 p.m.
5:20 a.m.

FS2

6:50 a.m.

FS2

9:20 a.m.

FS2

10:50 a.m.

Region II
Princeton 36, Huntsville 26

Region III
Randle 62, Crosby 39
Foster 52, La Porte 31
Manvel 44, Willowridge 22
Barbers Hill 68, Fulshear 60
Lake Creek 45, Pflugerville 22

Class 4A

FS1
SCHN

noon
11 a.m.

LHN
SCHN

1 p.m.
3 p.m.

SCHN

7 p.m.

ACC
Big Ten
CBSSN
CW

11 a.m.
11 a.m.
11 a.m.
11 a.m.

Region III
Burnet 62, Wheatley 28
Liberty 44, Palestine 38
Salado 65, Yates 39

Region IV
Cuero 48, Bay City 31
Boerne 53, Iowa Colony 27
Fredericksburg 85, Brazosport 38

Class 3A

Region III
Hitchcock 88, Pineywoods Academy 34
Kountze 51, East Bernard 33
Huntington 55, Van Vleck 28

Regional quarterfinals
Class 6A

Region II

ESPN
ESPN2
SEC
ABC
CBS
ACC
CBSSN
ESPN
ESPN2
ESPNU
SEC
FS1
Pac-12
ACC
ESPN
ESPN2
SEC
FS1
Pac-12
ACC
Big Ten
Pac-12
ACC
ESPN2
SEC
ESPN
ESPN
Big Ten
Big Ten
Golf
Golf
CBS
Golf
FS2
TBS, TNT, truTV
ABC
NBC
USA
CBSSN
USA
Tennis
Tennis

11 a.m.
11 a.m.
11 a.m.
noon
noon
1 p.m.
1 p.m.
1 p.m.
1 p.m.
1 p.m.
1 p.m.
2 p.m.
2 p.m.
3 p.m.
3 p.m.
3 p.m.
3 p.m.
4 p.m.
4 p.m.
5 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
6 p.m.
8:30 a.m.
8:30 a.m.
8:30 a.m.
5 p.m.
7 p.m.
1 p.m.
3 p.m.
4 a.m.
noon
2 p.m.
2 p.m.
2 p.m.
7 p.m.
2 p.m.
2 p.m.
8 a.m.
9 a.m.
10:30 a.m.
5 a.m.
1 p.m.

Davis vs. Grand Oaks
7 p.m. Tuesday, Humble HS
Westfield vs. The Woodlands
7 p.m. Tuesday, Tomball HS
Tomball Memorial vs. Cypress Ranch
7 p.m. Tuesday, Cypress Park HS
College Park vs. Dekaney
7 p.m. Tuesday, Klein Forest HS
Langham Creek vs. Klein Cain
7 p.m. Tuesday, Klein HS

Region III
Clements vs. Katy
7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wheeler Fieldhouse
Stratford vs. Westside
6 p.m. Tuesday, Coleman Coliseum
Seven Lakes vs. Ridge Point
7 p.m. Tuesday, Seven Lakes HS
Lamar vs. Cypress Creek
6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Delmar Fieldhouse
Dickinson vs. Pearland
7 p.m. Tuesday, Manvel HS
Beaumont United vs. Dobie
7 p.m. Tuesday, Dayton HS
Shadow Creek vs. Clear Creek
6 p.m. Monday, Alvin HS
Pasadena Memorial vs. Beaumont West Brook
7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Port Arthur Memorial HS
Bellaire vs. Jersey Village
8 p.m. Tuesday, Delmar Fieldhouse
Paetow vs. Travis
7 p.m. Tuesday, Travis HS
Cy-Fair vs. Heights
5 p.m. Tuesday, Delmar Fieldhouse
Elkins vs. Jordan
6 p.m. Tuesday, Hopson Fieldhouse
South Houston vs. C.E. King
7 p.m. Monday, Goose Creek Memorial HS
Dawson vs. Clear Lake
6 p.m. Tuesday, South Houston HS
Atascocita vs. Deer Park
7 p.m. Monday, North Shore HS
Clear Springs vs. Alief Taylor
7 p.m. Tuesday, Clear Brook HS

Class 5A

Region II
Longview vs. Porter
7 p.m. Tuesday, Woden HS
Mount Pleasant vs. Kingwood Park
7 p.m. Tuesday, Timpson HS

Region III
Fort Bend Marshall vs. Galena Park
TBA
Barbers Hill vs. Manvel
8 p.m. Tuesday, Sam Rayburn HS
Madison vs. Kempner
7 p.m. Tuesday, Butler Fieldhouse
Friendswood vs. Nederland
7 p.m. Tuesday, Lee College
Galveston Ball vs. Goose Creek Memorial
7 p.m. Tuesday, Pasadena HS
Houston Sterling vs. Fulshear
7 p.m. Tuesday, Barnett Fieldhouse
Port Arthur Memorial vs. La Porte
TBA
Foster vs. Waltrip
7 p.m. Tuesday, Foster HS
Lake Creek vs. Belton
7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Hearne HS

Class 4A

Region III
Huffman-Hargrave vs. West Orange-Stark
6:30 p.m. Tuesday, East Chambers HS
Washington vs. Taylor
6 p.m. Monday, Bryan HS
Mickey Leland vs. Manor New Tech
6 p.m. Tuesday, Bryan HS
Wheatley vs. Caldwell
7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Bryan HS
Yates vs. La Grange
5:30 p.m. Monday, Merrell Center

Region IV
Needville vs. Sweeny
7 p.m. Tuesday, Iowa Colony HS
Brookshire Royal vs. La Marque
6 p.m. Tuesday, Wheeler Fieldhouse
El Campo vs. Stafford
7 p.m. Monday, Merrell Center
Wharton vs. Iowa Colony
7 p.m. Monday, Terry HS

Class 3A

Region III
Hitchcock vs. Coldspring-Oakhurst
6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Navasota HS
Van Vleck vs. Tarkington
7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Hempstead HS
East Bernard vs. Shepherd
TBA
Wallis Brazos vs. Crockett
6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Bryan Rudder HS

Region IV
Rice Consolidated vs. SA Great Hearts Northern
Oaks
6 p.m. Tuesday, Seguin HS

Girls basketball playoffs
Area results
Class 6A

Region II
Cypress Springs 80, Grand Oaks 37
Cypress Lakes 42, Westfield 29
Klein Collins 68, Spring 29
Klein Oak 59, Nimitz 53

Region III
Stratford 39, Travis 32
C.E. King 75, Alief Taylor 54
Seven Lakes 89, Jersey Village 57
Memorial 60, Fort Bend Austin 41
Summer Creek 47, Dawson 29

Cypress Springs vs. Klein Collins
7:30 p.m. Monday, Waller HS
Cypress Lakes vs. Klein Oak
6 p.m. Monday, Waller HS

Region III
Stratford vs. Hightower
7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Campbell Center
C.E. King vs. Pearland
6:30 p.m. Monday, Channelview HS
Seven Lakes vs. Fort Bend Austin
6 p.m. Tuesday, Campbell Center
Summer Creek vs. Shadow Creek
6:30 p.m. Tuesday, La Porte HS

Harry How/Getty Images

Patrick Cantlay, right, shakes hands with Luke List
on the 18th green at the Genesis Invitational.

Cantlay holds on
to lead at Genesis

Class 5A

Region III
Randle vs. Foster
7 p.m. Monday, Randle HS
Manvel vs. Barbers Hill
6 p.m. Tuesday, Sam Rayburn HS
Lake Creek vs. Killeen Chaparral
7 p.m. Tuesday, Caldwell HS

Class 4A

Region III

WI RE RE P O RT S

Liberty vs. Madisonville
6 p.m. Tuesday, Conroe HSClass 3A

Region III

Tennis

LOS ANGELES —
Patrick Cantlay moved
one round closer to winning before home fans at
Riviera on his favorite
course. He just moved the
wrong way at the end
Saturday in the Genesis
Invitational.
Cantlay got up-anddown from short of the
18th green to save par for
a 1-under 70, giving him a
two-shot lead over good
friend Xander Schauffele and Will Zalatoris.
Cantlay, a UCLA alum,
was leading by four shots
for much of the back
nine, reaching 15-under
par. But he made a soft
bogey on the par-5 17th as
Schauffele (65) and Zalatoris (65) finished strong.
Cantlay was at 14-under
199.
At stake is a $4 million
payoff to the winner of
the signature event, a
boost in first-place money as a player-hosted
tournament. The host is
Tiger Woods, who
might not be around to
present the trophy.
Woods confirmed on X
he had influenza, the
cause of him withdrawing Friday.
Luke List (68) was
three shots behind, while
Harris English (65) and
Jason Day (69) were
another shots back.

Saturday’s results
At Rotterdam, Netherlands

WORLD AQUATICS

Hitchcock vs. Anderson-Shiro
6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Delmar Fieldhouse

Hockey
NHL

EASTERN CONFERENCE
Atlantic
Boston
Florida
Tampa Bay
Toronto
Detroit
Montreal
Buffalo
Ottawa

GP
55
54
55
52
54
54
53
51

Metropolitan
N.Y. Rangers
Carolina
Philadelphia
New Jersey
N.Y. Islanders
Pittsburgh
Washington
Columbus

W
32
35
30
28
28
22
23
22

GP
54
53
55
53
53
51
52
52

L OT Pts
12 11 75
15 4 74
20 5 65
16 8 64
20 6 62
24 8 52
26 4 50
27 2 46

W
35
31
29
27
22
24
23
16

GF
185
176
191
184
190
154
155
172

GA
147
133
180
166
176
194
164
184

L OT Pts GF GA
16 3 73 179 151
17 5 67 178 154
19 7 65 164 159
22 4 58 177 182
18 13 57 155 177
20 7 55 150 137
21 8 54 127 164
26 10 42 153 194

WESTERN CONFERENCE
Central
Dallas
Colorado
Winnipeg
St. Louis
Nashville
Minnesota
Arizona
Chicago

GP
55
55
51
53
54
53
53
55

W
34
33
32
29
27
25
23
15

L OT
14
7
18
4
14
5
22
2
25
2
23
5
26
4
37
3

Pts
75
70
69
60
56
55
50
33

GF
208
205
152
158
162
162
154
115

GA
167
178
117
163
177
173
168
193

Pacific
GP W L OT Pts GF GA
Vancouver
55 37 12 6 80 203 142
Vegas
53 31 16 6 68 172 146
Edmonton
51 32 18 1 65 181 147
Los Angeles
52 26 16 10 62 163 144
Seattle
54 23 21 10 56 149 155
Calgary
55 25 25 5 55 166 174
Anaheim
53 19 32 2 40 137 181
San Jose
53 15 33 5 35 113 203
NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss.
Friday’s results
Carolina 5, Arizona 1
Saturday’s results
Los Angeles 5, Boston 4 (OT)
Chicago 3, Ottawa 2
Edmonton 4, Dallas 3 (OT)
Detroit 5, Calgary 0
Nashville 5, St. Louis 2
Buffalo 3, Minnesota 2 (OT)
Florida 9, Tampa Bay 2
Toronto 9, Anaheim 2
Washington 4, Montreal 3
Philadelphia vs. New Jersey at MetLife Stadium, late
Winnipeg at Vancouver, late
Carolina at Vegas, late
Columbus at San Jose, late
Sunday’s games
N.Y. Rangers vs. N.Y. Islanders at MetLife Stadium, 2
p.m.
Arizona at Colorado, 5 p.m.
Los Angeles at Pittsburgh, 5 p.m.

ATP World Tour ABN AMRO Open
Men’s singles
Semifinals
Alex de Minaur (5), Australia, def. Grigor Dimitrov (6),
Bulgaria, 6-4, 6-3.
Jannik Sinner (1), Italy, def. Tallon Griekspoor, Netherlands, 6-2, 6-4.

ATP World Tour Delray Beach
Open
Saturday's results
At Delray Beach, Fla.

Men’s singles
Semifinals
Tommy Paul (3), United States, def. Frances Tiafoe (2),
United States, 6-2, 6-2.

ATP World Tour Argentina Open
Saturday’s results
At Buenos Aires

Men’s singles
Semifinals
Facundo Diaz Acosta, Argentina, def. Federico Coria, Argentina, 6-2, 6-3.

WTA Doha
Saturday’s results
At Doha, Qatar

Women’s singles
Championship
Iga Swiatek (1), Poland, def. Elena Rybakina (3), Kazakhstan, 7-6 (8), 6-2.

U.S. swimmer
Curzan wins gold

Standout swimmer
Claire Curzan of the
United States won her
fourth gold medals at the
world championships on
Saturday at Doha, Qatar.
Curzan was in control
all the way through the
200-meter backstroke
final as she won by 1.26
seconds over 17-year-old
Australian Jaclyn Barclay. Curzan completed
her set of backstroke gold
medals after earlier winning the 50 and 100, plus
the 4x100 mixed medley
relay.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Sarkisian getting
$10.3M contract
Texas coach Steve
Sarkisian’s contract
extension will push his
guaranteed salary to $10.3
million this year, making
him one of the highestpaid coaches in the country after leading the
Longhorns to the Big 12
championship and their
first appearance in the
College Football Playoff.
Texas announced the
contract extension
through the 2030 season
last month but had not
released financial details.
The deal is set to be approved next week by the
University of Texas System Board of Regents.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Hall of Famer
Driesell dies

Hall of Fame basketball coach Charles
“Lefty” Driesell died
Saturday at his home in
Virginia Beach, Va., his
family said. He was 92.
Driesell rebuilt struggling programs and won
786 games over parts of
five decades.
TENNIS

Swiatek takes
Qatar Open
No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek won the Qatar Open
for a third straight year.
Swiatek defeated No. 4
Elena Rybakina 7-6 (8),
6-2 in the final.
Alcaraz upset at
Argentina Open: No.
2-ranked Carlos Alcaraz
was upset by Nicolás
Jarry of Chile 7-6 (2), 6-3
in the semifinals of the
Argentina Open at Buenos Aires.
Jarry will face home
crowd favorite Facundo
Díaz Acosta in the final
on Sunday. It will be their
first tour-level meeting.
Alcaraz was the defending champion but
hasn't looked as sharp
and aggressive this week
as he was a year ago.

ZEST

HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 • SECTION G

Houston leaves its mark
on the silver screen
15 films set and shot
in the city range from
good to bad to zombified
By Andrew Dansby
STA F F W R I T ER

Gaze upon Houston in an older film like “Paris, Texas.” The city’s skyline appears like a familiar smile with
missing teeth compared to today, which has the look of
expensive implants, fuller and teeming with gleam. Old
movies have a way of making the familiar feel remote.
We’ve been revisiting our curious cinematic history
recently. In addition to “Paris, Texas,” Wim Wenders’
masterpiece that turns 40 in May, two of Houston’s other
prestige films had major birthdays. “Terms of Endearment,” a box-office smash and best picture Oscar winner,
turned 40 late last year. And the beloved cult film “Rushmore” premiered 25 years ago in December.
Though Houston lacks the cache of Austin, which
became an independent film hub thanks to Houston
native Richard Linklater, Houston’s film legacy traces
back at least as far as the 1956 noir “The Houston Story.”
And the reasons why Houston has been home to film
productions ring with some comic notes.
The city’s willingness to block off thoroughfares
meant it stands in for Newport Beach, Calif., in the 1994
action comedy “The Chase.” Filmmaker Irvin Kershner,
in 1990, decided a dystopian future in Detroit might resemble present-day Houston, so “Robocop 2” was set
there and shot here. Some enjoyably bad films were
made here, from the Dolph Lundgren science-fiction
action vehicle “I Come in Peace” (originally “Dark Angel”) to the undercooked bloodsucking romp “My Best
Houston continues on G6
Clockwise from top left: “Brewster McCloud”; “Rushmore”; “Terms of Endearment”; “Jason’s Lyric”; “Urban Cowboy”;
“Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room”; “Paris, Texas”; “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé”
Lion’s Gate Films; Touchstone Pictures; Paramount Pictures; The McHenry Co.; Paramount Pictures; Magnolia Pictures; Road Movies Filmproduktion; Tyler Simien

G2 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM
Features Editor Melissa Aguilar: features@chron.com

Rodeo scholarship winners pay it forward
By Amber Elliott
STA FF WRIT E R

The annual scholarship banquet is not like any other Houston
Livestock Show and Rodeo event.
Hundreds of high school juniors
and seniors pour into NRG Center, months after the concerts,
cook-offs and auctions have ended.
Students arrive with their parents, aunts, uncles and siblings.
On average, 20% of the scholarship recipients are the first in
their families to graduate from
college.
That was the case for Aileen
Loera, who attended Manvel
High School in north Brazoria
County. Growing up, her family
always made a point to visit the
rodeo at least once each year. She
remembers hearing of scholars
talk about their scholarships and
wondering how they were able to
secure one.
“The goal was always to start at
a four-year college, but with our
finances, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to do that,” she said.
“Senior year, I looked into it and
applied.”
After four years at the University of Houston, Loera graduated
with a degree in accounting from
the C.T. Bauer College of Business
and promptly joined not one but
two rodeo committees: Hideout,
as well as Events and Functions.
In 2023, she dropped the Hideout
committee but joined the rodeo as
a full-time employee. Today, she
works as a staff accountant.
“The reason I wanted to be on
staff is that we are very true to our
mission,” Loera said. “I know
how much the scholarship
helped me, and made me and my
family’s dream come true. It’s
really good to see when our accounts payable team cuts the
scholarship checks. That used to
be me — it’s a full-circle moment,
for sure.”
This year, the rodeo’s total
scholarship commitment is more
than $27 million. There are currently 2,300 students on rodeo
scholarships across 80 Texas colleges and universities.
As a then-high school senior
back in 2017, Loera received an
Opportunity Scholarship, which
has since been renamed Houston
Area Scholarships. In 2024, 350
students will receive the fouryear, $200,000 award.
Back in 2001, Justin Tankersley
was one of them. He grew up in
Liberty County and attended
Dayton High School.
“I was exposed to the (rodeo’s)
volunteer side through my dad,
he served on the Liberty County
Go Texan Committee,” Tankersley said. “I lost my dad in December of 2000, right before I was
going to graduate high school. So
the scholarship was extremely
meaningful; it allowed me to go to
college as I had planned.”
He went on to Texas A&M University and earned a degree in industrial distribution. Promptly
after moving to Houston in 2005,

Courtesy photo

Loera says that while growing up, her family made a point of
attending the rodeo at least once each year.

Family photo

Justin Tankersley takes his daughter, Georgia, to one of the
functions sponsored by RodeoHouston.

Courtesy photo

Aileen Loera received the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
Opportunity Scholarship in 2017.

Courtesy photo

Tankersley recieved an Opportunity Scholarship from the
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in 2001.

Courtesy photo

Sidney Fuchs got her start serving as an intern at the Houston
Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Tankersley followed in his father’s footsteps and joined a rodeo committee.
This year, following 18 years of
service, he begins the 2024 rodeo
season as a vice president.
“I started volunteering with
the rodeo as a way to give back,”
he said. “I was in a bad spot, fi-

nancially, when I got my scholarship. I want to give other people
the same opportunity.”
Sidney Fuchs attended what
she describes as a “small, little 1A
or 2A school” in Groveton, where
she was elected president of her
local Future Farmers of America
chapter.

“Where I’m from, that’s just
what you do,” she said. “I was a
pig person. I raised pigs and I did
a lot speaking and leadership
type contests.”
Fuchs says that although her
parents worked hard and wanted
the best for their daughter, scholarships were necessary to make
college a reality.
“I applied to hundreds,” she
recalls. “I needed to get good
grades, so I busted my butt to
make sure I was in a position to
get scholarships. My involvement
(with animals) led me to get the
one from the Houston rodeo,
which was one of the bigger
awards. I was very excited when I
found out — that was huge for my
family.”
Because Fuchs completed her

undergraduate studies at Texas
A&M in three years, and her
Area Go Texan scholarship was a
four-year award, she was able
earn a master’s degree during her
last two semesters.
“Thanks to God, my parents
and the livestock show and rodeo,
I graduated with two degrees and
zero debt,” Fuchs said. “There are
truly no words to describe that
feeling. The older I get, the more I
realize that’s not the norm, and I
will forever be grateful for that.”
She’s worked for the rodeo ever
since, as a manager in contracts
and legal administration. The
2024 season marks her 10th anniversary with the nonprofit organization.
“I love the rodeo,” she said. “I
love what it stands for.”

Artifact in ‘Crowning the North’ exhibit tells twisted story
By Andrew Dansby

‘CROWNING THE
NORTH: SILVER
TREASURES FROM
BERGEN, NORWAY’

STA FF WRIT E R

A bridal crown made between
1590 and 1610 greets visitors to the
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s
exhibition, “Crowning the North:
Silver Treasures From Bergen,
Norway.” The piece is amply regal
in and of itself.
A set of interlocking triangular,
leaf-like pieces of silver rise like
spires, gently arcing outward toward the top. Gaze closer, and the
piece will truly absorb you. Humanoid figures emerge from the
metal-like wraiths from the Well
of Souls, their torsos twisting at
the bottom. More clearly defined
faces peer out from the top. Flukeshaped spangles hang from the
sides.
All that glitters is not gold,
though some of it is: The piece is
silver and silver gilt, in which a
thin layer of gold is applied. The
piece is one of about 200 objects in
the exhibition, which tells an epic
global story from the vantage of a
coastal town in Norway. It is one,
curator Misty Flores says, “that
has to do with global exchange,
global economies, immigration,
nation-building. … Some things I
think we can all relate to and that
resonate with people in a city like
Houston.”
The era was a boom time for
Norway as an exporter of cod and
timber. A large mural in the exhi-

When: Wednesday-Sunday,
through May 5
Where: Museum of Fine Arts,
Houston, 1001 Bissonnet
Details: $20-$24; 713-639-7300,
mfah.org

Christen Sveaas Collection

“Bridal Crown,” 1590-1610, silver and silver-gilt, is featured in “Crowning the North: Silver
Treasures From Bergen, Norway,” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

bition acknowledges the other
side of the exchange: exploitation
and colonialism. Much of the silver was sourced by the gold-seeking Spanish, who commanded its
extraction from mines in the Andes and Mexico.
During a period that included

crafting that particular bridal
crown — the specific goldsmith
who made it is unknown — the
Potosí mine in present-day Bolivia produced almost half of the silver in the world.
“Crowning the North” presents
a view of Bergen as a guild-centric

mercantile system. Flores describes an apprenticeship system
that started around age 12 and
lasted about seven years. The
young goldsmith apprentice
would leave home and travel to
“be exposed to new artistic traditions and new artistic languages.”

Upon returning to Bergen, the
artist would spend a year on a
masterpiece to present to the
guild for approval.
“They established an artistic
language that would resonate
throughout the centuries,” Flores
says. A wall of intricately detailed
silver spoons in the exhibition
speaks to one way wealth was accumulated and displayed without
a centralized banking system.
But it’s hard to ignore crowns
when crowns are in the room.
The exhibition has a half dozen
of them, of fewer than a dozen that
circulate through galleries. These
are not the crowns of royalty.
Rather, Flores says, they
served as a conduit to medieval
times and the cult of the Virgin
Mary. The pieces were far too lavish for a citizen to purchase. Rather, they could be rented, for lack of
a more elegant word, from the
church to allow a bride a gleaming
moment as queen for a day.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 G3

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

DINING

Price of brisket putting restaurants in a bind
Texas barbecue has a math
problem. Specifically, with the
cost of brisket. Both in how
much a pitmaster pays to acquire and cook the raw product
and in what the customer pays
to consume the finished product.
This has resulted in the unthinkable: some barbecue joint
pitmasters have considered removing brisket from their
menus, if only
temporarily. No
one is willing to
go on the record
yet, though.
How did we
get here? Essentially, it’s due to
J.C.
the stubbornly
Reid
high cost of beef,
B B Q STAT E
specifically brisOF M I N D
ket. The economics of selling brisket are broken.
First, a quick refresher on
how brisket is made and sold.
Conservatively, it costs a barbecue joint about $10 to produce a
pound of high-grade brisket.
This includes the wholesale
price of raw brisket, the loss incurred when trimming and
cooking it and other expenses,
like salt and pepper and the
wood needed to cook it.
In order to cover the other
costs of running a restaurant,
specifically labor and overhead
like rent, the pitmaster needs to
sell that brisket at three times
the cost, i.e. $30. This is just to
break even.
Over the last few years, pitmasters have determined that
consumers, at least in Texas,
have a price ceiling of about $30
per pound when it comes to
buying brisket. Some joints are
trying to squeeze out a small
profit by selling at $32-$34 per
pound.
So, barbecue joints are stuck
selling their most popular

J.C. Reid/Contributor

There aren’t many substitutes for brisket in terms of flavor and tenderness.

menu item either at a loss or just
to break even. You don’t need to
be a math whiz to realize this is
unsustainable.
Armchair beef economists
may note that the price of raw
brisket goes up and down all the
time, so what’s the big deal? Indeed, in the past, a spike in beef
prices would result in a commiserate increase in barbecue
joint brisket prices. When that
spike passed and the cost went
down, the barbecue joint left
their price the same (usually
temporarily) to recoup some of
the lost profit that happened
during the spike.

No harm, no foul, right? Well,
the problem in the last few
years is the raw cost of beef isn’t
coming back down, or at least
not enough. The wholesale
price of Prime grade brisket
continues to hover in the $4-$6
per pound range, resulting in a
stubbornly high total cost of $8$12.
Why is the price not coming
down? This is the subject of
endless debate, but it comes
down to Texas barbecue being a
victim of its own success. As
barbecue has expanded both
nationally and internationally,
the demand for beef in general

and brisket in particular has remained high.
Additionally, other industry
stakeholders, such as cattlemen, have accused the biggest
meatpacking companies of colluding to keep beef prices artificially high. In the absence of
government intervention in this
alleged collusion, or a collapse
in demand for beef, prices are
expected to remain high.
Barbecue joint owners and
pitmasters are looking at the
numbers and looking for a solution. One obvious solution is
simply to not sell a product at a
loss. In other words, just take

brisket off the menu and replace it with something else.
Unfortunately, there aren’t
many substitutes for brisket in
terms of flavor and tenderness.
Beef cheek has been substituted
in some cases, though the economics of that cut has its own
challenges.
For now, pitmasters are stuck
selling an unprofitable product.
To be sure, brisket won’t disappear from menus anytime soon.
But as new menu items are developed and consumer tastes
evolve, something else may replace brisket as a Texas barbecue staple.

5 Black-owned Houston restaurants to try this month
By Sonia Garcia
STAFF WRIT E R

In Houston, Black-owned restaurants
range from food trucks to fine dining and
everything in between. Here are five of
the best you can check out during Black
History Month.

The Breakfast Klub

A local institution, The Breakfast Klub
has a line wrapped around the block for
good reason. It has accumulated numerous accolades since opening in 2001, including being listed in the Chronicle’s
Top 100 Restaurants list multiple years.
The breakfast/brunch/lunch spot is
run by Marcus Davis, who also owns
Reggae Hut Cafe. You can’t go wrong
with a breakfast plate, such as the catfish
and grits or wings and waffles.
3711 Travis

Davis St. at Hermann Park

Bold Creole-Southern dishes are the
stars at Davis St. at Hermann Park from
beloved chef Mark Holley. The restaurant
found new life under his helm in 2019 after it had been closed for five years.
The Parker House rolls with fish dip
and pimento cheese should not be overlooked — and the fried-oyster-topped
duck-and-shrimp gumbo is among the
best gumbo in the city.
5925 Almeda

Houston Chronicle file

Fried chicken and waffle is one of the most popular dishes at The Breakfast Klub in Houston.

Gatlin’s BBQ

Gatlin’s BBQ is an original player in
the Houston barbecue scene. The Gatlin
family started the business out of a tiny
joint in 2010 before expanding to a bigger
restaurant in 2015. Now there’s a sister
restaurant focused on Southern seafood,
Gatlin’s Fins and Feathers.
You can’t go wrong with a two- or
three-meat plate, and don’t sleep on the
breakfast, including tacos, biscuit sandwiches and waffles.
3510 Ella Blvd.

Lucille’s

Mark Mulligan/Staff photographer

Grilled lamb chops with watercress apple salad make a
statement at Mark Holley’s Davis St. at Hermann Park.

J.C. Reid/Contributor

The spicy dog at Gatlin’s BBQ is sure to satisfy.

It’s classic comfort food at Lucille’s,
named after the great-grandmother of
restaurateur and chef Chris Williams.
Since opening in 2012, Williams has become a James Beard Award nominee for
outstanding restaurateur. The cornbread
and silky braised oxtails are must orders.
5512 La Branch

Viola & Agnes Neo-Soul Cafe

Ranked No. 25 on the Chronicle’s most
recent Top 100 list, Viola & Agnes NeoSoul Cafe in Seabrook is the brainchild of
Louisiana native chef Aaron Davis. He
has a hand in every dish that is served.
Standouts include a cup of filé gumbo
that has an entire chicken thigh, sausage,
okra and crab legs, along with fried catfish and chicken and waffles.
3659 NASA Road 1, Seabrook

Jenn Duncan

Lucille’s serves up serious comfort food, like braised
oxtails on serrano cheddar grits with oxtail jus.

Jody Schmal/Staff

The gumbo at Viola & Agnes Neo-Soul Cafe is piled high with
goodness, like an entire chicken thigh, sausage and crab legs.

G4 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

BOOKS

Stepping up to the plate
Brilliance and playfulness of Ring Lardner shines in ‘Frank Chance’s Diamond’
By Rick Kogan
C HICAG O T RIB UNE

Names fade, even names
as distinctive as Ring Lardner, who was for a time as
popular, famous and influential as any writer of the
20th century.
His full name was Ringgold Wilmer Lardner and
he was the youngest of nine
children born to a prosperous family in Niles, Mich.,
in 1885. He began his writing career as a reporter for
the South Bend Times and
worked for a number of
newspapers before settling
in at the Chicago Tribune,
where in 1913 he took over
the then-new sports column called “In the Wake of
the News.”
His specialty was baseball stories, and he was a
master at capturing the distinctive vernacular of the
players. He was so immediately popular that a teenager named Ernest Hemingway, writing about sports
for the paper at his Oak
Park and River Forest High
School, sometimes used the
byline “Ring Lardner Jr.”
Lardner was wildly prolific. At an editor’s prompting, he wrote a story for the
Tribune’s feature section.
This nameless — and not
very astute — editor didn’t
like it and so Lardner sold it
to the Saturday Evening
Post magazine, where it became a sensation.
It was titled “A Busher’s
Letter Home” and formed
the foundation of Lardner’s
first book, “You Know Me
Al,” a gathering of stories
written as a series of letters
from a fictional major
league ballplayer named
Jack Keefe to his friend Al
Blanchard in their hometown in Indiana.
The book had a distinctive style — slang, singular
nouns and plural verbs all
mashed together — and
was a huge bestseller. Novelist Virginia Woolf called
Lardner the best prose
writer in America, even if
“his language is not English.”
Lardner left Chicago for
New York in 1919, where he
began writing a syndicated
column and became great
pals of the literary set,
which included the folks of
the Algonquin Round Table
and F. Scott Fitzgerald and
his wife, Zelda.
He appeared in more
than
100
newspapers,
reaching an estimated 8
million people. He also
wrote a steady stream of
stories, many moving far
beyond the sports world,
such as “The Golden Honeymoon,”
“Some
Like
Them Cold,” “A Day With
Conrad Green” and “Haircut.”
He also wrote for the theater. Some lamented that he
did not tackle a novel, feeling he might be able to produce a masterwork. “But he
had no interest in novels,”
author
Ron
Rapoport
writes. “After one chapter
he wrote to his son that he
‘would be more bored than
the reader.’”
He had serious heart

Chicago Herald and Examiner/Chicago Tribune

Chicago Tribune reporter and sports columnist Ring Lardner, circa 1926.

troubles and was in and out
of hospitals during his last,
sad seven years of life,
which ended in 1933 when
he was only 48.
He was, as Rapoport
writes in his enlightening
and entertaining new book,
“Frank Chance’s Diamond:
The Baseball Journalism of
Ring Lardner,” “in his time
one of the most famous people in the United States, on a
par with … Charles Lindbergh. And more than any
other journalist before or
since, he was bigger than
the stories he covered.”
This book gives us ample
examples of his style and
though we encounter such
familiar figures as Ruth, Ty
Cobb and Casey Stengel,
there is much to be gained
in “meeting” such characters as Heinie Zimmerman
and Peaches Graham.
“This was an era when
players and writers traveled
on trains together, became
pals,” says Rapoport. “Ring
liked the players and they
liked him.”

‘FRANK CHANCE’S
DIAMOND’
‘The Baseball Journalism
of Ring Lardner’
By Ron Rapoport
Rowman & Littlefield
Publishers, Inc.
360 pages, $24.95

Does that name — Ron
Rapoport — ring a bell? It
should, since he was for a

couple of decades a sports
columnist for the Chicago
Sun-Times and later the Los
Angeles Daily News. He has
written a number of books,
some of them sports-related
stories about golfer Bobby
Jones and 2019’s “Let’s Play
Two: The Legend of Mr.
Cub, The Life of Ernie
Banks” but also such entertainment-based books as
2008’s “Tim and Tom: An
American Comedy in Black
and White,” about local
men made good, Tom Dreesen and Tim Reid.
He was an NPR contributor for decades and in 2016
was honored by the locally
based
Ring
Lardner
Awards for Excellence in
Sports Journalism, created
to honor talents in three categories: broadcast, print
and posthumous. Rapoport’s response: “I could not
be more honored or delighted.”
He was then about to
publish his “The Lost Journalism of Ring Lardner,” a
fine book as is this new one,

which focuses firmly on
Lardner’s baseball journalism.
“It was a serious treasure
hunt to find these stories,”
says Rapoport. “Ring never
kept copies of his work and
so I spent so many, many
hours plowing through old
newspapers from across
the country. I had never
read Lardner when I was a
young sports journalist but
I have come to appreciate
his worldview and energy.”
He was further impressed, saying, “Even
when Ring was writing his
great short stories, he never
gave up journalism and
never stopped writing
about baseball. Believe me
when I tell you nobody
wrote about the game the
way Ring did. Sometimes it
was hard to tell where his
coverage ended and his stories began.”
In bringing Lardner out
from under history’s dust
and into the light, Rapoport
has done a great service to
anybody who loves words.

BESTSELLERS
FICTION
1. “The Women” by Kristin
Hannah
2. “House of Flame and
Shadow” by Sarah J.
Maas
3. “Bride” by Ali Hazelwood
4. “Iron Flame” by Rebecca Yarros
5. “Fourth Wing” by
Rebecca Yarros
6. “The Heaven & Earth
Grocery Store” by James
McBride
7. “First Lie Wins” by

Ashley Elston
8. “Gothikana” by Runyx
9. “The Fury” by Alex Michaelides
10. “The Ghost Orchid” by
Jonathan Kellerman
11. “Holmes, Marple & Poe”
by Patterson/Sitts
12. “The Exchange” by John
Grisham
13. “The Little Liar” by
Mitch Albom
14. “Random in Death” by
J.D. Robb
15. “Fourteen Days” by
Atwood/Preston et al.

NONFICTION
1. “National Geographic
Bucket List Family Travel” by Jessica Gee
2. “Medgar and Myrlie”
by Joy-Ann Reid
3. “The Wager” by David
Grann
4. “The Grift” by Clay
Cane
5. “Outlive” by Peter Attia
6. “Dear Black Girls” by
A’ja Wilson
7. “It Is Finished” by
Charles Martin
8. “How to Know a Per-

son” by David Brooks
9. “Oath and Honor” by Liz
Cheney
10. “I Did a New Thing” by
Tabitha Brown
11. “Practicing the Way” by
John Mark Comer
12. “Have a Beautiful, Terrible Day!” by Kate Bowler
13. “Hidden Potential” by
Adam Grant
14. “The Woman in Me” by
Britney Spears
15. “5 Ingredients Mediterranean” by Jamie Oliver

Publishers Weekly

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 G5

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

Bob Marley’s music can’t rescue ‘One Love’

Paramount Pictures

Kingsley Ben-Adir portrays reggae legend Bob Marley in the biopic “Bob Marley: One Love.”

By Cary Darling
STA FF WRIT E R

British actor Kingsley BenAdir has proven himself as an actor to watch in such TV series as
“Peaky Blinders,” “The OA,”
“High Fidelity” and especially in
his take on Malcolm X in Regina
King’s standout 2020 film “One
Night in Miami.” So his elevation
to headline status as pioneering
Jamaican reggae vocalist Bob
Marley in the biopic “Bob Marley: One Love,” opening Wednesday throughout Houston, is welldeserved. And he’s magnetic as
Marley, a performer whose songs
heralded one of the most important pop-music movements of the
late 20th century. Unfortunately,
that music and Ben-Adir — last
seen as one of the Kens in “Barbie” — are let down by a by-thenumbers script, one that turns a
man who became a messianic figure for some into a stick figure

with dreadlocks.
The film opens in 1976 with
Marley at the center of a Jamaican
news conference about an upcoming concert he’s planning,
one meant to display unity in a
country being ripped apart by
political violence. Not long after,
Marley, his wife, Rita (a captivating Lashana Lynch), and one of
aides, Don Taylor (Anthony
Welsh), are shot in Marley’s
home, a life-shattering event that
sends Marley to London, where
much of the movie takes place.
But director Reinaldo Marcus
Green (“King Richard”), who cowrote the script with Terence
Winter, Frank E. Flowers and
Zach Baylin, can’t avoid the bane
of so many biopics, having to
cram too much life into too little
time. All of it feels rushed and
carries less emotional resonance
than it should. Marley’s earlier
years are handled through a series of flashbacks, including his

‘BOB MARLEY: ONE
LOVE’
Rated PG-13: marijuana use and
smoking throughout, some
violence and brief strong
language.
Running time: 104 minutes
Where: Opens Wednesday
throughout Houston
★★1⁄2 (out of 5)

lack of a relationship with his
white father and his introduction
to Rastafarianism, a Jamaicanborn religious movement that
forms the foundation for the
roots reggae movement that Marley took to the world. Yet little of it
packs a punch.
There are so many moments
that deserve deeper exploration.
For example, while in London,
Marley and members of his band
venture to a punk club in London

to see the Clash. But it’s treated
more as a lark than a moment
that sparked a Marley song
(“Punky Reggae Party”) and recognition by Marley that there
were cultural parallels between
the outsider status of white British punks and Jamaica’s Black
Rastafarians.
But if “Bob Marley: One Love”
has two saving graces, it is Marley’s music and Ben-Adir’s performance. One of the best scenes
involves the creation of one of his
most noteworthy tracks, the
surging “Exodus,” and it is riveting. In real life, the song probably
didn’t come together as easily as
it does in the film, but it’s still a
wonderfully vibrant moment in a
movie that could use more of
them.
Just about everything else involving the music, including
James Norton as Island Records
founder Chris Blackwell, feels
like boilerplate music biopic ma-

terial. Of course, the suits don’t
understand what Marley is about
and are shown to be wrong at every turn. Then, of course, there’s
Marley’s battle with cancer,
which he lost at the too-young age
of 36, but the film doesn’t really
offer much new here either.
Still, Ben-Adir is adept at capturing Marley’s ecstatic, almost
possessed stage presence, and he
lends the role a certain depth that
the script is missing. Director
Green deserves credit for keeping
the dialogue squarely rooted in
Jamaican English — and not just
using it simply as “ya mon”
phrasal seasoning — and not utilizing subtitles in standard English. This helps plunge the viewer into Marley’s world.
But this impulse for authenticity, Adair’s performance and
Marley’s music — songs that
were both sublime and incendiary — deserve to star in a better
movie.

Foodies will eat up the drama in ‘Taste of Things’
By Katie Walsh
T R IB U N E N EWS SE RVIC E

It starts humbly, a gnarled turnip emerging from the soil in the
early morning light; carrots and
lettuces collected and assembled
alongside fish and poultry and
cream in a large country kitchen.
These plants and animals pulled
from the earth, ready to be transformed with the precise applications of fat and heat.
Thus begins Tran Anh Hung’s
“The Taste of Things,” which
opens with a spectacular sequence of cooking performed by
Juliette Binoche, portraying a
cook named Eugenie. But she’s
much more than a cook, she’s the
collaborator and companion of
Dodin Bouffant (Benoît Magimel), a famed (fictional) gourmand in 1885 France called the
“Napoleon of the culinary arts.”
Though he gets the hefty moniker, Eugenie is his muse, his
sounding board and his inspiration.
Eugenie cooks with a small
smile and the calm, confident
movements of a battlefield medic,
wrestling flesh and flour into fine
food. Cinematographer Jonathan
Ricquebourg’s camera follows
her journey around and around
the kitchen in long takes, peering
into pots and bowls, capturing
her bold movements and instruction to her assistant Violette (Galatéa Bellugi). Dodin jumps in as a
sous-chef, taking the time to teach
a young girl, Pauline (Bonnie
Chagneau-Ravoire), a potential
apprentice with a perfect palate.
Though Eugenie moves with
grace, Hung does not shoot her as
if she’s a dancer, but rather, like a
doctor, as she sautés, sears,
strains, blanches, whips, whisks,
churns, boils and bakes everything in sight. With skill and ease,

IFC Films

Benoît Magimel and Juliette Binoche star in “The Taste of Things.”

she delivers a feast of rustic, yet
complex, culinary delights to Dodin and his compatriots: consommé that makes the men hum in
reverence, a showstopping volau-vent (pastry stuffed with a
creamy, savory stew), turbot
poached in milk, roasted veal loin
with braised lettuce and that miracle of scientific reaction, a baked
Alaska. Dodin and his friends
can barely contain their moans of
pleasure as they sample each decadent dish, and the sensuality
with which Hung presents the experience is utterly breathtaking.
You’ll want to cheer at each sauce.
Eugenie is a technician, a pragmatist, while Dodin is the romantic, a pleasure-seeking hedonist
with a poet’s mind and a dedicated patron of her arts, including

‘THE TASTE OF THINGS’
Rated PG-13: some sensuality,
partial nudity and smoking
Running time: 135 minutes
Where: Playing throughout
Houston
Language: French with English
subtitles
★★★★★ (out of 5)

even the simplest omelets. He
proposes to her regularly, but all
she will concede to is a late night
knock at her bedroom door. But
theirs is a beautiful partnership,
cemented in a love for the intellectual, corporeal and emotional
pleasures of food.
“The Taste of Things” is an ad-

aptation, of sorts, of Marcel
Rouff’s 1924 novel “The Passionate Epicure,” fleshing out the relationship between the gastronome
and his cook. French Vietnamese
filmmaker Hung has mentioned
that the film is also in part inspired by his own marriage: His
wife, Tran Nu Yen Khe, starred in
his first four films, and is the costume designer on “The Taste of
Things.”
There is an additional layer of
interpersonal history that adds a
layer of meaning to this text as
well: Binoche and Magimel were
married 20 years ago and share a
daughter. This is their first time
working together since they fell in
love on the set of the 1999 film
“The Children of the Century.” As
Dodin, Magimel looks at her wor-

shipfully; as Eugenie, Binoche regards him askance. But Eugenie
can’t resist Dodin’s devotion for
long, especially when he cooks for
her, in what seems an almost sacred, holy rite; his expression of
true love reflected in each delicate
plate.
“The Taste of Things” follows
its own unique rhythms and does
not follow the traditional structures of conventional film pacing.
Instead, it follows the cadence of a
kitchen, the length of a meal, the
seasons of nature and of life, of
time passing throughout the day.
Time is, of course, the other crucial ingredient in cooking, waiting for something to transform
over hours or in the blink of an
eye.
The film is a celebration of
food, the kind that achieves a balance between simplicity and decadence. At one point, Dodin’s
group of friends don napkins
over their heads to hide their
shame while they consume ortolans whole; the delicacy is accompanied by a simple rustic bread
and glasses of table wine. It’s a far
cry from the outlandish menu
presented to them smugly by the
Prince of Eurasia (Mhamed
Arezki) in a show of one-upmanship, resulting in an eight-hour
meal the gourmands endure rather than enjoy.
But food is just a vessel for the
love story in “The Taste of
Things,” one we don’t see often
enough, of a sweet, egalitarian
love, built on respect and companionship, savored sweetly in
the autumn of life. Ultimately, Eugenie poses to Dodin a very important question: “Am I your
cook or your wife?” He answers
correctly, but if you want to know
the right answer, you’ll have to
take in the sensual charms of
“The Taste of Things.”

G6 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

HOUSTON
From page G1
Friend Is a Vampire,” with a
baby-faced Robert Sean Leonard.
Part of the city’s poor representation in film can be attributed to Texas’ disinterest in drawing Hollywood dollars. Linklater’s new film “Hit Man” opens
this year. Based on a Texas
Monthly story by Skip Hollandsworth, the film centers on Gary
Johnson, a staff investigator for
the district attorney’s office in
Harris County, who pretends to
be a contract killer to catch those
seeking to procure such a service. Hollandsworth’s story is
based in Houston. Linklater’s
film was shot in New Orleans.
“We’re a super indie film and
Texas has zero incentives,” Linklater told Variety.
Since Linklater shot the film
in 2022, Texas made moves to try
to better its standing as a destination: Last summer, the Legislature bumped the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive
Program budget from $45 million to $200 million.
It feels like some of the city’s
riches could be better used.
Sometimes, its attributes are best
identified by outsiders. The
legendary German filmmaker
Wim Wenders reveled in the
city’s eccentric look when he
concluded “Paris, Texas” here.
Near the film’s end, Harry Dean
Stanton and Hunter Carson pull
alongside the I.M. Pei-designed
Chase Motor Bank downtown.
Carson’s character looks at the
structure, which resembles a
space station, and says, “This is a
bank? What kind of bank is
this?”
Exactly.
With all this in mind, here are
15 films that best represent the
cinematic legacy of this city. The
films included were vetted
through three criteria: 1. Quality
of the film, which is, admittedly,
subjective. 2. How visible are the
city’s landmarks in the film? 3.
How much of a Houston vibe
does the film exude?

