 | Yasmeen Khalifa
Audience Development Producer
yasmeen.khalifa@houstonchronicle.com |
|
|
| |
Today we're talking about the Deer Park fire... |
If you read one thing: A contractor who works at the Shell Deer Park chemical facility sued the company Tuesday, claiming to have suffered "serious injuries" as a result of the fire that erupted there last week. What's in the lawsuit? Cristobal Jasso, a resident of Harris County, said he suffered significant, but unspecified, injuries. The lawsuit accuses Shell of gross negligence and seeks more than $1 million in damages, citing pain and ongoing mental anguish. "It is unacceptable that our communities are suffering so many explosions and fires," attorney Kurt Arnold said in a statement. "With improvements in technology, chemical plants and refineries should be getting safer, but instead, plant operators are cutting corners and sacrificing worker safety, and we're seeing more catastrophic incidents than ever." How harmful was the smoke? The fire burned for more than 70 hours and sent thick black smoke into the Houston-area sky over the weekend, but Shell officials repeatedly said the event posed "no danger to the nearby community." Local residents, advocates and experts remain wary, citing extensive emissions events and environmental violations from Shell and other Deer Park operators. "They're monitoring for several known carcinogens," said Jennifer Hadayia, executive director of Air Alliance Houston. "No one has been monitoring for particulate matter, which is one of the most concerning pollutants out there because it lodges into the lungs and the cardiovascular system."
Read John Wayne Ferguson's full story here. |
More from the Bayou City: |
|
|
Susan Barber / Houston Chronicle |
|
| The end of Title 42 will impact Houston more than many cities. |
If you read one thing: Title 42, the pandemic-era federal border policy that gave officials the power to forego the asylum process and immediately expel migrants at the southern border, is set to expire Thursday.
Why is Title 42 ending?
A federal judge ruled the Biden administration had until Dec. 21 to end Title 42 and restore asylum policies at the U.S.-Mexico border.
According to his decision, Senior U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan found the government's suspension of asylum laws under CDC health code "arbitrary and capricious."
How will it impact Houston? With the end of Title 42, any resulting increase in the number of migrant crossings likely will impact Houston more than many other U.S. cities.
Roughly 42,000 people who crossed the border in fiscal year 2022 were headed to the Houston area, according to an analysis of Houston-area court filings. Read the full story here. |
|
|
Ken Ellis / Houston Chronicle |
|
|
Yi-Chin Lee / Houston Chronicle |
Today, Houston Chronicle photographer Yi-Chin Lee is telling us about the moment this photo was taken. Lee: When I photograph a graduation ceremony, I look for photos that show the overall scene, details that show it's a graduation, the graduates' emotions and the families' reactions. It's a lot of moving around and looking for little moments.
I struck up a conversation with Obi Nnorom while I was positioning myself to capture graduates walking into the auditorium at the beginning of the commencement ceremony. He was very excited and told me how proud he was of his daughter, Njideka Cynthia Nnorom. I knew he would be a great subject for a family reaction photograph. So I kept track of the graduates and made sure to follow his daughter walking up the stage, getting hooded and walking off the stage. Then Njideka Cynthia started walking toward him. I knew there would be some kind of interaction between these two. I wasn't sure what kind of interaction would happen, but I positioned myself at a good angle and waited for the interaction to happen. And this sweet moment happened.
|
|
|
Stay safe and dry out there! Cat will be back in your inbox tomorrow. Yasmeen Khalifa yasmeen.khalifa@houstonchronicle.com |
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment