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Today's starting lineup

As the Texans start their second week of offseason team activities — the fancy term for practices — it’s no surprise that Will Anderson Jr. is among the standougs. Jonathan M. Alexander looks at who’s hot, who’s not so far.

Please scroll down for the rest of this morning’s headlines.

Reid Laymance, Sports Editor

reid.laymance@houstonchronicle.com

Texans / NFL

Houston Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. (51) hits a tackling dummy during OTAs at Houston Methodist Training Center in Houston, Thursday, May 28, 2026.

Photo by: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle

Texans offseason report: Which players are trending up and down?

The Houston Texans wrapped up the first week of OTAs. Here’s which players are trending up and which are slipping early.

Myles Garrett to Rams: Myles Garrett’s nine seasons with the Cleveland Browns ended on Monday when he was traded to the Los Angeles Rams, less than 15 months after signing a $204.8 million, four-year contract extension with $122.8 million guaranteed. Read More
A.J. Brown to Patriots: The Philadelphia Eagles have traded A.J. Brown to the New England Patriots, ending his tenure with the team. Read More
Raymond Berry: Raymond Berry, the Hall of Fame wide receiver who became the favorite target for Baltimore quarterback Johnny Unitas and later coached the New England Patriots, has died. Berry was 93. Read More

Rockets / NBA

Houston Rockets coach Rick Adelman talks to reporters following Rockets' practice at Toyota Center Thursday, April 23, 2009, in Houston. The Rockets play Portland in Game 3 of the NBA Playoffs first round series Friday night. ( Brett Coomer / Chronicle )

Photo by: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle

Former Rockets coach and Basketball Hall of Fame member Rick Adelman dies at 79

Rick Adelman, who coached four seasons in Houston and took the Rockets to playoffs twice, died at age 79,

Houston Astros' Cam Smith, right, celebrates after his run scored on an RBI single by Jake Meyers during the second inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Saturday, May 30, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Karen Warren)

Photo by: Karen Warren, Associated Press

Inside Pitch: The Astros improved in May. Can they continue it in June?

The Astros finished May with a 15-14 record. It was their first full-length month with an above-.500 record since last June.

Clayton Freshcorn and the Texas Aggies fell in the regional final to USC on Monday.

'No worse feeling.' Texas A&M's season ends after second loss to USC

Texas A&M, the No. 12 national seed, became the seventh of the top 16 seeds in the NCAA baseball tournament to be eliminated in the regionals.

College Softball

Texas Longhorns designated player Hannah Wells (13) celebrates a score by infielder Katie Stewart (20) during the NCAA Softball Championship Super Regional against Arizona State at Red & Charline McCombs Field on Saturday, May 23, 2026 in Austin.

Texas returns to final of Women's College World Series after sweeping Tennessee

The defending champion Longhorns beat Tennessee twice to reach the final of the Women's College World Series

Rematch: The Red Raiders got a walk-off homer in the first game against Alabama and a shutout in the second to set up a rematch with the Longhorns. Read More

High School Baseball

Baseball gloves are seen during the Ferrell Classic at Conroe High School, Thursday, March 3, 2022, in Conroe.

Tomball, Memorial, Lake Creek playing for championships

Tomball, Memorial and Lake Creek will represent the Greater Houston area at the UIL baseball state championships.

Who are Houston’s top high school athletes and coaches?

The Houston Chronicle is launching its inaugural Athlete of the Year polls, featuring 12 nominees for Boys Athlete of the Year, 12 nominees for Girls Athlete of the Year and 12 nominees for Coach.

Community All-Star voting: The Community All-Star Award honors athletes who demonstrate leadership, service and character both within their teams and beyond. Read More

Beware China’s robotaxis

The first Chinese robotaxis have arrived in London, says Tym Syrytczyk on Substack. Apollo Go, owned by Beijing tech giant Baidu, is the third autonomous vehicle company to test its driverless machines in the capital. But unlike Google’s Waymo and British-founded Wayve, its cars are designed and built in China and operated entirely by Chinese software. Shouldn’t we be more concerned? Last year, Norway’s transport agency discovered a widget buried in its Chinese-made buses capable of cutting the power supply remotely. What happens if there are similar “kill switches” in Apollo Go’s cars? Chinese firms are legally required to support their country’s intelligence work when needed. So the more deeply embedded they are in our transport infrastructure, the greater the potential for Beijing to use that infrastructure against us.

It’s not just the risk of vehicles being remotely powered down, causing traffic chaos or worse. Driverless vehicles scan hundreds of pedestrians and vehicles around them, making them potent tools for mobile surveillance. And even if Beijing isn’t up to any dodgy tricks, what of cybersecurity? Earlier this year, hundreds of Apollo Go’s robotaxis in Wuhan stopped suddenly in live traffic, reportedly because of a hack. Other countries have come up with policies to mitigate these issues: Switzerland struck a deal with Baidu but insisted on Swiss-based remote operators, full ownership of the vehicle data and the right to dismantle cars to check for kill switches. What we don’t want is a repeat of the Huawei saga, when Britain allowed the Chinese firm to build out the country’s 5G network only to then rip it all out to mitigate the surveillance risk. Robotaxis look certain to become critical national infrastructure. The time to ask who controls them is now.

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Photography

Winners of this year’s National Geographic Traveller (UK) photography competition include snaps of the sun breaking through the clouds in the Dolomites in northern Italy; a colony of king and Adélie penguins in South Georgia and Antarctica; the Gulf Dove shipwreck in the waters of Socotra island in Yemen; women gathering for Eid prayers in Ethiopia; the snow-covered head of an Arctic fox in Iceland; and a pedestrian walking along Kolkata’s “colour corridor”. Click the image to see the rest.

Please disperse

One of the pieces in the rest of today’s newsletter is about an explosion at a fireworks factory in Malta, which for many people of a certain age will bring to mind Lieutenant Frank Drebin trying to disperse the crowds after a similar incident in The Naked Gun (1988).

Appropriately enough, there is something to see here, namely our extraordinarily generous offer for new paid subscribers:

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