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GOP renews efforts for voting restrictions Basics remain in bills, but judges overturning elections, fewer Sunday hours not included By Taylor Goldenstein and Jeremy Wallace AUST I N BU RE AU
AUSTIN — The Republican-led Texas Legislature is wasting little time in advancing legislation to further restrict voting procedures — the dominant issue that
prompted Gov. Greg Abbott’s call for the special session that started Thursday. The House and Senate will hold public hearings on Saturday at 8 a.m. and 11 a.m., respectively, on their new proposals. Lawmakers in both chambers have filed bills that resemble the
sweeping GOP-backed measure that failed to pass during the regular session that ended May 31. But several of the most hotly debated provisions have been eliminated, including one that would have made it easier for judges to overturn elections and another limiting early voting hours on Sundays. Democrats were outraged in the spring when Republicans proposed banning early voting
before 1 p.m. on Sundays, a move they said was aimed at the African American tradition of “Souls to the Polls” drives after Sunday worship. The new measures would not affect those voting drives, allowing voting start times of 9 a.m. in the House version and 6 a.m. in the Senate version. It was those provisions that sparked a dramatic late-night walkout by Democrats in the Tex-
Outrage remains after fixes at Katy pet shelter
as House that blocked the legislation. The walkout drew national attention to the state’s fight over voting rights. Abbott announced shortly thereafter that he’d call legislators back to try again to pass what he calls election integrity measures. “The voting bill, as filed, is a product of the last set of debates, and there are items taken out Voting continues on A8
Constable allegations draw feds’ attention FBI probing claims of sexual assault in ‘bachelor party’ sting By St. John Barned-Smith STA F F W R I T E R
Photos by Karen Warren / Staff photographer
A dog sits in a kennel at Katy Animal Control, which had been accused of mistreating the animals at the shelter.
Animal advocates not satisfied with changes made after reports of abuse
Video » Go online to see footage depicting conditions at the animal shelter. HoustonChronicle.com/ KatyAnimalControl
By Rebecca Hennes STA F F WRIT E R
Katy Animal Control Department director David Brown sat at his desk on a recent July day reviewing a log of more than 8,000 calls from animal advocates across the country. He played one of the messages: “I watched that cat suffer,” a woman from Seattle screams into the phone. “I am so angry. A lot of us are angry. And it’s only just begun.” The outrage was triggered by a
Katy Animal Control director David Brown, left, watches animal control officer Spencer Antinoro wash down a patio.
December video that went viral of a cat suffering for at least two hours after being euthanized at the Katy shelter — one of dozens of pieces of evidence gathered by KACD employee Chelsea Gerber, who blew the whistle on her boss and co-worker after witnessing what she considered animal abuse since starting part time at the shelter in May 2019. Gerber said she was asked to throw dead animal bodies in city dumpsters and saw animals left in Animals continues on A7
Federal investigators are probing the Harris County Precinct 1 Constable’s Office after several current and former female employees accused superiors of sexually exploiting them during undercover anti-human trafficking operations, a lawyer for the women confirmed Thursday. Attorney Cordt Akers, who is representing several of the women, acknowledged Thursday that federal investigators had subpoenaed his clients to learn more about their allegations. “Our clients have been in full cooperation with the federal authorities in their investigation into the horrible misconduct in the Precinct 1 Human Trafficking Unit,” he told the Houston Chronicle. “The serious nature of these crimes deserves serious attention, and we are happy that this conduct will no longer go unchecked.” FBI spokeswoman Christina Garza declined to comment on the case. “Per Department of Justice policy, the FBI does not confirm or deny the existence of any investigation,” she said. The women made the allegations in late May, in a bombshell lawsuit in which they said they’d been exploited and molested by their superiors during undercover “bachelor party” stings held allegedly to fight human trafficking. Undercover deputies pretended to be partying, with the hope of convincing escorts to agree to sex for cash — so they could try to build cases against the women’s pimps. But female deputies in the covert unit said they received little training before being thrown into “booze-fueled playFBI continues on A7
Biden sets Aug. 31 as ‘overdue’ date to pull troops from Afghanistan By Zeke Miller and Aamer Madhani A S S OC IAT E D PRE SS
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Thursday that the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan will end Aug. 31, delivering an impassioned argument for exiting the nearly 20-year war without sacrificing more American lives even as he bluntly acknowledged there will be no “mission accomplished” moment to celebrate. Biden pushed back against the notion that the U.S. mission has failed but acknowledged that the
Afghan government likely won’t control all the country after the U.S. leaves. He urged the Afghan government and the Taliban, which he said remains as formidable as it was before the start of the war, to come to a peace agreement. “We did not go to Afghanistan to nation build,” Biden said in a speech from the White House’s East Room. “Afghan leaders have to come together and drive toward a future.” The administration in recent days has sought to frame ending the conflict as a decision Biden
Index Business .........B1 Directory .......A2 Lottery ...........A2 Sports..............C1 Comics .........D17 Editorials.....A10 Markets .........B3 TV...................D15 Crossword ..D14 Horoscope..D16 Obituaries.....B7 Weather........B8
made after concluding it’s an “unwinnable war” and one that “does not have a military solution.” On Thursday, he amplified the justification of his decision even as the Taliban make rapid advances in significant swaths of the country. “How many more, how many more thousands of American daughters and sons are you willing to risk?” Biden said to those calling for the U.S. to extend the military operation. He added, “I will not send another generation of Americans to war in AfghaniAfghanistan continues on A8
Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Images
“I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan,” President Joe Biden said Thursday.
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Murder warrant follows death of Vidor man
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Final improvements on way for river park
A murder warrant has been secured in the death of a Vidor man, but the suspect is already in jail on a different charge, officials said. Darius Rashard Stevenson, 36, of Port Arthur, has been linked to the Tuesday shooting death of Brennon Harlan Lee Flores, 21, of Vidor, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. Stevenson is being held at the Jefferson County Jail after being arrested Wednesday on an unrelated offense. Stevenson’s bail was set at $500,000. SOUTHEAST TEXAS
Game wardens give citations on river over holiday Southeast Texas boaters received 14 citations and 30 warnings while on the Neches River over the holiday weekend. Texas game wardens also filed two cases for boating while intoxicated offenses and reported one accident on the river, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Department officials said southeast counties had eight wardens who patrolled 163 hours and checked 222 vessels. “Texas game wardens conducted safety checks on more than 12,220 vessels statewide between Friday and Sunday over the Fourth of July weekend,” said Cody Jones, assistant commander for marine enforcement. In addition to 1,474 statewide citations and 1,797 warnings for various boating safety law violations, wardens arrested 42 people on charges of boating while intoxicated and filed eight charges of driving while intoxicated, the department said. An additional 33 people were arrested on other charges. CONROE
Authorities urge public to help ID man found dead The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office is asking for help identifying a John Doe found dead in Conroe on July 1.The man was found at in the 13600 block of FM 3083 after deputies were called for a welfare check. He is described as Hispanic, about 5 feet, 5 inches tall and 160 pounds. He was wearing a black Nike T-shirt, gray shorts and a black belt. Anyone with information can call 936-760-5800.
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70 immigrants at stash houses are arrested Border Patrol agents in the Laredo sector and their law enforcement partners found two stash houses and arrested over 70 people who entered the country illegally over a 24-hour period throughout Laredo. The first stash house was found Monday when agents and Laredo police discovered 40 people from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador in the U.S. without permission. The next afternoon, Laredo South Station agents and police discovered more than 30 individuals in a second stash house. ARLINGTON
Generosity with prescriptions is doctor’s downfall Courtesy photos
Development plans for the so-called Brazos Bowl at Sugar Land’s Brazos River Park include a pavilion, a playground, new walkways, more lighting, landscaping and irrigation.
Planned new amenities for Sugar Land’s Brazos River Park include bicycle track, circular area nicknamed the Brazos Bowl SUGAR LAND — The third phase of improvements to Brazos River Park is being outlined by the engineering staff of this city’s Parks and Recreation Department. “Our investment in Brazos River Park is a priority that was identified by our residents and approved by voters in 2013,” said Mayor Joe Zimmerman. “We expect to complete this third and final phase by late 2022.” Phase III improvement plans include a bicycle pump track at the Crown Festival site and the development of a green, circular area — nicknamed the Brazos Bowl — accessible via the Brazos River Park Road. “(The Bowl) is high and dry even at the flood stage and will be very safe for future development,” said Joe Chesser, director of Parks and Recreation. “The idea of the design is to continue the access that’s developed with the overlook area linking up to the Crown Festival Park.” Development plans for the Bowl include a pavilion, a playground, new walkways, more lighting, landscaping and irrigation. About $1.5 million has been allocated for the Brazos River Park. Adding community amenities was an action item in the 2018 Parks, Recreation and Open Space Master Plan.
By Juhi Varma STA F F W R I T ER
“I’m proud that we’re able to deliver on our commitment in a way that continues to provide qualityof-life amenities that our residents expect in a fiscally responsible manner,” Zimmerman said. “The pavilions included in this project are not only popular with our residents but generate revenue for our Parks and Recreation Department. It’s a win-win for our community.” The design for the bicycle pump track incorporates input from the results of a targeted survey given to Sugar Land’s bicycling community. It will have a smaller loop for young or less experienced riders and a larger, interconnected track for more seasoned riders. This project is part of the #AllInForSLTX initiative. The goal is to make Crown Festival Park, a popular event destination, more appealing. The city is also mulling the possible relocation of the skate park from Sugar Land City Park. Popular and heavily used, the skate park has drawn noise complaints from residents near City Park. The plan proposes dismantling the skate park and moving it near the pump track at the Crown Festival site. The vacated spot would be used
for pickleball courts. This part of the project is still pending funding in the 2022 fiscal year budget. “The skate park and pump track have similar users and are suitable for all wheeled sports,” said Chesser. “Relocating the skate equipment allows for a covered pickleball court at City Park.” May marked the completion of Phase II, with elected officials celebrating the opening of the connector road between Brazos River Park and Sugar Land Memorial Park. Phase I was built in 2017 with the spine road, parking lots, restroom, trails, landscape and associated utilities. Phase III will utilize the remaining 2013 park bond funds. “(The park) has become very popular with off-road bicycling, hiking through the woods along the river,” said Chesser. The project’s next steps involve selecting a consultant for design development, construction documentation and construction administration. “What I’m most looking forward to is expanding popular amenities and opening up new recreational opportunities at one of our most popular parks,” said Zimmerman. juhi.varma@hcnonline.com A bicycle pump track at the park will have a smaller loop for young or less experienced riders and a larger, interconnected track for more seasoned riders.
An Arlington doctor who prescribed medications without performing exams and told his staff to issue prescriptions for whatever drugs patients wanted has been convicted of federal charges and faces up to 15 years in federal prison. Clinton Battle, 68, was found guilty Wednesday of one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and one count of distribution of a controlled substance. Authorities said Battle, who supervised one clinic in Arlington and another in Fort Worth, issued more than 50,000 prescriptions for controlled substances — 17,000 alone for the opioid hydrocodone — over five years. WILLIS
Gator is captured after nearly being struck by biker A 7-foot alligator was removed from a north Montgomery County road Wednesday evening after a motorcyclist had a close call with it, according to media reports. The biker phoned the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office after nearly striking the 300-pound gator at Cude Cemetery Road and FM 1097 in Willis. A Texas Parks and Wildlife game warden wrangled with the alligator while trying to put a line around its head, according to the Montgomery County Police Reporter. The gator will be transported to the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, the outlet reported.
From staff and wire reports
Cash 5: 7/8 Pick 3 morn.: Pick 3 day: Pick 3 even.: Pick 3 night: Daily 4 morn.: Daily 4 day: Daily 4 even.: Daily 4 night:
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CITY | STATE HOUSTON CHRONICLE • FRIDAY, JULY 9, 2021 • PAGE A3 HH
Santa Fe mayor regrets Facebook post Tabor blames alcohol-fueled weekend on his ‘stupid’ social media message, now deleted By Alejandro Serrano STA F F WRIT E R
The mayor of Santa Fe has apologized for a social media post that he says he wrote during an alcohol-fueled weekend in Louisiana and that contained apparently inaccurate details about the 2018 mass shooting at Santa Fe High School, drawing criti-
cism from prosecutors and parents of the victims. Mayor Jason Tabor said in a statement shared Wednesday morning on Facebook that he wrote a “stupid post about the shooting” while at a casino in Louisiana in “straight up in party mode” and without medication he had been taking for alcoholism. He said he plans to resume
Courtcase manager honored for career
treatment. Tabor was mayor-elect when a gunman on May 18, 2018, killed 10 and wounded 13 others at Santa Fe Tabor High School, including Santa Fe ISD officer John Barnes. A student at the time, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, then 17, was charged with capital murder in the massacre. In a phone interview Thurs-
day, Tabor said he had taken down the original post and also apologized to one family specifically. He said he wanted justice for victims’ relatives and the community as the accused shooter remains in custody in a mental health institution and judged incompetent to stand trial. “Three and a half years, you know, doing this job, I think anybody would feel the hurt and the pain from it. I wouldn’t wish this on anybody,” said Tabor, 41. “I stepped up for my community
quite a bit but also have my own struggles to face as well.” Rhonda Hart, whose 14-yearold daughter Kimberly Vaughan was killed in the shooting, demanded the mayor resign. To date, Hart said she does not know exactly how her daughter died. She requested a copy of the autopsy report about a month after the shooting. Instead, she received a letter from the attorney general, peppered with legal references, tellMayor continues on A5
100 tied to camp positive for virus
Double-time hoop drills
By Treyvon Waddy
By Julian Gill
STA F F WRIT E R
STA F F W R I T E R
As a case manager in Houston’s federal courts system for nearly three decades, Ellen Alexander has often worked to prioritize the needs of crime victims as they prepare to testify. That’s been particularly true in the cases of sex trafficking crimes, where she’s taken special care to ensure that the needs of those victims are met, said Senior U.S. District Judge David Hittner, with whom she’s worked since 1994. “Victims deserve to be treated with kindness,” Alexander said, “because they’ve been through such a huge ordeal. So I just wanna look out for them and make sure the legal system doesn’t run over them.” Alexander’s efforts inside and outside the federal courthouse were recognized recently when she was awarded the Liberty Bell award by the Texas Young Lawyers Association. The award recognizes “one outstanding non-lawyer in Texas who has made the most selfless contribution to his or her community to strengthen the effectiveness of the American system of Justice by instilling better understanding and appreciation of the law.” Among the notable figures to receive it is the late H. Ross Perot, who was honored in 1970. “Throughout her career,” Hittner said, “Ellen has been a calm, respectful, and professional representative and supporter of the judicial process in our community.” Alexander, a Michigan native, graduated from Spring Arbor University with a bachelor’s degree in 1980. She later embarked on a 35year career in the federal judiciary. She joined the clerk’s office for the federal courts in 1990, and three years later, she served as Award continues on A5
At least 100 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in connection with the recent outbreak at a Houston-area church camp, including 10 “breakthrough” cases among people who were fully vaccinated, the Galveston County Health District said Thursday. An additional 15 people have self-reported positive tests, which will be confirmed by the health district. Three samples have tested positive for the delta variant of the coronavirus, the same number reported Tuesday. Health district spokesperson Ashley Tompkins said she was not aware of any hospitalizations. Health officials continue to urge Texans to get vaccinated. Experts say unvaccinated people are at higher risk for serious infection. Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a May report that breakthrough infections occur in only a small faction of people who are fully vaccinated and account for a small percentage of all COVID cases. The church camp was attended late last month by about 450 people — most of them teenagers — from Clear Creek Community Church, an interdenominational congregation in League City. The church canceled services this week but initially anticipated a July 11 return. The church said Wednesday that all gatherings, including its July 11 and July 14 services, will be canceled or postponed. “The COVID outbreak at Student Ministry Camp came in two waves,” the church said in a Facebook post Wednesday. “The first wave happened at camp, the second wave happened when people brought the virus home to their families on June 27. The Galveston Virus continues on A5
Brett Coomer / Staff photographer
Northside neighborhood kids are reflected in a large water puddle from recent rains as they participate Wednesday in a free basketball camp run by Frank Medina at Moody Park.
Woman faces murder charge in 5-year-old boy’s slaying By Anna Bauman STA F F WRIT E R
A woman already linked to the death of her boyfriend’s 5-yearold son, Samuel Olson, is now facing a charge of capital murder. Theresa Raye Balboa, 29, was charged Thursday in Harris Coun-
ty with capital murder of a child under 10, according to court records. She is accused of killing the boy on May 12 by striking him with and against a blunt object, records show. The Houston woman, charged in early June with tampering with the boy’s corpse, was already in
custody on $500,000 bond. Balboa is scheduled to appear in court Monday in connection with the latest charge. No bond has been set in the new case, according to court records. The child’s father reported the boy missing on May 27 after Balboa told him that his biological
mother showed up and took her child without permission, according to court documents. Samuel had been with Balboa since April 30. That’s when he was last seen in school. But investigators determined that Balboa was lying to her boyfriend. The biological mother was
home during the timeframe that Balboa alleged she took the boy, according to surveillance video the mother offered detectives. Weeks before the parents discovered their child was missing, Balboa called her roommate, Benjamin Rivera, and told him Charge continues on A9
Confirmation hearing scheduled for S.A. native to lead U.S. Census
Building on their future
By Benjamin Wermund WA SH I N GT O N BU R EAU
Melissa Phillip / Staff photographer
Litzy Gonzalez, left, and Aylee Tate, both 7, work on an architecture activity during Camp Adventure! on Thursday at Atherton Elementary School in Houston.
WASHINGTON — Robert Santos, the San Antonio native who President Joe Biden has tapped to lead the U.S. Census Bureau, will face the Senate Homeland Security Committee for his confirmation hearing July 15. Santos, who is Mexican American, would be the first person of color to lead the federal government’s largest statistical agency full time. He is currently serving as the president of the American Statistical Association and is vice president and chief methodologist at the Washington, D.C.based Urban Institute, a think tank that conducts economic and social policy research. Santos will appear before the
Democrat-led committee at a critical moment for the bureau, with federal officials working through the 2020 census data that will inform state and federal redistricting processes across the nation. The agency is expected to deliver the data to all states by Sept. 30. He also would lead an agency re-evaluating how it accurately gathers and reports information about communities of color — a subject that Santos has said he cares deeply about. “When I fill out the census form, I check the Latino-Hispanic-Mexican American box,” Santos told KERA in 2019. “And when it comes to race, I mark ‘other’ and insert ‘mestizo’ because that’s how I feel about race and ethnicity.”
Santos, who has had a career in research, math and leadership for more than 40 years, has a résumé that is 13 pages long. He also has strong ties to Texas. Santos grew up just south of Woodlawn Lake and attended Little Flower Catholic School and then Holy Cross High School in the early 1970s. His parents both worked at Kelly AFB. He attended San Antonio Community College and later earned an undergraduate degree in mathematics at Trinity University in 1976. On the side, Santos has worked as a photo crew chief at the SXSW Festival in Austin, where he has helped manage about 100 photographers each year. ben.wermund@chron.com
NATION
HOUSTON CHRONICLE • FRIDAY, JULY 9, 2021 • PAGE A4 HH
IN BRIEF CALIFORNIA
Drought prompts voluntary water cuts
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday asked people and businesses in the nation’s most populous state to voluntarily cut how much water they use by 15 percent as the West weathers a drought that’s rapidly emptying reservoirs. The water conservation isn’t mandatory, but it demonstrates the growing challenges of a drought that will only worsen throughout the summer and fall and is tied to more intense wildfires and heat waves. Temperatures in parts of the region are spiking again this week but are less extreme than the record heat wave that may have caused hundreds of deaths in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia in late June. California’s most important reservoirs are already at dangerously low levels and likely will reach historic lows later this year. Lake Oroville in Northern California is at 30 percent capacity, and state officials worry water levels could get so low they might have to shut down a hydroelectric plant later this year. Along the Russian River, officials fear Lake Mendocino could empty later this year. “This is jaw-dropping, what’s happening in the West Coast of the United States,“ Newsom said during a news conference at Lopez Lake, a reservoir in San Luis Obispo County that’s at 34 percent capacity. ILLINOIS
Man charged with firing at ATF agents A federal indictment filed Thursday charges a 28-year-old Chicago man in a drive-by shooting of three undercover law enforcement officers, and it says the suspect told authorities he mistook the officers
for rival gang members. The shooting Wednesday occurred the same day President Joe Biden traveled to the Chicago area and discussed persistently high levels of gun violence in the nation’s third-largest city. After his arrest Wednesday morning, McClaurin told investigators a friend had warned him rival gang members were in the area in a vehicle similar to the unmarked vehicle the two ATF agents and task-force officer were in, according to the indictment. He began following it, then pulled along side, rolled down a window and opened fire while driving onto an expressway on Chicago’s South Side. KENTUCKY
Neighbors thwart alleged kidnapping A 6-year-old Louisville girl who was pulled from her bicycle by a stranger was found quickly and returned to her family, and a suspect was charged with kidnapping thanks to the quick actions of neighbors and police, authorities said. Witnesses to the girl being taken from her Louisville neighborhood July 2 swiftly called 911 with a detailed description of the vehicle and a partial license plate number, police spokesperson Beth Ruoff said. She said officers responded immediately and saturated the area. “You just can’t get there fast enough,” said officer Jason Burba, who was among those responding. “Seconds feel like hours. Your only thought is getting there as fast as you can.” Police found a car matching the description given within 30 minutes and arrested Robby Wildt, 40, who was charged with kidnapping a minor. He has pleaded not guilty.
From wire reports
Federal murder charge filed in shooting of Indiana officer By Tom Davies A SSO C I AT ED P R E SS
INDIANAPOLIS — The gunman accused of fatally shooting an Indiana police officer threw a Molotov cocktail at an FBI field office in Terre Haute before the deadly encounter, a federal court document said. The criminal complaint released Thursday by the U.S. attorney’s office in Indianapolis charges 44-yearold Shane Meehan with premeditated murder of a federal agent. The complaint gives no possible motive for the Wednesday afternoon attack outside the FBI office that killed Terre Haute police Detective Greg Ferency, a 30-year department veteran who had been a federal task force officer since 2010. Meehan ran as an independent candidate for Terre Haute mayor in 2019, the Terre Haute Tribune-Star reported. He told the newspaper that he took early retirement from the U.S. Penitentiary at Terre Haute and was running to take the city “back to the basics.” He called Terre Haute “a poor town (with) a lot of money going out” and said “we could use a little bit better government in city officials and communications with the general public.” Ferency Meehan got less than 1 percent of the general election vote. Authorities said Ferency was ambushed after he stepped outside the office. The federal complaint said Ferency fired shots at Meehan, as did an FBI agent who ran outside after the shooting began. Meehan was shot twice but drove
Joseph C. Garza / Associated Press
Community members show their support as a procession for the fallen officer winds past the Terre Haute Police Department. away to the scene to a Terre Haute hospital, where he underwent surgery for his wounds. Paul Keenan, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Indianapolis office, said earlier Thursday that the suspected gunman was in FBI custody at a hospital. Keenan wouldn’t say whether Ferency knew the gunman or was targeted for some reason. “We’re still looking at motive and we’re leaving all avenues open at this time,” Keenan said during a news conference in Terre Haute, about 70 miles west of Indianapolis. Kennan described the shooting as an attack without warning. “The suspect showed up there before Detective Ferency came out of the building,” Kennan said. “That was the reason we used that word.” The criminal complaint said Meehan drove a pickup near the Terre Haute FBI office repeatedly Wednesday afternoon before stopping near its parking lot gate and throwing a Molotov cocktail toward the building.
A search of the pickup after it was found at the hospital turned up a loaded handgun and three more Molotov cocktails, the complaint said. A search of online court records showed no federal criminal cases against Meehan and no felony charges having been filed against him in Indiana courts. Dozens of police vehicles from multiple departments joined a procession past the Terre Haute police headquarters as a hearse carrying Ferency’s body was moved Wednesday evening to a hospital for an autopsy. Terre Haute police Chief Shawn Keen said Ferency was the father of two adult children. Ferency’s police experience included work on drug and human trafficking investigations and providing violence risk assessments for churches. “He was absolutely dedicated,” Keen said. “There’s not anything that he did that he didn’t put 110 percent into.”
Elsa pounds East Coast By Russ Bynum and Curt Anderson A SSO C I AT E D P R E S S
Jose A Iglesias / Miami Herald via Associated Press
A member of the Israeli search and rescue team, left, salutes Wednesday in front of the rubble that once was Champlain Towers South during a prayer ceremony in Surfside, Fla.
Crews vow to continue search for victims of condo collapse By Terry Spencer A S S OC I AT E D PRE SS
SURFSIDE, Fla. — Rescue workers now focused on finding remains instead of survivors in the rubble of a Florida condominium collapse promised Thursday to keep up their search for victims until they cleared all of the debris at the site. A fire official told family members at a meeting that crews “will not stop working until they’ve gotten to the bottom of the pile and recovered every single of the families’ missing loved ones,” Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said at an evening news conference. “This is exactly the message the families wanted to hear,” he said. The death toll rose to 64, with another 76 people unaccounted for, Miami Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said. Detectives still are working to verify that each of those listed as missing was in the building when it collapsed. Levine Cava said teams paused briefly atop the pile to mark the two-week anniversary of the disaster, but there was no let-up in the pace or number of rescuers at the site during the recovery phase. “The work continues with all speed and urgency,” she said earli-
er Thursday. “We are working around the clock to recover victims and to bring closure to the families as fast as we possibly can.” The painstaking search for survivors shifted to a recovery effort at midnight Wednesday after authorities said they had come to the agonizing conclusion that there was “no chance of life” in the rubble of the Champlain Towers South condo building. “When that happened, it took a little piece of the hearts of this community,” said U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose congressional district includes Surfside. Michael Stratton, whose wife, Cassie, hasn’t been confirmed dead, said friends and family had accepted “the loss of a bright and kind soul with an adventurous spirit.” He was talking on the phone with his wife right when the building collapsed, and she described shaking before the phone went dead, he has told Denver’s KDVR-TV. “This wasn’t the miracle we prayed for, but it was not for lack of trying by rescue crews whose tireless bravery will never be forgotten,” he said in a statement Thursday. Wasserman Schultz and Florida
Gov. Ron DeSantis pledged financial assistance to families of the victims, as well as to residents of the building who survived but lost all their possessions. They acknowledged the devastating toll the tragedy has taken on the relatives these past two weeks. “Is there hope? Will we be able to have a miracle? I know it’s weighed a lot on the families,” DeSantis said. Besides property tax relief for residents of the building, DeSantis said, the state government will work toward channeling an outpouring of charitable donations to families affected by the collapse. Levine Cava said crews also were collecting and cataloguing a long list of personal items, including legal documents, photo albums, jewelry, wallets, and electronic goods that they’d try to return to families. Father Juan Sosa of St. Joseph Catholic Church met with other spiritual leaders at the collapse site, where heavy machinery worked in the rubble and mourners left flowers and photos. Sosa said faith leaders hope to bring peace to the grieving families. “I’m hoping that they have some closure as we continue to pray for them,” he said.
SAVANNAH, Ga. — Tropical Storm Elsa carved a destructive and soaking path up the East Coast after killing at least one person in Florida and spawning a tornado at a Georgia Navy base that flipped recreational vehicles upside-down and blew one of them into a lake. Elsa’s winds strengthened Thursday to 50 mph as the storm dropped heavy rains on parts of North Carolina and Virginia, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Elsa was expected to pass near the eastern mid-Atlantic states by Thursday night and move near or over New England on Friday. No significant change in strength is expected through Friday, though Elsa is forecast to become a post-topical cyclone by Friday night, the center said. Tropical storm warnings were in effect along the coast from North Carolina to Massachusetts. There was a chance Long Island in New York would see sustained tropical storm-force winds into Friday morning, the National Weather Service in New York warned. The National Weather Service in Morehead City, N.C., tweeted that a tornado was spotted near Fairfield on Thursday afternoon. Elsa seemed to spare Florida from significant damage, though it still threatened flooding downpours and caused several tornado warnings. Authorities in Jacksonville, Fla., said one person was killed
Wednesday when a tree fell and struck two cars. A spokesperson for the Naval Air Force Atlantic Office said Thursday that a sailor assigned to Patrol and Reconnaissance Squadron 16 in Jacksonville was killed. Nine people were injured Wednesday evening in coastal Camden County, Ga., when a tornado struck a campground for activeduty service members and military retirees at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base. Eight of those hurt were taken to hospitals, base spokesperson Chris Tucker said. Some have been released while others were kept for observation, he said. The EF-2 tornado flipped over multiple RVs, throwing one of the overturned vehicles about 200 feet into a lake, the National Weather Service said in a preliminary report early Thursday after its employees surveyed the damage. Tucker said about a dozen recreational vehicles at the campground were damaged. Some buildings also were damaged on the base, which is the East Coast hub for the Navy’s fleet of submarines armed with nuclear missiles. Tucker said there was no damage to submarines or any other “military assets.” Sergio Rodriguez, who lives near the RV park, said he raced to the scene fearing friends staying at the park might be hurt. “There were just RVs flipped over on their sides, pickup trucks flipped over, a couple of trailers had been shifted, and a couple of trailers were in (a pond),” Rodriguez said by phone.
Timothy A. Clary / AFP via Getty Images
People run from the rain Thursday in the Chelsea area of New York as Tropical Storm Elsa soaks the East Coast.
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Houston Chronicle | HoustonChronicle.com | Friday, July 9, 2021 |
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CITY | STATE
Trump to return to Texas for CPAC event CPAC Texas 2021
By Jeremy Wallace AUSTI N BU RE AU
Barely a week after he was at the Texas border, former President Donald Trump is expected back in the state this weekend as the keynote speaker at a political conference in Dallas. Trump speaks at 3:35 p.m. Sunday at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas as part of CPAC Texas, a political conference for conservatives. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Attorney General Ken Paxton and outgoing Republican Party of Texas Chairman Allen West are among dozens of speakers expected to speak at the three-day event that starts Friday. Last week, Trump was in Hidalgo County to tour sec-
MAYOR From page A3
ing her she could not receive that information because the case remained under investigation, Hart said. “I have kind of lived with that for three years — that I will probably never know fully how my child died,” Hart said. “To have a public official spout information that family members aren’t even privy to is just very upsetting.” A copy of the original post could not be obtained by the Houston Chronicle. But news station KPRC published a story Thursday that featured a screenshot of the post, in which Tabor speculated on a motive for the shooting and shared details about one victim’s injuries. “My only statement on
AWARD From page A3
case manager to U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Johnson. She began working as a case manager for Hittner, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, in 1994. Hittner, who has worked as a lawyer, state judge and federal judge over 57 years, described Alexander as the most dedicated publicservant he Alexander has ever worked with. He praised her work ethic and dedication, noting that she’s been present and accounted for even during severe weather such as hurricanes. During the pandemic, for example, Hittner said Alexander learned to operate multiple video and audio conferencing platforms in order to provide remote access for court proceedings. Alexander’s charitable activities have won praise from many who frequent the courtroom, as well. Mary Flood, a lawyer and journalist who has known Alexander for more than 30 years, recalled her taking buses to doctor’s appointments and showing up to the courtroom on the same day. “In my 30 plus years… as a newspaper reporter, I never saw a more committed and devoted court employee,” Flood said. Alexander is also active in the community. For example, she works with Small
VIRUS
From page A3 County Health District advised us to close for a second Sunday. We believe that’s the wisest choice to quell further transmission of the virus.” Dr. Philip Keiser, Galveston County’s local health authority, previously told the Houston Chronicle that he would not be surprised if the number infected sur-
One of the biggest political conferences for conservatives will be in Dallas this weekend, attracting speeches from some of the top Republicans in Texas. Here’s a list of Texas politicians scheduled to speak.
FRIDAY • Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, 3:10 p.m.
SATURDAY • Former Gov. Rick Perry, 7:30 p.m.
SUNDAY
Jerry Lara / Staff photographer
Donald Trump visited the border with Attorney General Ken Paxton, left, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. tions of the incomplete border wall he started building but never finished while in office. The back-to-back visits come as Trump continues the Mayor’s post is that the information he posted about the case is not accurate,” Galveston County District Attorney Jack Roady wrote in an email Thursday. “And someone in his position has absolutely no business making a statement like that publicly.” In the apology, Tabor declared that he was an alcoholic and had started binge drinking after his father died years ago. He said he went to rehab last September but forget his medication this past weekend. When it wore off, he said, it was like “a freight train hit me with emotions.” “So that led to my stupid post about the shooting,” he wrote. He said he had been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, but that it was not an excuse. Tabor said in a brief interview that he was not a Steps Nurturing Center as a “buddy,” devoting half an hour every week to a certain child, learning or playing with them or both. “We may play dress up, or play games that they’ll beat me at all the time,” Alexander said. “Whatever they want to do, we do it for that 30 minutes. And then I take them back to class and do it again the next week.” Small Steps focuses primarily on underserved children. Some who’ve been in it as children will return as adults to visit, in some cases enrolling their own children in the program, according to Alexander. The time she spends with the children is often during her lunch breaks, she said. Alexander also teaches Sunday school at Uvalde Baptist Church, and regularly volunteers as a baby holder alongside her husband, Rob. She noted that her work as a Sunday school teacher is the “best part of the week.” This is not the first time that Alexander’s varied contributions have been recognized. In 2000, she received an award for distinguished service to the legal profession from the American Inns of Court. “I’m feeling embarrassed,” Alexander acknowledged after receiving the Liberty Bell award. “But very humbled. I don’t deserve it. I just play a role here, with everyone supporting each other.” Alexander stated that she’s a strong believer in the phrase “do unto others as you would have them do to you.” treyvon.waddy@chron.com passes 250 as the virus spreads and testing continues. Although the delta variant accounts for about 1 in 4 cases nationally, Keiser said he expects the highly contagious variant to account for most, if not all, of the cases tied to the camp because they likely originated from the same source. Robert Downen contributed to this report.
julian.gill@chron.com
to muse about running for president again in 2024. “You think I should do it again?” Trump said to a round of applause from mostly elected officials
• Republican Party of Texas Chairman Allen West, 9:10 a.m. • Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, 11 a.m. • Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, 3:20 p.m. • Former President Donald Trump, 3:35 p.m.
during his visit to the border last week. Last week, Trump’s company and its longtime finance chief were charged by federal prosecutors in
New York with a “sweeping and audacious” tax fraud scheme, the Associated Press reported. The executive and the organization pleaded not guilty. Trump
Elizabeth Conley / Staff file photo
Rhonda Hart, whose daughter was killed in the school shooting, speaks during a tour stop in 2018. She is calling for Santa Fe’s mayor to resign. daily drinker and called the episode a “rare occurrence.” He plans to com-
plete an Alcoholics Anonymous 12-step program, he said, and “hopefully have a
lifetime of never drinking again.” “I am taking some scru-
himself was not charged with any wrongdoing in the case, which he condemned as a “political Witch Hunt by the Radical Left Democrats.” Trump’s return this week will come at a big moment for Texas Republicans. A special session of the Texas Legislature began Thursday. And over the weekend, West announced he is running for governor against Abbott. Abbott already has been endorsed by Trump for reelection. “I gave him a complete and total endorsement,” Trump said June 30 with Abbott by his side on the Texas border. jeremy.wallace @chron.com tiny now but, I mean, this will blow over eventually,” he said. “People will, I think, truly see what I have really done, how hard I have really worked and also that I am willing to admit that I have my own faults.” Tabor’s decision to discuss the killing of a child was inappropriate, said Hart, who contacted the District Attorney’s Office herself and was told the posted information was false. “His position as mayor of that community is to better that environment,” Hart said. “By him spouting these conspiracy theories, he has re-traumatized members of that community. He has re-traumatized his constituents and that is not acceptable.” alejandro.serrano @chron.com
WORLD
HOUSTON CHRONICLE • FRIDAY, JULY 9, 2021 • PAGE A6 HH
2 Americans held in slaying of Haitian leader By Evens Sanon, Danica Coto and Joshua Goodman A S S OC I AT E D PRE SS
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Two men believed to be Haitian Americans — one of them purportedly a former bodyguard at the Canadian Embassy in Port au Prince — have been arrested in the assassination of Haiti’s president, a senior Haitian official said Thursday. James Solages of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Joseph Vincent, who lives in the Miami area, were among 17 suspects detained in the brazen killing of President Jovenel Moise by gunmen at his home in the predawn hours Wednesday. Fifteen of them are from Colombia, according to Leon Charles, chief of Haiti’s National Police. He added that three other suspects were killed by police and that eight others are on the run. Charles earlier had said seven were killed. “We are going to bring them to justice,” he said as the17 suspects sat handcuffed on the floor during a news conference Thursday night. Late Thursday, Colombia’s government said six of the suspects in Haiti, including two of those killed, were retired members of Colombia’s army, though it didn’t release their identities. The head of the Colombian national police, Gen. Jorge Luis Vargas Valencia, said President Ivan Duque had instructed the high command of Colombia’s army and police to cooperate in the investigation. The oldest suspect is 55 and the youngest, Solages, is 35, according to a document shared by Mathias Pierre, Haiti’s minister of elections. The U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports that Haitian Americans were in custody but
AFP via Getty Images
People cheer Thursday at a police station where suspects in the assassination of President Jovenel Moise are being held. couldn’t confirm or comment. Solages described himself as a “certified diplomatic agent,” an advocate for children and budding politician on a website for a charity he established in 2019 in South Florida. On his bio page for the charity, Solages said he previously was a bodyguard at the Canadian Embassy in Haiti. The Canadian Embassy didn’t immediately comment, and calls to the foundation and Solages’ associates at the charity either didn’t go through or weren’t answered. Witnesses said two suspects were discovered Thursday hiding in bushes in Port-au-Prince by a crowd, some of whom grabbed the men by their shirts and pants, pushing them and occasionally slapping them. Police arrested the two white men, who were sweating heavily and wearing clothes that seemed to be smeared with mud, an Associat-
ed Press journalist said. Officers put them in the back of a pickup and drove away as the crowd ran after them to the nearby police station. Once there, some in the crowd chanted: “They killed the president! Give them to us. We’re going to burn them!” One man was overheard saying that it was unacceptable for foreigners to come to Haiti to kill the country’s leader, referring to reports from Haitian officials that the perpetrators spoke Spanish or English. The crowd later set fire to several abandoned cars riddled with bullet holes that they believed belonged to the two suspects. The cars didn’t have license plates, and inside one of them was an empty box of bullets and some water. At a news conference Thursday, Charles urged people to stay calm and let police do their work as he warned that authorities needed evidence they were destroying, including the burned cars.
Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph, who assumed leadership of Haiti with the backing of police and the military, asked people to reopen businesses and go back to work as he ordered the reopening of the international airport. On Wednesday, Joseph decreed a two-week state of siege after Moise’s killing, which stunned a nation grappling with some of the Western Hemisphere’s highest poverty, violence and political instability. Inflation and gang violence have surged as food and fuel grew scarcer in a country where 60 percent of Haitians earn less than $2 a day. The increasingly dire situation comes as Haiti is still trying to recover from the devastating 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew in 2016. “There is this void now, and (Haitians) are scared about what will happen to their loved ones,” said Marlene Bastien, executive director of Family Action Network Movement, a group that helps people in Miami’s Little Haiti community. She urged the Biden administration to take a much more active role in supporting attempts at national dialogue in Haiti with the aim of holding free, fair and credible elections. Meanwhile, the Security Council met Thursday to talk about the situation in Haiti, and U.N. special envoy Helen La Lime, speaking to reporters at U.N. headquarters from Port-Au-Prince, said Haiti had requested additional security assistance. According to Haiti’s constitution, Moise should be replaced by the president of Haiti’s Supreme Court, but the chief justice died in recent days from COVID-19, leaving open the question of who might rightfully succeed to the office.
Joseph, meanwhile, was supposed to be replaced by Ariel Henry, a neurosurgeon who had been named prime minister by Moise a day before the assassination. Henry said he’s the prime minister, calling it an exceptional and confusing situation. “I am the prime minister in office,” he said. On Thursday, public transportation and street vendors remained scarce, an unusual sight for the normally bustling streets of Port-auPrince. Marco Destin, 39, was walking to see his family since no buses were available. He was carrying a loaf of bread for them because they hadn’t left their house since the president’s killing out of fear for their lives. “Every one at home is sleeping with one eye open and one eye closed,” he said. “If the head of state is not protected, I don’t have any protection whatsoever.” Gunfire rang out intermittently across the city hours after the killing, a grim reminder of the growing power of gangs that displaced more than 14,700 people last month alone as they torched and ransacked homes in a fight over territory. Robert Fatton, a Haitian politics expert at the University of Virginia, said the gangs were a force to contend with and it isn’t certain Haiti’s security forces can enforce a state of siege. “It’s a really explosive situation,” he said, adding that foreign intervention with a U.N.-type military presence is a possibility. “Whether Claude Joseph manages to stay in power is a huge question. It will be very difficult to do so if he doesn’t create a government of national unity.”
Only full vaccination offers real protection against delta variant By Joel Achenbach WAS H I NGT ON P O ST
New research on the swiftly spreading delta variant of the coronavirus is highlighting the threats posed by viral mutations, adding urgency to vaccination efforts across the planet. A peer-reviewed report from scientists in France, published Thursday in the journal Nature, found that the variant has mutations that allow it to evade some of the neutralizing antibodies produced by vaccines or by a natural infection. As a result, a single shot of a two-dose vaccine “barely” offers any protection. But experiments found that fully vaccinated people — with the recommended regimen of two shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca vaccine — should get significant protection against the variant. That echoes a report by scientists in the U.S. that was published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The bottom line is that, in a time when the variant is rapidly gaining traction, full vaccination offers a much better firewall against infection than partial vaccination. Meanwhile, Pfizer announced Thursday that it will seek U.S. authorization next month for a third dose of its COVID-19 vaccine, saying another shot within 12 months could dramatically boost immunity and maybe help ward off the delta variant. Pfizer’s Dr. Mikael Dolsten said early data from the company’s booster study suggests a third dose boosts antibody levels five to 10 times higher, when compared with a second dose months earlier. The studies on the delta variant emerge as concerns grow globally about a resurgence of the virus. On Thursday, Japan’s prime minister declared a state of emergency, and organizers of the Tokyo Olympics moved to bar spectators from all events in and around Tokyo. The first two authorized vaccines in the U.S. — shots from Pfizer and Moderna that use a technology called messenger RNA, known commonly as mRNA — are designed as a two-shot program. Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, by contrast, offers roughly the same protection against severe disease after just one shot, although it’s somewhat less effective at preventing mild to moderate symptomatic
cases, according to clinical trial data. Britain adopted a strategy of giving people a first dose of a vaccine and delaying the second, intending to broaden the reach of the limited supply. But that has led to breakthrough infections driven by the delta variant, said Monica Gandhi, an infectious diseases doctor at the University of California at San Francisco who wasn’t involved in either research study. The new research published in Nature “really verifies the need for the full two-dose vaccine regimen to get full effectiveness of the vaccine against the delta,” she said. So far, the vaccines have held the line, by and large, against the onrushing swarm of variants. Experiments in the lab and realworld data show the vaccines are particularly effective at preventing severe illness. The results of the French research are “good news,” said Olivier Schwartz, lead author of the Nature study and head of the Virus and Immunity Unit at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. Schwartz added that future research will determine how long the neutralizing antibody response lasts against the delta strain. This type of research has become critically important as the variant, which emerged in India, outcompetes other strains of the virus. Data posted this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that, as of Saturday, the variant represented an estimated 51.7 percent of new infections in the U.S., five times the prevalence of just four weeks earlier. “If we continue to let the virus run loose, then yes, I’m certain we’ll run out of (Greek) letters and future variants will likely be worse than the current crop — and yes, we’ll likely have several circulating at the same time,” Kristian Andersen, a virologist at Scripps Research Institute, said in an email. The evidence is clear: The long war against the coronavirus depends on the thoroughness and speed of the global vaccination effort. “We need to vaccinate the world NOW with an all-out effort led by the United States,” Andersen said in the email. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Guadalupe Pardo / Associated Press
Luciana Vilca, 12, stands next the casket of her father, Javier Vilca, a COVID patient who jumped to his death last month from a Peru hospital.
As global COVID deaths top 4 million, a suicide in Peru By Franklin Briceno, Maria Cheng and Joshua Goodman A SSO C I AT ED P R E SS
AREQUIPA, Peru — On the last day of Javier Vilca’s life, his wife stood outside a hospital window with a teddy bear, red balloons and a box of chocolates to celebrate his birthday, and held up a giant, hand-scrawled sign that read: “Don’t give up. You’re the best man in the world.” Minutes later, Vilca, a 43-year-old struggling radio journalist who had battled depression, jumped four stories to his death — the fifth suicide by a COVID-19 patient at Peru’s overwhelmed Honorio Delgado hospital since the pandemic began. Vilca became yet another symbol of the despair caused by the coronavirus and the stark and seemingly growing inequities exposed by COVID-19 on its way to a worldwide death toll of 4 million, a milestone recorded Wednesday by Johns Hopkins University. At the hospital where Vilca died June 24, a single doctor and three nurses were frantically rushing to treat 80 patients in an overcrowded, makeshift ward while Vilca gasped for breath because of an acute shortage of bottled oxygen. “He promised me he would
make it,” said Nohemi Huanacchire, weeping over her husband’s casket in their half-built home with no electricity on the outskirts of Arequipa, Peru’s second-largest city. “But I never saw him again.” The number of lives lost around the world over the past year and a half is about equal to the population of Los Angele and is three times the number of victims killed in traffic accidents around the globe per year. By some estimates, it’s roughly the number of people killed in battle in all of the world’s wars since 1982. Even then, the toll is widely believed to be an undercount because of overlooked cases or concealment. More than six months after vaccines became available, reported COVID-19 deaths worldwide have dropped to around 7,800 a day after topping out at over 18,000 a day in January. The World Health Organization recorded just under 54,000 deaths last week, the lowest weekly total since last October. While vaccination campaigns in the U.S. and parts of Europe are ushering in a period of post-lockdown euphoria, and children there are being inoculated so they can go back to summer camp and school, infection rates are still stubbornly high in many parts of South Amer-
ica and Southeast Asia. And multitudes in Africa remain unprotected because of severe vaccine shortages. Also, the highly contagious delta variant is spreading rapidly, setting off alarms, driving up case counts in places, and turning the crisis increasingly into a race between the vaccine and the mutant version. The variant has been detected in at least 96 countries. Australia, Israel, Malaysia, Hong Kong and other places have reimposed restrictions to try to suppress it. On Thursday, fans were banned from the upcoming Tokyo Olympics after Japan declared a state of emergency to slow rising infections. Spectators from abroad were prohibited months ago, but the new measures will apply to all fans. The games open July 23. The variants, uneven access to vaccines and the relaxation of precautions in some wealthier countries are “a toxic combination that is very dangerous,” warned Ann Lindstrand, a top immunization official at WHO. Instead of treating the crisis as a “me-and-myself-and-my-country” problem, she said, “we need to get serious that this is a worldwide problem that needs worldwide solutions.”
