Sugar Land man charged in area shooting - Page 2
Tickets are now on sale for the Sugar Land Skeeters' Constellation Energy League at Constellation Field. Read the story inside today's paper on Page 2.
WEDNESDAY • JUNE 24, 2020
Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 44 • No. 96
Visit www.FortBendStar.com
Requests for mail-in ballots spiking ahead of elections By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
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Fort Bend County elections administrators say mail-in voting applications are soaring due to concerns over COVID-19 as the pandemic continues to impact the area. However, at least one of the candidates in the county’s headlining runoff next month is against the expansion
Nehls
of the practice, adding an intriguing layer to
Wall
the July 14 election as early voting begins next
ing to see who faces Democrat Sri Preston Kulkarni in November’s general election, which will decide who replaces Republican Pete Olson in District 22. Whether all Texas citizens should be allowed to vote by mail in July, and in November for the general election, has been a hotly contested debate between Demo-
week. Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls, who is vying for a local seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, said he believes an increase in mail-in voting could facilitate voter fraud. He is facing fellow Republican Kathaleen Wall in the runoff from the March 3 primary, which was delayed by two months because of the pandemic. They are compet-
SEE ELECTIONS PAGE 4
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County Judge solicits feedback from community on face coverings By Landan Kuhlmann
An employee at H-E-B's newest Richmond location checks an item before adding it to the inventory Monday morning in preparation for the grocery store's opening on Wednesday at 9211 FM 723. (Photo by Landan Kuhlmann)
H-E-B adapting as new Richmond store opens amidst pandemic By Landan Kuhlmann
LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Fort Bend County Judge KP George launched an online survey Monday to solicit input from residents about wearing masks in public spaces, among other measures the county is considering that could help slow the spread of COVID-19. County health officials had reported 3,069 cases of COVID-19 among residents as of Monday. The contagious disease caused by the new strain of coronavirus has caused 50 deaths, while 1,150 have recovered from the disease. Among questions in-
COVID-19 has been a thorn in the side of many businesses and residents as it’s made its presence felt in Fort Bend County. And though the area’s newest grocery option was not exempt from the effects of the ongoing pandemic, it is moving forward nonetheless. H-E-B’s newest Houston-area store, Spring Green Market at 9211 FM 723 in Richmond, opened to the public at 7 a.m. Wednesday.
SEE COVERINGS PAGE 8
George
Store manager Trevor Spradlin said the opening was initially planned for May but was delayed due to the spread of COVID-19, the upper-respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus strain. The 100,000-square-foot store is H-E-B’s seventh location within The Star’s coverage area and its first Houston-area location to open since the onset of the pandemic earlier this year. “To open a store not knowing whether you would have everything your customers are looking for wouldn’t make a
Shown here is the front of H-E-B's new Spring Green Market in Richmond. (Photo by Landan Kuhlmann)
lot of sense (at that point), but we’re really comfortable now from a supply chain standpoint,” Sprad-
lin said. “We’ll open with all the things customers are looking for, so that’s exciting. We’re fairly
comfortable with the level of precaution that we have in place.” Though it remains largely uniform when compared to other stores in the area, Spradlin said the Spring Green H-E-B has one major merchandising distinction as a store that could foresee months ago it would open during the era of COVID-19: It was able to put in orders for hundreds of bottles of hand sanitizer, cleaning wipes and disinfectant solution that will
SEE H-E-B PAGE 7
Elkins student nominated for medical congress By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Ivan Tong’s cousin, Leon, is now in his mid-20s and preparing to graduate from engineering school. Just a few short years ago, however, the family wasn’t sure Leon would have such a future due to an accidental drug overdose. “We’re lucky (my cousin) is alive,” Tong said. Recently nominated as a delegate to the prestigious Congress of Future Medical Leaders, Tong
began pursuing the medical field in honor of his cousin, who is now 25 and living in Houston. “Pursuing the medical industry would be such an honor for me as I can not only help others but can also work with people who share my same interests in science and medicine,” he said. A Sugar Land resident and a soon-to-be junior at Elkins High School, Tong is not your typical 16-year-old. And that’s the way he wants it. He’s using the memory of a harrowing
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experience as the driving force behind an educational journey meant to ensure other families don’t face the same fright. Tong’s mission stems largely from one night about four years ago, when his cousin had gone out to a party. Tong said he initially overheard his parents discussing Leon’s admission to the hospital one night while he was in seventh grade. SEE CONGRESS PAGE 8
Elkins High School student Ivan Tong (left), with principal Deidra Lyons-Lewis, was nominated to be the Texas delegate to the Congress of Future Medical Leaders. (Contributed photo)
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