1. ‘Brewster McCloud’

Released: 1970
Director: Robert Altman
Cast: Bud Cort, Sally Kellerman, Michael Murphy, Shelley Duvall, René Auberjonois
Nutshell: Bizarre black comedy about a series of murders,
bird poop and a reclusive young
man creating a set of wings
while living inside the Astrodome.
Accolades: “Brewster
McCloud” got mixed reviews
and did almost no box office. It
has since enjoyed reassessment
as a cultural critique with a
resonance that applies a halfcentury later.
Houston sites: The Astrodome deserves top billing in the
film. So much of the action takes
place in and around the iconic
8th Wonder. The film’s chase
scene — which covers a lot of
ground, including Westpark and
South Rice near the Galleria-inprogress — also feels quite familiar, despite taking place in a
Houston that is 50-plus years
younger. Sally Kellerman bares
all while standing in Mecom
Fountain. Hermann Park and
the Houston Zoo are also featured.
Houston vibe: Heavy Houston vibe here, even though the
film was originally scripted for
New York. Given the prominence of the Astrodome, it’s
impossible to imagine “Brewster” being shot anywhere else.
The Build! Build! Build! ethos of
the city permeates every frame,
from the Dome and its surrounding environs to the growing Texas Medical Center. An
Icarus story like “Brewster
McCloud” nestles nicely into a
town where “Should we?” always lines up behind “Could
we?” The inclusion of the Jack
Yates High School marching
band provides another local
bona fide.

Universal Pictures

“Reality Bites” stars Steve Zahn, from left, Winona Ryder, Janeane Garofalo and Ethan Hawke.

Houston Chronicle file

Actress Jennifer Jason Lee and actor Jason Patric shot a scene
for “Rush” outside City Hall in Houston.

expand and refine over the subsequent 25 years.
Houston sites: St. John’s
School and Lamar High School
are the two most prominent
players, and the Kincaid School
is also prominently featured.
Doug’s Barber Shop in the
Heights is the film’s great supporting actor. A home on North
Boulevard, the Warwick Hotel
(now the Hotel ZaZa) and Hollywood Cemetery are also featured.
Houston vibe: Both significant and not. Anderson deliberately sets his films in fictional
locales. A piece of stationery in
“Rushmore” reads “Houston,
TX,” but he intended the film to
take place in a space that doesn’t
actually exist. Despite Anderson’s intentions, back in 1998, he
didn’t have the resources to
create the insular sets that informed his later work. So Houston seeps into all the fibers of
this story about an unlikely
connection between a wealthy
businessman and an oddball
teen.

3. ‘Terms of Endearment’

Released: 1983
Director: James L. Brooks
Cast: Debra Winger, Shirley
MacLaine, Jack Nicholson, Jeff
Daniels
Nutshell: An overbearing
mother bickers with her independent daughter. Enter an
astronaut in a self-destructive
spiral. Add cancer.
Accolades: Well reviewed
and a box-office smash, “Terms”
also earned five Academy
Awards, including best picture
and director for Brooks.
Houston sites: Aurora
Greenway’s home at 3060 Locke
Lane looks as much today as it
did 40 years ago. The Houston
garage apartment that was home
to her daughter, Emma, is gone,
but the home it was attached to
is still standing. Brennan’s remains a Houston institution,
though it’s hardly the short jaunt
to the Galveston beach as it is
framed in the film.
Houston vibe: Half significant. Brooks says Larry
McMurtry’s book “was glorious
about Houston,” so the director
set out to capture that vibe. The
narrative splits when Emma and
her family leave Houston, but
Aurora remains here. Brooks

says, “There was an atmosphere
about Houston. You feel it. You
feel the humidity in a certain
way.”

4. ‘Renaissance: A Film by
Beyoncé’

Released: 2023
Director: Beyoncé
Cast: Beyoncé, Megan Thee
Stallion, Blue Ivy Carter, Diana
Ross, Kendrick Lamar
Nutshell: A concert-umentary following a local singer who
has enjoyed some success. Just
kidding. A film about a pop
icon’s wildly successful world
tour with a behind-the-scenes
look at her life and art.
Accolades: “Renaissance”
has a Rotten Tomatoes score in
the high 90s, which suggests
almost uniformly positive reviews. Chronicle music critic
Joey Guerra called it “a moment,
a pop-culture event for the BeyHive.”
Houston sites:Some of the
concert footage in the film was
from one of Beyoncé’s NRG
Stadium shows, including a
shoutout to a nearby Fiesta,
whose parking lot once hosted
her for a performance. She pulls
up her roots further with a stop
by a Riverside Terrace/Third
Ward sign at Southmore and
makes a stop at Frenchy’s.
Houston vibe: Very Houston-y. In addition to a tour of the
hometown that put her on this
path, Beyoncé includes a gathering with her old Destiny’s Child
mates and includes local rapper
Megan Thee Stallion in her
Houston concert.

5. ‘Urban Cowboy’

Released: 1980
Director: James Bridges
Cast: John Travolta, Debra
Winger, Scott Glenn, Mickey
Gilley
Nutshell: Oft-squabbling
couple Buddy and Sissy navigate
love, work and mechanical bulls
in the shadow of Pasadena’s
refineries.
Accolades: Good but not
quite glowing reviews, but “Urban Cowboy” was a bull at the
box office, with $47 million in
earnings against a $10 million
budget.
Houston sites: Gilley’s is a
star that shines brighter than
even John Travolta, though a fire
three decades ago means the

2. ‘Rushmore’

Released: 1998
Director: Wes Anderson
Cast: Jason Schwartzman, Bill
Murray, Olivia Williams, Brian
Cox
Nutshell: A teenager who
excels at extracurriculars but
struggles with his grades befriends an odd millionaire whose
marriage is falling apart. Both
fall in love with a grade school
teacher.
Accolades:“Rushmore” won
two Independent Spirit Awards.
More importantly, it very much
established a tone and look that
Houston native Anderson would

Courtesy photo

“My Best Friend Is a Vampire” features a number of local
landmarks.

venue can no longer be viewed
or visited. Pasadena offers its
own industrial skyline. When
Travolta’s Bud hooks up with the
daughter of a rich oil man, he
visits her penthouse at 2016
Main, which offers a panoramic
view of downtown.
Houston vibe: The local vibe
hovers like a cloud from a
smokestack. The mix of industry
and Gilley’s would’ve made
“Urban Cowboy” a perfect film
for Smell-O-Vision. As is, the
film still very much evokes that
area: from the refineries emitting
smoke to the Gilley’s patrons
blowing off steam. The venue’s
nightlife scene that inspired the
movie — itself nudged into being
by Aaron Latham’s 1978 Esquire
story — is quaintly bygone. But it
remains a crucial part of Houston lore.

6. ‘Paris, Texas’

Released: 1984
Director: Wim Wenders
Cast: Harry Dean Stanton,
Dean Stockwell, Nastassja Kinski, Aurore Clément, Hunter
Carson
Nutshell: A man wandering
around West Texas on foot is
reunited with his son in California. They head to Houston to
find the third member of their
family.
Accolades:“Paris, Texas”
received nearly unanimous
acclaim from critics and also
scored the prestigious Palm d’Or
at the Cannes Film Festival.
Houston sites: Downtown is
seen from multiple freeways,
first from southbound Interstate
45. The former Chase Motorbank — I.M. Pei’s metallic gem
that gives off the vibe of a space
station — is central to the film’s
conclusion. Using the bank as a
fixed point, Wenders spins
around the northwest corner
downtown to show the Barbara
Jordan Post Office, the Interstate
10 on ramp and Market Square.
The building that now houses
the C. Baldwin Hotel plays a
significant part in the film’s
mother-and-child reunion.
Houston vibe: Little screen
time but significant narrative
weight. Wenders takes a lot of
liberties with our freeways and
ramps, with a sequence of shots
that suggest movement but not
necessarily movement that
makes sense in Houston. But his
goal was to make the city feel
labyrinthine, so mission accomplished. The Houston scenes
are fittingly oppressive and
ominous, contrasting the spaciousness of the film’s West
Texas opening.
Young Hunter Carson’s silver
NASA jacket is a nice touch.
Harry Dean Stanton’s Travis
parks downtown and looks up
with binoculars through his
windshield at a crane: Fingers of
rebar reach upward as if to say,
“Welcome to Houston.” Bonus
point for “Houston in Two Seconds,” a composition included in
Ry Cooder’s spare score.

7. ‘Reality Bites’

Released: 1994
Director: Ben Stiller
Cast: Winona Ryder, Ethan
Hawke, Ben Stiller, Janeane
Garofalo, Steve Zahn
Nutshell: Four friends, just
out of college, face a recession
and sour future with generational indifference.
Accolades: Befitting a film
affixed to Gen X, “Reality Bites”
lives in some middle space. The
film was a modest box-office hit.
Reviews were mixed. “It doesn’t
see any point in getting all bent
out of shape and overambitious,”
wrote Caryn James in the New
York Times, which is the Gen
X-iest praise ever penned.

Houston sites: Queue up
U2’s “All I Want Is You,” as the
duplex at 409 W. Clay could use
some love but is still standing.
The view of downtown from that
street isn’t exactly the same, with
townhouses now obscuring part
of it. Depending on one’s comfort
level with light trespassing, the
exterior stairwell behind the
house looks as it did when Troy
(Hawke) moved into the apartment.
The building that was once
the punk club Catal Huyuk at
2524 McKinney is still standing.
Tranquility Park downtown is
prominently featured with the
Wortham Fountain cylinders.
Good luck getting to the roof of
Two Shell Plaza to re-create the
postgraduation downtown scene,
but from the ground, one can see
the same big buildings (most
notably the Bank of America
building) that the recent graduates saw.
Houston vibe: Major Houston vibe due in no small part to
its author, Helen Childress,
being a native Houstonian. Stiller wanted to capture rudderless
college grads immersed in a
go-go, busy business urban
environment during a recession.
Houston was up to the challenge.
The film looks local, but it also
feels local.

8. ‘Local Hero’

Released: 1983
Director: Bill Forsyth
Cast: Peter Riegert, Peter
Capaldi, Denis Lawson, Burt
Lancaster
Nutshell: An upwardly mobile oil and gas exec is sent from
Houston to a small Scottish town
to purchase the land for the
construction of a future refinery.
Accolades: “Local Hero”
received almost superfluous
praise from critics. For such a
quirky story, its $6 million in box
office (around $18 million adjusted) made it a modest, leftfield success commercially as
well.
Houston sites: The film
opens with Mac MacIntyre
(Riegert) driving his Porsche
along I-45 with the skyline visible. The fictional Knox Oil and
Gas scenes were shot at the JP
Morgan Chase Tower (the Texas
Commerce Tower back in the
day). The office occupied by oil
magnate Burt Lancaster’s Felix
Happer actually belonged to
George H.W. Bush, who, in 1982,
when the film was shot, was
working a different job in another city. The view of Houston’s
skyline from MacIntyre’s apartment was framed from a condo
at Willowick and San Felipe.
Houston vibe: Subtly prevalent despite the majority of the
film taking place in Scotland.
Though Houston appears in
about 10-15 minutes of the film, it
serves as a corporate counterweight to the action taking place
in a little town on the coast of
Scotland. Trivia unrelated to
Houston: Science-fiction nerds
can enjoy a film that features
Lawson (Wedge Antilles from
the “Star Wars” franchise) and
Capaldi (the 12th Doctor in “Doctor Who”).

9. ‘Last Night at the Alamo’

Released: 1983
Director: Eagle Pennell
Cast: Sonny Carl Davis, Louis
Perryman, Steven Mattila,
Amanda Lamar, Peggy Pinnell
Nutshell: Regulars gather at a
beloved Houston dive bar the
night before its demolition.
There, they talk. And fight.
Houston sites: Most of the
film takes place inside the Alamo, which was actually the Old
Barn in East Houston. But shots
tracking the arrival of Ichabod, a
temperamental exterminator,
and his girlfriend, Mary, offer a
look at the downtown skyline, a
KIKK billboard and Clay Road
in Deerfield Village. Also shown:
lots of construction.
Houston vibe: Very Houston-y. As Steven Mattila’s Ichabod pulls into the Alamo parking lot, a sign for Olshan Demolishing Co., a decades-spanning
company that razed tens of thousands of buildings, is visible.
“Making way for tomorrow,” it
reads. This may be the single
most Houston frame in the history of cinema.
One side of a freeway moving
freely while the other is clogged?
Very on point. Resulting road
rage? On point. The character/
archetype cowboy, a Napoleonic
middle-aged loser with an outsized sense of self, feels very of
the time and place.

10. ‘Enron: The Smartest
Guys in the Room’

Released: 2005
Houston continues on G10

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 G7

G8 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

KAKURO

PUNCH LINES

SUNDAY CROSSWORD:

Complete the grid so that each series of horizontal cells adds up
to the number to the left of it, and each series of vertical cells adds
up to the number above it. Use only the numbers 1 to 9. A number
cannot be used more than once in a series.

©2024 King Features

2/18

SUDOKU
Fill the empty squares so that each row, column and 3x3
box contains the numbers 1 to 9.

DIFFICULTY LEVEL *****

ACROSS
1 Pink, purple and
blue Pride display,
familiarly
7 Hound
10 Kind of opening
13 Frontwoman for
the Pussycats
18 Nipple rings
20 Target of an
inventory scan
22 Acting like
23 Fault line?
25 Qualifier for a date
26 Olaf’s creator in
“Frozen”
27 Nickname that
drops “An-”
28 A gig has a
thousand of these
29 Permitted
30 Permitted
31 Fine line?
35 Atomic number of
neon
36 Preserves things?
37 Shaped like a
kiwifruit
38 Processes
41 ____ attachment
44 Anatomical
stabilizer
45 The Green
Hornet’s assistant
46 Not down, in a
way
47 Fishing line?
53 Mediterranean
morsel
55 Get just right
56 Long-running
police procedural,
for short
57 Catalan artist
Joan
58 Thought the world
of
59 “To Kill a
Mockingbird”
setting
61 Match well with
62 First color-TV
manufacturer
63 Subway line?
68 Tittle
69 1970s-’80s
Supreme Court
justice ____ F.
Powell Jr.
70 Scams
73 With an eager
spirit
76 Landed
77 Flying formations
79 March ____
80 South American
grassland
81 Assembly line?
84 Variety
85 Boxing stats
88 Celestial shape
89 British bottoms
90 Ladybugs and
fireflies
92 Some sports-car
features
95 Currency replaced
by the euro
97 North American
fish with toxic roe
98 Power line?
101 Simple card game
104 Groundskeeping
equipment
106 It’s signed after a
break

ffolio

DOWN
1 There’s a hole in
one
2 Gloater’s cry
3 One-named indie
singer with the
2007 hit “1234”
4 Kinks hit that
starts, “I met her
in a club down in
old Soho”
5 Neighbor of Ctrl
6 Sense of
orientation
7 Peacock parent
8 Exclamation of
amazement
9 Alternative to
nana
10 Shake slightly

SUNDAY
February 18, 2024

All times Central. Start times can vary based
on cable/satellite provider. Confirm times on
your on-screen guide.

Romance in Hawaii

UPtv, 6 p.m.  Original Film
Leah (Kelley Jakle), a successful but dissatisfied executive, discovers the missing passion
from her life when she starts taking hula
dance lessons from handsome local Ikaika
(Cedric Jonathan) in Hawaii.

Every box will contain a number 1 to 6. Do not repeat a number
in any row or column. The numbers in each heavily outlined set
of squares must combine to produce the target number found in
the top left corner of that set using the mathematical operation
indicated.

CHALLENGING

American Idol

ABC, 7 p.m.  Season Premiere
Hosted by Ryan Seacrest, Season 22 of the
hit singing competition show premieres tonight with judges Lionel Richie, Katy Perry
and Luke Bryan set to return.

The Equalizer

CBS, 7 p.m.  Season Premiere
McCall (Queen Latifah) races to save the
team after they’re put into extreme danger
by her former CIA colleague Michelle Chambers (guest star Ilfenesh Hadera) in the Season 4 premiere, “Truth for a Truth.”

2024 People’s Choice
Awards

KenKen® is a registered trademark of Nextoy, LLC. ©2024 KenKen Puzzle LLC. All rights reserved.
Dist. by UFS, Inc.
www.kenken.com

LOOKING BACK

BIRTHDAYS

1885: Mark Twain’s
“Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn” was published in the
U.S. for the first time.
1970: the “Chicago
Seven” defendants
were found not guilty of
conspiring to incite riots
at the 1968 Democratic
national convention.
1994: at the Winter
Olympic Games in Norway,
U.S. speedskater Dan
Jansen finally won a gold
medal, breaking the world
record in the 1,000 meters.

Today’s Birthdays: Singer
Yoko Ono is 91. Singersongwriter Bobby Hart is
85. Singer Irma Thomas
is 83. Singer Herman
Santiago (Frankie Lymon
and the Teenagers) is 83.
Actor Jess Walton is 78.
Singer Dennis DeYoung is
77. Actor Sinead Cusack
is 76. Actor John Travolta
is 70. Game show host
Vanna White is 67. Actor
Matt Dillon is 60. Rapper
Dr. Dre is 59. Actor Molly
Ringwald is 56.

©2024 New York Times

107 Otherworldly
creatures, for
short
108 Z, to Zeno
109 Illegal offering
110 Subject line?
114 Passage of rite?
115 Two outs left, in
baseball
116 Performed really
badly
117 Timetable: Abbr.
118 “There’s more to
the story, right?”
119 “The Shining”
prop
120 Quakes

What
to watch

KENKEN

By Daniel Grinberg/Edited By Will Shortz

NBC & E!, 7 p.m. Live;
also livestreams on Peacock
Broadcast from the Barker Hangar in Santa
Monica, California, this two-hour ceremony
honors fan favorites across various cate-

CATCH A CLASSIC
31 Days of Oscar 2024:
Best Supporting Actor

TCM, beginning at 6 a.m.
Turner Classic Movies’ 31 Days of Oscar
event continues this morning and into the
early evening with a lineup featuring more
films co-starring men who won or were
nominated for Best Supporting Actor: Ro-

11 Ukraine’s thirdmost-populous
city
12 Where a lot of
lying happens
13 Item in a trunk
14 Post-surgery
prescription
15 Private line?
16 Motivator
17 “Crikey!”
19 Brings in
21 Moved like a cat
burglar
24 Word after dead
or data
29 Volunteer’s
declaration
31 Soothe
32 Communal
housing
arrangements
33 /, in math
34 Director
Lupino
36 Co-founder of the
Joining Forces
initiative, with
Michelle
Obama
39 One role in
a classic
interrogation
trope
40 Zoomed
41 World Heritage
Site in Sicily
42 Ground grain

43 Dame Edna,
for Barry
Humphries
44 “Enough! I get the
picture already!”
45 Capital of Japan
until 1868
48 Hostile state
49 Volunteer’s
declaration
50 Like many retired
professors
51 Petty arguments
52 TLC or Run-D.M.C.
54 Person of
interest?
58 HBO comedy
about a sports
agent
60 Salamander
named after an
Aztec deity
61 ____ knife
64 Gives a hand?
65 Hot spot
66 Genealogist’s
chart
67 Kids and nannies
71 Liberated
72 N.S.A. agents, e.g.
73 Superficial, in a
way
74 Rich with
metaphor
75 Party line?
77 What might lead
to a bridge
78 Subside

gories in movies, television, music and pop
culture as voted by fans online. Categories
have expanded this year to include Male
Country Artist, Female Country Artist, Male
Latin Artist, Female Latin Artist and Concert
Tour. Among the honorary awards presented,
Adam Sandler will receive the People’s Icon
Award and Lenny Kravitz will be presented
with the Music Icon Award. Kravitz will also
perform; other performers include Kylie
Minogue and Lainey Wilson. Actor Simu Liu
hosts the ceremony.

NBA All-Star Game

TNT, 7 p.m. Live
The 73rd NBA All-Star Game at Gainbridge
Fieldhouse in Indianapolis returns to the
classic East vs. West format with four 12-minute quarters and standard scoring. Expect
the Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid, the L.A.
Lakers’ LeBron James, the Milwaukee Bucks’
Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic to put up big points against
lax defense.

Krapopolis

FOX, 7:30 p.m.
Tyrannis and Deliria (voices of Richard
Ayoade and Hannah Waddingham) go to
find the dragon that is causing a plague in
Krapopolis in the new episode “Contagion.”

All Creatures
Great and Small

PBS, 8 p.m.  Season Finale
Season 4 concludes with “On a Wing and a
Prayer,” in which James (Nicholas Ralph)
tries to get home for Christmas and Skeldale
House prepares for a new arrival.

The Way Home

Hallmark Channel, 8 p.m.
In “Wake Me Up When September Ends,”
Alice (Sadie Laflamme-Snow) reevaluates
the past and her friendship with Elliot (David
Webster); Del (Andie MacDowell) questions
meo and Juliet (1936, nomination for Basil
Rathbone), Friendly Persuasion (1956,
nomination for Anthony Perkins), Quo
Vadis (pictured) (1951, nominations for Leo
Genn and Peter Ustinov), Cool Hand Luke
(1967, win for George Kennedy) and The
Dirty Dozen (1967, nomination for John
Cassavetes). Starting in primetime and going into tomorrow morning are films featuring Best Supporting Actor winners: Topkapi
(1964, Ustinov); Adaptation (2002, Chris
Cooper), making its TCM premiere; Cabaret

82 Second-year:
Abbr.
83 Bunny ____ (photo
prank)
86 Janitor’s ringful
87 Spanish “bear”
91 Kind of clef
92 Switched
93 Actress
Thompson of
“Westworld”
94 Canadian Tulip
Festival location
95 Light-headed
sorts?
96 Selling points
99 School name
that sounds like a
Canadian territory
100 Hip Hop Awards
channel
101 Gestational
metric
102 First-stringers
103 Posts in a rage,
perhaps
104 Degrees for
C.F.O.s
105 Bog plant
108 New Mexican
tribe
110 ____-courtin’
111 Shot in the arm,
slangily
112 Word after stink or
pink
113 What’s what in
Oaxaca

‘True Detective: Night Country’
MICHELE K. SHORT, HBO

the stories she tells herself.

True Detective:
Night Country

HBO, 8 p.m.  Season Finale
The story of two detectives (Jodie Foster
and Kali Reis) investigating the mysterious
disappearance of a group of research scientists during the dark winter of remote Alaska
concludes.

Grimsburg

FOX, 8:30 p.m.  New Episodes
The animated comedy starring Jon Hamm as
the voice of grizzled detective Marvin Flute
begins in its regular time slot tonight.

What Would You Do?

ABC, 9 p.m.  Season Premiere
Bystanders grapple with a teacher’s side hustle and objections to immigrants applying for
work in the first episode of the 16th season
of the hidden-camera series.

CSI: Vegas

CBS, 9 p.m.  Season Premiere
In the Season 3 premiere, “The Reaper,”
the CSI team combs through every crumb
of forensic evidence to determine the
innocence or guilt of their colleague Josh
(Matt Lauria).

MGM

(1972, Joel Grey); Come and Get It (1936,
Walter Brennan, the first time this Oscar
category was awarded); and Lust for Life
(1956, Anthony Quinn).

