PARTING
WAYS
Smith: Easterby firing
can only help Texans.  in the 2019 slaying of Sandeep Dhaliwal.
PAGE C1
HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM
A new model for community colleges
Panel proposes overhaul of funding
system for Legislature to consider
By Samantha Ketterer
STA F F  W R I T E R
A proposal  to  overhaul
the state funding model of
Texas’ community colleges
would bring millions of ad­
ditional  dollars  to  Hous­
ton­area districts, marking
Black voters seen as key  has St. Luke’s
to victory for O’Rourke
Beto O’Rourke was helped by voters near Tidwell Center in his 2018 race, and he hopes to replicate that support.
Candidate listens to concerns, hoping to boost turnout at polls
By Jeremy Wallace
AUST I N  B U R E AU
Beto  O’Rourke  is  almost  cer­
tain to lose the governor’s race if
he can’t figure out how to moti­
vate  voters  in  Houston’s  Black
communities  who  were  essen­
tial  in  flipping  Harris  County
blue up and down the ballot four
years ago.  who  represents  Super  Neigh­
And he knows it.
That’s what put O’Rourke on
the  phone  with  Fred  Woods
weeks ago. Woods, a representa­
tive for one of the Super Neigh­
borhoods in northeast Houston,
was  direct  with  O’Rourke,  tell­
Amid pushback, Hidalgo insists she’s not done yet in county
By Jasper Scherer
STA F F  W R I T E R
After  filing  to  run  for
county  judge  in  late  2017,
Lina  Hidalgo  set  up  her
shoestring campaign oper­
ation  above  a  popular
brunch  joint  in  Montrose,
ready to plot out her strate­
gy  against  Republican  in­
cumbent Ed Emmett.
The building owner, ap­
parently unaware an assis­
tant had leased office space
to  Emmett’s  challenger,
Business ......B1 Crossword .D3
Comics .......D4 Directory ....A2
HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: VISIT NOW FOR BREAKING NEWS, CONSTANTLY UPDATED STORIES, SPORTS COVERAGE, PODCASTS AND A SEARCHABLE NEWS ARCHIVE.
the end of a system that has
for  decades  relied  most
heavily  on  taxpayers  to
bankroll the institutions.
Several  local  education­
al  leaders  said  they  sup­
port  the  recommenda­
tions,  which  the  Texas
Commission  on  Commu­
ELECTION 2022
O’Rourke answers a question at the Black
Texans for Beto town hall Oct. 9 in Houston.
proceeded to kick Hidalgo
out.
“He  sat  me  down  and
said,  do  you  realize  who
you’re  running  against?”
Hidalgo  said.  “He  said  he
was basically scared of get­
ting  on  Ed  Emmett’s  bad
side. And I saw a lot of that
kind of stuff. I had to deal
with a lot of nastiness.”
The  incident  offered  a
preview  of  the  resistance
Hidalgo  would  face  upon
entering the smash­mouth
world  of  Harris  County
Editorials....A7 Markets ......B3
Horoscope D4 Nation.........A4
QUICK VERDICT IN
DEPUTY’S KILLING
Robert Solis is convicted of capital murder
PAGE A3
• TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022
nity  College  Finance  is
scheduled to finalize Tues­
day  for  consideration  in
the  next  Legislative  ses­
sion.  While  the  existing
setup  forces  colleges  to
compete  for  a  set  amount
of  money,  this  new  model
would  allow  schools  to
stand  alone  and  receive
funds that reward student
success.
“The  old  model  was
County Judge Lina Hidalgo takes a photo with a
mother­daughter duo of supporters at a recent rally.
Obituaries .B6 TV..................D3
Sports...........C1 Weather......B8
• VOL. 122,  NO. 1
based  on  growth.  That’s
not  a  long­term  solution
for  community  colleges,”
said  Stephen  Head,  chan­
cellor of Lone Star College
and  head  of  the  commis­
sion’s  work  group  on  col­
lege operations. “For years
I’ve  been  advocating  that
the model be based on out­
comes or performance.”
The  proposed  model
does  not  currently  project
Photos by Yi­Chin Lee/Staff photographer
ing him he needs to do more to
show he’s listening to the neigh­
borhoods that often feel forgot­
ten.
“We’ve never had a governor;
we’ve never had a gubernatorial
candidate come to our area, and
so that tells me what they think
about us when they don’t come
and  listen  to  us,”  said  Woods,
borhood 47 in East Little York/
Homestead.
Woods said state leaders need
to see the retired teachers strug­
gling  to  get  by  in  his  neighbor­
hood,  the  health  issues  in  the  pital  operations,  who  spoke  to  the  Houston
O’Rourke continues on A8
Yi­Chin Lee/Staff photographer
TWITTER: @HoustonChron
LINKEDIN: Houston­Chronicle
GRIM
TIMES
More senior Amer­
icans facing poverty. 
PAGE B1
• $2.00
what  each  institution
would  gain,  although  the
landscape and account for
smaller  colleges’  often
total amount it would cost shrinking tax bases. 
the  state  could  be  above “We  have  an  urgent
$600  million,  said  state need  for  a  well­trained
Sen. Larry Taylor, who sits workforce,”  the  Friends­
on  the  commission.  He wood  Republican  said.
said  he’s  optimistic  other “We have a lot of job open­
lawmakers will sign on, re­ ings that we can’t fill.” 
placing a model that insti­ Business  leaders  in
tutional  leaders  say  has Houston  and  across  the
failed to both keep up with state  agree.  They  contend 
the  changing  educational Colleges continues on A2
System snarl
dealing with
online woes 
Ransomware attack shuts
records in ‘internal disaster’
By Julian Gill
STA F F  W R I T E R
A cyberattack  against  a  major  U.S.  non­
profit health system has snarled patient ser­
vices for two weeks at six St. Luke’s Health
hospitals  in  Houston,  where  online  records
systems  have  been  shut  down  and  doctors
have  resorted  to  cumbersome  backup  op­
tions. 
CommonSpirit Health, which operates St.
Luke’s Health among more than 130 hospitals
across the country, on Oct. 3 reported an IT
security incident that caused widespread dis­
ruption  for  its  providers.  Last  week,  Com­
monSpirit revealed the source of the disrup­
tion  was  ransomware,  a  type  of  malicious
software designed to block user access until a
payment is made. The health system had not
resolved the issue as of Sunday. 
Meanwhile,  six  St.  Luke’s  hospitals  in
Greater Houston, including the Texas Medi­
cal  Center  location,  had  to  shut  down  their
primary  record­keeping  system,  triggering
an “internal disaster” — an official status that
allows regional dispatch centers to divert am­
“Patients continue to receive
the  highest  quality  of  care.”
Statement from CommonSpirit Health, 
which operates St. Luke’s Health hospitals
bulance traffic to other emergency rooms. St.
Luke’s continues to accept patients who need
emergency care, but transfers to the affected
hospitals have been limited, doctors say. Ten
other St. Luke’s hospitals in Texas are not af­
fected. 
Some  non­emergent  appointments  have
been  rescheduled.  Patients  cannot  access
MyChart, an online tool used to access medi­
cal records. Physicians are using paper to or­
der  imaging,  lab  tests,  and  medications,  ac­
cording to two physicians familiar with hos­
Chronicle on the condition of anonymity. The
St. Luke’s continues on A2
politics,  even  from  fellow newcomer  like  her  off  the
Democrats who dismissed bat.  It  was  like,  ‘Who  are
her campaign as a quixotic you,  and  what  do  you
long shot against a popular think  you’re  doing?’”  said
moderate.  Her  surprise Glenn  Smith,  a  veteran
2018 victory then was met Democratic strategist who
with  widespread  doubt has  served  as  an  informal
that a 27­year­old graduate mentor  to  Hidalgo  since
student  with  no  formal her  first  campaign.  “She
management  experience didn’t let any of that deter
could  handle  the  high­ her.”
stakes  chief  executive  role Four  years  later,  Hidal­
of the third most populous go’s conservative critics are
county in the country. less  concerned  about  her
“The  political  culture inexperience than the pro­
wasn’t  welcoming  to  a Hidalgo continues on A8
INSTAGRAM: HoustonChron
FACEBOOK: @HoustonChronicle
A2 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022 HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

City Editor Lily Thomas: Lily.Thomas@houstonchronicle.com • 713-362-6426

ONLINE

VOTER LAST NAMES

As Harris County prepares for the upcoming midterm election, see the most
popular last names of people who voted in 2020. Can you find your last name?
HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM/VOTERLASTNAMES

MONTGOMERY COUNTY
COLLEGES HUMBLE

3 children, parents From page A1 Records: Missing

critically injured
in crash on I-69
A family of five was hos-
pitalized in critical condi-
tion after a Sunday night
crash on Interstate 69, offi-
cials said.
The family, in a Honda
Accord, traveled through
the intersection at Grand
Parkway and the I-69
northbound feeder when
they were hit by a Chev-
rolet that ran a red light,
according to the Mont-
gomery County Police Re-
porter.
The Chevrolet’s driver
and passenger suffered
minor injuries, the website
reported.
After the collision, the
Honda ran into a traffic
signal support pole, rico-
cheting into a guardrail on
the opposite side of the
intersection, officials said.
The children in the fami-
ly’s car were 4, 8 and 14.
The ages of the parents
were not immediately avail-
able.
NORTH HOUSTON
2 men in critical
condition after
gunfight in park
Two men were in critical
condition after a shootout
in a north Houston park
Sunday night, police said.
A man and his girlfriend
were sitting in Stuebner
Airline Park when they
were approached by three
men in an SUV. The men
exited the SUV and con-
fronted the couple. A gun-
fight ensued, Houston po-
lice officials told OnScene
TV.
One person from each
group was shot.
It did not appear mem-
bers of the two groups
knew one another, officials
said.
Houston police received
a call at 10:44 p.m. regard-
ing the shooting and found
the man and his girlfriend
at a gas station at 1406 W.
Gulf Bank Road. The man
had been shot.
The SUV pulled up to
the same gas station while
officers were there and
asked for help. One of the
men in that vehicle had
also been shot, officials
said.
Two people believed to
be the shooters were de-
tained, officials said.
that putting the onus on student
success — instead of the number
of students served — will incen-
tivize schools to produce results
that trickle into local economies.
“We’re in a place where the re-
gional workforce is rapidly
changing,” said Taylor Landin,
senior vice president and chief
policy officer at the Greater
Houston Partnership. “The im-
plementation of these recom-
mendations would definitely
strengthen regional institu-
tions.”
The old way
Community colleges are fund-
ed by three sources: property
taxes, student tuition and fees,
and state dollars. While the
state’s contribution used to make
up the bulk of community colleg-
es’ funding, college presidents
say the model doesn’t recognize
newer educational approaches.
At Lee College in Baytown, the
state provided 65 percent of
funding in the mid-1980s, Presi-
dent Lynda Villanueva said. To-
day, the state’s contributions
make up just 17 percent, even less
than the state average of 25 per-
cent for all community colleges.
“It really has shifted and hurt
community colleges to a great de-
gree,” she said.
Besides traditional associates
degrees, community colleges
now are providing dual credit
courses for high school students
and workforce training pro-
grams that sometimes partner
with local businesses. Cesar
Maldonado, chancellor of the
Houston Community College
System, said a change is neces-
sary to bolster those programs —
which the colleges have lately
had to fund themselves through
taxpayer dollars and tuition.
“We want to service high-de-
mand jobs, but the funding for
that is shoehorned into a formula
that is antiquated,” he said.
The current formula for state
funding gives the largest amount
to schools based on their relative
share of contact hours with stu-
dents — in short, the more cours-
es students take, the more money
that school gets from the state. A
smaller percentage of funds are
allocated through success-based
measures, as well as a flat
amount for core operations.
Bigger districts in urban areas
benefit the most from the current
system. Their enrollment causes
them to take the largest piece of
the pie, and they also have higher
tax bases to bolster spending.
The smaller community colleges,
usually in rural locales, get less
from the state but rely more on
their base.
Community colleges are funded by three sources: property
taxes, student tuition and fees, and state dollars.
Many of the smallest colleges
are also in counties that are los-
ing population, according to
Head.
And even for smaller colleges
where the tax base isn’t dimin-
ishing, obtaining enough money
from the state is difficult, Alvin
Community College President
Robert Exley said.
“A college like Alvin could
grow significantly, but our part-
ners around us are bigger,” he
said. “We could literally end up
losing money.”
The proposal
Administrators at Houston
Community College, Lone Star
College and San Jacinto College
said they agree that the system
has to change, especially to sus-
tain the smallest districts. Both
small and large colleges likely
would benefit under the new
proposal, they said.
“As a state, the community col-
leges have been really focused
around success and completion,”
said Brenda Hellyer, chancellor
of San Jacinto College. “This is all
about making sure we continue
to be successful.”
The model would be out-
comes-based, with the state read-
justing the amount it gives to
community colleges each year. It
would measure the colleges’ indi-
vidual number of awarded “cre-
dentials of value,” which isn’t
limited to degrees and extends to
non-credit programs such as
workforce training. It would ad-
ditionally award money based
on the number of those creden-
tials awarded in high-demand
fields, and transfers to four-year
universities.
Community college leaders in-
tend for the model to be incen-
tive-based, offering more money
for degree completions and
transfers of economically or edu-
cationally disadvantaged stu-
dents; completion of dual credit
courses; and possibly progress to
degrees or certificates.
Elizabeth Conley/Staff file photo
It would also accommodate
the smaller schools that are start-
ing out at a disadvantage, giving
them a base level of funding.
Those funds wouldn’t be subject
to recapture if revenue from tu-
ition and property taxes exceeds
that amount.
Schools would receive adjust-
ments for people who need addi-
tional support academically or
economically, and they would al-
so be expected to participate in
“shared services” — where they
outsource technology or teach-
ing resources from other com-
munity colleges.
The next piece of the proposal
aims to make community colleg-
es more affordable for lower-in-
come students. One recommen-
dation would provide financial
aid for tuition and required fees
for economically disadvantaged
students in dual credit courses,
and expand work-based learning
opportunities through partner-
ships with businesses.
The final prong would in-
crease investments in the servic-
es colleges can provide, includ-
ing seed grants for new pro-
grams in high-demand fields.
More funding would also go to-
ward shared services programs,
as well as non-credit programs
that are able to be paired with, or
converted to, programs that are
for credit.
“There’s a lot of things that we
have in common, big colleges and
small colleges,” Maldonado said.
“The state can benefit from us
working together.”
Head said most colleges will
receive an influx from the recom-
mendations as they stand. Even
with a heavy price tag, he said he
feels this proposal will be suc-
cessful with legislators.
“The difference this time is
there is a purpose,” he said.
“We’re trying to change the focus
of community college into out-
comes and performance, not just
giving them money. There’s
goals.”
woman’s husband
found blood, teeth
The father of a Humble
teen who was caught driving
a car with his deceased moth-
er in the trunk found blood
and human teeth before
reporting his wife and son
missing, according to court
documents.
Tyler Roenz, 17, was
charged Friday with unau-
thorized use of a vehicle for
using his father’s black Maz-
da to drive through several
states. Roenz crashed the car
near Aurora, Neb., after a
police chase Friday, officials
there said. He and his moth-
er, Michelle Roenz, 49, had
been reported missing.
Manfred Roenz, Tyler
Roenz’s father, told police he
returned home Thursday to
find the car missing. Inside
the garage, he saw what
appeared to be blood and a
human tooth. A trail of blood
lead to the master bedroom,
where at least four teeth sat
in a pool of blood, according
to court documents.
Tyler Roenz remains in a
Nebraska hospital but will be
extradited to Harris County
upon his release, the Nebras-
ka State Patrol said Saturday.
WEST HOUSTON
2 children home
after kidnapping;
mom’s ex arrested
Two children were re-
turned home safely after
being kidnapped Sunday by
their mother’s ex-boyfriend,
Houston police said.
The children’s mother told
investigators she was ap-
proached by the ex-boyfriend
when she returned to her
west Houston home on Edge-
moor around 9:20 p.m., po-
lice said.
The ex-boyfriend is ac-
cused of getting into a phys-
ical fight with the woman
and her current boyfriend,
officials said. Meanwhile, the
woman’s car remained run-
ning nearby, with her 4- and
5-year-old children inside.
Police said the ex-boy-
friend got into the car and
drove off. A police helicopter
searching for the vehicle was
able to alert patrol units on
the ground.
The children were taken to
their home and reunited with
their mother. The ex-boy-
friend, who has not been
named, was arrested.
From staff reports