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Houston Chronicle | HoustonChronicle.com | Friday, July 9, 2021 |
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FROM THE COVER
ANIMALS From page A1
deplorable conditions, including dirty cages, sweltering heat and cold temperatures. She claims animals were euthanized without being scanned for microchips or held for the allotted number of days. She watched her co-workers laugh while they euthanized animals they had deemed to be “mean.” She began collecting video and audio recordings to show that the shelter performed questionable euthanasias, falsified records and assisted an accused local animal hoarder, among other issues. “I was trying to be the voice for what was happening,” said Gerber, who has since taken a leave of absence. “I felt like if I don’t say anything then I am just as responsible as these guys are. That’s not OK with me, not at all.” By January, the video of the cat’s death was leaked on social media, leading to a national outrage that seemingly forced the city to respond. Animal lovers flooded social media, the Katy City Council’s virtual meetings and the animal control department’s landline with angry threats. Brown, who denies any wrongdoing, said the center had to start monitoring calls because of the barrage of hate. “I just felt like, ‘Am I that horrible of a person?’ ” Brown said. “Every little thing like that tears a little bit out of you, when you hear people talking to you like that.” The investigation by the Katy Police Department yielded a 700-pluspage report that cleared Brown and animal control officer Spencer Antinoro of all claims except improper record handling. Now, police have launched a disciplinary investigation into Gerber, leaving advocates and some City Council members outraged at the lack of action taken to address the sources of the alleged wrongdoing. Some say that an outside agency should investigate — rather than city colleagues that Brown has known for decades. Neither police nor Gerber’s attorney would say why the investigation has now been turned on her. “They spent more time going after Chelsea, the whistleblower, than they did actually investigating this stuff,” Katy-area resident Sean Fitzsimmons said. Still, the scrutiny has prompted changes in some department policies, which is seen as a silver lining by Brown and others. The department has moved from handwritten records to an electronic animal tracking system; cameras and recording equipment have been installed; and it established agreements with nonprofit rescues to shelter surrendered animals.
The investigations Six allegations were investigated by the Katy Police Department: disposing of animal corpses in city dumpsters; burying euthanized animals on city property; euthanizing animals improperly; treating animals inhumanely; handling records improperly; and assisting accused animal hoarder Angela “Angie” Wells. The only wrongdoing that police found evidence of was improper record handling. For most of the allegations, either there wasn’t evidence or the
Karen Warren / Staff photographer
Katy Animal Control director David Brown pets a dog at the animal shelter last week. A Katy Police Department investigation cleared Brown and animal control officer Spencer Antinoro of all claims except improper record handling.
“They spent more time going after … the whistleblower than they did actually investigating this stuff.” Katy-area resident Sean Fitzsimmons
action — while possibly still inhumane — wasn’t a violation of policy or law. The investigation did cite multiple instances in which handwritten kennel cards could not be located for animals or were improperly filled out. Several euthanasias were not recorded on these cards, according to the report. Brown — who has worked for the city for nearly 30 years and the department for 15 — attributes the improper record-keeping to human error. He adds that the only two other employees, Gerber and Antinoro, share the blame. “Mistakes could happen and dates can go wrong,” Brown said. “If this is the only piece of paper that you have and this piece of paper gets misfiled somewhere, then the animal doesn’t count.” Gerber’s initial complaint also accuses Brown of falsifying documents to benefit his friend, Wells, who faced criminal charges after more than 100 animals were seized from her Katy property last year. Gerber believes that Brown allowed Wells to cycle animals through the shelter, using city resources to benefit his friend.
Brown said the accusations regarding Wells are untrue, arguing that “she has been accused; she has not been convicted.” Wells’ lawyer could not be reached for comment. Gerber also claimed that Antinoro euthanized the cat shown in the video without adhering to the department’s then-three-day stray hold and without scanning it for a microchip — violations she called commonplace in the department. Antinoro declined to be interviewed for this story, but Brown disputes that any euthanasias were done without adhering to the stray hold. Only two animals have been euthanized all year, Brown said, but the department does not list euthanasias on its website, unlike other municipal shelters. The data on its website states that as of April 30, 210 cats and dogs have been released to nonprofits to be adopted and another 208 cats and dogs have been returned to their owners since 2019. Gerber and others want Brown and Antinoro held accountable for the alleged policy violations and inhumane action. They also want an overhaul of the department’s prac-
tices. “You have done nothing substantial to support true progress and change,” Katy resident Cara Bonin said during a City Council meeting in June. “I am sick of it; the people are sick of it.” Katy Police Chief Noe Diaz said Brown and Antinoro were not put on leave while the investigation was ongoing because he already knew the claims were unfounded before the complaint was filed. In the report, Fort Bend County Assistant District Attorney Sherry Robinson said the office is declining prosecution because of insufficient evidence. The report also cites two Harris County Precinct 5 constable deputies with the Animal Crimes Unit who determined that no animal cruelty was observed in Gerber’s videos. While Brown and Antinoro were never placed on leave during the investigation, Gerber remains on relief of duty. She hired lawyers but wouldn’t say if she plans to sue the city or department.
‘Disheartening’ process In response to the investigation, the City Council created an Animal Control Advisory Group to recommend ways to overhaul the department, which so far includes establishing a euthanasia policy for ill and injured animals; requiring vac-
FBI
From page A1 grounds” in which their bosses groped them. One woman, who joined the suit in June, said she was“simply instructed to wear revealing clothing, simulate sexual activity” and allow her superior to “kiss, touch and fondle her.” During one sting “operation,” a female suspect wasn’t convinced by the undercover officers and told the female deputy and her superior she wanted to watch them have sex. The woman froze, according to the lawsuit, but her boss made her straddle him then exposed her breasts and buttocks and began to move her back and forth to “grind” on him, according to the lawsuit, which alleged the incident amounted to “non-penetrative sex on a county-sanctioned operation.” The FBI’s investigation marks a significant new turn of events, because federal investigators probe potential criminal misconduct. Previously, the allegations raised against Precinct 1 had been limited to accusations made in civil court. The suit includes four deputies — both current and former officers — and another employee who said she was fired when she raised concerns about the human trafficking task force’s activ-
Marie D. De Jesús / Staff photographer
Jacquelyn Aluotto, an advocate for human-trafficking victims, center, addresses a news conference in May about the female deputies’ sexual misconduct lawsuit against their supervisors. ities. All of the women have identified themselves publicly, rather than filing Jane Doe lawsuits, and alleged a wide array of misconduct at the constable’s office, including sexual harassment, sexual battery, civil rights violations
and retaliation. When the women first made the allegations, Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen strenuously denied any misconduct, calling the suit “an effort to impugn the good reputation” of his depart-
ment. In the same statement — the only time he has publicly addressed the matter — he said internal investigators had probed the allegations, finding no violations of law or policy and that when his internal investigators
cinations upon intake; and creating a pet-wellness program that would offer low cost spay, neuter and vaccination services. But the group’s recommendations have not been discussed by City Council since April. The next City Council meeting is set for July 12. “I find it disheartening that all of their work has been ignored so far, and we have not even discussed the recommendations,” City Council member Rory Robertson said. “We need the people to show that they care about this, that they love and want the animals protected and treated more humanely.” He urged concerned residents to email the City Council to ask for the item to be discussed. Residents said they wish the group would be more transparent with open meetings that allowed input from concerned residents. “Their investigation is a joke; they are more concerned with protecting the city’s image than protecting those animals,” Fitzsimmons said. “The people that live in Katy and the government of Katy can decide they either care about these voiceless creatures or they don’t. Their actions are speaking pretty clearly that they just don’t care.” rebecca.hennes@chron.com twitter.com/beccaghennes began looking into the matter several months ago, he “immediately” transferred leadership of the Human Trafficking unit to another supervisor, who is still overseeing the unit today. The suit names Rosen, Assistant Chief Deputy Chris Gore and Lt. Shane Rigdon. The alleged incidents occurred in the department’s human trafficking task force in 2019 and 2020. Rosen did not respond to a phone call and a text message request for comment. Precinct 1 media officials did not comment In an emailed statement, County Judge Lina Hidalgo said she was “aware” of the allegations and “obviously concerned” but said the lawsuit prevented her from saying anything more. Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia — who has previously clashed with the constables over questions about efficiency or redundant law enforcement operations — said the FBI “must have the opportunity to thoroughly investigate these allegations.” “Without knowledge of specific facts, this is not a time to speculate on what may have transpired,” he said. “That being said, the allegations that have been made public are extremely disturbing and these women deserve to have their allegations thoroughly investigated.” st.john.smith@chron.com twitter.com/stjbs
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| Friday, July 9, 2021 | HoustonChronicle.com | Houston Chronicle
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FROM THE COVER
VOTING From page A1
that I think the Democrats will be happy about and items that are added in that I think the Republicans are happy about,” Republican state Sen. Paul Bettencourt said of the Senate’s version. “So I look forward to hearing what the testimony will be over the weekend.” Although Texas elections officials have said the state’s 2020 elections were “smooth and secure,” Abbott and other Republicans have insisted they have to go further to guard against voter fraud. It all comes as former President Donald Trump continues to insist he lost his re-election because of election fraud, without providing proof to back up those claims. However, many elements of the original GOP elections package remain intact in both Senate Bill 1 and House Bill 3. Both still ban drive-thru voting and 24hour voting and forbid election officials from proactively sending out vote-by-mail applications, all methods pioneered by Harris County in 2020 to expand options for voters during the coronavirus pandemic. The bills also still contain new ID requirements for those who vote by mail and provisions affording “free movement” to partisan poll watchers at polling places. The Senate bill goes further than the House proposal in requiring the secretary of state to cross-check Department of Public Safety data with voter rolls on a monthly basis to ensure noncitizens are not registered. The department has records showing whether a person identified as a noncitizen when getting a new drivers’ license or renewing one. A similar such endeavor led to poor results in 2019 when thenSecretary of State David Whitley misidentified tens of thousands of legal citizens as ineligible to vote. Civil rights groups quickly sued, and Texas officials agreed to new parameters for future purges in a settlement agreement. Democrats were quick to criticize the newest election bills. Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, who was among the members who plotted the late-May walkout, said on MSNBC this week that she and other Democrats have a “fight on our hands” over the next 30 days. They also point out that no evidence of systemic fraud has been detected in Texas voting returns
Eric Gay / Associated Press
State Rep. Andrew Murr, R-Kerrville, left, meets with Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, as lawmakers return for the special session.
How to testify on Saturday
• To testify on the House elections bill or bail reform bill, head to the Select Constitutional Rights & Remedies’ hearing in Room E1.030 in the Capitol Extension at 8 a.m. • To testify on the Senate elections bill, head to the Committee on State Affairs’ hearing in the Capitol Extension Auditorium, Room E1.004, at 11 a.m.
Bob Daemmrich / Capitol Press
Voting rights groups including Black Voters Matter and the Texas Right to Vote Coalition rally at the Texas Capitol. for decades. “Yes, we have a new bill,” she said. “It looks like some sharp edges have been taken off it. It is still not a good bill, and ultimately what we need to remember is we do not have a voter fraud problem in the state of Texas.” House Democratic Caucus
Chair Rep. Chris Turner said at a news conference Thursday that the legislation is “based on a lie that there’s rampant problems in our elections and the big lie that Donald Trump actually won the last election.” Civil rights groups were similarly inflamed.
“This is a warmed-up version of the same voter suppression bills we saw during the regular session, which will inflict an enormous cost on ALL Texas voters with zero improvement to election security,” the Texas Civil Rights Project said in a tweet. Yet Republicans in the Capitol clearly made some concessions in the legislation. Senate-backed provisions that Democrats opposed vehemently during the last session — including cutting the number of polling places and voting machines in
AFGHANISTAN From page A1
stan, with no reasonable expectation of achieving a different outcome.” The new withdrawal date comes after former President Donald Trump’s administration negotiated a deal with the Taliban to end the U.S. military mission by May 1. After taking office, Biden announced U.S. troops would be out by the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden plotted 9/11 from Afghanistan, where he had been given refuge by the Taliban. With U.S. and NATO ally forces rapidly drawing down in the past week, there was growing speculation that U.S. combat operations have already effectively ended. But by setting Aug. 31 as the drawdown date, the administration nodded to the reality that the long war is in its final phase, while providing itself some cushion to deal with outstanding matters. The administration hasn’t completed talks with Turkey on an arrangement for maintaining security at the Kabul airport and is still ironing out details for the potential evacuation of thousands of Afghans who helped the U.S. military operation. Biden said prolonging U.S. military involvement, considering Trump already had agreed to withdraw U.S. troops, would have led to an escalation of attacks on American troops and NATO allies. “The Taliban would have again begun to target our forces,” Biden said. “The status quo was not an option. Staying meant U.S. troops taking casualties. American men and women. Back in the middle of a civil war. And we would run the risk of having to send more troops back in Afghanistan to defend our remaining troops.” The president added that there’s no “mission accomplished” moment as the longest U.S. war comes to an end. “The mission was accomplished in that we got Osama bin
Hoshang Hashimi / AFP via Getty Images
Members of an Afghan family who left their home amid conflict between the Taliban and Afghan security forces arrive in Herat, Afghanistan, on Thursday. Laden and terrorism is not emanating from that part of the world,” he said. U.S. forces killed bin Laden in 2011. American troops this week vacated Bagram Airfield — the U.S. epicenter of the conflict to oust the Taliban and hunt down the alQaida perpetrators of the 2001 terrorist attacks that triggered the war. Remaining U.S. troops are now concentrated in Kabul, the capital. The Pentagon said the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Scott Miller, is expected to end his tour of duty this month as final arrangements are made for a reduced U.S. military mission. Biden, answering questions from reporters after his remarks
Thursday, said Kabul falling to the Taliban wouldn’t be an acceptable outcome. The president also pushed back against the notion that such a scenario was certain. “Do I trust the Taliban? No,” Biden said. “But I trust the capacity of the Afghan military, who is better trained, better equipped and more competent in terms of conducting war.” The West hopes Taliban gains will be confined mostly to rural areas, with the Afghan government and its allies retaining control of the cities. And while the Taliban remain a major power in Afghanistan, the government’s supporters hope the Taliban’s role will be decided by political rather than military means, partly through the inducements of in-
ternational legitimacy, aid and other support. Asked by a reporter whether rampant corruption within the Afghan government contributed to the failure of achieving the sort of stability that his predecessors and U.S. military commanders envisioned, Biden didn’t exactly dismiss the notion. “The mission hasn’t failed — yet.” Biden continues to face pressure from congressional lawmakers to offer more details on how he intends to go about helping thousands of Afghans who helped the U.S. military as translators and drivers and in other jobs. Many fear they will be targets of the Taliban once the U.S. withdrawal is complete. The White House says the ad-
large blue counties and allowing poll watchers to take video of voters — do not appear in either chamber’s new bill. Both bills also restore Democrat-backed measures that will allow a voter to correct any mistakes on a mail ballot, such as a missing signature. Such ballots would otherwise be thrown out. Still, Democrats in the Texas House say they are prepared to break the quorum again if need be, though they won’t have the element of surprise the next time. House Speaker Dade Phelan told KXAN, an NBC affiliate in Austin, that he will respond to Democrats if they go to such lengths again. That could mean locking the chamber doors to prevent House members from leaving the floor as they did in May. “My Democratic colleagues have been quoted saying that all options are on the table. Respectfully, all options are on the table for myself as well,” Phelan said. taylor.goldenstein@chron.com jeremy.wallace@chron.com ministration has identified U.S. facilities outside the continental U.S., as well as third countries, where evacuated Afghans could stay while their visa applications are processed. Biden added that 2,500 Afghans have been granted special immigrant visas since he took office in January. Still, the president faced Republican criticism after his speech. “The Taliban is gaining more ground by the day, and there are targets on the backs of our people and our partners,” said Rep. Michael McCaul of Austin, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “But rather than taking the opportunity to reassure the American people there are sufficient plans in place to keep American diplomats and our Afghan partners safe, President Biden only offered more empty promises and no detailed plan of action.” Chief Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Thursday that the U.S. military is considering several overseas bases around the world as possible temporary locations for Afghans awaiting a visa. “Our message to those women and men is clear,” Biden said. “There is a home for you in the United States if you so choose. We will stand with you, just as you stood with us.” Biden noted that as a senator, he was skeptical about how much the U.S. could accomplish in Afghanistan and had advocated for a more narrowly tailored mission. He was somewhat opaque in answering whether the cost of the war was worth it, but he argued that the U.S. objectives were completed long ago. “We went for two reasons: one, to bring Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell, as I said at the time,” Biden said. “The second reason was to eliminate al-Qaida’s capacity to deal with more attacks on the United States from that territory. We accomplished both of those objectives. Period. “That’s why I believe this is the right decision and quite frankly overdue.”
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Houston Chronicle | HoustonChronicle.com | Friday, July 9, 2021 |
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CITY | STATE
Prison sits empty awaiting Abbott’s direction By Jolie McCullough T E X A S T RIBU NE
With the Texas prison system dangerously understaffed, nearly 150 guards are now working in an empty prison that Gov. Greg Abbott plans to convert into a state-run jail for immigrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. More than 1,000 prisoners at the South Texas Briscoe Unit were transferred to other state lockups weeks ago, but it’s still unclear when and how the emptied prison will be fashioned into a Texas-operated jail for migrants facing — but not convicted of — state criminal charges. State agencies that enforce jail standards and regulate law enforcement training have scrambled to determine what changes are needed at the unit to house a nonprison population. And 147 Briscoe officers are training to be certified as jailers while the prison remains in “maintenance mode” awaiting further instruction, according to a spokesperson for Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Meanwhile, the Texas prison system remains desperately short of guards, including one notoriously violent maximum-security prison that has less than half as many as it should, according to an agency report. “They’re doing this on the fly. I don’t think anyone has thought through any of this,” said Michele Deitch, a senior lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin’s public affairs school and expert on prison and jail conditions. Briscoe’s transition from a prison to a jail for immigrants began in mid-June as part of Abbott’s heightened push to quell an increase in apprehensions of migrants at the Texas-Mexico border. After the Republican gover-
Paul Ratje / AFP via Getty Images
Migrants are processed Thursday in Penitas. Gov. Greg Abbott says those crossing the border illegally will face state charges. nor declared the rise in illegal immigration a disaster in May, he directed the shift of $250 million from the prison agency’s budget to instead go toward building a border wall. In June, Abbott said at a border security event that those who cross the TexasMexico border illegally — a federal crime — would be subject not only to federal apprehension but to arrest and confinement for state crimes, such as trespassing and human trafficking. And he directed the state regulatory commissions for jail standards and law enforcement to “establish alternative detention facilities to ensure enough jail capacity for illegal immigrants who are arrested for criminal activities such as trespassing,” according to a news release from the governor’s office.
“While securing the border is the federal government’s responsibility, Texas will not sit idly by as this crisis grows,” Abbott said in the release. Days later, it was reported that TDCJ had been told to offer up the medium-security Briscoe Unit in Dilley, a small town between San Antonio and Laredo, and its staff. But logistical details on the transition are murky. A spokesperson for the governor said the prisonturned-jail will detain only adult males charged with a state crime, without specifying the type of crimes. But the governor’s office said TDCJ is still “in the process of determining any changes or training needed to operate and house individuals at the Briscoe Unit.” The Texas Commission on Jail Standards’ executive director
Melissa Phillip / Staff file photo
Theresa Balboa appears June 7 in Harris County 180th District Court on a charge of evidence tampering in the disappearance of 5-year-old Samuel Olson.
CHARGE From page A3
the boy was dead, according to court records. Rivera left work and returned home to their Webster apartment where he saw the boy unresponsive on the bed with bruising on his body, he told authorities. Rivera and Balboa placed the body in a bathtub for two days, the criminal complaint alleges. The pair then wrapped the body in plastic, stuffed it in a tote and drove the remains to a storage unit located on Texas 3 in Webster, court records show. Another man, Dylan Walker, helped Balboa retrieve the body from the storage unit and bring it to a motel in Jasper, court records show. Then he called Crime Stoppers with a tip about the whereabouts of the missing boy, according to court documents. Authorities following up on the tip on June 1 knocked several times on the door of the hotel room. They recognized the smell of human remains
Gonzalez Law Group / Associated Press
Investigators have recovered a weapon that may have been used to kill 5-year-old Samuel Olson. and found Balboa in the bathroom. She told them that the boy was “inside the box,” court documents said. A sergeant opened the tote with a yellow lid, smelled a strong odor and observed what appeared to be a child’s body wrapped in plastic, according to the report. Balboa was booked into Jasper County jail and later extradited to Harris County for prosecution. Rivera, the roommate,
has also been charged in Harris County with tampering with evidence. He was released from custody on $100,000 bond, according to court records. His arraignment is scheduled for early September. Walker, 27, of Coldspring, was indicted in late June by a Jasper County grand jury on a charge of tampering with physical evidence with intent to impair a human corpse. anna.bauman@chron.com
said the agency was in the same process. In Texas, jails primarily hold criminal defendants accused, but not convicted, of state crimes while their cases are resolved in local court and pursued by county prosecutors. State prisons incarcerate those who have been convicted of state felonies. It’s also unclear which courts would hear the criminal cases of immigrants detained at Briscoe, or who would prosecute the cases. And Texas has minimum jail standards that do not always align with how the state prisons are run. For example, Texas county jails are required to be cooled at or below 85 degrees, while most Texas prisons — including Briscoe — notoriously lack air conditioning in housing areas.
Deitch said that condition, along with others like spacing, attorney access and health care could be big hurdles in operating the state prison as a jail for immigrants. While state officials work to figure out the standards that must be in place, the Briscoe prison officers are monitoring empty dorms and cells while their colleagues suffer from dangerous understaffing at other units throughout the state. In May, TDCJ was short more than 5,300 officers, with about 78 percent of positions filled. At the Telford Unit in northeast Texas, employees and prisoners reported dangerous conditions in 2018 as assaults on prisoners and officers rose while staffing ranks dwindled. “Our staff are working 16-
hour days … some are just going home to sleep and come back,” said Jeff Ormsby, executive director of Texas prisons’ American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees branch. “They’re putting their life on the line.” Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
OPINION
HOUSTON CHRONICLE • FRIDAY, JULY 9, 2021 • PAGE A10 HH
EDITORIAL
Court ruling offers hope for gun solutions Judge’s decision in Sutherland Springs case shows that bipartisan legislation still has a chance
It’s far too easy these days to allow cynicism to take hold when it comes to the assumption that governmental action can help address society’s ills, particularly around gun violence. But lost in the hyperpolarized rhetoric around gun rights are legislative victories that can seem trivial or inconsequential in the moment, but which history shines upon favorably. The 2017 massacre at Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church, in which former airman Devin Patrick Kelley opened fire during Sunday morning services, killing 26 people, including himself, and wounding 20 others, seemed destined to become another example of a hopelessly divided Congress’s inability to respond to these tragedies. Until it wasn’t. To be sure, Second Amendment absolutists in Congress succeeded in derailing comprehensive reforms passed by the U.S. House that would have wisely required background checks on all gun sales, including unlicensed sales between strangers who meet online or at gun shows. But a second, more modest effort led by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas that was widely panned as too weak has been revealed as a tangible, effective step by a ruling by a federal judge in San Antonio this week. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez for the Western District of Texas ruled in a lawsuit brought by Sutherland Springs victims’ relatives and survivors that the U.S. Air Force was 60 percent liable for the massacre, noting, “…had the Government done its job and properly reported Kelley’s information into the back-
Edward A. Ornelas / Staff file photo
These crosses stand in memory of those killed as a result of the 2017 mass shooting in Sutherland Springs. Congress shouldn’t wait until this happens again to address gun control.
ground check system — it is more likely than not that Kelley would have been deterred from carrying out the Church shooting.” In doing so, he affirmed the instinct by Cornyn and the Democrat he partnered with, Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, that fixing the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to prevent felons and domestic abusers from purchasing guns was one important way to reduce the likelihood of similar shootings in the future. NICS was in the crosshairs due to the Air Force’s failure to enter Kelley’s
domestic violence conviction in the database, as already required by law. As a result, Kelley was able to purchase a rifle at a gun store that he used in the shooting. Cornyn and Murphy introduced the Fix NICS Act, a bill that among other things stiffened penalties for federal agencies, including the military, if they fail to input new records into the background check database and rewards states that comply with grants. The bill quickly gained 77 other cosponsors in the Senate and was included in a spending bill signed into law by President
Trump in March 2018. Of course Cornyn’s bill hasn’t stopped shootings. But it has made the database more effective — an important step. The Department of Justice released a report in August 2020 on the bill’s implementation, finding an increase of 8.1 million records in the three national databases searched with every NICS check — an 8.1 percent increase. More recently, January represented the high-water mark for checks conducted in a onemonth period, with more than 4.3 million total background checks initiated. The trend
Critical race theory
LETTERS
Ballot box woes in Texas Voting access
Regarding “How much voting discrimination is OK? Supreme Court’s Arizona ruling sets alarming standard,” ( July 5): I am a conservative voter, always have been. I believe every person legally qualified to vote should have the opportunity to vote. I don’t care if they vote early, vote by mail, vote through a car window or vote at midnight. That’s all fine with me. What I do care about is that every person casting a vote is legally qualified, that their votes are properly counted, that their votes are unaltered, and that they have voted without intimidation of any sort. I’m no geek, but it seems to me that highly secure computer systems could manage the safeguarding of the voting process from start to finish. Voter ID? Sure, that’s a necessary starting point. Accurate vote count? Sure, that’s a necessary ending point. We just need a secure and nonpartisan voting system that serves all citizens. I guess that’s too much to ask, though.
Alan Nicholson, Pasadena
Texas is the most difficult state to vote in. As an out-of-town college student, I have no choice but to vote by mail if I want to have a say in our government. Even that doesn’t always work. I’ve applied for an absentee ballot twice (both
Godofredo A. Vásquez / Staff photographer
A Harris County staff member assists a voter at a drive-thru at NRG Arena on Oct. 17. well in advance of the deadline) and only received my ballot once — just two weeks before Election Day. If the elections administrator didn’t receive my ballot by Election Day at 7 p.m., or the signature was off, I wouldn’t know, and I couldn’t fix it anyways — Texas is one of 30-plus states without a ballot-curing process. The Texas Legislature’s voter restrictions bill claims to safeguard the democratic process, but it’s just another attempt at keeping Texas the hardest state to vote in. There’s nothing democratic about that.
John Lin, Sugar Land
Regarding “Guilt projection,” ( July 5): Critical race theory is a specialized area of study that has been around for decades and is largely confined to graduate courses. Typical school and history teachers know almost as little about it as the protesters against it who are the unwitting foils of extremist politicians who see an advantage in dividing the country. History classes can easily devote time to slavery, the Civil War and the civil rights movement. It is not necessary to deny reality in the name of political indoctrination. We shouldn’t underestimate the ability of high school students to learn the great truths of American history ranging from democratic ideals and people who have sacrificed for their country, to centuries of slavery, segregation and racial discrimination. Even a cursory look at American history will reveal the hypocrisy of white people objecting to affirmative action programs after they had benefited from centuries of affirmative action for white people. Likewise, in a world in which only white lives mattered, it is only natural that Black Lives Matter would arise to even the playing field. As a white kid growing up in the Deep South in the 1950s and 1960s, I assumed that my generation would lead the way to improved race relations. But I underestimated both the eagerness with which certain politicians would use racism for political advantage and the complicity of some parents who misinform their children.
continued in February, with more than 3.4 million conducted, the most ever for the month of February. Factors leading to gun violence are broad and deep, and have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, a period that has seen the highest rate of gun deaths in the last two decades. What’s needed is the same kind of bipartisan, solution-oriented approach to gun violence that pushed the Fix NICS Act across the finish line. The rote futility in getting commonsense gun reform legislation passed is why we need to look for ways to celebrate progress on gun violence prevention, including the tiniest of baby steps. Background checks are a rare area of common ground among gun owners and gun control advocates. Twice in the past 20 years, Congress has come close to passing bills that would have greatly strengthened background requirements, only to narrowly fail. Congress shouldn’t wait for another tragedy on the scale of Sutherland Springs to try again. When it does, it can use Cornyn and Murphy as examples of what can happen when lawmakers work together. Both senators have continued their own efforts with recent negotiations to close certain background check loopholes, though those talks have stalled. We encourage them to keep searching for a path forward in solving the gun violence crisis, and for their colleagues to join those efforts. Nearly 370 people have died in mass shootings this year alone. The bill passed after the Sutherland Springs shooting is a reminder of the many lives that can still be saved.
The letter writer would do his “precious little granddaughter,” whose mum is white and dad is Black, a huge favor by giving her an opportunity to ask questions and learn about all types of discrimination in a neutral environment — like schools — so that she is able to recognize it, stand up against it and protect herself, her career, her children and her standing in the workplace and society, should she be exposed to it.
Sonja Myers, Houston
I have yet to find a legitimate criticism of critical race theory. The name Dred Scott is sufficient to undermine any criticism I have seen. Banning the use of particular words in teaching leads to the same problem evangelists had in the “Scopes monkey trial.” You can’t outlaw reality.
Terrence Gaiser, Houston
There was a fairly recent time in U.S. history when it was illegal for a white woman and Black man to have a child. And a child born into this union, no matter how devoted and loving it might be, could be discriminated against in every facet of life, leading to long-lasting and possibly devastating emotional consequences. Perhaps the scrutiny placed on institutional racism and the decades of bias that influenced generations can be a valuable reminder of where we’ve been and how we move forward. Not with division but with clear minds and full hearts. Like a kindergartener.
Carol Godell, Spring
Michael Douglas Gilbert, Houston
All of the Sturm und Drang over critical race theory simply proves to me that Jim Crow is alive and well, and that white supremacy is a power still to be reckoned with.
Alan Jackson, Houston
BIBLE VERSE Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.
Romans 12:9
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
John C. McKeon, Publisher | john.mckeon@chron.com Jack Sweeney, Chairman | jack.sweeney@chron.com Steve Riley, Executive Editor | steve.riley@chron.com Maria Reeve, Managing Editor / Content | maria.reeve@chron.com Mark Lorando, Managing Editor / Audience | mark.lorando@chron.com Lisa Falkenberg, VP / Editor of Opinion | lisa.falkenberg@chron.com Michael Lindenberger, Deputy Opinion Editor | michael.lindenberger@chron.com Send letters to the editor:
Viewpoints c/o Houston Chronicle, P.O. Box 4260, Houston, Texas 77210 or viewpoints@chron.com. We welcome and encourage letters and emails from readers. Letters must include name, address and telephone numbers for verification purposes only. All letters are subject to editing.
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Houston Chronicle | HoustonChronicle.com | Friday, July 9, 2021 |
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OUTLOOK
Balance in-person, telemedicine care By Arthur Garson Jr. The use of technology has promised to change most jobs. This change has been greatly accelerated by COVID in health care with the use of telemedicine. The American Medical Association has predicted that after COVID, telehealth will account for a shift of $250 billion or about 20 percent of what Medicare, Medicaid and commercial insurers spend on outpatient, office and home health visits. In this bright future, physicians sit in their offices, patients sit at home and … done! Unfortunately, it’s more complicated than that. I am a physician, the prior dean of two medical schools, and share with you here a contrarian view of the future. There surely is a need for telemedicine. For example, we can use telemedicine to reduce the 50 percent of visits to the emergency room that don’t need to be there; and, those who went to the doctor for a simple cold, or the extremely ill person who really is best seen by video. But as the headline of journalist and former physician Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal’s April essay in the New York Times puts it so well: “Telemedicine is a tool. Not a replacement for your doctor’s touch.” Telemedicine must produce the same or better measured outcomes for both the patient and physician (yes, physicians may tire of the lack of human contact as well) or it should not be used. Everyone assumes telemedicine visits fill the bill but we don’t yet have the data to know what proportion of visits have better outcomes with a physician’s in-person visit. And we need to find out. Some patients and physicians will love telemedicine for all their visits; some will hate telemedicine. Some patients need a person, but not necessarily a physician. I founded a company that keeps patients healthy and at home; after a patient is discharged from the hospital, a nurse aide makes in-person home visits, with every visit backed up by a nurse. We have published results showing a substantial decrease in readmissions. We are asking the question, “Who requires an in-home visit to develop a system, for example, to take their medication?” We believe we will find that immediately after hospital discharge, many will require in-person visits which will graduate over time to telemedicine visits — again depending upon the patient. There is a need to figure out what jobs
actually require direct human contact, and train people for those jobs that require (or can be more successful with) “people skills” such as empathy, enthusiasm, common sense or even a sense of humor. Such skills are important for those at all levels. Renowned physician Dr. Eric Topol says that before too long, artificial intelligence will be doing surgery and physicians will have more and more time for relationships with patients, requiring more people skills. The examples apply way beyond health care. During the pandemic, look at what students from first grade all the way through technical school and universities told us — we want people teaching us. But we must continue to learn and improve how humans teach. Again, as in medicine, remote technology can be a tool to make improvements in education but isn’t a total substitute for in-person teaching. We wring our hands about huge numbers of jobs becoming obsolete because of automation. Yuval Harari tells us in the widely acclaimed book “Homo Deus” that we had better get used to it. Humans will be ruled by computer programs. He's wrong, but it will take humans to prove him wrong. If you think about the ways that computers will supposedly substitute for people, what’s missing? The human factor. We are looking at the problem upsidedown. We are thinking only what software can do, and rather we should be looking at the unique contributions of people that software cannot do. Then we need to be educated — yes continuing education at all levels — to leverage technology to help people make those contributions. While one of the silver linings of the COVID pandemic has been the rapid adoption of new technologies, we now need to step back and take stock of whether these new technologies actually work better and are less expensive. The question for health care isn’t how to push bodies through more billable appointments using technology. Yes, efficiency and cost are important. But the real goal is healthier, more fulfilling lives for patients and caregivers Garson is a clinical professor of health systems and population health sciences at the College of Medicine, University of Houston. He is a past dean at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and at the University of Virginia. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. His company is called Grand-Aides.
New York Times file photo
Jason Paris, right, a clinician at Ottagan Addictions Recovery, leads a combination in-person and telemedicine outpatient therapy group in Michigan.
Higher tobacco taxes make smuggling worse By Edgar Domenech Texas is no stranger to the dangers of cross-border smuggling. Cartels, organized crime and violent street gangs traffic guns, drugs, counterfeit goods and other dangerous products to fuel their criminal enterprises. The Houston Chronicle’s recent exposé on the massive smuggling of illegal cigarettes from China illustrates how tobacco is one of the most profitable cash crops funding a multibillion-dollar illicit market. Smuggling cheap, counterfeit, untaxed cigarettes into higher-tax jurisdictions fuels and funds more crime throughout the state. In April, Democrats introduced the Tobacco Tax Equity Act of 2021, which is designed to significantly raise federal excise taxes on all tobacco products. While proponents of this legislation argue that it will help to curtail cigarette smoking and promote public health, it will create harmful unintended consequences that could be otherwise avoided. Higher taxes won’t lead all smokers to quit. Although higher prices can drive down tobacco use, even higher taxes will drive purchases out of the stores and into the streets, with cash filling the cartel coffers. Just as state excise taxes on cigarettes products have shown time and again, a federal excise tax increase would lead to more smuggling across the border and bring the associated crime that comes with it. Varying tax rates allow smugglers to carry illicit cigarettes across borders to capitalize on price differences. As yearly research conducted by the Mackinac Center, which advances free markets and limited government principles, shows states that raise excise taxes on cigarettes usher in higher levels of smuggling. As a result of the high tax rate on tobacco in New York City, for example, smuggling is pervasive. According to the Tax Foundation, “New York has the highest inbound smuggling activity, with an estimated 53.2 percent of cigarettes consumed in the state deriving from smuggled sources in 2018.” The illicit market for tobacco is especially worrisome for border states like Texas that endlessly struggle with transnational smuggling. During my time as sheriff of New York City, I created the Tobacco Task Force for the city as an attempt to combat the growing menace. The Houston Chronicle investigation shows clearly that Texas is no exception.
In just one case last year, authorities confiscated more than 400 million cigarettes from China that were destined to be smuggled from the United States to Mexico. Even more alarming is the fact that the Justice Department acknowledges that these busts on illicit cigarettes are rare. That means many more shipments are likely slipping by without notice. The State Department recognized this problem in its 2015 report, “The Global Illicit Trade in Tobacco: A Threat to National Security,” which highlighted the dangerous problem this poses. It explains that cigarette smuggling “is a low-risk, high-reward criminal activity” that “is a lucrative crime for some terrorist groups and a potential revenue source to finance acts of terror.” Trust me when I say that this will have perilous implications for crime in Texas. During my many years in the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms, I saw firsthand the impact that illicit smuggling across the border has on American communities. Along with illicit cigarettes, these criminals bring drugs, guns and other contraband into our neighborhoods. We should never have to weigh a tradeoff between public health and public safety. This is especially the case because there are far more viable and promising policy options at our disposal. Policymakers should keep in mind that restricting vapor devices also creates profit opportunities for international smugglers. In April, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized 10,000 unapproved Juul pods coming from Canada and destined for various locations in New York and New Jersey. Over the past few decades, I have seen numerous policy proposals that would only further harm public safety, and the Tobacco Tax Equity Act of 2021 is undoubtedly one of them. We cannot afford to support an international criminal industry that we are already struggling to suppress in our state. Texans should be well aware of the deeply personal impact that this law would have on our lives. Domenech is a 29-year law enforcement veteran who served as acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed him New York City sheriff in 2010 and created the tobacco tax enforcement regime in that city.
To boost acceptance, give Trump credit for vaccines Marc Thiessen says the former president’s supporters need to hear directly from him — not Biden or other Democrats.
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden missed his Independence Day target of getting first shots into the arms of 70 percent of American adults. If he wants to convince the vaccine-hesitant to get immunized — especially vaccine-hesitant Republicans — there is a simple way to do so: Give Donald Trump the credit he deserves for the vaccines. Former presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter were all invited to record public service ads urging Americans to get vaccinated. The only former president not included was the one whose voice could have made the biggest difference — Trump. This makes no sense. Today, it is Trump supporters who are most likely to remain unvaccinated. The 20 U.S. states with the highest vaccination rates all voted for Biden in 2020. Meanwhile, most of the 22 states with the lowest vaccination rates went for Trump — including almost all of the states with vaccination rates below 50 percent. In conservative Mississippi, only 38.3 percent of adults are fully vaccinated, compared with 76.1 percent in liberal Vermont. A new Post-ABC News poll finds that while
86 percent of Democrats say they have received at least one dose, only 45 percent of Republicans have. And while just 6 percent of unvaccinated Democrats say they aren’t likely to get vaccinated, 47 percent of Republicans say they probably or definitely will not get shots against the virus. If Biden wants to convince those Americans to get immunized, he should remind them that Operation Warp Speed — the greatest public health achievement in human history — was also the greatest achievement of the Trump presidency. Trump invested about $10 billion in six vaccine candidates — purchasing hundreds of millions of doses of vaccines before they were proven, and clearing away regulatory hurdles. All three vaccines that eventually received FDA approval received critical support from his administration. He provided $955 million to support the development of Moderna’s vaccine and another $1.5 billion to support large-scale manufacturing and distribution of the vaccine. He also pledged $1.95 billion for the purchase and nationwide distribution of 100 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine, and $1.46 billion to purchase 100 million doses of Johnson &
Johnson’s vaccine. And he provided $1.6 billion in support for Novavax, whose vaccine has been shown to be 90.4 percent effective and plans to file for FDA authorization in the third quarter. Before leaving office, Trump had contracted to buy at least 800 million vaccine doses with delivery by July 31 — enough to vaccinate every single American. He put us on track to end the pandemic, and get our lives back. But instead of giving Trump credit for this accomplishment, Biden has tried to play down Trump’s role, falsely declaring that “my predecessor — as my mother would say, ‘God love him’ — failed to order enough vaccines.” Indeed, Biden has tried to take credit not only for vaccine distribution but also vaccine development, noting in a recent speech that “the science was done under Democratic and Republican administrations.” This is childish. Operation Warp Speed gave us the vaccines. Trump led it. It was his achievement. Full stop. Acknowledging this fact does not require Biden to gloss over what he considers Trump’s other manifold failures in office or his terrible behavior after the election. Biden is the one who promised to usher in a new era of bipartisanship, so why can’t he admit his Republican predecessor’s role in delivering the vaccines that are saving us? If Biden isn’t comfortable touting Trump’s achievement, he could ask Trump to do it. Does Biden really think that voters in Trump states are going to
be persuaded by appeals from Carter, Clinton and Obama to get immunized? Apparently, Biden considered asking for Trump’s help. In March, he said, “I discussed it with my team and they say the thing that has more impact than anything Trump would say to the MAGA folks is what the local doctors, what the local preachers, what the local people in the community say.” No, that’s not true. Indeed, an appeal from Trump may very well be the only thing that would convince some of his supporters to get their shots. Of course, Trump does not need to wait for an invitation from Biden. He could set up vaccination sites at his rallies, which would give him an opportunity to tout his administration’s singular success in saving us from COVID-19. And Republican governors in pro-Trump states could record public service ads of their own featuring Trump urging his supporters to get the vaccines his administration produced. But though those efforts might be useful, it is the sitting president’s responsibility to convince Americans to get immunized. While the Biden administration deserves credit for the effective distribution of the vaccines, it was Trump who made the vaccines possible. The message to vaccine-hesitant Republicans should be: If you trust Trump, get your Trump vaccine.
Thiessen writes a column for the Washington Post.
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NATION
Avenatti gets 2 ½ years in prison for extortion By Jim Mustian and Larry Neumeister A S S OC I AT E D PRE SS
NEW YORK — A chastened Michael Avenatti, the brash lawyer who once represented Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against President Donald Trump, was sentenced Thursday to 2 ½ years in prison for trying to extort up to $25 million from Nike by threatening the company with bad publicity. Avenatti, 50, rose to prominence by sparring publicly with Trump, but fraud charges on two coasts disrupted his rapid ascent. He was convicted last year of attempted extortion and other charges in connection with his representation of a Los Angeles youth basketball league organizer who was upset Nike had ended its league sponsorship. U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe called Avenatti’s conduct “outrageous,” saying he “hijacked his client’s claims, and he used those claims to further his own agenda, which was to extort millions of dollars from Nike for himself.” Avenatti, the judge added, “had become drunk on the power of his platform, or what he perceived the power of his platform to be. He had become someone who operated as if the laws and the rules that applied to everyone else didn’t apply to him.” Before the judge spoke, Avenatti delivered emotional remarks. He choked up several times and spoke at times through tears, saying, “I and I alone have destroyed my career, my relationships and my life.” “Your honor, I’ve learned that all the fame, notoriety and money in the world is meaningless. TV and Twitter, your honor, mean nothing,” he said. He ended his statement by saying what he expects of his three children, including two teenage
“Every father wants their children to be proud of them. I want mine to be ashamed.” Michael Avenatti, who represented Stormy Daniels in a lawsuit against then-President Donald Trump before his own legal issues ruined his career
daughters who wrote letters to the judge. “Every father wants their children to be proud of them. I want mine to be ashamed. Because if they are ashamed, it means their moral compass is exactly where it should be,” he said. As he left the courthouse in the rain with his attorney, he stopped briefly before a set of microphones while his lawyer Danya Perry said, “A new Michael Avenatti is deeply humbled as a result of this experience.” Avenatti’s legal woes are far from over. He also faces the start of a fraud trial next week in the Los Angeles area, a second California criminal trial later this year and a separate trial next year in Manhattan, where he’s charged with cheating Daniels out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Avenatti represented Daniels in 2018 in lawsuits against Trump, appearing often on cable news programs to disparage the Republican president. Daniels said a tryst with Trump a decade earlier resulted in her being paid $130,000 by Trump’s personal lawyer in 2016 to stay silent. Trump denied the affair. Avenatti explored running against Trump in 2020, boasting that he would “have no problem raising money.” Those political aspirations evaporated when prosecutors in California and New York charged Avenatti with fraud in March 2019. California prosecutors said he was enjoying a $200,000-a-month lifestyle while cheating clients out of millions of dollars and failing to pay hundreds of thousands in taxes.
Charges alleging he cheated Daniels out of proceeds from a book deal followed weeks later. Avenatti pleaded not guilty to all charges. Prosecutors requested a “very substantial” sentence, citing the U.S. Probation Department’s recommendation of an eightyear prison term. Avenatti’s lawyers said six months in prison and a year of home detention would be enough punishment. In written sentencing arguments, prosecutors said Avenatti tried to enrich himself by “weaponizing his public profile” to try to force Nike to submit to his demands. In a victim-impact statement, Nike’s lawyers said Avenatti did considerable harm to the company by falsely trying to link it to a scandal in which bribes were paid to the families of NBA-bound college basketball players to steer them to powerhouse programs. An employee of Adidas, a Nike competitor, was convicted in that case. The lawyers said Avenatti threatened to do billions of dollars of damage to Nike and then falsely tweeted that criminal conduct at Nike reached the “highest levels.” Avenatti’s former client, Gary Franklin Jr., said in a statement submitted by prosecutors that Avenatti’s action had “devastated me financially, professionally, and emotionally.” Franklin and representatives of Nike attended the sentencing. An attorney for Franklin released a statement saying that his client was grateful to the court for “honoring the very painful experience he went through at the hands of Michael Avenatti.”
John Minchillo / Associated Press
Michael Avenatti stands with lawyer Danya Perry after his sentencing in New York. “A new Michael Avenatti is deeply humbled as a result of this experience,” Perry said.