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 G9

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

DEAR ABBY

Woman feels unloved after decades of marriage
Dear Abby: My husband and
I have been married 32 years. I
cannot remember the last time
he asked me about my day, let
alone my life, without a prompt
from me. I feel ignored and emotionally neglected. After years
of this treatment, I’m no longer
willing to tolerate it.
He doesn’t engage with me
verbally unless he has a question
or a complaint. If I laugh out loud
at something I am reading, he
never asks what’s funny. We do
love each other, but we have very
different personalities. I respect
his introversion, and he respects
my need for social engagement.
His career demands very long
hours, and I understood that
from the start. We have been
living parallel lives most of our

marriage.
Our children
are grown and
out of the house.
He is a good
man. He tells
DEAR ABBY
other people
how much he
loves me and how beautiful I
am, but he doesn’t say it to ME. I
try to engage him in basic small
talk and hug him every day, but
he doesn’t respond or take the
initiative.
Years ago, he volunteered that
he wasn’t seeing someone else.
I am not, either, but I do have a
standing offer from an old flame
who does talk with me and does
tell me how fine I look. I would
never disrespect my husband
by having an affair, but maybe

it would get my juices flowing again. Is there anything to
salvage here?
Dissatisfied In Texas
Dear Dissatisfied: An affair
might get your juices flowing again, but not with your
husband, so I don’t advise it. You
and your husband may love each
other, but unless you are willing
to stay on a starvation diet, it
may be time to make some decisions about whether the status
quo is how you want to live the
rest of your life. Do not attempt
to do this alone. A licensed marriage and family therapist should
guide you — and him.
Dear Abby: I recently reconnected with an acquaintance

who has now become a dear
friend. I have at least one meal
a week with her and her family.
I suffer from misophonia, and
they are always quite in tune,
asking if the volume is too loud
on the TV or whatever.
However, while we are eating,
there is a lot of lip-smacking
and open-mouth chewing by
my friend and her 17-year-old
daughter. I love them, and I try
to ignore it, but it’s extremely
difficult. I remember my friend
doing this 20 years ago when we
were teenagers.
I know it’s not my place, but is
there anything that can be said? I
worry about this girl heading off
to college soon with such deplorable table manners. They are
otherwise wonderful, amazing

friends.
Hears Too Much In New York
Dear Hears: I agree that atrocious table manners can be a
handicap when young people
fly the nest. You can, as tactfully as possible, remind your
friend ONCE about your hearing
disorder and that it is magnified when she and her daughter
chew with their mouths open. If
that doesn’t help, however, you
may have to stop being a dinner
guest.

DearAbby.com
Dear Abby
P.O. Box 69440
Los Angeles, CA 90069
Andrews McMeel Syndication

MISS MANNERS

Technology provides new way to say nothing
Dear Miss Manners: I have
a close friend who loves to dress
up in crazy outfits. They are
almost costume-like; very garish
and tacky (to me, anyway), with
sequins, feathers, fringe, loud
colors, etc.
To be clear, I applaud her
desire to march to the beat of her
own drum. I think she should
dress however she wants to, as
it’s really none of my business.
My issue is that I struggle with
how to respond when she texts
me photos of her wacky outfits.
It seems rude to not respond at
all, or to give a tepid “That’s quite
a look!” I feel she is constantly
seeking my approval of her outfits, and I just can’t bring myself
to lie and say she looks great

when I think
she looks a bit
unhinged.
Do I just be
a good friend
and lie, saying I
JUDITH MARTIN think she looks
MISS MANNERS great? I hate
lying, but I love
my friend. Or
do I continue to dig for something truthful and non-negative
to say, like, “Wow, those sure are
bright colors”?

one. It conveys nominal interest
without having to commit to a
heartfelt opinion.
She therefore suggests using
“Like,” “Love” and “Emphasis”
liberally, according to your relative enthusiasm for the outfits.
But perhaps the question mark,
however tempting it may be,
should be left out of the rotation.

I am asking Miss Manners for
dispensation to fudge a rule of
etiquette, and to advise which
one. If I’m sitting up straight,
may I bend at the hips and lean
over my plate? Or may I hold a
hand under my fork as it travels
from plate to mouth? Or what
else could I do?

Dear Miss Manners: Some
of my boyfriend’s friends, whom
I had never met, saw us together
when we were out. Later, when
I walked into another establishment ahead of my boyfriend,
these friends pulled me aside,
said my boyfriend was a loser
and asked why I was with him.
It was shocking and left me
speechless, but it turns out it was
some sort of joke. What do I say
if it happens again?

Dear Miss Manners: I stick
out in front. When salad dressing drips off my fork, it never
reaches the napkin on my lap. It
lands on my blouse.
I eat slowly, making an effort
to shake excess dressing onto my
plate. But my lunch friends are
interesting. Inevitably, I forget to
be careful.

Gentle Reader: Bending a
bit at the hips sounds acceptable. The hand under the fork, a
bit less so. Miss Manners fears
that your lunch companions
will then be left to wonder what
happens to the dressing that is
now on your palm instead of
your blouse. And they may look
for excuses not to shake hands
afterward.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) HHHH

phy, religion or whatever idealistic

tant decision about your health or

Cut yourself some slack today.

issues they embrace. It’s not to say

your job, postpone this for another

Give yourself permission to veg out

that these issues aren’t worth-

day, because wishful thinking

and daydream or spend time with

while. But an element of idealism

might cloud your judgment. Plus,

a guilty pleasure like daytime TV,

might confuse issues. Tonight:

your information could be incor-

things. This year is the beginning of

video games, puzzles, crosswords

You’re admired.

rect. Tonight: Cooperate.

a new nine-year cycle for you. Get

or reading a favorite book. Tonight:

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) HHH

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

Gentle Reader: It is rare that
Miss Manners will invoke an
electronic solution for a human
problem. But in this case, she
finds the “reaction” feature of
text messaging a convenient

Gentle Reader: “Fool me
once ... “
Visit Miss Manners at
missmanners.com, where you
can send her your questions.
Andrews McMeel Syndication

ROYAL STARS By Georgia Nicols
Today’s Birthday (Feb. 18). You’re
a courageous risk-taker who is
youthful and will never grow old.
You have an infectious enthusiasm, and you love to try new

ready for new beginnings, adventures and major changes!
Moon Alert: Avoid shopping or

The stars show the kind of day
you’ll have:
HHHHH Dynamic
HHHH Positive
HHH Average
HH So-so
H Difficult

Taurus (April 20-May 20) HHHH

You win!

Postpone discussions about

HHHHH This is a lovely, creative

cially quality antiques. Today it’s

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22) HHH This is

shared property, how to deal with

day, because your imagination is

You love beautiful things, espepossible that you will be tempted

a relaxing day. Nevertheless, your

finances or raising kids. Likewise,

in overdrive. However, this same

important decisions from 10 p.m.

to spend money on something el-

involvement with friends, groups or

discussions about how to share

fanciful influence can create con-

to 11 p.m. EST today (7 p.m. to 8

egant and beautiful, perhaps a bit

partners might create a confusing

social occasions, vacations or even

fusion in relationships, especially

pricey. Think twice before you give

situation for you. If so, find some-

a dinner out might end up with

romantic ones. Postpone impor-

someone feeling unhappy. Tonight:

tant decisions about romance

Explore!

or kids. Wait until you have more

p.m. PST). After that, the Moon
moves from Gemini into Cancer.

in to this urge to have something.

where to hide. Tonight: Solitude.

Aries (March 21-April 19) HHHH

After all, you don’t want regrets

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) HHH

Take it easy, because this is a laid-

later. Tonight: Conversations!

People notice you today. Be aware

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) HHH

back day. You might spend a lot

clarity. Tonight: Work.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) HHH

of this, because there is an ele-

This is a poor day for important

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) HHHH

of time daydreaming or being lost

Today the Moon is in your sign at

ment of confusion that is present

discussions, because there’s a

Someone in the family might be

in a fantasy world. Be aware that

odds with fuzzy Neptune, which

today. People might see you differ-

strong element of confusion in the

crying crocodile tears today. So

communications with others are

can create confused thinking on

ently than the way you think you

air today. People will go with their

think twice before you make a

subject to confusion today, which

your part. Or you might attract

are projecting your image. Tonight:

feelings instead of their intellect.

commitment to help them. Make

means if you’re talking about

someone to you who is confused

Friendships.

Arguments are fuzzy. Tonight:

sure you have the facts. Mean-

anything important, make an extra

or full of pie-in-the-sky ideas. (See

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) HHH

Check your finances.

effort to clarify things. Tonight:

the Moon Alert.) Tonight: Check

Relax.

Don’t get caught up in the rhetoric

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) HHHH

your belongings.

of others about politics, philoso-

If you’re contemplating an impor-

while, this is a lovely, lazy day to
relax at home. Enjoy. Tonight: Play!
King Features Syndicate

PUZZLE ANSWERS
CROSSWORD

KAKURO

KENKEN

SUDOKU *****

JUMBLE

G10 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

HOUSTON
From page G6
Director: Alex Gibney
Cast: Kenneth Lay,
Jeffrey Skilling, paper
shredder
Nutshell: Documentary
about the fast rise and
spectacular fall of Enron,
the infamous energy and
commodities company.
Narrator Peter Coyote
asks, “Was Enron the
work of a few bad men? Or
the dark shadow of the
American Dream?” (Answer: yes.)
Houston sites: The
film opens with the sound
of “What’s He Building in
There” by Tom Waits,
author of a primo Houston
song in “Fannin Street.” A
camera focused on downtown’s Antioch Missionary
Baptist Church zooms out
to reveal a gleaming backdrop, including what is
now the Chevron headquarters. Tall Houston
buildings are reflected by
other tall Houston buildings, conveying a warped
sort of reality. Helicopter
shots of downtown are
interspersed with talking
heads blabbering about
money. Also very Houston: shots of the energy
machinery triangulated
between Andrews, Howe
and Pease streets.
Houston vibe: If you
consider boom-bust cycles
this city’s definitive theme,
this is the most Houston
movie of them all. The
sights are familiar, as is the
corporate energy, which
runs aggressively rampant. But it’s also hard to
celebrate a movie where
the body count is 20,000
jobs and $2 billion in vanished pensions. Yet two
decades later, the city
clearly rebounded and
went about its business.

11. ‘Tarnation’

Released: 2003
Director: Jonathan
Caouette
Cast: Jonathan
Caouette, Renee Leblanc
Nutshell: A Houston
filmmaker assembles
nearly two decades of
Super-8 film, photos, audio recordings and other
snippets into a story about
growing up with his
schizophrenic mother.
Technically a documentary, the film is more like an
essay or poem.
Houston sites: Much
of Caouette’s film was
made here, with much
footage from the Westbury
home where he grew up.
But Caouette’s brushstroke
editing process doesn’t
allow the camera to linger
in one space. Houston
landmarks aren’t really
framed as they are in other
films.
Houston vibe: Not
overtly prominent because
“Tarnation” is more about
human interiors than
urban exteriors. That said,
Caouette grew up embedded in a fringey arts
scene in Houston, and it
permeates the entirety of
this bracing and influential
film.

12. ‘Jason’s Lyric’

Released: 1980
Director: Doug McHenry
Cast: Allen Payne, Jada
Pinkett Smith, Bokeem
Woodbine, Lisa Nicole
Carson, Forest Whitaker,
Treach
Nutshell: Two brothers
in Houston’s Third Ward
find themselves on very
different paths after their
traumatic childhoods.
Accolades: There were
few. The great film critic
Stephen Hunter called it
“gripping,” but “Jason’s
Lyric” was not a wellreviewed movie.
Houston sites: Two
Houston food institutions
— This Is It soul food and
Frenchy’s — are captured
at their old locations. The
old This Is It is now a pet
day care. The railroad
trestle by Studemont,
prominently framed in the
film, has been torn down.
But Ralston Liquor and
the house at the corner of
Tuam and Sauer in Third
Ward, where brothers
Jason and Josh grew up, is

Cinecom International Films

“Last Night at the Alamo” stars Sonny Carl Davis
and Amanda LaMar.

still standing.
Houston vibe: Formidable. Some Houston-set
and Houston-shot films
feel untethered from the
city, with haphazardly
assembled backdrops that
don’t fit together. To its
credit, “Jason’s Lyric”
keeps focused and very
much feels of Houston.

13. ‘Rush’

Released: 1991
Director: Lili Fini
Zanuck
Cast: Jason Patric, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Sam
Elliott, Gregg Allman
American International Productions
Nutshell: Two unThe Houston Public
dercover narcotics officers Library gets a starring
cross the line into addicrole in “Sugar Hill.”
tion while trying to catch a
of the late Houston blues
major dealer.
legend Big Walter “the
Accolades: Reviews at
Thunderbird” Price as
the time were mixed, leanPreacher, a piano player in
ing toward favorable.
Houston sites: The star a ramshackle club whose
run-in with a gangster
landmark is the Swinging
leads to his fingers getting
Door in Richmond, which
smashed in his instruclosed last year. The BBQ
ment’s fallboard.
joint serves as the film’s
Yellow Rose club. Houston
15. ‘My Best Friend Is a
City Hall makes a promiVampire’
nent appearance. The
Released: 1987
house on Marina Bay
Director: Jimmy HusDrive in Kemah inhabited
ton
by Patric’s Jim Raynor is
Cast: Robert Sean
still standing, as is the
Leonard, Fannie Flagg,
apartment complex at 219
David Warner, Paul WillMarshall where Leigh’s
son, René Auberjonois,
Kristen Cates lives. Some
Kathy Bates
buildings from a First
Nutshell: A teen seWard scene on San Jacinto
duced by a mysterious
Street will still look familiar, though the train tracks woman wakes up the next
day a vampire. He finds a
in the film have been
mentor who coaches him
paved over.
to be a kindly vampire, all
Houston vibe: Vague.
while being pursued by a
“Rush” covers a lot of
dogged vampire hunter.
physical territory: Kemah
Accolades: None whatto the southeast, Richsoever. The film was not
mond to the southwest
well-reviewed. Its boxand Humble to the north,
office tally resembles the
though all the rambling
yearly bonus of a poorly
doesn’t triangulate a real
compensated oil and gas
sense of place. Befitting a
executive. A few funny
story about undercover
scenes with David Warner
narcotics cops consumed
as a vampire hunter sugby their work, “Rush” is
gest a salvageable idea for
very much a nighttime
a comedy that never surfilm, so some familiar
faces. But…
locations are also cloaked
Houston sites: The
by darkness. Kim Wofilm is teeming with familzencraft’s book was iniar sights. Each morning,
formed by her time in
Tyler, so Zanuck may have young vampire Jeremy
(Robert Sean Leonard)
simply sought a general
talks to his father, who’s
Texas feel.
reading the Houston
Chronicle. The brightly
14. ‘Sugar Hill’
colored Jean Miro sculpReleased: 1974
ture outside Chase Tower
Director: Paul Maslangets a loving shot in a
sky
Cast: Marki Bey, Robert chase that heads toward
Mecom Fountain (long
Quarry, Don Pedro Colley,
chase). Jones Hall gets
Betty Anne Rees, Richard
some screen time. And
Lawsom, Zara Cully
Jeremy’s school scenes
Nutshell: A woman
were filmed at Milby High
enlists the undead to help
School.
her exact revenge against
The Alabama Shepherd
the gangsters who killed
shopping center has seen
her boyfriend.
all the retailers turn over,
Accolades: Little conso Bookstop is now Trader
temporary criticism of
Joe’s and Whole Foods is
“Sugar Hill” exists, but it’s
now PetSmart. I couldn’t
a ridiculously enjoyable
quite tell if the old Cactus
B-movie of its era. A notaRecords sign was visible; it
ble moment in Quentin
now directs people to
Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction”
Whole Earth.
is a nod to an early scene
Houston vibe: This
in “Sugar Hill.”
feels a little like the tree
Houston sites: Housfalling in an empty forest.
ton Public Library’s
If a pretty bad film with
branch in the Heights is
transformed into a Voodoo lots of prominent Houston
landmarks goes unseen, is
Institute.
it really a great Houston
Houston vibe: Minifilm? OK, but what if the
mal. Clearly, Maslansky
director’s name is Huston?
wanted to evoke swampy
There are ace actors
rural confines in Louisiana
involved. But any joy from
rather than Houston’s
this film comes from a
urban space. But the film
form of time-travel sightgets a major Houston
bonus point for the casting seeing.

Courtesy photo

Jonathan Caouette directs and stars in the film
“Tarnation.”

HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024
PRESENTED BY

RODEO
GUIDE
2024

EVENTS | CONCERTS | SHOPPING | FOOD

RODEO

A NEW RIDE, NEW SHOPS,
A NEW SHOE AND A PLUSH TOY
By Andrew Dansby

N

STA F F W R I T ER

on the cartoon tabby cat created by
Claire Belton in 2010. It’s available
only at the shops at NRG.
New shopping vendors this year
include Astros third baseman Alex
Bregman’s Breggy Bomb line of
barbecue sauces and rubs, and
salsas. HeyDude is another newcomer, and it has created a Houston
Livestock Show and Rodeo shoe.
These join more than 350 vendors in NRG Center and NRG Stadium, offering everything from
boots and hats to Western home
décor and farm and ranch tools.
Also new this year: Angry Minnow Vintage, B and B Glass Studio,
Carolina Pickle Co., Clayton &
Crume, Copper Kettle Popcorn,
Dakota West Leathers, Double
Trouble Boutique, Laura Lively,
Lucky Ranch Style, Snakebite Creative Design, Stonewick, Texas
Therasoles, the Barrel Road, the
Original Windmill Ceiling Fan Co.,
VNTG SPLY, Yellow Rose Tack and
Supplies.

ot only are there new
carnival foods (a pink
Barbalicious Float,
Chocolate Bacon on a
Stick and Louisiana
Crawfish Cheese Fries) at RodeoHouston 2024, but also a new ride,
new shops, a plush toy and earlier
weekend starting times.

Get ready for an early start on
weekends

The weekend rodeos will start an
hour earlier than in years past.
Gates at NRG Stadium will open at
2 p.m. for a 2:45 p.m. start time.
Weekend concerts will start around
5 p.m.
At 8 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, a drone light show with 400
drones will light the skies with
Western heritage formations.
The World’s Championship BarB-Que Contest, presented Feb.
22-24 by Cotton Holdings, celebrates its 50th anniversary this
year.
The Opening Day Parade kicks
off at noon Feb. 27, featuring Cirque
du Soleil performers and area high
school bands, on the grounds of
NRG. Gates open at 10 a.m. and
Leon Coffee bobbleheads will go to
the first 10,000 paying customers.
And at the Carnival, a new 16seat pendulum ride called the Joker
360 will open, with high-speed and
free-fall thrills.

Rodeo features a shopping
bonanza

RodeoHouston this year offers a
new Carnival toy in Pusheen, based
H2 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

Leap year special

Melissa Phillip/Staff photographer

Jamie Cronk sets up her Texian Leather Goods booth at the Houston Livestock Show
and Rodeo in the NRG Center in 2022.

The rodeo will also have a leap
year ticket giveaway for Feb. 29.
Leap year birthday celebrants can
receive two tickets for the rodeo on
Feb. 29. To collect the tickets, the
birthday person needs to swing by
the HLSR ticket office on the second floor of NRG Center between 9
a.m. and 4 p.m. Mondays through
Fridays with valid ID showing their
birthday.
For more information on the
2024 rodeo, visit rodeohouston.com.
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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 H3

RODEO

BARBECUE, A PARADE AND MORE
Downtown Houston will transform into a Western heritage celebration ahead of the Houston Livestock
Show and Rodeo when the season
kicks off with its annual Houston
Rodeo Run and parade on Feb. 24.

By Bao Ong
STA FF WRIT ER

A

n army of pitmasters
from all over the United
States, Mexico, Sweden
and beyond will soon
fire up their smokers
and grills at the Houston Livestock
Show and Rodeo with an array of
recipes and techniques. They’ll all
have one goal in mind: a 2024 World’s
Championship Bar-B-Que Contest
title.
From Feb. 22-24, more than 250
teams will compete in Texas’ — and
arguably one of the world’s — most
high-stakes barbecue competition,
which is also celebrating its 50th anniversary. The annual tradition will
crown champions in multiple barbecue categories to properly kick off
RodeoHouston.
“This year, our biggest focus is on
our 50th anniversary,” said Ashley
Smith, spokeswoman for the cook-off.
“We’re going all out and bringing a lot
of long-term teams back for this milestone rodeo.”
Pitmasters, including those from
eight international teams coming from
as far away as Australia and Brazil,
have been honing their skills all year
long.
Cook-off teams will be competing
for prizes in three main meat categories: brisket, ribs and chicken. Other
categories include Dutch oven desserts and an “open” category that
allows teams to create a gourmet dish
that shows off their culinary skills
beyond barbecue. The Junior Cook-off
Contest returns for its fourth year and
features children and teens ages 8 to
14.
All categories are judged in private
by barbecue aficionados hand-selected
by the cook-off committee. The Junior,
Open and Dutch oven categories will
be judged Feb. 23. While the Junior
awards will be announced at 11 a.m. on
Feb. 23, the remaining category winH4 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

Rodeo Run

The annual Rodeo Run will send a
herd of runners out ahead of the
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
Parade. Proceeds from the event
benefit rodeo scholarships, and remote participants can join with the
Sleep-In option to watch from home.
The race starts 9 a.m. at the corner
of Walker and Bagby and ends on
Allen Parkway near Eleanor Tinsley
Park, where there will be a post-race
party.

Houston rodeo parade

Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer

The World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Contest draws a large and hungry
crowd to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

ners will be revealed at 7 p.m. on Feb.
24 on the Garden Stage.
While the actual competition tents
on the cook-off campus are private
(except for a limited number of invited
guests), the public will still be able to
see, smell and taste some barbecue.
General admission includes access to
live music, the carnival and access to
the Rockin’ Bar-B-Que Saloon with its
own patio.
The cook-off teams will also deck
NRG Park out with whimsical barbecue décor as they make over their pits
as fire engines, wagons, planes and
even armadillos. More than 700 entries will compete for the barbecue
categories.
This year’s cook-off schedule is 5-11
p.m. Feb. 22; noon-11 p.m. Feb. 23; and
9 a.m.-11 p.m. Feb. 24. Competition
results will be announced at 7 p.m. on
Feb. 24 at the Miller Lite Garden Stage.
Last year, attendance for the threeday cook-off was more than 214,000.

What you need to know

General admission tickets: $25 for
adults (13 and older), $10 for children
(3 to 12); children 2 and younger are
free. A grounds season pass good for
daily admission to the three-day
cook-off is $55. See rodeohouston.com for more information and tickets.

Houston Chronicle file

Competition heats up when the title
is on the line.

After the Rodeo Run, thousands
will fill downtown streets for the
annual Downtown Rodeo Parade, a
tradition since 1938. The parade
features floats, marching bands,
horseback riders and trail ride wagons.
Buc-ee’s CEO Arch “Beaver”
Aplin III will serve as this year’s
grand marshal. The parade will
feature Buc-ee’s iconic beaver mascot
alongside “Howdy,” the rodeo’s own
mascot.
The route begins at Bagby and
Walker streets, then travels from
Travis to Bell and from Bell to Louisiana before turning on Lamar and
ending at Lamar and Bagby.

Thomas B. Shea

The annual Downtown Rodeo
Parade is a Houston tradition.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 H5

M US I C

BLAKE SHELTON
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

By Joey Guerra
STA F F W R I T ER

B

lake Shelton opens
RodeoHouston 2024 with a
grand return. This will be his
first show in six years and sixth
overall.
Shelton has two shows among the Top
25 for all-time paid attendance. The
Oklahoma native has earned more than
two dozen No. 1 singles, including “Who
Are You When I’m Not Looking,” “Honey
Bee” and “God Gave Me You.” His music is
rooted in traditional country, and his
onstage charisma elevates much of his
material.

H6 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

BLAKE SHELTON
Performing: Feb. 27
Past performances: 2010, 2012-14, 2018
Hometown: Ada, Okla.
First No. 1 hit: 2001’s “Austin”
From his 2018 performance: Shelton also
told the crowd he was “at the peak of
having the damn flu right now at this show.
I apologize if I sound like crap,” he said.

The performer spent more than a
decade as a coach on “The Voice,” the
reality-TV singing competition that
relies on “blind” auditions to select
singers. It introduced him to an even
bigger audience — and to his wife, No
Doubt singer Gwen Stefani. The couple
has teamed up for several duets,
including this month’s “Purple Irises.”
Stefani made her RodeoHouston
debut in 2022. Maybe we’ll get a
surprise “Purple” performance from the
pair.
Now that would be b-a-n-a-n-a-s.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 H7

M US I C

CARLY PEARCE
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

By Joey Guerra
STA F F W R I T ER

C

arly Pearce is one of 10 acts
making their RodeoHouston
debuts this year. And she’s one of
just two women on the entire
lineup.
Pearce broke through organically, without
a big label machine behind her. The 2017
single “Every Little Thing” got picked up by
SiriusXM radio and led to a record deal. The
song was eventually released to country
radio and became her first No. 1 hit.
Even before she was a teenager, Pearce
was performing regularly with bluegrass
bands and at church. She cleaned Airbnbs to

H8 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

CARLY PEARCE
Performing: Feb. 28
Past performances: None
Hometown: Taylor Mill, Ky.
First No. 1 hit: 2017’s “Every Little Thing”
Did you know?: Pearce got a job at
Dollywood at 16 years old, then convinced
her parents to move to Tennessee and let
her drop out of school.

make ends meet while she worked toward a
record deal in Nashville. Pearce joined the
Grand Ole Opry in 2021 and teamed up with
Patty Loveless for “Dear Miss Loretta,” a
tribute to Loretta Lynn.
Astros fans may remember she sang the
National Anthem before Game 6 of the 2021
World Series at Minute Maid Park.
Pearce teamed up with Chris Stapleton, a
RodeoHouston favorite who is not
performing this year, for the duet “We Don’t
Fight Anymore.” It’s a preview of her
forthcoming new album. Maybe we’ll get a
preview of what she’s been working on.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

M US I C

FOR KING & COUNTRY
Jon Shapley/Staff photographer

By Joey Guerra
STA F F W R I T ER

F

or King & Country was the
first Christian pop act to
perform at RodeoHouston.
Two years later, brothers
Joel and Luke Smallbone
return to the rotating stage.
The Smallbone brothers were born
in Sydney, Australia, but immigrated
to the United States as children. They
eventually made their way to
Nashville. Prior to For King &
Country, they were known as Joel &
Luke, and before that, Austoville.
They have scored several No. 1 singles
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

FOR KING & COUNTRY
Performing: Feb. 29
Past performances: 2022
Hometown: Sydney, Australia
From their 2022 show: “I received more text
messages and more calls about this show
than ever in the history of being a part of a
band,” Joel Smallbone told the Thursday
night crowd of 53,133 paid attendance.

and collaborated with Dolly Parton,
Jordin Sparks and Houston native
Lecrae.
Later this year, Joel Smallbone stars
as his own father in the film “Unsung
Hero.” He co-wrote and co-directed
the film about the Smallbone family’s
move from Australia to the U.S. in
order to further daughter Rebecca St.
James’ music career. The film
chronicles the family’s life as they do
yard work together to support
themselves as St. James establishes
herself as a Christian pop artist.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 H9

M US I C

50 CENT
Courtesy photo

By Joey Guerra
STA F F W R I T ER

5

0 Cent moved to Houston in 2021
and quickly established a
connection to the city. It’s only
natural, then, that he’s part of the
RodeoHouston lineup.
The New York rapper has worked with
the Astros, Rockets and Texans in
various capacities. He signed a multiyear
partnership deal with the Astros to have
his premium wine and spirits company,
Sire Spirits LLC, be a part of games at
Minute Maid Park. He also started an
entrepreneur program with the Houston
Independent School District.
H10 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

50 CENT
Performing: March 1 (Black Heritage Day)
Past performances: None
Hometown: New York City, N.Y.
First No. 1 hit: 2003’s “In da Club”
Did you know?: 50 Cent has collaborated
on duets with regional Mexican singer
Eladio Carrion (“Si Salimos” and R&B star El
DeBarge (“Format”).

And though this will be 50’s official
rodeo debut, he’s been a partner in
other ways. His champagne was 2023’s
Grand Champion Best of Show at the
Rodeo Uncorked Champion Wine
Auction & Dinner and sold for a
record $325,000. He bought a
Chardonnay for $165,000 that same
year.
The music, including “In da Club”
and “Candy Shop,” will take center
stage on Black Heritage Day. And
Houston is excited. His show is among
this year’s bestsellers.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

M US I C

HARDY
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

By Joey Guerra
STA F F W R I T ER

H

ardy initially
made his mark as
a songwriter. He
has written songs
for Florida
Georgia Line, Blake Shelton,
Morgan Wallen and others.
Hardy attended Middle
Tennessee State University,
where he earned a degree in
songwriting.
He stepped into the spotlight
with a series of mixtapes before
releasing 2020 album “A Rock.”
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

HARDY
Performing: March 2
Past performances: None
Hometown: Philadelphia, Miss.
First No. 1 hit: 2020’s “One Beer”
Did you know?: Hardy’s “Hixtape,
Vol. 1” features 17 artists, including
Cole Swindell, Morgan Wallen and
Thomas Rhett.

It included the song “One Beer,”
which topped Billboard’s
Country Airplay chart.
Hardy has also found success
on the rock charts with songs
“Jack,” “The Mockingbird & the
Crow” and “Sold Out.” In
February, he released a new
single called “Rockstar” in
advance of a forthcoming rock
album.
A little bit country, a little bit
rock ’n’ roll and a RodeoHouston
debut.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 H11

M US I C

IVAN CORNEJO
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

By Joey Guerra
STA F F W R I T ER

I

van Cornejo’s first RodeoHouston
show is going to be a big one.
The regional-Mexican singer
from California was among the
biggest sellers when tickets went on
sale in January. Cornejo’s music is part of
the sierreño sound that includes sad,
lovelorn lyrics accompanied by traditional
instruments and electric bass. His single
“Está Dañada” went viral on TikTok, with
more than 1 million people using it for
their own videos. It was only the second
regional Mexican song to chart on the
all-genre Billboard Hot 100.

H12 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

IVAN CORNEJO
Performing: March 3
Past performances: None
Hometown: Riverside, Calif.
Did you know?: The first
song he learned to play on
guitar was “La Bamba” by
Ritchie Valens.

Cornejo, 19, taught himself to play
guitar when he was 8 years old by
watching YouTube videos. He began
writing songs when he was 13 years old
after getting his heart broken in middle
school, according to Billboard.
Cornejo was named new artist of the
year at the 2022 Billboard Latin Music
Awards. His “Alma Vacía” was named
regional Mexican album of the year. He
says he didn’t start listening to regional
Mexican music until his friends
introduced him to it. Now, he’s among
those leading the pack.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

M US I C

HANK WILLIAMS JR.
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

By Joey Guerra
STA F F W R I T ER

H

ank Williams Jr.
last made an
appearance at
RodeoHouston in
2001. Music in all
forms has changed in those
20-plus years. But a country boy
can survive.
Williams, now 74, has become
known as much for his political
beliefs as his music. His 2022
album “Rich White Honky
Blues” was inspired by a
conversation with “Sanford and

HOUSTON CHRONICLE

HANK WILLIAMS JR.
Performing: March 4
Past performances:
1983, 1992-93, 1995-97, 1999, 2001
Hometown: Shreveport, La.
First No. 1 hit: 1970’s “All for the Love of Sunshine”
Did you know: “The Waltons” actor Richard
Thomas portrayed Williams in the 1983 TV film
“Living Proof: The Hank Williams Jr. Story.”

Son” actor Redd Foxx.
The early part of Williams’
career was shaped by his
legendary father. But he
eventually found his own place
by combining country, rock and
blues. He has released five
dozen albums and topped the
country charts with the songs
“Eleven Roses,” “Texas
Women” and “Born to Boogie.”
In 2020, Williams was inducted
into the Country Music Hall of
Fame.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 H13

M US I C

OLIVER ANTHONY
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

By Joey Guerra
STA F F W R I T ER

A

mong the 20 acts
on this year’s
RodeoHouston
lineup, the most
curious has to be
Oliver Anthony. Mostly because,
for most people, he came out of
nowhere.
Anthony was working a job in
sales when his song “Rich Men
North of Richmond” went viral.
It was embraced by the far right
as an everyman anthem and
went to No. 1 on the strength of a
H14 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

OLIVER ANTHONY
Performing: March 5
Past performances: None
Hometown: Farmville, Va.
First No. 1 hit: 2023’s “Rich Men North
of Richmond”
Did you know?: Christopher Anthony
Lunsford took his grandfather’s name,
Oliver Anthony, as his stage name.

spare performance video. Despite
the roots of his success, Anthony
told Billboard that he sits “pretty
dead center down the aisle on
politics” and considers himself
nonpartisan.
His long-term ambition is
“getting people back in nature and
teaching people how to grow their
own food and raise animals and do
all that stuff.” After a world tour
and an album, of course.
RodeoHouston will be a real test
of his drawing power.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

M US I C

JELLY ROLL
Ashley Osborn

By Joey Guerra
STA F F W R I T ER

J

elly Roll is a new name to some.
But he’s a bright spot for many
on this year’s RodeoHouston
lineup and looks to be one of the
season’s biggest shows.
He’s connected with fans through
such confessional songs as “Need a
Favor,” “Save Me” and “Son of a
Sinner.” He got his start as a rapper
and has evolved into a country(ish)
singer with elements of rock and
hip-hop. He has released more than a
dozen albums and mixtapes since
2003.

HOUSTON CHRONICLE

JELLY ROLL
Performing: March 6
Past performances: None
Hometown: Nashville, Tenn.
First No. 1 hit: 2021’s “Dead Man Walking”
Did you know?: Jelly Roll proposed to his
wife onstage at a Yelawolf concert in Las
Vegas. They were married that same night.

It’s only recently, however, that
mainstream media has started paying
attention. He was nominated for two
Grammys this year, including best
new artist. He also teamed up with
Huntsville’s Cody Johnson for the
song “Whiskey Bent.”
Jelly Roll is also using his platform
to amplify important causes. In
January, he testified before Congress
in support of anti-fentanyl legislation.
The Hulu documentary “Save Me”
chronicles his unlikely rise to
stardom.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 H15

M US I C

LUKE BRYAN
Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer

By Joey Guerra
STA F F W R I T ER

Y

ou can count on a few
things at RodeoHouston:
fringe, deep-fried
everything and a huge
crowd for Luke Bryan.
Bryan made his debut on the
rotating stage in 2012. He is the only
act with four performances in the
all-time top 25 for paid attendance.
He also drew the biggest crowd of
2023. Expect this year to be just as
big a party.
Bryan has released seven albums,
several “Spring Break” EPs and
H16 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

LUKE BRYAN
Performing: March 7
Past performances: 2012-2019, 2022-2023
Hometown: Leesburg, Ga.
From his 2023 performance: The rodeo crowd,
however, really just wanted to shake it. And
Bryan gave them what they wanted. He took to
the rails during “Country Girl,” where fans
gathered to snap photos and shake it for him.

earned more than two dozen No. 1
singles. His rodeo performances are
high on energy and kitsch. He
shakes his rear repeatedly and
frequently purrs like a cat. It works
every time.
His last album was released four
years ago. But Bryan has likely been
busy with “American Idol.” He’s
been a judge on the singing
competition since 2018. Maybe, if we
all purr loud enough, he’ll surprise
us with a new song on the rotating
stage.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

M US I C

MAJOR LAZER
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

By Joey Guerra
STA F F W R I T ER

M

ajor Lazer’s
RodeoHouston debut
will be a homecoming
for one of its members.
Eric Alberto-Lopez,
who goes by Ape Drums, was born and
raised in Katy. He joined the group in
2019, finalizing the current lineup that
includes Diplo and Walshy Fire. His
trip home, he says, is a chance to see
friends and grab some Vietnamese food
around town with his mother and
sister.
The Jamaican American electronic
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

MAJOR LAZER
Performing: March 8
Past performances: None
Origin: Kingston, Jamaica
First No. 1 hit: 2015’s “Lean On”
Did you know?: Houston native
Ape Drums attended Morton
Ranch High School in Katy.

dance music trio has worked with
Bruno Mars, Justin Bieber and Travis
Scott. Major Lazer earned a Grammy
nomination in 2022 and was even the
subject of an animated series created by
Diplo.
The group regularly tours the world
to huge crowds, so RodeoHouston
should be a perfect fit for its
high-energy sound. The Chainsmokers
introduced EDM to RodeoHouston in
2017. Since then, Zedd and Marshmello
have dropped the beat on the rotating
stage.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 H17

M US I C

LAINEY WILSON
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

By Joey Guerra
STA F F W R I T ER

I

t’s a great time to be Lainey
Wilson.
The Louisiana native is one of a
very few women who has been
able to break through country
music’s glass ceiling. She’s also just one
of two women on this year’s
RodeoHouston lineup, alongside Carly
Pearce.
Wilson cites Dolly Parton and Lee
Ann Womack as influences, and it’s
apparent in her sound. Her single
“Watermelon Moonshine” topped the
country charts, and she teamed up with

H18 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

LAINEY WILSON
Performing: March 9
Past performances: None
Hometown: Baskin, La.
First No. 1 hit: 2020’s “Things a Man
Oughta Know”
Did you know?: Before she became a star
in her own right, Wilson worked as a Hannah
Montana impersonator.

Jelly Roll for the song “Save Me.”
Wilson received nine nominations at
the 57th annual Country Music
Association Awards. She won five,
including the all-important entertainer of
the year. She’s the first woman to take
the top prize since Taylor Swift in 2009.
She joined the cast of “Yellowstone” in
2022 as Abby and had some of her songs
featured on the show. In February,
Wilson’s “Bell Bottom Country” earned
the Grammy for best country album.
RodeoHouston will be another
rhinestone on her sparkling belt.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

M US I C

LOS TIGRES DEL NORTE
Jon Shapley/Staff photographer

By Joey Guerra
STA F F W R I T ER

L

os Tigres del Norte is a
RodeoHouston no-brainer.
The legendary group returns after
a record-breaking 2019 appearance.
That show holds the all-time paid
attendance record at 75,586.
The band of brothers got its start in 1968,
leaving Sinaloa, Mexico, for California. They
quickly established themselves as a musical
force and have continued to earn new
generations of fans with unflinching songs
about drug trafficking, immigration and
politics. They are U.S. citizens but spent several
years as undocumented immigrants, and those
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

LOS TIGRES DEL NORTE
Performing: March 10 (Go Tejano Day)
Past performances: 2002, 2019
Hometown: San Jose, Calif. (established)
First hit: 1972’s “Contrabando y Traición”
From their 2019 show: The crowd was particularly loud
during “La mesa del rincón” and “La puerta negra.” They
cheered when singer Jorge Hernandez held a note for
several seconds during “Ni parientes somos.”

experiences have informed their music.
Over the course of more than five decades,
the norteño titans have sold more than 30
million albums and charted more than 60
songs. They’ve also won seven Grammys. Last
year, Los Tigres released two singles: “Pan y
Miel” and “She Is Wow.” The band was the
subject of “Jefe de Jefes,” a 2017 documentary;
and teamed with Netflix for “Los Tigres del
Norte at Folsom Prison,” released on the 50th
anniversary of Johnny Cash’s legendary
concert.
Will they top their own record this year?
Stay tuned?
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 H19

M US I C

WHISKEY MYERS
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

By Joey Guerra
STA F F W R I T ER

W

hiskey Myers is one
of the new kids on
this year’s
RodeoHouston
lineup. But the Texas
band has been at it for almost two
decades.
The group’s debut album, “Road of
Life,” was released in 2008. The 2011
follow-up, “Firewater,” was their
breakthrough and made its way onto a
few Billboard charts.
The band’s sound hovers between
country and rock, and they began

H20 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

WHISKEY MYERS
Performing: March 11
Past performances: None
Hometown: Palestine, Texas
Did you know?: Whiskey Myers
frontman Cody Cannon has his
own fishing lure company called
Toad Thumpers.

playing shows in Palestine before
branching out into other parts of Texas.
The lineup includes Cody Cannon (lead
vocals and acoustic guitar), John Jeffers
(lead guitar), Cody Tate (lead and
rhythm guitar), Jeff Hogg (drums), Tony
Kent (percussion/drums) and Jamey
Gleaves (bass).
Whiskey Myers got a big boost when
they were featured in several episodes
of “Yellowstone,” the Kevin Costner-led
series on Paramount+. Their most
recent album, “Tornillo,” was released
in 2022.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

M US I C

BUN B
Karen Warren/Staff photographer

By Joey Guerra
STA F F W R I T ER

B

un B is going from H-town
to Southern to
All-American.
The beloved rapper and
entrepreneur’s third
RodeoHouston appearance looks to be
the biggest. His first, dubbed the
H-Town Takeover, was in 2022 and
featured Z-Ro, Lil’ Keke, Lil’ Flip, Big
Slim, Paul Wall and That Girl Lay Lay.
Last year’s Southern Takeover featured
Erykah Badu, Cupid and David
Banner.
This month, Bun B revealed rapper

HOUSTON CHRONICLE

BUN B’S SOUTHERN TAKEOVER
Performing: March 12
Past performances: 2022 and 2023
Hometown: Port Arthur
From the 2023 show: The night’s big
surprise was Dallas native Erykah Badu,
whose two-song set included “On and On”
and “Tyrone.” But she was just the cap on
an hour of energetic performances.

Nelly as the first performer for his
All-American Takeover at
RodeoHouston. This will be Nelly’s
first time on the rotating stage. But he’s
not stranger to country music. The St.
Louis rapper has collaborated on songs
with former rodeo performers Tim
McGraw, Florida Georgia Line, Darius
Rucker and Kane Brown.
As in past years, the rumor mill has
been churning for weeks as to who will
show up on the rotating stage. Megan
Thee Stallion? Beyoncé? Anything is
possible when Bun B is involved.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 H21

M US I C

NICKELBACK
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

By Joey Guerra
STA F F W R I T ER

P

eople have lots of opinions
about Nickelback. Many of
them negative, a point
acknowledged in a recent
documentary about the band.
Still, someone is listening,
unironically, and buying tickets. More
than two decades after its
breakthrough, Nickelback can still fill
arenas. They played The Woodlands
Pavilion last summer as part of the Get
Rollin’ Tour, which made $25.6 million
from its first 28 shows, according to
Pollstar.

H22 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

NICKELBACK
Performing: March 13
Past performances: None
Hometown: Hanna, Alberta,
Canada
First No. 1 hit: 2001’s “How You
Remind Me”

Nickelback has sold more than 50
million albums worldwide, making
them one of the most commercially
successful rock bands, ever.
Breakthrough single “How You Remind
Me” is one of the biggest rock songs of
the past two decades. Come on, you
know the words. And singer Chad
Kroeger’s growl is instantly
recognizable.
Maybe we’re looking at it all wrong.
The question might be, “Why didn’t
RodeoHouston book Nickelback
sooner?”
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

M US I C

ZAC BROWN BAND
J. Patric Schneider/Contributor

By Joey Guerra
STA F F W R I T ER

A

nother
RodeoHouston,
another bit of
“Chicken Fried” from
Zac Brown Band.
The band has played the rodeo
nine times, and each show has been
a master class in musicianship,
polish and showmanship. It can be
tough, sometimes literally, to find
your footing on the rotating stage.
But ZBB has found the right
balance. Not too loud, not too soft.
Just right.

HOUSTON CHRONICLE

ZAC BROWN BAND
Performing: March 14
Past performances: 2011-2015, 2017-2019, 2023
Hometown: Atlanta, Ga.
From their 2023 show: “Beautiful Drug” was more
Marshmello than Merle Haggard, a dance track build
on booming synths and reverb. Lead singer Brown
leaned heavily into the sound with his defunct
dance-pop group Sir Rosevelt.

They have historically been one
of the best-sounding bands inside
the cavernous stadium. That’s no
small feat. One of the biggest
complaints during rodeo season is
the sound quality. That makes
ZBB’s pitch-perfect harmonies all
the sweeter. Recent shows have also
found the band delving into EDM
for a song or two.
ZBB released its seventh album,
“The Comeback,” in 2021. Maybe
we’ll get some new music between
the singalongs.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 H23

M US I C

JONAS BROTHERS
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

By Joey Guerra
STA F F W R I T ER

R

aise your hand if you
expect the Jonas
Brothers to be elder
statesmen of
RodeoHouston.
The sibling trio first
performed at the event in 2009.
Fifteen years ago, if you can
believe it. Back then, they were
teen heartthrobs who incited
roof-rattling screams.
The boys are now men with
wives and families. But the same
level of fan adoration is still
H24 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

JONAS BROTHERS
Performing: March 15
Past performances: 2009-10
Hometown: Wyckoff, N.J.
First No. 1 hit: 2019’s “Sucker”
From their 2009 show: The piercing scream waves started as soon
as the RodeoHouston announcer issued the lights-out warning. It
crested into a full-on tidal wave when the brothers raced onstage: Joe
in a pink shirt, Nick (briefly) in a cowboy hat, Kevin in a black vest.

there. It was evident during a
sold-out show last year at
Toyota Center. Nick, Joe and
Kevin Jonas are now making
grown women weep. That it’s all
wrapped up in nostalgia makes
things all the more emotional.
They released “The Album”
in 2023. Expect to hear all the
hits on the rotating stage, plus
solo singles from Joe Jonas,
courtesy of DNCE, and Nick
Jonas, who was born in Dallas.
“Jealous” is still the jam, y’all.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

M US I C

BRAD PAISLEY
Karen Warren/Staff photographer

By Joey Guerra
STA F F W R I T ER

B

rad Paisley is as
essential to
RodeoHouston as
mutton bustin’ and
half-price carnival

tickets.
This will be his 15th time on the
rotating stage. Paisley’s show
doesn’t change much from year to
year. But that consistency is why
he continues to draw big crowds.
Everything is meticulously
planned but feels spontaneous. He
moves through a series of brightly
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

BRAD PAISLEY
Performing: March 16
Past performances: 2001, 2005,
2008-12, 2014-19, 2023
Hometown: Glen Dale, W.Va.
First No. 1 single: 1999’s “He
Didn’t Have to Be”
From his 2023 show: “Favorite
day of the year right here,” Paisley

said onstage. “Isn’t this just the
greatest event anybody puts on
anywhere?”
From his 2019 show: Paisley
played a surprise acoustic set
Friday night at Blue Door Coffee
Shop in The Woodlands. It’s to his
immense credit that he’s able to
make a show for almost 75,000
people feel just as personal.

colored, paisley guitars. He makes
jokes. He jumps offstage to pose
for selfies and shake hands.
And, if you’re close by, he’ll
grab your phone and check your
Amazon shopping history or your
Instagram follower count.
Last year, Paisley switched
record labels for this first time in
his career, moving from Arista
Nashville to EMI Nashville. His
13th studio album, “Son of the
Mountains,” will be released this
year.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 H25

M US I C

ERIC CHURCH
Melissa Phillip/Staff photographer

By Joey Guerra
STA F F W R I T ER

E

ric Church opened
RodeoHouston in
2015 and told the
crowd it was “pretty
cool to be able to play
a place like this from where we
came from.” He returns this year
to close the whole thing down.
Church’s music hits a sweet
spot that appeals to mainstream
fans but still has an edge. He
started out doing Jimmy Buffett
covers before evolving to
original music. He wrote for
H26 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

ERIC CHURCH
Performing: March 17
Past performances: 2015
Hometown: Granite Falls, N.C.
First No. 1 hit: 2011’s “Drink in My Hand”
From his 2015 performance: “I left my
comfort zone to come out here and play in
this cow (expletive),” he joked.

other artists before releasing his
debut album “Sinners Like Me”
in 2006. His most recent release
was 2021’s “Heart & Soul,” a
triple album he released in
separate parts.
This year, Church and fellow
country star Morgan Wallen
announced that they’d bought
the rights to the Field & Stream
magazine and retail brand. The
revamp includes new print
versions of the magazine and a
music festival.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 H27

FOOD

BOLD NEW FLAVORS
JOIN THE RODEO LINEUP
By Sonia Garcia

T

STA F F W R I T ER

he wait is almost over
for Houstonians who
love all the deep-fried
and wacky foods they’ll
only find at the Houston
Livestock Show and Rodeo.
Festivities kick off Feb. 27, bringing back a slew of classic and inventive bites all around the midway and in the stadium. There will
be around 90 vendors at the rodeo
this year, between independent
eateries, carnival vendors and
Aramark’s booths. New vendors
for 2024 include Big Fat Bacon,
MiaBellas and Waffle Chix. And
yes, Trill Burgers is coming back.
Across the board, there are dozens of new food items to try. Here
are some that caught our eye.