ST. LUKE’S response to a cyberattack that

From page A1
doctors noted that patients con-
tinue to receive care — albeit
slower, in some cases — and that
there have been no apparent “ad-
verse events.”
But “as this thing goes on, it
feels more and more stressful,”
one physician said.
In a statement published last
week, CommonSpirit said it has
notified law enforcement and cy-
bersecurity specialists. Its team
is conducting “a thorough foren-
sics investigation and review of
our systems and will also seek to
determine if there are any data
impacts as part of that process.”
“Over the course of this past
week, we have been managing a
has impacted some of our facil-
ities,” the statement said. “Pa-
tients continue to receive the
highest quality of care, and we
are providing relevant updates
on the ongoing situation to our
patients, employees and caregiv-
ers. Patient care remains our ut-
most priority and we apologize
for any inconvenience this mat-
ter has created.”
The company went on to say it
took immediate steps to protect
the system and begin its investi-
gation. Its facilities are following
protocols for systems outages,
“which includes taking certain
systems offline, such as electron-
ic health records.”
At St. Luke’s, that means the
Epic system, which physicians
use for everything from ordering
lab tests to noting physical prog-
ress, is shut down. The hospital
already has offline procedures in
place, for when the system shuts
down for routine maintenance,
but it is typically not in place for
this duration, according to doc-
tors who spoke to the Chronicle.
The doctors said hospital
workers are physically running
orders to and from hospital de-
partments. Medication orders
are being faxed into pharmacies.
In some cases, nurses have to
wait in the lab to receive blood
test results, which were previ-
ously transmitted in the record
system. There are multiple back-
up computer systems available
for doctors to access medical his-
tories, but it can be cumbersome
to find all the available informa-
tion, one of the doctors said.
As hospitals have become
more reliant on technology over
the years, the health care system
has been hit with a growing
number of ransomware attacks,
said John Riggi, senior adviser
for cybersecurity and risk for the
American Hospital Association.
Riggi said he could not com-
ment on the CommonSpirit at-
tack. But in general, criminal or-
ganizations given safe harbor in
foreign countries, such as Rus-
sia, China and North Korea, have
found that encrypting patient re-
cords in exchange for money is
more efficient than stealing and
selling patient health informa-
tion, he said.
“They understood that if they
attacked critical infrastructure,
health care in particular, the po-
tential risk to patient care, to pa-
tient safety … would cause such
pressure on the victim organiza-
tion, that they would be forced to
pay the ransom,” said Riggi.
The pandemic exacerbated the
problem, he said. Hospitals
adopted more internet-connect-
ed technology, creating more op-
portunities for hackers to access
the system. At the same time,
many hospitals lost money dur-
ing the pandemic, leaving a
shortage of cybersecurity per-
sonnel, he said.
“So we have all of this conflu-
ence of events — the perfect
storm of factors — leading us to
the point we are now, where
we’ve seen this dramatic increase
of attacks against hospitals,” he
said.
julian.gill@chron.com

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 CITY/ STATE
HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022 • SECTION A

2 commissioners back out of meeting

Republicans say Garcia offer on tax rate talks
not in good faith, extend breaking of quorum
By Jen Rice
STA FF WRIT E R
Harris County’s monthlong
budget battle continued Mon-
day with the GOP members of
Commissioners Court continu-
ing to break quorum over a dif-
ference in proposed tax rates
that would impact the average
homeowner’s tax bill by around
$16.
The two Republican members
of the court skipped a meeting
Monday to discuss a compro-
mise tax rate proposal by Pre-
cinct 2 Commissioner Adrian
Garcia, reversing the position
they took Friday. Had the dis-
cussion taken place, the county
could have ended an impasse
that has held up budgetary deci-
sions and become a significant
issue in November’s county
judge and commissioners races.
On Friday, Precinct 4 Com-
missioner Jack Cagle said he
would attend the meeting if he
was assured no vote would take
place.
The county attorney’s office
confirmed Friday afternoon that
the purpose of the meeting was
for court members to have a dis-
cussion and that no final vote on
a tax rate could occur.
By Monday, Cagle’s position
had changed.
Harris County Commissioners Jack Cagle and Tom Ramsey
have blocked the county from adopting a property tax rate.
In a statement, Cagle said, “I
have read that Commissioner
Adrian Garcia is now calling his
most recent tax increase propos-
al his ‘final offer.’ There can be
no good-faith negotiations with
Brett Coomer/Staff file photo
someone who announces pub-
licly that he has made his final
offer. In addition, Commission-
er Tom S. Ramsey has an-
nounced that he will not attend
Monday’s special session of
Commissioners Court. Given
Commissioner Garcia’s publicly
announced refusal to negotiate
in good faith and given the ab-
sence of a full quorum of court
members in attendance, I will
not attend the special session of
Commissioners Court sched-
uled for Monday afternoon.”
Cagle on Friday said he would
attend the special meeting hours
after Garcia held a news confer-
ence in which he called his pro-
posal his final offer.
Ramsey, commissioner for
Precinct 3, reversed his deci-
sion, as well, according to a
statement from his office re-
leased Saturday: “He was hope-
ful in attending Monday’s spe-
cial meeting of a ‘discussion’;
however, vagueness around the
County continues on A6

Trump
to hold
rally in
S. Texas
By Benjamin Wermund
WAS H INGT ON B U RE AU

WASHINGTON — Former
President Donald Trump is
headed to South Texas this week-
end to rally voters a few days be-
fore early voting begins in the
midterms.
The rally in Robstown, just
west of Corpus Christi, comes as
Republicans seek to flip a hand-
ful of congressional races in
South Texas, which has long
been a stronghold for Democrats.
Trump’s relatively strong
showing there in 2020 gave the
Republicans hope that it could
gain more ground in the mid-
terms.
Robstown is not in one of the
contested districts, but the city is
not far from two districts that Re-
publicans are targeting, where
GOP candidates have outpaced Photos by Brett Coomer/Staff photographer
Democrats in fundraising. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez embraces Harpreet Rai, sister of slain Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal, after the guilty verdict.
Monica De La Cruz, a Repub-
lican who came within about 3

Jury finds parolee guilty

percentage points of winning a
congressional district just west of
there in 2020, had raised nearly
$4 million by the end of Septem-
ber.
Michelle Vallejo, a progressive
Democrat, had raised about $1.6
million by that time.
The district, a long sliver of
mostly rural Texas that stretches
all the way from McAllen to just
east of San Marcos, was redrawn
by the Legislature to give Repub-
licans an edge: Trump won 51
percent of the vote in the new dis-
trict, according to Texas Legisla-
tive Council data.
Texas Democrats have com-
plained recently that the national
party appeared to be pulling re-
sources from the district as most
national Democratic campaign
groups have prioritized the re-
election bids of incumbents in
South Texas, U.S. Reps. Henry
Cuellar of Laredo and Vicente
Gonzalez of McAllen.
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Mayra
Trump continues on A8
Solis convicted in capital murder of Deputy Dhaliwal during traffic stop
By Nicole Hensley
STAFF WR ITER
It took about 25 minutes for
wanted parolee Robert Solis to
kill Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal
during a 2019 traffic stop. It
took jurors the same amount of
time to convict him.
The defendant, with nearly
two dozen deputies standing
behind him, showed no reac-
tion as jurors found him guilty
Monday of capital murder for a
shooting that followed Dhali-
wal’s decision to pull him over
for running a stop sign. Later,
he spouted profanities as he ad-
dressed the jury about the pro-
posed punishment, prompting
an admonishment from Judge
Chris Morton.
“I’m a little emotional — I
just got convicted of capital
murder,” said Solis, flanked by
several bailiffs.
Assistant District Attorney
Katie Warren told jurors to an-
ticipate hearing from those
who encountered Solis in the
past, including a woman whom
he raped and impregnated
when she was a minor.
Solis “wormed his way” into
the life of another woman, a
widow, and her three children
after she received a hefty insur-
ance payout, Warren contin-
Defendant Robert Solis is escorted into court before he ued. She is also expected to tes-
takes the stand in his own defense Monday in Houston. Murder trial continues on A6

Hotez says variants could bring winter COVID-19 misery

By Andrew Dansby
STAFF WRIT E R
Dr. Peter Hotez issued a thread
of tweets Sunday regarding our
pandemic present and possible
future. Hotez, the dean of the Na-
tional School of Tropical Medi-
cine at Baylor College of Medi-
cine and co-director of the Center
for Vaccine Development at Tex-
as Children’s Hospital, offered
acknowledgment that things feel
fairly quiet with COVID-19. He
pointed out that in Texas, “we’re
at around 6 new cases per
100,000, which is among the low-
est we’ve been during the entire
pandemic.”
But Hotez’s work requires
looking beyond the present. He
expressed concern with the
BQ.1.1 variant, which appears to
be on the rise in Europe. As has
been the case in winters past,
trouble in Europe often indicates
future trouble here. His solution,
however, remains pretty much
the same: Hotez continues to
urge everyone to max out their
boosters and vaccinate their
kids.
Q: How has all been with
you?
A: Very good. It’s crazy, but
full and interesting. But it’s noth-
ing I didn’t sign up for. I do find
the thing that concerns me, with
all the stressors — COVID-19, the
stock market, inflation, the po-
tential for nuclear catastrophe in
eastern Europe — that has to be
taking a big mental health toll on
the American people. What I say
to people is that if you’re feeling
sad or depressed or upset or hav-
ing panic attacks, that’s a normal
reaction for living in an extraor-
dinary time. People need to hear
that more.
Mental health issues are still
stigmatized in this country. Peo-
ple should know, it’s not just you.
Having mental health issues
through all of this means you’re a
normal and good person. It’s a
normal physiological reaction to
what the state of the world is.
Q: You received some good
news recently about your ha-
lal vaccine, Indovac, getting
approval in Indonesia. Where
do things go from here?
A: The original idea was when
this all started, we were getting
pretty frantic calls from minis-
ters of health and ministers of
science from all over the world,
because they realized the mRNA
vaccine was not coming to them.
So the question was could they
partner with us at Texas Chil-
dren’s and Baylor College of Med-
Hotez continues on A6

CORONAVIRUS AT A GLANCE

625,016,605 96,981,777 7,902,489 6,568,663 1,065,256 89,429 1,078 62.87%

Confirmed Confirmed Confirmed Deaths Deaths Deaths Confirmed patients in Texans 6 months+
cases worldwide cases in U.S. cases in Texas worldwide in U.S. in Texas Texas hospitals fully vaccinated
Source: WHO, CDC, Texas DSHS, Johns Hopkins University
A4 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022
Drone strikes by Russians deadly in Kyiv
By Megan Specia,
Andrew E. Kramer
and Michael Schwirtz
N EW YO RK T IME S
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia at-
tacked Ukraine’s capital early
Monday with Iranian-made
drones, continuing its campaign
of lethal strikes against Ukraini-
an energy infrastructure and ci-
vilian targets even as it faces sig-
nificant setbacks on the battle-
field.
At least four people were
killed in Kyiv, where the buzzing
sound of the drones was followed
by explosions. The attacks came
during morning rush hour, one
week after Moscow unleashed a
missile barrage across the coun-
try that left at least 19 people
dead. While Monday’s strikes
were less deadly, they again
struck fear into Ukrainians far
Secret Service was
charged more to stay
at Trump’s hotels
By David A. Fahrenthold
and Luke Broadwater
N EW YO RK T IME S
WASHINGTON — The
Trump Organization charged
the Secret Service up to $1,185 per
night for hotel rooms used by
agents protecting former Presi-
dent Donald Trump and his
family, according to documents
released Monday by the House
Oversight Committee, forcing a
federal agency to pay well above
government rates.
The committee released Se-
cret Service records showing
more than $1.4 million in pay-
ments by the department to
Trump properties since Trump
took office in 2017. The commit-
tee said that the accounting was
incomplete, however, because it
did not include payments to
Trump’s foreign properties —
where agents accompanied his
family repeatedly — and be-
cause the records stopped in
September 2021.
The records that the panel ob-
tained provided new details
about an arrangement in which
Trump and his family effectively
turned the Secret Service into a
captive customer of their busi-
ness — by visiting their proper-
ties hundreds of times and then
charging the government rates
far above its usual spending lim-
its.
The records also make clear
that Trump’s son Eric — who
ran the family business while
his father was in office — provid-
ed a misleading account of what
his company was charging.
In 2019, Eric Trump said the
Trump Organization charged
the government only “like $50”
for hotel rooms during presiden-
tial visits.
Instead, records obtained by
the committee showed, the
Trump International Hotel in
Washington repeatedly charged
the Secret Service rates more
than $600 per night. In one case,
the hotel charged the Secret Ser-
vice $1,160 a night for a room
used while protecting Eric
Trump in 2017. That was more
than four times higher than the
government’s usual spending
AROUND THE NATION AND WORLD
SWEDEN
Conservative PM
selected to lead
Sweden’s parliament on
Monday elected conservative
leader Ulf Kristersson as prime
minister at the head of a center-
right coalition that has prom-
ised to crack down on crime
and curtail immigration in
partnership with a populist
party with far-right roots.
Kristersson, 58, was elected
in a 176-173 vote and will pres-
ent his government on Tuesday.
NIGERIA
2 die at church in
attack by gunmen
Gunmen attacked a church
in north-central Nigeria during
a service, killing a woman and
her young daughter, a govern-
ment official said Monday as
the hunt for the suspects in-
NATION & WORLD
from the front lines and signaled
Russia’s aim of crippling power
and other key services as winter
looms.
A separate attack in the north-
eastern region of Sumy killed at
least three people Monday, the
regional governor said, when
Russian missiles struck an infra-
structure target.
The strikes in the capital high-
lighted Russia’s growing use of
the Iranian-made drones known
as “kamikazes,” which explode
on impact and are easier to shoot
down, as Western analysts say
Moscow’s stocks of precision
missiles are running low. While
Iran has officially denied supply-
ing Russia with drones for use in
Ukraine, U.S. officials said the
first batch of such weapons was
delivered in August. Ukraine’s
air force said Russia had fired 43
of the drones Monday but that 37
limit for Washington hotels —
but Secret Service officials ap-
proved the expense, according to
the records.
The same year, the documents
showed, Trump’s hotel in Wash-
ington charged the service $1,185
for a room used while guarding
Donald Trump Jr.
“Per diem rates could not be
obtained,” a Secret Service re-
cord said, referring to the gov-
ernment’s official maximum
rate. By law, the department is
allowed to exceed those maxi-
mum payments when its protec-
tive mission requires the addi-
tional cost.
Previously, the highest rate
that the Trump Organization
was known to have charged the
government for a hotel room
was $650 per night, for rooms at
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in
Palm Beach, Fla.
On Monday, Eric Trump is-
sued a statement saying that the
Trump Organization “would
have been substantially better
off if hospitality services were
sold to full-paying guests.” He
did not address the discrepancy
between the rates he claimed the
company had charged and the
rates shown in the record.
In an interview, Rep. Carolyn
B. Maloney, D-N.Y., chair of the
Oversight Committee, said the
documents made clear that
Trump was taking advantage of
taxpayers by effectively requir-
ing Secret Service agents to stay
at properties he owned and then
billing the government exorbi-
tant charges.
“This raises concerns that the
Trump Organization was profit-
ing off the presidency,” Maloney
said. “It’s excessive.”
She said the committee would
continue to investigate how
Trump’s businesses leveraged
the presidency to his financial
advantage, particularly regard-
ing connections to foreign gov-
ernments.
While Trump was in office,
his hotels were visited repeated-
ly by people seeking to influence
his administration. Since Trump
still owned his businesses, he
could benefit directly from their
patronage.
tensified.
The motorcycle-riding as-
sailants arrived at the Celestial
Church on Sunday and fatally
shot the two victims, according
to Jerry Omodara, Kogi state’s
top security official. The
church is located in the Lokoja
area of Kogi state, 65 miles
from Nigeria’s capital city, Abu-
ja.
Authorities suspect that the
assailants in the latest attack in
Kogi had specifically targeted
the church and its members.
MALI
3 U.N. peacekeepers
killed by bomb blast
Three U.N. peacekeepers
from Chad have been killed in
northern Mali after a roadside
bomb exploded as the men
approached on foot and several
others were seriously wound-
ed, officials said Monday.
were shot down by air defense
systems.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko
said 28 drones were spotted over
the city, resulting in five strikes.
Ukraine’s air force scrambled
jets to chase and shoot the
drones, while some were shot
down by Ukrainian troops who
fired into the air. The targets in-
cluded the headquarters of
Ukraine’s national energy utility
and a municipal heating station.
Klitschko said at least four
people were killed in the strikes
in Kyiv. Among the dead were a
young couple, including a wom-
an who was six months preg-
nant, pulled from the wreckage
of a residential building, Klitsch-
ko said.
Serhiy Kruk, head of the State
Emergency Service of Ukraine,
said 18 people were wounded, in-
cluding two rescue workers who
THOUSANDS
PROTEST IN HAITI
Haitians pass burning tires during a protest Monday in Port-au-Prince to reject
an international military force requested by the government and to demand the
resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. The United Nations Security Council
is evaluating the request to help free Haiti from the grip of gangs.
ODELYN JOSEPH/ASSOCIATED PRESS
DOJ wants Bannon to serve 6 months
By Alan Feuer
and Luke Broadwater
N EW YO R K T I ME S
The Justice Department
said on Monday that Steve
Bannon, a former top aide to
Donald Trump, should spend
six months in jail and pay a
fine of $200,000 after a jury
found him guilty this summer
of willfully disobeying a sub-
poena from the House com-
mittee investigating the Jan. 6
attack.
Bannon “pursued a bad-
faith strategy of defiance and
contempt” from the moment
he received the subpoena last
Anders Wiklund/Associated Press
Ulf Kristersson’s coalition in
Sweden wants to crack down
on crime and immigration.
Their deaths come just one
day before the U.N. Security
Council is holding a meeting on
the mission in Mali, which was
the United Nations’ most dan-
gerous even before the French
military pulled its remaining
troops from the country in
August.
U.N. spokesman Stephane
Dujarric said three other peace-
keepers were seriously wound-
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM
were responding to an initial
strike when a second hit in the
same area.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an advis-
er to Ukrainian President Volo-
dymyr Zelenskyy, condemned
Iran, saying it was “responsible
for the murders of Ukrainians.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry said
in a statement that its forces had
used “high-precision air- and
sea-based weapons” to attack
military targets and energy infra-
structure in Ukraine. The minis-
try said it had hit “all designated
targets,” without elaborating.
Outside a four-story building
that was hit, emergency workers
recovered the body of a woman
from the collapsed walls. An in-
vestigator held her thin wrist,
covered in dirt and debris, and
then folded her arms across her
chest as her body was placed in a
bag.
year seeking records and testi-
mony about his knowledge of
Trump’s efforts to overturn
the 2020 election, culminating
in the violent assault on the
Capitol, prosecutors said in a
sentencing memo to Judge
Carl Nichols, who is oversee-
ing the case.
The prosecutors noted that
Bannon, who is set to be sen-
tenced by Nichols on Friday,
deserved a penalty harsher
than the minimum term of one
month in jail because he had
blatantly brushed off the
House committee’s demands
and then attacked it in brazen
public statements.
ed and are receiving treatment
in a U.N. hospital.
BRITAIN
Protester beaten
on consular grounds
A man protesting outside the
Chinese consulate in the north-
ern British city of Manchester
was dragged onto the consular
grounds and beaten, increasing
tensions as ties between the
two countries worsen.
The scuffle at the consular
gates in Manchester on Sunday
took place as protesters from
Hong Kong demonstrated
against China’s leader, Xi Jin-
ping, who is expected to win a
third term leading the country
during this week’s Communist
Party Congress in Beijing. Ban-
ners and posters placed outside
the consulate’s entrance called
for an end to the Communist
Party and depicted Xi wearing
only a crown and underwear.
During the scuffle, Manches-
In the attack on the municipal
heating station, a drone struck
near where another had hit about
an hour earlier, on opposite sides
of Zhylianska Street. It appeared
to be what Ukrainians call a
“double-tap attack,” a tactic that
aims to kill emergency workers
or firefighters responding to an
initial strike.
In southern Ukraine, a Rus-
sian strike damaged an electrical
substation, again cutting power
to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear
Power Plant, officials said Mon-
day. The plant’s backup diesel
generators switched on, accord-
ing to a statement from the
Ukrainian nuclear energy com-
pany Energoatom.
And in Vinnytsia, in central
Ukraine, a strike hit a piece of
critical infrastructure, the re-
gional governor said, without
providing details.
Bannon, on the eve of his tri-
al in U.S. District Court in
Washington, also tried an
eleventh-hour attempt to de-
rail the criminal case by ask-
ing Congress to pressure the
Justice Department to drop its
charges in exchange for his be-
lated testimony to the Jan. 6
committee.
Bannon also faces separate
charges in New York of de-
frauding people who sought to
contribute to an organization
that took donations for the
construction of a wall along
the southwestern border, one
of Trump’s signature policy
platforms.
ter police officers stepped onto
consular property to separate
the protester from his attack-
ers. The force said Monday it
was investigating the incident
and had established an online
portal for people to submit
additional information about
the incident.
CALIFORNIA
Suspect arrested
after stabbing attacks
Police said a suspect with a
knife was arrested following a
series of stabbing attacks early
Monday that killed a woman
and left three other people
wounded in Southern Califor-
nia.
Investigators were still try-
ing to determine if all the at-
tacks were related, a spokes-
person for the Long Beach
Police Department said, but
police believe there is no ongo-
ing threat to the public.
From wire reports
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022 A5
A6 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022
MURDER TRIAL
From page A3
tify.
“Leaving him anywhere oth-
er than death row is too great a
risk to take,” Warren said.
Solis continued to express
frustration at the verdict and
lashed out.
“Since you found me guilty,
give me the death penalty,”
Solis said. “That’s what I de-
serve. That’s what it’s there for.”
The guilty verdict follows a
week of testimony in which
Solis brazenly fired the three
attorneys — Allen Isbell, Jimmy
Ortiz and Mandy Miller — who
had strategized his defense for
the past three years, deciding
instead to represent himself.
Solis waited until Monday,
just before closing arguments,
to ask those lawyers to come
back.
Each one, when asked by the
court, declined to return.
For most of the week, Solis
tried stalling the trial, citing
stomach issues and his lack of
access to evidence at the Harris
County Jail to prepare his de-
fense. He addressed jurors Fri-
day and professed his inno-
cence. At one point, he claimed
to have vomited in front of the
jurors.
The judge allowed Solis to
have longer access to the jail
law library to bolster his de-
fense.
Solis is one of the few pend-
ing cases in Harris County
where prosecutors are seeking
the death penalty.
Of the nearly 200 people on
Texas’ death row, about 70 are
from Harris County. Lucky
COUNTY
From page A3
‘possible action’ in that meeting
paired with Tuesday’s meeting
details leaves the door open to
take other actions relating to the
massive tax increase. Commis-
sioner Ramsey is officially re-
scinding his offer and will not be
attending Monday’s meeting.”
After Ramsey’s announce-
ment Saturday, County Attor-
ney Christian Menefee issued a
statement disputing the com-
missioner’s complaint that the
agenda item was too vague.
“There is no ‘vagueness’
about whether Commissioners
Court can adopt a tax rate at
Monday’s special meeting. The
answer is no. Nor does the court
having the Monday meeting
mean that they could adopt a tax
rate at some subsequent meeting
with fewer than four members
present,” Menefee said.
He continued: “State law re-
quires that prior to a Commis-
sioners Court holding a tax
hearing, those rates must first be
HOTEZ
From page A3
icine to transfer the vaccine we
were developing if they had local
capacity for developing vaccines.
It was a combination of their
interest and also knowing they
had capability and knew what
they were doing. The last thing
you want is to work with some-
one who doesn’t pay close atten-
tion to quality control or quality
assurance. Because it doesn’t
take much to derail even a good
vaccine because of bad percep-
tion. I always say, it doesn’t take
much to vote a good vaccine off
the island if there’s a perception
problem. So it was important we
did our due diligence not for fi-
nancial purposes, but for quality
purposes.
We narrowed it down to four
countries: India, Indonesia, Ban-
gladesh and Botswana. Now in
India, our Corbevax has gone in-
to 75 million arms. With Indovac,
it’s 20 million doses, which is ex-
citing because it’s a vegan tech-
nology. It was important to have
it certified as halal.
Q: It feels like when people
wanted to measure this pan-
demic in weeks, you knew it
was going to be years.
A: Well, we’ve been playing
the long game for a few reasons.
The rapid evolution of the vari-
ants. Despite what President Bi-
den said on “60 Minutes,” this is
not over. It’s just a new Little
Shop of Horrors. And that’s go-
ing to continue.
Then remember this: CO-
VID-19 is the third major corona-
virus epidemic/pandemic of the
21st century. We had SARS in
2002 and MERS in 2012 and then
An image of slain Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal is shown on a screen
Monday in Houston as the jury is sent to deliberate in the capital murder trial of Robert Solis.
Ward, convicted in 2020 after
strangling four people to death,
was the last defendant sen-
tenced to death.
Testimony related to the
punishment is expected to last
through the week.
Solis volunteered to take the
witness stand and questioned
himself about the September
2019 shooting.
He admitted to lying to Dhali-
wal about his identity and be-
lieved the deputy falsely im-
prisoned him, going on to con-
tend that the shooting was acci-
dental amid his botched
noticed to the public at least five
days prior to the hearing. Any
vote to adopt those rates must
take place after the hearing but
not later than seven days after
the hearing.”
Cagle spokesman Joe Stine-
baker said the commissioner
still did not trust the court not to
take a vote.
“It wasn’t put on as a discus-
sion-only item,” Stinebaker
said. “They included ‘discussion
and possible action.’ And I
know what the county attorney
has said, but the inclusion of the
words ‘and possible action’ obvi-
ously caused (Cagle) some con-
cern.”
The possible action cited in
the agenda item was “to propose
tax rates for Harris County, the
Harris County Flood Control
District and the Harris County
Hospital District for a public
hearing and possible adoption
on a future date.”
In response, Menefee said in a
statement: “I do not believe
Commissioners Ramsey and
Cagle were actually concerned
about being tricked into provid-
COVID-19. Mother nature is tell-
ing us what she has in mind,
generating new coronavirus
pandemics every seven or so
years. On that basis, we should
expect COVID-25 or 26, and then
COVID-32 or 33. We need to do
better than try to make a new
vaccine each time. The big brass
ring is to develop a universal co-
ronavirus vaccine so we don’t
have to worry so much. And I
think that’s feasible based on
what we’re seeing so far.
Q: Which is why you’re
working with nations on
building infrastructure.
A: Yeah, and recognizing vac-
cine ecosystems as they’re cur-
rently defined are too narrow in
scope. We’re focused on the mul-
ti-national pharma companies,
the Modernas and Pfizers and
GSKs of the world, who have the
best chops to pull this off. But
that’s the best way to ensure vac-
cine equity is not achieved. It’s
not only a humanitarian con-
cept. But because we know that
the delta variant arose out of an
unvaccinated population in In-
dia last year. And omicron rose
out of an unvaccinated popula-
tion in southern Africa. There’s
self-interest in doing this as well.
What we’re doing at Texas
Children’s and Baylor is trying
to figure out a way to better bal-
ance or broaden the ecosystem
to embrace lower income vac-
cine producers. That’s what is
missing in the geopolitical land-
scape right now. Not that the
multi-national companies are
demons or bad guys. They’ve
put out a lot of vaccines into the
world. But we need a broader or
decolonized ecosystem to make
sure there’s greater vaccine equi-
ty.
attempt at a so-called citizen’s
arrest.
“I realized that there were
several offenses that I would be
able to arrest the deputy for,”
Solis stated.
The deputy’s body camera
footage shown in court cap-
tured the moment Solis rushed
out of the stopped vehicle with