Trump charged Secret Service $10K in May for agents’ rooms By David A. Fahrenthold WAS H I NGT ON P O ST
Former President Donald Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J., charged the Secret Service nearly $10,200 for guest rooms used by his protective detail during Trump’s first month at the club this summer, newly released spending records show. The records — released by the Secret Service in response to a public-records request — show that the expresident has continued a habit he began in first days of his presidency: charging rent to the agency that protects his life. Since Trump left office in January, U.S. taxpayers have paid Trump’s businesses more than $50,000 for rooms used by Secret Service agents, records show. The Washington Post reported previously that Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club — where he lived from January, when he left the White House, to early May — charged the Secret Service
more than $40,000 so agents could use a room near Trump. These newly released records provide the first proof that, when Trump moved north to Bedminster, the invoices kept coming. The Secret Service released a bill it paid to Trump Bedminster in May, totaling $10,199.52. The agency redacted the nightly rate, but the dollar amount itself offered a clue: The bill was an exact multiple of what Trump Bedminster charged the Secret Service while Trump was still in office: $566.64 per night for a four-bedroom “cottage” on the property. At that rate, the bill from May 2021 would have paid for 18 nights in the cottage. Trump arrived in Bedminster on May 9. The bill from May is the only one that the Secret Service has released from Trump’s time at Bedminster this year. But the agency released an internal document called a “hotel request” form, covering the
period from May 28 to July 1. The form showed that agents planned to rent rooms at Bedminster through at least the start of July. Neither the Trump Organization nor Trump’s political operation responded to a request for comment. A Secret Service spokeswoman declined to comment. Legal experts have said no laws prohibit Trump’s company from charging the Secret Service rent at his properties, either during or after his presidency. By law, the Secret Service can pay whatever it must to rent rooms near its protectees for use as command posts and meeting rooms. “The service is more focused on the protective necessity, as opposed to, ‘How much is it going to cost after the fact?’ There’s nothing they can do” if rates are high, former Secret Service agent Jonathan Wackrow said. “It’s a question of not, ‘Can they do it?’ but ‘Should they be charging that much?’ ”
BUSINESS
HOUSTON CHRONICLE • FRIDAY, JULY 9, 2021 • SECTION B HH
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DOW: 34,421.93, down 259.86 (-0.7%) |
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S&P: 4,320.82, down 37.31 (-0.9%) |
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OIL: $72.94, up 74 cents (+1.0%) |
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NATURAL GAS: $3.69, up 9 cents (+2.6%)
BP: Carbon down, but likely not for long
British oil major notes the pandemic helped reduce emissions and boosted solar, wind By Paul Takahashi STA F F WRIT E R
Global carbon emissions from the energy sector in 2020 fell to their lowest level in nearly a decade as demand for oil plummeted during the coronavirus pandemic, according to BP’s annual energy report released Thursday.
Petroleum stockpiles fall with holiday
The 6.3 percent decline last year was the largest annual reduction since the end of World War II. The drop in greenhouse gas emissions in the energy industry more than offset the half-percent increase from the sector in 2019 and a 2.1 percent increase in 2018, BP said. BP CEO Bernard Looney said
the world will need to maintain last year’s average rate of decline in carbon emissions for the next 30 years to be on track to meet the net-zero goals of the Paris climate agreement and avoid the worst consequences of climate change. “There are worrying signs that last year’s COVID-induced dip in carbon emissions will be shortlived as the world economy recovers and lockdowns are lifted,” Looney said in BP’s annual statistical review. “The challenge is to
achieve sustained, comparable year-on-year reductions in emissions without massive disruption to our livelihoods and our everyday lives.” The pandemic had a dramatic effect on the fossil fuels market, with significant declines seen in oil, natural gas and coal consumption. Emissions plunged as global energy demand last year fell by an estimated 4.5 percent, the largest drop since 1945. Demand for crude, in particular, plummeted
as economic lockdowns and travel restrictions decimated transportation-related demand for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. The price of Brent oil averaged $41.84 last year, the lowest since 2004, after global crude consumption fell by a record 9.1 million barrels per day, or 9.3 percent, to the lowest level since 2011. Oil demand fell by the most in the U.S., which saw declines of 2.3 million barrels per day after producers halted Carbon continues on B6
BASEBALL FIELD PITS LIONS CLUB VS. DADS’ CLUB
By Marcy de Luna STA F F WRIT E R
Petroleum inventories fell last week as Americans consumed record amounts of gasoline as they headed into the Fourth of July weekend, freed to travel by rising vaccinations and declining cases of COVID-19. Demand for gasoline jumped nearly 13 percent from the same period a year earlier to an average of about 10 million barrels a day, the highest since the statistical series began in 1990, the Energy Department reported Thursday. Demand for all petroleum products surged by nearly 18 percent to an average of almost 21 million barrels a day from a year ago. Jet fuel consumption soared by more than 80 percent. The reopening of the U.S. economy has spurred a surge in travel and a hunger for energy as Americans make up for lost time after being trapped at home by the pandemic for most of the past year. That demand has contributed to the recent rally in oil markets and rapid climb in gasoline prices, which have topped $3 a gallon nationally and hit the highest levels since 2014. The decline in inventories helped lift crude prices Thursday. Oil settled at $72.94 a barrel in New York, up 74 cents but off recent highs of more than $75. Commercial crude inventories fell for the seventh consecutive week, shrinking by 6.9 million barrels last week, the Energy Department reported. Over those seven weeks, crude inventories have plunged by more than 40 million barrels. U.S. oil production averaged 11.3 million barrels a day, up from about 11 million barrels a day a month ago but well below the preFuels continues on B7
Mark Mulligan / Staff photographer
The Heights Lions Club, a local chapter of the worldwide nonprofit focused on volunteering and fundraising in the community, is battling Oaks Dads’ Club, a youth sports nonprofit, in court over ownership of this field in Oak Forest.
Legal fight shapes up to be a lose-lose case for the two groups — and the area’s children By R.A. Schuetz STAFF W R ITER
More than three decades after the company that owned an Oak Forest baseball field dissolved, a fight has broken out over who owns the site where children have been playing for years. The Heights Lions Club, a nonprofit that provides free eye-
glasses to children in the area, is battling Oaks Dads’ Club, a youth sports nonprofit, over ownership of the field. Hanging in the balance is the fate of the 2.7 acre lot on Judiway Street off of Ella Boulevard and the financial futures of both organizations. The Lions Club wants to sell the land to a developer for up-
Inc., which bought the property in 1957, dissolved in 1986 when it did not file its report with the Texas secretary of state. The closely related Oak Forest Lions Club, which has since merged with the Heights Lions Club, argues in court filings that it has operated the field since its purchase and has acted as the owner of the property since its namesake dissolved. But the title was never formally transferred, so when the Lions Field continues on B6
Hospitals got over $1B from waiver program
REAL ESTATE
Restaurant expansions boost hope for retail Restaurants are spicing up Houston’s retail landscape by filling vacant spaces as the region emerges from the pandemic. New Orleans-based Acme Oyster House opened in the former El Real Tex-Mex Café space on Westheimer in April. Also this year, Dish Society took over the space previously occupied by Blue Fish for a bigger restaurant in Katy’s LaCenterra at KATHERINE FESER Cinco Ranch. Real Estate Bonchon, a Korean fried chicken chain, opened on the ground floor Central Square Midtown. Velvet Taco is replacing Burger King on Gosling Road in The Woodlands. And Postino WineCafe plans additional Houston locations in Town & Country Village and in Uptown Park, according to Weitzman, a Texas-
ward of $3 million and use the funds to purchase eyeglasses for the community, send special needs children to camp and help provide ocular tissues to surgeons across the continent. The Dads’ Club hopes to own and continue operating the land as a baseball field for generations to come. The dispute over the field stems from paperwork that should have been filed decades ago. A company called the Oak Forest Lions Club Youth Stadium
By Jeremy Blackman AUSTI N B UR E AU
Mabry Campbell / Stream Realty Partners
Stream Realty Partners has completed the first phase of the Empire West Business Park in Brookshire. based real estate firm. These expansions were part of a trend that helped boost overall retail occupancy in the Houston region to 93 percent at mid-year, following a decline of 2 percent during 2020, according to Weitzman. The company tracks retail projects with at least 25,000 square feet, adding up to more than 163 million square feet in the local market. Retailers vacated 3.1 million square feet in 2020 as shoppers stayed home and shifted their spending online during the pandemic. A limited amount of new construction in the Houston
region — just 685,000 square feet in 2021, the lowest in 30 years — is expected to help with the recovery, Weitzman said. Projects opening soon include Montrose Collective, a retail and office development by Radom Capital near Westheimer and Montrose that will house a Houston Public Library, and POST Houston, a redevelopment by Lovett Commercial of the downtown Post office. POST Houston will include Gelu Italian Ice, Lea Jane’s Hot Chicken, Salt & Time Butcher Shop, Soupreme, Taco Fuego and the Butcher’s Burge, Feser continues on B7
Hospitals in the Houston region relied on over $1 billion dollars in federal assistance last year, according to an advocacy group that wants the Biden administration to renew a waiver program that funds health care for uninsured Texans. Hospitals across the state have depended on the 1115 waiver for years, especially as Republican leaders refused to expand Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act. But the future of the funding has been in question since April, when the Biden administration rescinded former President Donald Trump’s decision to renew it for 10 years, citing a failure to allow for public comment. The state has since reapplied for a new extension. Hospital groups warn that without the funding they may be unable to provide some uncompensated care. Texas has the country’s highest uninsured rate, and people without coverage often end up at hospitals for health issues that have been unaddressed. In 2020, 53 hospitals in the
Houston region accessed just over $1 billion in funding through the waiver. The Texas Essential Healthcare Partnerships, which calculated the number, called it “essential to the survival of Texas safety-net hospitals.” “At a time when health care is more important than ever, the federal government and states must work together to ensure safety-net providers have the necessary resources to serve their communities,” the group’s president, Don Lee, said in a statement. Texas is one of nearly a dozen states that has opted against Medicaid expansion, which would increase access to people making up to 138 percent of the poverty level, or about $30,000 for a family of three. Currently, people making over that amount qualify for subsidized insurance through the ACA. Opponents of expansion in Texas have argued that the program is already bloated and inefficient, and that there are other ways to improve access for the uninsured. jeremy.blackman@chron.com
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BUSINESS BRIEFS
Ex-CEO of Microsoft joins the $100B club One of the world’s most exclusive clubs just got a new member, with a second aspirant knocking on the door. Steve Ballmer, the former chief executive officer of Microsoft, has a net worth of more than $100 billion, making him the ninth person in the world to reach that lofty plateau. Oracle founder Larry Ellison fell just short of making it an even 10, ending Wednesday with a fortune of $98.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Ballmer, 65, who stepped down as Microsoft’s CEO in 2014 and now owns the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, has seen his wealth grow by $20.1 billion this year, while Ellison has added $18.9 billion. Ballmer A rally in tech shares has fueled the latest surge in wealth, with seven of those above the $100 billion mark deriving their fortunes from technology companies. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person, has been among the biggest recipients of that rally and now has a record
Tribune News Service file photo
Walmart’s Black supervisors, senior managers and directors gave the company low marks in a survey on career satisfaction. net worth of $212.1 billion. Together, the nine members of the club — along with Ellison — have added about $245 billion to their fortunes since the start of the year and are now collectively worth $1.36 trillion. In addition to being mostly technology chiefs, the group is also largely American, with French luxury goods mogul Bernard Arnault the only exception. WALMART
Black managers cite lack of opportunity
Some high-ranking Black managers at Walmart say career advancement is difficult at the retail chain and they wouldn’t recommend working there, a recent internal survey commissioned by the company found. The report, which was presented to members of the com-
pany’s senior leadership late last year and seen by Bloomberg News, asked 56 Black supervisors, senior managers and directors about the barriers that made it difficult to achieve their career goals. A majority of those surveyed gave mediocre rankings for career satisfaction. Walmart said in a statement to Bloomberg that the study was “early research” with an “unscientific and limited sample size.” It was commissioned by one of its employee-led “shared value networks,” which were created last summer and focus on driving systemic change in areas such as education and criminal justice. While Black workers account for 21 percent of Walmart’s 1.6 million-person U.S. workforce — a higher percentage than their 13.4 percent share of the U.S. population — the representation
is largely concentrated at lower levels of the organization. In the U.S., 8.4 percent of Walmart’s corporate officers are Black. Several levels of Black Walmart managers were asked to give a numerical ranking for how likely they would be to encourage friends and family to work there. The final scores were tallied into a “net-promoter score” on a scale ranging from -100 to 100. The Black directors and senior directors, roles that rank just below vice presidents in Walmart’s hierarchy, gave a net promoter score of -86. Senior managers, who typically report to directors, delivered the lowest possible score of -100. The hourly supervisors, who make up less than half of those surveyed, gave a score of 72, indicating they would recommend working at the retailer. FOOD
Beyond Meat offers faux chicken tenders
Beyond Meat’s breaded faux chicken tenders launched Thursday, ending a long wait for investors hoping to see if the company can replicate its success in plant-based beef. Chicken is the most popular meat in the U.S., so converting even a portion of existing demand to plant-based would be a boon. Still, Beyond’s fava-beanbased tenders — its first new mass-market “animal” since it launched a pea-derived sausage in 2017 — are entering a crowded market with a smaller rollout than other national launches, in fewer than 400 U.S. restaurants.
Beyond said it plans to expand the tenders soon from their modest initial roster of restaurants into more eateries, as well as hotels, college campuses, stadiums and other venues. The company declined to share a date for a supermarket launch, but multiple retailers say they have been pitched a Beyond chicken product. TECHNOLOGY
Twitter agrees to India’s new rules
Twitter pledged to “fully comply” with India’s new internet regulations, caving in a dispute with the government over rules that critics say curtail privacy and free speech. The U.S. social media giant has appointed an interim chief compliance officer, will name a grievance officer by July 11 and set up an India office in eight weeks, a lawyer for the company told the Delhi High Court on Thursday. These are some of the requirements under rules issued by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in February. Facebook, WhatsApp, Google and others have already made the appointments and started generating user grievance reports, as required by the new rules. Officials have demanded Facebook and Twitter take down hundreds of posts this year, divulge sensitive user information and submit to a regulatory regimen that includes potential jail terms for executives if companies don’t comply.
From wire reports
Volkswagen, BMW fined over emissions By Jack Ewing N EW YO RK T IME S
Germany’s three largest carmakers colluded illegally to limit the effectiveness of their emissions technology, leading to higher levels of harmful diesel pollution, European antitrust authorities said Thursday. Volkswagen and its Porsche and Audi divisions must pay 500 million euros, or $590 million, and BMW will pay 373 million euros, or $442 million, as part of a settlement with the European Commission related to the cartel. Daimler avoided a fine that would have totaled 727 million euros because it blew the whistle on the plot, the European Commission said. The settlement is another blow to the image of the German automakers, who dominate the high
end of the car market but have lost some of their luster after Volkswagen admitted in 2015 that millions of cars it produced were fitted with software designed to dupe official emissions testers. Daimler and BMW became tainted by the diesel scandal after the European Commission accused them in 2017 of illegally agreeing with Volkswagen on specifications for emissions treatment technology. Those accusations led to the settlement Thursday. The European Commission, the European Union’s administrative arm, did not accuse the carmakers of agreeing to deploy illegal technology. Rather, it said that they illegally agreed to deploy emissions technology that met minimum legal standards but was not as good as it could have been. Among other things, the car-
makers agreed to limit the size of the tanks used to hold a chemical, known as AdBlue, that neutralizes harmful nitrogen oxides in diesel emissions, the commission said. Larger tanks would have done a better job reducing pollution but taken space that companies preferred to use for audio speakers or other amenities. “For over five years, the car manufacturers deliberately avoided to compete on cleaning better than what was required by EU emission standards,” Margrethe Vestager, the European Union’s competition commissioner, said in a statement. “And they did it despite the relevant technology being available.” Volkswagen has since paid well over $20 billion in fines and legal settlements related to its diesel emissions cheating. Daimler admitted last year that its Mercedes-
Benz cars were also programmed to cheat on admissions tests and paid $2.2 billion as part of a settlement with U.S. authorities. Sales of diesel vehicles, which once accounted for more than half of the new cars sold in Europe, have plummeted. BMW portrayed the settlement as a vindication because it did not accuse the company of emissions cheating, which it has consistently denied. The fine was lower than expected, freeing up 1 billion euros that BMW had set aside to cover penalties related to the cartel case. “Unlike some of its competitors, the BMW Group never considered reduced, illegal emission control,” the company said in a statement. Discussion with the other carmakers “had no influence whatsoever on the company’s product decisions,” BMW
Critics say U.S. Postal Service’s new price plans will imperil community newspapers By David Bauder and Anthony Izaguirre
A S S OC I AT E D PRE SS
The U.S. Postal Service’s plan to raise mailing rates could present one more damaging blow to community newspapers already reeling from the coronavirus pandemic and advertising declines, a trade group says. Rates on periodicals would increase by more than 8 percent as of Aug. 29, according to agency filings. The price jump is part of a broad plan pushed by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to overhaul mail operations. The impact of the periodical rate increase is expected to be felt most by small daily and weekly newspapers, as well as rural newspapers, which depend on the Postal Service since they have shifted from using independent contractors for deliveries. In response, publishers potentially could be forced to further reduce staff or forgo home deliveries entirely and instead send papers to communal news racks, or even shutter their papers, said Paul Boyle, senior vice president at the News Media Alliance, a trade association representing nearly 2,000 news organizations in the U.S. “It is one of several nicks and slashes that can damage the bottom line, especially if you are an independent publisher who is operating at break even or in the low single digits of profitability. And most are,” said Penelope Muse Abernathy, a Northwestern University professor who has extensively studied the decline of the news industry. For some, it could be the tipping point for survivability, Boyle said.
Jim Watson / Associated Press file photo
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy plans to raise periodical rates by 8 percent on Aug. 29 in a blow to small publications. The News Media Alliance, in comments opposing the rate increases, told the independent Postal Regulatory Commission that the plans “ultimately harm the public interest while doing little to improve the Postal Service’s financial condition.” In a statement, Postal Service spokesman David Partenheimer said the agency’s leaders are “committed to judiciously implementing a rational pricing approach that helps enable us to remain viable and competitive and offer reliable postal services that are among the most affordable in the world.” “While the price newspapers pay varies based on how they prepare and enter their papers into our system, the average proposed price increase for newspapers for local delivery is from 10.6 cents to 11.4 cents or 0.8 cent, less than one cent,” he said. The newspaper industry has been struggling greatly over the past two decades. Advertising
has dried up due to the internet and readership has fallen. More than 2,100 newspapers in the United States have closed in the past 15 years, the majority of them weeklies that serve local communities, according to research by the University of North Carolina. In the same period, regular newspaper readership has fallen by one-half, the researchers said. Newspaper newsroom employment stood at 74,410 in 2006, the last year that figure grew over the previous year, according to the Pew Research Center in a study released last week. In 2020, there were 30,820 people in newsrooms. DeJoy, along with Ron Bloom, chairman of the agency’s governing board, presented the 10-year plan for the Postal Service in March, arguing that significant changes would be necessary to stem a projected $160 billion loss over the next decade. The strategy includes relaxing
delivery standards on first-class mail going to the farthest reaches of its network, from a one-tothree-day benchmark to a one-tofive-day goal. Postal officials have said 70 percent of mail would still be delivered within three days. Postal leaders are also moving to increase the price of a first-class stamp from 55 cents to 58 cents, and want to consolidate underused post offices and invest in new delivery vehicles. Democrats have criticized the plan as an unacceptable decline of mail service and have renewed calls for the removal of DeJoy, a major Republican donor who has been engulfed in controversy since taking over the agency last year. DeJoy, a wealthy former logistics executive who has also donated to former President Donald Trump, drew national scrutiny last year when he put in place a series of policy changes that caused widespread delivery delays before the 2020 election as millions of people prepared to vote by mail. He was also blamed for a steep decline in on-time deliveries around the holiday season last year. After Trump’s defeat, Democrats pushed again for DeJoy’s ouster. The Senate in late May approved three new appointees, nominated by President Joe Biden, to the Postal Service’s governing board, giving Democratic appointees a majority on the board. Still, DeJoy has maintained that he intends to stay in the post and told members of Congress at a hearing this year, “Get used to me.” Bloom has stood by DeJoy, telling lawmakers in February that the postmaster general was “doing a good job.”
said. Daimler noted that it cooperated with the investigation. “The European Commission explicitly found no evidence that there was any agreement regarding the use of prohibited defeat devices,” the company said in a statement. Volkswagen agreed to the settlement but said it was considering appealing some aspects of it, which is permitted under European Union law. “The commission is breaking new legal ground with this decision, because it is the first time it has prosecuted technical cooperation as an antitrust violation,” Volkswagen said in a statement. “It is also imposing fines even though the contents of the talks were never implemented and customers were therefore never harmed.”
Feds sue to force fix of home elevators By Todd C. Frankel WAS H I N GT O N P O ST
WASHINGTON — A federal safety agency took the rare step Wednesday of voting to sue a major elevator company to force it to fix residential elevators blamed for crushing young children. The danger of such accidents was highlighted in a 2019 investigation by the Washington Post. The Consumer Product Safety Commission and ThyssenKrupp Access, part of German conglomerate ThyssenKrupp, had been battling for years over responsibility for the accidents and what should be done to avoid them. The CPSC backed off filing a similar recall lawsuit in 2019, despite pleas from victims’ parents, as elevator industry groups argued the problem was complicated. More pressure to act came after a 4-year-old boy was trapped under a ThyssenKrupp Access residential elevator on Thanksgiving Day 2019. He escaped serious injury. But the incident highlighted the continuing threat. On Wednesday, after weeks of new negotiations with the company, the CPSC voted 3-1 to file a lawsuit to require ThyssenKrupp Access to inspect elevators installed in customers’ homes and offer free repairs. In most cases, the agency is required by law to have companies voluntarily agree to a recall or a corrective action like this. It is unusual for the CPSC to go to court to compel action for what the agency considers a substantial product hazard.
HH
Houston Chronicle | HoustonChronicle.com | Friday, July 9, 2021 |
B3
MARKET SUMMARY ENERGY FUTURES
BLOOMBERG COMMODITY PRICE OUTLOOK
Prices in U.S. dollars per unit for energy commodities for the contract closest to delivery:
The median price of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg:
Name Lt Sw Crude Natural gas Gas blend Heating oil Ethanol
C Date Aug 21 Aug 21 Aug 21 Aug 21 Aug 21
Open 72.17 3.58 2.20 2.08 -
High 73.17 3.72 2.26 2.13 -
Low 70.76 3.54 2.18 2.05 -
Settle 72.94 3.69 2.26 2.12 2.32
Chg 0.74 0.09 0.05 0.03 -0.03
Unit barrel MMBtu gal gal gal
2021 Forecast
2022 Forecast
2023 Forecast
62.20
63.00
62.15
2.93
2.92
3.10
Crude oil Natural Gas
ENERGY PRICES
ETFs - $1,000 INVESTED IN EACH
Cash price in U.S. dollars paid at delivery for various commodities: Name Unleaded Gasoline - NY North Sea Brent W. Texas-Int. - Cushing Nat Gas - Henry Hub
Last Price 2.24 74.87 72.94 3.54
Performance of various index-based investment products:
Pvs Day 2.19 74.04 72.20 3.59
ENERGY
Unit gallon barrel barrel MMBtu
Ticker XLE XES USO
METALS
BLOOMBERG/CHRONICLE ENERGY INDEX Top and bottom performers among Houston-based and Last Tick Name Price % Chg HDYNQ Hyperdynamics Corp 0.01 33.3 HUSA Houston American Energy 2.05 5.7 SWN Southwestern Energy Co 5.34 4.1 CNX CNX Resources Corp 13.51 2.4 COG Cabot Oil & Gas Corp 17.41 2.3 MCF Contango Oil & Gas Co 4.15 1.2 EPM Evolution Petroleum Corp 4.63 1.1 CNP CenterPoint Energy Inc 25.26 1.0 DVN Devon Energy Corp 27.76 0.8 RIG Transocean Ltd 4.53 0.7
other major energy companies: Volume 32,627 1,592,006 13,073,028 1,217,225 5,545,534 1,633,745 160,071 12,663,226 2,143,502 27,574,610
Tick CDVIQ EGY VLO IO GEL CVI CQP EOG OII NBR
Name Energy Select Se SPDR Oil & Gas E US Oil Fund
Name Cal Dive International VAALCO Energy Inc Valero Energy Corp ION Geophysical Corp Genesis Energy LP CVR Energy Inc Cheniere Energy Partners EOG Resources Inc Oceaneering International Nabors Industries Ltd
Last Price % Chg 0.00 -13.8 3.05 -2.9 70.26 -2.8 1.76 -2.8 10.91 -2.3 16.12 -1.9 44.20 -1.7 79.89 -1.5 14.80 -1.5 105.38 -1.4
Volume 107,700 286,864 1,617,817 632,495 348,878 577,053 93,233 1,489,177 569,566 39,161
Performance of a basket of Houston-based and other major energy companies over the past 12 months: Aug. 2007=100
Ticker Name IAU iShares Gold T SLV iShares Silver T
64.89
Ticker JO CORN CANE CATL COW
50
30 A
S
O
N
D
J
F
M
$1K return 3mo 1,077 1,126 1,213
$1K return 1yr 1,503 1,838 1,697
$1K return 1mo 952 938
$1K return 3mo 1,026 1,017
$1K return 1yr 994 1,373
$1K return 3mo 1,154 1,092 1,146 928 937
$1K return 1yr 1,383 1,548 1,420 994 1,213
SOFT/LIVESTOCK/GRAIN
70
J
$1K return 1mo 933 890 1,034
A
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$1K return 1mo 950 873 983 1,013 944
Name DJ-UBS Coffee Teucrium Corn Teucrium Sugar ETFS Live Cattle iPath DJ-UBS Liv
*Trades on London Stock Exchange
J J
Stocks pull back as bond yields fall again By Damian J. Troise and Alex Veiga A S S OC IAT E D PRE SS
Stocks closed lower Thursday on Wall Street as bond yields fell again and investors turned cautious following the market’s recent run of record highs. The S&P 500 fell 0.9 percent, weighed down by a broad slide driven mainly by technology, financial, industrial and communication companies. The benchmark index’s pullback comes a
day after it hit its eighth alltime high in nine trading days. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.30 percent, the lowest level since February, after slipping to 1.32 percent a day earlier. The benchmark yield, which is used to set rates on mortgages and many other kinds of loans, has been falling steadily in recent weeks as traders shift money into bonds. The 10year yield traded as high as 1.74 percent at the end of
March. The bond market has been signaling concerns over the strength of the recovery for months, specifically that it may have peaked and is now leveling off to a steadier pace. The stock market has largely ignored those signals, analysts said, but could be coming around to that message amid struggling job growth and lackluster economic reports. “You can’t ignore what the bond market has been telling us,” said J.J. Kinahan,
chief strategist with TD Ameritrade. The S&P 500 fell 37.31 points to 4,320.82. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 259.86 points, or 0.7 percent, to 34,421.93. The Nasdaq composite snapped a three-day run of closing highs, dropping 105.28 points, or 0.7 percent, to 14,559.78. Smaller company stocks also fell. The Russell 2000 index slid 21.17 points, or 0.9 percent, to 2,231.68. Longer-term yields tend
S&P 500 MOVERS
Daily close of the Nasdaq Composite index and the S&P 500 over the past six months: Tick KSU NSC CSX PHM UNP FCX DHI AIG MET IVZ
Name KS City Southern Norfolk Southern CSX Corp PulteGroup Inc Union Pacific Freeport-McMoRan DR Horton Inc Amer Intl Grp MetLife Inc Invesco Ltd
Last Price 262.79 253.78 30.95 52.71 218.34 34.69 89.09 44.86 56.69 25.17
% Chg -7.9 -7.2 -6.2 -4.4 -4.4 -4.2 -4.2 -4.1 -3.7 -3.6
1-month % Chg -11.3 -7.9 -5.4 -7.5 -1.6 -16.2 -4.1 -15.7 -14.2 -13.6
DAILY LOSERS Volume 451,560 732,849 8,660,823 1,055,011 1,206,990 5,127,522 1,265,865 1,391,830 3,336,811 1,549,689
BLOOMBERG HOUSTON CHRONICLE 150 The Bloomberg Houston 150 includes major companies based in Houston and significant employers in the area. Last Chg % Chg 52W Div Name Ticker Price Day YTD 52W Low High Yld Name Ticker AcdmySprts ASO 39.38 -0.96 90.0 12.05 42.75 - Luby's Inc LUB AdmsRes & AE 27.55 -0.16 14.3 18.36 37.70 3.48 LyndllBsll LYB AllgncBncs ABTX 36.33 -0.40 6.4 21.45 43.34 1.32 Macy's Inc M Amazon.com AMZN 3731.41 34.83 14.6 2871.00 3759.99 - MainStCap MAIN AmerNatGrp ANAT 151.08 -3.13 57.2 66.04 157.99 2.17 Marthn Oil MRO APA Corp APA 20.03 -0.02 41.2 7.45 24.30 0.50 MgnlOil & MGY Archrock AROC 8.33 -0.07 -3.8 5.15 10.80 6.96 MRC Global MRC AT&T Inc T 28.18 -0.75 -2.0 26.35 33.88 7.38 Murphy Oil MUR BHP Group BHP 73.50 -0.53 12.5 46.90 82.07 5.50 NatEnSvcsR NESR Bk of Amer BAC 38.78 -0.97 27.9 22.39 43.49 1.86 Nbrs Indst NBR BkrHghsCo BKR 21.97 -0.29 5.4 12.13 26.57 3.28 NewparkRes NR BlckStnMin BSM 10.13 -0.38 51.6 5.77 11.18 6.91 NineEnSvc NINE BncBlbVzcy BBVA 5.93 -0.21 21.6 2.46 6.53 - NOV Inc NOV BnchmrkElc BHE 26.74 -0.47 -1.0 18.75 32.56 2.47 NOW Inc DNOW Boeing Co BA 236.77 4.99 10.6 141.58 278.57 - NRG Energy NRG BP PLC BP 25.58 -0.15 24.7 14.74 28.49 4.93 NtrlResPrt NRP BristowGrp VTOL 26.40 0.31 0.3 12.76 30.82 - NxTrOlfldS NEX Cactus Inc WHD 37.51 0.39 43.9 16.11 44.20 0.96 OccdntlPtr OXY CadenceBcp CADE 19.41 -0.19 18.2 7.30 23.88 3.09 Ocnrng Int OII Carrg Svcs CSV 34.61 -0.69 10.5 16.74 39.65 1.16 OilSttsInt OIS CbtOil & G COG 17.41 0.39 6.9 15.28 21.34 2.53 OrionGroup ORN CBTX Inc CBTX 26.42 0.17 3.6 13.82 33.29 1.97 OssMdstPrt OMP CenterPtEn CNP 25.26 0.25 16.7 18.40 26.18 2.53 ParPacific PARR ChampionX CHX 23.72 0.25 55.0 6.87 30.48 - Penn VA PVAC Chevron CVX 102.60 -0.33 21.5 65.16 113.11 5.22 Phillips66 PSX ChnrEnPrtn CQP 44.20 -0.78 25.4 31.51 45.75 5.97 Phllps66Pr PSXP Civeo Corp CVEO 19.10 -0.48 37.4 5.53 20.67 - Plains GP PAGP CllnPtrCo CPE 51.76 -0.34 293.3 4.50 60.51 - PlnsAllAme PAA CmdnPropTr CPT 138.83 1.47 38.9 85.74 138.98 2.39 PROS Inc PRO CmfrtSysUS FIX 76.02 -0.75 44.4 37.37 88.53 0.61 PrsprtyBnc PB CntngOil & MCF 4.15 0.05 81.2 1.09 6.94 - Pttrsn-UTI PTEN Comcast CMCSA 58.23 0.06 11.1 39.03 59.11 1.72 Pwll Indst POWL ConcPhllps COP 59.21 0.20 48.1 27.53 63.57 2.90 QnxBldngPr NX Conn's Inc CONN 24.47 -0.34 109.3 9.06 31.48 - QuantaSvcs PWR CrstwdEqyP CEQP 29.25 0.01 54.1 10.57 33.94 8.55 RylDtchShl RDS/A CrwnCstlIn CCI 200.74 -0.09 26.1 146.15 202.46 2.65 SchlmbrgrN SLB CVR Energy CVI 16.12 -0.32 36.7 7.76 21.38 - ShllMdstPr SHLX CVS Health CVS 80.22 -1.12 17.5 55.36 90.61 2.49 SlctEnSvcs WTTR Devon En DVN 27.76 0.23 78.4 7.61 31.74 1.59 SlrsOlfldI SOI DPntdeNmrs DD 76.62 -1.13 7.7 50.75 87.27 1.57 SnnvEnInt NOVA DR Horton DHI 89.09 -3.90 29.3 56.68 106.89 0.90 Spark En SPKE Dril-Quip DRQ 31.06 -0.02 4.9 22.25 40.62 - SprtofTXBn STXB DXPEntrpr DXPE 32.21 -0.61 44.9 15.42 35.98 - SthwstrnEn SWN EntrprsPro EPD 24.09 -0.09 23.0 14.90 25.69 7.47 StrlngCnst STRL EOG Res EOG 79.89 -1.20 60.2 31.22 87.99 2.07 StwrtInfoS STC Exterran EXTN 4.57 -0.18 3.4 2.77 6.06 - Sunoco LP SUN ExxonMobil XOM 60.14 -0.27 45.9 31.11 64.93 5.79 Svc Int/U SCI Fltk Indst FTK 1.76 0.01 -16.6 1.21 3.09 - SWArlnsCo LUV Fluor Corp FLR 15.99 -0.24 0.1 8.10 25.08 - Sysco Corp SYY FrmEnTech FET 22.47 -0.15 88.8 6.22 28.50 - Talos En TALO Frprt-McMR FCX 34.69 -1.52 33.3 12.44 46.10 0.86 Targa Res TRGP GenElctrCo GE 12.87 -0.11 19.2 5.93 14.42 0.31 Target TGT Genesis En GEL 10.91 -0.26 75.7 3.78 12.78 5.50 TC Energy TRP Gespc Tech GEOS 8.00 -0.44 -6.5 5.02 12.40 - Team Inc TISI Godrch Ptr GDP 15.50 0.84 53.6 6.55 15.51 - TechnipFMC FTI Grp 1 Auto GPI 162.87 12.55 24.2 62.51 175.04 0.81 TETRA Tech TTI GrtLksDrdg GLDD 14.24 -0.07 8.1 8.17 16.28 - Tidewater TDW Hess Corp HES 82.60 -0.74 56.5 34.82 91.09 1.21 Transocean RIG Hess Midst HESM 24.32 -0.35 24.3 14.56 27.62 7.44 TtlEnrgsSE TTE Hllbrtn Co HAL 21.61 -0.01 14.3 10.60 25.00 0.83 Untd Arlns UAL HlxEnSolGr HLX 5.16 -0.06 22.9 2.20 6.76 - UntdPrclSv UPS Howrd Hghs HHC 92.86 -1.92 17.6 46.70 113.20 - US Silica SLCA Huntsman HUN 25.91 -0.58 3.1 16.74 32.35 2.89 Valero En VLO HwlttPckrd HPE 14.30 -0.14 20.7 8.29 16.74 3.36 Verzn Comm VZ IES Inc IESC 48.91 -0.61 6.2 19.98 56.24 - W&T Offsh WTI Insperity NSP 91.05 -1.17 11.8 60.34 95.78 1.98 Walmart WMT IONGeophys IO 1.76 -0.05 -22.0 1.26 4.97 - Wast Cnnct WCN JcbsEngGrp J 132.30 -1.27 21.4 77.51 145.97 0.63 Waste Mgmt WM JPMrgnChs JPM 150.94 -2.65 18.8 90.78 167.44 2.38 WhtstnREIT WSR KBR Inc KBR 38.47 0.31 24.4 20.48 42.71 1.14 WlgrnsBtsA WBA Kindr Mrgn KMI 18.17 -0.13 32.9 11.45 19.29 5.94 WllsFrg & WFC Kirby Corp KEX 58.51 -0.43 12.9 35.10 70.60 - WngrtnRlty WRI Kraton KRA 38.65 0.27 39.1 12.92 45.89 - Wstlk Chem WLK Kroger Co KR 37.88 0.24 19.3 30.35 42.99 2.22 WstlkChemP WLKP LGI Homes LGIH 163.28 -5.46 54.3 95.54 188.00 - WstrnMdstP WES
Last Price 3.81 99.01 17.47 40.70 12.95 15.00 8.88 22.75 13.72 105.38 3.24 2.63 14.18 8.98 41.11 20.49 4.51 29.66 14.80 7.03 5.59 23.22 15.82 21.60 80.79 39.00 11.28 10.75 46.14 69.44 8.91 29.52 23.51 87.26 40.39 30.53 14.45 5.50 9.32 35.95 11.84 21.99 5.34 21.90 54.48 37.58 54.62 51.19 74.29 14.25 43.31 248.58 49.51 6.38 8.49 3.84 12.13 4.53 43.81 49.66 212.07 11.61 70.26 55.68 4.41 139.59 120.87 142.17 7.71 46.72 42.32 31.55 86.38 26.95 20.60
Chg % Chg Day YTD 52W Low -0.02 34.2 0.90 -1.39 8.0 61.52 0.30 55.3 5.57 -0.36 26.2 26.68 0.02 94.2 3.73 -0.05 112.5 4.09 -0.14 33.9 3.93 -0.06 88.0 7.00 -0.07 38.2 5.93 -1.49 81.0 21.66 0.01 68.8 0.70 0.26 -3.3 0.99 -0.08 3.3 7.70 -0.16 25.1 4.03 -0.30 9.5 28.22 0.07 49.0 9.56 0.02 31.1 1.58 0.18 71.3 8.52 -0.22 86.2 3.31 -0.07 40.0 2.37 0.02 12.7 2.46 -0.40 98.0 5.50 -0.10 13.2 5.91 -0.30 112.8 6.36 -1.75 15.5 43.27 -0.20 47.7 21.28 -0.08 38.8 5.09 -0.07 30.5 5.26 -0.97 -9.1 24.55 -0.61 0.1 48.80 0.00 69.4 2.38 -0.28 0.1 23.32 -0.14 6.0 12.50 -0.71 21.2 35.89 0.04 14.9 23.07 -0.15 39.9 13.70 -0.07 43.4 8.17 -0.01 34.1 2.80 0.11 14.5 5.55 -1.73 -20.3 17.50 0.10 23.7 6.56 -0.29 30.9 10.40 0.21 79.2 2.18 -0.07 17.7 8.90 -1.18 12.7 30.69 -0.20 30.6 22.81 -0.20 11.2 36.38 -0.19 9.8 30.24 -0.56 0.0 50.03 0.10 72.9 5.39 0.17 64.2 13.08 1.03 40.8 116.73 -0.25 21.6 38.80 -0.10 -41.5 3.75 -0.07 21.4 3.80 0.00 345.7 0.47 0.33 40.4 4.68 0.03 96.1 0.65 -0.43 4.5 28.65 -0.64 14.8 29.23 -2.19 25.9 113.05 -0.21 65.4 2.42 -2.05 24.2 35.44 -0.85 -5.2 53.75 -0.03 103.2 1.35 -0.12 -3.2 124.40 -1.83 17.8 91.20 -1.87 20.6 100.95 -0.20 -3.3 5.62 -0.77 17.2 33.36 -1.08 40.2 20.76 -0.36 45.6 14.99 -2.67 5.9 50.38 -0.19 13.0 17.82 -0.22 49.1 6.99
52W High 3.95 118.02 22.30 43.56 14.33 16.38 12.21 25.97 15.95 133.61 4.08 4.04 18.02 11.98 44.08 21.90 5.84 33.50 18.20 9.49 6.67 35.70 20.18 26.17 94.34 42.17 12.96 12.38 51.83 83.02 11.27 37.28 29.02 101.96 44.50 36.87 16.50 7.58 15.08 57.70 12.40 24.94 5.85 25.74 62.44 38.63 56.86 64.75 86.73 18.93 49.20 248.96 53.65 13.84 10.70 4.49 15.92 5.13 50.41 63.70 219.59 15.38 84.95 61.95 5.14 153.66 124.95 144.74 10.43 57.05 48.13 34.24 106.47 27.57 23.69
Div Yld 4.57 6.04 1.24 2.20 3.16 8.78 0.13 9.47 4.46 8.97 6.38 6.70 2.82 0.90 3.52 1.36 0.28 3.44 1.64 12.73 4.51 6.12 1.63 2.42 8.79 1.54 2.53 0.92 1.45 5.67 7.12 1.92 5.58 4.51 1.58 0.68 1.62 5.58 4.00 0.95 2.92 1.25 7.00 6.12
BLOOMBERG HOUSTON CHRONICLE 150 MOVERS Tick NINE GPI GDP SWN TDW COG BA M VTOL MCF
Name Nine Energy Service Inc Group 1 Automotive Inc Goodrich Petroleum Corp Southwestern Energy Co Tidewater Inc Cabot Oil & Gas Corp Boeing Co/The Macy's Inc Bristow Group Inc Contango Oil & Gas Co
months and below economists’ expectations. Minutes from the Fed’s June meeting showed officials are moving closer to reducing bond purchases, though most analysts don’t expect a reduction until late this year. At that meeting, policymakers said they planned to raise interest rates as soon as 2023. “It’s a little bit of a quiet period so any piece of news from the Fed is going to be met with strong reaction,” Kinahan said.
MARKET INDEXES
Top and bottom performers based on one-day percentage change in stock price: DAILY GAINERS Last 1-month Tick Name Price % Chg % Chg Volume BIIB Biogen Inc 369.05 3.9 -6.7 735,922 BLL Ball Corp 85.29 3.0 5.8 1,034,412 COG Cabot Oil & Gas 17.41 2.3 2.4 1,309,582 BA Boeing Co/The 236.77 2.2 -6.3 2,653,588 MKTX MarketAxess Inc 459.02 2.0 4.1 127,280 ETSY Etsy Inc 196.02 1.6 15.2 570,957 TSLA Tesla Inc 652.81 1.3 8.2 4,581,556 PENN Penn Natl Gaming 71.97 1.1 -14.4 1,194,429 EQR EquityResidential 80.36 1.0 0.9 535,765 CNP CenterPointEnergy 25.26 1.0 -0.8 1,907,823
Daily Gainers
to move along with investors’ expectations for inflation and economic growth, and both are still very strong and much higher than they’ve been in recent years. But Wall Street increasingly suspects they’ve already topped out as the economy moves past the initial catapult phase of its recovery from the pandemic. For example, two recent reports showed that the manufacturing and services sectors are still growing, but more slowly than previous
Last 1-day Price % Chg 2.63 11.0 162.87 8.3 15.50 5.7 5.34 4.1 12.13 2.8 17.41 2.3 236.77 2.2 17.47 1.7 26.40 1.2 4.15 1.2
1-month %Chg 9.6 2.7 37.7 -3.6 -18.4 2.4 -6.3 -6.5 1.3 -18.3
Daily Losers Volume 225,634 378,491 69,741 13,073,028 164,060 5,545,534 17,811,330 15,289,410 156,304 1,633,745
Tick GEOS NOVA FCX DHI EXTN BSM BBVA LGIH WLK VLO
Last 1-day Name Price % Chg Geospace Technologies 8.00 -5.2 Sunnova En International 35.95 -4.6 Freeport-McMoRan Inc 34.69 -4.2 DR Horton Inc 89.09 -4.2 Exterran Corp 4.57 -3.8 Black Stone Minerals LP 10.13 -3.6 Banco Bilbao Vizcy Argntr 5.93 -3.4 LGI Homes Inc 163.28 -3.2 Westlake Chemical Corp 86.38 -3.0 Valero Energy Corp 70.26 -2.8
1-month %Chg -7.8 17.4 -16.2 -4.1 -9.7 1.3 -7.6 -7.0 -16.6 -15.6
Volume 65,358 4,787,923 23,946,914 4,096,714 546,074 731,147 2,506,833 197,875 479,755 5,803,274
NASDAQ
14,559.79
-0.7%
S&P 500
4,320.82
-0.9%
4,400
14,700
14,000 4,100 4,000
13,300
3,900 3,800
12,600
3,700
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U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL STOCK INDEXES Daily close and change in value for selected stock indexes:
U.S. INDEXES Index Dow Jones Ind. Nasdaq Composite S&P 500 BBG Houston 150 DJ US Total Stk Russell 2000
Last Price 34,421.93 14,559.79 4,320.82 695.94 44,922.90 2,231.68
Chg. -259.86 -105.27 -37.31 -0.65 -403.10 -21.17
% Chg -0.7 -0.7 -0.9 -0.1 -0.9 -0.9
YTD 12.5 13.0 15.0 20.6 14.5 13.0
Chg. -120.36 -807.49 -523.56 -248.92 -229.39
% Chg -1.7 -2.9 -1.0 -0.9 -1.1
YTD 8.8 -0.3 12.5 2.5 15.1
6-Mo Ago 1.29 5.42 0.74 1.27 710.73 6.47 3,472.81 0.82 73.25 103.94 20.02 8.42 15.30 1,089.84 1.33 28.00
1-Yr Ago 1.43 5.34 0.79 1.35 785.51 7.00 3,641.53 0.88 75.02 107.26 22.66 9.39 16.94 1,195.48 1.39 29.45
INTERNATIONAL INDEXES Index FTSE 100 Hang Seng Mexico IPC Nikkei 225 S&P/Toronto SE
Last Price 7,030.66 27,153.13 49,529.35 28,118.03 20,061.21
WHAT A U.S. DOLLAR IS WORTH IN . . . Value of the U.S. dollar in selected currencies: Currency Australian Dollar Brazilian Real British Pound Canadian Dollar Chilean Peso Chinese Ren (yuan) Colombian Peso Euro Indian Rupee Japanese Yen Mexican Peso Norwegian Krone S. African Rand S. Korean Won Singapore Dollar Taiwan Dollar
Last 1.35 5.25 0.73 1.25 752.73 6.49 3,846.98 0.84 74.71 109.77 20.01 8.79 14.33 1,144.81 1.35 28.03
1-Mo Ago 1.29 5.03 0.71 1.21 717.76 6.40 3,595.83 0.82 72.89 109.50 19.71 8.27 13.57 1,114.21 1.32 27.71
TREASURIES, INTEREST RATES Yields for the most recently issued securities:
TREASURIES
Last Yld 0.05 0.05 0.20 0.74 1.32 1.88
Bill/Note 3-month t-bill 6 month t-bill 2-year t note 5-year t note 10-year t note 30-year t bond
Yld Pvs Day Clo 0.05 0.05 0.22 0.78 1.32 1.94
Yld 1Day Net Chg 0.00 0.00 -0.02 -0.04 -0.03 -0.02
Yld Wk Ago 0.05 0.05 0.25 0.89 1.46 2.06
Yld Mo Ago 0.03 0.04 0.15 0.77 1.54 2.22
Yld 3-Mo Yld Yr Ago Ago 0.01 0.14 0.03 0.15 0.15 0.16 0.84 0.30 1.62 0.67 2.31 1.40
PRIME, FED FUNDS Rate 3.25 0.25
Bloomberg Prime Rate Fed Funds Target
6-month change 0.00 0.00
1-year change 0.00 0.00
COMMODITY PRICES Closing values for the most active contract of various commodities:
METALS Name Copper Gold Palladium Platinum Silver
C Date Sep 21 Aug 21 Sep 21 Oct 21 Sep 21
Last Price 4.26 1,800.20 2,810.20 1,074.50 25.99
Pvs Close 4.32 1,802.10 2,848.30 1,081.90 26.13
Day % Chg YTD % Chg -1.3 21.0 0.0 -5.4 -1.4 14.3 -0.7 -1.0 -0.5 -2.2
Unit usd/pd usd/oz usd/oz usd/oz usd/oz
Last Price 1.19 1.52 5.24 0.87 774.60 1.27 13.20 6.18
Pvs Close 1.21 1.50 5.31 0.88 816.60 1.26 13.27 6.22
Day % Chg YTD % Chg -1.0 4.3 1.5 14.2 -1.7 20.1 -0.9 16.0 -5.1 34.6 1.3 -1.3 -0.4 18.9 -0.5 -1.8
Unit usd/pd usd/pd usd/bu usd/pd usd/bd ft usd/pd usd/bu usd/bu
AGRICULTURE Name Live Cattle Coffee Corn Cotton Lumber Orange Juice Soybean Wheat
C Date Aug 21 Sep 21 Dec 21 Dec 21 Sep 21 Sep 21 Nov 21 Sep 21
B4
| Friday, July 9, 2021 | HoustonChronicle.com | Houston Chronicle
BUSINESS
Britain probes Chinese takeover of its big chip plant By Kitty Donaldson and Alex Morales B L O OM BE RG NEWS
Britain’s national security adviser will examine the takeover of the country’s biggest semiconductor plant by a Chinese-owned company after lawmakers said it could threaten the country’s high-tech future. Nexperia acquired Welsh-based Newport Wafer Fab, which makes semiconductors mainly for the car industry, on Monday. “We are looking into it. I have asked the National Security Adviser to review,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Parliament on Tuesday. The U.K.’s Enterprise Act gives the government 30 days to either allow the deal to proceed or call it in for scrutiny. Nexperia’s parent company Wingtech Technology Co. Ltd. said in a statement earlier that the deal faces “uncertainties.” Beside supplying automotive plants, Newport Wafer has been focusing on more advanced compound semiconductors that are at the heart of technologies such as 5G and facial recognition. The company also has strong ties to a number of U.K. universities. Johnson told parliament that National Security Adviser Stephen Lovegrove will “judge whether the stuff that they are making is of real intellectual property value and interest to China, whether there are real security implications.” On Thursday, a U.K. government spokesman said that “we are going to monitor the situation closely and wouldn’t hesitate to take further action if necessary.” “The government needs to call this in and block it,” former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith said. Vetoing the deal could antagonize Beijing and signal a hardening of Britain’s stance on Chinese investments in the chip industry, which is at the center of a trade war between the U.S. and China. While Johnson has blocked China’s Huawei Technologies Co. from taking part in Britain’s 5G wireless rollout, the government has tended to take a lighter-touch approach with chip industry deals. Officials have waved through the sale of most of the U.K.’s major semiconductor firms including Arm Ltd., acquired by Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. in 2016, and Imagination Technologies, which went to a Chinese-backed private equity firm in 2017. A new law was passed this year giving sweeping powers for the government to intervene if takeovers are deemed a threat to national security. Ministers will have five years to scrutinize transactions and have powers to unpick them if they are judged a threat. Although Newport Wafer is one of the U.K.’s largest fabrication plants — where semiconductors are made — it remains tiny compared to facilities in the U.S. and Asia, with annual revenue of 49.4 million pounds ($68.2 million), according to the latest U.K. accounts. Nexperia has been a customer of Newport Wafer for several years, a spokesman for Netherlands-based Nexperia said. “Newport has a proven track record and has unparalleled experience with advanced power and semiconductor technologies,” said the spokesman. “With the acquisition, Nexperia is guaranteeing its own supply chain.”
NOTICE OF TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS ACTION TO: Curtis Goodwin DOB: 01/06/1986 FROM: Confidential Clerk of Family Court Jennifer Toscano, Petitioner, has brought a civil action (Petition number 21-11125) against you to terminate your parental rights of your child(ren): 1 Minor Female, DOB: 12-18-09 A hearing has been scheduled at the Family Court, 500 N. King Street, Wilmington, Delaware, on 09/28/21 at 1:00 pm. If you do not appear at the hearing, the Court may terminate your parental rights without your appearance. IF YOU WISH TO BE REPRESENTED BY AN ATTORNEY IN THIS MATTER BUT CANNOT AFFORD ONE, YOU MAY BE ENTITLED TO HAVE THE COURT APPOINT AN ATTORNEY TO REPRESENT YOU FOR FREE . FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE CONFIDENTIAL CLERK AT FAMILY COURT, (302) 255-0300
CAUSE NUMBER: 2019-57740 Plaintiff: BIJOY NAIR AND KENY MEDELLIN vs. Defendant: NATHANIEL KELLY IN THE 127TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT OF HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS CITATION BY PUBLICATION THE STATE OF TEXAS County of Harris To: KELLY, NATHANIEL (WHOSE RESIDENCE AND WHEREABOUTS ARE UNKNOWN) YOU ARE HEREBY COMMANDED to be and appear before the 127th Judicial District Court of Harris County, Texas in the Courthouse in the city of Houston , Texas at or before 10:00 o’clock A.M. Monday, the 2nd day of AUGUST 2021, being the Monday next after the expiration date of forty-two days after this citation is issued, and you are hereby commanded and required then and there to appear and file written answer to the Plaintiffs Original Petition, filed in said Court on the AUGUST 20, 2019, in a suit numbered 2019-57740 docket of said court, wherein BIJOY NAIR AND KENY MEDELLIN, the Plaintiff, and : NATHANIEL KELLY, the Defendant, the nature of plaintiff’s demand and the said petition alleging: MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENT SUMMARY This suit is brought to collect a legal debt of money damages owing to BIJOY NAIR AND KENY MEDELLIN, by reason of an occurrence that took place at or near the 11600 block of Westheimer Road, in Houston, Harris County, Texas on April 28, 2019, when a vehicle driven by defendant, NATHANIEL KELLY, failed to stay in a single lane and collided with the vehicle the plaintiffs were occupying. The crash was so severe that the impact caused the Plaintiffs’ vehicle to incur major damages. The accident caused bodily injuries to Plaintiffs, for which they also seek monetary damages, including but not limited to, past and future medical expenses. Notice hereof shall be given by publishing this Citation once a week for four consecutive weeks previous to the day of AUGUST 2, 2021, in some newspaper published in the County of Harris, if there be a newspaper published therein, but if not, then the nearest county where a newspaper is published, and this Citation shall be returned on the 28TH day of JULY, 2021, which is forty two days after the date it is issued, and the first publication shall be at least twenty-eight days before said return day. HEREIN FAIL NOT, but have before said court on said return day this Writ with your return thereon, showing how you have executed same. WITNESS: Marilyn Burgess, District Clerk, Harris County Texas GIVEN UNDER MY HAND AND SEAL OF SAID COURT at Houston, Texas this 13TH day of MAY, 2021. (SEAL) Newspaper: Houston Chronicle Issued at request of: Taylor Pounds 1333 West Loop S., Suite 1700 Houston, Texas 77027 (713) 655-800 Bar Number: 24105948 Marilyn Burgess, District Clerk Harris County, Texas Generated by: Brianna J. Denmon, Deputy Clerk
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Houston Chronicle | HoustonChronicle.com | Friday, July 9, 2021 |
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BUSINESS
15 states reach opioids deal with Purdue By Jan Hoffman N EW YO RK T IME S
Fifteen states have reached an agreement with Purdue Pharma, the maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin, that would pave the way toward a settlement of at least $4.5 billion and resolve thousands of opioid cases. The states decided late Wednesday to drop their opposition to Purdue’s bankruptcy reorganization plan, in exchange for a release of millions of documents and an additional $50 million from members of the Sackler family, the company’s owners. The agreement was contained in a late-night filing by a mediator in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y. The settlement extracts concessions that will be added to a comprehensive proposal now being voted on by more than 3,000
New York Times file photo
Nine states still oppose an agreement approved by 15 states with Purdue Pharma over its OxyContin. plaintiffs, including cities, counties, tribes and states, who sought to hold Purdue and its owners responsible for their role in the
opioid epidemic. In the last two decades, more than 500,000 Americans have died from overdoses of prescription and illegal
opioids. Trials against other opioid manufacturers and drug distributors are underway. The Sacklers’ contribution to a deal is $4.5 billion, plus an additional $225 million in a civil settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, for which they admit no wrongdoing. Purdue Pharma will distribute $500 million as soon as the company emerges from bankruptcy. The two branches of the Sackler family said in a statement: “This resolution to the mediation is an important step toward providing substantial resources for people and communities in need. The Sackler family hopes these funds will help achieve that goal.” According to the proposed settlement, the Sacklers would pay $4.325 billion. Trustees appointed by a national opioid abatement fund would oversee Sackler chari-
table arts trusts worth at least $175 million. Those funds would go toward addressing the opioid crisis. The Sacklers, who are now barred from participating in the opioid business, will be forbidden to seek naming rights to places like hospitals and museums until they have paid all their opioid debts and exited their worldwide opioid-related businesses. Thousands of creditors have until July 14 to vote on Purdue’s reorganization plan. If Judge Robert Drain, who is presiding over the bankruptcy proceedings, certifies the plan after a confirmation hearing Aug. 9, as is now widely expected in light of the latest agreement, family members and the company would be shielded from further opioid-related lawsuits. Nine states continue to oppose the agreement.
Free samples are back, but with safety in mind By Anne D’Innocenzio A S S OC IAT E D PRE SS
NEW YORK — When Pat Curry spotted bite-sized wood-fire rotisserie chicken with portabella mushroom at her local Costco in early June, she felt “giddy.” After a 14-month hiatus, free samples were back. “It was one of the markers that told me that we turned a corner,” said the 60-year-old who lives in Augusta, Ga. “It’s the little things that you do that were taken away, and now they’re back.” When the pandemic was declared in March 2020, retailers worried about the potential spread of the coronavirus so they cut off free sampling of everything from food to makeup to toys. But now with vaccinations rolling out and the threat of COVID-19 easing in the U.S., stores like Costco are feeling confident enough to revive the longstanding tradition. For customers, sampling makes it fun to shop and discover new items — not to mention getting all the freebies. For retailers, they’re critical tools to keep shoppers coming back and battle against online retailers like Amazon. Food sampling converts browsers into buyers at a 20 percent higher rate than if customers weren’t allowed to test, says NPD Group Inc., a market research firm. The conversion rate is 30 percent higher when beauty products are sampled. “Sampling is critical,” said Marshal Cohen, NPD’s chief industry analyst. “Impulse alone drives 25 percent of the retail business.” Jake Tavello, a senior vice president at Stew Leonard’s, said promoting new items had been challenging without sampling, a tradition started by his grandfather who founded the regional grocery chain in 1969. Sales of a new item pink glow pineapple were OK this past spring, for example, but have tripled since demonstrations were reintroduced. “When people taste it, that’s what can makes people want to buy it and decide what they want to eat for dinner,” Tavello said. But while sampling is back, it’s not clear if everyone is ready to bite. With that in mind, some retailers are putting various safety protocols in place to ease any safety concerns. At Costco, masked workers prepare the hot and cold samples
LM Otero / Associated Press
Tiffany Sawczenko hands a drink sample to a young customer out of a food truck window June 18 in McKinney. With vaccinations rolling out, food vendors and stores are bringing back samples.
David Zalubowski / Associated Press
A worker offers a waffle sample flavored with a featured maple syrup at a Costco on June 17 in Lone Tree, Colo. For retailers, samples are critical tools to keep shoppers coming back. behind plexiglass counters and distribute to its members one at a time. Stew Leonard’s also brought back hot samples with similar safety measures. Meanwhile, Walmart and its
wholesale club division Sam’s Club are only serving pre-sealed food samples. And Sam’s Club is limiting to sampling on the weekend. Target said that staffed food and beverage sampling has re-
mained on pause since March 2020 but it has been allowing selfservice sampling of individually wrapped items. With beauty testing, retailers appear to be even more cautious.
Beauty chain Ulta Beauty said it’s still figuring out how to bring back makeup testers. Target said in May it will resume beauty product sampling in stores this year where customers can take home individually wrapped items. Kohl’s would only say that it hadn’t brought back makeup or fragrance sampling. Lawrence Gostin, a public health expert at Georgetown University, said handling and eating food has not been a major route for the spread of COVID-19. But food sampling can lead to people congregating together, and that increases the risk of transmission. He also pointed to concerns about food sampling that go beyond the coronavirus: “Multiple hands grabbing samples can lead to the spread of germs, while contaminated gloves can also disperse unwanted bacteria.” As for makeup testing, Gostin said it’s “much safer and wiser” to use samples that are fully packaged. And with letting kids play with toys, frequent sanitizing of objects is recommended to contain viruses like influenza, which unlike COVID-19 can be easily spread through touching contaminated surfaces. Toy retailer Camp, which centered its shopping experience around children playing with toys, now has individually wrapped craft kits in the store instead of letting kids dig around for art supplies, says Tiffany Markofsky, the company’s marketing director. For testing out toys, it’s sticking to items that can be easily cleaned, like remote control toy cars instead of dolls with faux hair. Marianne Szymanski, president of Toy Tips Inc., a toy guide, believes toy testing overall will be “limited” because of the lingering fears about germs due to the pandemic. Some retailers are doing away with sampling altogether. For instance, West Hollywood, Calif.based beauty company Blushington isn’t reopening its six stores and is instead moving more toward virtual makeup sessions and offering services at shoppers’ home, says CEO Natasha Cornstein. She thinks shoppers believe they have better control of their environment and hygiene in their own home. “The consumer is coming out of COVID with very different habits,” she said. “It’s not only about COVID now.”
U.S. initial jobless claims up but still near pandemic low
By Olivia Rockeman B L O OMBE RG
Applications for U.S. state unemployment insurance edged up last week but remained near a pandemic low as the labor market grinds its way toward a full recovery. Initial claims in regular state programs increased by 2,000 to 373,000 in the week ended Saturday, Labor Department data showed Thursday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 350,000 new applications. Even with the increase, new weekly filings for jobless benefits have more than halved since the beginning of the year as health concerns abate and pent-up demand fuels hiring at businesses such as hotels and restaurants. Economists expect further labor market improvement in the
second part of this year, with the unemployment rate forecast to fall below 5 percent in the fourth quarter. More than half of U.S. states are ending enhanced federal unemployment benefit programs amid an ongoing debate about whether they are hampering hiring efforts. Continuing claims for ongoing state benefits fell to a pandemic low of 3.34 million in the week ended June 26. That could reflect more Americans taking jobs and falling off benefit rolls now that the $300 weekly supplement has ended in many states. States including Oklahoma, Nebraska and Indiana — which have ended Pandemic Unemployment Assistance for self-employed workers — saw no initial claims in that program last week. Meanwhile, initial claims in Texas and Nebraska picked up last week, which could reflect at-
tempts to transition to regular state programs now that PUA has been phased out in those states. “There is a chance that some people may file initial claims to redetermine their eligibility if they lose benefits from one of the expiring programs, but we think that in most cases these people would not be eligible for benefits,” JPMorgan Chase & Co. economists said in a recent note. Pennsylvania and New York reported the largest increases in initial claims last week, while claims in Oklahoma and Maryland fell. The latest jobs report showed payrolls increased 850,000 in June, the largest advance in 10 months, suggesting companies were having greater success a month later in recruiting workers to fill open positions. Still, vacancies stood at a record high in May, pointing to a mismatch between labor supply and demand.
Micah Green / Bloomberg
An employee inspects a tire at a bicycle production facility in Manning, S.C. The latest jobs report showing payrolls increased 850,000 in June suggests companies continue to ramp up hiring.
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| Friday, July 9, 2021 | HoustonChronicle.com | Houston Chronicle
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BUSINESS
Livestreams trying to lure online shoppers
By Abha Bhattarai WAS H I N GT ON P O ST
The models strode the catwalk as models do, scampering down the runway in the season’s essentials — vintage T-shirts, yellow rain boots, a camo-print backpack — before a virtual audience. That the models were furry and four-legged was the draw for the roughly 1 million viewers who tuned in for Petco’s 22-minute livestream on Facebook in the spring. Sales were double what the company had forecast. “It turned out that a pet fashion show was exactly what our consumers wanted from us,” said Jay Altschuler, vice president of media transformation for the pet chain. “We went in with very modest expectations and didn’t really believe it was going to be a huge driver — but it was.” Livestreamed shopping events — part entertainment, part ad blitz — have become the latest frontier in online shopping. Retailers and brands as varied as Walmart, Amazon, Gucci and L’Oréal are experimenting with new streaming formats to sell a growing array of beauty products, clothing, electronics and home furnishings. The events take place on such platforms as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, but they’re increasingly on retailers’ own websites. Nordstrom recently created its own livestream channel, where the lineup of virtual events includes makeup lessons, wine tastings and dance classes. Amazon hosted more than 1,200 livestreams during its annual Prime Day sale last month. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post.) Livestream shopping events generated an estimated $5.6 billion in sales last year, a market that retail analytics company Coresight Research projects will balloon to $11 billion this year and nearly $26 billion by 2023. The format, which has been popular in China for more than five years, gained traction in the U.S. during the pandemic as retailers pursued homebound consumers on their phones and computers. “It’s a version of the Home Shopping Network, souped up for the modern age,” said Ken Fenyo, president of advisory and research at Coresight. “Livestreams marry video, interactivity and content — along with a little bit of the thrill of shopping in person.” But some analysts are skeptical that livestreams will translate to long-term sales growth, given the endless streaming options Americans already have on social media and such platforms as Netflix and Hulu. Home shopping channels, they say, were born of an era when audiences were largely captive to their television sets. It’s no longer as simple to attract — or hold — the attention of today’s viewers, who can access entertainment on their smartphones, watches and computers at any time. “A lot has changed since the days of QVC,” said Paula Rosenblum, managing partner at RSR Research, a retail technology con-
Photos by Calla Kessler / Washington Post
Model and social media influencer Hélène Desmettre and her husband, David Kim, host an Amazon livestream at home in Morristown, N.J. Livestreamed shopping events have become the latest frontier in online shopping.
Kim and Desmettre host Amazon livestreams multiple times a day, sometimes for eight hours at a time. sultancy in Miami, referring to home shopping channel QVC. “You can have every brand out there putting up a livestream, but who’s going to watch it? I just don’t think it has legs.”
Reaching customers The livestreams are as varied as their audiences: There’s the Food Network’s Ree Drummond, who has sold her brand of “Pioneer Woman” cropped jeans, floral trash cans and nonstick griddles on a Walmart “shop-along.” Or the YouTube influencers promoting LG Electronics computers, TVs and refrigerators on Facebook Live and Instagram Live. Swarovski designers opened their studios, offering a peek into the creative process behind their intricate crystal figurines. Abercrombie & Fitch kicked off its newest line, Social Tourist, with a livestreamed fashion show. The brand was designed in collaboration with influencers Dixie and Charli D’Amelio, sisters who have a combined TikTik following
of more than 170 million on the short-form video-sharing platform, making it an obvious venue for the debut. Abercrombie and its offshoot, Hollister, worked closely with TikTok to create a 30minute show, which aired last month. “We pride ourselves on reaching our customer where they’re already spending a lot of their time, and for Gen Z, that is TikTok,” said Jacee Scoular, senior director of brand marketing for Hollister. “It was important to us that consumers could buy the product as they were seeing it on the runway.” Nearly one-third of Americans have tuned in to shopping livestreams, according to Coresight’s Fenyo, and close to half of them made a purchase. Analysts say many livestreams entice fewer than 1 percent of the viewers to buy. (The most successful of streams can capture sales from 10 to 20 percent of the audience.) There also are wide disparities in consumer engage-
Nearly all forms of energy in the U.S. declined in 2020 during the pandemic, with the exception of renewables.
From page B1
Primary energy
2009 2019 2020
Natural gas Coal Nuclear Hydro
Amounts in exajoules
Renewables 0
20
40
60
Source: 2021 BP Statistical Review of World Energy
CARBON From page B1
drilling in response to the demand drop. Natural gas prices last year averaged $1.99 million British thermal units in the U.S., the lowest price since 1995, after gas consumption fell by nearly 2.9 trillion cubic feet, or 2.3 percent. Gas demand fell by 6 trillion cubic feet in the U.S., the second largest decrease after Russia. Consumption of wind and solar power, however, grew last year despite the overall drop in energy demand. Global solar capacity grew
by 127 gigawatts while wind capacity grew by 111 gigawatts, contributing to a 9.7 percent growth in renewable energy last year. Nearly 12 percent of the world’s power generation now comes from renewables, up from around 10 percent in 2019, BP said. “Despite the disorder of 2020, renewable energy, led by wind and solar energy, continued to grow prolifically,” Looney said. “The relative immunity of renewable energy to the events of last year is encouraging.” The world will have to continue to transition away from fossil fuels, Looney said, and embrace renewable energy. Oil and gas compa-
80
Cottage industry Hélène Desmettre and her husband host Amazon livestreams multiple times a day, sometimes for eight hours at a time. The 27year-old model and social media influencer began sharing her beauty routine with viewers just as the coronavirus pandemic was taking hold in the U.S. As the country retreated from socializing and in-person shopping, she said, she began to rely on her daily interactions with regulars to keep her from feeling isolated and alone. “I used to be really polished when we started,” said Desmettre, who streams from her basement in northern New Jersey. “I didn’t dare to be funny or go outside of my bubble. But now it feels like I’m talking with friends.” The e-commerce giant, which began dabbling in livestream shopping five years ago, has doubled down on Amazon Live in recent months. A new app lets brands and influencers create their own “shoppable” livestreams, allowing viewers to tune in, ask questions and purchase
FIELD
Energy consumption
Oil
ment. Analysts said events that offer entertainment and allow shoppers to buy products from the same screen as the livestream generally fare best, but retailers are racing to figure out other winning formulas. “This really is the year of experimentation,” Fenyo said. “We see a lot of brands — certainly small ones, but also a growing number of large brands — really starting to invest in livestreams. They’re asking: ‘What kind of items should I feature? Who should I get to host it? A celebrity influencer? Or maybe one of my employees?’ It’s beginning to catch on.”
100 Staff graphic
nies will have to play an outsize role in helping to make this socalled energy transition, he added. “(The world) needs existing energy companies to decarbonize and in so doing use their scale and expertise to help bring about the deep and complex rewiring and replumbing of the global energy system that the world wants and needs to see over the next 30 years,” Looney said. “It will take producers and consumers, as well as companies, governments, and society, all working together to bring about the necessary change.” paul.takahashi@chron.com
Club looked to sell the property it first had to prove ownership. The organization staked its claim by filing for adverse possession — what’s sometimes called squatter’s rights — in January 2020. In order for either group to take ownership of the land through adverse possession, it will have to prove to a judge that it openly and peaceably claimed an exclusive ownership right to the land for an extended period of time. By openly operating the property for more than 60 years, the Lions Club argues, it has ownership rights. The Lions Club has received no pushback from heirs of Oak Forest Lions Club Youth Stadium Inc. trustees, according to court filings. But the Oaks Dads’ Club, which had leased the property from the Lions Club for decades, soon stepped in. It argued in court papers that because it has run youth sports leagues year-round on the property for more than four decades, spent thousands of dollars on the upkeep of the property and paid all utilities since it began leasing, it should own the site through adverse possession. Sean Jez, a member of the Oaks Dads’ Club who is also the attorney representing the club in the suit, said he was “surprised”
advertised items. The company declined to say how much revenue a typical livestream brings in but noted that high-profile events, such as singer Dua Lipa’s recent livestream album launch, can easily attract more than 1 million viewers. As a result, a cottage industry of influencers and celebrities has taken hold, streaming straight from their bedrooms and dining room tables in hopes of tapping into a small commission on each item they help sell. Desmettre’s husband, David Kim, joined her after he lost his brand consulting job early in the pandemic. Thousands of people tune in each day to watch the couple share their opinions on any number of products, including air purifiers and computers. They earn commissions of about 1 to 4 percent, though they declined to share specifics, citing a nondisclosure agreement with Amazon. The ultimate goal, they said, is to draw in shoppers and give them enough context to buy a product. The tactic generally works: Livestream shoppers are 50 percent less likely to return an item than other online shoppers, according to Coresight data. Ashley Young recently spent $75 on two quartz stones she saw on a Facebook livestream hosted by Dusty Gem. The 36-year-old, who lives in Centennial, Colo., does most of her shopping online on Amazon, Walmart and Etsy, but she said she was looking for a more intimate experience during the pandemic. “The livestream was more personal than regular online shopping,” she said. “You can ask questions about the product. It let me know exactly what I would be getting.” when he learned that the Lions Club did not hold title to the land. “Contrary to plaintiff’s assertions, it has not been in possession of the baseball field in over 40 years,” he wrote in the Oaks Dads’ Club complaint, which called the Heights Lions Club’s relationship to the land “fraudulent” and “invalid because it neither owns nor apparently has permission to operate the baseball field.” David Hite, the Lions Club president, argued that longstanding lease, which it ended at the end of 2020, will be evidence in the Lions Club’s favor. “They acknowledged us as owner the whole time.” “It’s just a crying shame,” said J.B. Cirincione, lamenting the whole affair. A member of the Lions Club, he said the legal costs of the battle — already upward of $100,000 — were straining the club’s ability to provide eyeglasses and diverting funds from children in need. The Dads’ Club, Jez said, is also feeling the effects of the battle. The loss of the lease meant the group was not able to use the field for the spring season. Jez said he feared losing the field to development would make sports less accessible to nearby children. “The biggest stakes here,” he said, “is losing the field.” rebecca.schuetz@chron.com twitter.com/raschuetz
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Houston Chronicle | HoustonChronicle.com | Friday, July 9, 2021 |
B7
BUSINESS Bean, James Henderson, Ralph Hoke, Marie
Medistar Corp.
The Texas A&M University System is developing the Texas A&M Innovation Plaza at Holcombe and Main in partnership with Medistar Corp.
FESER
From page B1 according to the Downtown District. Fitness tenants are also back-filling space, with Texans Fit opening in Meyerland Plaza, Planet Fitness coming to New Caney and Crunch Fitness to the former Michaels store in First Colony.
Going big in Brookshire Stream Realty Partners will supersize the next phase of Empire West Business Park in Brookshire after signing deals for more than 1 million square feet in the first phase, including a 750,775-squarefoot lease with plumbing supplier Ferguson Enterprises. Stream completed the first phase of Empire West, a 300-acre development on Interstate 10 just west of Woods Road in Waller County, after breaking ground in June 2020. Phase two will consist of six buildings totaling more than 2.3 million square feet, with options ranging from 124,000 square feet to more than 1 million square feet. Warefor Solutions, a new company that offers integrated solutions for product development, manufacturing, logistics, sales, marketing, warehousing and distribution of home products, leased building one, totaling 163,144 square feet. Winix America, a manufacturer of air purifiers, purchased building two, consisting of 122,138 square feet. The 750,775-square-foot lease by Ferguson Enterprises is among the largest in the Houston region in the second quarter. Living Spaces inked a 685,400-square-foot lease at Air 59 Logistics Center and Webstaurant Store leased 644,000 square feet at Cedar Port Logistics Building 1, according to JLL. The pandemic has accelerated demand for industrial space, pushing leasing volumes in the Houston region to a record 11.8 million square feet in the second quarter, almost twice the five-year quarterly average, according to
FUELS
From page B1 pandemic peak of about 13 million barrels a day, according to the Energy Department. Gasoline stockpiles fell by more than 6 million barrels last week even as refiners operated at more than 90 percent capacity, up from less than 75 percent a year ago, according to the Energy Department. Inventories of all petroleum products declined by nearly 10 million barrels. Several refineries closed last year as demand for transportation fuels collapsed with the pandemic. As a result of the closures, refinery capacity in the country decreased 4.5
JLL. After eight quarters of increases, vacancy dropped to 9.3 percent in the second quarter and is expected to continue to shrink.
Medistar gains partner Houston-based Medistar Corp. closed on funding with Healthcare Trust of America and lender CIM Group for construction projects underway at Texas A&M Innovation Plaza at the Texas Medical Center, the company announced. Healthcare Trust of America became a financial and development partner in the project, which includes the 19-story Life Tower student housing building and the 30-story Horizon Tower medical office and life sciences building. The new buildings will complement Texas A&M’s Discovery Tower, a renovated building on Holcombe at Main Street housing the university’s Engineering-Medicine program. The first phase of Horizon Tower, a 13-level parking garage for 2,700 cars and ground floor retail, broke ground in June, according to Medistar. Construction on the medical office and life sciences portion above the parking structure will begin in 2022. Cushman & Wakefield is handling leasing of the building, which includes 150,000 square feet of research and 334,000 square feet of medical office space. Both the parking garage and Life Tower, which broke ground in September, are on track for completion in mid-2022, according to Medistar. The project team includes Kirksey Architecture and Harvey Builders. “At $550 million total investment, this 2.2 million-square-foot publicprivate partnership development is one of the largest ever undertaken at the Texas Medical Center, and is the largest of the Texas A&M University System outside its flagship campus in College Station,” Medistar CEO Monzer Hourani said in an announcement. katherine.feser@chron.com twitter.com/kfeser percent to 18.1 million barrels per day at the start of 2021, according to the Energy Department. Refineries that permanently closed last year included the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery, the Shell refinery in Convent, La., the Marathon Petroleum refinery in Martinez, Calif., and the HollyFrontier refinery in Cheyenne, Wyo. At the beginning of 2021, 129 refineries were either operating or idle in the U.S., down from 135 at the beginning of 2020, marking the lowest refining capacity since 2015, according to the Energy Department. Bloomberg contributed to this report.
marcy.deluna@chron.com
Johnson, Lela Ketchum, Clarence Jr. Lee, Robin
Portley, Tommy Jr. Spriggs, James Whitley, Floyd
RALPH HENDERSON
TOMMY C. PORTLEY, JR.
1935-2021
1942-2021 “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also, that love his appearing.” II Timothy 4: 7-8 Tommy C. Portley was born in Rusk County, East Texas, on December 17, 1942, to TC Portley and Shellie Mae (Davis) Portley. He was the eldest of eight children. He graduated from Carver High School in Greenville, Texas and continued his education on academic and football scholarships at Jarvis Christian College in Hawkins Texas. After graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1965, he taught History at Prairie View A & M University and MC Williams and Robert E. Lee High Schools in Houston, Texas until 1972. Tommy continued to support Jarvis Christian College as an active member of the Alumni Association working to provide scholarships for students. After teaching, he began his career with Allstate Insurance Company where he received numerous awards and vacation trips for excellence in service as an independent agent. He faithfully served his community, friends, and family until he retired in early 2020. Tommy was a faithful member of Holman Street Baptist Church for 44 years. He served over 30 years as a Sunday School Teacher. He was also a leader of the Judah Tribe and an active participant in the HSBC Annual Men’s Day. He was most proud to serve as the leader of the HSBC Building Fund Committee. He witnessed the completion of the church’s current building and most recently, the paying off of the church mortgage. Tommy loved and cherished his family. He found true love with Doris (Davis) Portley, who was his wife and
Ralph “Joe” Louis Henderson entered into eternal rest on July 4, 2021. He was born December 12, 1935 in Lufkin, Texas. He served in the United States Army, worked as a systems analyst at NASA and retired after thirty years, and was a faithful member of St. Agnes Baptist Church for over fifty years. He is survived by his wife Zadie Lee Mays and two children Marcellus and Michelle. His life will be celebrated on Saturday, July 10, 2021, viewing from 10:00 am12:00 pm, Services starting at 12:00 pm. Both Services will be held at Pearland Christian Community Church, 8201 W. Broadway St., Pearland, TX 77581. Dr. Gene A. Moore, Sr.
will be Officiating. Repast services will be held at HOPE Church Pearland, 4209 Broadway St, Pearland, TX 77581.
LELA MAE JOHNSON 1928-2021 Lela Mae Johnson was born on July 11, 1928 in Bermuda, Louisiana to Benny Davis and Thelma Prudhomme Davis. She passed away on June 30, 2021. Services will be held at Galilee Missionary Baptist Church - 1401 Worms Street. A Viewing will be held on Friday, July 9, 2021 from 6:30 - 8:30p.m. A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, July 10, 2021 beginning at 11:00a.m with a Visitation being held prior beginning at 9:00. Interment- Houston National Cemetery (gate-time Monday
07/12/2021 @ 10:00a.m.) www.frazier-mitchell.com
ROBIN SUE STEWART LEE 1951-2021 Robin Sue Stewart Lee, 69, of Houston, Texas died Friday, July 2, 2021, at her home. She was with friends as she lost her battle with cancer. Robin was born in Fort Madison, Iowa on July 18, 1951 to Clarence & Elizabeth Stewart. She was the third of four children: her older sister and brother, Rachel & Robert, and a younger sister, Connie. All of whom predeceased her. Robin graduated Fort Madison High School in 1969, then on a trip through Texas with her parents chose to attend Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. There she met Mike Lee, later paused her education then moved to Germany where they married in 1971. At the end of their two-year assignment, they returned to Texas and moved to Houston. Robin finished her business degree at University of Houston and began her career in higher education at UT Health Science Center in 1977. She left there for Baylor College of Medicine in 1987, where she retired in 2015. Robin was a transplanted Texan, and when asked where she was from, she would invariably reply, “the mid-west,” not caring that those asking may have no idea where that is. She never bought into the Texas State of Mind and didn’t feel that being within the state lines was any different than other places in the country. But she stayed and tolerated her friends who did. Robin was a devoted sports fan—in 1986 when the Astros won their division championship, she made every home game. And when the Rockets won their first NBA Championship in 1994, she watched it on TV from a bar in Alaska and cried when they won. Nothing stopped Robin from watching those games!
and hiked to the top of Mt. Fuji (12400’) in Japan. She chased the northern lights from Alaska to Norway; and climbed to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia. She got up close to lions in Africa and walked with the penguins in Antarctica. She had just returned from a tour of the Galapagos Islands when she discovered she was terminally ill. She fought the good fight—believing to the end that she could somehow make that TransMongolian Railway tour that was cancelled because of the pandemic. Robin was a devoted Aunt and easily developed and maintained friendships throughout her life. She was reliable and friends and family could depend on her for a drive home or a ride to the airport, a bed for the night or a room for the week; a home cooked meal, or a beer in her backyard. She was there and her door was always open. Robin is survived by nieces Tiffany Stewart & Sloan Kessinger, nephew Brice (Emy) Stewart and their families who are all from Illinois; surrogate family, Nichole Abrams & Darin Vicknair and their children of Texas, and many friends and neighbors. Private arrangements handled by Pat H. Foley. A celebration of life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Robin’s memory to Houston Public Media.
REV. JAMES W. BEAN
best friend for forty years of marriage. They traveled extensively to such places as Japan, Singapore, Argentina, Spain, Paris, Indonesia, Switzerland and many other beautiful places. He was a present source of strength and support for his family, near and far. Tommy was called to be with the Lord on June 30, 2021. He was preceded in death by his parents, TC and Shellie Mae Portley; his brothers, Johnny Lee and Robert Jefferson Portley; and his sisters, Evia Dean and Shirley Jean Portley. He leaves behind his loving wife of 40 years, Doris Portley, his three daughters Tameka Portley Sneed (Glen), Ericka Portley Greene (Rodney) and Dana Portley Manuel (James); six grandchildren: Jessica Camacho (Jose), Avery Evans (Kelly), Candice Jones, David Jones (Darlene), Christopher Simpson and Elizabeth Manuel; four great-grandchildren: Abigail Camacho, Amiyah Jones, Olivia Camacho, Melody Jones, and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. He was loved and well respected as a loyal husband, father, brother, leader, and friend and will be greatly missed by all. Visitation (Saturday) July 10, 2021 from 10-10:55 a.m. Funeral Services will begin at 11:00 a.m., both services will be held at Holman Street Baptist Church, 3501 Holman Street, Rev. Murray Martin, Officiating, Interment Houston Memorial Gardens.
1949-2021
CLARENCE EDWARD KETCHEM, JR.
Rev. James W. Bean expired (Wednesday) June 30, 2021. Visitation will be held (Friday) July 9, 2021 from 7-9 p.m. Funeral Service (Saturday) July 10, 2021 at 10:00 a.m., both services will be held at Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church, 5703 Weaver Rd., Bishop Paul D. Landrew, Officiating, Interment Mt. Zion Cemetery (Colmesneil, TX).
Clarence Edward Ketchum, Jr. expired (Wednesday) June 23, 2021. Visitation will be held (Saturday) July 10, 2021 from 10-10:55 a.m.., Funeral Service will begin at 11:00 a.m., both services will be held at Gloryland Missionary Baptist Church, 7440 Coffee, Rev Trey Thomas, Officiating, Interment Houston Memorial Gardens.
MARIE ANNETTE HOKE 1952-2021
1942-2021
MRS. JAMES MARGARET SPRIGGS 1925-2021
Robin was a world traveler and managed to visit every continent and dip a toe in all the oceans. She rode a cable car to the top of the Zugspitze (9700’) in Germany,
FLOYD M. WHITLEY 1927-2021 Floyd M. Whitley, 93, of Houston, TX, passed away on Sunday, July 4, 2021. At the time of his passing he was a Master Mason with 66 years of service. There will be a private graveside with Masonic Last Rites. Personal condolences may be made on Friday, July 9, 2021 from 2:00 to 5:00 pm at Pat H. Foley & Company. Please leave an online condolence for the family at www.pathfoleyfuneraldirectors.com.
Marie Annette Hoke, 69, passed away on Thursday, July 1, 2021, at her home in Kingwood, TX. A visitation will be held from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., Monday, July 12th, 2021 at Darst Funeral Home with a rosary being recited at 3:00 p.m. A funeral mass will be at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, July 13th, 2021 at St. Martha’s Catholic Church, 4301 Woodridge Pkwy, Porter, TX 77365. Graveside services will follow at Rosewood Memorial Park. For those wishing to sign an online memorial please visit www.darstfuneralhome.com
“The beauty of a loved one is in the memories they have shared with us.” Our beloved mother and matriarch, Mrs. James Margaret Spriggs, entered into eternal rest on June 25, 2021. Her life will be honored and celebrated with a memorial service on Saturday, July 10, 2021, at 1:00 p.m. in the Rose Chapel of Mabrie Memorial Mortuary.
B8
| Friday, July 9, 2021 | HoustonChronicle.com | Houston Chronicle
HH
WEATHER HOUSTON’S SEVEN-DAY FORECAST 86 77
89 77
TODAY SATURDAY Rain and a t-storm this Clouds and sun, a morning t-storm; humid
METRO AREA OUTLOOK
| Go to AccuWeather.com
91 76
88 75
90 75
89 77
SUNDAY Humid; a t-storm around in the p.m.
MONDAY TUESDAY Mostly cloudy, a couple Mostly cloudy, a of t-storms t-storm possible
WEDNESDAY THURSDAY Cloudy with a Cloudy, a t-storm thunderstorm possible possible; humid
NORTH AMERICA TODAY
INTERNATIONAL
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
TODAY: Rain and a thunderstorm in the morning, then a t-storm in spots. High 83 to 88. Winds southeast 8-16 mph. TONIGHT: A shower late; humid. Low 74 to 79. Winds south-southeast 4-8 mph.
110s
AIR QUALITY
40s
Today’s forecast for the entire metro area by the TCEQ:
Vancouver
100s 90s 70s 60s
Thunder Bay
Montreal Ottawa
Portland
20s 10s
ELSA
Toronto
Minneapolis
50s
Salt Lake City
New York
Chicago
Denver
San Francisco
Washington
0s -0s
Ozone watch
-10s
Unhealthy Very unhealthy Hazardous
Good Moderate Unhealthy for sensitive groups
None Low Low Low
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. Sun.
Mon.
Tue.
Wed.
5
3
5
5
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.
1
2
0-2, Low 3-5, Moderate 6-7, High
3
1
July 9
First quarter
July 17
Sunset tonight Sunrise Saturday Moonrise today Moonset today
1
8-10, Very high 11+, Extreme
SUN AND MOON New moon
Hermosillo
Miami
Jet stream
Monterrey
Havana
Full moon
July 23
Last quarter
July 31
8:26 p.m. 6:28 a.m. 5:55 a.m. 8:32 p.m.
Mérida
Guadalajara
Cold front
Warm front
FOR THE RECORD
George Bush Intercontinental Airport through 3 p.m. yest.
Temperature Degrees F High 80 Low 74 Normal high 93 Normal low 75 Record high 104 in 1980 Record low 68 in 1892 Precipitation Inches 24 hours through 3 p.m. yest. 0.20 Month to date 0.61 Normal month to date 1.24 Year to date 29.20 Normal year to date 25.56 Other readings Top wind speed 15 mph High barometer 29.96 in. Low barometer 29.89 in. High dewpoint 78° Low dewpoint 71° Average dewpoint 73° High humidity 93% Low humidity 81%
KEY TO CONDITIONS s-sunny pc-partly cloudy c-cloudy sh-showers t-thunderstorms
r-rain sf-snow flurries sn-snow i-ice
Acapulco
TEXAS Abilene Amarillo Austin Beaumont Brownsville Bryan/College St. Corpus Christi Dallas/Ft. Worth El Paso Galveston Kingsville Laredo Longview Lubbock McAllen Midland/Odessa San Angelo San Antonio Texarkana Victoria Waco
Today
89/72/pc 93/69/s 81/72/t 84/77/t 88/79/t 84/75/t 86/78/r 88/76/pc 97/74/s 87/83/t 87/79/t 88/77/t 86/74/t 92/69/s 87/78/t 90/69/pc 90/73/pc 82/76/t 91/78/pc 84/76/t 86/75/pc
NATIONAL Albany, NY Albuquerque Anchorage Atlanta Baltimore Billings Birmingham Boise Boston Buffalo Charleston, SC Charlotte Chicago Cincinnati
89/73/c 89/78/t 91/84/pc 101/83/pc 90/77/t 95/85/t 87/75/t 95/81/t 99/85/pc 84/73/c 93/81/t 87/76/t 58/53/sh 96/82/t 85/74/c
Europe
Cancún
Veracruz
Mexico City Honolulu Stationary front
Beijing 89/73/pc Ho Chi Minh City 85/78/t Hong Kong 91/81/pc Islamabad 103/84/pc Jakarta 90/77/sh Karachi 93/84/t Kuala Lumpur 87/76/r Manila 94/82/pc New Delhi 98/84/t Seoul 84/72/t Shanghai 89/78/t Singapore 87/77/r Sydney 56/52/r Taipei 99/82/s Tokyo 81/74/sh Calgary Edmonton Montreal Toronto Vancouver Winnipeg
New Orleans
Chihuahua
Anchorage
97/76/s 61/44/s 89/74/s 85/76/pc 64/45/s 85/73/sh
Canada
Houston
Ice
0 6 2 6007
Low Medium
0
Atlanta
Dallas
El Paso
Showers
Countpercubicmeterofair
Tree pollen Weed pollen Grass pollen Mold spores
4
Rain
Flurries
Yesterday’s readings by the Houston Health Department:
3
Little Rock
Phoenix
Snow
POLLEN AND MOLD
Today Sat.
Los Angeles
T-storms
98/76/s 58/47/pc 88/73/s 86/78/pc 64/44/s 82/75/t
Asia/Pacific
Boston
Detroit
30s
Sat.
Cairo Cape Town Casablanca Dakar Johannesburg Lagos
Winnipeg
Seattle
80s
Today
Africa
Saskatoon Regina
Calgary
Today
77/62/t 97/72/pc 60/53/c 86/72/t 89/68/t 85/58/t 87/73/t 97/68/s 75/69/r 72/61/c 90/74/t 89/70/t 75/64/pc 80/65/pc
Villahermosa Belmopan
Sat.
92/73/s 91/66/pc 89/74/pc 86/76/sh 88/79/t 90/76/pc 88/77/t 94/76/pc 99/76/c 89/82/t 88/77/t 92/76/t 91/75/pc 92/69/pc 89/78/pc 90/70/pc 92/72/t 88/76/pc 94/77/pc 86/77/t 90/75/pc
Sat.
77/59/pc 96/69/s 59/51/c 87/72/t 86/68/pc 89/63/s 87/72/t 103/70/s 76/65/pc 80/61/pc 88/74/t 91/71/t 75/67/t 78/68/t
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
NATIONAL cont. Today
Cleveland 71/59/pc Columbus 77/62/c Denver 98/61/s Des Moines 80/68/t Detroit 75/59/pc Duluth 77/55/c Fairbanks 71/48/pc Great Falls 83/54/t Hartford 80/65/r Honolulu 87/75/pc Indianapolis 79/65/s Jackson, MS 87/74/t Juneau 61/49/r Kansas City 92/73/t Las Vegas 114/93/s Little Rock 91/75/pc Los Angeles 88/70/s Memphis 90/74/t Miami 90/79/t Milwaukee 74/63/c Minneapolis 78/63/c Nashville 88/73/t New Orleans 87/79/t New York City 86/70/r Oklahoma City 90/72/pc Orlando 90/74/t Philadelphia 88/70/pc Phoenix 113/93/pc Pittsburgh 76/59/t Portland, OR 87/60/s Sacramento 106/68/s St. Louis 90/75/pc Salt Lake City 103/71/s San Diego 77/69/pc San Francisco 78/59/pc Santa Fe 94/63/pc Seattle 80/58/s Tucson 106/84/pc Washington, DC 88/70/t
Sat.