The Barbalicious Float combines
bubblegum soda drink with
cotton candy and whipped cream.

At the carnival:

Texas BBQ Slice

Ditch traditional pizza with this
Texas-size slice of heaven topped
with pulled pork barbecue, onion,
pickled jalapeños and a drizzle of
ranch.

cheese, sliced dill pickles, Hot
Cheetos and another drizzle of
ranch dill sauce. It will also be
available from Enzo’s Pizzeria.

Cheeto Cheese Chicken on a
Stick

A twist on a jalapeño popper, the
Texas Torpedo adds brisket to the
cream cheese in a jalapeño
wrapped in bacon.

Texas Torpedo

Two pieces of extra-crispy fried
chicken are dipped in melted cheddar cheese and rolled in crunchy
Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Stacked pickles ride on top.

Barbalicious Float

Hot Cheeto Cheese Pickle
Pizza

Another Hot Cheetos item: New
York-style pizza with a ranch dill
sauce, topped with mozzarella
H28 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

Photos by RodeoHouston

The Hot Cheeto Cheese Pickle Pizza can be found at the rodeo carnival.

For a real sugar rush, the Barbalicious Float tops handcrafted bubblegum soda with cotton candy,
whipped cream and sprinkles.
Sticking out of the drink is a pink
and white lollipop.
Food continues on H29
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

FOOD
From page 28
From vendors:

Louisiana Crawfish Cheese
Fries

At Cajun Cowboy, beloved
Houston specialties come together
in crawfish cheese fries. Cajun
Cowboy is also offering churro
fries this year.

Chocolate Bacon on a Stick

Sweet and savory merge at new
vendor Big Fat Bacon. Aside from
the chocolate-covered bacon on a
stick, Big Fat Bacon is offering
bacon bourbon caramel cheesecake on a stick, too.

Pick up Chocolate Bacon on a
Stick at new vendor Big Fat Bacon.

Fried Brisket Mac & Cheese

Deep-fried mac and cheese with
brisket? Yup, from Yoakum Packing Co.

Deep-Fried Cowboy
Croissant

Paradise Maple Waffle
Burger

The maple waffle burger from
Paradise Burgers puts a beef patty
with cheese, onion and bacon
between two maple-syrup-covered waffles.

Photos by RodeoHouston

Cajun Cowboy will be serving up Louisiana crawfish cheese fries.

The rodeo’s exclusive steakhouse The Ranch has added a
walk-up window where it will
serve different carnival foods such
as the deep-fried cowboy croissant, a churro-crusted fried croissant stuffed with Nutella or
cream.

WHERE TO G O

TIPS FOR GETTING
TO THE RODEO
By Ana Khan
STA F F W R I T ER

Where can I park at NRG?

Public parking: NRG Park offers vari-

ous parking options, the Yellow Lot, the
610 Lot and the OST 1 lot, located nearby. Parking is $25. The Yellow Lot
opens at 6 a.m. daily, the 610 Lot opens
at 9 a.m. daily and the OST 1 is open
from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. weekdays and 11
a.m. to 2 a.m. weekends.
Permit parking: The rodeo reserves
permit parking for participants, volunteers, exhibitors and workers. For details, check the RodeoHouston website.

Brett Coomer/Staff photographer

Visitors ride a shuttle to the parking
lots across from NRG Stadium.

Is handicap-accessible parking
available?

until 1:15 a.m. on Sundays.

Park & Ride: Park at several convenient

RodeoHouston offers handicappedaccessible parking for visitors. If handicapped spaces are full, alternative options will be provided, including citymanaged transportation. Americans
with Disabilities Act parking, including
van-accessible spaces, are available in
the Blue and Yellow lots for $25 per day,
operating from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. These
spaces are first-come, first-served, requiring a valid state-issued handicap
placard or vehicle registration. Public
passenger drop-off is at Gate 9 off Kirby
Drive, noting closures after 9 p.m. on
weekdays and 6 p.m. on weekends.

What’s the best way to get to the
rodeo?
Public passenger drop-off locations:

Access Gate 9 off Kirby until 9 p.m. on
weekdays and 6 p.m. on weekends.
MetroRail: The light-rail train delivers
rodeogoers to NRG Park daily, with
northbound service until 1:30 a.m. Mondays-Saturdays and until 11:24 p.m.
Sundays. Southbound service runs
until 3:20 a.m. Mondays-Saturdays and
H30 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

Brett Coomer/Staff photographer

Rodeo guests walk inside the gates at NRG Park on their way to the Houston
Livestock Show and Rodeo.

locations and ride a shuttle to NRG Park.
Metro Park & Ride lots are at 4675 S.
Braeswood ($7 round trip for ages 4 and
older), 88331⁄2 Interstate 45 S. ($7 round
trip for ages 4 and older), 515 Maxey ($4
per person round trip) and 1604 W. Bellfort, $20 to park (free MetroRail passes
for all passengers). Rodeo Express lots
are: OST1, 2103 S. Braeswood, this lot is
handicap accessible and costs $25 per car
to park, shuttle-bus ride is free and $2.50
round trip with MetroRail; Reed Road,
2400 Reed, $25 per car to park, ride shuttle bus to/from NRG Park included with
parking fee.
The Woodlands Shuttle: The Woodlands riders should park at the Sawdust
Park and Ride located at 701 Westridge,
with return trips leaving NRG Stadium
from the Metro/Rodeo Express pickup
location throughout the afternoon and
evening at scheduled intervals. The cost
of round-trip transportation to the event
is $13 per person. This service will be
available only on weekends during the
rodeo, and reservations will be required.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

WHERE TO G O
Site map

Park and Ride
45

290

2103 S. Braeswood
90

NRG
Center

Livestock

1. OST 1

69

10

Shopping

Agventure

2. 2400 Reed Road

5

10

(Off Hwy. 288)

3. West Loop

4675 S. Braeswood

Houston

Show Pride

4. Monroe

8833½ Gulf Freeway

The
Junction

NRG
Center

7. The Woodlands Express
701 Westridge Rd.

RodeoHouston

Public and
permit
parking
Public and
permit parking
A. NRG Stadium
N. Braeswood
B.
A. NRG
NRG Astrodome
Stadium
C.
B. NRG
NRG Center
Astrodome
E
S. Braeswood
D.
NRG Center
Arena
C. NRG
Public
N. Stadium
E.
OST
1
Lot
(public)
D. NRG Arena
Dr.
F.
E. Red
OSTlot
1 Lot
G.
Yellow lot
lot (public)
F. Yellow
ha
La Conc
H.
Teallot
lot
G. Red
I.
lot
Mc
H. Green
Blue lot
Ne
e
F
J.
Blue
lot
G
I. Orange lot
CC
K.
Orange
lot
J. Maroon lot
L.
K.Maroon
610 Lot lot
G
F Public
H A
M. 610 Lot (public) Munworth
B
K
I
NRG
Entrance/exit
Parkway
I
Entrance/exit
Westridge
Pedestrian
Pedestrian
JH
bridge
D
bridge
K
L
MetroRail
MetroRail
station
station

h
panis
Old S ST)
(O

Trail

610 Lot

KEY
Restrooms

Shopping

Charging station

Tram stop

Dining

Ticketed entrance

Guest services

Where is rideshare at the rodeo?

Uber and Lyft Ride Sharing: Vehicle

entrance is in the Yellow Lot 16B from
Main Street, south of McNee, dropoffs and pickups are in the east end of
Yellow Lot 35, closest to Lantern
Point and McNee.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Wheelchair,
scooter and
stroller
rental

00

Taxis: Drop-offs and pickups will

be in Gate 14 Teal Lot off Murworth.
Limos: Drop-offs and pickups will
be at the southeast side of the
Miller Lite Green Lot, Gate 13 off
Lantern Point.

Yellow lot: Opens daily
Yellow
Opens
daily at
at
6 a.m.lot:
• $25
• Cashless
6
a.m.
• $25
• Cashless
610
lot:
Opens
daily
610
at 9 lot:
a.m.Opens
• $25 •daily
Accepts cash
at
9 a.m.
• Accepts
OST
1 lot:• $25
Weekdays
cash
5 p.m. to 1 a.m.; weekends
OST
1 lot:
11 a.m.
to 2 Weekdays
a.m. • $25 • Accepts cash
5 p.m. to 1 a.m.; weekends
11 a.m. to 2 a.m. • $25 • Accepts cash

Holly Hall

Naomi

610
Alm
eda

Kirby

Lantern
Point

610

Cam
bri

S.

dg
e

Ma

in

Sales
pavilion

enbriar
Gre

Ma

Naomi

Horse
show
The
Hideout

1604 W. Belfort

4

288

Carnival

NRG
Park

6
2

in

Uber/Lyft/
Ride sharing
(Yellow Lot 38)

515 Maxey Rd.

6. Fannin South

610

90A

Rodeo
Express
Bus
Tent

7

45

3 7
Holly Hall

NRG
Astrodome

Kirby

NRG
Stadium

1

The
Junction

5. Maxey

Fa
nn
in

ine Garden
nW
pio

Fannin

Cha
m

69

M
G

W. Belfort

When do the rodeo trams run?

Rodeo committee members operate
trams providing free rides to/from
parking lots, rodeo grounds, NRG
Center, NRG Arena and NRG Stadium. Blue Line: NRG Stadium, NRG
Arena, Blue Lot (9 a.m.-12:30 a.m.).

Public
Belfort

Source: RodeoHouston
Ken Ellis / Staff graphic

Orange Line: NRG Center, NRG Arena (9 a.m.-12:30 a.m.). Red Line: NRG
Center, Red Lot (8 a.m.-12:30 a.m.). 610
Line: NRG Park, 610 Lot (9 a.m.-12:30
a.m.). Yellow Line: North side of NRG
Stadium, Yellow Lot (9 a.m.-12:30
p.m.).
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 H31

H32 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

SENIOR SPACES
houstonchronicle.com | Sunday, February 18, 2024 | Houston Chronicle Custom Publishing Group

GRAND
OPENING

Courtesy of Pulte/Del Webb

During the Feb. 24 Grand Opening Party, visitors can tour the amenity space with highlights like an
indoor pool, fitness center, movement studio, catering kitchen, craft rooms, outdoor pool, bocce ball
courts, and covered patio.

Del Webb set to debut new
16,000 sq. ft. amenity center in Fulshear
Del Webb, one of the nation’s
leading builders of active-adult
communities for those 55 and
older, will grand open its
brand new 16,000 sq. ft. amenity center in Del Webb Fulshear on Saturday, Feb. 24,
2024, from 12-3 p.m.
Located in the growing suburb of Fulshear just west of
Houston with easy access to
the city, Del Webb Fulshear is a
resort-style community offering a fresh approach to
authentic Texas living.
Mark your calendar for this

Mark your
calendar for this
free 55+ Grand
Opening Party
featuring live
music, giveaways,
prizes, food and
drinks.

free 55+ Grand Opening Party
featuring live music, giveaways, prizes, food and drinks.
Plus, tour the amenity space
with highlights like an indoor
pool, fitness center, movement
studio, catering kitchen, craft
rooms, outdoor pool, bocce ball
courts, and covered patio.

Join the festivities
Bring a friend or neighbor
and join us to experience the
Del Webb lifestyle first hand.
Party continues on K2

BBB ON SENIORS

Romance scammers
target older adults
It’s February. Yes, the month of “love” is in full
swing. Do you know who really loves February? Scammers.
Unfortunately, these tricksters prey on older adults
with computers. Technology is a blessing and a curse.
Before my grandmother passed, we had many conversations about “friends” contacting her on Facebook.
She would be contacted by gentlemen
whose profile photo featured them in
full military uniform or a doctor’s jacket.
Her “new friends” would text things like
“Linda, you have a lovely photo. I would
like to get to know you better.” I will
share with you the same advice I gave
JENNIFER
her:
not everyone you meet via phone or
SALAZAR
internet is who they say they are!
Scammers create fake online profiles pretending to
be someone they’re not (aka: Catfishing). Remember,
anyone can steal online social media profile photos to
mis-represent themselves.
Romance scams are a category of scams where a
scammer develops a romantic relationship and targets
the victim to manipulate them into sharing private
information. Or, they create a fake emergency requesting money. These criminals target vulnerable people
who have experienced a recent breakup, loss of a loved
one, or hardship. They take full advantage of that to
establish a connection and gain sympathy.
Know the signs of romance scams:
· The relationship moves fast. Scammers usually
profess strong feelings quickly.
· You never meet in person.
· The person is avoiding face-to-face contact or calling you. Don’t fall for lies about not being able to call
you or do a video call. For example: they don’t have
internet, or their phone is broken.
· Their stories have inconsistencies and are dramatic.
· They want to keep the relationship a secret from
your friends and family.
· They may not ask for money initially, instead they
may try to get personal information from you so they
can guess your passwords and hack your profiles.
· Beware of any unsolicited messages you receive on
social media.
Tips to stay safe: Never send money, gift cards or
personal information to someone you haven’t met.,
always be wary about the personal info you post online.
Fraudsters read social media and other readily available
public information. Do a reverse image lookup of a
person’s profile picture to see if it is being used elsewhere on the internet. If you suspect you are being
scammed — STOP communication with the person.
If you encounter a romance scam, cut off contact by
blocking accounts and phone numbers. Report your
experience to BBB.org/ScamTracker.
Email: jsalazar@bbbhou.org. If you have questions, call
BBB Education Foundation at 713-341-6184. Jennifer Salazar is Exec. Director of the BBB Education Foundation.

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT

EAGLE’S TRACE offers moving resources. The
busy spring home selling season is almost here!
That’s why Eagle’s Trace in west Houston
provides new residents with a home-field
advantage. From trusted local Realtors and move
managers to hands-on support with downsizing
and staging, we strive to make your move
seamless. Learn more by calling the Planning
and Moving Consultant, Haven Benoit, at
281-496-7676 or visiting eaglestrace.com.

GATHERINGS AT WESTVIEW: The good life
awaits at Gatherings at Westview, one of
Houston’s most sought-out condo communities
for active adults age 55+ with a lock-and-leave
lifestyle. Enjoy living close to Memorial Park, the
Galleria, City Centre and downtown. Located at
6804 Westview Drive with four model homes
open for touring Sunday-Monday 12 p.m. to 5
p.m. and Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visit
gatherings.com or call 281-616-5228 for more
information.

HOLLY HALL: Family members are choosing to
become caregivers for a loved one. Holly Hall
Christian Retirement Community
wholeheartedly supports those caregivers by
providing a much-needed break with respite
care. Respite care can be for one week or more
and your loved one gets the same care you
provide at home. From administering medication
to assisting with showering and/or dressing, the
same loving touch is provided. Call 281-936-2805
because you deserve a break.

K2 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

55+ community Grand Opening Party Feb. 24
Party from page K1
Register today to save your
spot for this can’t-miss event.
Call (281) 626-8839 to RSVP
for this event today!

About Del Webb
Del Webb is a national
brand of PulteGroup Inc.
(NYSE: PHM). Del Webb is a
pioneer in active-adult communities and one of America’s leading builders of new
homes targeted to pre-retirement and retirees.
Del Webb builds consumer
inspired homes and communities for active adults ages
55+ who want to continue to
explore, grow and learn,
socially, physically and intellectually as they look forward
to retirement.
Further details
For more information
about Del Webb, visit
www.delwebb.com.

Courtesy of Pulte/Del Webb

Courtesy of Pulte/Del Webb

Located in the growing suburb of Fulshear just west
of Houston with easy access to the city, Del Webb
Fulshear is a resort-style community offering a
fresh approach to authentic Texas living.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 K3

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

Courtesy of St. Dominic Village

St. Dominic Village offers numerous benefits for seniors seeking a secure and
fulfilling lifestyle.

St. Dominic Village offers peace of mind
and a home where seniors can thrive
St. Dominic Village residents gain
peace of mind knowing the services
they need are readily available now and
in the future.
The community empowers seniors to
age gracefully while maintaining their
independence and enjoying a vibrant
community.
St. Dominic Village offers numerous
benefits for seniors seeking a secure
and fulfilling lifestyle, which includes
continuing of care, in a retirement community that provides seamless transition between independent living, assis-

Janric
Classic
Sudoku
Enter digits from 1 to 9
in the blank spaces. Each
horizontal row must
contain only one of each
digit. Each vertical column can contain only 1
through 9. The same goes
for every 3-by-3 square.
— Creators Syndicate

BBB
Puzzle solutions on
Page 6.

ted living, rehabilitation, skilled nursing
care, and memory care, if needed.
Sitting on a 27-acre campus, with a
variety of amenities and activities, St.
Dominic Village promotes an active and
social lifestyle. As a ministry of the
Archdioceses of Galveston-Houston, St.
Dominic also recognize the importance
of spiritual care by offering both Catholic and nondenominational services.
Visit www.stdominicvillage.org to
learn more or call 713-440-3417, or call
or text, 832-707-2398 to speak directly
to a community relations counselor.

K4 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

Eagle’s Trace resident
shares her love of the
opera with others
When Beth Beissel heard that
her favorite opera, Giuseppe
Verdi’s La Traviata, was opening
at the Houston Grand Opera —
just 30 minutes from her apartment home at Eagle’s Trace, an
Erickson Senior Living community in west Houston — she
knew she had to attend.
But Beth didn’t want to go
alone. “With a thousand new
friends to choose from, I decided to let my husband Jim off the

hook,” recalls Beth with a laugh.
“I knew I’d find someone to go
with me.”
She also decided to create a
club, which has been meeting
for over a year. Eager to spread
the word, Beth put out advertising for the club’s first event: a
DVD showing of an opera at the
on-campus theater.
“It was a hit, so we’ve continued the showings,” she says.
“One member even volunteered

Courtesy of Eagle’s Trace

Beth Beissel formed the Opera Club at Eagle’s Trace.

her seven-hour DVD set about
the life of Giuseppe Verdi! We
plan on breaking it up into segments and showing them on
Sunday afternoons.”

The club itself has also been a
hit, welcoming a diverse group
of residents.
“We have members who had
never seen an opera, and then

we have those who have been to
the MET every month for
years,” says Beth. “Each person
shares their talents, which has
been a big help.”
With convenient cultural
attractions and volunteer opportunities, Eagle’s Trace residents
like the Beissels have everything
they need — on campus and
nearby — to make the most of
their worry-free retirement.
“I’ve received so much from
living here,” says Beth. “Being a
contributor to my neighbors’
happiness is rewarding.”
For additional information
about the Eagle’s Trace community, visit eaglestrace.com.

ELDER LAW

When someone outside the family
handles a person’s affairs upon death
After a person’s death,
many decisions need to be
made, and several require
immediate attention. These
include everything from
where the remains are to be
held to planning a funeral
to who will deal with the
person’s property until an
executor or administrator is
appointed by a probate
court. In instances where a
friend or other trusted
individual, and not family,
was caring for or assisting
the person or who was
named as an agent by the
person, the decisions and
needed steps to take can be
more complicated.
First, a legal pronouncement of death is needed. A
doctor at a hospital or
facility will make this pronouncement. When a person dies at home and is
under hospice care, a hospice nurse can make the

WESLEY E.
WRIGHT

MOLLY DEAR
ABSHIRE

pronouncement. However,
when someone dies at
home and is not under
hospice care, law enforcement and the medical examiner will be involved.
Without the official pronouncement of death, nothing can be done with the
body, no arrangements can
be made, and death certificates cannot be ordered.
Next, the friend or designated agent must communicate with the appropriate
authority in possession of
the person’s body — e.g.,
hospital, medical examiner
— to arrange for its transportation to a funeral home.

At this stage, a great deal
of coordination is required,
between the funeral home
and hospital, facility, or
medical examiner. Often,
the friend or helper will
assume this role and also
be communicating and
coordinating with the family. When the family has not
seen the person in a long
time or has not been involved in the person’s care,
these conversations —
including notifying them of
the death — may require
finesse.
Non-family individuals
in particular must understand potential limits to
their authority. Locating
important documents is
key. These may include a
prepaid funeral or cremation contract, Designation
of Agent to Control the
Disposition of Remains,
and a letter of instruction.

If funeral arrangements
were made in advance or if
a designated person was
appointed to handle arrangements, much of the
difficult decision making
and coordinating will be
reduced. For more information about pre-need funeral
arrangements and appointing someone to handle the
remains, see
https://www.wrightabshire.com/publications/
benefits-of-pre-need-funeral-contracts/ and
https://www.wrightabshire.com/publications/
who-makes-decisionsabout-a-loved-ones-remains-after-death/.
The friend may need to
decide on a funeral home,
and when there is no preneed contract or designated
agent to control disposition
of remains, the family must
be consulted if cremation is

desired. The
funeral
home will be
helpful in
communicating who does
THERESA
A. CLARKE
what. Generally, the
funeral home (1) receives
the remains, (2) obtains the
necessary authority for and
carries out instructions
regarding the disposition of
remains (embalmment,
burial, cremation, etc.), and
(3) orders death certificates
from the state. For the
death certificate, the funeral
home will need details such
as birthplace, marital status, and parents’ names. A
non-family member providing this information will
likely need to research —
by locating documents,
reaching out to family
members, and perhaps
even conducting genealogical research.
Other, important immediate steps to take include
securing the person’s home,
arranging pet care, collect-

ing mail, and if possible,
accessing their phone and
email. After the immediate
concerns are handled,
search for a Will and locate
the executor named in the
Will.
The named executor
should meet with a probate
attorney to determine if
probate is necessary. If so,
the attorney, if hired, will
be responsible for preparing the necessary documents and filing them with
the appropriate court. The
attorney will also provide
practical advice, such as
what to do with the person’s property, paying bills,
accessing and managing
online accounts, notifying
financial institutions and
other entities, and communicating with beneficiaries.
Visit the website at
www.wrightabshire.com.
Nothing contained in this
publication should be considered as the rendering of legal
advice to any person’s specific case but should be considered general information.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 K5

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

Live your best life
at Anthology of
Tanglewood

A

carefree lifestyle with luxury perks, Anthology
of Tanglewood in Houston is the ideal destination for carefree retirement living. This community provides top-notch independent living, assisted
living and memory care options for seniors.
With a dedicated care team and a strategic location
near medical providers, Anthology of Tanglewood ensures that caregiving support is readily available.
Within the exquisite community is a diverse group of
residents who love the restaurant-style dining, luxurious
amenities and tailored services that cater to individual
needs. The community’s daily enrichment programs are
designed to promote residents’ well-being, offering a
variety of events and activities that appeal to diverse
interests.
Anthology of Tanglewood’s team is committed to

Courtesy of Anthology of Tanglewood

Within the exquisite community is a diverse group of residents who love the restaurant-style dining,
luxurious amenities and tailored services that cater to individual needs.

nurturing residents’ overall wellness daily. Prioritizing
safety, security and comfort, the community provides
the essential support seniors require while fostering a

vibrant and fulfilling lifestyle.
Ready to see Anthology of Tanglewood? Schedule
your tour today by calling 832-426-3160.

Beware of scams to protect yourself on your adventures
After a long winter, it is the
perfect time to travel. If you’re
looking to book your dream
vacation, don’t let scammers
ruin things. They target your
email, social media, or may
even call and text with their
“too good to be true” deals that
are, in fact, too good to be true.
Pop-up ads: Hopefully, you
know to avoid those pop-up
ads for “free” vacations; remember, if you must pay anything (fees, taxes) it’s not free
and many times they just want
your personal information to
steal your identity. A legitimate
company won’t ask you to pay
for a free prize.
Robocalls: While they may
offer you a “discounted” price,
if you didn’t give them written
permission to contact you, that
call is illegal and very likely a
scam.
Vacation homes: Booking
online is an easy and convenient way to compare prices

and locations. Unfortunately,
scammers are known to hijack
real listings and advertise them
as their own, double-booking
properties or simply making
up listings which may not be
for rent or don’t even exist.
Suddenly, you find yourself
with no accommodations and
your money is gone.
International travel documents: Sites that claim to help
in securing an international
travel visa, passport, or other
documents are often copycats
of the U.S. Department of
State’s website. They charge
high fees for services which
are free on the government’s
official website.
International driving
permits (IDPs): Only the U.S.
Department of State, the
American Automobile Association (AAA), and the American Touring Alliance (AATA)
are authorized to issue IDPs.
Purchasing them from any-

where else could result in
travel delays or legal problems.
Charter flights, packages:
While having your own private
plane and tour operator may
sound enticing, charter flights
have different rules than commercial flights.
Before you sign on the dotted line, check with the U.S.
Department of Transportation
(DOT) Special Authorities
Division to ensure the charter
filing is approved. If not, stay
away!

TIPS
• Pay by credit card: If
payment is ONLY by wire
transfer, gift card, or cryptocurrency, it’s likely a scam
since the money is untraceable
and nearly impossible to get
back once it’s gone.
• Recommendations: Talk
to family, friends or trusted
sources about vacation rentals,
hotels, and travel packages.

• Travel apps: Search airfares and hotel rates, some
provide fare alerts and real-time
deals. But know whether you’re
buying from the app company
or the actual airline or resort. It
can affect whether you can get a
refund or travel points.
• Comparison websites,
applications: Be aware comparison websites and applications can charge more than the
airline for services like changing
or canceling a flight. Also, confirm whether you’re buying a
ticket or just making a reservation.
• Mandatory hotel “resort
fees” and taxes: When researching, ensure all fees are
disclosed. If you’re unsure about
the total price, call the hotel and
ask about a “resort fee” or any
other mandatory charge. Also
ask about taxes, which may be
significant in many places.
• Travel insurance vs travel medical insurance: These

days it’s wise to purchase travel
insurance in case of delays or
cancellations but it may not
cover your valuables (phone,
camera, etc.) or medical attention while traveling abroad. See
what your homeowners and
health insurance covers before
you purchase. Please note:
Medicare does NOT provide
coverage outside the U.S.
Check the agency is licensed
with the U.S. Travel Insurance
Association ( www.ustia.org)
and make a copy of your insurance card to take with you. For
information on international
travel, go to the U.S. Department
of State: travel.state.gov
Vacations are supposed to be
a time to relax. If you do your
homework ahead of time, your
dream vacation will come true!
SOURCE: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/avoid-scamswhen-you-travel
— BBB Education Foundation
and Texas Senior Medicare Patrol

K6 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

You’re never
too old to learn
something new
At The Buckingham, our residents’
pursuit of knowledge is a journey fueled
by passion, curiosity and a mantra that
“you’re never too old to learn something
new.”
Research shows that lifelong learning
contributes to overall wellness for senior adults — improving mental, emotional and physical health.
Many studies show a positive connection between continued learning and
cognitive health, in some instances even
delaying or preventing the risk of memory loss. Intellectually stimulating opportunities also help to lower stress,
promote personal social connections
and improve mood.
Through The Buckingham’s unique
Aspyre program, there are a wealth of
enriching opportunities that cater to all

LEOH
hosts
enriching
classes
Life Enrichment of
Houston (LEOH) is a
non-profit organization
comprised of seniors (age
50+). LEOH spring meetings begin at 10 a.m. on

Courtesy of The Buckingham

The Buckingham’s Grand Dining Hall was the site for visiting classical cellist
Christoph Wagner and pianist Ben Sieben.

residents’ interests.
From thought-provoking guest speakers including authors, historians and
celebrities to lectures that allow residents to explore their passions to a
collaboration with Rice University, lifelong learning is incorporated into all
aspects of daily life.
The Buckingham offers cultural excursions outside of the community to

consecutive Thursday
mornings from March 14
to April 25 at Bellaire
UMC, 4417 Bellaire Blvd.
Join LEOH to hear
interesting speakers on a
variety of topics, enjoy
food and fellowship, and
attend afternoon classes
of your choosing, including watercolor instruction, Spanish class,
and bridge.
Find out more online
at leohtexas.org.

PUZZLE SOLUTIONS

ABOUT THE
SECTION
Senior Spaces is produced by the
Houston Chronicle Custom Publishing Group, a specialized division
of the Houston Chronicle.
P.O. Box 4260
Houston, TX 77210
713-362-3131
Editorial questions
hc_specpub@chron.com
To advertise
Cindy Johnson
cindy.johnson@chron.com
VP Classified Advertising

the Museum District, theaters, sporting
events and other local hot spots.
And through unique partnerships
with the Houston Symphony and Houston Grand Opera — who regularly visit
The Buckingham, residents can enjoy a
night out without ever leaving the comforts of the community.
No matter what your interests, The
Buckingham creates an environment
where the pursuit of knowledge is ageless and timeless.
Visit buckinghamhouston.com to
learn more about new contract options
and life at this Houston premier retirement community.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 K7

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

Experience uninterrupted luxury: The Aspenwood Company
invests in life safety preparedness at three area communities
The Aspenwood Company
takes great pride in offering the
epitome of luxury retirement
living, ensuring each resident
lives a life of convenience.
And residents benefit from a
$5.4M investment in life safety
preparedness at three of our
Houston communities, The
Village of River Oaks and The
Village of Tanglewood and The
Village of Southampton — new,
full-system generators that
power each building entirely,
allowing these area communities to be unaffected by power
grid outages during unexpect-

ed winter freezes and hurricane season.
“We refuse to let external
circumstances disrupt the
comfort of our residents’ lives.
With our state-of-the-art generators, we have taken proactive steps to safeguard against
power interruptions, guaranteeing an uninterrupted experience of luxury and peace of
mind,” says Heather Tussing,
President of The Aspenwood
Company. “These powerful
generators will instantly kick
into action when the grid falters. Residents and families

can rest easy, knowing they
will always have access to essential services, whether air
conditioning during hot summers or warmth during the
coldest winter nights, with the
ability to power every light or
appliance in their apartment
without interruption, regardless of what is happening outside.”
According to Jim Gray, The
Aspenwood Company’s owner,
the importance of the generator
extends beyond convenience.
“We own these generators
outright and control their

schedule, unlike other organizations who rent generators
and rely on power companies
to set their schedules. It was
important for our organization
to make the investment to own
our generators, so residents do
not have to wait for them to be
turned on when the power grid
fails.”
With their generators, The
Village of River Oaks, The
Village of Tanglewood and The
Village of Southampton can
embrace Mother Nature’s challenges, ready to weather the
storm while keeping residents

safe and comfortable.
This dedication to our residents’ comfort, security, and
luxury sets us apart, allowing
life to be celebrated fully, no
matter the circumstances.
Start a conversation with us
to learn how to Live Life Well®.
Contact The Village of River
Oaks: 713-952-7600 or info@villageofriveroaks.com. For The
Village of Tanglewood: 713-9771400 or info@villageoftanglewood.com. For The Village of
Southampton, call 281-886-8082
or email info@villagesouthampton.com.

THE GRAND ADVENTURE

Helping mold your grandchild into a responsible individual
As well as
I can remember, I was in
seventh or
eighth grade
when high
ALICE
ADAMS
school girls
began wearing their dad’s or older
brother’s white dress
shirts. These oversized
tops were paired with blue
jeans, rolled in large cuffs
to just below the knees,
bobby socks and black
suede penny loafers — a
true fashion statement in
the late 1950s.
As usual, being able to
join this fashion trend
required a several-day
sales campaign, which
ended with my pleas:
“Mom, please let me borrow one of dad’s shirts. It
doesn’t have to be new. It
can be old ... I’ll even wear
one with stains. Please
mom, all the other girls in
my class are wearing
them.”
I knew what was coming next: Mom would turn
from whatever she was
doing, put one hand on
her hip and say, “And I
guess, young lady, if all the
girls in your class jumped
in the lake, you’d jump
right along with them.”
(Later, the question would
center around increasing
daring, i.e., jumping off a
bridge, a cliff, the Empire
State Building.)
What could I say? Of
course I wouldn’t jump ...
from anywhere, at any
height, into anything. Our
conversation came to a
screeching halt. Game
over. Sometimes mom
would cave. Sometimes
not. If you did the math,
I’m sure I lost more of

Shutterstock

From a grandparent’s standpoint, it’s a bit of an ego trip to see our grand darling show interest in something
we’re also passionate about.

these emotional debates
than I won.
In her own wonky way,
however, my mother was
urging me to think for
myself, rather than follow
the herd, although, as a
teenager, following the
herd is much more comfortable than striking out
on one’s own.
So how do you encourage individualism in a
child?
From a grandparent’s
standpoint, it’s a bit of an
ego trip to see our grand
darling show interest in
something we’re also passionate about. For example, I’m an avid reader
and a book lover, so when
I see my 17-year-old grandson return from a trip to
the mall with friends,
carrying a stack of new
books, my heart beats a bit
faster. I also remember the

hours spent reading to
him, the times we went to
the library as the highlight
of a grandparents-grandchildren Saturday morning adventure. There also
was our “reading stool”

As a child’s
individuality
emerges,
encourage them,
respect their
choices, and
assure they
understand
diversity and
adversity.
where grandchildren sat
and allowed us to hear
them read aloud as they
were starting/beginning
readers. But back to helping our grandchildren
learn the importance of

individualism.
One of the most difficult
tasks for teens is figuring
out who they are, what
makes them tick and
where they want to go. I
agree. It’s a struggle, especially for kids who have
multiple talents or interests — and P.S., some
kids haven’t figured out
who they are as they accept their diplomas at their
college graduation.
As grandparents, our
duty during our grandchildren’s early years is to
broaden their world. Some
grandparents can do this
with travel. Others of us
do this with trips to the
fire station, parades, museums, concerts and performances at Miller Outdoor
Theatre, etc. They’ll also
learn with visits to different houses of worship and
witnessing various rituals,

like baptisms, first communions, weddings and
funerals.
Helping a child become
the individual they are
should involve providing
opportunities for selfexpression. This may look
like working alongside a
grandparent in a woodshop; gardening and growing things; and collecting
things, such as stamps,
pins, military patches,
broaches, etc.
Self-expression can
happen with a disposable
camera, sewing, painting,
sculpting with clay, drawing, writing, building a
birdhouse, dancing, rapping, singing, sports of any
kind, or acting, — whatever they like doing.
As a child’s individuality emerges, encourage
them, respect their choices, and assure they un-

derstand diversity and
adversity.
My granddaughter, a
senior in high school, has
loved ballet since she began classes; and through
this opportunity for selfexpression and the responsibilities imposed on
dancers, she was able to
voice her opinion, let people know what she needed, complete school work
on time and speak up for
herself.
She also has learned to
take care of her personal
needs. She’s learned losing
is not failure, that not
always getting the role you
want isn’t the end of the
world, that every other
dancer comes from a background (family situation)
different from hers, and a
lot about self-care — to
maintain a regular routine,
time management and the
importance of maintaining
a spiritual life.
While a majority of her
individuality is a credit to
her parents and extended
family, my granddaughter
and who she has become is
also because of her teachers, dance instructors,
fellow dancers, performance and competition
experiences and, to a great
extent, to the tools she’s
collected along her life’s
journey — for coping, to
listening and understanding, and empathy for others.
A child’s individuality is
a precious aspect of their
being. It is at the fragile
heart of who they are. Be
sure to encourage and
protect it.
That’s part of your job
as a grandparent.

K8 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

ON THE MARKET

Hot area listings
to discover…..5

REMODEL

PRIME PROPERTY

How to make
the best changes…..5

A detailed look at a
distinctive home…..3

SPACES

houstonchronicle.com | Sunday, February 18, 2024 | Custom Publishing Group

BUYER INTEREST

PRIME PROPERTY
WEST UNIVERSITY/SOUTHSIDE AREA

West University Place

Brick home custom built on oversized 9,000 s.f. lot (per
HCAD). Copper gas lanterns. Symmetrical elevation
takes advantage of wide lot. Updates to kitchen (2013),
primary bath (2016) add modern finishes. $2,375,000
Kathleen Graf | kdunwoody@greenwoodking.com
713-822-6942 | Greenwood King Properties
MLS# 30509814 | Greenwoodking.com

Reader home tips abound
Tirachard Kumtanom/Shutterstock

A lot has changed since last year, so if you’re hoping to sell your house soon, you’ve got to
educate yourself on the most recent market trends.

Know the new rules of selling a home in 2024
(If you want your house to fly off the market)
By Jillian Pretzel
P ROVIDE D BY RE A LT OR.COM

In 2023, many homeowners
who hoped to sell decided to
hit pause on those plans. And
for good reason: High interest
rates had pushed many buyers
to the sidelines — and created
a “lock-in” effect dissuading
would-be sellers from giving
up their current low-interest
home loans.
With both buyers and sellers feeling stuck, many of
America’s real estate markets
slowed to a near standstill.
But now, mortgage rates are
finally subsiding a bit and
house hunters are slowly
returning — some with a vengeance. And with this pent-up
demand finally coming down

High interest rates
had pushed many
buyers to the
sidelines —
and created a
“lock-in” effect...
the pike, this year might be
the perfect time to sell your
house.
But a lot has changed since
last year, so if you’re hoping to
sell your house soon, you’ve
got to educate yourself on the
most recent market trends.
Read on to learn about a few
old, outdated home-selling
rules that no longer apply in

today’s real estate market —
plus some new, improved
guidance that will help you
make the most of what is
shaping up to be a busy year
in real estate.
COld rule: Sellers will be
lucky to find any buyer
CNew rule: Buyers are
back — and so are bidding
wars
In 2023, many buyers
couldn’t afford both high
mortgage rates and high home
prices. As a result, many buyers gave up — and the few
buyers who were out there
prioritized affordability with
an eye toward discounts. And
with such little demand, many
sellers were forced to oblige.
More continues on R2

Some reader letters I receive are startling and send me
running to verify; others bring on laughter.
But mostly, they leave me wondering, “Really? Why
didn’t I think of that?!” And while I find these great,
remember the words of a former president, who said,
“Trust, but verify!”

TIGHT SPACES SOLUTION
When my vacuum cleaner attachments are too large
for small tight spaces, I attach a drinking straw to the
end of the smallest attachment. I insert about 1/3 of the
straw into the attachment and then seal the connection
between the two with a piece of tape (masking or duct),
making certain to cover any open spaces around the
straw. This way, the straw can fit into small tight spaces
(like keyboards). — Brandi H., California

SILVER CLEANER
To clean your silver without harsh products, use baking soda. Make a thick paste of baking soda and water
and massage it in gently with an old toothbrush. Rinse
under warm water, or if the piece is too big, wipe it off
with a wet cloth and buff it to a shine with a clean cotton
towel. — Angela H., California

CHEAP DRY-ERASE BOARD
We purchased a 4 x 8-foot sheet of white tub paneling.
It’s quite lightweight and flexible, works just the same as
a whiteboard, and it’s huge! It cost only $25. We did not
frame ours and left it in its gigantic size, but you could
cut and frame it to any size, of course. — Debbie P., Mississippi
Author Mary Hunt invites you to visit her at EverydayCheapskate.com , where this column is archived complete with
links and resources for all products and services.

REALTOR VIEW

Here’s how homeowners associations (HOAs) work
If you’re planning to
buy a home or condominium, keep in mind that the
property may be governed
by a homeowners associaTHOMAS
tion, or HOA. More than
MOUTON
63 million people live
within communities that are overseen
by HOAs, according to the Community
Associations Institute. That means 24
percent of U.S. homes are part of community associations.
Many buyers appreciate the benefits
provided by HOAs, but the mandatory
dues and covenants, conditions and
restrictions (CCRs) occasionally rub
some people the wrong way. Before you
make an offer on a property governed
by an HOA, here are factors to consider.

What do you get from the HOA?
Homeowners associations often provide access to amenities that individual
residents couldn’t otherwise afford —
pools, gyms, tennis courts, walking
trails — and their rules can protect
property values. Some associations also
take on services traditionally provided
by government, such as trash pickup,
landscaping, street lighting, and street

and sidewalk maintenance.
Your perfect condo may have a great
pool or your dream home might be sitting on the first tee, but remember that
those things are only part of the HOA’s
scope. When you purchase a property
governed by an HOA, you enter into a
legal contract with the association. You
agree to abide by the association’s regulations and pay its dues. In exchange,
you get a community guided by an HOA
and the access to its facilities and perks.

Read before you buy
Make sure that any uses or freedoms
you expect to come along with your
property are allowed in the CCRs. Want
to store your boat trailer in your driveway? The association’s CCRs may not
allow that. Want to paint the house?
Some HOAs have restrictions on permissible colors, so check the palette
allowed by the association.
You may have heard horror stories of
home repossessions and other legal
squabbles involving property owners
and HOAs. A common theme among
many of these cases is homeowners not
understanding the regulations or ignoring them. Review the CCRs carefully

before you purchase the property and
you’ll be much less likely to run afoul of
your HOA.

Inquire about dues
HOAs run on dues, your annual fee
for living in the community. These fees
can range from $100 to thousands of
dollars, depending on the neighborhood
or building and what amenities it offers.
Ask how much the dues are and if
they’ve increased during the past few
years.
Find out what the dues cover and
what they don’t. For example, your
condo association may perform all exterior maintenance. That means when the
roof leaks, your dues pay for its repair,
even if you live on the ground floor of a
three-story building. If you live on that
third floor, however, you don’t have to
pay to repair the entire roof yourself. If
the association manages a pool, you’re
paying for it, even if you can’t swim and
never use the amenity.

Who’s in charge?
When you review an HOA’s documents, be sure to inquire about its finances. Is the HOA solvent? Does it

have a reserve fund? Who controls the
money? What kind of oversight is that
person subject to?
Find out who manages the HOA and
what role residents have in its governance. There may be a board or other
group of property owners who manage
the association. Take some time and talk
to people who currently live in the community. How do they feel about the
neighborhood, development or building? Find out their impressions of how
the HOA is run.
Perform due diligence before signing
a contract to purchase a property governed by a homeowners association.
You will be able to make an informed
decision about the HOA’s pros and cons,
as well as your responsibilities, without
jeopardizing the transaction or subjecting yourself to regulations that aren’t
consistent with your lifestyle. For expert
advice about HOAs and all kinds of
information about owning, buying or
selling a home, ask your Realtor and
visit HAR.com.
Thomas Mouton, with Century 21 Exclusive Properties, is 2024 chair of the Houston Association of Realtors/HAR.com.

R2 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

More buyers are coming out of the woodwork
More from page R1
But with mortgage rates heading
south, more buyers are coming out of
the woodwork, and many might not be
so strict with their budget. In fact,
experts are already seeing sellers getting more competitive bids.
Max Carr, a real estate agent in
California’s Orange County, says sellers are already attracting multiple
offers and bidding wars in his market.
“In the last week alone, we’ve seen
bidding wars on three different homes
in our local neighborhood. Each time,
the home was bid up $50,000 to
$100,000 over the asking price,” Carr
says. “Of course, these stories are
relative, given pricing in Orange County, but it all points to the same thing:
As rates come down, things appear to
be heating up in the market.”
COld rule: Your home doesn’t
have to be perfect
CNew rule: Sellers have to work
hard to make their house stand out
In 2023, with so few homes for sale,
buyers couldn’t be picky about a dated
kitchen or an unfinished basement.
Even the ugly ducklings and fixeruppers drew plenty of interest, so
some sellers let their prep work slide
when listing their properties.
But lower rates mean more buyers
are entering the market — and more
sellers are willing to give up their
current mortgage terms and make a
move.
With more houses for sale comes
less leverage for sellers, so they might
need to invest in renovations before
listing.
“Sellers need to make sure that they
are putting their best foot forward
with the home,” says Cedric Stewart
at Entourage RG of Keller Williams in
the Washington, DC, area. “You want
your house to be the absolute best
version that you can make it and focus
on the things that matter the most.”
Some updates that deliver the most
bang for your buck include refreshing
the landscaping, switching out

flooring, and replacing light fixtures.
Carr agrees, saying that he’s already
seeing buyers get pickier.
“This year, a home needs to be attractive and competitively upgraded to
beat out the competition,” he says.
COld rule: Sellers may have to
slash their price
CNew rule: Patience may be key
to getting a high offer
Last year, home sellers’ lofty expectations often took a haircut as their
homes lingered on the market. Many
were forced to reduce their price.
This year, however, sellers might
not need to lower their expectations as
quickly as they did in the past.
Cindy Allen, a real estate agent in
Dallas and Fort Worth, says she recently saw a situation where sellers
lost out because they weren’t patient.
She was working with a couple who
decided to make an offer on a property. While they were working out the
details of the offer, the sellers reduced
their price.
“Their new listing price was lower
than what we had planned to offer,”
Allen recounts. “I followed up with
the listing agent and was told the
sellers were becoming impatient after
40 days on the market.”
COld rule: Sellers couldn’t negotiate much
CNew rule: There’s more room
for haggling
Sellers didn’t have much wiggle
room with cash-strapped buyers last
year, notes Jonathan Spears, a real
estate agent based in Florida and the
founder of Spears Group. But things
are set to change in 2024: More buyers
in the market means sellers have some
room to negotiate.
So if an offer rolls in that isn’t as
high as you’d hoped or lacks some
elements that are important to you
(like a long closing date), don’t hesitate
to counteroffer rather than simply
accept what you get.
COld rule: Don’t sell now because you’ll have a hard time buy-

Trzykropy/Shutterstock

You want your house to be the absolute best version that you can make it and
focus on the things that matter the most.

ing your next home
CNew rule: Now is as good a
time as ever to sell your home
With rates high, many sellers have
been hesitant to move. Why sell their
home and lose their (likely) low rate in
exchange for a new house for a skyhigh rate?
If this is you, experts say that right
now is a good time to sell: We’re in a
sweet spot where rates aren’t so high,
but the market hasn’t quite picked up
speed yet.
“We’re coming back to a market
where you can still sell at a really
reasonable price. And then if you turn
around and buy again, you have more
options and more negotiating power
than you’ve ever had,” Spears says.