a gun drawn and bombarded
him with commands to not
move and to put his hands in
the air. In one hand, Dhaliwal
was holding his notepad and in
the other, a pen.
“He complied, did every-
ing a quorum for a tax rate to be
passed at today’s meeting, or
about a quorum at today’s meet-
ing somehow transferring to to-
morrow’s meeting. These are
unserious claims that I’ve per-
sonally told them could not hap-
pen, as a matter of Texas law.”
The two Republican commis-
sioners have skipped the last
three Commissioners Court
meetings to block the three
Democrats on the court from
adopting a property tax rate.
They view the Democrat-sup-
ported rate as too high at a time
residents are dealing with the
highest inflation in years amid
the ongoing COVID-19 pandem-
ic. They also want the county to
fund more law enforcement.
Garcia’s proposal, unveiled in
the news conference Friday,
would set the property tax rate
at 56.3 cents per $100 of assessed
value, 1.2 cents lower than the
rate originally proposed by the
Democratic majority.
Cagle’s proposal would set the
property tax rate at 55.6 cents.
For the owner of a $300,000
home with a standard 20 per-
Q: I worry I sound like a
skipping record. But I feel like
we should be more humbled
by the interconnectivity of the
world.
A: What’s really interesting is
watching these new COVID vari-
ants emerge. It’s just like watch-
ing a train come down the tracks
from miles away. Except in this
case, the train started on the Afri-
can continent and Asia. First it
travels to western Europe and
then the U.K. Once that happens,
we know what’s happening next:
Boston and New York. And the
we know it’s going to come to
Texas.
We’ve been repeating a pat-
tern. Now with these new omi-
cron subvariants — I call them
the Scrabble variants, because
they’re these high-valued Scrab-
ble letters like Q and X and V.
We’re seeing cases go up again.
Right now we’re in a good posi-
tion, in Texas especially. Cases
are almost at an all-time low.
That’s great, but guess what? The
Scrabble variants with numbers
going up worry me in the U.K.
and France. What goes on as we
head into winter will be interest-
ing. I think in January we could
be in for another wave as we were
in the winter this past year and
the winter before that. That’s
how we should plan for this.
Q: You’ve expressed anxi-
ety about people skipping flu
shots, too.
A: Yes. The point is we’re still
underachieving in our boosters.
The new bivalent booster has on-
ly gotten to 11 million Americans
so far. That’s something like 4
percent of the population that
could get it. So people aren’t run-
ning to get this. They’re walking.
There’s a new Kaiser Family
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM
Brett Coomer/Staff photographer
thing I asked,” Solis continued.
“When I pushed him up against
the vehicle and ran his hand
down his back to go for his
handcuffs, he moved, jerked
very quickly.”
What happened next, Solis
asked himself.
“Because of the position I had
the weapon in, I lost control,”
the defendant said, appearing
to become emotional in front of
the jurors. “I lost control of it. I
accidentally pulled the trigger
and it discharged.”
Prosecutors later likened his
show of sadness to “crocodile
cent homestead exemption, the
difference between those two
proposed rates would amount to
about $16, assuming no change
in value from the previous year.
The current county tax rate is
58.1 cents.
Garcia’s plan calls for an addi-
tional $20 million to hire 200 ad-
ditional law enforcement offi-
cers, echoing Ramsey’s call for
200 additional law enforcement
“boots on the ground.” It also in-
cludes a 2.5 percent pay increase
for law enforcement officers.
State law requires a quorum
of at least four members to set
the property tax rate. The court
has until Oct. 28 to set the rate.
Failure to come to an agreement
would force the county to adopt
what is known as the “no new
revenue rate,” which generates
the same amount of money as
the previous year. In Harris
County’s case, the no new reve-
nue rate would include an addi-
tional $45 million from devel-
oped properties added to the tax
roll this year.
Though the GOP commis-
sioners did not attend Monday’s
Foundation survey that came
out that said 30 percent of Amer-
icans “plan” to get it, whatever
that means. And that’s still not
very good.
There’s a lot of work that still
needs to be done. With the flu
vaccine, kids aren’t getting that
or the COVID booster. We have a
very vulnerable population.
And I’m worried about these
new Scrabble escape variants. If
you don’t get boosted against
BA.5, which more resembles the
Scrabble variants than the origi-
nal lineage, it’s like starting over
again. So it’s like spiking the
football on the 20 yard line. I was
on PBS NewsHour and called on
the president to hold a press con-
ference and really talk about the
importance of these boosters.
There’s a bad moon on the rise.
Q: What are the next steps
for what you all are working
on?
A: It will come in two steps.
Right now we’re looking at a bi-
valent version of our Corbevax
and potentially Indovac that tar-
get the new omicron subvari-
ants, including the Scrabble
variants. That’s one. From there,
we’re looking to see how we
could develop a truly universal
version of the vaccine. Our vac-
cine scientists are as busy as ev-
er. So it’s an exciting time, and
the science is very interesting.
The lab meetings are interesting
and fulfilling.
There’s a famous book in mo-
lecular biology, written at the
start of the molecular genetics
revolution, when physicists
were still thinking about how to
do quantitative biology. It was by
a guy named Hershey and it was
called “We Can Sleep Later.”
Even though sleep is very impor-
tears.”
Solis testified for nearly a
hour — a decision that allowed
prosecutors to pepper him with
questions.
While acknowledging that
Dhaliwal was kind, polite and
respectful toward him during
the traffic stop, he ultimately
perceived the deputy as show-
ing “micro-aggressions” to-
ward him. Solis believed the
deputy at one point “flicked the
strap” on his holster weapon.
During the traffic stop, and
unbeknownst to Dhaliwal,
Solis was wanted for a parole
violation and had a gun tucked
into his pants after failing to
convince his passenger, Jenni-
fer Saiz, to take it, according to
testimony.
As a convicted felon, it was il-
legal for Solis to possess the
weapon.
Saiz did not warn Dhaliwal
that Solis was armed or that he
was a wanted man. She left the
vehicle in the minutes before
Dhaliwal was shot after grow-
ing increasingly annoyed with
Solis’ lies. She later met with in-
vestigators at the shopping cen-
ter where Solis was apprehend-
ed, according to testimony.
“Yeah, I lied,” he said. “I
wasn’t 100 percent truthful. I
bent the truth. That’s not a rea-
son for me to jump out of the car
and cold-blooded kill some-
one.”
According to prosecutors,
Solis lied about his name, date
of birth, driver’s license and
having served in the Navy. “The
biggest whoppers you’ve ever
heard,” another prosecutor,
Lauren Bard, told jurors.
nicole.hensley@chron.com
meeting, public speakers testi-
fied about the impacts the com-
munity would experience if the
county is forced to adopt the no
new revenue rate.
Jack Morillo said insufficient
funding for the Harris County
Pollution Control Department
would be dangerous for his
neighborhood.
“My friend Eddie, with severe
asthma, relies on Pollution Con-
trol’s air monitoring program to
assess risk before he goes out,”
Morillo said. “Under this itera-
tion of the budget, Pollution
Control will struggle to meet
emergency responses.”
Marc Robinson, a physician
at Ben Taub Hospital, said his
patients rely on the county’s
public hospital system and often
have nowhere else to go for treat-
ment.
“There’s no waste in the sys-
tem. Every dollar is spent in ser-
vice of patients,” Robinson said.
“Much of the debate over the
past few weeks has centered
around safety, but I ask you to
broaden your concept of what
that means.”
tant and you’re supposed to take
care of yourself, that title comes
to mind sometimes.
Q: What does the lab look
like? Is it humming 24/7?
A: It’s more a consistent thing,
just people working in the
trenches day after day, after day.
Often times they’re there on the
weekends and at off hours. But
they’re all hanging in there. Even
though everyone is exhausted
and stressed and has this poten-
tial for burnout, they’re hanging
in there. They’re all heroes.
Q: I see your Baylor School
of Medicine logo, which is in-
teresting. It reminds me a lot
of some contemporary art I
saw in Honduras that picked
up on Mayan themes.
A: This was very deliberate.
I’m told by the college that I can’t
call it a logo. So it’s an emblem.
Apparently there’s a trademark
thing. The genesis of it is kind of
interesting. With the National
School of Tropical Medicine, the
Baylor College of Medicine, I
wanted it built along the lines of
the great schools of tropical med-
icine in London and Liverpool.
The Liverpool School of Tropical
Medicine and the London
School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine. They both had old-
world themes, Egyptian themes,
to their logos. I thought we’re in
the new world now, so the Ma-
yan jaguar might be more appro-
priate. And although we work
globally, including Africa and
the Middle East, I’d say our
greatest activity is in Central
America, Mexico, Mesoamerica
and the tropical regions of South
America.
andrew.dansby@chron.com
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM
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
Nancy A. Meyer • PUBLIS H ER & P RE S I D EN T
These 3 deserve to be our justices
The Texas Supreme Court reviews
cases in civil law, often having to do with
technical details in disputes over proper-
ty, malpractice settlements or compensa-
tion for injuries on the job. It’s a bit sleep-
ier than such high-octane stuff as
abortion, immigration or affirmative
action that land before the U.S. Supreme
Court. Still, the stakes can be high and
it’s in Texans’ interest to stock the court
with fair-minded jurists whose decisions
are independent of their party affilia-
tions.
During the 2020 election, for example,
the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court
ruled against a lawsuit seeking to throw
out the ballots of drive-thru voters in
heavily Democratic Harris County. The
court may rule in the near future on
ERCOT’s liability for winter storm costs
and on school districts’ ability to imple-
ment vaccine mandates. While electing
justices from a broad range of back-
grounds is important, we focus primarily
on the experience, judicial record, tem-
perament and aptitudes for research,
writing and analysis that form the heart
of appellate law.
Place 3: Debra Lehrmann
Voters must choose between two qual-
ified and path-breaking jurists in this
race. The Republican incumbent, Justice
Debra Lehrmann, 65, served as a family
court judge for 23 years
before being appointed to
the high court in 2010 by
Gov. Rick Perry. In 2016,
she drew a primary chal-
lenger supported by Re-
publicans who deemed
her “ the most liberal
Lehrmann justice” in part for dis-
senting in tort-reform
cases and for siding with plaintiffs. She
prevailed. The author of two legal treatis-
es and a liaison to the Texas State Bar,
Lehrmann is the senior justice and pre-
sides over the Supreme Court when the
chief justice is away.
In May, she joined the majority in
upholding an appeals court decision
regarding Gov. Greg Abbott’s letter in-
structing Child Protective Services to
investigate families with trans children
receiving gender-affirming care. The
decision applied only to the families
named in the lawsuit and stopped CPS
from continuing those investigations.
Lehrmann wrote a clear-headed concur-
LeBlanc the best choice for seat in Congress
Voters in one of the most diverse areas
of the country have a difficult choice to
make. Should they send the Republican
former-sheriff-turned-Trump-diehard
back to Congress? Or take a chance on
the Democratic challenger with no cam-
paign footprint except for her name on
the ballot? Or maybe the Libertarian
candidate and firearms instructor who is
making a sincere effort to traverse the
now-expanded 22nd Congressional Dis-
trict?
In the Republican primary, we
endorsed incumbent Rep. Troy Nehls, 54,
even after he voted against certifying the
2020 election results, reasoning that he
had much more relevant experience and
support than his accountant challenger.
But that decision hasn’t aged well in the
harsh light of the Jan. 6 committee and
Nehls’ own book, “The Big Fraud: What
Democrats Don’t Want You to Know
About January, the 2020 Election, and a
Whole Lot Else,” which he’s been busy
OPINION
Jack Sweeney
C H A I R MA N
Jennifer Chang
MA NAG I N G ED I T O R
ELECTIONS 2022
ring opinion that we hope state leaders
and legislators read. She explains that
“no pharmaceutical or surgical interven-
tion before puberty” and “no genital
surgery” before adulthood is considered
a medically accepted treatment. For that
reason, she wrote, CPS does not need to
follow Abbott’s order to prevent “female
genital mutilation.” The rules that were
already in place to prevent medical abuse
were enough. She continues, “In my
view, a parent’s reliance on a professional
medical doctor for medically accepted
treatment simply would not amount to
child abuse.”
Justice Erin Nowell, 44, was elected to
the Fifth District Court of Appeals as a
Democrat in 2018. Before that, she prac-
ticed civil law at major firms representing
plaintiffs and defendants. She says she is
the only African-American out of more
than 80 intermediate appellate justices in
Texas and would be the only African-
American on the Supreme Court. She
pointed out that Lehrmann wrote a ma-
jority opinion reversing a decision from
the 5th District Court of Appeals in
which two officers who reported exces-
sive force received damages under a
whistleblower law. If the Supreme Court
had a more diverse bench, Nowell told
us, it might have come to a different con-
clusion. Lehrmann acknowledged the
“absolutely horrible” excessive force in
the case and said that if she were relying
only on her personal beliefs she would
have ruled differently. But, she said, she
followed how the whistleblower law was
written.
Nowell’s experience as a lawyer and a
justice in an intermediate appellate court
is impressive. While she makes a strong
case for greater diversity on Texas’ appel-
late courts, Lehrmann is the longest-
serving woman in the court’s history.
Nowell herself described Lehrmann as
“phenomenal.” We agree with that as-
sessment and hope voters will return the
incumbent to the Supreme Court.
Place 5: Rebeca Huddle
Again, voters have a choice between
two superb candidates, and a decision
about what to value in terms of diversity
and experience.
Republican incumbent Justice Rebeca
Aizpuru Huddle, 49, grew up in El Paso,
the youngest of five children whose par-
ents emigrated from Mexico. Her father
died when she was 5 and her mother
EDITORIAL
promoting. Perhaps that’s why he was
too busy to respond to the editorial
board’s repeated requests to meet.
Nehls did have time to talk recently
with fringe conservative Sebastian Gor-
ka, a former Trump strategist. Nehls told
him the Capitol police knew the threat of
Jan. 6 and didn’t share it, suggesting they
did so to encourage violence and chaos.
It’s disappointing to see this seeming
transformation of a congressman who
once made headlines for his seemingly
earnest interest in reaching across the
aisle to work on criminal justice reform.
As Fort Bend County sheriff, he bragged
about the vocational training opportuni-
ties there for people serving time. In
Congress, he worked on bipartisan bills
that targeted recidivism and sought to
bring more police officers to the streets.
On Jan. 6, he made what we described as
“a heroic attempt to defuse” the rioters.
Now, we’re unable to get past Nehls’
continued and deepening election denial.
Maria Reeve
EXE C U TI V E E D I TO R
Chris Fusco
M ANAG I N G E D I TO R
supported the family by working a mini-
mum-wage job in a garment factory.
After graduating from an El Paso public
school, Huddle went to Stanford and
then law school at the University of Tex-
as. After she became a partner at Baker
Botts, specializing in commercial litiga-
tion and appeals, Gov. Rick Perry ap-
pointed her to the 1st
District Court of Appeals
in 2011 and she won the
election for the position in
2012, and retired from that
bench in 2017. Abbott
appointed her to the Su-
preme Court in October
Huddle 2020.
“If people have a con-
ception that every person on the Su-
preme Court is sort of cut from the same
mold, I think that’s wrong,” Huddle told
us. “We are all Republicans, we have very
different background stories, but, too, we
have very different professional back-
grounds.”
The Democratic challenger, Justice
Amanda Reichek, 46, was born and
raised in Houston, and she graduated
from Westbury High School. Her parents
were active in unions. Reichek said she
went to law school to represent workers
in labor disputes. She once represented a
woman who was fired after experiencing
pregnancy-related illnesses, for example,
and various unions for teachers, pilots
and machinists. In 2018, she was elected
to the 5th Court of Appeals in Dallas. She
says she has issued 375 opinions, always
working to put her biases to the side.
Though most cases aren’t decided on
party lines, she says she can usually
come to an agreement with her Repub-
lican colleagues on the bench when they
disagree. While Reichek would bring the
perspective of a lawyer who represented
unions and workers to a conservative
court, and she has an equivalent level of
appellate experience to the incumbent
when she was appointed to the Supreme
Court, we believe voters would be wise to
return Huddle to the high court. Her life
story and expertise as incumbent are
valuable.
Place 9: Evan Young
If Democratic voters are looking for a
Supreme Court race in which a challeng-
er from their party is taking on an in-
cumbent with the classic pedigree of a
conservative justice, this is it. While a
Unfortunately for vot-
ers here, the Democratic
candidate, Jamie Kaye
Jordan, is not seriously
campaigning, if she’s
campaigning at all. Efforts
to reach her were not
LeBlanc successful, and we were
told by a member of the
Fort Bend County Democrats that she
wouldn’t be available.
Meanwhile, the Libertarian candidate,
Joseph LeBlanc, 38, is refreshingly open-
minded in many of his positions: embrac-
ing nuclear and other alternative energy
sources, championing veterans’ benefits
and improved speed of their care, and
looking to decriminalize marijuana.
His views cross party lines. On guns,
he believes current background checks
are largely sufficient and that expanding
checks wouldn’t deter criminals. He also
said he thought raising the age to pur-
chase certain firearms was inconsistent
with the treatment of adulthood in other
areas. We disagree with those stances.
His views on education tend toward the
conservative, favoring, for example,
vouchers, while his outlook on immigra-
tion is grounded in humanity: “Many of
those coming across our borders are
risking everything, including their lives,
at an attempt to have the opportunities
that many of us were lucky to be born
with,” he told the board. On abortion, he
prefers it left to the states but said he
stood “more on the side of health of the
BIBLE VERSE
Praise the LORD. Blessed are those who fear the LORD, who find great delight in his
commands.
SEND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022 A7
Lisa Falkenberg
V P/ E D I TO R O F O P I N I O N
Raj Mankad
D E P U TY O P I N I O N E D I TO R
court with at least one Democrat could
carry more legitimacy and could prompt
more robust debates leading to better
decisions, we believe the best candidate is
the incumbent.
Justice Evan Young, 46, has devoted
his professional life to appellate law. A
graduate of Yale Law, he clerked for U.S.
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
and served as counsel to Attorney Gener-
al Alberto Gonzales during the George
W. Bush administration. He spent a year
in Iraq assisting the judiciary there,
where he said he wit-
nessed what can happen
when the rule of law is
threatened. He was a
partner at Baker Botts
and chaired the Supreme
Court and Constitutional
Law practice group. Ab-
Young bott appointed him to
Place 9 after Justice Eva
Guzman resigned to run for attorney
general, and he began serving in January.
If the other, stand-out Democratic
candidates for this court had challenged
Young instead of the strongest incum-
bents, they may have gotten our endorse-
ments.
Although Young has extensive appel-
late experience as a lawyer, we typically
give greater value to time spent on the
bench issuing opinions in the intermedi-
ate appellate courts. As it is, though,
Young’s Democratic challenger comes up
short. Judge Julia Maldonado, 61, has
served as a family court judge in Harris
County since 2016. When she ran for
reelection in 2020, we endorsed her op-
ponent and noted that Maldonado “has
been criticized for being condescending
and sometimes issuing harmful policies.”
Her temperament during the endorse-
ment screening for this race didn’t seem
conducive to the even-keeled and deliber-
ative approach needed to persuade other
justices to join an opinion. For example,
she said she would be the only Latina on
the court and, after being informed of
Justice Huddle’s background, she contin-
ued to base her primary qualification on
her background as an immigrant and a
Hispanic Democrat. When asked to dis-
cuss a case that the Texas Supreme Court
heard and illustrate how she would bring
a needed perspective to the court, she
could not give a clear example.
Voters should return Young to the
bench.
mother, when it comes to the more dras-
tic cases.”
One of his main priorities is eliminat-
ing the Patriot Act, which he described
as an overreach and a violation of priva-
cy.
LeBlanc was actually drawn out of the
current district’s boundaries, but that
hasn’t stopped him from driving all
across the area to get to know the diverse
constituents there. LeBlanc describes his
mixed heritage as “Mexi-Cajun.” Like
Nehls, LeBlanc is a military veteran (Ar-
my) and shares an interest in criminal
justice reform. Unlike Nehls, he said he
would make more of an effort to be avail-
able to constituents if elected.
And LeBlanc told us unequivocally
that while he didn’t support Joe Biden, he
believes he was legally elected president.
“I am of the people,” he told the board.
“I grew up in a lower-middle-class family
for most of my life, I started my own
business here in Fort Bend County, I am
actually willing to listen to the constitu-
ents here.”
It would be a significant, and unlikely,
shift for voters to send a Libertarian to
Congress. And it’s a fairly rare occur-
rence for this board to endorse one. But
perhaps like us, voters here will see the
value in sending a message against do-
nothing candidates such as the Democrat
in this race and against baseless conspir-
acies and blind partisanship espoused by
the incumbent — and in favor of a chance
for change.
Psalm 112:1
A8 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022
O’ROURKE
From page A1
community, the lack of grocery
stores that sell healthy food; and
the damage that remains from
Hurricane Harvey and the 2021
winter storms.
“As a community leader and
an activist, I hear the pain of ev-
eryday life, the struggle,” Woods
said.
That, O’Rourke said, was why
he visited Tidwell Park last week
along with five different pre-
dominately Black churches on
Sunday morning. Instead of one
of his typical rallies, O’Rourke
did something different, dedi-
cating more than half the Tid-
well event to listening to neigh-
borhood leaders, elected officials
and clergy who can help boost
turnout as early voting starts
next week.
The location wasn’t an acci-
dent. In 14 precincts around the
Tidwell Center and down
through Kashmere Gardens,
turnout jumped to 41 percent in
2018 when O’Rourke was run-
ning for U.S. Senate against Ted
Cruz, up from 31 percent in 2014.
The difference meant 800 more
votes for O’Rourke just in those
neighborhoods.
Replicated in dozens of other
Black neighborhoods, higher
turnout meant thousands of
more votes in 2018 that allowed
Democrats to dominate judicial
races, knock out the Republican
County Judge, and bring
O’Rourke within 3 percentage
points of Cruz.
‘Let’s make a plan’
Now in a close race with Re-
publican Gov. Greg Abbott,
O’Rourke not only needs a re-
peat of that 2018 turnout, but he
needs even more if he’s going to
be Texas’ first Democratic gover-
nor in almost 30 years. While
polls show O’Rourke winning 90
percent of Black voters, Repub-
licans and Abbott’s campaign in-
sist they aren’t letting the El
Paso Democrat go unchallenged.
“We have substantial out-
reach and engagement of Black
voters through door-knocking,
digital and other advertising and
in-person events throughout
Texas to connect with them di-
rectly about important issues
HIDALGO
From page A1
gressive agenda she and her two
Democratic colleagues are enact-
ing on Harris County Commis-
sioners Court.
The approach has delighted
liberals who share Hidalgo’s vi-
sion of a county involved in early
childhood development, immi-
gration, environmental control
and other areas outside its tradi-
tional purview. Progressive pol-
icy advocates say her efforts to
test the limits of county govern-
ment have made Harris County
more responsive to vulnerable
communities, which they argue
were ignored under the prior
model.
At the same time, Hidalgo has
generated intense backlash from
Republicans who fundamentally
oppose the idea of expanding
county government’s size and
scope, many of whom are eager
to deny her a second term in No-
vember. They have rallied be-
hind Hidalgo’s GOP challenger,
Alexandra del Moral Mealer,
who promises to return Harris
County to a tighter focus on in-
frastructure and law enforce-
ment, arguing the latter has been
neglected in favor of Hidalgo’s
other priorities.
“Judge Hidalgo has been very
effective at promoting a progres-
sive agenda and getting the court
to support a lot of those kinds of
initiatives,” said Robert Eckels, a
Republican who preceded Em-
mett as county judge. “But on the
other hand, what’s it at the ex-
pense of?”
The three-Democrat majority
on Harris County Commission-
ers Court, formed by Hidalgo
and Commissioners Rodney El-
lis and Adrian Garcia, has mas-
sively expanded the county’s pol-
lution control budget, estab-
lished a taxpayer-funded legal
services program for poor immi-
grants facing deportation, and
poured millions of the county’s
federal pandemic aid into early
childhood education, rent relief
and a record investment of tax-
payer dollars aimed at making it
easier to vote.
The outbreak of progressive
policy-making in a county where
1in 6 Texans live has made Hidal-
go a natural target of the state’s
most prominent Republicans —
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke listens to a question at the Black Texans for
Beto town hall Oct. 9 at Tidwell Community Center.
facing the state,” said Renae Eze,
director of communications for
Abbott’s campaign.
On the campaign trail, Abbott
frequently talks about how Tex-
as has become the No. 1 state for
jobs created by Black business
owners and businesses owned
by Black women.
Meanwhile, in northeast
Houston, O’Rourke got big ap-
plause as he vowed to fight for
federal Hurricane Harvey relief
money that still hasn’t gotten to
flood-damaged homes, expand
Medicaid and expunge arrest re-
cords of people sent to jail for
marijuana possession — some-
thing he pointed out happens
more to Black and Hispanics
than white Texans, despite stud-
ies showing the three demo-
graphic groups use the drug at
equal rates.
“You’ve got to go work on your
neighbors,” Harris County Com-
missioner Rodney Ellis im-
plored the crowd. “What we’ve
got to do is go out and get our
folks to come out.”
Ellis promised that he and
other elected officials and com-
munity leaders will put their re-
sources into an aggressive
ground game to complement
O’Rourke’s volunteers.
U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee
and State Rep. Senfronia
Thompson were among the
Democrats who gave testimoni-
including Gov. Greg Abbott,
with whom she frequently
clashed over how to manage the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Hidalgo’s stature quickly has
risen amid the outpouring of
GOP criticism, which began
months into her term when a
Chambers County commission-
er told her to “speak English” af-
ter she delivered updates on a
chemical fire in both English and
Spanish.
Hidalgo’s supporters say her
emergence as a Pelosi-like bogey-
man among Republicans fre-
quently is tinged with racism
and sexism, borne out in replies
to her social media posts that of-
ten focus on her ethnicity, gender
and youth. She has compared
the hand-wringing that followed
her election to the much warmer
reception received by an even
younger predecessor, 23-year-
old Roy Hofheinz, who was de-
scribed in a 1937 Houston Chron-
icle story as bringing “new ener-
gy” to the county judge’s office.
GOP target
As Texas flirts with battle-
ground status, Hidalgo’s ascent
has raised the prospect of a fu-
ture run for statewide office,
with some Democrats arguing
her background — a Colombian
immigrant who has gone toe-to-
toe with state Republican leaders
— would appeal to Texas’ chang-
ing electorate. Some speculate
this also is driving the GOP’s im-
passioned response to Hidalgo.
“To be a target, that means
that you are a potential threat,”
said Jeronimo Cortina, a political
science professor at the Universi-
ty of Houston. “I think many of
her detractors, and big political
figures in this state, see her as a
potential threat.”
Even some of Hidalgo’s sup-
porters worry her reputation
took a hit earlier this year when
three of her current and former
aides were indicted on felony
charges stemming from an in-
vestigation into a since-rescind-
ed vaccine outreach contract.
Hidalgo has defended the
aides, who have denied wrong-
doing, but the indictments
threaten to undermine the repu-
tation she has sought to establish
by refusing campaign contribu-
tions from county vendors, ini-
tially considered one of her
strongest political assets.
als about why the neighbor-
hoods need to rally behind
O’Rourke.
It’s not just Houston’s Black
communities.
In the days before, O’Rourke
spent hours in Oak Cliff in Dal-
las, likewise trying to show that
he’s not just making token visits
to Black communities, but trying
to spend real time with people in
those places.
Those turnout efforts come as
other groups not affiliated with
O’Rourke are launching initia-
tives to help get Black voters en-
gaged in the midterm elections,
which historically have worse
turnout for voters of all back-
grounds — though 2018 was an
exception, producing turnout
closer to what’s typical in a presi-
dential election.
One of the groups doing voter
mobilization in Black communi-
ties is the Texas Organizing
Project, which has a program
tailored to help boost turnout in
Black neighborhoods in 11 key
counties.
That is especially important
this year with the state Legisla-
ture adopting new voting rules,
said Terrance “TK” Koontz, the
program’s statewide training co-
ordinator. “I tell folks, let’s make
a plan and get out early so what-
ever barriers come up, you
might have an opportunity to
deal with them,” he said.
Hidalgo, asked if she intends
to run for anything statewide in
the future, left the door open but
declined to give any details, cit-
ing her desire to avoid inadver-
tently triggering Texas’ resign-
to-run law.
“I really can’t answer that
question,” she said. “Because if I
say, categorically, no, then I’m
locked in. But if I say yes, then I
might accidentally resign, and I
just don’t want to give Abbott or
anyone else the satisfaction of
that. So, I guess folks are just go-
ing to have to guess on that one.”
First, though, Hidalgo is fight-
ing to survive a serious challenge
from Mealer, who boasts an
enormous fundraising advan-
tage that is threatening to erase
Hidalgo’s built-in advantage
among Harris County’s left-lean-
ing electorate.
Hidalgo’s supporters also fear
she could be swept up in a wave
of backlash against President Joe
Biden in the same way Hidalgo
benefited from opposition to
then-President Donald Trump
in 2018. The race is expected to be
close, with no clear signs of how
it may play out.
For all the attention paid to the
Hidalgo-Mealer contest, the
county judge holds little formal
power, serving as the public face
of Harris County, representing
the county on various boards
and committees, and managing
the county’s emergency re-
sponse functions.
Prior occupants of the office
historically have kept a low pro-
file outside their public-facing
role during hurricanes and other
disasters, often working behind
the scenes to reach the all-impor-
tant three-vote threshold needed
to pass anything on Commis-
sioners Court.
In most cases, Hidalgo has
had little trouble finding consen-
sus with Ellis and Garcia on
Democratic priority items,
which often pass on party-line
votes. And she has faced a steady
stream of disasters since taking
office in January 2019, becoming
a regular presence during tele-
vised press conference in the
early days of the COVID-19 pan-
demic.
Under the circumstances, Hi-
dalgo has “given more relevance”
to a position that most members
of the public know nothing
about, Cortina said.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM
Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer
One of those changes of con-
cern is the elimination of
straight-ticket voting.
Different focus
In neighborhoods around
Tidwell and Kashmere Gardens,
more than 90 percent of the bal-
lots cast for O’Rourke in 2018
were through straight ticket
votes that helped every Demo-
crat down the ballot. Republi-
cans in the Texas Legislature
haven’t hidden that getting rid of
straight-ticket voting had a lot to
do with Houston and its growing
Democratic voter turnout.
In 2018, more than 410,000
voters went straight ticket for
Republicans in Harris County.
That was a record but still well
short of the 515,000 Democratic
voters who went straight ticket.
That 100,000-vote margin creat-
ed a nearly insurmountable ad-
vantage for Democrats that Re-
publicans hope will ebb with
straight-ticket voting’s end.
While he praised O’Rourke
for his past efforts to travel to all
254 counties, Ellis said this year
O’Rourke is spending more time
with the people who are the
heart and soul of the Democratic
Party. “You can see he learned a
lot from 2018,” Ellis said. “He’s
focusing more on those urban
voters.”
jeremy.wallace@chron.com
While Hidalgo’s handling of
the pandemic has earned her
supporters and critics alike, it is
her efforts to expand govern-
ment that have become the focus
of her re-election bid, turning the
county judge race into a sort of
proxy battle over what role vot-
ers want county government to
play.
Crime issue
Hidalgo’s supporters say her
vision allows Harris County gov-
ernment to evolve along with its
diversifying population and
reach communities they say have
been long neglected.
“Most people in Harris Coun-
ty who care about economic and
racial equity did not see Com-
missioners Court as an avenue to
get things done,” said Ginny
Goldman, a senior adviser to Hi-
dalgo’s campaign and former ex-
ecutive director of the Texas Or-
ganizing Project. “They went to
City Hall, they went to school
board meetings, they advocated
at the Legislature. Lina’s leader-
ship has changed that, and mil-
lions of families are tangibly ben-
efiting as a result.”
Former commissioner Steve
Radack, a Republican who often
sparred with Hidalgo before he
retired from Commissioners
Court in 2020, said he does not
unilaterally oppose the idea of
broadening the county’s scope,
as long as the court has ad-
dressed the county’s core func-
tions.
The county traditionally has
overseen the building and main-
tenance of roads, bridges, flood
projects and other infrastruc-
ture; funding for public safety in
unincorporated areas, led by the
sheriff’s office; and a criminal
justice system that includes
county courthouses and jails.
“If crime was under control, if
flooding was under control, and
on and on, then hey, if there’s
money, let’s take a look at maybe
something we can do that would
fill a gap,” Radack said. “But the
problem here is that now, with all
due respect, things are not
good.”
Radack and other Republi-
cans argue Hidalgo has failed to
devote enough funding to county
law enforcement amid a rise in
homicides and overall violent
crime, an issue that has played a
central role in Mealer’s cam-
TRUMP
From page A3
Flores, a Republican who won a
special election in a district south
of Robstown earlier this year, had
raised nearly $3.4 million.
Gonzalez, a Democrat who
switched districts after narrowly
defeating De La Cruz in 2020,
had raised more than $2.7 mil-
lion.
Flores, the first Mexican-born
woman elected to Congress,
flipped the district that Republi-
cans had not held for more than
100 years.
She is serving the remainder
of former U.S. Rep. Filemon Ve-
la’s term, which expires in Janu-
ary.
Vela, a Democrat, resigned
from the seat in March to take a
job at a lobbying firm earlier this
year.
But the district, which stretch-
es south to Brownsville, was re-
drawn from the boundaries in
which Flores won, and is expect-
ed to be much more favorable to
Democrats.
More than 57 percent of voters
in the new district, which now
only reaches as far north as Kleb-
erg County, voted for President
Joe Biden, according to TLC data.
Cuellar was the only South
Texas Democrat who still held a
fundraising edge on Republican
challengers, raising $4.3 million
by the end of September.
Cassy Garcia, a former staffer
for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, had raised
nearly $2.4 million in that race.
ben.wermund@chron.com
Jon Shapley/Staff photographer
Ex-President Donald Trump
held a January rally in Conroe.
paign. The Democratic court ma-
jority also has declined requests
from District Attorney Kim Ogg,
a Democrat, for money to hire
more prosecutors.
The trend began around the
start of the pandemic in 2020,
when murders surged by more
than 40 percent in the county, in-
cluding Houston and the other
incorporated cities.
Other major cities and coun-
ties saw even sharper increases
amid a nationwide murder spike,
though Houston has now sur-
passed Dallas for the highest
murder rate among Texas’ large
cities.
Hidalgo repeatedly has said
the county’s main public safety
departments — the sheriff, con-
stables and district attorney —
have received funding boosts in
each county budget since Demo-
crats took control of Commis-
sioners Court in 2018. She also
says the county has tried to tack-
le the issue with approaches that
do not involve simply funding
more prosecutors or police boots
on the ground, including spend-
ing $50 million to address neigh-
borhood “decay and abandon-
ment” and sending sheriff’s dep-
uties to violent-crime hot spots.
Radack, echoing many of Hi-
dalgo’s Republican critics, said
crime prevention boils down to
“quick response by law enforce-
ment and visibility,” suggesting a
simpler approach would yield
better results.
Hidalgo, for her part, argues
the county should not limit itself
to traditional ways of addressing
its core responsibilities, such as
crime. She says voters gave her a
mandate to pursue her philoso-
phy of expanding county govern-
ment, an idea she campaigned on
in 2018.
“We’re more than just a rub-
ber stamp for the state. And I
think that’s why they’re coming
after me in such a way,” Hidalgo
said. “It’s the governor, state
comptroller, lieutenant gover-
nor, this developer that rounded
up $5 million against me —
there’s like, this huge commit-
ment of these sort of behemoths
of people trying to take me out,
because they don’t like that Har-
ris County is doing its own thing,
which means really tackling the
challenges it’s been facing, and
following the priorities of its resi-
dents.”