74/64/pc 77/66/t 82/56/t 74/63/t 78/65/pc 79/57/s 71/49/pc 95/55/s 81/62/sh 88/74/pc 78/68/t 90/74/t 61/49/r 77/65/t 115/95/s 92/75/pc 88/69/s 90/76/pc 88/79/t 74/67/c 77/62/pc 89/72/t 92/77/sh 82/70/pc 89/69/pc 90/74/t 85/70/pc 112/91/pc 77/65/pc 86/58/s 110/68/s 85/71/t 99/75/s 79/68/s 79/59/s 93/63/s 79/58/s 106/81/c 85/71/pc
Amsterdam Athens Berlin Copenhagen Dublin Frankfurt Geneva Istanbul London Madrid Moscow Paris Prague Rome Stockholm Vienna Warsaw Zurich
Latin America
Bogota Buenos Aires Caracas Havana Kingston Lima Rio de Janeiro San Juan San Salvador Santiago Sao Paulo St. Thomas
Mexico
Acapulco Cancun Guadalajara Guanajuato Mazatlan Merida Mexico City Puerto Vallarta Tampico Veracruz
Middle East Baghdad Beirut Dubai Jerusalem Kabul Mecca Riyadh Tehran Tel Aviv
COASTAL FORECAST GALVESTON BAY: Wind from the south-southeast at 8-16 knots today. Seas 1-3 feet. Visibility less than 2 miles in thundery rain. Tonight: Wind from the south-southeast at 8-16 knots. Seas 1-3 feet. Cloudy with a shower late.
90 76
82/58/s 85/55/s 74/60/pc 72/59/c 73/59/s 85/60/s
88/59/s 87/54/s 80/61/s 77/60/s 74/60/s 90/64/s
71/56/sh 93/77/s 67/59/t 72/61/t 65/53/c 74/57/r 74/55/sh 84/71/s 72/57/c 94/64/s 87/70/s 74/60/pc 69/55/t 85/63/s 76/61/pc 76/60/t 91/65/t 73/52/sh
70/58/r 94/76/s 78/61/pc 71/61/r 67/54/sh 78/59/r 80/58/s 85/72/s 65/56/sh 101/68/s 88/72/pc 71/56/sh 75/57/pc 85/65/s 74/58/r 81/58/pc 76/62/pc 78/57/sh
64/50/t 68/58/s 85/75/t 91/75/t 91/79/pc 66/62/s 73/65/s 88/78/pc 90/69/t 59/33/pc 70/51/pc 89/80/pc
62/50/t 59/44/pc 86/74/sh 90/73/s 89/79/s 66/61/pc 75/64/s 89/78/pc 89/68/t 68/36/s 75/53/s 89/79/pc
89/76/pc 89/80/t 75/62/t 73/59/t 86/77/t 95/76/s 72/58/t 85/74/t 87/77/t 88/76/pc
89/76/t 89/79/s 74/61/t 71/59/t 88/78/t 95/75/s 72/58/t 86/76/t 88/78/t 86/77/t
116/85/pc 86/79/s 106/91/s 86/67/s 100/70/s 105/82/s 116/87/s 100/75/s 88/76/s
114/83/pc 87/78/s 110/94/s 84/70/s 99/69/s 104/84/pc 116/86/s 99/80/s 88/80/s
MATAGORDA SHIP CHANNEL TO HIGH ISLAND OUT 20 TO 50 MILES: Wind from the south-southeast at 10-20 knots today. Seas 3-6 feet. Visibility less than a mile at times in thundery rain. Tonight: Wind from the south-southeast at 8-16 knots. Seas 4-7 feet. Cloudy, a stray thunderstorm late.
GALVESTON TIDES
Highs Feet Lows Feet 6:46 a.m. 1.4 10:36 p.m. -0.4 --- ----- ---
RIVERS, CREEKS AND BAYOUS
Flood Latest 24-hr. Location stage stage chg. Brays Bayou South Main 54 17.61 -0.68 Brazos River Bryan 43 20.62 -0.56 Hempstead 50 26.45 +0.62 Richmond 48 24.81 +2.16 Buffalo Bayou Piney Point 50 33.35 -0.33 Shepherd Dr. 23 5.26 -0.01 Clear Creek Friendswood 12 1.55 -0.47 Colorado R. Austin 29 11.15 -0.07 Bastrop 25 3.29 -0.71 La Grange 32 4.78 -0.09 Columbus 34 12.59 -4.87 Wharton 39 17.78 +3.83 Bay City 44 14.55 +3.27 Greens Bayou Eastex Fwy. 61 40.11 -1.73 Guadalupe R. Hunt 12 7.96 -0.13 Comfort 26 4.03 -0.92 Spring Branch 36 4.19 +0.69 New Braunfels 13 9.78 -0.02 Gonzales 31 12.77 -0.08 Cuero 20 10.65 -0.08 Victoria 21 10.90 +0.52 Dupont 20 18.41 +4.74 Little River Little River 30 7.83 -0.54 Cameron 30 7.57 -1.34 Navasota R. Easterly 19 10.35 -1.20 Neches River Evadale 19 16.39 -0.04 Pine Island B. Sour Lake 25 20.74 -0.56 Sabine River Bon Wier 30 21.77 +0.46 Deweyville 24 24.07 -0.14 Orange 4 1.26 +0.11 Burkeville 43 20.74 +0.53 San Bernard R. E. Bernard 17 14.37 +0.84 E. San. Jac. R. Cleveland 19 5.61 -0.29 W. San. Jac. R. Conroe 116 95.63 -0.39 San Jacinto R. Sheldon 10 1.47 -0.29 Sims Bayou Telephone Rd. 30 1.20 -0.43 Trinity River Goodrich 36 14.69 -0.03 Liberty 26 19.65 -0.98 Village Creek Kountze 20 8.65 -1.78 White Oak B. Heights Blvd. 48 9.05 -3.45
TEXAS LAKES Canyon Dam Conroe Houston Lake Travis Livingston
Full Latest Release pool level cfs 909 906.17 102 201 201.06 0 41.73 42.39 N.A. 681 666.62 0 131 131.26 N.A.
SPORTS
HOUSTON CHRONICLE • FRIDAY, JULY 9, 2021 • SECTION C HHHH
ATHLETICS 2, ASTROS 1
Streak snapped
No comeback this time in pitchers’ duel after early offensive surge by A’s By Danielle Lerner
JEROME SOLOMON Commentary
STA F F WRIT E R
Lance McCullers Jr. shook his head in displeasure. The Astros starter had thrown just 10 pitches in the game when the A’s scored their first run, and five more pitches before the lead doubled. Oakland’s two run-scoring hits had hit probabilities of 16 and 19 percent. That pair of improbable hits proved the difference as McCullers and Frankie Montas dueled on the mound in a defensive battle. For the third consecutive game at Minute Maid Park, Oakland scored first. Unlike the previous two days, however, Houston could not muster a comefrom-behind effort in Thursday’s 2-1 loss. After the A’s scored two runs against McCullers in the first, Montas was on pace for a scoreless outing before Chas McCormick halved Oakland’s lead with a two-out RBI double in the bottom of the seventh inning. McCullers threw 107 pitches for a second consecutive outing. He yielded a season-high seven hits, struck out eight batters and stranded eight baserunners over seven innings of tworun ball. The Astros were fortunate the deficit did not grow because of shoddy ground ball defense behind McCullers, but their bats stayed silent for too long, and they wasted an opportunity to clinch the season series and a second sweep against their division rivals. “I thought I threw the ball excellent,” McCullers said. “Can’t really do too much in the first inning about the jam-shot pop-up and the jam-shot ground ball. It is what it is. After that, (I) settled in, had a solid day, felt good. It’s a little easier when you’ve already won both games in the series and you’ve got that big series victory over your opponent in division, so unfortunately we didn’t get the sweep, but we did play good baseball throughout the whole (series).” Even with the loss, Houston is 9-4 against Oakland Astros continues on C5
No reason to question 2 stars who want break
Astros update Thursday: Athletics 2, Astros 1. Record: 54-34. Today: Yankees at Minute Maid Park, 7:10 p.m. Starting pitchers: Jake Odorizzi (3-3) vs. Nestor Cortes (0-0). TV/radio: ATTSW; 740 AM, 790 AM, 1010 AM (Spanish).
Photos by Godofredo A. Vásquez / Staff photographer
Chas McCormick, from top, Abraham Toro and Jose Altuve strike out against Athletics pitcher Frankie Montas. McCormick later drove in the Astros’ only run with a seventh-inning RBI double. McCormick was the only one of the trio to have a hit and one of just two Astros to have a multi-hit game, finishing 2-for-3 in the loss, which snapped a six-game winning streak and prevented a sweep of the A’s.
Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve have decided not to play in this year’s MLB All-Star Game. Their reasons are reasonable, their explanations are understandable. Not that any justification is needed — we’re taking abut a meaningless exhibition game — but Correa saying that baseball is extremely important to him, but family will always come first, is more than satisfactory enough. With the Astros having had only five days off in the last two months, there hasn’t been much time for anything other than baseball of late. Correa’s wife Daniella is pregnant with the couple’s first child. He said they plan to use the off days to stock a nursery, and the break will give him his first extended chance to bond. “I haven't even had that much time to, like, read books to the belly and sing to the belly and all that,” he said. Were you planning to criticize his decision, Correa choosing to read and sing to the unborn child in his wife’s stomach should squash that. Altuve’s reasoning is baseball related. He has been playing with a left leg injury that he hopes will improve with a few days off. His putting team above self to sit out the game and try to be healthy for the remainder of the season is indicative of the type of teammate he is. He has always been an All-Star in more than just hitting and fielding. That Correa and Altuve would be booed heavily at Tuesday’s game in Denver, thanks to there having been on the Astros’ 2017 World Series championship squad, is beside the point. But, realistically, avoiding that unpleasantness was almost certainly a bit of a factor. An exhibition game was hardly the focus Thursday Solomon continues on C6
WIMBLEDON
NBA FINALS: SUNS 118, BUCKS 108
Barty stays on path of idolized Aussie
Phoenix dials up long-distance plan
50 years later, Goolagong’s win inspires top seed
20 3-pointers foil adjustment by Milwaukee
By Liz Clarke WAS H I NGT ON P O ST
WIMBLEDON, England — At 25, Ashleigh Barty walks through the gates of the AllEngland Club with the gratitude of an old soul. Since she won Wimbledon’s junior championship a decade ago, the venue has been a measuring stick of Barty’s maturation as a person, through dark times
and good. As a player, it also has been a classroom, teaching her to adapt to an imperfect surface with a personality that changes according to sun, shade, humidity and the degradation of two weeks of matches. For those who love Wimbledon, it is a hallowed place, restored to life this year after being shuttered amid the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. For Barty, it is, above all, the setting of Australian triumph a half-century ago, when Evonne Goolagong Barty continues on C8
By Ben Golliver WAS H I N GT O N P O ST
Ralph Freso / Getty Images
The Suns’ Devin Booker (1) stops a drive by Giannis Antetokounmpo with a foul.
PHOENIX — Giannis Antetokounmpo pounded a chair and shouted at his Milwaukee Bucks teammates during a first-half timeout, trying to exhort greater focus in the face of a Phoenix Suns barrage. The emotional display was a sharp break from Milwaukee’s calm and loose
NBA Finals SUNS VS. BUCKS Suns lead series 2-0 Game 3: at Milwaukee, 7 p.m. Sunday. TV: ABC.
demeanor to this point of the NBA Finals and, perhaps, a concession that Phoenix was setting the terms of the series for the second straight game. After winning Game 1 Suns continues on C2
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| Friday, July 9, 2021 | HoustonChronicle.com | Houston Chronicle
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HOCKEY | PRO BASKETBALL NHL
Lightning’s titles could mark end of era By Stephen Whyno A S S OC I AT E D PRE SS
TAMPA, Fla. — With the clock ticking on their time together, the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning talked about what they already knew was their last Stanley Cup run as a group. They talked about it midway through the playoffs. They talked about it on the verge of reaching the final. Changes were coming, so captain Steven Stamkos and his teammates told each other, “Let’s take advantage of this opportunity.” Tampa Bay did just that in winning the championship back to back, and players and coaches celebrated in a fashion befitting the end of an era. Coach Jon Cooper said it felt like “the last day of school” and the Lightning aced their final exam before inevitable changes break them apart. “This team, knowing that we’re probably not going to be together, this was the end of a special group for two years,” Cooper said. “Who knows what’s going to happen here, but I think that was a huge motivator for our group.“ It took a strange sequence of events to keep the Lightning together this season. Longtime forward Tyler Johnson was put on waivers last fall when it looked like they needed to clear salary cap space, and general manager Julien BriseBois paid the price of a second-round pick to dump salary in late December. Then star forward Nikita Kucherov discovered he needed hip surgery, the rehab of which would cause him to miss the entire 56-game regular season that was squeezed into four months. It was a major loss but also one that allowed Tampa Bay to stash his $9.5 million cap hit on longterm injured reserve and put a playoff-worthy team on the ice. Salary cap gymnastics also allowed Tampa Bay to add David Savard at the trade deadline, and the rugged defenseman who had never won it all before set up rookie Ross Colton’s winning goal in the Cup clincher Wednesday night. It had all bounced the right way for the Lightning. “I don’t see the circumstances of what happened last year happening again,” Cooper said during the final. “I know the players don’t see that.” Blake Coleman and Barclay
Gerry Broome / Associated Press
The Lightning became the second team in the cap era, which began in 2005, to win the Stanley Cup in back-to-back seasons. Goodrow, the 2020 trade deadline pickups who were so important in these two titles, are almost certainly gone as unrestricted free agents. The Lightning could lose Johnson, veteran forward Alex Killorn, savvy defenseman Ryan McDonagh or another important player in the Seattle expansion draft. Playoff leading goal-scorer Brayden Point needs a new contract extension with his deal up next summer. Add to that the reality of the cap remaining flat at $81.5 million because of pandemic revenue losses across the league, and there’s little cushion for a contender even this deep to pony up to bring the band back together. Minutes after parading the Stanley Cup around the ice at Amalie Arena, Stamkos said he and his teammates knew that might be the last game the group ever plays together. The Lightning certainly made the most of it as just the second team to repeat since the cap era began in 2005.
Stanley Cup Final Best-of-seven series
LIGHTNING VS. CANADIENS Lightning win series 4-1 G1: Tampa Bay 5, Montreal 1 G2: Tampa Bay 3, Montreal 1 G3: Tampa Bay 6, Montreal 3 G4: Montreal 3, Tampa Bay 2 (OT) G5: Tampa Bay 1, Montreal 0
“No matter what happens from here on out, this group is going to be etched in history forever,” Stamkos said. “We’re backto-back Stanley Cup champions. That doesn’t happen very often.“ It’s now up to BriseBois to address Tampa Bay’s impending breakup. After trading first-, second- and fourth-round picks in the draft this year and secondand third-rounders next year as part of loading up to win now, the next steps will be painful and may come with a drop in the
standings. Still, there is reason to believe Tampa Bay will be perennial playoff contenders for years to come and with plenty of talent to add a fourth championship. Kucherov — who joined Mario Lemieux as the only players to lead two consecutive postseasons in scoring — is signed through 2026. Norris Trophy finalist defenseman and 2020 playoff MVP Victor Hedman is signed through 2025 and Stamkos through 2024. The most important piece of the future is goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who is under contract through 2028. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP after never losing back-toback games and posting a shutout to close out each round. “When he locks in, he is remarkable to watch,” Cooper said. “I can’t believe how he shuts the door in the biggest games of his career.” Tampa Bay may need Vasilevskiy to bring his peak playoff
SUNS
NBA Finals
Best-of-seven series
From page C1 with a nonstop flurry of midrange jumpers, the Suns claimed a 118-108 victory in Game 2 on Thursday thanks to a record-setting night from beyond the arc. This was a classic case of adjusting to the adjustment. Intent on making life more difficult for Suns guards Chris Paul and Devin Booker, the Bucks decided to crowd their pick and rolls, thereby leaving more space for Phoenix’s shooters. The Suns, clearly prepared for this shift, moved the ball well and found the open man. By halftime, Phoenix registered 15 assists on 22 baskets and matched its Game 1 total of 11 3-pointers. By night’s end, the Suns drained 20 three-pointers on 40 attempts, setting a franchise mark for 3pointers in a playoff game and tying the second-highest total in NBA Finals history. The Suns have a 2-0 series lead and a sterling 14-4 record during their playoff run because their starting lineup has five scoring threats. In Game 1, Paul, Booker and center Deandre Ayton handled the heavy lifting. In Game 2, Booker scored a team-high 31 points, including seven 3-pointers, while forwards Mikal Bridges and Jae Crowder combined for 38 points and six 3s. “The guys work on it,” Suns coach Monty Williams said. “We have a ‘let it fly’ mentality. (Fourth-quarter opportunities) are the moments that [Booker] lives for. He doesn’t run from it. Devin wants to prove to everybody that he’s one of the best players in the league. Not just from a stats and numbers perspective. I think he wants to prove it by winning.” There were, however, plenty of promising early signs for Milwaukee, which after Game 1 sought to increase its defensive intensity, slow Phoenix’s transition attack and get more offensive contributions from Antetokounmpo and guard Jrue Holiday. Milwaukee accomplished all
form to the regular season. That’s the kind of evolution Jonathan Quick went through with the Los Angeles Kings after winning the Cup twice in three seasons, and Vasilevskiy looks up to the challenge of putting Tampa Bay on his shoulders. “He doesn’t want people next to him to say he’s the best because he wants to prove it,” Kucherov said. “But I know he’s the best.” The Lightning the past two years might have been the best the NHL can offer in a cap world, even with an expiration date on a run of success that includes three trips to the final and five to the semifinals in the past seven years. Cigar in hand, Cooper didn’t want to talk about next season yet. “Let’s be honest: We’ve been knocking at the door for so many years,” he said. “To be able to do it back-to-back, it kind of cements this group as, well, they’re special.”
SUNS VS. BUCKS Suns lead series 2-0 • TV: ABC G1: Phoenix 118, Milwaukee 105 G2: Phoenix 118, Milwaukee 108 G3: at Milwaukee, 7 p.m. Sunday G4: at Milwaukee, 8 p.m. July 14 *G5: at Phoenix, 8 p.m. July 17 *G6: at Milwaukee, 8 p.m. July 20 *G7: at Phoenix, 8 p.m. July 22 *if necessary
Suns 118, Bucks 108 Milwaukee Phoenix
Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press
Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, right, rises above Suns center Deandre Ayton while on his way to 42 points Thursday night. No other Milwaukee player had more than 17. these goals in the opening few minutes, with Holiday attacking the hoop as he had promised Wednesday and with Antetokounmpo putting on a one-man dunk parade on his way to a postseason career-high 42 points. “The first quarter was a storm of aggression from them,” Williams said. “We knew that was coming. They’re a good team. This is the Finals, and they’re giv-
ing a Finals effort. I liked that our guys stayed the course and showed poise.” While Paul and Booker combined to miss their first six shots, the Suns never wavered. After falling into an early nine-point hole, they retook the lead by the end of the first quarter and stretched their advantage to 11 points by halftime. Phoenix never trailed in the second half.
For Holiday, whom the Bucks absolutely need as a consistent source of offense given their limited depth, it was another frustrating outing in which he often tried to do too much. The 12-year veteran, who is being asked to expend an enormous amount of energy defending Paul, shot 4 for 14 in his Finals debut on Tuesday and 7 for 21 in Game 2. Holiday wasn’t alone: Khris Middleton,
29 16 33 30 26 30 32 30 FG FT Reb M-A M-A O-T 15-22 11-18 4-12
— —
108 118
MIL Min A PF PTS An40:07 4 3 42 tetokounmpo Tucker 34:58 3-5 0-0 4-5 1 2 7 Lopez 27:57 4-10 0-0 3-9 0 2 8 Holiday 39:25 7-21 2-3 2-5 7 4 17 Middleton 41:17 5-16 0-0 0-6 8 3 11 Connaught- 33:33 5-10 0-0 4-7 1 3 14 on Teague 12:05 1-4 2-2 0-0 0 0 4 Forbes 5:37 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 3 Portis 4:39 1-2 0-0 1-2 0 0 2 Bryant 0:17 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 240 42-93 15-23 18-46 21 17 108 Percentages: FG .452, FT .652. 3-point goals: 9-31, .290 (Connaughton 4-9, Tucker 1-1, Forbes 1-3, Holiday 1-3, G.Antetokounmpo 1-5, Middleton 1-6, Portis 0-1, Teague 0-1, Lopez 0-2). Team rebounds: 10. Team turnovers: none. Blocked shots: 7 (G.Antetokounmpo 3, Holiday 2, Lopez 2). Turnovers: 9 (G.Antetokounmpo 3, Connaughton 2, Middleton 2, Holiday, Tucker). Steals: 8 (Holiday 2, Lopez 2, Middleton 2, G.Antetokounmpo, Portis). Technical fouls: none. FG FT Reb PHX Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS Bridges 37:37 8-15 8-8 2-7 1 1 27 Crowder 37:07 4-8 0-0 0-10 3 4 11 Ayton 42:15 4-10 2-3 4-11 4 4 10 Booker 44:04 12-25 0-0 2-5 6 4 31 Paul 41:27 10-20 0-1 2-4 8 3 23 Johnson 18:18 2-4 2-2 1-3 2 2 8 Payne 9:48 1-3 0-0 0-3 2 0 2 Craig 7:40 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 6 Kaminsky 0:51 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Nader 0:49 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 240 43-88 12-14 11-43 26 19 118 Percentages: FG .489, FT .857. 3-point goals: 20-40, .500 (Booker 7-12, Crowder 3-5, Paul 3-5, Bridges 3-9, Craig 2-3, Johnson 2-4, Payne 0-2). Team rebounds: 7. Team turnovers: 1. Blocked shots: 2 (Ayton 2). Turnovers: 12 (Paul 6, Booker 3, Bridges, Craig, Payne). Steals: 7 (Ayton 3, Bridges, Crowder, Paul, Payne). Technical fouls: none. A: 16,583 (18,422).
the All-Star forward who has saved Milwaukee’s season at numerous points during this playoff run, was nearly invisible, scoring just 11 points on 5-for-16 shooting. “Jrue was getting to the paint a lot,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “I liked his aggressiveness. We need all three of those guys. If they keep working, it will come out good.”
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Houston Chronicle | HoustonChronicle.com | Friday, July 9, 2021 |
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OLYMPICS
Charly Triballeau / Getty Images
It cost about $1.44 billion to replace National Stadium, where, like venues in and around Tokyo, events will take place without fans for the Olympics.
Olympics ring hollow without fans Nineteen months ago, on a bright December day in Tokyo, dignitaries in dark suits pinned red flowers to their lapels and stood at the center of what they considered an architectural marvel. Shaded from the sun by enormous eaves with latticework of cedar taken from each of Japan’s 47 prefectures, the officials beamed while dramatic music played. On a video screen above them, one proud athlete after another proclaimed, “Hello, our stadium.” It had cost 156.9 billion yen (about $1.44 billion) to demolish the 48,000-seat venue that used to stand in that spot and replace it with a new version of National Stadium. In the process, the building underwent a massive design change because of public outcry over spiraling costs, and construction delays forced the cancellation of its first scheduled event. But during its official unveiling, Shinzo Abe, then the Japanese prime minister, predicted that the sparkling new 68,000-seat behemoth would “serve as the symbol
MIKE FINGER Commentary
for the 2020 Olympics.” Abe had no idea how right he was. Two weeks from Friday, the long-awaited opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics will be held in what will stand as a monument to hollow excess. All of those extra seats? They will go unused. The cheers that Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said she could already hear that day 19 months ago? They’re not going to come. And the citizens who, according to public opinion polls, didn’t want the games to go on while Japan grapples with the lingering COVID-19 pandemic? They might not be totally out of mind, but they’ll be out of sight. That much became official
Thursday, when as a result of a new government-declared state of emergency, organizers announced that spectators will be barred from all Olympics events in and around Tokyo for the duration of the games. So this summer’s extravaganza will become, in essence, a TV-only affair, which is fitting when one considers that TV is the main reason the whole thing hasn’t been scrapped as the number of reported COVID-19 infections continues to rise in a country in which most of the public has not been vaccinated. Per the Associated Press, broadcast rights generate about $4 billion in revenue for the International Olympic Committee during a four-year cycle. If there are no games to put on TV, all of that money goes away. Pushing the event back for a year was one thing. But canceling it completely? That never was going to happen. So what historically has been a rotten deal for the host country got even worse. The cost of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Jainero
has been estimated at more than $13.2 billion, and since those Games ended, expensive venues built specifically for 2016 reportedly have been abandoned and fallen into disrepair. But at least Rio got the celebration and the crowds and the memories. Tokyo will wind up with little of that to go with its big bill. Before the pandemic, more than 4 million tickets to the games had been sold to fans in Japan, with more than 600,000 ordered by foreign fans. Earlier this year, organizers announced no fans from overseas would be allowed. Last month, they said crowds of Japanese fans would be limited to 10,000 or 50 percent of a venue’s capacity. But with prime minister Yoshihide Suga declaring a fourth state of emergency that will last from July 12-Aug. 22, organizers decided no fans would be allowed. “A very heavy judgment was made,” organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto said. “I am sorry to
those who purchased tickets and everyone in local areas.” It’s difficult to argue with that decision, of course. But it’s another example of a lesson many of us learned here in America last year. As much as we’d like to think of sports as a shared experience that brings us all together, the truth is that their main purpose these days is to make rich people richer. Yes, the competitors want to compete. Many of them worked a lifetime to get to Tokyo, and it would have been a shame if that was taken from them, just like it would have been a shame if NFL stars and college basketball players and high school volleyballers had their seasons taken away last year. But just because the games went on here didn’t mean we all forgot about what drew us to them in the first place. And two weeks from Friday, when in a symbol of hollow excess Japan tries to pretend something isn’t missing? The world will know better. mfinger@express-news.net twitter.com/mikefinger
Green sees lack of fans helping Team USA By Rusty Simmons SAN F RA NC ISC O C HRONICLE
Draymond Green said Thursday’s announcement that fans will be banned from the Tokyo Olympics could end up being a positive for the U.S. men’s basketball team in its quest for a fourth consecutive gold medal. “Normally when we go, the whole crowd is cheering against us, so it may actually help us, because everybody is usually pulling to see us lose,” the Golden State Warriors’ power forward said in a wide-ranging, 20-minute news conference from Team USA’s training camp in Las Vegas. “You get a lot of these countries that really feed off their crowd, and you’ll have other countries come to support those countries to beat us. … “It’s unfortunate what’s happening in Japan with the cases rising. You hate to see it happen, but just from a pure basketball standpoint, I don’t think it gives us a disadvantage.” Ten days before Team USA heads to Tokyo, it was announced that fans won’t be allowed at the Games because a new coronavirus state of emergency was de-
clared. Tokyo on Wednesday reported 920 new cases, the highest total since May 13. A year and a half into the global pandemic, Green said the U.S. players are used to playing in empty arenas, and he’s not doubting his decision to play in the Olympics — even as Warriors teammate Stephen Curry opted for a summer of family time, rest and golf. “Me and Steph have a great understanding, which is part of our chemistry and our relationship. I understand him,” Green said. “I don’t need to try to push him to play for Team USA, because I already know the reasons why, and I don’t need to try to come in between those reasons. “I asked him if he was playing, he said ‘no,’ and that was the end of the conversation.” Green finished third in the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year voting and recorded a career-best 8.9 assists this season. Green was closer to his usual vociferous and introspective self on a variety of topics. On Damian Lillard, who is reportedly tiring of the Portland Trail Blazers’ decision-making and could seek
Ethan Miller / Getty Images
As usual, the talkative Draymond Green is the center of attention, even on a star-studded team. a trade: “Obviously, he’s one of the best shooters in our game, he’s one of the most prolific scorers in our game, and also, he’s an incredible leader and point guard. He’s from Oakland, and he embodies that. He carries that toughness. That makes all the difference when he takes the
floor.” On Kevin Durant, whom Green recruited to the Warriors in 2016 and then publicly squabbled with before the superstar escaped to Brooklyn: “You’re talking about a guy who will sit at home in his house and watch an elementary school basketball game,
just to watch basketball. He really, really loves the game. He loves watching the game. He’s a student of the game. He obviously loves hooping.” Then, Green got to talk about one of his favorite topics: defense. “When I came into the league, I fell in the draft, because their No. 1 question was: ‘What position would I guard?’ ” said Green, who was picked No. 35 overall in 2012. “That stuck with me. I wanted to make everyone eat those words. Every team that passed on me. Every reporter. Everybody who’s anybody and ever said anything about my defense. I wanted them to eat their words, and it just became a mindset and a way of life. It just became a part of who I am.” That’s one of the reasons head coach Gregg Popovich wanted Green on the Team USA roster. Among the most respected basketball minds in the world, Popovich detailed Green’s “natural affinity” to be a great defender. “Understanding spacial arrangements, being able to do work early, understanding angles and distances, having the desire to want to stop an opponent,
Select Team has issue with virus LAS VEGAS — The USA Select Team will be without three players for the remainder of Olympic training camp for coronavirus-related reasons, though there are no indications that any cause for concern exists past those players. The U.S. Olympic team practiced for a third consecutive day Thursday, with the remaining members of the select team, a group of 17 players that were brought in to scrimmage and practice against the Tokyo-bound club, taking part in that workout. A person with knowledge of the situation said the three players involved for the virus-related reasons were Immanuel Quickley of the New York Knicks and Charlotte Hornets teammates P.J. Washington and Miles Bridges. Associated Press
and at the same time, understanding how that’s done with wisdom,” Popovich said.” … Draymond does that all over the court, and he enjoys it. All of those things help him be who he is.”
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| Friday, July 9, 2021 | HoustonChronicle.com | Houston Chronicle
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PRO BASEBALL DODGERS
MLB AT A GLANCE AMERICAN LEAGUE West Division Houston Oakland Seattle Los Angeles Texas Central Division Chicago Cleveland Detroit Minnesota Kansas City East Division Boston Tampa Bay Toronto New York Baltimore
W 54 50 46 44 34
L 34 39 42 42 53
Pct .614 .562 .523 .512 .391
GB — 4½ 8 9 19½
L10 6-4 4-6 5-5 8-2 5-5
Str L-1 W-1 W-1 W-2 L-1
Home 28-17 27-22 27-19 26-20 21-23
Away 26-17 23-17 19-23 18-22 13-30
51 43 40 36 36
35 42 48 50 51
.593 .506 .455 .419 .414
— 7½ 12 15 15½
7-3 1-9 6-4 3-7 3-7
W-2 W-1 L-1 W-1 L-2
31-14 22-19 21-22 19-25 21-22
20-21 21-23 19-26 17-25 15-29
54 51 44 44 28
34 36 40 42 58
.614 .586 .524 .512 .326
— 2½ 8 9 25
7-3 5-5 6-4 4-6 4-6
L-2 W-4 W-1 L-1 L-1
27-17 26-16 19-20 23-22 13-27
27-17 25-20 25-20 21-20 15-31
NATIONAL LEAGUE
West Division San Francisco Los Angeles San Diego Colorado Arizona Central Division Milwaukee Cincinnati Chicago St. Louis Pittsburgh East Division New York Philadelphia Atlanta Washington Miami
W 54 54 52 38 25
L 32 34 38 50 64
Pct .628 .614 .578 .432 .281
GB — 1 4 17 30½
L10 4-6 7-3 5-5 7-3 3-7
Str W-1 W-1 W-1 W-1 L-1
Home 27-13 28-13 32-17 31-17 15-28
Away 27-19 26-21 20-21 7-33 10-36
53 45 43 43 32
36 42 45 45 54
.596 .517 .489 .489 .372
— 7 9½ 9½ 19½
7-3 6-4 1-9 6-4 3-7
W-2 L-1 L-1 L-1 L-1
27-18 23-20 27-16 23-18 19-25
26-18 22-22 16-29 20-27 13-29
45 42 42 42 38
38 43 44 44 48
.542 .494 .488 .488 .442
— 4 4½ 4½ 8½
5-5 6-4 6-4 4-6 5-5
L-1 W-1 W-1 L-1 L-1
26-12 24-16 24-22 24-22 21-19
19-26 18-27 18-22 18-22 17-29
Wednesday’s results American League
Houston 4, Oakland 3 Detroit 5, Texas 3 Tampa Bay 8, Cleveland 1 (7, 1st) Tampa Bay 4, Cleveland 0 (7, 2nd) Chicago White Sox 6, Minnesota 1 Cincinnati 5, Kansas City 2 L.A. Angels 5, Boston 4 Toronto 10, Baltimore 2 N.Y. Yankees 5, Seattle 4
Oakland 2, Houston 1 Seattle 4, N.Y. Yankees 0 Cleveland 7, Kansas City 4 Minnesota 5, Detroit 3 Toronto at Baltimore, postponed
By Jorge Castillo L O S A N G ELE S T I ME S
MIAMI — Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer’s paid administrative leave has been extended another seven days, Major League Baseball announced Thursday. Bauer was placed on leave for seven days last Friday after a woman accused him of sexual assault in Pasadena and obtained a temporary restraining order against him. Under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy, the league needed approval from the players union to extend Bauer’s leave. Bauer, 30, hasn’t been charged or arrested. The Pasadena Police Depart-
Atlanta 14, Pittsburgh 3 N.Y. Mets 4, Milwaukee 3 (8, 1st) Milwaukee 5, N.Y. Mets 0 (7, 2nd) Cincinnati 5, Kansas City 2 Miami 9, L.A. Dodgers 6 Chicago Cubs 8, Philadelphia 3 Arizona 6, Colorado 4 San Francisco 5, St. Louis 2 Washington 15, San Diego 5
National League
L.A. Dodgers 6, Miami 1 Colorado 9, Arizona 3 Philadelphia 8, Chicago Cubs 0 Milwaukee 5, Cincinnati 3 San Diego 9, Washington 8 Pittsburgh at N.Y. Mets, postponed
Friday’s games
Los Angeles Betts rf Muncy 1b Beaty lf Bellinger cf Smith c Taylor 2b Lux ss McKinstry 3b Urias p Totals
ab 5 5 4 5 4 5 3 4 4 39
r h 1 2 1 2 2 2 0 1 0 0 1 2 0 1 0 0 1 1 6 11
bi bb so avg 0 0 1 .248 0 0 0 .262 1 1 0 .255 0 0 1 .187 1 0 1 .254 2 0 2 .276 0 1 0 .236 0 0 1 .248 0 0 1 .229 4 2 7
Miami Chisholm Jr. 2b Marte cf Cooper rf Aguilar 1b Rojas ss Sanchez lf Leon c Berti 3b Alcantara p Sierra ph Duvall ph Totals
ab 4 4 4 3 4 4 3 4 1 1 1 34
r 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
bi bb so 1 0 3 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 11
Los Angeles Miami
American League
Chicago White Sox (Keuchel 6-3) at Baltimore (Lopez 2-11), 6:05 p.m. Kansas City (Keller 6-9) at Cleveland (McKenzie 1-3), 6:10 p.m. Philadelphia (Velasquez 3-3) at Boston (Richards 4-5), 6:10 p.m. Toronto (Manoah 2-0) at Tampa Bay (McClanahan 3-3), 6:10 p.m. Oakland (Irvin 6-7) at Texas (Lyles 4-5), 7:05 p.m. Detroit (Manning 1-2) at Minnesota (Maeda 4-3), 7:10 p.m. N.Y. Yankees (Cortes Jr. 0-0) at Houston (Odorizzi 3-3), 7:10 p.m. L.A. Angels (Cobb 6-3) at Seattle (Gonzales 1-5), 9:10 p.m.
National League
St. Louis (LeBlanc 0-1) at Chicago Cubs (Hendricks 10-4), 1:20 p.m. Atlanta (Morton 7-3) at Miami (Thompson 2-2), 6:10 p.m. Philadelphia (Velasquez 3-3) at Boston (Richards 4-5), 6:10 p.m. Pittsburgh (TBD) at N.Y. Mets (Stroman 6-6), 6:10 p.m. Cincinnati (Miley 6-4) at Milwaukee (Lauer 3-3), 7:10 p.m. Washington (Espino 2-2) at San Francisco (Webb 4-3), 8:45 p.m. Arizona (Widener 1-0) at L.A. Dodgers (TBD), 9:10 p.m. Colorado (Freeland 1-2) at San Diego (Snell 3-3), 9:10 p.m.
000 100
h 1 0 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 7 150 000
Urias, Dodgers stymie Marlins MIAMI — Julio Urias allowed Jazz Chisholm’s leadoff homer, then pitched shutout ball through the seventh inning for his major league-leading 11th win, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Miami Marlins 6-1 Thursday to avoid a four-game sweep. Chisholm put Miami ahead when he drove a 2-0 fastball off the facade above right-center field for his 10th homer. Urias (11-3) allowed just four more hits, struck out nine and walked two, throwing a season-high 101 pitches. With the score 1-1, Urias singled leading off the fifth, starting a five-run inning. Los Angeles arrived in Florida with a nine-game winning streak, then lost three in a row as the Marlins walked off with wins on Tuesday and Wednesday. MARINERS 4, YANKEES 0: Rookie Logan Gilbert pitched one-hit ball over seven innings in the best start of his young career, Kyle Seager and Dylan Moore both homered, and Seattle won at home. Seattle salvaged the final game of the three-game set with the Yankees behind a brilliant effort from the top pitching prospect in the organization. Gilbert was dominant, the only base runner allowed being Giancarlo Stanton’s double leading off the second inning. Gilbert (3-2) set a career-high with eight strikeouts and retired his final 18 batters. PHILLIES 8, CUBS 0: Brad Miller hit three home runs and drove in five runs and Zach Eflin and three relievers combined on a five-hit shutout as Philadelphia routed Chicago at Wrigley Field. Miller hit a solo drive in the third inning and added two-run homers in the fifth and seventh innings. Miller popped up in the ninth. The Cubs lost for the 12th time in 13 games. PADRES 9, NATIONALS 8: Trent Grisham’s walkoff single with two outs in the ninth scored Tommy Pham with the winning run as host San Diego came back from an 8-0 deficit to beat Washington. Pitcher Daniel Camarena hit a grand slam and Fernando Tatis Jr. hit his 28th home run of the season as San Diego chased Nationals starter Max Scherzer with a seven-run fourth inning. Trea Turner hit a pair of homers for Washington. INDIANS 7, ROYALS 4: Franmil Reyes hit a three-run homer with two outs in the in the ninth inning as host Cleveland ended a nine-game losing streak with a win over Kansas City. After Royals manager Mike Matheny elected to have reliever Greg Holland (2-4) walk the dangerous Jose Ramirez to put runners at first and second, Reyes made him pay with his blast into the left-field seats. Carlos Santana homered twice for the Royals. BREWERS 5, REDS 3: Avisail Garcia’s two-run home run in the eighth inning broke up a tie game and lifted host Milwaukee to a victory over Cincinnati, boosting the Brewers’ NL Central lead over the Reds to seven games. TWINS 5, TIGERS 3: Ryan Jeffers and Miguel Sano homered and Minnesota took advantage of a replay reversal to score three runs in the seventh inning, rallying past Detroit at Minneapolis. ROCKIES 9, DIAMONDBACKS 3: Dom Nunez doubled twice and singled as Colorado avoided a three-game sweep by the team with the worst record in the majors, beating Arizona at Phoenix. The Rockies won for just the seventh time in 40 road games this season.
From wire reports
avg .254 .279 .288 .268 .255 .230 .184 .218 .063 .245 .228
000 — 6 11 1 000 — 1 7 2
E—Lux (9), Berti (9), Chisholm Jr. (13). LOB—Los Angeles 10, Miami 8. 2B—Taylor (15). HR—Chisholm Jr. (10), off Urias. RBIs—Taylor 2 (45), Beaty (29), Smith (31), Chisholm Jr. (32). SB—Beaty (1). SF—Smith. Runners left in scoring position—Los Angeles 5 (Smith, McKinstry, Urias, Bellinger 2); Miami 4 (Sanchez 2, Leon). RISP—Los Angeles 5 for 14; Miami 0 for 5. Runners moved up—Beaty, Sanchez. GIDP—Berti. DP—Los Angeles 1 (Lux, Taylor, Muncy). Los Angeles Urias W,11-3 Treinen Cleavinger Miami Alcantara L,5-8 Hess Neidert
ip 7 1 1 ip 4 1 4
h 5 2 0 h 7 1 3
r 1 0 0 r 5 1 0
er bb so np 1 2 9 101 0 0 1 17 0 0 1 9 er bb so np 3 1 5 98 0 1 0 14 0 0 2 65
era 3.64 2.78 1.80 era 3.09 0.00 4.50
Inherited runners-scored—Hess 3-3. HBP—Neidert (Lux). WP—Neidert. Umpires—Home, Sam Holbrook; First, Mike Muchlinski; Second, Carlos Torres; Third, Nestor Ceja. T—3:05. A—12,031 (36,742).
Mariners 4, Yankees 0
THURSDAY’S GAMES
Pitcher Trevor Bauer’s leave now goes through July 23.
ment is investigating him for possible felony assault while MLB conducts its own investigation. A hearing to determine whether the temporary restraining order against Bauer will remain in force is scheduled for July 23. The leave now extends through July 15. Barring an unlikely resolution before then, the league and the union are expected to discuss another extension, perhaps for longer than seven days, to let the investigations play out. If the union declines, the league could have to choose between reinstating Bauer for the time being or disciplining him based on whatever evidence it has uncovered by then.
In a report filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on June 29, the woman accused Bauer of nonconsensual sex on two occasions three weeks apart — one in April and one in May — in Bauer’s Pasadena home. In a statement, Bauer’s co-agents Jon Fetterolf and Rachel Luba said: “We continue to refute (the woman’s) allegations in the strongest possible terms and Mr. Bauer vehemently denies her account of the two meetings. Again, ad-
ministrative leave is neither a disciplinary action nor does it in any way reflect a finding in the league’s investigation.” The Dodgers quietly began distancing themselves from Bauer this week. The club removed his bobblehead night from its promotional schedule and pulled his merchandise from the team store. Bauer signed a threeyear, $102 million contract with the Dodgers in February after winning the 2020 National League Cy Young Award with the Cincinnati Reds. The Newhall Hart (Santa Clarita, Calif.) High and UCLA product has a 2.59 earned-run average in 17 starts this season.
Indians 7, Royals 4
Brewers 5, Reds 3
Wednesday’s late game
MLB BOX SCORES Dodgers 6, Marlins 1
National League
Thursday’s results American League
Bauer’s paid leave extended
New York LeMahieu 2b Judge rf Sanchez c Stanton dh Voit 1b Torres ss Urshela 3b Gardner cf Locastro lf Totals
ab 3 4 3 3 2 3 3 3 2 27
r 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
h 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
bi bb so 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 10
avg .270 .284 .218 .274 .243 .236 .269 .189 .273
Seattle Crawford ss Haniger rf Seager 3b France 1b Murphy c Fraley cf Torrens dh Moore 2b Bauers lf Totals
ab 4 4 4 4 3 3 2 2 3 29
r 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 4
h 0 2 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 5
bi bb so 0 0 1 1 0 2 1 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 4 2 10
avg .279 .253 .216 .264 .198 .238 .209 .180 .241
New York Seattle
000 120
000 000
000 — 0 1 0 01x — 4 5 0
LOB—New York 2, Seattle 3. 2B—Stanton (9). HR—Seager (16), off Montgomery; Moore (8), off Montgomery; Haniger (19), off Peralta. RBIs—Seager (50), Moore 2 (28), Haniger (48). SB—Moore (14). Runners left in scoring position—New York 1 (Gardner); Seattle 2 (France, Bauers). RISP—New York 0 for 3; Seattle 0 for 3. Runners moved up—Torres. GIDP—Judge. DP—Seattle 1 (Seager, Moore, France). New York ip h r er bb so np Montgomery, L, 6 2⁄3 4 3 3 2 9 105 3-4 1 Wilson ⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 8 Peralta 1 1 1 1 0 1 14 Seattle ip h r er bb so np Gilbert, W, 3-2 7 1 0 0 0 8 103 Sewald, H, 7 1 0 0 0 0 2 12 Graveman 1 0 0 0 0 0 9
era 4.16
8.59 5.19 era 3.51 1.46 0.99
Inherited runners-scored—Wilson 1-0. HBP—Gilbert (Voit), Graveman (LeMahieu). WP—Montgomery. Umpires—Home, Chad Whitson; First, Jim Reynolds; Second, Tony Randazzo; Third, Todd Tichenor. T—2:27. A—17,524 (47,929).
Rockies 9, Diamondbacks 3 Colorado Hampson cf Tapia lf Story ss Rodgers 2b McMahon 3b Cron 1b Daza rf Nunez c Gonzalez p Blackmon ph Fuentes ph-1b Totals
ab 6 5 4 5 5 2 4 4 2 1 2 41
r h 0 0 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 0 1 1 2 3 0 1 0 1 0 1 9 13
bi bb so avg 0 0 4 .247 0 0 0 .291 1 1 0 .252 0 0 1 .263 1 0 1 .258 0 0 1 .251 2 1 0 .299 1 1 0 .174 1 0 1 .192 1 0 0 .269 1 0 0 .236 8 3 8
Arizona Rojas lf-rf VanMeter 2b P.Smith 1b Escobar 3b Reddick rf-cf Fairchild cf Cabrera ph Ahmed ss Holaday c Varsho ph-c Faria p Young ph Peralta lf Totals
ab 5 4 4 3 3 3 1 4 2 1 1 1 2 34
r 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3
h 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 7
bi bb so avg 0 0 1 .251 2 0 1 .179 0 0 0 .263 0 1 0 .252 0 1 0 .276 0 0 1 .250 0 0 1 .245 0 0 2 .217 0 0 1 .000 0 1 0 .147 0 0 1 .333 0 0 0 .220 0 0 0 .253 2 3 8
Colorado Arizona
010 000
102 120
401 — 9 13 1 000 — 3 7 1
E—Fuentes (8), VanMeter (5). LOB—Colorado 10, Arizona 7. 2B—Nunez 2 (9), Tapia (20), Story (17), Daza (11), Young (3). HR—VanMeter (2), off Gonzalez. RBIs—Nunez (21), Gonzalez (1), Blackmon (39), Story (42), McMahon (47), Daza 2 (28), Fuentes (32), VanMeter 2 (12). Runners left in scoring position—Colorado 6 (Gonzalez, Hampson 4); Arizona 2 (Escobar). RISP—Colorado 7 for 14; Arizona 1 for 7. Runners moved up—Daza, Fairchild, Rojas. GIDP—Fairchild. DP—Colorado 1 (Story, Rodgers, Cron). Colorado Gonzalez, W, 3-5 Lawrence, H, 2 Chacin Estevez Almonte Arizona Faria Weems, L, 0-1, BS, 0-1 R.Smith Bukauskas
ip 5 1 1 1 1 ip h 5 5 1 1
h 6 0 1 0 0 r 2 2
r er bb 3 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 er bb 2 2 2 1
2 5 4 4 1 2 1 1
0 0
so 5 1 0 1 1 so 4 2 1 1
np era 70 5.51 13 4.97 26 5.01 11 5.08 14 10.67 np era 86 4.76 20 18.00 53 17
6.20 7.15
IBB—off Weems (Nunez).HBP—Weems (Cron), R.Smith (Cron). WP—Weems. Umpires—Home, Dan Bellino; First, Dave Rackley; Second, Ryan Additon; Third, Marvin Hudson. T—3:23. A—7,740 (48,686).
