Wednesday, May 8

Tag: texas

Genetically modified mosquitoes could be released in Florida and Texas beginning this summer – silver bullet or jumping the gun?
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IN OTHER NEWS, SCIENCE

Genetically modified mosquitoes could be released in Florida and Texas beginning this summer – silver bullet or jumping the gun?

This summer, for the first time, genetically modified mosquitoes could be released in the U.S. On May 1, 2020, the company Oxitec received an experimental use permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to release millions of GM mosquitoes (labeled by Oxitec as OX5034) every week over the next two years in Florida and Texas. Females of this mosquito species, Aedes aegypti, transmit dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika viruses. When these lab-bred GM males are released and mate with wild females, their female offspring die. Continual, large-scale releases of these OX5034 GM males should eventually cause the temporary collapse of a wild population. However, as vector biologists, geneticists, policy experts and bioethicists, we are concerned that current government oversight ...
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IN OTHER NEWS

Texas appeals court blocks Rodney Reed execution

Reed, convicted of the 1996 rape and killing of Stacey Stites, had been scheduled to be executed next Wednesday. Supporters rally to stop the execution of Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed outside the governor's mansion in Austin, Texas [Paul Weber/AP Photo] Texas's highest criminal appeals court on Friday stopped the execution of inmate Rodney Reed, whose conviction is being questioned by new evidence in his case. The stay of execution by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals came just hours after the state's parole board unanimously recommended a 120-day reprieve for Reed. The board rejected Reed's request to commute his sentence to life in prison. Bryce Benjet, a lawyer with the Innocence Project, which is representing Reed, said a reprieve was...
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IN OTHER NEWS

Sandra Bland’s own video of 2015 Texas traffic stop surfaces

Bland, a black woman, was found hanging in her jail cell three days after her 2015 arrest for a minor traffic violation. A demonstrator holds a Sandra Bland sign during a vigil on July 28, 2015 [File: Christian K Lee/AP Photo] Mobile phone video recorded by Sandra Bland, a black woman found dead in a Texas jail following a confrontational 2015 traffic stop, shows for the first time her perspective as a white state trooper draws his stun gun and points it at close range while ordering her out of her car. The 39-second clip revealed by the Investigative Network, a nonprofit news organization in Texas, aired Monday night on Dallas television station WFAA. Her death and dashcam video showing Trooper Brian Encinia trying to pull the 28-year-old Chicag...
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LAW ENFORCEMENT

Texas Man Sentenced to 58 Months for Darknet Fraud Scheme

A man from Texas was sentenced to 58 months in prison for stealing over 1,200 credit and debit card numbers. Odis Edwards, 40, used financial data obtained from the dark web to book hotel rooms around the Dallas area. Hotel staff first reached out to police after observing suspicious behavior from Edwards and his co-conspirators. More than $250,000 was spent for booking the rooms, some of which were sub-rented to pimps and drug dealers at a fraction of the original cost. The Police Raid Hotel staff noticed notified police that several large service bills were piling up, all charged to Edwards’ account. Police then raided the booked rooms, where they found notebooks with what appeared to be numbers from credit cards, altered credit cards and URLs of credit card generators. The rai...
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Top Black History Heroes From Texas
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Journalism

Top Black History Heroes From Texas

There are many notable black historic figures from Texas. Each of them made significant contributions to black history of not only Texas, but the nation at large. Black Texans have made major contributions in politics, military events, music, and sports. The accomplishments of those Texans continue being discussed in history classes and homes throughout the nation. After surviving the 1900 Galveston storm, Arthur 'Jack' Johnson went on to make a name for himself in the world of boxing. At that time, boxing for money was considered a criminal activity, even though it was popular. In Texas, heavyweight boxing matches were illegal. Some of the governors of that period sent Texas Rangers out to shut down boxing matches. Johnson became known as "Papa Jack" or the "Galveston Giant", Johnson...
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