• DOW: 30,185.82, up 550.99 (1.9%)
• S&P: 3,677.95, up 94.88 (2.6%)
• OIL: $85.46, down 15 cents (-0.2%)
• NAT. GAS: $6.00, down 45 cents (-7.0%)
BP to buy Houston biogas company
$4.1 billion deal comes as demand grows
for renewable natural gas from waste
By Amanda Drane
STAFF WRIT E R
BP said Monday that it plans
to buy Houston biogas company
Archaea Energy in a deal that
will advance the U.K. oil giant’s
ambitious goal to transition from
fossil fuels.
The $4.1 billion acquisition of
Archaea, an early mover in the
More than half of older women living alone — 54 percent — are in a bad financial situation: either poor according to federal
poverty standards or with incomes too low to pay for essential expenses. For single men, the share is lower: 45 percent.
More senior Americans
falling into poverty
Pandemic, stock slide, poor pensions cited as elderly face dwindling aid
By Lydia DePillis
N EW YO RK T IME S
At the advent of Medicare
and Medicaid in the 1960s,
more than a third of older
Americans lived in poverty. By
2020, the figure had fallen to
9.5 percent. But last year, even
as the poverty rate sank for ev-
eryone else, it rose among se-
niors, to 10.7 percent.
The uptick offers new evi-
dence that elderly people
haven’t fared as well as youn-
ger generations in recent
years, and some experts worry
that it may signal a broader
setback in the financial securi-
ty of people past their prime
working years.
The coronavirus pandemic
Denver College of Nursing
leases Energy Corridor space
By Katherine Feser
STAFF WRIT E R
Denver College of Nursing is
establishing a campus in Hous-
ton and has signed a new lease
with Florida-based Accesso for
nearly 30,000 square feet in the
Energy Corridor.
Starting in December, Denver
College of Nursing will occupy
the third floor of Ashford 6, at
1155 Dairy Ashford in the Ash-
ford office complex. The Hous-
ton campus will offer a pre-licen-
sure Bachelor of Science in Nurs-
ing program taught in person,
according to the college.
The deal is the latest in a string
of leases in 2022 following reno-
vations to the three-building
Ashford campus spanning more
than 570,000 square feet near In-
terstate 10 and Dairy Ashford in
Nursing continues on B6
BUSINESS
HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022 • SECTION B
emerging renewable natural gas
industry, is expected to close this
year.
Archaea operates 50 landfill
gas-to-energy facilities and
plants producing renewable nat-
ural gas, or RNG, a fuel sourced
from waste that can be used in
place of fossil fuels. It has an ad-
ditional 80 projects under devel-
opment, including 40 RNG facil-
Juanita Brown, 77, lives in Galax, a small town in
Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Her income barely
exceeds the poverty level as she copes with family
illnesses and little hope for help.
Accesso Partners completed a renovation of its Ashford
campus in the Energy Corridor. The Denver College of Nursing
is establishing a campus there.
ities it is building in a $1.1 billion
venture with waste collection gi-
ant Republic Services. The com-
pany said earlier this year that of
its global workforce of about 400,
roughly 100 are in Houston.
Demand for gas derived from
waste, or biogas, is gaining mo-
mentum — particularly as a
transportation fuel — as compa-
nies look for alternatives that can
help them reduce their carbon
output. Oil and gas companies
such as Kinder Morgan are in-
vesting in the emerging industry
Colleen Michaels/Tribune News Service
Mike Belleme/New York Times
Accesso Partners
as part of their energy transition
strategies. Waste Management
said this year that it would invest
$825 million in RNG at its land-
fills, aiming to provide enough
energy to supply the equivalent
of 1 million homes and fuel its en-
tire natural gas fleet of vehicles
by 2026.
The deal advances BP’s biogas
business — a pillar of its energy
transition plans — helping it ac-
cess more global markets with
the equivalent of about 70,000
barrels of oil per day by 2030. BP
is a central driver. Those 65 or
older usually weren’t eligible
for as much pandemic relief as
families with children. Older
workers left the labor force at
higher rates than others as
COVID-19 spread, and can
have difficulty returning.
That’s the situation that
Walter Cox, 64, may find him-
self in. As an automotive tech-
nician at a car dealership in
Tulsa, Okla., he never made
more than $9.50 an hour, and
wasn’t able to save money
while raising two children.
Nevertheless, he retired in
2020, as the physical labor —
and rude customers — took a
toll. He also got married, and
he and his wife had about
$2,000 in combined monthly
Seniors continues on B7
Form easily allows heirs
to sell autos after death
Q: My wife and I own two
cars. Our wills give one car
to our son and the other
car to our daughter. To
prevent a lot of legal prob-
lems when we pass away,
should we sign the back of
the title to both cars now
and leave the date blank
until they sell the cars?
Both children have said
they want to sell the cars
after we are gone.
A: You should not do that.
For starters, you may de-
cide to sell your cars before
you die. If you have already
signed the title over to your
children, that may complicate
the trade-in or sale.
But more importantly, your
children can easily sell the
cars using Form VTR-262
which is called “Affidavit of
Heirship for a Motor Vehicle.”
has said it hopes that by 2030,
half its capital spending is dedi-
cated to supporting the transi-
tion from high-carbon fuels.
“With our proposed acquisi-
tion of Archaea Energy, we are
doing exactly what we said we
would, investing with discipline
in our transition growth engines
with a continuing focus on deliv-
ering long-term shareholder val-
ue,” BP CEO Bernard Looney
said. “This is a great deal, com-
bining Archaea’s proven biogas
Acquisition continues on B7
Interest
ramps up
around
hydrogen
energy
By James Osborne
WA S H I N GTO N B U RE AU
WASHINGTON — In a hotel
ballroom here, executives from
clean hydrogen firms traded
business cards and gossip about
which big oil company would
next announce plans for a hy-
drogen project, eager to seize
their piece of what some believe
could be a $1 trillion market de-
cades from now.
ConocoPhillips is working
with the Japanese utility JERA
for a clean hydrogen plant on
the Gulf Coast. BP is working
with the British industrial firm
Linde to capture carbon emis-
sions from their hydrogen
plants in Texas.
And while enthusiasm
abounds, the reality was few
clean hydrogen projects have
been finalized, raising questions
of how committed large energy
and industrial companies actu-
ally are to the technology.
Applause erupted from the
crowd at the Hydrogen Ameri-
cas Summit last week when Ji-
gar Shah, director of the Depart-
ment of Energy’s Loan Pro-
grams Office, questioned how
the industry could develop as
hoped when “all the big players
are on the sidelines going to con-
ferences and saying yes but not
willing to sign an agreement,” to
purchase the hydrogen.
“It’s obvious looking around
this room the finance folks are
not here because they’re ner-
vous about being first, second or
fifth out of the gate,” he said.
“People have gotten very enthu-
siastic about where hydrogen is
going, but there are some real-
istic milestones we need to
meet.”
Hydrogen fuel has been
talked about as the next big
clean energy technology for
years, the solution to cleaning
up emissions from long haul
trucks, cargo ships and other
heavy industries that are not
easily electrified, and a poten-
Hydrogen continues on B7
This form
allows them to
sell the cars as
long as they do
so before they
probate your
Ronald wills or as long
Lipman as no probate
of your wills is
STATE YOU R
CAS E needed.
Of course, if
you own other
assets, such as a house or
bank account, that needs to be
probated, then there will be
zero cost savings using Form
VTR-262, as your children
will still need to hire an at-
torney and go through pro-
bate.
Q: I am having trouble
transferring title to my
deceased wife’s car into my
name. Two clerks at the
Lipman continues on B7
B2 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022
Applications open for student debt relief
By Stacy Cowley
and Alan Rappeport
N EW YO RK T IME S
The federal government Mon-
day began accepting applica-
tions for President Joe Biden’s
promised student debt cancella-
tion of up to $20,000 per borrow-
er.
Those who meet the pro-
gram’s annual income limits —
up to $125,000 per individual or
$250,000 per household — can
apply online at studentaid.gov/
debt-relief/application.
“This is a game changer for
millions of Americans,” Biden
said Monday afternoon.
The Education Department,
which holds $1.6 trillion in stu-
dent loan debt and will manage
the cancellation process, quietly
opened the application website
for testing Friday night. More
than 8 million people had al-
ready applied by Monday, Biden
said. The form is available in En-
glish and Spanish, and is intend-
ed to work on desktop comput-
ers and mobile devices.
Biden announced in August
that he would use executive ac-
tion to cancel billions of dollars
in federal student loan debt.
Lawsuits seeking to block the ac-
tion were then filed, most promi-
nently by a group of six attorneys
general from Republican-led
states. A federal judge in Mis-
souri heard arguments last week
on their request for an injunction
to prevent the government from
carrying out the plan.
Western suppliers terminate sales to Chinese chipmakers
By Jeanne Whalen
WAS H INGT ON P O ST
Western suppliers have start-
ed cutting ties to some Chinese
chipmakers in response to new
U.S. export controls, in another
sign of the partial technology di-
vorce the Biden administration
is mandating to stymie China’s
military development.
One large supplier of chip-
making equipment, ASML, told
U.S. employees to stop installing
or servicing equipment at any
Chinese chip factory while it
sorts through the new rules.
Another equipment provider,
Applied Materials, said the ex-
port restrictions will prevent it
from making sales of roughly
$400 million in the fourth quar-
ter.
It is common for Western
companies to broadly suspend
exports in the immediate wake
BRIEFS
Verizon,
Walmart
offer prepaid
internet plan
Verizon Communications
enlisted Walmart to sell a pay-
as-you-go home wireless in-
ternet service for $45 a month,
marking the company’s second
big product for the prepaid
market in as many months.
The service will be sold
under the Straight Talk Home
Internet brand exclusively at
Walmart stores in the coming
weeks, according to a company
announcement. The connection
speeds will be capped at 100
Mbps and customers will need
to purchase a $99 in-home
router.
Verizon’s prepaid service
will rival T-Mobile's $50-a-
month Metro broadband that
launched in March. The new
offer will give cord-cutters
another cheap way to access
the internet at home without
landlines.
For years, Verizon largely
ignored the prepaid market,
but having fallen to the back of
the three-carrier pack on tradi-
tional mobile-subscriber
growth this year, the company
has changed its approach. Veri-
zon is now targeting customers
with little or no credit history,
like renters, students and peo-
ple without bank accounts.
Verizon became the largest
prepaid mobile phone provider
in the U.S. last year when it
bought Tracfone for $6.6 bil-
lion. Last month, in its first big
push since that deal, Verizon
unveiled Total, a prepaid brand
to compete with Metro from
Business Editor Rob Gavin: Rob.Gavin@houstonchronicle.com • 713-362-1513
President Joe Biden speaks about cancellation of student debts as Miguel Cardona, secretary of
education, listens. Biden said 8 million borrowers applied for the student debt relief program.
“Republican members of Con-
gress and Republican governors
are trying to do everything they
can to deny this relief, even to
their own constituents,” Biden
said Monday. “Their outrage is
wrong, and it’s hypocritical.”
He pointed to the $2 trillion in
tax cuts that Republicans passed
during the Trump administra-
tion and the nearly $800 billion
in forgivable small-business
loans during the pandemic to ar-
gue that he is justified in cancel-
of new U.S. restrictions, and
then resume some later, once
they decipher the rules, lawyers
say. But national-security ex-
perts say the new restrictions,
which aim to stop China from
producing advanced chips, are
among the toughest the United
States has enacted.
‘Hugely consequential’
“I see these export controls as
being hugely consequential. It
goes straight to the heart of Bei-
jing’s efforts to create a domestic
world class semiconductor in-
dustry,” said Martijn Rasser, se-
nior fellow at the Center for a
New American Security. In par-
ticular, a new rule preventing
“U.S. persons” from supporting
certain Chinese chipmakers
“won’t just freeze China’s abili-
ties in place, it will actually lead
to a degradation over time,”
Rasser said.
Last month, Verizon unveiled Total, a prepaid brand to
compete with Metro from T-Mobile and Cricket by AT&T.
T-Mobile and Cricket by AT&T.
TEXAS
State among best
co-working markets
Expansions by shared office
firms have made Texas one of
the country’s largest co-work-
ing markets.
Texas ranked second only to
California with 652 co-working
locations, according to Yardi
Systems.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area
ranked fifth nationally among
metro areas with the most
co-working facilities, according
to a new study by Yardi Sys-
tems. North Texas had 261
shared office centers, the most
of any Texas market. There are
only two other states that boast
over 500 co-working spaces
among their cities and metros
— Florida and New York.
“Demand for flexible work-
ing spaces is exploding as
workers across the U.S are
increasingly straying away
ing student debt.
Doug Peterson, Nebraska’s at-
torney general and one of those
who have sued, said last month
that Biden’s plan was “econom-
ically unwise and inherently un-
fair.”
The Education Department
said in a court filing that it would
not cancel any loans until Sun-
day at the earliest.
The initiative is projected to be
one of the costliest programs in
Biden’s agenda, with an estimat-
The trade curbs could also
have unintended consequences
for the United States, cautioned
Willy Shih, a Harvard Business
School professor who specializ-
es in technology and manufac-
turing. Depriving China of the
ability to make the highest-tech
chips could cause it to pump out
even more low-end chips, driv-
ing down prices and making it
hard for U.S. and Western facto-
ries to compete in that segment,
he said. That in turn could leave
Western buyers of such chips
dependent on Chinese suppli-
ers.
“It’s a little bit of a blunt in-
strument,” he said of export
controls. “The thing you have to
worry about is collateral dam-
age.”
The export controls, an-
nounced Oct. 7, aim to slow Chi-
na’s ability to produce high-end
semiconductors that have dual
Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg
from traditional office models
and heading toward a more
balanced work environment,”
Yardi analysts said in the re-
port. “And, while the co-work-
ing concept was already taking
off prior to the pandemic, the
last couple of years have cer-
tainly accelerated a trend that
is now solidly here to stay.”
GERMANY
3 nuclear plants
to run until April
BERLIN — Chancellor Olaf
Scholz has ordered ministers to
prepare to keep all of Germa-
ny's three remaining nuclear
plants running until mid-April.
Scholz’s office said the Ger-
man leader announced the
decision Monday in a letter to
the Cabinet. The decision
comes as Germany tries to
prevent a possible energy
crunch due to cuts in fuel sup-
plies from Russia over the war
in Ukraine.
The move overrides the
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM
Bonnie Cash/Bloomberg
ed price tag of $400 billion, ac-
cording to the nonpartisan Con-
gressional Budget Office. It esti-
mated that 95 percent of the 37
million borrowers with direct
loans owned by the government
would meet the relief plan’s in-
come criteria.
Since March 2020, federal stu-
dent loan borrowers have been
able to skip their payments. That
pandemic pause is scheduled to
end in January. Administration
officials have said they plan to
uses in commercial and military
technology. For now, China still
lags behind Taiwan, South Ko-
rea and the United States in
manufacturing the most high-
tech chips.
The controls essentially bar
exports to China of American-
made manufacturing equip-
ment needed to produce ad-
vanced chips. They also bar ex-
port of any U.S. tools or compo-
nents to Chinese factories capa-
ble of making high-end
semiconductors.
A novel step
In a novel step that appears to
have prompted some companies
to broadly suspend trade with
China, the rules also bar “U.S.
persons” — including American
factories, and Americans and
U.S. green-card holders who
work in foreign factories over-
seas — from supporting the de-
views of two coalition partners
who had been locked in a bitter
debate over the issue.
Economy Minister Robert
Habeck of the environmentalist
Greens had argued that only
two should continue operating
beyond the scheduled shut-
down on Dec. 31.
Finance Minister Christian
Lindner of the pro-business
Free Democrats had suggested
all three could continue operat-
ing beyond April.
OKLAHOMA
More Apple workers
vote to unionize
The National Labor Rela-
tions Board says workers at an
Apple store in Oklahoma City
voted to unionize, marking the
second unionized Apple store
in the U.S. in a matter of
months. The vote signaled
another win for the labor
movement, which has been
gaining momentum since the
pandemic. A preliminary tally
shows 56 workers at the store
voted to be represented by The
Communications Workers of
America, while 32 voted
against it. Worker discontent
has triggered labor movements
at several major companies in
the U.S. in the wake of the
COVID-19 pandemic, which
triggered tensions over sick
leave policies, scheduling, safe-
ty and other issues.
TEXAS
Lending firms eyed
in securities probe
FTX Trading and its billion-
aire founder, Sam Bankman-
Fried, are being probed by the
Texas securities regulator over
whether certain lending of-
ferings violate state law.
The state is investigating
eliminate the debt of many appli-
cants this month and next.
Applicants are eligible for
$10,000 in debt relief, or $20,000
if they received Pell grants for
low-income families. For tens of
millions of people, that level of
relief would eliminate their fed-
eral student loan debt. The gov-
ernment plans to accept applica-
tions until Dec. 31, 2023.
The form asks applicants to
self-certify that they fall within
the income limits. A small frac-
tion will be asked to submit doc-
uments to verify their eligibility,
according to administration offi-
cials.
The White House is con-
cerned that the debt forgiveness
program will attract fraud and
scammers seeking to process ap-
plications for fees. Biden warned
that his administration would
crack down on such schemes
and reminded borrowers that
there was no cost to apply for
loan forgiveness.
New government websites can
be notoriously finicky, as Biden
knows well from the rollout of
the Affordable Care Act health
insurance website in 2013. He
said Monday that his adminis-
tration was working to make
sure that the student debt relief
portal remained up and running.
“We’re going to make sure the
system continues to work as
smoothly as possible so that we
can deliver student loan relief for
millions of Americans as quickly
and as efficiently as possible,” Bi-
den said.
velopment or production of
such chips for China, unless
they receive a U.S. government
license.
ASML, a Dutch manufactur-
er of high-end semiconductor
manufacturing tools that has
U.S. offices and many U.S. em-
ployees, immediately instructed
its U.S. staff to freeze their inter-
action with Chinese customers.
“ASML U.S. employees must
refrain — either directly or indi-
rectly — from servicing, ship-
ping or providing support to any
customers in China until further
notice, while ASML is actively
assessing which particular fabs
are affected by this restriction,”
the company told employees in
an internal letter last week, an
ASML spokesman confirmed.
The company said the freeze
applies to U.S. citizens, green-
card holders and foreign nation-
als who live in the United States.
whether the company’s yield-
bearing crypto accounts are
being illegally sold to U.S. resi-
dents, according to a Oct. 14
court filing in the bankruptcy
of Voyager Digital Holdings.
Texas is probing whether the
offerings are unregistered se-
curities.
Texas State Securities Board
enforcement director Joe Ro-
tunda said he was able to ac-
cess the company’s earn pro-
gram despite the company not
being registered with the state,
according to the filing.
The U.S. Securities and Ex-
change Commission and state
investigators have been prob-
ing whether accounts offered
by crypto lenders are akin to
securities that should be regis-
tered with regulators.
GERMANY
Messaging app
Telegram fined $5M
BERLIN — Germany has
announced that it is issuing
fines of 5.125 million euros ($5
million) against the operators
of the messaging app Telegram
for failing to comply with Ger-
man law.
The Federal Office of Justice
said Monday that Telegram
FZ-LLC hasn’t established a
lawful way for reporting illegal
content or named an entity in
Germany to receive official
communication. Both are re-
quired under German laws that
regulate large online platforms.
German officials said they
have repeatedly failed in at-
tempts to serve papers to Du-
bai-based Telegram despite
support from authorities in the
United Arab Emirates. German
federal police warned that the
app is becoming a “medium for
radicalization.”
From wire reports
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022 B3

MARKET SUMMARY
ENERGY FUTURES BLOOMBERG COMMODITY PRICE OUTLOOK ENERGY PRICES ETFs - $1,000 INVESTED IN EACH
Prices in U.S. dollars per unit for energy commodities for the contract closest to The median price of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg: Cash price in U.S. dollars paid at delivery for Performance of various index-based investment products:
delivery: various commodities:
2022 Forecast 2023 Forecast 2024 Forecast
ENERGY
Name C Date Open High Low Settle Chg Unit Name Last Price Pvs Day Unit $1K $1K $1K
Lt Sw Crude Nov 22 85.59 87.12 84.61 85.46 -0.15 barrel Crude Oil 97.71 92.00 84.00
Unleaded Gasoline - NY 2.88 2.94 gallon return return return
Natural Gas 6.74 5.97 4.95 Ticker Name 1mo 3mo 1yr
Natural gas Nov 22 6.26 6.31 5.91 6.00 -0.45 MMBtu North Sea Brent 90.98 91.35 barrel XLE Energy Select Se 1,048 1,198 1,481
Gas blend Nov 22 2.64 2.67 2.58 2.59 -0.04 gal W. Texas-Int. - Cushing 85.46 85.61 barrel XES SPDR Oil & Gas E 1,028 1,213 1,041
Heating oil Nov 22 4.00 4.12 4.00 4.09 0.11 gal Nat Gas - Henry Hub 6.02 6.07 MMBtu USO US Oil Fund 1,003 951 1,227
Ethanol Nov 22 - - - 2.16 0.00 gal
METALS
$1K $1K $1K
BLOOMBERG/CHRONICLE ENERGY INDEX return return return
Ticker Name 1mo 3mo 1yr
Top and bottom performers among Houston-based and other major energy companies: Performance of a basket of Houston-based and IAU iShares Gold T 985 965 929
Last Last other major energy companies over the past 12 91.07 SLV iShares Silver T 952 996 793
months:
Tick Name Price % Chg Volume Tick Name Price % Chg Volume
FTK Flotek Industries Inc 1.17 12.5 240,405 MUR Murphy Oil Corp 42.35 -0.2 556,618 Aug. 2007=100 SOFT/LIVESTOCK/GRAIN
RIG Transocean Ltd 3.09 6.2 21,465,022 HDYNQ Hyperdynamics Corp 0.00 0.0 3,044 $1K $1K $1K
110 return return return
HUSA Houston American Energy 3.81 5.5 369,136 EOG EOG Resources Inc 120.90 0.3 1,063,933 Ticker Name 1mo 3mo 1yr
WTI W&T Offshore Inc 7.38 5.4 2,616,525 AE Adams Resources & Energy 30.70 0.3 4,535 JO DJ-UBS Coffee 907 1,005 976
TTI TETRA Technologies Inc 3.95 5.3 848,834 MRO Marathon Oil Corp 27.14 0.3 15,454,613 CORN Teucrium Corn 1,008 1,123 1,364
CVI CVR Energy Inc 35.35 5.2 655,058 COP ConocoPhillips 118.36 0.3 6,624,776 CANE Teucrium Sugar 1,038 970 954
80
OIS Oil States International 4.62 5.0 526,231 CQP Cheniere Energy Partners 54.91 0.5 200,891 CATL ETFS Live Cattle 986 1,026 1,004
AROC Archrock Inc 6.98 3.9 598,328 BP BP PLC 30.48 0.5 8,465,041 COW iPath DJ-UBS Liv 985 1,037 1,053
EPM Evolution Petroleum Corp 7.74 3.8 136,034 LNG Cheniere Energy Inc 171.60 0.6 1,803,830 60
*Trades on London Stock Exchange
EGY VAALCO Energy Inc 5.56 3.2 1,914,022 CVX Chevron Corp 161.31 0.7 2,174,707 O N D J F M A M J J A S O