Kansas City Merrifield 2b Benintendi lf Perez c C.Santana 1b O’Hearn dh Dozier 3b Dyson rf Taylor cf Lopez ss Totals
ab 4 4 4 3 4 4 4 4 3 34
r 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 4
h 1 0 0 2 0 2 1 2 0 8
bi bb so 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 3 2 1 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 1 11
Cleveland Hernandez 2b Rosario ss Ramirez 3b Reyes dh Ramirez rf Bradley 1b Perez c Mercado lf B.Zimmer cf Totals
ab 4 5 4 4 4 2 4 4 3 34
r 1 0 1 2 0 2 1 0 0 7
h 1 1 0 1 1 2 1 1 1 9
bi bb so avg 0 1 1 .223 0 0 1 .263 0 1 2 .259 3 1 1 .273 0 0 2 .269 1 2 0 .237 3 0 0 .145 0 0 1 .200 0 1 1 .211 7 6 9
Kansas City Cleveland
001 000
200 100
avg .275 .268 .278 .252 .225 .174 .247 .246 .263
001 — 4 8 0 033 — 7 9 1
E—Rosario (6). LOB—Kansas City 4, Cleveland 7. 2B—Taylor (7), Dyson (5), Dozier (15), Mercado (1), Hernandez (13). HR—C.Santana (14), off Plesac; Dozier (8), off Plesac; C.Santana (15), off Karinchak; Bradley (9), off Duffy; Perez (4), off Barlow; Reyes (14), off Holland. RBIs—Merrifield (46), C.Santana 2 (50), Dozier (26), Bradley (18), Perez 3 (12), Reyes 3 (38). SB—Merrifield (24). CS—Merrifield (1). Runners left in scoring position—Kansas City 3 (Taylor 2, Perez); Cleveland 4 (Ramirez 2, Mercado). RISP—Kansas City 1 for 7; Cleveland 2 for 9. Runners moved up—Dyson, Perez. GIDP—Lopez, Dozier, Hernandez. DP—Kansas City 1 (Lopez, Dozier, Merrifield, Lopez); Cleveland 2 (Rosario, Hernandez, Bradley; Rosario, Bradley). Kansas City Duffy Staumont H,3 Brentz H,9 Barlow BS,4-7 Holland L,2-4 Cleveland Plesac Maton Wittgren Shaw Karinchak W,5-2
ip 5 1 1 1 2 ⁄3 ip 4 1 1 2 1
h 4 2 0 1 2 h 5 0 0 1 2
r 1 0 0 3 3 r 3 0 0 0 1
er bb so 1 3 5 0 0 1 0 0 1 3 2 1 3 1 1 er bb so 3 0 4 0 0 2 0 1 1 0 0 2 1 0 2
np 77 22 8 25 9 np 55 21 14 20 28
era 2.53 3.63 2.75 2.95 4.89 era 4.31 4.93 4.70 3.08 2.58
IBB—off Holland (Ramirez). Umpires—Home, James Hoye; First, Tripp Gibson; Second, Quinn Wolcott; Third, Nick Mahrley. T—3:10. A—13,272 (34,788).
Twins 5, Tigers 3 Detroit Goodrum cf Schoop 1b Haase lf Cabrera dh Candelario 3b Short ss W.Castro 2b Mazara rf J.Rogers c Totals
ab 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 3 3 33
r 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
h 0 2 2 2 1 0 0 1 0 8
bi bb so 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 3 1 10
Minnesota Polanco 2b Donaldson 3b Cruz dh Larnach lf Jeffers c Sano 1b Kepler rf Celestino cf Simmons ss Totals
ab 3 3 4 4 3 4 3 3 2 29
r 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 5
h 1 0 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 6
bi bb so avg 1 0 0 .249 0 1 2 .249 0 0 1 .299 1 0 2 .262 1 1 1 .193 1 0 0 .201 0 0 1 .214 0 0 1 .146 0 0 0 .229 4 2 8
Detroit Minnesota
000 000
201 011
avg .211 .276 .250 .246 .269 .214 .215 .215 .233
000 — 3 8 1 30x — 5 6 0
E—W.Castro (9). LOB—Detroit 4, Minnesota 4. 2B—Candelario (20). HR—Haase (13), off Happ; Jeffers (6), off Skubal; Sano (15), off Skubal. RBIs—Haase 2 (27), Short (8), Jeffers (16), Larnach (20), Sano (35), Polanco (35). SF—Polanco. S —Simmons. Runners left in scoring position—Detroit 1 (W.Castro); Minnesota 1 (Jeffers). RISP—Detroit 1 for 5; Minnesota 1 for 3. Runners moved up—Candelario. GIDP—W.Castro. DP—Minnesota 2 (Celestino, Polanco, Celestino; Polanco, Simmons, Sano). Detroit Skubal, L, 5-8 Cisnero Farmer Minnesota Happ, W, 5-4 Duffey, H, 11 T.Rogers, S, 8-10
ip 6 1 1 ip 7 1 1
h 6 0 0 h 8 0 0
r 5 0 0 r 3 0 0
er bb so np 3 1 5 93 0 0 1 11 0 1 2 16 er bb so np 3 1 8 102 0 0 1 15 0 0 1 6
era 4.36 2.58 7.83 era 5.90 3.58 2.45
Inherited runners-scored—Cisnero 2-2. WP—Cisnero. Umpires—Home, Will Little; First, Rob Drake; Second, Dan Merzel; Third, Greg Gibson. T—2:23. A—18,192 (38,544).
Phillies 8, Cubs 0 Philadelphia Segura 2b Miller 1b Harper rf L.Williams ph-rf Realmuto c-1b Gregorius ss Herrera cf Bohm 3b Jankowski lf Eflin p Torreyes ph-2b Totals
ab 5 5 4 1 2 5 5 4 3 2 1 37
r h 1 1 3 3 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 3 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 8 11
bi bb so avg 0 0 1 .321 5 0 0 .260 0 0 0 .281 0 0 0 .302 0 3 2 .261 2 0 0 .232 0 0 2 .241 0 0 2 .237 0 1 1 .323 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 .246 7 4 8
Chicago Pederson lf Wisdom 3b Rizzo 1b Heyward rf Chirinos c Ortega cf-lf Hoerner 2b Alcantara ss Totals
ab 4 4 4 4 2 4 3 3 30
r 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
bi bb so avg 0 0 1 .226 0 0 1 .274 0 0 2 .246 0 0 2 .204 0 2 1 .250 0 0 1 .234 0 0 0 .337 0 0 0 .179 0 3 9
Philadelphia Chicago
011 000
h 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 5 020 000
400 — 8 11 0 000 — 0 5 0
LOB—Philadelphia 7, Chicago 6. 2B—Gregorius (6), Harper (13). HR—Miller 2 (8), off Alzolay; Miller (9), off Abbott; Gregorius (7), off Abbott. RBIs—Miller 5 (25), Gregorius 2 (26). SB—Heyward (4), Gregorius (2), Realmuto (5). S —Eflin. Runners left in scoring position—Philadelphia 6 (Jankowski, Bohm, Eflin, Herrera); Chicago 3 (Chirinos, Pederson). RISP—Philadelphia 2 for 13; Chicago 0 for 2. Runners moved up—Herrera, Gregorius. GIDP—Hoerner, Happ. DP—Philadelphia 2 (Segura, Gregorius, Miller; Miller, Gregorius, Miller). Philadelphia Eflin W,4-6 Bradley Neris Suarez Chicago Alzolay L,4-9 Abbott Morgan
ip 6 1 1 1 ip 5 3 1
h 5 0 0 0 h 5 5 1
r 0 0 0 0 r 4 4 0
er bb so 0 1 5 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 2 er bb so 4 1 5 4 2 2 0 1 1
np 96 15 14 19 np 73 65 20
era 3.88 3.86 4.96 0.83 era 4.66 6.35 4.50
Umpires—Home, Bruce Dreckman; First, Nic Lentz; Second, Joe West; Third, Edwin Moscoso. T—3:15. A—30,727 (41,649).
Cincinnati India 2b Winker lf Castellanos rf Votto 1b Naquin cf Suarez 3b Barnhart c Farmer ss Mahle p Totals
ab 4 4 4 3 3 4 4 3 3 33
r 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 3
h 1 0 1 1 1 0 2 0 0 6
bi bb so 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 4 12
Milwaukee Urias 3b Yelich lf Adames ss Narvaez c Garcia rf Peterson 2b Hiura 1b Bradley Jr. cf Houser p Totals
ab 3 3 3 3 4 3 4 3 2 30
r 1 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 5
h 1 0 1 2 2 0 2 0 0 8
bi bb so avg 0 2 0 .243 0 0 1 .237 0 1 1 .290 0 1 0 .302 3 0 1 .252 1 1 0 .260 1 0 1 .168 0 1 0 .167 0 0 2 .100 5 6 7
Cincinnati Milwaukee
000 200
030 001
avg .274 .301 .334 .260 .250 .177 .273 .220 .036
000 — 3 6 0 02x — 5 8 1
E—Peterson (1). LOB—Cincinnati 8, Milwaukee 8. 2B—Votto (10), Narvaez (11), Hiura 2 (8). HR—Garcia (16), off Brach. RBIs—Barnhart (27), Garcia 3 (54), Peterson (20), Hiura (18). SB—Urias (4). Runners left in scoring position—Cincinnati 5 (Suarez, Castellanos, Barnhart); Milwaukee 2 (Bradley Jr., Urias). RISP—Cincinnati 3 for 12; Milwaukee 3 for 10. Runners moved up—Suarez, Peterson. GIDP—Suarez, Hiura. DP—Cincinnati 1 (Suarez, India, Votto); Milwaukee 1 (Adames, Peterson, Hiura). Cincinnati ip h r er bb so np Mahle 6 4 3 3 4 6 103 2 Osich ⁄3 0 0 0 1 0 9 1 Warren ⁄3 1 0 0 0 0 4 1 Brach, L, 0-1 ⁄3 3 2 2 0 0 18 2 Perez ⁄3 0 0 0 1 1 9 Milwaukee ip h r er bb so np 1 Houser 4 ⁄3 5 3 0 4 6 93 Cousins 12⁄3 1 0 0 0 2 20 Suter 1 0 0 0 0 0 8 Williams, W, 1 0 0 0 0 2 14 6-1 Hader, S, 21-22 1 0 0 0 0 2 14
era 3.68 1.00 1.93 3.48 7.20 era 3.74 0.00 3.61 3.06 0.78
T—3:16. A—22,948 (41,900). ab 5 5 3 5 3 4 4 4 2 37
r h 1 1 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 8 11
bi bb so avg 0 0 1 .346 3 0 0 .321 0 2 0 .286 1 0 0 .248 1 0 0 .272 2 0 2 .268 1 0 1 .278 0 0 2 .210 0 0 1 .000 8 2 7
San Diego Pham lf Tatis Jr. ss Cronenworth 2b Machado 3b Grisham cf Hosmer 1b Myers rf Caratini c Rivas ph-c Mateo ph Camarena p Totals
ab 5 5 5 3 5 3 3 2 2 1 1 37
r h 2 3 1 2 0 0 1 0 1 2 1 1 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 9 11
bi bb so avg 1 0 2 .257 2 0 1 .299 0 0 1 .274 0 1 1 .271 1 0 0 .277 0 0 0 .261 1 1 2 .253 0 0 1 .221 0 0 0 .196 0 0 1 .195 4 0 0 .500 9 2 9
200 701
000 — 8 11 0 001 — 9 11 2
E—Grisham (4), Tatis Jr. (19). LOB—Washington 5, San Diego 6. 2B—Castro (19), Bell (14), Pham 2 (12), Myers (12). HR—Turner (16), off Darvish; Turner (17), off Camarena; Tatis Jr. (28), off Scherzer; Camarena (1), off Scherzer. RBIs—Turner 3 (42), Gomes 2 (33), Bell (42), Castro (38), Harrison (31), Tatis Jr. 2 (60), Myers (36), Camarena 4 (4), Pham (30), Grisham (34). SB—Turner (19), Tatis Jr. (20). SF—Castro. Runners left in scoring position—Washington 0; San Diego 2 (Cronenworth, Tatis Jr.). RISP—Washington 4 for 5; San Diego 4 for 10. Runners moved up—Rivas, Tatis Jr., Cronenworth. GIDP—Bell. DP—San Diego 1 (Tatis Jr., Cronenworth, Hosmer). Washington ip h r er bb so Scherzer 32⁄3 5 7 7 1 7 Finnegan 11⁄3 1 0 0 0 0 2 Suero H,4 ⁄3 1 1 1 0 0 Voth BS,0-2 11⁄3 1 0 0 0 1 Hudson 1 1 0 0 0 1 2 Clay L,0-2 ⁄3 2 1 1 1 0 San Diego ip h r er bb so Darvish 3 8 6 6 0 2 Camarena 2 2 2 2 0 2 Stammen 1 0 0 0 0 0 Johnson 1 1 0 0 1 1 Pagan 1 0 0 0 0 2 Melancon W,2-1 1 0 0 0 1 0
np 91 22 12 22 13 13 np 64 28 10 19 14 16
era 2.66 3.58 3.96 3.43 2.49 4.97 era 3.09 9.64 2.84 3.25 3.19 2.15
T—3:40. A—29,434 (40,209). Wednesday’s late game
Giants 5, Cardinals 2 St. Louis Edman rf Carlson lf Goldschmidt 1b Arenado 3b Bader cf DeJong ss Sosa 2b Knizner c Carpenter 2b Totals
ab 4 4 3 4 4 3 3 4 1 33
r 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2
h 0 2 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 7
bi bb so avg 0 0 1 .261 0 0 1 .256 1 1 1 .259 1 0 0 .269 0 0 1 .218 0 1 1 .175 0 0 0 .257 0 0 1 .178 0 0 0 .194 2 2 7
San Francisco Wade Jr. 1b Ruf 1b Yastrzemski rf Flores 2b-3b Dickerson lf Crawford ss Vosler 3b Solano ph-2b Duggar cf Casali c Wood p Slater lf Totals
ab 1 1 4 5 3 4 1 2 4 2 3 1 32
r 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 5
h 0 1 1 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 8
bi bb so avg 0 2 0 .254 2 1 0 .259 1 1 0 .232 0 0 0 .262 0 1 2 .223 0 1 1 .275 1 0 0 .214 1 0 1 .268 0 0 2 .299 0 2 0 .194 0 0 1 .000 0 0 0 .221 5 8 7
St. Louis San Francisco
100 110
000 010
010 — 2 7 0 02x — 5 8 0
LOB—St. Louis 6, San Francisco 12. 2B—Arenado (26), Carpenter (7), DeJong (5), Casali (5), Yastrzemski (20), Solano (11). HR—Ruf (8), off J.Miller. RBIs—Arenado (56), Goldschmidt (47), Vosler (8), Yastrzemski (33), Solano (20), Ruf 2 (20). SB—Crawford (7). Runners left in scoring position—St. Louis 2 (Bader, Knizner); San Francisco 8 (Duggar, Flores, Yastrzemski, Wood, Dickerson, Casali). RISP—St. Louis 3 for 8; San Francisco 3 for 15. St. Louis Oviedo L,0-5 Waddell Gant A.Miller J.Miller Fernandez San Francisco Wood W,8-3 Rogers H,15 McGee S,17-19
ip 4 2 ⁄3 11⁄3 2 ⁄3 2 ⁄3 2 ⁄3 ip 7 1 1
h 3 1 0 1 3 0 h 3 3 1
r 2 1 0 0 2 0 r 1 1 0
er bb so 2 4 3 1 2 1 0 2 1 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 er bb so 1 2 6 1 0 0 0 0 1
T—3:07. A—19,067 (41,915).
ab r h bi bb so avg 5 2 1 1 0 0 .381 5 2 2 0 0 0 .317 3 3 2 3 2 0 .282 1 1 0 0 0 0 .237 6 2 3 2 0 0 .249 6 1 2 3 0 0 .268 6 1 2 1 0 0 .268 4 2 3 3 1 0 .278 4 1 1 1 0 1 .214 2 0 0 0 0 1 .107 2 0 1 1 0 0 .172 45 15 17 15 3 3
San Diego Pham lf Tatis Jr. ss Profar 2b Grisham cf Machado 3b Mateo pr-3b Myers rf Hosmer 1b Caratini 1b Kim 2b-ss Rivas c Totals
ab 4 3 2 5 2 1 4 4 1 3 5 38
Washington San Diego
r h 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 2 1 1 0 1 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 5 11
bi bb so avg 0 1 1 .251 0 0 1 .297 0 0 2 .235 2 0 0 .274 1 1 0 .273 0 1 0 .198 0 1 1 .252 1 0 1 .260 1 0 0 .218 0 1 0 .209 0 0 2 .205 5 5 9
342 100 041 — 15 17 0 000 011 003 — 5 11 3
LOB—Washington 9, San Diego 12. 2B—Robles (16), Castro (18), Gomes (11), Harrison (13), Bell (13), Pham (10), Mateo (4). HR—Soto (11), off Paddack; Hosmer (7), off Corbin; Grisham (11), off McGowin. RBIs—Soto 3 (42), Bell 2 (41), Castro 3 (37), Robles (11), Escobar (3), Harrison 3 (30), Gomes (31), Parra (2), Machado (59), Hosmer (41), Grisham 2 (33), Caratini (29). S —Corbin. Washington ip h r er bb so np Corbin, W, 6-7 6 7 2 2 2 3 106 McGowin 22⁄3 2 3 3 2 5 48 1 Rodriguez ⁄3 2 0 0 1 1 14 San Diego ip h r er bb so np Paddack, L, 4-6 2 9 9 8 1 2 75 Crismatt 5 2 1 1 2 0 82 Ramirez 2 6 5 4 0 1 37
era 5.40 4.50 1.93 era 5.40 3.55 5.75
T—3:32. A—26,353 (40,209).
Yankees 5, Mariners 4
Washington Escobar 2b Turner ss Soto rf Bell 1b Castro 3b Gomes c Harrison lf Robles cf Scherzer p Totals
303 000
Washington Escobar 2b-ss Turner ss Soto rf Hernandez rf Bell 1b Castro 3b Gomes c Harrison lf-2b Robles cf Corbin p Parra ph-lf Totals
Wednesday’s late game
Padres 9, Nationals 8
Washington San Diego
Nationals 15, Padres 5
np 80 27 22 12 16 9 np 94 21 14
era 5.09 2.70 3.57 3.86 7.71 5.06 era 3.67 1.54 2.88
New York LeMahieu 2b Judge rf Sanchez c Stanton dh Voit 1b Torres ss Urshela 3b Gardner cf Locastro lf Totals
ab 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 37
r h 0 0 2 2 1 0 0 2 1 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 2 5 10
bi bb so avg 0 1 0 .272 2 1 0 .288 0 1 2 .221 0 0 2 .273 1 0 0 .248 2 0 0 .239 0 0 1 .271 0 0 2 .192 0 0 1 .333 5 3 8
Seattle Crawford ss Haniger rf Seager 3b France 1b Fraley dh Murphy c Long Jr. lf Moore 2b Trammell cf Totals
ab 4 3 3 4 3 3 4 3 3 30
r 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 4
bi bb so 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 1 2 3 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 2 3 3 11
New York Seattle
320 100
h 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 3 000 003
avg .283 .250 .216 .268 .245 .201 .203 .177 .160
000 — 5 10 1 000 — 4 3 0
LOB—New York 8, Seattle 3. 2B—Urshela (14), Locastro 2 (2), Stanton (8). HR—Judge (20), off Kikuchi; Murphy (7), off German. RBIs—Voit (11), Torres 2 (28), Judge 2 (46), Murphy 3 (19). New York Nelson Cessa W,2-1 German H,1 Loaisiga H,11 Green S,3-4 Seattle Kikuchi L,6-4 Chargois Middleton Steckenrider Sewald
ip 2 ⁄3 31⁄3 3 1 1 ip 5 1 1 1 1
h 0 1 2 0 0 h 8 0 1 0 1
r 1 0 3 0 0 r 5 0 0 0 0
er bb so 1 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 5 0 0 2 0 0 2 er bb so 5 3 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1
np 32 36 47 18 18 np 94 9 13 9 15
era 9.95 3.00 4.33 2.15 2.23 era 3.48 2.70 3.74 2.25 1.52
T—3:02. A—17,205 (47,929).
MLB REPORT MIAMI MARLINS
General manager Kim Ng announced that manager Don Mattingly’s mutual option for the 2022 season has been picked up, meaning Mattingly will remain as the club’s manager for at least one more season. “It’s a good feeling to be wanted,” said Mattingly, 60, who is in the midst of his sixth season with the organization after managing the Los Angeles Dodgers for five seasons before that. Ng said the organization had a July 15 deadline to decide whether to pick up Mattingly’s option, a stipulation Mattingly wanted in his contract that received no objections when it was negotiated toward at the end of the 2019 season. The Marlins made the decision a little more than a week early. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Pitcher Corbin Martin, one of four players acquired from Houston in the 2019 trade for Zack Greinke, has been shut down with forearm tightness.
From wire reports
HH
Houston Chronicle | HoustonChronicle.com | Friday, July 9, 2021 |
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PRO BASEBALL ASTROS REPORT
Altuve, Correa to sit out All-Star Game
Astros stars Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa announced Thursday that they have pulled out of the 2021 MLB All-Star Game scheduled to be played July 13 at Coors Field. Altuve and Correa, along with teammates Michael Brantley and Ryan Pressly, were selected as reserves for the exhibition game. Altuve said he was declining the All-Star invite because he wanted to rest a nagging left leg injury, while Correa said he wants to stay home with his wife, Daniella, who is pregnant with the couple’s first child. Altuve declined to get into specifics about his injury, only saying that it was not serious enough to require imaging. He said the injury has been somewhat painful to play through and felt four days of rest during the All-Star break could help him heal. “I’m really scared that this can get worse and worse and I don’t get to play the full second half,” he said. “I really think I need these four days to get everything on my left (leg)
On deck: Astros vs. N.Y. Yankees
Jose Altuve, left, and Carlos Correa were among four Astros players selected as All-Star Game reserves. right and be really healthy for the second half because I feel like the team needs me 100 percent.” Meanwhile, Correa said he and his wife have been trying “for a long time now” to get pregnant. Although their child isn’t due until late November, they have a doctor’s appointment during the All-Star break and Correa said this is a rare opportunity to be present during baseball season. “As you guys know, baseball is really important to me, but family will always come first,” Correa said. “Obviously, I’m grateful for everybody who voted for me to be in the All-Star Game. Baseball means the world to me, but I want to be with my family this time, espe-
When/where: Friday at 7:10 p.m., Saturday at 6:15 p.m., Sunday at 1:10 p.m.; Minute Maid Park. TV/radio: ATTSW on Friday and Sunday, Fox on Saturday; 740 AM, 790 AM and 1010 AM (Spanish). Pitchers: Friday, RHP Jake Odorizzi (3-3, 3.70) vs. LHP Nestor Cortes (0-0, 1.29); Saturday, RHP Zack Greinke (8-2, 3.64) vs. RHP Gerrit Cole (8-4, 2.91); Sunday, LHP Framber Valdez (5-1, 2.86) vs. RHP Jameson Taillon (4-4, 5.05) Astros (54-34) update: Houston has opened a 4½game lead over Oakland in the American League West after winning two of three against the A's at Minute Maid Park this week. … Odorizzi has allowed one earned run across his last 20 innings. Opponents have a .359 OPS against him during that span. … Myles Straw has his onbase percentage up to .355. Since June 1, Straw is slashing .330/.423/.431 with an .854 OPS. … All-Star closer Ryan Pressly has not allowed an earned run since May 29. He's struck out 23 and walked one across his last 14 innings. Opponents have a .439 OPS against him this season. .... Yankees (44-42) update: Cole's start on Saturday will be his first at Minute Maid Park since leaving the Astros after the 2019 season. Cole leads the American League with 135 strikeouts but has a 5.24 ERA in his last six starts. … The Yankees used Chad Green, not struggling closer Aroldis Chapman, in the ninth inning of Tuesday's 5-4 win against the Mariners. Chapman walked 10 batters and gave up 14 hits during 82⁄3 June innings. … Giancarlo Stanton struck three home runs against the Astros during the teams' three-game series in May but has ceded New York's home run lead to Aaron Judge. Judge is one of only 10 American League hitters with at least 20 home runs. Chandler Rome
cially with my wife, spending this time with her. It’s our first child.”
Correa cited his relationship with his own father as “unbreakable,” a
closeness he wants to cultivate with his own child even at this stage. “I haven’t even had that much time to, like, read books to the belly and sing to the belly and all that,” he said. “I talk every day, but I want to be able to spend more time with (Daniella) and the baby. And also, you know, with COVID, everything takes four months to be delivered. So we got to start planning on buying everything for the nursery and all this stuff that we did for the baby. So we also going to do that in the break.” Altuve and Correa were among seven Houston players voted by fans as finalists in the first phase of All-Star voting. For the first time since 2014 no Astros were selected as starters, but Altuve, Correa, Brantley and Pressly were chosen as reserves by a combination of player balloting and the commissioner’s office. “This is my seventh All-Star game, but it feels like the first one,” Altuve said. “It doesn’t matter how many you have, it always feels like the first
one. It feels like a dream come true. And I really wish I could have done it.”
Raley put on IL; Garza called up The Astros placed pitcher Brooks Raley on the injured list because of health and safety protocols. To fill his spot on the roster, the team recalled righthander Ralph Garza. Raley, a lefty who pitched at Texas A&M, has appeared in 36 games with a 2-3 record and 5.93 ERA out of the bullpen. Garza has appeared in eight major league games, pitching 91⁄3 innings.
Skeeters game is postponed The Sugar Land Skeeters’ series opener against the Tacoma Rainiers was postponed Thursday because of inclement weather. The Skeeters and Tacoma will play a straight doubleheader with two seven-inning games beginning at 4:05 p.m. Sunday.
Danielle Lerner and Reid Laymance
ASTROS From page C1
on the year and remains 4½ games ahead at the top of the American League West standings. “I’m happy with how we played against them this year,” outfielder McCormick said. “Every time we play these guys, it’s gonna be a battle. They have good pitchers, a good lineup, just like us. We always have to bring up the notch a little bit when we play the Oakland A’s.” The Astros entered Thursday with the fewest strikeouts in MLB. They swung and missed 22 times against Montas, who struck out 10 Astros through the first four innings and finished having allowed one earned run on five hits over 62⁄3 innings. “He had us fishing for that split-finger,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said, “and we weren’t catching many fish.” Houston earned two walks, went 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base while striking six hits. McCormick (2-for-3) and Yuli Gurriel (2-for-4) were the only Astros with multi-hit games. McCullers started the game by striking out Ramon Laureano on three pitches before giving up two runs on three consecutive one-out hits. Elvis Andrus smoked a sharply hit ball down the third-base side for a standup double. The A’s took a 1-0 lead when Matt Olson bounced a 74.3mph hit just fair down the left-field line, as Yordan Alvarez looked on, for a ground-rule double. Jed Lowrie snuck an RBI single up the middle past Carlos Correa to score Olson. The A’s threatened again in the second inning after Seth Brown drew a leadoff walk and Laureano sent a double past third baseman Abraham Toro to put runners in scoring position with two outs, but McCullers induced a flyout to retire the side. Montas struck out the first four Astros he faced before Gurriel singled and Kyle Tucker drew a walk with one out in the bottom of the second inning. Both were left stranded as Montas struck out McCormick and Toro. Defensive lapses continued to surface for the Astros in the fourth inning. With a leadoff walk already surrendered by McCullers, Toro’s fielding error prevented a double play, and the A’s challenged a putout call on Aramis Garcia at first base. Umpires overturned the ruling, and the
Photos by Godofredo A. Vásquez / Staff photographer
Astros starting pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. allowed seven hits, the most he’s given up this season, but struck out eight batters.
Athletics starting pitcher Frankie Montas baffled the Astros throughout his 62⁄3 innings of work and allowed just one earned run on five hits, striking out 10. Astros got no outs on the play. During the next at bat, Toro again fumbled a potential double play and produced just one out on Laureano’s ground ball, allowing the A’s to keep runners on the corners. An Andrus flyout mercifully ended a messy defensive frame with no runs scored. Meanwhile, Montas continued to protect Oakland’s lead. Houston gathered three total bases through
the first five innings, never advancing a runner past second, and went 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position. In the bottom of the fifth inning McCormick blooped a leadoff single into shallow right field, but was caught stealing second. He would be the only base runner of the inning. McCullers dealt his first 12-3 inning in the top of the sixth, which included backto-back strikeouts with his slider. He said the slider
was probably his best pitch of the day, though he thought his changeup morphed from “horrific” to “really good” for the second half of his outing. Neither team had anything going again until the bottom of the seventh. Montas was still dealing, and McCormick said the Astros were determined to force him out of the game. Tucker delivered the Astros’ first extra-base hit of the day, a two-out double
into right field out of reach of a sliding Stephen Piscotty, and subsequently scurried to third base on a wild pitch to McCormick. The rookie outfielder ripped an RBI double down the leftfield line to put the Astros on the board and send the A’s reaching into their bullpen. Bullpens for both teams kept a clean sheet. For Houston, Andre Scrubb retired the side in order in the eighth. Joe Smith, in his first appearance since being activated off the 10-day injured list a day earlier, allowed a two-out single in the ninth but then leapt to snag a hopper and threw to first base to secure the final out. The Astros’ final chance at offense in the bottom of the ninth appeared promising when Alvarez hit a leadoff single and was replaced by pinch-runner Myles Straw, but Gurriel grounded into a double play and Tucker lined out to end the game. Although the loss snapped the Astros’ sixgame win streak, Baker said he expects a fiery performance when the Yankees come to town Friday for a three-game series. Since Jose Altuve hit a goahead three-run home run at Yankee Stadium to help the Astros avoid a sweep on May 16, Houston is 39-19 and leading the AL West.
Athletics 2, Astros 1 Oakland Laureano cf Andrus ss Olson 1b Lowrie dh Chapman 3b Piscotty rf Brown lf Kemp 2b A.Garcia c Totals
ab 5 5 4 4 4 4 3 3 4 36
r 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
h 2 2 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 8
bi bb so 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 2 2 10
avg .241 .237 .283 .257 .230 .210 .186 .247 .205
Houston Altuve 2b Brantley dh Correa ss Alvarez lf Straw pr Gurriel 1b Tucker rf McCormick cf Toro 3b Maldonado c Castro ph-c Totals
ab 4 4 4 4 0 4 3 3 3 2 0 31
r 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
h 0 0 0 1 0 2 1 2 0 0 0 6
bi bb so 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 10
avg .282 .332 .288 .304 .273 .319 .265 .248 .230 .173 .231
Oakland 200 000 000 — 2 8 0 Houston 000 000 100 — 1 6 1 E—Toro (2). LOB—Oakland 9, Houston 5. 2B—Andrus (18), Olson (19), Laureano (13), Tucker (18), McCormick (6). RBIs—Olson (57), Lowrie (38), McCormick (33). CS—McCormick (1). Runners left in scoring position—Oakland 3 (Andrus 2); Houston 2 (Toro 2). RISP—Oakland 2 for 5; Houston 1 for 4. Runners moved up—A.Garcia. GIDP—Gurriel. DP—Oakland 1 (Andrus, Kemp, Olson). Oakland ip h r er bb so np era Montas, W, 8-7 6 2⁄3 5 1 1 1 10 95 4.41 1 Petit, H, 14 ⁄3 0 0 0 0 0 5 3.22 Trivino, H, 6 1 0 0 0 1 0 13 1.96 Diekman, S, 7-11 1 1 0 0 0 0 7 3.12 Houston ip h r er bb so np era McCullers Jr. 7 7 2 2 2 8 107 2.94 (L, 6-2) Scrubb 1 0 0 0 0 2 12 5.60 J.Smith 1 1 0 0 0 0 11 5.89 Inherited runners-scored—Petit 1-0. WP—Montas, McCullers Jr.. Umpires—Home, Ben May; First, Bill Welke; Second, Pat Hoberg; Third, Chris Conroy. T—2:52. A—29,243 (41,168).
New York is two games above .500 in the AL East after Thursday’s loss at Seattle. “It’s gonna be exciting. They’re fighting for their lives,” Baker said. “They didn’t really receive us well in New York so it should be a heck of a series.” danielle.lerner@chron.com twitter.com/danielle_lerner
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| Friday, July 9, 2021 | HoustonChronicle.com | Houston Chronicle
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SOCCER | ETC. EURO 2020
England’s Walker remembers rough times By Rob Harris A S S O C I AT E D PRE SS
LONDON — As the oldest member of the England squad, Kyle Walker will have needed every minute of the extended lie-in until lunchtime Thursday. It was a late return to the team’s St. George’s Park base — with Raheem Sterling and Jadon Sancho controlling the music on the bus north from Wembley Stadium. The plan for Thursday night was just playing the Fortnite video game with goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. Walker will need to be well-rested for Sunday after being key to England reaching its first final in 55 years, with Italy standing between the team and the European Championship title. Seeing the enthused young squad, hungry to pull on the jersey with the Three Lions, takes the 31year-old Walker back to grimmer times with the national team after 60 appearances over a decade. “When you put on an England shirt, definitely in the past four years, it means
something now,” Walker said. Walker thinks back to England’s Euro 2016 loss to Iceland. “Still to this day, it haunts me,” he said on the England team’s online video stream. “That’s the lowest moment of my career by far.” How different it was Wednesday, when the 2-1 extra time win over Denmark sealed a spot in the final and the fans were singing “so good” with gusto from “Sweet Caroline” after the final whistle. It ensured another tournament didn’t end in the semifinals like in 2018 at the World Cup. “I think now we’re a lot more mature,” said the Premier League champion from Manchester City. “A lot of us have won a lot more things. A lot of us have played in a lot of big games and we can make the game better. And even the fans are understanding.” One moment sticks out from the Denmark game. “Last night is the first time I’ve probably heard the England fans shouting, ‘Ole. Ole,’ because we were keeping the ball. “That’s about game man-
Final ENGLAND VS. ITALY When: 2 p.m. Sunday. Where: Wembley Stadium, London. TV: ESPN.
Laurence Griffiths / Getty Images
31-year-old Kyle Walker, who has made 60 appearances with England’s national team over a decade, says he is still haunted by the Euro 2016 loss to Iceland. agement. We are 2-1 up, what are we going at them for? Scoring 3-1 doesn’t make us go through (more) — 2-1 is fine. Now let’s keep the ball and make sure we don’t do anything stupid and save the legs for the final. Little steps, little factors like that this team has learned over the last four
years.” It means playing Italy in the Euro 2020 final at Wembley with the chance to win the team’s first trophy since the 1966 World Cup. And perhaps it’s a position Walker didn’t imagine he would be in after being dropped in 2019 by coach Gareth Southgate and miss-
ing the games in September, October and December. Walker has shown his versatility by playing in a back three of four, benefiting from the guidance at his club from manager Pep Guardiola. “That’s just become my game over the recent years,
especially playing under Pep at Man City,” Walker said. “The knowledge of my game, I think, has improved. I’m not blowing my own trumpet here, but I think I’ve become a lot more wiser in my decision making and when’s good for me to go forward and when I can use my energy elsewhere. And it’s just what I can offer to the team.” And he’s hoping to stick around for some time to go — despite his age. “I might not be technically gifted,” Walker said. “But I guarantee I’m 31and I will still run more than anyone.” Hopefully, though, there will be some rest after Sunday. “I want to win the final,” he said. “I’ve played a game every three days for a year now. I’d love a little vacation somewhere.”
GOLF
Ames, Andrade share Senior lead
Photos by Godofredo A. Vásquez / Staff photographer
Astros second baseman Jose Altuve addresses his decision to not play in the All-Star Game before Thursday’s loss to the A’s, saying a few days off would help a leg injury that’s been bothering him.
SOLOMON From page C1
afternoon, as the Astros fell to the A’s 2-1 at Minute Maid Park. It was a disappointing finish to a three-game series but wins on Tuesday and Wednesday made it palatable. As the old ballers and Meatloaf would say, two outta three ain’t bad. The Astros hold a 4½game lead over Oakland in the American League West and are tied with the Red Sox for the AL’s best record. Gearing up for the rest of the year is more important than the fun of an All-Star Game. And how much fun would it be for Altuve and Correa? Despite their claims of being inspired by the mistreatment by fans around baseball this season, being harassed at every turn can’t be all that much fun. I would imagine the thrill and honor of playing in an All-Star Game would be tainted by such treatment. This year’s All-Star selection is Altuve’s seventh. Correa has been picked twice. They were voted in as reserves by the players. If they played for other teams, they probably would have been starters via MLB fans’ ballots. The villain role doesn’t win votes in baseball.
Carlos Correa cites family reasons — his first child is on the way — as why he’ll bypass the All-Star Game. Plus, the Midsummer Classic isn’t what it used to be. The sports world doesn’t come to a halt for the All-Star Game like it once did.
Interleague play has erased much of the mystery between the American and National leagues. And, perhaps more importantly, star baseball players
aren’t the big stars they used to be. NFL rookie quarterbacks who have yet to play a game are more popular than multiple-time MLB all-stars. The game used to be must-see TV for sports fans. It now draws similar numbers to the quasifootball game played at the NFL Pro Bowl. When Astros’ manager Dusty Baker made the All-Star Game in 1982, ABC drew a 25 share and more than 34 million viewers, and the game was on in 20 million households. The 2019 game (2020’s game was canceled due to COVID-19) posted a 5.0 share with just 8 million viewers in less than 6 million households. Baker said he recalls when he showed up in Cleveland (1981) for his first All-Star contest, Pete Rose met him at the clubhouse door and emphasized how important it was that the NL took it to the AL in that game. “It was much more of a heated rivalry then,” Baker said. Altuve and Correa aren’t all wrapped up into beating the National League. There are far more important items on their agenda. And there is nothing wrong with that. jerome.solomon@chron.com twitter.com/jeromesolomon
OMAHA, Neb. — Billy Andrade and Stephen Ames shot 5-under 65s on Thursday to share the first-round lead in the U.S. Senior Open at Omaha, Neb. Andrade had five birdies and no bogeys on an Omaha Country Club course. Ames had seven birdies and two bogeys in the morning session. Wes Short Jr. shot 66. Alex Cejka, looking for his third victory in a senior major this year, and Robert Karlsson followed at 67. Andrade, who started on the 10th hole, tied Ames with a birdie on the par-5 sixth. He got up-and-down from a greenside bunker to save par on the par-4 eighth. He just missed a 20-foot downhill birdie putt on the par-4 ninth. Ames hit 11 of 13 fairways and 16 greens in regulation on the 6,891-yard course set in the rolling hills on the north side of the city. He birdied five of seven holes in the middle of the round before missing short birdie putts on Nos. 12 and 13.
Munoz, Hadley tied at John Deere Sebastian Munoz closed with five straight birdies at the TPC Deere Run for an 8-under 63, turning a solid day into a share of the lead with Chesson Hadley in the John Deere Classic at Silvis, Ill. “I just go blank, to be honest,” Munoz said. “It’s funny because when I make a lot of birdies, I usually play a little more safe and pick my spots. I have like 10-, 12-footers and they start to drop. That’s what I did today. And that’s where we’re at.” Hadley was on the other side of the course, finishing on the front nine. It wasn’t nearly as spectacular, but he played bogey-free and had back-to-back birdies on three occasions. He was helped by making three of
his birdies from 25 feet.
Hataoka shoots 61 at LPGA Classic Nasa Hataoka parred the final two holes to miss a chance for the second 59 in LPGA Tour history, finishing with a 10-under 61 and a four-stroke lead in the Marathon LPGA Classic at Sylvania, Ohio. Annika Sorenstam is the only player to shoot 59 on the LPGA Tour, accomplishing the feat in her 2001 Standard Register PING victory at Moon Valley in Arizona. Hataoka was a stroke off the Highland Meadows record of 60 set by Paula Creamer in 2008. The 22-year-old Japanese player had her lowest score on the LPGA Tour. Lauren Stephenson was second after a 65. She also missed a chance to go lower on her final two holes, finishing with two pars on the par-5 17th and 18th.Matilda Castren was another stroke back at 66 with Ariya Jutanugarn, Mina Harigae, Yealimi Noh and Ssu-Chia Cheng. Defending champion Danielle Kang opened with a 70.
Senior takes lead at Scottish Open Jack Senior, a 353rdranked English player, upstaged one of the best fields assembled on the European Tour for some time with a 64 to take a two-shot lead in the Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick. No. 3-ranked Justin Thomas holed a 90-foot eagle putt and also birdied the last to wind up in a tie for second place with Lee Westwood, with both players shooting bogey-free 65s. U.S Open Champion Jon Rahm was a further stroke back in a nine-way tie for fourth.
From wire reports
Quinn Harris / Getty Images
Billy Andrade had five birdies en route to a 65 at the U.S. Senior Open Championship in Omaha.
HHHH
FOR THE RECORD
Sports editor, reid.laymance@chron.com | 713-362-2734 | sptletters@chron.com
TOUR DE FRANCE
SCOREBOARD
ON THE AIR
America’s Line
Television
Home team capitalized
MLB
American League Favorite White Sox RAYS INDIANS Athletics ASTROS TWINS Angels
Odds -$140 (10) -$135 (8) -$132 (81⁄2) -$130 (9) -$160 (91⁄2) -$190 (9) -$128 (81⁄2)
Underdog ORIOLES Blue Jays Royals RANGERS Yankees Tigers MARINERS
National League
Christophe Ena / Associated Press
Germany’s Nils Politt celebrates after winning the 12th stage of the Tour de France on Thursday.
Politt earns his place on stage
A S S OC IAT E D PRE SS
NIMES, France — Rarely in the spotlight, Nils Politt struggled to believe victory was his when it finally came at the Tour de France. After dropping his last remaining rivals on the road leading to the city of Nimes in southern France, the German rider hit his helmet several times and shook his head as if to say, “I can’t believe it.” After the strange feeling sank in, with the finish in sight, Politt made a big heart sign with his hands and crossed the line on his own to post only the second stage win of his professional career. Politt was part of a larger group that jumped out of the main pack in the early stages of the windy 159.4-kilometer (99-mile) stage 12 between Saint-Paul-TroisChateaux and Nimes. The German rider from the Bora-Hansgrohe team had attacked with three other rivals from the 13man breakaway group about 40 kilometers from the finish line. He then went solo with 12 kilometers left with a sudden acceleration that was left unanswered. “There were quite a lot of sprinters in our group, so I had to make the race hard and attack quite early,” Politt said. “I made first
attack. I gave everything. To finish solo is unbelievable.” Imanol Erviti and Harry Sweeny finished second and third, respectively, 31 seconds behind. A one-day classic specialist, the 27-year-old Politt has posted many honorable results at prestigious events in the past, including a runner-up finish at Paris-Roubaix two years ago. But despite his combative skills, Politt had never tasted victory on the biggest stage. “Winning a Tour stage is a dream; it’s really the best moment of my career,” he added through a translator. “It’s my second win, but here it’s different.” Politt’s victory brought comfort to his team just hours after leader Peter Sagan withdrew from the race before the start of the stage due to a knee injury. There was no significant change in the overall standings. Tadej Pogacar kept his 5:18 lead over secondplace Rigoberto Uran, with Jonas Vingegaard in third, 5:33 off the pace. Friday’s stage 13 to the medieval city of Carcassone is an other flat trek suiting sprinters. Veteran sprinter Mark Cavendish will be chasing a 34th career stage win that would put him level with five-time Tour winner Eddy Merckx’s all-time record.
AROUND SPORTS
Pera, Rice agree to extend contract Rice men’s basketball coach Scott Pera has agreed to a contract extension through 2024, the school announced. The Owls were 15-13 last season, the first time the school has had consecutive 15-win seasons since 2005. In his four seasons at Rice, Pera is 50-73 and the Owls winning percentage has increased each year. “The future of Rice men’s basketball is bright,” athletic director Joe Karlgaard said in the school’s press release. “Scott Pera has steadily built a terrific foundation and has effectively steered our approach to the modern recruiting environment. I’m excited by our prospects for success in the upcoming season and beyond with Coach Pera leading our program.” In other college basketball news: • Memphis coach Penny Hardaway has added Hall of Famer Larry Brown to the Tigers’ staff as an assistant, reuniting the former New York Knicks player and coach. Brown, 80, is the only coach to win championships in both the NCAA (with Kansas in 1988) and the NBA (Detroit Pistons, 2004) over a 42-year career that also included stops in the ABA. He received coach of the year awards in each league. The 2002 Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame inductee won 1,098 NBA games and reached the playoffs 18 times over 26 seasons. His NCAA title with the Jayhawks was
Houston Chronicle | HoustonChronicle.com | Friday, July 9, 2021 |
among three Final Four appearances his teams made in the 1980s, one of them with UCLA. Brown, who went 94-39 at SMU from 2012-16 and more recently was head coach of Auxilium Torino in Italy’s Lega Basket Serie A in 2018, joins a Tigers program fresh off an NIT championship. Brown also earned Olympic gold medals as a player in 1964 and an assistant in 2000, and a bronze in ‘04 as head coach. PRO BASKETBALL
Magic eyeing Mavs’ Mosley The Orlando Magic appear to be close to hiring Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Jamahl Mosley as the team’s next head coach, according to ESPN. Mosley would be the 15th head coach in the 32 seasons of the Magic, replacing Steve Clifford, who mutually parted ways with the Orlando on June 5. Mosley was the lead assistant for Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle, who resigned June 17. SOCCER
Dash sign Diaz to a two-year deal The Dash signed midfielder Hannah Diaz to a two-year contract through the 2022 season, the club announced. Diaz joins Houston after spending three years in France’s Division 1 Féminine after graduating from Saint Mary’s College.