“And so you get this opportunity, it’s a
rare opportunity, where you can still
potentially sell high and you could
buy low and that’s because of quality
and it’s because of supply.”
But it won’t last long: If today’s
sellers wait to list and become buyers
in the spring, they might be stuck
searching for a home in a crowded
market.
“If the rates continue to drop, as is
anticipated, that competition may get
fiercer,” Carr says. “Quickly.”
The post Know the New Rules of Selling
a Home in 2024 (If You Want Your
House To Fly Off the Market) appeared
first on Real Estate News & Insights |
realtor.com®.

BBB ON HOMES

Guaranteed-loan scams are out there
No matter how much
you need a loan, don’t
overlook this big red flag.
Companies that allegedly
“guarantee” loans without seeing your credit
history are likely scams.
These scammers charge
up-front fees to lock in a
loan, but once you hand
over the
payment,
the “lender” vanishes along
with your
LEAH
promised
NAPOLIELLO
money.
In the United States, it
is illegal for companies
doing business by phone
to promise a loan and
require payment before
they deliver.
The scam follows a
similar pattern. You
receive an email or phone
call, or see a flyer or
online ad, offering you a
great deal on a mortgage,
payday, or other loan.
The company may promise a “guaranteed” low
interest rate or tell you
that you qualify for a
special program.
There are many versions of this con: home
mortgage refinancing,
low-cost government
loans, student loan consolidation, special grants,
or just an emergency
loan to pay the bills.
The catch is some kind
of fee up front, such as a
“processing fee” or insurance to get the loan or to

ARMMY PICCA/Shutterstock

There are many versions of this con: home mortgage refinancing, low-cost government loans, student loan
consolidation, special grants, or just an emergency loan to pay the bills.

lock in the low-interest
rate. Once you hand over
the payment, the “lender” vanishes along with
the money.
The Better Business
Bureau of Greater Houston and South Texas
offers the following helpful tips to avoid this type

of scam activity:
• Vague or unclear
fees are charged before
you get the money.
There are often fees
charged for loans: application fees, appraisals,
credit report fees. A real
lender will post those
fees prominently and

collect them from the
money they are lending
you, but a scam lender
may try to collect them
as a condition for you
getting money.
Any up-front fee you
need to pay before getting the loan is a cue to
walk away.

• Avoid guarantees
and unusual payment
methods. Real lenders
never guarantee a loan in
advance.
They will check your
credit score and other
documents before providing an interest rate
and/or loan amount and

will not ask you to pay
an up-front fee. Fees are
never paid via Green Dot
MoneyPaks, iTunes
cards, or wiring money.
Unusual payment methods and payments to an
individual are a big tipoff.
• Do your research.
Scammers try to trick
you by pretending to be
from official or trustworthy institutions (including Better Business
Bureau or your current
lender) or sounding like
a known organization.
Contact the agency
directly to check the
program is real. Lenders
and loan brokers must
register where they do
business.
Check out companies
at BBBHouston.org. To
check registration in
Texas, you may visit the
Texas Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner
at occc.texas.gov and the
Department of Savings
and Mortgage Lending at
sml.texas.gov.
For information, visit
bbbhouston.org or call
713-868-9500. Leah Napoliello is BBB VP of investigations and public
affairs. Send questions to
Leah Napoliello, Better
Business Bureau, 1333 West
Loop South, Suite 1200,
Houston, TX 77027, or
e-mail lnapoliello@bbbhou.org with address and phone number.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 R3

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

PRIME PROPERTY
RIVER OAKS AREA

Set on a large lot of more than 15,000 s.f. (per HCAD), this home is among the
ever-shrinking constellation of original River Oaks homes. It is of classic proportions
with an old-fashioned room arrangement, designed by Birdsall Briscoe in 1928 as a
spec house for the River Oaks Corporation. The rooms are knit together in a snug way
that is the complete opposite of an open floor plan. Downstairs includes formals,
kitchen and family room. The tiny powder room has a pull-down brass sink such as
you might find on a passenger train circa 1935. Three bedrooms, each with private
bath, are upstairs. One of the secondary bedrooms is especially cozy, built under the
eaves of the house as a garret and lined with white beadboard. To the rear of the
property is a pool cottage with living area, bedroom and bath. The pool is bordered by
brick hardscape, and there is guest parking on the property. Despite its many owners
over nearly a century, the home remains in unspoiled condition. $2,050,000
Cameron D. Ansari & Teresa Byrne-Dodge | cameron@greenwoodking.com
MLS# 65853645 | 713-240-2611 | Greenwood King Properties | Greenwoodking.com

REALTOR PROFILE
Zarina Lawson
Greenwood King Properties
Zlawson@Greenwoodking.com
832-435-2141
Zarina Lawson, a Realtor with Greenwood
King Properties with almost three decades
in the industry, shared these insights:
Q: Why did you decide on a career in
real estate and what are some things
you enjoy about it; and what were your
inspirations (or who)?
A: Inspired by the pages of Architectural
Digest and Design, I lived in Europe and am
originally from the West Coast with a background in sports, entertainment and marketing, and have maintained the same
client base. I also enjoy learning from the
icons of luxury real estate in our local area,
Linda King and the late Martha Turner, who
offered me a broad knowledge of the real
estate industry.
Q: How is the marketplace and is it a
good time to buy?
A: It’s always a good time to purchase
the home of your dreams! My clients take
advantage of the Texas homestead exemp-

Courtesy of Greenwood King Properties

tions, no state income tax and the multitude of other advantages of living in the
great state of Texas.
Q: How would you describe your work
ethic and skills that bring you success?
A: I have played a major role in luxury
real estate in Houston and am known for
maintaining an elite level of confidentiality
and anonymity to service the unique requirements of my high-profile clientele. I’m

a dedicated, passionate and market-savvy
professional who puts my client satisfaction before all else. My attention to detail,
knowledge of non-MLS properties, superior
people skills, and determination to indulge
clients with first-class service set me apart.
Q: What are some key ways that you
help your clients in the buying/selling
process?
A: My background in investing and living
in multiple areas of Houston, surrounding
areas with Galveston and Waller County
included, I am able to offer my knowledge
of the complex landscape of various markets to help my buyers find their ultimate
dream homes and ranches. I like to help my
clients find extraordinary properties that
align with their unique lifestyle.
Q: Any professional certifications?
A: My clients and colleagues often comment that I have the alphabet soup behind
my name. I have received my designations
as an Accredited Buyer’s Representative
(ABR), Graduate Realtor Institute (GRI),
Accredited Luxury Home Specialist (ALHS),
Social Media Pro (SMP), Certified Negotiation Expert (CNE), Seller’s Representative
Specialist (SRS), Texas Realtor Leadership
Graduate Program (TRLP), UofH Construction Management (CM).

“I’m a dedicated,
passionate and
market-savvy
professional who puts
my client satisfaction
before all else.”
Zarina Lawson, Realtor

Q: What are industry awards/honors,
or professional accolades received?
A: I have won a number of accolades
throughout my career, such as Highest Price
Sale and Top Producer. I serve on the HAR
Advisory Boards and have been inducted
into the Hall of Fame.
Q: How does your company support
your sales process?
A: Greenwood King offers the best relocation team in Houston, award-winning
marketing team and use of the latest
technology. It feels great to be a part of a
winning team!
To contact Zarina Lawson, email Zlawson@Greenwoodking.com, call 832-435-2141
and go to www.zarinalawson.com.

R4 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

ALL IN THE DETAILS
6 surprising problems first-time home buyers often overlook
By Nina Malkin
PROVI D ED BY R EALTOR .COM

First-time home buyers may
be the ones who use the term
“dream house” the most. And
they may also be the ones who
then wake up in their new
home and ask, “What was I
thinking?!” about the property
they bought.
Or, more accurately, “not
thinking.” Real estate rookies
are notorious for overlooking
key aspects of a property before taking the plunge. And
they may sometimes pay a
steep price for it.
“Failure to look at all the
details can have first-time
home buyers missing damaged
or aging systems,” says Craig
McCullough, a real estate agent
with The Catalyst Group at
Compass in Washington, DC.
“A financial and often emotional cost comes when these
systems break after closing
and the repair or replacement
is the burden of the buyers.”
To help you avoid this scenario, we asked the experts to
point out what first-time buyers frequently forget to consider — and how to remedy, or
better yet, avoid, expensive
mistakes.
1. Electrical, plumbing,
and HVAC issues
Problems with the electrical,
plumbing, and HVAC systems
are overlooked most often,
according to McCullough.
“Issues with these systems
might not even occur to a
first-time buyer who’s never
had financial responsibility for
them before,” he says. “They’re
used to renting, and if a water
heater or sump pump fails, it’s
the landlord who’s on the hook
for the repairs.”
The smart step: These kinds
of problems might not be evident during a casual walkthrough, so this is McCullough’s rule of thumb: “If
there’s a panel, open it.” Scope
out an electrical panel, for
instance, to see if it’s been
recently updated with new
circuit breakers.
Also, investigate the number
of watts servicing the property.
“If a buyer ends up needing
to upgrade the panel, it can
cost roughly $2,000, but upward of $10,000 to $20,000 to
rewire the whole house,” says

Shutterstock

An experienced home inspector should spot structural concerns, but the buyer-to-be should be
present during the inspection.

McCullough.
2. Small cracks and structural flaws
“Glaring issues like a leaning column in the basement
are likely to be noticed by
first-time home buyers, but
smaller structural issues are
almost always overlooked,”
McCullough says. “Cracks in
foundation walls can be
missed and can cost about
$2,000-per to repair.”
The smart step: An experienced home inspector should
spot structural concerns, but
the buyer-to-be should be
present during the inspection,
making sure the pro doesn’t
neglect crawl spaces, chimneys, and other hard-to-access
areas.
If the home has chimneys,
consider getting a dedicated
inspection by a chimney cleaning company for a full picture
of what’s going on and what
work may be needed. This can
be a negotiating point during
the home-buying process.
3. Crooked or off-center
fixtures
Slightly askew “little things”

could indicate larger problems.
“I once had first-time buyers
who didn’t notice that all the
light switches were crooked.
Nor did they see that the
sconce above the bathroom
sink was off-center,” says
Maria Demme, a broker with
Ideal Properties in Los Angeles and Palm Springs, California. “Flaws like that on the
wall should make you wonder
what’s going on behind the
walls. Is it just the switch
plates — or is the electrical
work suspect?”
The smart step: Slow down
and scrutinize.
“I once saw 30 houses in
two days with a very motivated first-time buyer,” Demme
says. “In such a whirlwind,
you can’t tell one property
from another and you’re
bound to miss things.”
Take careful notes on fixture
oddities so you can check in
with your home inspector
about whether these indicate
bigger issues.
4. Open floor plans without ample privacy
Open-concept layouts can be

HERE’S HOW

Replace home's old gutters
yourself to save money
By James Dulley
CR E A T ORS SYN DIC A T E

Q: After a recent storm, a tree fell
and damaged some gutters, but I
should replace them all. I plan to
have the gutters professionally
made, but I will install them myself.
Do you have any advice?
— Greg R.
A: You can typically save about 50%
of the total cost by installing gutters
yourself. The material cost for the
downspouts, hangers and other hardware as well as having the gutters roll
formed will be about $2 per foot. Standard hand tools should be adequate for
this project.
It is not difficult to find gutter installers who will custom make the gutters to the exact lengths and shapes you
need.
Their gutter sheet metal is in long
rolls, and they form it at your house.
They should also be able to sell all the
other parts you need and may be willing to give you some planning advice if
you have not done it before.
Even if you have a single-story house,
always have a helper to handle the long

pieces because they are awkward up on
a ladder. Wear all the appropriate safety
clothing, gloves, helmet, etc., and have a
cell phone nearby. I actually wear my
motorcycle helmet and a climbing vest
tied off from the chimney in case I fall.
Another option is to buy preformed
gutters at your local home center store
in 10-foot lengths.
The quality of the materials is as
good as those used by the fabricators,
but these short lengths require many
joints and seams. This increases the
possibility of leaks, and it takes more
time to install, but they are easier to
handle.
When you select the gutter profile,
consider the size you need. The size of
gutters is measured across the top. Your
typical choices are 5- or 6-inch gutters.
Five-inch gutters are less expensive
and slightly lighter to handle, but they
cannot hold as much water in a hard
rain. If your area typically has heavy
downpours, it would be best to do 6inch gutters.
There are quite a few different types
of gutter hardware and fittings you will
need — various size outlets, outside and

enticing. Light! Air! But problems? Yup, often enough. Real
estate rookies may be lured by
vast spaces, only to find that
their furniture is dwarfed and
their coziness (not to mention
work-from-home concentration) compromised. Think
carefully in this era of working
and learning remotely about
what kind of privacy you need.
The smart step: Good interior design can carve nooks in
an open plan. Often all that’s
needed is the thoughtful placement of bookcases, plants, and
other clever dividing elements
to provide some privacy and a
sound barrier without interrupting flow.
5. Not enough closet
space
All house hunters believe
they’ve got a handle on closet
space needs. But when perusing properties, how many
remember—much less compute—that every individual hanger requires an inch or more of
space on a rod? Add the fact
that an empty closet looks
larger than a full one, and it’s
no wonder that first-time buy-

inside miters, elbows, downspouts,
end caps and hangers. Even though it
costs a little more, it
is best to buy these
from the gutter
fabricator to be sure
they perfectly fit
their gutter profiles.
You have two size
choices for downspouts — 2 inch by 3
inch, and then 3 inch
by 4 inch. In typical
rain amounts, the
smaller downspout
can handle the water
flow from about 600
square feet of roof
area. The larger
downspout can
handle about twice that much roof area.
The cost is not significantly different,
so if you do not mind the appearance of
the larger downspouts, select them.
When the fabricator forms the long
gutter sections at your home, have them
made several inches longer than you
actually need. The shearing operation
on the fabrication equipment can sometimes leave rough or deformed ends.
You will likely have to cut off several
of the ends to get the end caps and
miters to fit on properly.
Cutting the thin gutter material without deforming it can be a little tricky.

ers can underestimate clothing
storage.
The smart step: Calculate
how many closets you currently have and how many more
you’d want. Then compare
homes you tour to that number.
If you’re thinking of buying
a house that’s storage-deficient, says Allie Mann, senior
designer with Case Architects
& Remodelers, in Falls
Church, Virginia, consider
stealing square footage from
the primary bedroom.
“If there’s about 30 inches
extra, we can construct an
average 24-inch-deep closet or
add to an existing walk-in,”
she says.
Mann estimates the average
cost of between $2,000 and
$6,000, depending on the
length of the closet, any electrical or flooring updates, and
custom shelving.
6. Neighborhood noise
levels
Even real estate first-timers
will likely cringe over visual
red flags like “messy neighbors” with a lawn that hasn’t
been cut since the Obama
administration. But they can
easily miss what a neighborhood sounds like — and not
just during daytime hours.
“Most people look at houses
in the middle of the afternoon,” says Demme. Or many
tour only on weekends. That
doesn’t give you the full picture.
The smart step: If you’ve
seen your dream house only
on the weekend, go visit on a
weekday. You may encounter
an unexpected amount of, say,
truck traffic cruising by.
What’s more, it’s probably only
at night, when everyone is
home, that you can evaluate
whether you can hear your
prospective neighbor’s every
word.
“I often suggest sitting in
front of the house after dark
and having a good listen before
you make an offer,” says
Demme.
The post Yikes! 6 Surprising
Problems First-Time Homebuyers
Often Overlook appeared first on
Real Estate News & Insights |
realtor.com®.

First, support the long gutter on sawhorses. Attach two blocks to the top of
each sawhorse so the gutter does not
slide back and forth. Use a fine tooth
hacksaw blade to cut the front so the
profile detail is not deformed. The bottom and back can be cut with tin snips
because they are flat.
Wear heavy gloves because the cut
edges, especially from the snips, can be
sharp.
Send your questions to Here’s How,
6906 Royalgreen Drive, Cincinnati, OH
45244, or visit www.dulley.com.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 R5

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

THE SPACE

GHBA
REMODELERS
COUNCIL

A kitchen remodel with a perfect layout
By Will Cole
D IVIN E RE NOVAT ION

Are you planning to remodel your kitchen? If so, this is
the perfect time to rethink
your current layout to meet
your family’s wants and needs.
Just like in the movie City
Slickers, the secret to a perfect
kitchen layout is “just one
thing.” For some it’s about
being efficient. For others it’s
organization.
For many it’s about creating
a space to bring their family
and friends into. There are
even those who don’t cook,
and they want to create a
perfect space that could be
considered a work of art.
The takeaway is that every
layout is the right one as long
as it is for you. Therefore, ask
yourself how many cooks are
in your family? How many
people use the kitchen at the
same time? How often do you
entertain?
Keep in mind three basic
areas to a kitchen: food preparation, cooking and cleanup.
Traditionally, the work triangle consists of the refrigerator
(where food is stored), the
stove (where food is cooked)
and the sink (where cleanup
takes place) at each point of
the triangle.
This creates a very efficient
kitchen space.
Some common kitchen
layouts include the following:
• L shape — A kitchen
with two adjacent walls. This
shape allows for a free flow of
traffic through space. An island or peninsula can be added for more countertop space
and seating.

Courtesy of Divine Renovation

The remodel of this U-shaped kitchen increased space by removing a peninsula, laundry room, window, and by building out walls
to add more cabinets.

• Galley — A kitchen with
parallel walls or one wall with
an island. This is very efficient
because everything is closely
located. However, this may not
be the best layout for entertaining or if you have multiple
people working or walking
through the kitchen.
• U shape — This kitchen
has three walls. This shape
creates an efficient work triangle and generally works well

for two or more cooks. There
is usually plenty of counter
space and less traffic flow. If
the kitchen is large enough, an
island can provide additional
space for food prep, storage
and eating.
Are two kitchen islands
better than one? Double islands may be right for your
kitchen remodeling project.
This recent popular trend
allows for one work island and

one island with seating.
Whether you have a large or
small kitchen, choosing the
right layout will let you make
the most out of your space.
Therefore, in closing, when
considering your perfect kitchen remember it’s all about one
thing. The one thing that is
most important to you.
This article was provided by a
member of the Remodelers Council of the Greater Houston Build-

A GREENER VIEW

EVERYDAY CHEAPSKATE

These useful tips can make
gardening more enjoyable

Growing things from seeds
By Jeff Rugg
C REAT O R S SY N D I CAT E

By Mary Hunt
CREATORS SYNDICATE

I’m anything but a
master of the soil, but I
sure love to putter in my
vegetable and flower
gardens. Over the years,
I’ve discovered quite a
few handy tips that make
my gardening so much
more enjoyable. I hope
you find something here
that will help you, too.
Acid-loving plants:
For beautiful azaleas,
gardenias and other acidloving plants, add 2 tablespoons of white vinegar
to 1 quart of water and
use to water occasionally.
Hint: Instead of tossing
out the vinegar water
used to clean your coffee
maker or shower head,
recycle it in the garden.
Aerate the lawn:
Wear golf shoes or other
spiked athletic shoes
while mowing the lawn.
You will aerate the grass
roots with each step,
allowing much-needed

oxygen and water to
nourish the lawn. Not a
golfer? Search online for
“lawn aerator shoes.”
You’ll find heavy-duty
spikes — much beefier
than golf spikes — that
strap onto your shoes.
They remind me of my
first roller skates (complete with a key — remember that?). Such a
great idea.
Easy spacing: Mark
the handles of your gardening tools with 1-inch
increments. Use a permanent marker or cut pieces
of duct tape. You will no
longer need a ruler when
planting or spacing
plants, shrubs or flowers.
Lawn snack: Try this
on your lawn every three
weeks during the summer: Mix 1 (12-ounce) can
of regular beer, 1 cup of
no-tears baby shampoo
(make sure it is not antibacterial), and non-sudsing household ammonia.
Pour the beer and

MagicBones/Shutterstock

Don’t throw those clippings in the trash when you
catch the grass while mowing the lawn. Instead,
spread grass clippings around plants to repel
weeds.

ers Association. The Council is
dedicated to promoting professionalism and public awareness
of the profession through education, certification and service to
the Houston community. To
contact the author, email
will@divinerenovation.com. For
article information contact Lorraine Hart at lorraine@idealconsulting.net. To join the council or
to find a professional remodeler,
visit www.ghba.org.

shampoo into a 32-ounce
hose-end sprayer jar. Fill
the jar with ammonia and
apply according to the
hose-end sprayer instructions for coverage at
2,000 square feet (4
ounces per gallon). You’re
going to have very happy
grass.
Lubricate the garden
hose: To prevent the hose
end from becoming attached to the spigot so
tightly that you cannot
easily remove it without
the aid of tools, rub a
light coating of petroleum
jelly on the garden-hose
nozzle and the spigot to
keep them from sticking.
Grass clippings: Don’t
throw those clippings in
the trash when you catch
the grass while mowing
the lawn. Instead, spread
grass clippings around
plants to repel weeds. The
clippings also retain
moisture and are a good
source of nutrients.
Plant with purpose:
Plant deciduous trees (the
type that loses its leaves
in winter) on the south
side of your house. They
will provide summer
shade without blocking
the winter sun. Plant
evergreens on the north
side to shield your home
from cold winter winds.
Mary Hunt invites you to
visit her at EverydayCheapskate.com , where this
column is archived complete
with links and resources for
all recommended products
and services.

Q: I have a problem
growing vegetable
seeds. I use good soil
in trays, and I follow
directions. The problem is the stems grow
as though they are
vines. Before there is
even a leaf, the stem
grows to be at least 6
inches long. The plants
just flop over.
Eventually, I plant
the tomatoes because
they can grow roots
from the stems, but I
have to tie the other
plants to stakes to get
them to stand up. They
grow slowly, but by the
end of summer, most
of them have produced
some fruit. What am I
doing wrong?
A: Your seedlings are
stretching to reach the
light. If your vegetable
seeds were breaking
through the garden soil
outside, they would see
bright sunlight. Indoors
in your trays, the seeds
are not seeing enough
light, and they are growing long stems in an
attempt to find more
light.
A bright windowsill
does not provide enough
light for many plants,
and neither do lamps
that are not close enough
to the planting tray. You
will need to get the lights
closer to the soil and
then slowly raise the
lights as the plants grow.
The problem you must

watch out for is heat.
Many vegetables like
warmth, but outdoors
they get a breeze and
cool soil to moderate the
sun’s heat. Indoors they
just get dried out and too
hot.
For a long time, we
have used fluorescent
lights, but now many
gardeners are switching
to LED fixtures.
One of the reasons
many people try planting
vegetable seeds is to get
more plants for a lower
cost than buying plants
in pots from the garden
center.
Spending money on
lighting fixtures messes

with the
budget, but
if you get
fixtures that
can be used
around the
house during the rest
of the year,
you save a
little bit. LED lights also
don’t cost very much to
run, so that will help
keep the cost down.
Use LED bulbs that
say on the package that
they emit light similar in
color to sunlight.
Email questions to
Greener View columnist
Jeff Rugg at info@greenerview.com.

R6 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

SUNDAY COMICS
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

ZITS

By JERRY SCOTT & JIM BORGMAN

CLASSIC PEANUTS

By CHARLES SCHULZ

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE

By STEPHAN PASTIS

BREAKING CAT NEWS

By GEORGIA DUNN

U2 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

WALLACE THE BRAVE

RED & ROVER

BABY BLUES

By WILL HENRY

By BRIAN BASSET

By RICK KIRKMAN & JERRY SCOTT

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024 U3

U4 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2024

HI & LOIS

BALDO

CURTIS

HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

By BRIAN AND GREG WALKER

By CANTU & CASTELLANOS

By RAY BILLINGSLEY