From staff and wire reports
Favorite CUBS Braves METS BREWERS GIANTS DODGERS PADRES
Odds -$127 ( NL) -$137 (71⁄2) -$200 (8) -$105 (81⁄2) -$145 (8) -$220 (9) -$230 (81⁄2)
Underdog Cardinals MARLINS Pirates Reds Nationals Diamondbacks Rockies
Odds -$130 (10 1⁄2)
Underdog Phillies
Interleague Favorite RED SOX
Baseball
Triple-A West
East Sugar Land (Houston) Oklahoma City (Dodgers) Round Rock (Texas) El Paso (San Diego) Albuquerque (Colorado)
W 31 28 28 24 19
L 22 27 27 29 35
Pct. .585 .509 .509 .453 .352
GB — 4 4 7 121⁄2
West Reno (Arizona) Tacoma (Seattle) Salt Lake (Angels) Las Vegas (Oakland) Sacramento (San Fran.)
W 36 28 27 26 23
L 19 24 27 29 31
Pct. .655 .538 .500 .473 .426
GB — 61⁄2 1 8 ⁄2 10 121⁄2
Thursday’s results
Round Rock 7, Albuquerque 6 (5) Salt Lake 10, Sacramento 9 El Paso 15, Oklahoma City 8 Reno 1, Las Vegas 0 Tacoma at Sugar Land, postponed
Friday’s games
Tacoma at Sugar Land, 7:05 p.m. Albuquerque at Round Rock, 7:05 p.m. Sacramento at Salt Lake, 7:35 p.m. Oklahoma City at El Paso, 8:05 p.m. Las Vegas at Reno, 8:35 p.m.
Double-A Central
North Northwest Arkansas (KC) Tulsa (Dodgers) Wichita (Minnesota) Arkansas (Seattle) Springfield (St. Louis) South Frisco (Texas) San Antonio (San Diego) Midland (Oakland) Amarillo (Arizona) Corpus Christi (Houston)
W 30 30 31 29 20 W 37 28 27 25 25
L 25 25 26 27 36 L 20 29 30 32 32
Pct. .545 .545 .544 .519 .357 Pct. .649 .491 .474 .439 .439
GB _ _ _ 11⁄2 101⁄2 GB _ 9 10 12 12
Thursday’s results
Midland 3, Corpus Christi 1 (1st) Midland 6, Corpus Christi 4 (2nd) Northwest Arkansas 10 Wichita 1 Springfield 10, Tulsa 9 Amarillo 6, San Antonio 5 (11) Frisco 8, Arkansas 0
Friday’s games
Northwest Arkansas at Wichita, 7:05 p.m. Tulsa at Springfield, 7:05 p.m. Amarillo at San Antonio, 7:05 p.m. Midland at Corpus Christi, 7:05 p.m. Frisco at Arkansas, 7:10 p.m.
High-A East
North Hudson Valley (Yankees) Aberdeen (Baltimore) Jersey Shore (Phila.) Wilmington (Wash.) Brooklyn (Mets)
W 36 31 25 24 18
L 19 25 32 32 36
Pct. .655 .554 .439 .429 .333
GB — 51⁄2 12 121⁄2 171⁄2
South Bowling Green (TB) Greensboro (Pittsburgh) Rome (Atlanta) Greenville (Boston) Asheville (Houston) Hickory (Texas) W.-Salem (White Sox)
W 36 33 31 30 25 24 24
L 20 24 25 27 31 33 33
Pct. .643 .579 .554 .526 .446 .421 .421
GB — 31⁄2 5 61⁄2 11 121⁄2 121⁄2
Thursday’s results
Rome 2, Bowling Green 1 (1st) Bowling Green 7, Rome 0 (2nd) Asheville 13, Greensboro 7 Hickory 8, Winston-Salem 7 Greenville 1, Aberdeen 0 Wilmington 13, Jersey Shore 6
Friday’s games
Asheville at Greensboro, 5:30 p.m. Hickory at Winston-Salem, 6 p.m. Bowling Green at Rome, 6 p.m. Wilmington at Jersey Shore, 6:05 p.m. Brooklyn at Hudson Valley, 6:05 p.m. Aberdeen at Greenville, 6:05 p.m.
Low-A East
Central Carolina (Milwaukee) Down East (Texas) Fayetteville (Houston) Kannapolis (White Sox)
W 32 31 23 17
L 23 24 32 38
Pct. .582 .564 .418 .309
GB — 1 9 15
North Delmarva (Baltimore) Salem (Boston) Lynchburg (Cleveland) Fredericksburg (Wash.)
W 36 31 26 17
L 18 25 28 39
Pct. .667 .554 .481 .304
GB — 6 10 20
South Charleston (TB) Columbia (Kansas City) Augusta (Atlanta) Myrtle Beach (Cubs)
W 38 28 26 25
L 17 25 30 31
Pct. .691 .528 .464 .446
GB — 9 121⁄2 131⁄2
Thursday’s results
Columbia 20, Charleston 1 Augusta 6, Myrtle Beach 5 Kannapolis 3, Fredericksburg 0, suspended Salem at Delmarva, postponed Down East at Fayetteville, postponed Lynchburg at Carolina, postponed
Friday’s games
Down East at Fayetteville, 5:30 p.m. Lynchburg at Carolina, 6 p.m. Kannapolis at Fredericksburg, 6:05 p.m. Salem at Delmarva, 6:05 p.m. Charleston at Columbia, 6:05 p.m. Myrtle Beach at Augusta, 6:05 p.m.
Basketball WNBA
EASTERN CONFERENCE Connecticut Chicago New York Washington Atlanta Indiana
W 12 10 10 7 6 2
L 6 9 9 10 11 16
Pct .667 .526 .526 .412 .353 .111
GB — 21⁄2 1 2 ⁄2 41⁄2 51⁄2 10
L 4 5 7 9 11 12
Pct .789 .737 .588 .471 .450 .333
GB — 1 4 6 61⁄2 81⁄2
WESTERN CONFERENCE Seattle Las Vegas Minnesota Phoenix Dallas Los Angeles
W 15 14 10 8 9 6
Thursday’s results No games scheduled
Friday’s games
Atlanta at Connecticut, 6 p.m. New York at Indiana, 6 p.m. Seattle at Phoenix, 8 p.m. Minnesota at Las Vegas, 9:30 p.m.
Saturday’s game
Washington at Chicago, 7 p.m.
Cycling
Tour de France Thursday’s 12th stage Note: A 159.4km (99 mile) ride from Saint-PaulTrois-Chateaux to Nimes. 1. Nils Politt, Germany, Bora-Hans., 3h 22m 12s. 2. Imanol Erviti, Spain, Movistar Team, 31s behind. 3. H, Sweeny, Australia, Lotto Soudal, same time. 4. Stefan Küng, Switzerland, Groupama-FDJ, 1m 58s behind. 5. Luka Mezgec, Slovenia, Team BikeExchange, 2m 06s behind. 6. André Greipel, Germany, Israel Start-up Nation, same time. 7. E, Theuns, Belgium, Trek-Segafredo, same time. 8. B, Van Moer, Belgium, Lotto Soudal, same time. 9. Julian Alaphilippe, France, Deceuninck-QuickStep, same time. 10. Sergio Henao Montoya, Colombia, QhubekaNextHash, same time.
Overall standings 1. Tadej Pogacar, Slovenia, UAE Team Emirates, 47h 22m 43s. 2. Rigoberto Uran, Colombia, EF Education-Nippo, 5m 18s behind. 3. Jonas Vingegaard, Denmark, Jumbo-Visma, 5m 32s behind. 4. Richard Carapaz, Ecuador, Ineos Grenadiers, 5m 33s behind. 5. Ben O’Connor, Australia, AG2R Citroën Team 5m 58s behind. 6. Wilco Kelderman, Netherlands, Bora-Hansgrohe, 6m 16s behind. 7. Alexey Lutsenko, Kazakhstan, Astana-Premier Tech, 6m 30s behind. 8. Enric Mas Nicolau, Spaind, Movistar Team, 7m 11s behind. 9. G, Martin, France, Cofidis, 9m 29s behind. 10. Pello Bilbao Lopez De Armentia, Spain, Bahrain Victorious, 10m 28s behind.
Cycling Golf Golf
Tour de France Scottish Open U.S. Senior Open
Golf Golf Horse racing Motor sports
John Deere Classic American Century Championship America’s Day at the Races NASCAR Camping World Truck qualifying NASCAR Camping World Truck race St. Louis at Chicago Cubs N.Y. Yankees at Astros Oakland at Texas Detroit at Minnesota WNBA: Atlanta at Connecticut WNBA: New York at Indiana WNBA: Seattle at Phoenix Pumas UNAM at San Antonio Colombia vs. Peru WTA Hamburg European Open Wimbledon Diamond League American Track League
Motor sports Pro baseball Pro baseball Pro baseball Pro baseball Pro basketball Pro basketball Pro basketball Soccer Soccer Tennis Tennis Track & field Track & field
Radio
Pro baseball
N.Y. Yankees at Astros Astros in Spanish
Golf
U.S. Senior Open Championship Thursday’s first round
At Omaha, Neb Stephen Ames ........................................33-32—65 Billy Andrade ..........................................33-32—65 Wes Short Jr. ..........................................33-33—66 Robert Karlsson ......................................35-32—67 Alex Cejka ...............................................33-34—67 Miguel Angel Jimenez .............................34-34—68 Fran Quinn ..............................................35-33—68 Lee Janzen ..............................................36-33—69 Jay Haas..................................................35-34—69 Colin Montgomerie..................................36-33—69 Ted Tryba ................................................35-34—69 Rod Pampling .........................................34-35—69 Fred Couples ...........................................36-33—69 Thongchai Jaidee ....................................35-34—69 Jerry Smith..............................................33-36—69 William Mitchell (a)................................35-35—70 Kent Jones ..............................................36-34—70 David Toms .............................................35-35—70 Kevin Kraft ..............................................34-36—70 Jeff Wilson (a) ........................................31-39—70 Steve Runge............................................36-34—70 Tom Byrum..............................................33-37—70 Shane Bertsch.........................................34-36—70 Tom Lehman ...........................................35-35—70 Mike Weir ................................................36-34—70 Mark O’Meara..........................................34-36—70 Mauricio Molina.......................................35-36—71 Todd White (a)........................................37-34—71 Scott Parel ..............................................35-36—71 Gene Sauers ............................................34-37—71 Kenny Perry .............................................34-37—71 Glen Day ..................................................37-34—71 Markus Brier ............................................38-33—71 Mark Strickland (a) .................................36-35—71 Carlos Franco...........................................35-36—71 Bob Estes ................................................35-36—71 Corey Pavin..............................................34-37—71 Jeff Maggert ............................................34-37—71 Rocco Mediate.........................................36-35—71 Peter Fowler ............................................33-38—71 Jerry Kelly ................................................38-33—71 Bernhard Langer......................................34-37—71 Robin Byrd...............................................35-36—71 Paul Broadhurst......................................35-37—72 Tim Petrovic............................................37-35—72 Joe Durant...............................................33-39—72 Marco Dawson.........................................34-38—72 Doug Barron............................................36-36—72 Kevin Sutherland ....................................36-36—72 Retief Goosen .........................................36-36—72 Jesus Rivas..............................................36-36—72 Judd Gibb ................................................36-36—72 Ricardo Gonzalez ....................................34-38—72 David Shacklady .....................................36-36—72 Woody Austin..........................................37-35—72 Brett Quigley...........................................34-38—72 Paul Goydos ............................................37-35—72 Jim Furyk.................................................35-37—72 Ray Franz Jr. ...........................................38-35—73 Eric Bogar................................................37-36—73 Mike McCoy (a) .......................................36-37—73 Bob Royak (a).........................................38-35—73 Massy Kuramoto .....................................34-39—73 Rich Beem...............................................35-38—73 Brad Bryant.............................................37-36—73 Steve Flesch............................................33-40—73 Roger Chapman ......................................37-36—73 Jody Bellflower .......................................37-36—73 Bobby Gage.............................................35-38—73 Ken Tanigawa .........................................39-34—73 Chris DiMarco ..........................................36-37—73 Ernie Els ..................................................35-38—73 Skip Kendall............................................36-37—73 Joey Sindelar...........................................37-37—74 Jeff Sluman.............................................37-37—74 Darren Clarke ..........................................38-36—74 Dicky Pride ..............................................37-37—74 Robby Funk (a).......................................36-38—74 Bobby Cochran........................................34-40—74 Sean Crowley (a) ....................................38-36—74 Jon Lindstrom (a) ...................................36-38—74 Ken Duke.................................................36-38—74 John Riegger ...........................................35-39—74 John Aber................................................36-38—74 Marcus Meloan........................................36-38—74 Brian Lovett (a) ......................................36-38—74 Harry Rudolph.........................................35-39—74 Steve Schneiter.......................................38-37—75 Billy Mayfair ............................................37-38—75 Esteban Toledo .......................................36-39—75 Greg Kraft ...............................................36-39—75 Tom Pernice Jr.........................................41-34—75 David McKenzie.......................................37-38—75 Jose Coceres............................................38-37—75 Tim Hogarth (a) .....................................37-38—75 Clark Dennis ............................................38-37—75 Phillip Price .............................................37-38—75 Cameron Beckman..................................39-36—75 Vijay Singh ..............................................36-39—75 Matt Gogel ..............................................39-36—75 Todd Bailey .............................................38-38—76 Frank Esposito ........................................37-39—76 William Smith (a) ...................................37-39—76 Sal Felice II (a)........................................40-36—76 Brad Klapprott ........................................39-37—76 Eric Veilleux.............................................37-39—76 Keith Decker (a)......................................39-37—76 Tim Cobb (a) ..........................................38-38—76 Chris Hunsucker ......................................37-39—76 Claud Cooper (a) ....................................39-37—76 Anthony Smith........................................38-38—76 Jean-Francois Remesy.............................38-39—77 Fred Funk ................................................38-39—77 James Kingston .......................................36-41—77 Brent Murray ...........................................36-41—77 Doug Clapp (a) .......................................38-39—77 Jose Maria Olazabal ................................39-38—77 Chad Frank (a)........................................38-39—77 Jim Patterson (a) ....................................41-37—78 Travis Steed (a) ......................................38-40—78 Barry Lane...............................................40-38—78 Buck Brittain (a) .....................................40-38—78 Gene Fieger .............................................38-40—78 Dave Quinn .............................................39-39—78 John Ogden .............................................39-39—78 Scott Verplank ........................................36-42—78 Joakim Haeggman ..................................36-42—78 Roger Newsom (a)..................................38-40—78 Tom Werkmeister ....................................37-41—78 Steve Isley Jr...........................................39-39—78
@chronsports
NBCSN Golf Golf Golf Golf NBCSN FS2 FS1
5:30 a.m. 6:30 a.m. noon 5 p.m. 2 p.m. 4 p.m. noon 6 p.m.
FS1
8 p.m.
MLB ATTSW BSSW MLB CBSSN NBA ESPN BSSW+ FS2 Tennis ESPN NBCSN ESPN2
1 p.m. 7 p.m. 7 p.m. 7 p.m. 6 p.m. 6 p.m. 8 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 7 p.m. 5 a.m. 7 a.m. 1 p.m. 6 p.m.
740 AM, 790 AM 1010 AM
C.T. Pan..................................................34-34—68 Richy Werenski........................................34-34—68 Jason Dufner ...........................................33-35—68 Wes Roach ..............................................34-34—68 Sean O’Hair.............................................32-37—69 Danny Lee ...............................................37-32—69 Brian Gay ................................................36-33—69 Robert Streb ...........................................34-35—69 Jonas Blixt ..............................................35-34—69 Ben Martin ..............................................34-35—69 Doc Redman ...........................................35-34—69 Matthew NeSmith ..................................35-34—69 Eric Cole ..................................................34-35—69 Andres Romero .......................................37-32—69 Rhein Gibson ...........................................34-35—69 Luke Kluver .............................................35-34—69 Brian Stuard............................................33-36—69 Scott Brown ............................................34-35—69 K.J. Choi..................................................34-35—69 Tom Lewis ...............................................32-37—69 Daniel Berger ..........................................33-36—69 Hudson Swafford ....................................35-34—69 Satoshi Kodaira.......................................35-34—69 Greg Chalmers.........................................32-37—69 Patton Kizzire .........................................34-35—69 Vaughn Taylor .........................................34-35—69 Rob Oppenheim ......................................37-32—69
LPGA Tour — Marathon Classic Thursday’s first round
At Sylvania, Ohio Nasa Hataoka .........................................29-32—61 Lauren Stephenson .................................31-34—65 Matilda Castren ......................................32-34—66 Mina Harigae...........................................32-34—66 Ariya Jutanugarn.....................................33-33—66 Yealimi Noh.............................................33-33—66 Ssu-Chia Cheng.......................................32-34—66 Mirim Lee ................................................33-34—67 Amy Yang ................................................31-36—67 Jennifer Song ..........................................32-35—67 Brittany Lincicome ..................................32-35—67 Alison Lee................................................31-36—67 Elizabeth Szokol......................................31-36—67 Katherine Perry-Hamski..........................34-34—68 Megan Khang..........................................32-36—68 Stacy Lewis .............................................31-37—68 Jasmine Suwannapura ............................31-37—68 A Lim Kim ...............................................32-36—68 Brianna Do ..............................................33-35—68 Lauren Coughlin ......................................31-37—68 Min Lee ...................................................34-34—68 Cristie Kerr ..............................................33-35—68 Chella Choi ..............................................33-35—68 Linnea Strom ..........................................33-35—68 Caroline Masson......................................33-35—68 Christina Kim ..........................................33-35—68 a-amateur
European Tour abrdn Scottish Open Thursday’s first round
At North Berwick, Scotland Jack Senior..............................................32-32—64 Lee Westwood.........................................34-31—65 Justin Thomas.........................................32-33—65 Thomas Detry .........................................33-33—66 Tommy Fleetwood ..................................33-33—66 Matthew Fitzpatrick ...............................32-34—66 David Horsey...........................................36-30—66 Alvaro Quiros...........................................35-31—66 John Rahm..............................................34-32—66 Ian Poulter ..............................................33-33—66 Ryan Palmer ...........................................31-35—66 George Coetzee .......................................34-32—66
Korn Ferry Tour TPC Colorado Championshp Thursday’s partial first round
At Berthoud, Colo. Taylor Moore ...........................................29-34—63 Wade Binfield ..........................................31-34—65 Tyson Alexander......................................33-32—65 Jonathan Randolph ................................32-34—66 Charlie Saxon ..........................................34-33—67 Julian Etulain ..........................................32-35—67 Michael Miller..........................................30-37—67 Max Greyserman .....................................32-35—67 Chandler Eaton........................................36-31—67 Jared Wolfe .............................................32-35—67 Zach Wright ............................................34-33—67
Holes-in-one
(Name, course, hole, yard, club) Ramon Manalili, Windrose GC, 16, 105, pitching wedge
Rugby
Major League Rugby Eastern Conference GP 14 14 14 14 15 14
Atlanta New Orleans New York New England Toronto Washington
W 10 9 9 8 5 4
T 0 1 0 0 0 1
L 4 4 5 6 10 9
Pts 51 46 46 38 30 29
W 11 9 9 6 2 2
T 0 0 0 0 0 0
L 3 5 5 9 12 12
Pts 56 51 46 37 17 13
Western Conference GP 14 14 14 15 14 14
Los Angeles Utah Austin San Diego Seattle Houston
Houston Chronicle Sports
Chicago 3 4 2 11 6 13 Louisville 3 4 1 10 6 12 Reign FC 2 5 1 7 5 10 Kansas City 0 6 3 3 5 13 Note: Three points for victory, one point for tie.
Friday’s game
Louisville at Orlando, 6 p.m.
Saturday’s game
North Carolina at Washington, 6 p.m.
Copa America Match for third place Friday’s game
Peru vs. Colombia, 7 p.m.
Championship Saturday’s game
Brazil vs. Argentina, 7 p.m.
CONCACAF Gold Cup First round
GROUP A
GP 0 0 0 0
Mexico Curacao El Salvador Trinidad and Tobago
W 0 0 0 0
D 0 0 0 0
L GF GA Pts 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Saturday’s games
At Frisco El Salvador vs. Curacao, 4 p.m. At Arlington Mexico vs. Trinidad and Tobago, 9 p.m.
GROUP B Canada Martinique Haiti United States
GP 0 0 0 0
W 0 0 0 0
D 0 0 0 0
L 0 0 0 0
GF 0 0 0 0
GA 0 0 0 0
Pts 0 0 0 0
GF 0 0 0 0
GA 0 0 0 0
Pts 0 0 0 0
GF 0 0 0 0
GA 0 0 0 0
Pts 0 0 0 0
Sunday’s games
At Kansas City, Kan. Canada vs. Martinique, 5:30 p.m. United States vs Haiti, 7:30 p.m.
GROUP C Costa Rica Jamaica Suriname Guadeloupe
GP 0 0 0 0
W 0 0 0 0
D 0 0 0 0
L 0 0 0 0
Monday’s games
At Orlando, Fla. Jamaica vs. Suriname, 5:30 p.m. Costa Rica vs. Guadeloupe, 8 p.m.
GROUP D Grenada Honduras Panama Qatar
GP 0 0 0 0
W 0 0 0 0
D 0 0 0 0
L 0 0 0 0
Tuesday’s games
At Houston Qatar vs. Panama, 6 p.m. Honduras vs. Grenada, 8 p.m.
European Championship Final Sunday’s game
Italy vs. England, 2 p.m.
Tennis
Wimbledon
Thursday at London
Women’s singles Semifinals
Ashleigh Barty (1), Australia, def. Angelique Kerber (25), Germany, 6-3, 7-6 (3). Karolina Pliskova (8), Czech Republic, def. Aryna Sabalenka (2), Belarus, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
WTA — Hamburg European Open
Thursday at Hamburg, Germany
Women’s singles Round of 16
Ysaline Bonaventure, Belgium, def. Bernarda Pera (7), United States, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Tamara Zidansek (3), Slovenia, def. Kristyna Pliskova, Czech Republic, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Danielle Collins (4), United States, def. Kristina Kucova, Slovakia, 1-6, 6-2, 6-3. Jule Niemeier, Germany, def. Tamara Korpatsch, Germany, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3. Sara Errani, Italy, def. Ana Konjuh, Croatia, 7-6 (5), 6-3. Elena-Gabriela Ruse, Romania, def. Anna Zaja, Germany, 6-2, 6-2. Andrea Petkovic, Germany, def. Yulia Putintseva (2), Kazakhstan, 6-2, 1-6, 6-4. Dayana Yastremska (1), Ukraine, def. Magdalena Frech, Poland, 7-6 (5), 6-1.
Transactions BASEBALL
American League BALTIMORE ORIOLES: Recalled RHP Shaun Anderson from Norfolk (Triple-A East). Optioned LHP Zac Lowther to Norfolk. CHICAGO WHITE SOX: Sent LF Eloy Jimenez to Winston-Salem (High-A East) on a rehab assignment. CLEVELAND INDIANS: Optioned 2B Owen Miller and RHP J.C. Mejia to Columbus (Triple-A East). Reinstated RHP Zach Plesac from the 10-day IL. HOUSTON ASTROS: Placed LHP Brooks Raley in the 10-DAY IL due to health and safety protocols. Recalled RHP Ralph Garza Jr. NEW YORK YANKEES: Placed RHP Michael King on the 10-day IL. Recalled INF/OF Tyler Wade from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (Triple-A East). OAKLAND ATHLETICS: Placed INF/OF Chad Pinder on the 10-day IL. Selected the contract of INF Jacob Wilson from Las Vegas (Triple-A West). TAMPA BAY RAYS: Optioned CF Vidal Brujan to Durham (Triple-A East). TORONTO BLUE JAYS: Received OF Darlin Guzman from Cincinnati as the player to be named later completing a Jan. 22 trade for RHP Hector Perez.
National League ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS: Sent RF Kole Calhoun to Hillsboro (High-A West) on a rehab assignment. CINCINNATI REDS: Placed RHP Sonny Gray on the 10day IL. Recalled RHP Tony Santillan from Louisville (Triple-A East). LOS ANGELES DODGERS: Selected the contract of LHP Darien Nunez from Oklahoma City (Triple-A West). Optioned RHP Mitch White to Oklahoma City. Optioned RHP Aaron Slegers to Salt Lake (Triple-A West). MIAMI MARLINS: Recalled RHP Nick Neidert from Jacksonville (Triple-A East). Optioned RHP Jordan Holloway to Jacksonville. MILWAUKEE BREWERS: Optioned LHP Hoby Milner to Nashville (Triple-A East). Sent OF Lorenzo Cain to Nashville on a rehab assignment. NEW YORK METS: Optioned RHP Robert Stock to Syracuse (Triple-A East). Recalled RHP Nick Tropeano from Syracuse to the active roster. WASHINGTON NATIONALS: Placed RHP Joe Ross on the 10-day IL, retroactive to July 7.
BASKETBALL NBA
ATLANTA HAWKS: Announced the hiring of Nate McMillan as the full-time head coach.
WNBA
Houston at New York, 1 p.m. San Diego at Washington, 4 p.m. Austin at Los Angeles, 7:30 p.m. Atlanta at Utah, 9 p.m.
SEATTLE STORM: Signed F Cierra Burdick to a second 7-day contract. WASHINGTON MYSTICS: Signed G Shatori WalkerKimbrough and C Megan Gustafson to second 7-day contracts.
New England at Toronto, 11 a.m. New Orleans at Seattle, 8 p.m.
NHL
Soccer
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS: Signed D Travis Dermott to a two-year contract extension. WASHINGTON CAPITALS: Re-signed F Beck Malenstyn to a one-year, two-way contract.
Saturday’s games
HOCKEY
Sunday’s games
MLS
PGA Tour — John Deere Classic
Eastern Conference
At Silvis, Ill. Sebastian Munoz ....................................33-30—63 Chesson Hadley.......................................31-32—63 Chez Reavie.............................................32-32—64 Camilo Villegas........................................31-33—64 Hank Lebioda ..........................................33-31—64 Ryan Moore .............................................31-34—65 Luke List..................................................33-33—66 Kevin Tway..............................................34-32—66 Cameron Champ......................................31-35—66 Michael Gellerman ..................................33-33—66 Doug Ghim ..............................................33-33—66 Sam Ryder ..............................................32-35—67 Bronson Burgoon ....................................32-35—67 Cam Davis ...............................................34-33—67 Sung Kang ..............................................34-33—67 Harold Varner III ......................................34-33—67 Alex Smalley ...........................................33-34—67 Adam Schenk..........................................34-33—67 J.J. Spaun ...............................................32-35—67 Jhonattan Vegas .....................................33-34—67 Henrik Norlander.....................................33-34—67 Kevin Na..................................................34-33—67 Nick Taylor ..............................................35-32—67 Russell Henley.........................................32-35—67 Brandon Hagy .........................................34-33—67 Fabian Gomez .........................................34-33—67 Patrick Rodgers.......................................33-34—67 Chris Baker ..............................................33-34—67 D.J. Trahan .............................................33-35—68 Chase Seiffert..........................................37-31—68 Scott Harrington .....................................33-35—68 Pat Perez.................................................33-35—68 Dylan Frittelli ..........................................33-35—68 Sungjae Im..............................................34-34—68 Jim Herman.............................................34-34—68 Keith Mitchell..........................................35-33—68 Michael Thompson .................................33-35—68 Lucas Glover............................................34-34—68 Seamus Power ........................................32-36—68 Scott Stallings ........................................32-36—68 Will Gordon .............................................35-33—68 John Huh.................................................33-35—68 Mark Wilson ............................................33-35—68 Mark Hubbard .........................................32-36—68 Kyle Stanley............................................34-34—68 Zach Johnson ..........................................32-36—68 Martin Laird.............................................31-37—68
New England Orlando City Philadelphia CF Montréal Nashville New York City FC New York D.C. United Columbus Atlanta Chicago Cincinnati Inter Miami CF Toronto FC
Thursday’s first round
7 p.m.
C7
W 7 6 5 5 4 5 5 5 4 2 3 3 2 2
SOCCER L 3 3 3 3 1 4 5 6 3 3 7 5 7 8
T 3 3 5 4 7 2 2 1 4 7 2 2 2 2
Pts 24 21 20 19 19 17 17 16 16 13 11 11 8 8
GF 22 20 16 14 16 19 17 17 11 13 13 10 9 16
GA 18 12 12 11 13 13 15 14 9 15 18 18 17 29
W L T Pts GF Seattle 8 0 5 29 23 Sporting K.C. 8 3 2 26 24 LA Galaxy 8 4 0 24 20 Colorado 6 3 2 20 18 Los Angeles FC 5 4 3 18 15 Real Salt Lake 4 3 4 16 18 Minnesota United 4 5 3 15 12 Houston 3 4 6 15 16 Portland 4 6 1 13 14 Austin FC 3 6 4 13 10 San Jose 3 7 2 11 14 FC Dallas 2 5 5 11 14 Vancouver 2 7 3 9 12 Note: Three points for victory, one for tie.
GA 8 15 18 12 12 12 16 19 19 14 22 20 22
Western Conference
Thursday’s results
Philadelphia 1, New York 1 Atlanta 2, Nashville 2
Friday’s game
Columbus at Cincinnati, 6:30 p.m.
NWSL North Carolina Orlando Portland Houston Gotham FC Washington
W 5 4 5 4 3 3
L 2 2 3 3 1 2
T 1 3 0 1 3 3
Pts 16 15 15 13 12 12
GF 14 12 14 10 7 8
GA 4 10 6 8 3 8
MLS COLUMBUS CREW: Acquired F Erik Hurtado from CF Montreal in exchange for $200,000 in 2021 General Allocation Money (GAM).
NWSL ORLANDO PRIDE: Signed F Jodie Taylor from the North Carolina Courage on a deal through the end of the 2021 season. WASHINGTON SPIRIT: Signed MF Taylor Aylmer and D Morgan Goff as national team replacement players. Waived D Natalie Jacobs.
COLLEGE
ALABAMA A&M: Named Kevin Missouri an assistant men’s basketball coach. MEMPHIS: Named Larry Brown an assistant men’s basketball coach. PROVIDENCE: Named LaDontae Henton as the special assistant to the head coach for men’s basketball. RICE: Agreed to terms with Scott Pera on an extension that will run through the 2023-24 season as men’s basketball coach. SOUTHERN ILLINOIS: Promoted Colin Schneider to assistant men’s basketball coach.
C8
| Friday, July 9, 2021 | HoustonChronicle.com | Houston Chronicle
HH
WIMBLEDON MEN
Shapovalov seeks his ‘very good version’ By Ben Rothenberg N EW YO RK T IME S
WIMBLEDON, England — As she coached him in Toronto as a child, Tessa Shapovalova told her young son not to mind the balls arcing over his head when he went to the net. Someday, she said, he would be tall enough to reach them. “From a young age, I never was a player that would sit back and wait for my opponent’s mistakes,” Denis Shapovalov said Wednesday. “I always wanted to be the one dictating. I was always coming to the net from 10, 12 years old, getting lobbed back there, losing points. “My mom always told me: ‘Later on, you’re going to grow, and this is going to be an advantage to you. It’s something that is yours. You have to keep and maintain it for the future.’” Shapovalov, 22, has reached his first semifinal in a Grand Slam tournament at Wimbledon, where he will face Novak Djokovic on Friday with the hopes of becoming the first Canadian man to reach the final here since 2016. “It was great that she had that vision for my game years ahead,” said Shapovalov, who is still coached by his mother. “It’s something that, like I said, I’ve always had.” On grass courts, which reward assertive play more than any other surface, Shapovalov has been winning the races in rally after rally, round after round. He has hit 214 winners, the most of the four semifinalists, despite having played one fewer match
Alastair Grant / Associated Press
Canada's Denis Shapovalov chases down a shot in his five-set quarterfinal victory over Russia’s Karen Khachanov that set up Friday’s challenging semifinal against Novak Djokovic. than the other three. In his first-round win, he hit 58 winners to Philipp Kohlschreiber’s 30. After receiving a second-round walkover from Pablo Andújar, he blasted a two-time Wimbledon champion, Andy Murray, off the court in the third round, ripping 45 winners to Murray’s 16. In his fourth-round win, Shapovalov hit 52 winners to Roberto Bautista Agut’s 14. “I played against a very good version of Denis,” eighth-seeded Bautista
Agut said. “I think he played great. He was hitting so hard. He was serving well.” There have been, as Bautista Agut hinted, lesser versions of Shapovalov in past years; Shapovalov has also hit the most unforced errors of the remaining men at Wimbledon, with 170. When he was 18, Shapovalov made a stunning arrival to the tour by beating top-seeded Rafael Nadal at the 2017 Montreal Masters, electrifying a night-session
crowd that included NHL legend Wayne Gretzky in the front row. But in the intervening years, the results haven’t always materialized for Shapovalov and his freeswinging arm, and he has been forced to work on reining in his power. “Maybe sometimes I’m a little bit too wild, and I don’t make the opponents earn it on the big points,” Shapovalov said. “I’ve been a little bit more conservative, actually, this tournament.”
Shapovalov’s more cautious play did not serve him well in the quarterfinals Wednesday against Karen Khachanov: He lost the second and third sets. “I knew in the fourth and fifth, I have to dictate myself and be aggressive,” Shapovalov said. “Otherwise, he was going to win the match. It comes pretty naturally to me. I’ve always been an aggressive player. I’ve always wanted to go for shots. It’s actually the other way around that I’ve had to
learn to take a step back and put more pressure on the opponents, make them earn the points.” He added: “Sometimes it does help having that naturally come to me, especially in a match like today when the opponent is playing so well and he’s not giving anything to you. You kind of have to go and take it yourself.” Shapovalov took it for himself in the end, prevailing, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-4, hitting 59 winners to Khachanov’s 31. “I think my game just elevated,” Shapovalov said. “It’s something to be super, super proud of myself for.” Khachanov, in defeat, conceded that Shapovalov “went for it more” in crucial moments. “It’s his type of game — he’s like this,” Khachanov said. “He also makes a lot of unforced errors, but that’s why I think he’s a tough player to play with because, especially on grass, when he pulls the trigger, he can make it. Sometimes you don’t expect where to run.” To advance one round further, Shapovalov will need to penetrate the robust defenses of Djokovic. Shapovalov is 0-6 against him, but the two have never played on grass. “You don’t get too many opportunities on his service game, especially here on grass,” Djokovic said. “I’m sure that that’s going to be the biggest test I will have so far in the tournament, which is also expected — it’s semifinals,” Djokovic added. “I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be a battle, and I need to be at my best.”
Osaka didn’t like facing pressure to reveal issues By Chuck Schilken L O S A N GE LE S T IME S
Naomi Osaka says she felt “a great amount of pressure” to reveal her struggle with mental health issues earlier this year during an ordeal that led to her withdrawing from the French Open and taking a temporary break from the sport. The 23-year-old tennis star wrote in a first-person account for Time magazine about the series of events that started in May when she announced she would not take part in the required post-match news conferences at the French Open, citing a “disregard for athletes’ mental health.” She followed through after her first French Open match and was fined $15,000. A statement from the heads of tennis’ four major tournaments warned that “repeat violations” could result in “tougher sanctions,” including suspension from future Grand Slam events. So Osaka pulled out of the French Open, revealing in a statement that she suffers from depression and anxiety, and that skipping the news conferences was an attempt “to exercise self-care.” The four-time Grand Slam winner now says she wishes it hadn’t come to
that. “In any other line of work, you would be forgiven for taking a personal day here and there, so long as it’s not habitual,” she wrote. “You wouldn’t have to divulge your most personal symptoms to your employer; there would likely be HR measures protecting at least some level of privacy. “In my case, I felt under a great amount of pressure to disclose my symptoms — frankly because the press and the tournament did not believe me. I do not wish that on anyone and hope that we can enact measures to protect athletes, especially the fragile ones. I also do not want to have to engage in a scrutiny of my personal medical history ever again. So I ask the press for some level of privacy and empathy next time we meet.” Osaka skipped Wimbledon but is planning to represent Japan at the Tokyo Olympics later this month. “I feel uncomfortable being the spokesperson or face of athlete mental health as it’s still so new to me and I don’t have all the answers,” she wrote. “I do hope that people can relate and understand it’s OK to not be OK, and it’s OK to talk about it. There are people who can help, and there is usually light at the end of any tunnel.”
Bernat Armangue / Associated Press
Of mental health, Naomi Osaka wrote “it’s OK to not be OK, and it’s OK to talk about it.”
Kirsty Wigglesworth / Associated Press
Ashleigh Barty wants to repeat the triumph of two-time Wimbledon champion Evonne Goolagong Cawley so much that the design of her outfits pay homage to the fellow Australian.
BARTY
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Cawley won the first of her two Wimbledon titles on Centre Court. That achievement holds such powerful meaning for world No. 1 Barty, an indigenous Australian, as is Goolagong Cawley, that she is competing this year in a custom outfit that pays homage to the scallop-hemmed dress her idol wore in 1971. When she steps on court at Wimbledon, Barty is mindful of all that history. Then she pushes it from her mind and focuses on the moment — the privilege and joy, as she describes it, of hitting freely and playing each point on its merits, without regard for the score. “It’s all about the moment,” Barty said. “It’s all about taking it in, it’s about enjoying it.” With this formula, the top-ranked Barty took one more step toward a childhood dream Thursday, defeating three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber 6-3, 7-6 (3) to advance to Wimbledon’s final for the first time. Her opponent Saturday — Karolina Pliskova, 29, of the Czech Republic — is also
a first-time Wimbledon finalist, having weathered a barrage of blasts from second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the afternoon’s other semifinal. Barty’s participation at Wimbledon this year was in doubt just a few weeks ago, when she was forced to withdraw from the French Open with a lingering hip injury. In the short window for recovery, Barty said, she and her trainers have done everything possible to prepare her for the grass-court classic. Through six matches, she has conceded just one set. On Thursday, Kerber demanded her best. A former world No. 1, Kerber, 33, was the only former Wimbledon champion remaining in the draw, having beaten Serena Williams in straight sets to claim the 2018 title. Kerber also was on a 10-match grass-court winning streak, enjoying a career resurgence after having lost her passion for tennis for a time. With a 2-2 career record, the semifinalists met on Centre Court for the first time since 2018. Barty and Kerber aren’t the tallest players on tour, at 5-5 and 5-8, respectively. But they are among the best
athletes in women’s tennis, with impressive foot speed, defensive grit and the flexibility to crouch down and blast away at the lowbouncing balls that make grass such a challenge. Barty, the more varied shot-maker, seized the upper hand early, leaving Kerber, the more powerful hitter, playing from behind and down a break in the first set. Kerber came out roaring to start the second set and bolted to a 4-1 lead. With Barty serving at 2-5, Kerber was two points from sending the match into a third set. Barty didn’t flinch but stayed true to her process, balancing patience with calibrated risk to produce her biggest serves and best passing shots on the points that mattered most. “In the important moments, she had always the better answer,” Kerber said afterward. Barty, who finished with 38 winners and 16 unforced errors, called it “close to the best tennis match” she had ever played and credited that to Kerber. “Angie brought that out of me,” Barty told the crowd during her on-court interview. “I’ve got the chance on Saturday to live
out a childhood dream.” Though Barty was tapped for greatness as at 15, she put down her rackets and walked away from tennis at 18 after the weight of expectations, the rigors of international travel and the distance from her family sapped the joy she once took in the sport. After a nearly two-year hiatus, in which she played professional cricket and spent time with loved ones, she returned to the pro tour without a timetable for achievement. She wasn’t ready, at the time, to declare that winning Wimbledon — ass Goolagong Cawley had done in 1971 and 1980 — was her dream. Today, Barty says so proudly. “One day I would love to be the champion here,” Barty said at the tournament’s outset. “It’s a dream. It’s a goal. Dreams don’t always come true, but you can fight and do everything you can to give yourself that opportunity. “That has been a lot of my learnings over the last two years as a person —not just as a professional tennis player, but as a person. (It is) putting my hopes and dreams out into the universe and chasing them.”
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HONORING WOMEN IN PUNK. 9
BACK IN ‘BLACK’ Marvel’s ‘Black Widow’ finally lands this weekend. | 10
D2 | Preview Houston | July 9-15, 2021 | PreviewHouston.com
CONTENTS
AMERICANA SINGER NIKKI LANE IS COMING TO HOUSTON. 8 Gary Miller / Getty Images
3 F A M I LY
5 PREVIEW
9 POP
Events and places everyone can enjoy.
“Gunpowder Milkshake” and other critics’ picks.
A Houston man celebrates punk-rock women.
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CLASSICAL
NEW FILMS
CONCERTS
Here’s what’s playing on area stages.
A 7-year-old composer inspires a local quartet.
Here are the latest movies landing on screens this week.
PreviewHouston.com | July 9-15, 2021 |
ANIME MATSURI 2021
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Join attendees from over 30 different countries in a celebration of anime, music, art and cosplay, with hundreds of hours of programming and exciting guests, celebrities and industry experts. When: Through July 11 Where: George R. Brown Convention Center, 1001 Avenida de las Americas Details: $10-$250; 2020.animematsuri.com
SAY GIRL SAY Local live music returns to Discovery Green with indie-pop duo Say Girl Say. This show was originally scheduled for June 25. When: 6:30 p.m. July 9 Where: 1500 McKinney Details: free; discoverygreen.com
D I A D E L A F R I D A AT K A R B A C H B R E W I N G C O .
SHOWSTOPPERS: A BROADWAY MUSICAL SCRAPBOOK Featuring 25 student performers in grades 1-12, HITS Theatre will transport audiences in person and online with spectacular moments from musical theater history. This performance is live on stage and online, viewers can choose to watch it on Miller Outdoor Theatre’s website, YouTube Channel or Facebook page. When: 8:30 p.m. July 9-10 Where: Miller Outdoor Theatre, 6000 Hermann Park Drive Details: free; milleroutdoortheatre.com
STEAM XTREME Escape the hot Texas heat and enjoy a cool, liquid-nitrogenfilled day at Children’s Museum Houston. When: 11 a.m.-1:15 p.m. July 10 Where: Children’s Museum
Alex Barber
Houston, 1500 Binz
When: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. July 14
Details: $10-$12; cmhouston.org
Where: Levy Park, 3801 Eastside
DIA DE LA FRIDA
Details: free; levyparkhouston.org
Karbach Brewing Co. hosts its annual festival dedicated to legendary Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. The event features a market, local artists, food trucks and a DJ.
BAT WALK AND WATCH
offers a thrilling spectacle that features motocross riders, BMX freestylers, aerial performers, five motorcycles rolling around the Globe of Death and more.
Where: Lone Star Expo Center, 9055 Airport
SUGAR LAND
Where: 2032 Karbach
When: 7:45-9:15 p.m. July 15
Details: facebook.com/events/ 3774273036016122
Where: Lost Lake, 3422 Allen Parkway
PEARLAND
Details: $5; buffalobayou.org
SUMMER SEOUL FESTIVAL
Learn the basics of small-space gardening with Kickerillo-Mischer Preserve. Presented by Harris County Precinct 4.
MOTO XTREME CIRCUS The high-energy circus show
Where: Independence Park, 3449 Pearland Parkway Details: $5-$50; snap2official .com/summerseoul
When: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. July 11
CONROE
When: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. July 10
When: 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. July 10
Stroll to Waugh Drive Bridge with bat specialist Suzanne Jurek to see the bat colony up close and learn about these miniature, flying mammals.
SUMMER NATURE SERIES: SMALL SPACE GARDENS
vendors.
Details: $8-$25; motoxtremecircus.com
This music festival is inspired by a beautiful summer’s day in Seoul, South Korea. Enjoy live K-pop and Korean hip-hop artists, food trucks, local dancers and
MOVIE UNDER THE MOON A free movie screening of the live-action “Lion King” at Sugar Land Town Square. When: 8:15-10 p.m. July 10 Where: 2711 Plaza Details: free; sugarlandtownsquare.com
ana.khan@chron.com
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While venues have welcomed live performers back to their stages, most are still following COVID-19 guidelines, including reduced capacity, social distancing and masks.
FRIDAY
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The Reverent Few: Rock and soul. 7 p.m. at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk; 713-528-5999. Cat Dealers: Brazilian producer and DJ duo. 10 p.m. at Stereo Live, 6400 Richmond; 832-2519600. Shake Russell: Singer, songwriter, storyteller. 8:45 p.m. at Anderson Fair, 2007 Grant. 713-528-8576. Ultramega, TX: Chris Cornell tribute. 8 p.m. at the Continental Club, 3700 Main; 713-5299899. Ray Wylie Hubbard: Singer, songwriter, legend. 8:30 p.m. at the Dosey Doe Big Barn, 25911 Interstate 45 N., The Woodlands; 281-367-3774. Guy and Jeska Forsyth: Reallife couple take the stage. 8:45 p.m. at the Dosey Doe Breakfast, BBQ and Whiskey Bar, 2626 B Research Forest, The Woodlands; 832-823-4414. Raff Rivera: Singer-songwriter. 5:30 p.m. at House of Blues Restaurant, 1204 Caroline; 888-402-5837. The Last Dance: Tom Petty tribute 8 p.m. at House of Blues Restaurant, 1204 Caroline; 888-402-5837.
SATURDAY Hamilton Loomis: Texas blues. 8:30 p.m. at the Dosey Doe Big Barn, 25911 Interstate 45 N., The Woodlands; 281-367-3774.
Mauricio Santana / Getty Images
She Wolf: Shakira tribute. 7 p.m. at Rockefellers, 3620 Washington; 713-862-4070. Davin James: Country. 7:45 p.m. at the Dosey Doe Breakfast, BBQ and Whiskey Bar, 2626 B Research Forest, The Woodlands; 832-823-4414. Scott H. Biram: One-man band. 9 p.m. at the Continental Club, 3700 Main; 713-5299899. Patrice Pike: Austin singersongwriter. 7 p.m. at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk; 713-528-5999. Idiginis: Peter Tosh tribute. 6:30 p.m. at House of Blues Restaurant, 1204 Caroline; 888-402-5837. Dem: Bob Marley tribute. 8 p.m.
at House of Blues Restaurant, 1204 Caroline; 888-402-5837. Kim Cruse: Singer-songwriter. 8 p.m. at House of Blues, Foundation Room, 1204 Caroline; 888-402-5837.
SUNDAY Luba’s Backyard Ramble: A night of freewheeling Americana. 7 p.m. at the Continental Club, 3700 Main; 713-5299899. Nikki Lane: Americana singersongwriter. 8 p.m. at Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel; 713-225-5483
TUESDAY John Evans Band: Singer-
songwriter who ventures into multiple genres. 7 p.m. at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk; 713-528-5999. Mickey Gilley and Johnny Lee: Classic country. 8 p.m. at the Dosey Doe Big Barn, 25911 Interstate 45 N., The Woodlands; 832-823-4414. Royal Dukes Band: Big band funk-soul outfit. 7:30 p.m. at Rockefellers, 3620 Washington; 713-862-4070.
THURSDAY Curtis Grimes: Texas country. 8:30 p.m. at the Dosey Doe Big Barn, 25911 Interstate 45 N., The Woodlands; 832-8234414. AFTM: Rock, funk and more. 7
p.m. at White Oak Music Hall Lawn, 2915 N. Main; 713-2370370. Sarah Grace & The Soul: Blues. 8 p.m. at House of Blues Restaurant, 1204 Caroline; 888-402-5837. Rogelio Ramos: Comedy. 7 p.m. at Arena Theatre, 7326 U.S. 59 S.; 713-772-5900. Tyler McCollum: Country. 9:30 p.m. at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk; 713-528-5999. Beetle in the Backyard: Beetle plays the Beatles on the outdoor stage. 7 p.m. at the Continental Club, 3700 Main; 713-529-9899.
joey.guerra@chron.com
PreviewHouston.com | July 9-15, 2021 |
1. John Evans John Evans does so many things well — smart songwriter, great guitarist, savvy producer — that he appears to be everywhere at all times. As it turns out, though, five years have passed since he released the wonderful “Polyester,” which perfectly captured his expertise at distilling various roots music forms into something wholly his own. He’s always an engaging and entertaining performer. And, hopefully, he’ll have a few new tunes to test drive.
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When: 7 p.m. July 13 Where: McGonigel’s Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk Details: $60-$180 for two tickets, $30 for livestream; 713-528-5999, mcgonigels.com Andrew Dansby 2. Shake Russell Beloved in these parts, Shake Russell has been a staple on stages for decades. He’s also made some headway in Nashville, where his songs were recorded by folks like Waylon Jennings (“Deep in the West”), Clint Black (“Put Yourself in My Shoes”) and Ricky Skaggs (“You’ve Got a Lover”). He’s a seasoned and masterful storyteller with a deep reserve of great songs. When: 8:45 p.m. July 9 Where: Anderson Fair, 2007 Grant Details: $25; andersonfair.net Andrew Dansby 3. ‘Animal Kingdom’ Based on the 2010 Australian film of the same name, “Animal Kingdom” — now starting its fifth season July 11 — remains one of the most compelling, if underrated, dramatic series on American television. This chronicle of the Codys, a vicious Oceanside, Calif., crime family that goes surfing in the morning and robbing at night, is at a crossroads. The family’s
4. StudioCanal
matriarch, played by a steely Ellen Barkin, is out of the picture, and it’s up to young son Josh (Finn Cole, “F9”) to keep his warring brothers and unhinged uncle under control. No matter what happens, as far as viewers are concerned, the Codys always put the “fun” in dysfunction.
3.
When: 8 p.m. July 11 Where: TNT Details: tntdrama.com/shows/ animal-kingdom Cary Darling 4. ‘Gunpowder Milkshake’ Aside from having a memorable title, this action film from director Navot Papushado is generating buzz as an “all-female ‘John Wick.’ ” Lena Headey and Karen Gillan are a mother-daughter assassin team trying to protect
TNT
an 8-year-old girl from a team of bloodthirsty killers that includes Michelle Yeoh, Carla Gugino and Angela Bassett. And don’t forget Paul Giamatti as a crime lord. Yes, please! When: Begins streaming July 14
on Netflix Details: netflix.com Cary Darling 5. ‘Luxe Listings Sydney’ Calling all those who love reality-show architecture porn!
All you “Million Dollar Listing” and “House Hunters International” fans, you know who are you. Well, you’ve got a new series to ooh, aah and ew over. It’s “Luxe Listings Sydney,” a feast of stunning harbor views, coolly sleek interiors and feuding real estate agents named Gavin, D’Leanne and Simon. “LLS” is a nice little reminder that wherever you go in the world, obnoxiousness and ego are natural resources that are never in short supply. When: Begins streaming July 9 Where: Amazon Prime Video Details: amazon.com Cary Darling
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A R T S P I C KS
1.
Courtesy photo
1. ‘Showstoppers! A Broadway Musical Scrapbook’ More than two dozen student performers, from elementary school through high school, will take part in a best of Broadway program put on by HITS Theatre. HITS will draw from its own 34-year history for the performance, “Showstoppers! A Broadway Musical Scrapbook.”
3. ‘Alia Ali: Cartographies of Pattern’ Multimedia artist Alia Ali has traveled to 67 countries and lived in seven, all of which greatly influenced “Cartographies of Pattern,” a collection of 24 color photographs making their debut at Foto Relevance this weekend. The selection from her latest series explore the conflicting political, historic and economic legacies woven into textiles.
When: 8:30 p.m. July 9-10 Where: Miller Outdoor Theatre, 6000 Hermann Park Drive
When: Through Sept. 4
Details: free, details and assigned seat information at milleroutdoortheatre.com Andrew Dansby
Where: Foto Relevance, 4411 Montrose Suite C Details: fotorelevance.com; 713-505-1499 Amber Elliott
2. Sarofim Collection Born in Cairo more than 90 years ago, Fayez Sarofim came to Houston to work in the cotton industry and pivoted toward other profitable endeavors. All the while, he collected art focused on his new home, the United States of America. Hundreds of pieces from his collection form the basis of “Three Centuries of American Art: Antiquities, European and American Masterpieces — The Fayez S. Sarofim Collection,” a collection full of remarkable pieces by Edward Hopper, John Singer Sargent and others, as well as more modern works by Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner and others. When: Through Sept. 6 Where: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1001 Bissonnet Details: for tickets and hours visit mfah.org Andrew Dansby
4. ‘Here We Go…’ The works of five contemporary artists and their reflections on their own relevance in Houston’s contemporary artwork will be showcased at Barbara Davis Gallery this summer. Meet Brandon Araujo, Preston Douglas, Kate Mulholland, Tommy Taylor and Erika Whitney, aka the talent behind “Here We Go …,” an exhibition curated by Eduardo Portillo during the artists’ reception and opening July 10.
3. Courtesy of Foto Relevance Gallery
When: July 10-Sept. 4 Where: Barbara Davis Gallery, 4411 Montrose Details: barbaradavisgallery.com; 713-520-9200 Amber Elliott
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YOUNG COMPOSER INSPIRES CARYA STRING QUARTET
APOLLO PREMADASA
Elisabeth Bulbena Vela
Last month, a 7-year-old musical prodigy, who lives with his family in London, saw a dream become reality, thanks to a little help from Houston’s own Carya String Quartet. Amid unfathomable levels of distress caused by the coronavirus, Apollo Premadasa turned to his creative expression, finding solace in music making with the intent to share a sense of calmness and vigor with the rest of the world. A trombonist, cellist, timpanist and composer who studies at the Junior Guildhall School of Music, the boy wrote a 20-minute work to pay tribute to all victims, survivors and heroes of the global pandemic. Yet, due to restrictions on gatherings, the young musician was unable to have his aptly titled “Pandemia” performed live as he had hoped. Instead, with the help of his parents, Premadasa sent emails to various hospitals that included a MIDI file, or computerized version, of his work alongside a message of gratitude for the tireless efforts of physicians and health care professionals everywhere. Once the score fell into the hands of Carya’s violist Rainey Weber and violinist Laura Cividino — both of whom met Premadasa in the summer of 2019 while teaching at an international music festival in Italy that is run by Cividino’s parents — they decided to record the piece for him as a gift as soon as the quartet could safely do so. In the process, the musicians developed a strong desire to help Premadasa expand his reach, and just like that, the ensemble’s gesture became its next project.
B Y L AW R E N C E E L I Z A B E T H K N OX CO R R ES P O N D E N T
“We were astounded,” Weber said of their initial response to the three-movement work, which begins with dramatic strength in “Survival” before progressing through the lulling quality of “Hope” and then concluding with the militaristic rhythm of “Fight.” “It’s incredible that at such a young age, he can write so coherently.” On June 21, the two women, together with Carya’s violinist Eugeniu Cheremoush and cellist Yuliya Kim, presented the world premiere of a condensed version of “Pandemia” at the new Garza Studios in Houston’s East End as part of a citywide celebration in honor of Make Music Day. Following the concert, which is still available to view on the venue’s Facebook page, the ensemble released a five-minute performance video on YouTube that combines the composition with powerful images, primarily captured by local photojournalist Reggie Mathalone. In conjunction with the video release, which features guest artist Christoph PANDEMIA STRING QUARTET FOR HOPE CLINIC Donations will be accepted through July 21 at gofundme.com/f/pandemia-hope. Preconcert interview: youtube.com/watch?v=IdgaUriexvI Music video: youtube.com/watch?v= L0BS4N0qU4I Details: caryaquartet.org
Wagner on the cello, Carya launched a monthlong fundraiser that will benefit HOPE Clinic, a community health center that provides affordable, accessible health care services in over 30 languages. The ensemble will be accepting donations online via its GoFundMe campaign through July 21, with a goal to raise over $5,000 for the clinic. “Music is a language that all the people in the world can understand,” Premadasa said in a preconcert interview. “For us, one of the things that has made this project rewarding is that Apollo has been so enthusiastic about the piece being played by real instruments,” Weber said. “I think the joy of a child can be a good reminder for all of us of what music can do, and his joy for music is just really infectious. It’s been very rewarding to see that, to remember why we love music and to know that Apollo’s biggest wish is that his music can help people.” Come fall, Carya String Quartet will kick off its fourth season, “Mixed Media,” by drawing further connections between visual art and music, each of the four main programs correlating with a different classical painting genre. The opening concert in September, titled “Landscape,” will pair Margaret Brouwer’s “Crosswinds,” which was inspired by the work of American Impressionist painter John Henry Twachtman, with Debussy’s String Quartet.
Lawrence Elizabeth Knox is a Houston-based writer.
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NIKKI LANE IS BACK TO BLAZING HER OWN PATH BY ANDREW DANSBY STA F F W R I T E R
For several years, Nikki Lane followed a traditional routine for a singer and songwriter. She’d write songs, record songs, tour for a couple of years, then start the process all over again. But as with many in her line of work, Lane’s routine was interrupted over the past year and a half. Lane co-wrote and added vocals to a song on Lana Del Rey’s most recent album. She did a few shows, including one at Gruene Hall, but nothing one could call a tour. She also apparently made a new album, her first since “Highway Queen,” which is now 4 years old. Both Lane and her label have been a little tight-lipped about the record, though an Instagram post showed her in a recording studio with Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. “Duck’s out of the bag,” she wrote, referencing Homme’s nickname. “Made my dream record.” And now, finally, Lane is starting to string together some dates. A short Texas tour brings her to Houston this weekend. “I’m thinking I may work this to its maximum potential and tease each city with a new song or two,” she says. “So the real creeps who follow me to every show will get the whole damn album.”
MUSICIAN NIKKI LANE
Eden Tyler
She laughs. “How come they’re the ones who come out on top?” Lane says the record, her fourth, won’t see release until early next year. But after enduring those tireless travel cycles, she sounds energized after a most unusual 16 or 17 months. “I spent my entire career thinking I was always running late,” she says. “The time off gave me this realization that there is no rush. As much as I’m eager and ready to get it out and do shows, I like having the space and time to
NIKKI LANE When 8 p.m. July 11 Where Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel Details $20; 713-225-5483, warehouselive.com
prepare.” Ten years after first drawing notice with “Walk of Shame,” Lane has earned the time for some reflection. Over three albums, she refined a distinctive sound from the muddy waters of country,
rockabilly, soul, blues and all the other music that falls these days under the Americana umbrella. Had Wanda Jackson been reimagined by David Lynch, she might have cut a path like Lane’s, particularly with the release of “All or Nothin’ ” in 2014. Lane’s writing has shifted and evolved each time out. “In a sense, ‘All or Nothin’ ’ was me emoting about who I was,” she says. “Realizing I’m a songwriter, becoming a songwriter. ‘Highway Queen’ was the next step. That one was about living in a van. So
then I wondered, ‘What do you write about now?’ I think, after this record, I’ll be able to make up stories. I feel like I checked the box of self-exploration with this record. I look at John Prine as the ultimate storyteller. There are things that maybe didn’t happen to him that he dreamed up. Now, after this record, I feel like I can daydream in that way. But it’s taken a while to write something that doesn’t involve me being a character.”
andrew.dansby@chron.com
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AUTHOR CELEBRATES WOMEN IN PUNK BY CRAIG LINDSEY C O R R ES P O N D E N T
David Ensminger is all about punk — especially when it comes to women in punk. A few years ago, the Houstonbased author/journalist/historian began a series of Facebook posts on women who’ve played punk music. “As often as I could,” says Ensminger, 49, “I was posting about them — writing pieces, putting up photos, putting up flyers, putting up posters.” He eventually self-released two volumes of “Punk Women” books, with all 800 copies selling out. Microcosm Publishing, which has released several of his books (including “Left of the Dial: Conversations With Punk Icons”), approached him about taking the two volumes and turning them into a single anthology. “Now, it’s sort of an omnibus,” he says. “It’s sort of a new version of the two books put together … It lost a few things, but it also gained a few things.” On July 9, Ensminger will be celebrating with a “Punk Women” book party at Vinal Edge Records in The Heights. Ensminger’s love of hard-rocking women goes back to his childhood days in Rockford, Ill., (the home of Cheap Trick). “When I was a little boy,” he remembers,
HOUSTON ROCKER ALLISON GIBSON IS INCLUDED IN THE BOOK.
Courtesy David Ensminger
“my sister was listening to bands like Iggy Pop and Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Cramps. And so was my brother, who is gay. So, between a sister and a gay brother, it sort of enlarged my notion of sort of gender and music and experimentation and art. My first wife was heavily into music. My current wife is heavily into music.” As a man who has performed in bands with female musicians in both Houston and Rockford, he
“PUNK WOMEN” BOOK PARTY When: 6 p.m. July 9 Where: Vinal Edge Records, 239 W. 19th Details: free; 832-618-1129; search for “Punk Women Book Party” on facebook.com
noticed women weren’t getting enough credit in the history of punk. “You go back to a lot of the history books, and not that much
attention is paid to them,” he says. “There are a few books but not that many compared to men. And, so, this was my way of paying tribute to the women I grew up with, the women I played with and the women I listened to on records and CDs and tapes. So, it’s a way to sort of honor and pay tribute and make them more visible than they have been before.” “Women” is a fascinating deep dive into the many ladies who boldly stepped on stage and rocked just as hard as the fellas. Nearly a hundred bands and musicians are profiled and interviewed. There are such punk icons as Siouxsie Sioux of the aforementioned Siouxsie and the Banshees, X’s Exene Cervenka and Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon; provocateurs including Lydia Lunch (who is the subject of the new documentary “Lydia Lunch: The War Is Never Over”) and Kembra Pfahler; riot grrrl-groups like Bikini Kill and Babes in Toyland; groundbreaking women of color such as X-Ray Spex’s Poly Styrene, the New Bloods’ Osa Atoe and the BellRays’ Lisa Kekaula. Ensminger also devotes some pages to the women of Houston’s punk history, local hellraisers such as Mydolls’ Linda Younger, the Kimonos’ Gina Miller, Allison
Gibson and Vicky Satterwhite. These performers get the chance to discuss their experiences in the city’s punk scene. While Ensminger is well aware that “Women” consists of a cis white man giving his own aggressively ardent takes on women in punk music, Younger appreciates that he’s out there doing it. “David is passionate about capturing history — his photographs are brilliant, as are his descriptions of those he chooses to include,” says Younger. “He has always been supportive and right in front of the stage singing along, dancing and photographing performers. He is punk rock’s No. 1 fan.” Younger will be one of several artists on hand for the “Punk Women” book party. Though there won’t be any performances, Ensminger says they’ll be there to remind local punk fans that they, along with many female musicians around here, are still deep in the punk world. “Just a few weeks ago, they had a women-in-punk show over at White Swan,” says Ensminger. “And, so, there are obviously women who are still very committed, who identify with it and thrive and find good, important meaning in it.”
Craig Lindsey is a Houston-based writer.
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‘BLACK WIDOW’ IS A KILLER MARVEL MOVIE B Y CA RY DA R L I N G | STA F F W R I T E R
At first glance, Cate Shortland might seem an odd choice to direct a Marvel movie. The Australian director usually makes films whose budgets wouldn’t be enough to cover the snacks for a Marvel crew, let alone pay for the required riot of special effects. But the films Shortland has made tell the stories of young women at turning points in their lives. In “Somersault” from 2004, a 16-year-old wrestles with sexual awakening. In “Lore,” one of the best films of 2012, a newly orphaned German girl leads her siblings through a collapsing Germany at the end of the war, forcing her to reconsider her blind loyalty to everything she had known previously. In the 2017 movie “The Berlin Syndrome,” a young Australian woman new to Germany discovers that the seemingly nice English teacher she just met has taken her hostage. Seen in that light, Shortland makes a lot more sense to helm the satisfying “Black Widow” (opening July 9 in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access), the Avengers spinoff focusing on Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff character — aka Black Widow — that fans have been demanding for years. It was originally due to be released in 2020, but COVID proved a bigger threat
“BLACK WIDOW” Rated PG-13: for intense sequences of violence/action, some language and thematic material Running time: 133 minutes Where: Opens July 9 throughout Houston; begins streaming July 9 on Disney+ Premier Access. H H H ½ (out of 5)
S C A R L E T T J O H A N S S O N S TA R S I N “ B L A C K W I D O W. ”
Marvel Studios
than all of the Marvel villains put together. Set sometime between the events of “Captain America: Civil War” and “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Black Widow” offers a backstory on one of the more intriguing characters in the Marvel universe. She’s a woman who has grown a lot since her introduction to movie audiences in “Iron Man 2,” in which she was hyper-sexualized. Now, she’s someone grappling the loss of family as well as
the physical, emotional and mental abuse of being raised in the Red Room, the secret Russian program designed to turn young women into ruthless assassins. At the start of “Black Widow,” a preteen Romanoff (Ever Anderson) lives with her seemingly ordinary Ohio family, including dad Alexei (David Harbour, “Stranger Things”), mom Melina (Rachel Weisz, “The Lobster”) and younger sister Yelena (Violet McGraw). Then, out of the blue
one day, Alexei informs the family they have to pack up and leave right now. It turns out this “normal” family was really just a nest of Russian spies; and so begins Natasha’s descent into a personal hell. Now, Black Widow has revenge on her mind and, after years of being estranged from everyone in the family, she has a now-grown sister (Florence Pugh, “Little Women”), who was also forced into the Red Room system, to
help her. Before it devolves into the usual mayhem in the third act, “Black Widow” has some quieter moments that make it stand out. Whether it’s making fun of the way Black Widow enters a scene (Yelena calls her a poser), showing the awkward moments of a dysfunctional family or Alexei using a very aggressive game of arm wrestling in a Russian prison (Harbour is excellent throughout), “Black Widow” has many small touches that hit the mark. Working from a script by Eric Pearson that’s based on a story from Jac Schaeffer and Ned Benson, Shortland has made a credible action film that also functions as a twisted family portrait as well as a story of a woman coming to terms with her past. It’s not what would have been expected from Shortland and everything we’ve come to expect from her in one big, bright, blockbuster package.
cary.darling@chron.com
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‘BLACK WIDOW’ DIRECTOR SHAKES UP SUPERHERO GAME B Y M I C H A E L C AV N A WAS H I N GTO N P O ST
Australian auteur Cate Shortland entered the world of billiondollar cinematic Spandex with a unique eye. She focused first not on the fighting attire. Instead, the first woman to be solo director of a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie looked at what her superstar had stitched together psychologically across a decade. The filmmaker perceived a pattern: Ever since Black Widow’s debut as a lethal agent in 2010’s “Iron Man 2,” Scarlett Johansson had constructed another costume of sorts — a second skin of selfawareness. “We’re talking about the armor that she’s put on for the last 10 years as this kind of femme fatale,” Shortland says during a recent Zoom call. “Every time she’s moved, she’s being watched. She’s under the gaze.” But how to pierce this armor of observation? Shortland settled on a sharp bit of conversational meta-commentary. In the new film “Black Widow,” another trained assassin, played by Florence Pugh, accuses Johansson’s world-famous warrior of being a hair-flipping, play-to-the spotlight “poser.” Shortland says the point beneath the good-natured, touchof-envy dialogue was for someone to needle and grill Johansson’s spy by asking: “Who are you really? Who are you under that artifice? I
C AT E S H O R T L A N D , L E F T, A N D S C A R L E T T J O H A N S S O N O N T H E S E T.
Jay Maidment/Marvel Studios / via Washington Post
know you.” And that, pulsing through most every scene, is the core line of inquiry that gets answered in “Black Widow”, Johansson’s eighth significant outing as the title fighter also known as Natasha Romanoff. Just how patient were Marvel fans for Natasha’s own film? The character had to die first — in a heartbreaking act of sacrifice in 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame” — before she got a chance to live on in her solo prequel. Yet the timing proved exquisite for the arrival of Shortland, who embraced a vision for how a childhood-trained killer becomes a liberation leader — with the goal of turning her protagonist into a
hero of greater depth. Shortland and Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige discussed the theme of standing up to bullies and how, “in a general way, we’re saying to people: Use your voice,” the director says. Natasha entered Marvel’s movie universe posing as an assistant to Tony Stark, Robert Downey Jr.’s wealthy industrialist turned Iron Man superhero — while working as a spy brought in by Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and deployed as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. From the moment she appears, she comes under the leering male gaze of Stark and Happy Hogan (the film’s director, Jon Favreau), which is played for laughs. Across the next decade, we
discover shards of her dark past — her inhumane training for young women forced to live at the Red Room Academy, her pain over her murderous missions as a mindcontrolled Widow — as the Avengers become her found family. Out of that darkness, Shortland was determined to paint with narrative light — for a story set between the events of 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War” and 2018’s “Avengers: Infinity War.” “When I first looked at the character (across) all the films, what I felt was that she was a femme fatale and she was using that,” she says. “That comes from the comics — that idea of her sexuality being dangerous, that she’s unknowable.” For Shortland, that inscrutability became an inviting challenge. If characters have been unknowable, the first thing a director wants to do “is to peel all that back, and basically work out who they are as human beings and what it is they’re scared of,” she says. From day one, when she first walked into the Marvel offices, that was the mission Shortland championed. “She mentioned how important is was to create a fully realized character — a fully realized woman — who has evolved over the years, and really understand her on a beautiful and intimate level,” says “Black Widow” co-producer Brian Chapek. “I
think that’s something that she did incredibly well.” The last time fans saw Black Widow in action, in “Avengers: Endgame,” she was fighting her dear friend Hawkeye on planet Vormir to sacrifice her life for the Soul Stone — an essential gem in reversing villain Thanos’ mass genocide. Chapek says that scene of poignant humanity was a narrative lodestone for “Black Widow.” “How did she get a point where she could make this decision? Did she have family? Did she have friends?” the producer says. “We’ve always alluded to this Red Room program” — the dehumanizing training she was forced into as a child — “and we knew we had to show it, but we also had to bring a contemporary light to it.” The Red Room represents the horrors of Natasha’s past. So “Black Widow” becomes about redemption and second chances, Chapek says, when she learns of ongoing subjugation and knows she must fight to free others. For most of her cinematic life, Black Widow has run in the company of other heroes. To create her film’s evolving Natasha, Shortland had to isolate her fighter. “My greatest joy, actually, was starting the film where we just saw her by herself, because we can see her without any artifice,” the director says. “And then we build her up and she becomes Black Widow, the icon.”
D12 | Preview Houston | July 9-15, 2021 | PreviewHouston.com
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HBO’S ‘THE WHITE LOTUS’ GROWS ON YOU — SORT OF B Y M I C K L ASA L L E | STA F F W R I T E R
“The White Lotus” is a fairly entertaining new miniseries from HBO Max (starting July 11), with a terrific cast and lots of standout moments. One thing holds it back: It’s a social satire that might have been better as a dark, absurdist comedy. The difference is subtle, but it’s enough to be significant. An absurdist comedy doesn’t have to mean anything. It’s lack of meaning is, in a sense, the whole point. But a social satire has, almost as its purpose, an instructive function. When “White Lotus” strives for a social meaning, the writing strains and the story becomes forced. The series loses its mad, creative streak and becomes self-conscious and dutiful — and a real downer. So basically, we have here the case of a six-hour journey that’s just fine along the way, but that, once the destination is reached, makes you wonder why you took the trip. Expect to enjoy it thoroughly — and then to wonder why you watched it. “The White Lotus” takes place at a high-end resort in Hawaii, a place where everyone you see is rich, aside from the staff. Alexandra Daddario plays Rachel, newly married to the wealthy Shane, played by Jake Lacy, who has an interesting look — undeniably handsome, and yet with a
“THE WHITE LOTUS” When: Begins streaming July 11 Network: HBO Max H H H ½ (out of 5)
A L E X A N D R A DA D DA R I O A N D J A K E L ACY S TA R I N “ T H E W H I T E L O T U S . ”
Warner Media
face you just want to punch. Shane gets into an immediate feud with the hotel manager, beautifully played by Murray Barlett, whose façade of interest and concern for his guests seems unbreakable, until it breaks. The show’s best creation is that of Tanya, who arrives in Hawaii an emotional mess, carrying a metal box containing the ashes of her
mother, which she plans to scatter in the ocean. Jennifer Coolidge’s performance as Tanya is so full of subtle inspiration that you may be tempted to watch her scenes twice. There are lots of odd little touches, such as when she’s talking to someone across a doorway. The conversation ends, and as she’s shutting the door, she takes a second, extra glimpse at the
person on the other side. It’s funny and idiosyncratic, but it’s also a moment of character. Coolidge combines real pain with laugh-out-loud comedy in the scene where she’s about to spread her mother’s ashes. She starts off praising her mother, but then derails into a hysterical (in both sense of the word) description of her mother’s cruelty. It’s a
wonderful thing to see an actor be both extreme and true at the same time. Show creator and writer Mike White understands something essential about the fabulously wealthy: Money doesn’t exactly make them happy. What really makes them happy is knowing that you wish you had their money. So they flirt with money, and they make you aware of their money, and sometimes even make you think you might get some, even as they pretend to be beyond money, to not be thinking about money at all. “White Lotus” is at its best when this power dynamic is made implicit in the interactions, with no extra pushing involved. “White Lotus” loses something in the last episode when, in an effort to bring elements together, it goes in search of a message and finds one, just in time for the finish. The experience ends up feeling sad and pedestrian, when it could have finished wild and senseless. Still, for five of six hours, it’s hard to argue with the experience.
mlasalle@sfchronicle.com
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NEW FILMS BY CARY DARLING STA F F W R I T E R
Here are some of the new films being released in theaters or for streaming, broadcast, rental or purchase this week. “Black Widow” The long-awaited “Avengers” spinoff focusing on Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, delivers the Marvel excess while also being a captivating story about a woman coming to terms with her past. Rated PG-13. Opens July 9 throughout Houston; begins streaming July 9 on Disney+ Premier Access. “Dachra” It’s not every day that a movie from Tunisia gets released in the U.S., but this horror film, about a group of journalism students investigating what’s going on in a strange town, has generated buzz among horror fans. Unrated. Begins streaming July 9 on various platforms.
“ P R I O R I T I ES C H A PT E R O N E : M O N E Y I S N ’ T E V E RY T H I N G ” I S S E T I N H OUSTO N . NBF Film Production
His film argues the case that the state killed an innocent man. Unrated. Streaming on iTunes, Apple TV and Amazon Prime. “Priorities Chapter One: Money Isn’t Everything” Director Felton Young’s Houston-shot drama features four stories about divorced or separated parents dealing with issues of child support. It was filmed all over the Houston area, from Hermann Park to Katy and many places in between. Unrated. Streaming on Amazon Prime Video and iTunes.
“Fear Street Part 2: 1978” The second installment in the “Fear Street” series, inspired by R.L. Stine’s “Fear Street” series of books, is set during the summer in a small town where one of the residents becomes a killer. Rated R. Begins streaming July 9 on Netflix. “The Guide to the Perfect Family” French-Canadian drama that focuses on a Quebec family feeling the pressure of raising children in an era of social media. Unrated. Begins streaming July 14 on Netflix. “Gunpowder Milkshake” What happens when a motherdaughter assassin team, played
Dekanalog
Tunisian horror film “Dachra” is generating buzz among horror fans. by Lena Headey and Karen Gillan, goes up against another squad of killers, played by Angela Bassett, Michelle Yeoh and Carla Gugino? Well, the words “John Wick” have been used to describe this film. Rated R. Begins streaming July
14 on Netflix. “How I Became a Superhero” French-language adventurecomedy about a time when superheroes have become a part of French society, but a new drug comes along that can turn anyone into a superhero.
Unrated. Begins streaming July 9 on Netflix. “The Phantom” Patrick Forbes’ documentary looks into the case of Carlos DeLuna, a man arrested in 1993 in Corpus Christi and executed for the murder of Wanda Lopez.
“The Story of a Three-Day Pass” This 1968 film, directed by Mario Van Peebles, tells the story of an African American soldier demoted because he was hanging out with a white woman while in France. Unrated. Begins streaming July 9 at mfah.org/virtualcinema.
cary.darling@chron.com
D14 | Preview Houston | July 9-15, 2021 | PreviewHouston.com
WORD SLEUTH
JUMBLE
Find the listed words in the diagram. They run in all directions — forward, backward, up, down and diagonally. ©2021 King Features Syndicate Inc.
Thursday’s unlisted clue: NOVAK. Friday’s unlisted clue hint: A SMALL STONE.
U.S. GOLD MINES
Calhoun Congress Consolidated Cortez Crisson Donlin Free Jim Homestake Kennedy Loud North Star Red Hill Reed Sixes Vulture
SUDOKU
CRYPTOQUIP
Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3 box contains the numbers 1 to 9. ©2021 King Features Syndicate, Inc.
The Cryptoquip is a substitution cipher in which one letter stands for another. If you think that X equals O, it will equal O throughout the puzzle. Single letters, short words and words using an apostrophe give you clues to locating vowels. Solution is by trial and error. ©2021 King Features Syndicate, Inc.
YESTERDAY’S ANSWERS
ACROSS 1 Motel arrival? 6 Amazed 11 One of three in the opening scene of “Macbeth” 14 The Jetsons’ boy 15 Saw 16 Radio host Shapiro 17 Clear for better viewing 18 River to the Caspian Sea 19 Zip 20 Longing at a dull lecture? (N.Y., Atlanta) 23 How J.Lo performs 26 Where flight attendants often work 27 Declines to 28 Gated water channel 31 Humpty Dumptyshaped 32 Talented meteorologists? (Seattle, Las Vegas) 35 WC 36 “Rappa Ternt Sanga” artist 37 Granola morsel 38 Lightning? (Chicago, L.A.) 41 Clerical home 43 “See you later” 44 Hair-coloring style 45 __ double
47 Popular cider apple 48 Feature of a Roman god’s boots? (Phoenix, Dallas) 52 Plus 53 Interminably 54 Mario’s brother 58 Employ 59 “How about that!” 60 Pillow stuffing 61 __-Z 62 “The Gold-Bug” name 63 Took badly? DOWN 1 Great American Ball Park player 2 Fútbol cheer 3 Canine alert 4 Most suave 5 Keep-it-clean routine 6 Ripple-patterned hairstyle 7 Compost emanation 8 Mickey’s maker 9 Like quiche 10 Something taken by an archer 11 What hungry diners often do 12 If you don’t like it, you can go to Helvetica 13 Tot’s “Mine!”
21 Three-ingredient sammie 22 Costa __ 23 Beloved stars 24 Tennis ace Djokovic 25 Considerable load 28 Investment 29 Two-time Newbery Medal winner Lowry 30 Buffet server 32 Nimble 33 GPA booster 34 Expensive 36 Generous pickup 39 Bring together 40 Hanging basket bloomer 41 Associates (with) 42 Jungle film costume 44 Cacophony 45 “The Hobbit” dragon 46 Not cool at all 47 Expand 49 Sushi prep verb 50 Shout 51 Org. that includes each part of four puzzle answers 55 Promising words 56 Dab that’ll do your do 57 Dander
ANSWER: After he saw my tabby walk off with my ice-grabbing utensil, he asked “Cat got your tongs?”
©2021 Conceptis Puzzles, Dist. by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
DAILY CROSSWORD
WIMBLEDON GENTLEMEN’S SINGLES CHAMPIONS
By Kevin Christian and Tracy Bennett
©2021 Tribune Content Agency
7/9/21
PreviewHouston.com | July 9-15, 2021 |
What to watch
‘Black Widow’
FRIDAY
Secret Celebrity Renovation
July 9, 2021
All times Central. Start times can vary based on cable/satellite provider. Confirm times on your on-screen guide.
Luxe Listings Sydney
Amazon Prime Video New Series This unscripted series follows three elite agents as they negotiate multimilliondollar deals in one of the most competitive real estate markets in the world: Sydney. These agents are among the best, and they showcase some of the most breathtaking homes in the exclusive Sydney property market, complete with stunning harbor views, iconic beachfront backdrops and unrivaled grandeur. The series will follow the agents’ intense professional operations and their extraordinary personal lives.
Black Widow
Disney+ Feature Film Exclusive This title requires Disney+ with Premier Access (a cost of $29.99 in addition to standard Disney+ subscription) Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe begins with this film, which has Scarlett Johansson returning as the title character, aka Natasha Romanoff. The movie, which is also available in theaters starting today, takes place after Captain America: Civil War and before Avengers: Infinity War. Romanoff lost her life in the battle to defeat Thanos in Avengers: Endgame, resulting in this film focusing on the history of her character.
Leverage: Redemption: Part 1
IMDb TV New Series In this revival of the 2008-12 TNT action/crime drama, the Leverage crew have watched as the rich and powerful continue to take what they want without consequence. Grifter Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman), thief Parker (Beth Riesgraf), hitter Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane) and hacker Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge) have watched the world change over the past eight years. Since their last job, it’s become easier — and sometimes legal — for the rich
town of Sunnyvale and the campers and maintenance staffers from the downtrodden town of Shadyside. But when horrors from their towns’ shared history come alive, they must band together to solve a terrifying mystery before it’s too late.
JAY MAIDMENT, MARVEL STUDIOS
to become richer and the powerful to squash anyone who gets in their way.
Fear Street Part Two: 1978 Netflix Feature Film Exclusive This second installment of a trilogy of teen horror films based on R.L. Stine’s Fear Street book series is set in 1978, at Camp Nightwing. The camp is divided by the campers and counselors who hail from the prosperous
CBS, 7 p.m. New Series This new one-hour series gives celebrities in sports, music and entertainment the chance to gift a surprise home renovation to a meaningful person who helped guide them to success. Some of those participating in making these heartfelt gifts include Paula Abdul, Wayne Brady, Boomer Esiason, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Survivor winner “Boston” Rob Mariano, NBA All-Star Chris Paul, Pro Football Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith and more. The series also features the design team of home-improvement contractor and television personality Jason Cameron and interior designer Sabrina Soto.
CATCH A CLASSIC Friday Night Neo-Noir
TCM, beginning at 7 p.m. Tonight’s lineup of film noir titles not made in the genre’s heyday of the 1940s and ’50s, but in the ensuing decades, features three classics from the 1970s. First up is Get Carter (pictured) (1971), the influential British crime film that inspired similar gangster films from across the pond that would follow. Michael Caine stars in one of his most famous roles, as the titular character Jack Carter, a small-time London gangster who returns to his hometown in Northeast England to seek the truth behind his brother’s supposedly accidental death. Suspecting foul play, Carter eventually embarks on a mission of vengeance as he delves deeper into the small town’s hardened criminal element. Next, Robert Mitchum — no stranger to film noir, having starred in earlier classics like 1947’s Out of the Past — headlines Peter Yates’ 1973 neonoir The Friends of Eddie Coyle. Mitchum plays the titular character, a small-time member of the Irish mob in Boston. Tonight’s lineup concludes with what is likely the most famous, and probably the best, neo-noir of the past half-century: Chinatown (1974). Set in the late 1930s, the Best Picture Oscar-
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ACES ON BRIDGE By Bobby Wolff
In today’s Moysian example, declarer can counter a defensive force by turning his mind to a dummy reversal. Five diamonds might struggle on a trump lead, but four hearts also requires a fair amount of work. How should South play on repeated top spade leads? There is no point in pitching at trick two; declarer would still have a club to lose, and he could emerge with a trump loser against a 4-2 break as well, so he cannot afford to lose two spade tricks. South ruffs, then draws two rounds of trumps with the king and ace. Before drawing a third round of trumps, South ruffs a second spade in hand. Now a diamond to the king is followed by the trump queen, West throwing a spade. East has a trump trick now, but the bidding suggests that he will have no spades to play when he obtains the lead. Declarer can also place the club king to his right, given West’s original pass. Thus, rather than trying to establish club tricks himself, which would require East to hold the club jack, declarer simply plays on diamonds. What can East do? LEAD WITH THE ACES
MGM
nominated movie is both a superb homage to films noir past and a stylishly presented, gripping mystery in its own right, with an Oscar-winning screenplay by Robert Towne. Best Actor Oscar nominee Jack Nicholson stars as private eye J.J. “Jake” Gittes, who, after being hired — in what turns out to be a setup — by a woman claiming to be named Evelyn Mulwray (Best Actress Oscar nominee Faye Dunaway), stumbles further into a conspiracy of political and business corruption and sordid family dynamics. John Huston, who directed iconic films noir of his own like The Maltese Falcon back in the day, costars here in what should have been an Oscar-nominated performance as the odious Noah Cross, one of the screen’s slimiest villains. Everything about Chinatown — from its complex plot to its shadowy style to its famous, bleak final line (“Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.”) — really captures the essence of noir. — Jeff Pfeiffer
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If East ruffs at any stage, he will have to lead a club away from the king and concede the 10th trick. If East declines to ruff a diamond, South will score just one club trick, but four diamonds, again bringing him to a total of 10. In essence, declarer turns the spade force to his advantage to score two ruffs in the long hand. That extracts East’s exit cards in spades, leaving him ripe for the throw-in.
ANSWER: There is no perfect call here. A bid of two diamonds would tend to suggest five cards, while a bid of two spades would advertise club support, and a leap to three no-trump would be overly committal with only a partial spade stopper. You could double, intending to cue-bid spades later, but partner might not work out your cunning plan. I would bid diamonds and plan a cue-bid next.
©2021 Dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication for UFS
LOOKING BACK
BIRTHDAYS
1937: a fire at 20th Century Fox’s film storage facility in Little Ferry, New Jersey, destroyed most of the studio’s silent films. 1943: during World War II, the Allies launched Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily. 1944: during World War II, American forces secured Saipan as the last Japanese defenses fell. 1992: Democrat Bill Clinton tapped Tennessee Sen. Al Gore to be his running mate
Today’s Birthdays: Actorsinger Ed Ames is 94. Actor Richard Roundtree is 79. Football Hall of Famer O.J. Simpson is 74. R&B singer Debbie Sledge (Sister Sledge) is 67. Actor Tom Hanks is 65. Actor-rock singer Courtney Love is 57. Musician/producer Jack White is 46. Rock musician Dan Estrin (Hoobastank) is 45. Actor-director Fred Savage is 45. R&B singer Kiely Williams (3lw) is 35. Actor Mitchel Musso is 30.
D16 | Preview Houston | July 9-15, 2021 | PreviewHouston.com
DEAR ABBY Dear Abby: I am afraid for my daughter. She has been married less than a year to a very controlling man. He doesn’t ASK her to do anything, he DEMANDS that she do what ABBY he wants. She cannot go out to eat or to a movie or anyplace like that unless he is with her. She works a 40-hour-a-week job, and in addition she must do all the work inside the house plus mow the lawn while he plays games on his computer. Don’t you have a list of things to look for to tell someone when it is time to get out while the getting is good? — Very Worried Mother Dear Mother: I certainly do, and you have a right to be worried. It has been a while since I shared this important information about abusive behaviors. Read on: (1) PUSHES FOR QUICK INVOLVEMENT: Comes on strong, claiming, “I’ve never felt loved like this by anyone.” An abuser pressures the new partner for an exclusive commitment almost immediately. (2) JEALOUS: Excessively possessive; calls constantly or visits unexpectedly; prevents you from going to work because “you might meet someone”; checks the mileage on your car. (3) CONTROLLING: If you are late, interrogates you intensively about whom
ARGYLE SWEATER you talked to and where you were; keeps all the money; insists you ask permission to go anywhere or do anything. (4) UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS: Expects you to be the perfect mate and meet his or her every need. (5) ISOLATION: Tries to isolate you from family and friends; accuses people who are your supporters of “causing trouble.” The abuser may deprive you of a phone or car, or try to prevent you from holding a job. (6) BLAMES OTHERS FOR PROBLEMS OR MISTAKES: It’s always someone else’s fault if something goes wrong. (7) MAKES OTHERS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS OR HER FEELINGS: The abuser says, “You make me angry” instead of “I am angry,” or says, “You’re hurting me by not doing what I tell you.” (8) HYPERSENSITIVITY: Is easily insulted, claiming hurt feelings when he or she is really mad. (9) CRUELTY TO ANIMALS OR CHILDREN: Kills or punishes animals brutally. Also may expect children to do things that are far beyond their ability (whips a 3-year-old for wetting a diaper) or may tease them until they cry. Sixtyfive percent of abusers who beat their partners will also abuse children. Readers, ANYONE at risk of spousal or partner abuse should contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or thehotline.org. www.DearAbby.com Andrews McMeel Syndication
HINTS FROM HELOISE Dear Heloise: We recently had a fire at home, which started with our dryer. The fire department came in a flash and contained the fire, so the damage to our home was minimal. However, the fire- HELOISE men gave me a list of things to look out for to prevent home fires caused by a dryer, and I’d like to share them with your readers. 1. Always clean out the lint trap after each use. Never dry clothes without a lint trap. 2. Make sure that the dryer vent hose is properly connected and not bent or restricted in any way.
3. Never plug your dryer into any outlet that is not suitable for the dryer. 4. Always have a fire extinguisher on hand. — Alison M., Jackson Hole, Wyoming Dear Heloise: I had a couple of old socks that I hated to toss out, so I use them by slipping them over a fly swatter, and I use them to clean under my dishwasher, refrigerator and the heavy dresser in my bedroom. Then I just remove the sock and throw it in the wash. — Grace H., Fayetteville, North Carolina Heloise@heloise.com King Features Syndicate
HOCUS FOCUS
ROYAL STARS Your Horoscope for Friday, July 9 MOON ALERT: There are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions today. The Moon is in Cancer. ARIES (March 21-April 19) HHH Today the New Moon in Cancer is your perfect opportunity to think about what new changes you want to introduce that can affect home and family. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) HHHH The New Moon today occurs in your House of Communications, which is your chance to think of how you can improve your daily communications with others. GEMINI (May 21-June 20) HHH Today’s New Moon is in one of your Money houses, which means it’s the perfect chance to think about how you can do a better job of taking care of your possessions. CANCER ( June 21-July 22) HHHH It’s an excellent opportunity for you to take a serious look in the mirror and ask yourself what you can do to improve the impression you create on your world. Ideas? LEO ( July 23-Aug. 22) HHH Each month we have a New Moon that is an opportunity to change our ways or start new habits that are more beneficial to us. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) HHH This is the only New Moon all year taking place in your House of Friendships. This means today is your best opportunity of the year to think about how you can improve your friendships.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) HHH The New Moon today takes place at the top of your chart, which offers you a chance to think about how to improve your relations with authority figures. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) HHHH What can you do to improve your education or to get further training? Furthermore, what travel might you do that will enrich your life? These are the questions that today’s New Moon offers you. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) HHH Each New Moon is in a different sign, and each month it occurs in a different part of your chart. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) HHH What can you do to improve your closest relationships? Today’s New Moon is your chance — the best in the entire year — to think about how to do this. AQUARIUS ( Jan. 20-Feb. 18) HHH What can you do to improve your health? Today’s New Moon is your chance to think about this. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) HHHH It’s important to balance work and play. Today’s New Moon urges you to socialize and get in touch with your playful, creative side. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ( July 9) You are enthusiastic, easygoing and hardworking. Success is important to you. You are also family-oriented. You are open-minded, compassionate and always willing to help. King Features Syndicate
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MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM
BEETLE BAILEY
HAGAR THE HORRIBLE
CURTIS
BREWSTER ROCKIT: SPACE GUY!
B.C.
GARFIELD
REX MORGAN, M.D.
SHERMAN’S LAGOON
PHANTOM
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| D17
D18 | Preview Houston | July 9-15, 2021 | PreviewHouston.com FAMILY CIRCUS
ZIGGY
ZITS
WALLACE THE BRAVE
MUTTS
PEARLS BEFORE SWINE
RHYMES WITH ORANGE
DILBERT F MINUS
PEANUTS
BABY BLUES
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BIZARRO
BLONDIE
HEART OF THE CITY
CRANKSHAFT
HI & LOIS
FUNKY WINKERBEAN
BALDO
LUANN
SALLY FORTH
RED & ROVER
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D20 | Preview Houston | July 9-15, 2021 | PreviewHouston.com