Stocks bounce back after week of whiplash

N EW YO RK T IME S also up. The benchmark index continued strength in consumer forecasts for investors anxious percent.
has recorded six daily moves big- spending, echoing the earnings about the path of the economy. In other markets, the price of
Stock markets shot upward ger than 2 percent this month, of other big banks at the end of The big gyrations in stocks West Texas Intermediate crude
Monday, the latest in a series of compared with only two in Sep- last week. Its shares rose 6 per- lately always been about changes oil, the U.S. bench mark, fell 0.3
wild swings, after several big fi- tember. cent. Charles Schwab and the in fundamentals, such as a percent, to $85 a barrel. The price
nancial institutions reported The S&P remains down more Bank of New York Mellon also strong earnings report, said Kris- of Brent crude, the global bench
earnings that beat expectations. than 22 percent since the begin- reported better-than-expected ty Akullian, an iShares strategist mark, fell 0.1 percent, to almost
Large day-to-day fluctuations ning of the year. earnings. at BlackRock. There’s a “techni- $92 a barrel.
have become more common in Monday’s big shift in the mar- Investors are keeping an eye cal element” too that’s driving the London’s FTSE 100 closed
the stock market this month. The kets came after Bank of America, on companies reporting earnings bigger-than-usual moves. with gains of 0.9 percent, the
S&P 500 closed with a gain of 2.65 the nation’s second-largest bank, this quarter to gauge whether big “We’re actually seeing that British pound strengthened and
percent, reversing a fall of more reported quarterly earnings that corporations are beginning to whenever the market rallies a lit- government bond yields plunged
than 2 percent on Friday, which beat expectations. Also lifting feel the effects of an economic tle bit, it tends to rally a lot.” after Jeremy Hunt, newly in-
itself came after a rise of more sentiment was news from Britain downturn. This week, business- Yields on U.S. government stalled chancellor of the Exche-
than 2 percent on Thursday. All 11 that Prime Minister Liz Truss’ es including American Airlines, bonds, a benchmark for borrow- quer, announced Monday more
sectors of the S&P 500, which in- tax plan, which had rattled mar- Goldman Sachs and Procter & ing costs, were largely un- reversals of Truss’ plan for tax
clude groupings such as technol- kets, would be reversed. Gamble are set to open their changed. The yield on the two- cuts funded by additional bor-
ogy, energy and real estate, were Bank of America pointed to books, providing updates and year note inched lower, to 4.45 rowing.
S&P 500 MOVERS MARKET INDEXES
Top and bottom performers based on one-day percentage change in stock price: Daily close of the Nasdaq Composite index and the S&P 500 over the past six months:
DAILY GAINERS DAILY LOSERS
Last 1-month Last 1-month NASDAQ 10,675.80 3.4% S&P 500 3,677.95 2.6%
Tick Name Price % Chg % Chg Volume Tick Name Price % Chg % Chg Volume
CDAY Ceridian HCM Hld 56.02 8.0 -5.0 353,914 FOXA Fox Corp 28.58 -9.4 -15.1 3,638,267
DISH DISH Network Corp 13.91 7.3 -19.5 2,097,028 FOX Fox Corp 26.80 -8.1 -14.1 1,908,586 14,000 4,500
TSLA Tesla Inc 219.35 7.0 -27.7 16,609,618 KR Kroger Co/The 42.11 -2.4 -10.9 2,442,172
MTCH Match Group Inc 44.32 6.9 -20.0 1,700,501 SCHW Charles Schwab 67.43 -2.2 -6.2 2,915,618
4,300
NFLX Netflix Inc 245.10 6.6 2.1 3,973,366 CI Cigna Corp 289.92 -1.8 -0.1 532,026
CZR Caesars Ent 37.65 6.6 -16.5 1,356,152 MO Altria Group Inc 44.59 -1.4 5.4 2,097,451
AMZN Amazon.com Inc 113.79 6.4 -7.9 16,191,795 WBD Warner Bros Disc 12.32 -0.9 -3.3 6,315,446 4,100
INTU Intuit Inc 403.74 6.2 -4.6 880,766 SJM J M Smucker Co 139.97 -0.8 0.8 216,356
12,000
ETSY Etsy Inc 98.12 6.1 -9.2 946,239 ALK Alaska Air Group 41.53 -0.7 -6.4 568,955
BAC Bank of America 33.62 6.1 -1.5 19,654,193 WBA Walgrns Bts Allnc 33.00 -0.7 -3.7 4,293,109 3,900

BLOOMBERG HOUSTON CHRONICLE 150 11,000

3,700
The Bloomberg Houston 150 includes major companies based in Houston and significant employers in the area.
Last Chg % Chg 52W Div Last Chg % Chg 52W Div
Name Ticker Price Day YTD 52W Low High Yld Name Ticker Price Day YTD 52W Low High Yld
10,000 3,500
AcdmySprts ASO 44.63 0.55 1.7 25.10 51.51 0.67 MgnlOil & MGY 22.59 0.61 19.7 17.23 30.31 1.77
AdmsRes & AE 30.70 0.08 10.4 26.26 39.89 3.12 MRC Global MRC 9.07 0.38 31.8 6.38 13.45 - A M J J A S O A M J J A S O
Amazon.com AMZN 113.79 6.89 -31.7 101.26 188.11 - Murphy Oil MUR 42.35 -0.09 62.2 23.50 45.79 2.36
Amplify En AMPY 8.83 0.49 183.9 2.60 9.86 - NatEnSvcsR NESR 6.39 0.18 -32.4 5.64 13.28 -
APA Corp APA 40.10 0.17 49.1 22.94 51.95 2.49 Nbrs Indst NBR 119.12 2.88 46.9 72.46 207.67 - U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL STOCK INDEXES
AppldOptlc AAOI 2.80 0.06 -45.5 1.48 8.86 - NewparkRes NR 3.06 0.08 4.1 2.39 4.81 -
Archrock AROC 6.98 0.26 -6.7 6.28 10.44 8.31 NineEnSvc NINE 4.24 0.46 324.0 0.79 8.10 - Daily close and change in value for selected stock indexes:
AT&T Inc T 15.31 0.32 -17.5 14.46 21.53 7.25 NOV Inc NOV 18.03 0.15 33.1 11.46 24.06 1.11
U.S. INDEXES
Bk of Amer BAC 33.62 1.92 -24.4 29.31 50.11 2.62 NOW Inc DNOW 10.94 0.43 28.1 7.00 13.40 -
Index Last Price Chg. % Chg YTD
BkrHghsCo BKR 23.93 1.02 -0.5 20.42 39.78 3.01 NRG Energy NRG 41.91 0.87 -2.7 34.70 47.82 3.34
Dow Jones Ind. 30,185.82 550.99 1.9 -16.9
BlckStnMin BSM 17.00 -0.16 64.6 9.70 17.69 9.88 NtrlResPrt NRP 40.98 0.33 22.6 27.10 50.82 7.32
Nasdaq Composite 10,675.80 354.41 3.4 -31.8
BnchmrkElc BHE 26.02 0.53 -4.0 21.11 29.11 2.54 NxTrOlfldS NEX 9.66 0.28 172.1 3.21 12.50 -
S&P 500 3,677.95 94.88 2.6 -22.8
Boeing Co BA 136.09 2.94 -32.4 113.02 233.94 - OccdntlPtr OXY 67.36 0.68 132.4 26.05 77.13 0.77
BBG Houston 150 445.56 9.54 2.2 -35.7
BP PLC BP 30.48 0.15 14.5 25.33 34.30 4.73 Ocnrng Int OII 9.00 0.20 -20.4 7.25 18.20 -
DJ US Total Stk 37,047.61 991.40 2.7 -23.8
BristowGrp VTOL 25.32 1.00 -20.1 21.61 40.10 - OilSttsInt OIS 4.62 0.22 -7.0 3.51 9.02 -
Russell 2000 1,735.75 53.35 3.2 -22.7
Cactus Inc WHD 43.64 0.88 14.5 34.70 64.18 1.01 OrionGroup ORN 2.43 -0.05 -35.5 2.10 5.06 -
Cadence Bk CADE 28.50 0.90 -4.3 22.04 34.24 3.09 ParPacific PARR 19.17 0.84 16.3 11.66 21.10 -
Carrg Svcs CSV 31.69 0.75 -50.8 30.45 66.33 1.42 Phillips66 PSX 95.46 1.36 31.7 67.08 111.28 4.06
INTERNATIONAL INDEXES
Castle Bsc CSTL 23.35 1.33 -45.5 15.58 68.65 - Plains GP PAGP 11.99 0.34 24.8 8.76 13.02 7.26 Index Last Price Chg. % Chg YTD
FTSE 100 6,920.24 61.45 0.9 -6.3
CenterPtEn CNP 26.25 0.37 -5.9 25.03 33.50 2.74 PlnsAllAme PAA 11.38 0.31 21.8 8.64 12.57 7.64
ChampionX CHX 21.65 0.62 7.1 16.64 28.08 1.39 PNCFinSvcs PNC 155.85 6.15 -22.3 143.52 228.14 3.85 Hang Seng 16,612.90 25.21 0.2 -29.0
Chevron CVX 161.31 1.17 37.5 108.96 182.40 3.52 PROS Inc PRO 25.06 0.06 -27.3 18.09 39.60 - Mexico IPC 46,220.72 777.37 1.7 -13.2
ChnrEnPrtn CQP 54.91 0.29 31.4 37.77 61.23 5.63 PrsprtyBnc PB 74.11 1.48 2.5 64.69 80.46 2.81 Nikkei 225 26,775.79 -314.97 -1.2 -7.0
Civeo Corp CVEO 27.29 0.67 42.4 17.69 32.06 - Pttrsn-UTI PTEN 13.62 0.33 61.2 6.71 20.53 1.17 S&P/Toronto SE 18,621.02 294.67 1.6 -12.3
CllnPtrCo CPE 42.06 0.17 -11.0 31.23 66.48 - Pwll Indst POWL 21.63 0.45 -26.7 18.81 31.81 4.81
CmdnPropTr CPT 115.41 4.73 -35.4 109.66 180.37 3.26 QnxBldngPr NX 19.78 0.19 -20.2 18.00 25.94 1.62
CmfrtSysUS FIX 104.56 3.24 5.7 74.14 109.00 0.54 QuantaSvcs PWR 129.69 6.28 13.1 93.91 149.33 0.22
Comcast CMCSA 30.82 0.77 -38.8 28.39 54.88 3.50 Ranger Oil ROCC 35.90 1.16 33.4 23.32 53.59 0.84
WHAT A U.S. DOLLAR IS WORTH IN . . .
ConcPhllps COP 118.36 0.40 68.1 64.25 123.41 1.55 RngrEnSvcs RNGR 9.32 0.14 -9.3 8.40 11.87 -
Value of the U.S. dollar in selected currencies:
Conn's Inc CONN 8.11 0.40 -65.5 6.93 26.92 - SchlmbrgrN SLB 42.86 0.70 43.1 27.65 49.83 1.63
Coterra En CTRA 28.92 0.50 54.6 18.11 36.55 8.99 Shell PLC SHEL 51.41 0.88 18.5 41.23 61.68 3.89 Currency Last 1-Mo Ago 6-Mo Ago 1-Yr Ago
Crown Cstl CCI 132.97 5.32 -36.3 124.82 209.87 4.42 ShllMdstPr SHLX 15.83 0.01 37.4 10.76 16.08 7.58 Australian Dollar 1.59 1.49 1.36 1.35
CrscntEnCo CRGY 14.61 0.47 15.2 10.86 23.18 4.65 SlctEnSvcs WTTR 7.98 0.29 28.1 5.30 10.43 - Brazilian Real 5.28 5.17 4.65 5.51
CrstwdEqyP CEQP 29.67 0.57 7.5 22.88 32.96 8.83 SlrsOlfldI SOI 11.30 0.38 72.5 6.11 14.61 3.72 British Pound 0.88 0.87 0.77 0.73
CVR Energy CVI 35.35 1.74 127.9 13.39 40.23 4.53 SlvrBw Res SBOW 30.24 -0.68 38.9 19.00 49.91 - Canadian Dollar 1.37 1.33 1.26 1.24
CVS Health CVS 90.89 1.59 -11.9 84.12 111.25 2.42 SmmtMdstPr SMLP 17.68 1.21 -20.4 11.52 37.03 - Chilean Peso 971.85 922.82 816.97 817.80
Devon En DVN 69.80 1.78 58.5 35.55 79.40 8.89 SnnvEnInt NOVA 17.14 0.36 -38.6 12.47 46.40 - Chinese Ren (yuan) 7.20 7.01 6.37 6.43
DPntdeNmrs DD 53.22 1.12 -34.1 49.52 85.16 2.48 StellarBcp STEL 28.25 0.40 -2.6 26.11 33.10 1.84 Colombian Peso 4,727.30 4,407.54 3,732.85 3,767.00
DR Horton DHI 69.97 1.32 -35.5 59.25 110.45 1.28 SthwstrnEn SWN 6.68 0.17 43.3 3.81 9.87 - Euro 1.02 1.00 0.93 0.86
Dril-Quip DRQ 21.09 0.63 7.2 18.17 41.23 - StrlngInfr STRL 24.34 0.76 -7.5 20.46 32.14 - Indian Rupee 82.36 79.77 76.27 75.35
DXPEntrpr DXPE 25.44 0.85 -0.9 22.09 36.26 - StwrtInfoS STC 43.58 0.63 -45.3 41.34 81.00 4.13 Japanese Yen 149.01 143.21 126.99 114.32
EntrprsPro EPD 25.36 0.37 15.5 20.42 28.65 7.49 Sunoco LP SUN 39.68 0.05 -2.8 34.26 46.95 8.32 Mexican Peso 20.00 19.92 19.83 20.41
EOG Res EOG 120.90 0.33 40.9 77.93 144.20 2.48 Svc Int/U SCI 60.92 0.46 -14.2 56.85 75.12 1.64 Norwegian Krone 10.53 10.20 8.87 8.42
Erthstn En ESTE 13.96 0.28 27.6 9.41 22.25 - SWArlnsCo LUV 32.72 -0.04 -23.6 30.20 52.79 - S. African Rand 18.07 17.68 14.65 14.68
ExxonMobil XOM 100.62 1.43 64.4 57.96 105.57 3.50 Sysco Corp SYY 75.58 1.84 -3.8 68.05 91.53 2.59 S. Korean Won 1,435.23 1,393.82 1,233.91 1,187.72
Fltk Indst FTK 1.17 0.13 3.5 0.53 1.97 - Talos En TALO 20.44 0.57 108.6 8.57 25.49 - Singapore Dollar 1.42 1.41 1.36 1.35
Fluor Corp FLR 27.20 1.00 9.8 17.12 31.32 - Targa Res TRGP 66.08 1.12 26.5 47.57 81.50 2.12 Taiwan Dollar 32.01 31.43 29.23 28.01
FrmEnTech FET 23.18 0.22 44.4 14.71 30.99 - Target TGT 149.25 3.56 -35.5 137.16 268.98 2.89
Frprt-McMR FCX 28.82 1.18 -30.8 24.80 51.99 2.08 TC Energy TRP 41.55 1.09 -10.7 39.11 59.38 6.32
GenElctrCo GE 68.63 1.06 -27.4 59.93 116.17 0.47 Team Inc TISI 0.88 0.02 -19.2 0.52 3.42 - TREASURIES, INTEREST RATES
Genesis En GEL 10.11 0.14 -5.6 7.61 13.48 5.93 TechnipFMC FTI 9.46 0.10 59.8 5.48 9.96 -
Gespc Tech GEOS 4.18 0.03 -37.5 4.07 10.27 - Tellurian TELL 2.70 0.14 -12.3 1.54 6.54 - Yields for the most recently issued securities:
Grp 1 Auto GPI 164.31 1.90 -15.8 136.16 212.23 0.93 TETRA Tech TTI 3.95 0.20 39.1 2.32 5.82 - TREASURIES
GrtLksDrdg GLDD 7.50 0.09 -52.3 7.03 16.27 - Tidewater TDW 25.57 1.49 138.7 9.75 28.79 - Last Yld Pvs Yld 1Day Yld Wk Yld Mo Yld 3-Mo Yld Yr
Bill/Note Yld Day Clo Net Chg Ago Ago Ago Ago
Hess Corp HES 124.91 2.32 68.7 68.32 131.83 1.20 Transocean RIG 3.09 0.18 12.0 2.32 5.56 -
3-month t-bill 3.77 3.72 0.05 3.36 3.13 2.34 0.05
Hess Midst HESM 26.72 0.65 -3.3 23.35 35.71 8.32 TtlEnrgsSE TTE 51.60 0.60 4.3 44.61 61.15 5.22
6 month t-bill 4.34 4.31 0.03 4.09 3.80 2.87 0.05
Hllbrtn Co HAL 29.99 0.58 31.1 20.77 43.99 1.60 Untd Arlns UAL 36.10 0.63 -17.5 30.54 54.52 -
2-year t note 4.45 4.50 -0.05 4.31 3.87 3.13 0.40
HlxEnSolGr HLX 4.37 0.07 40.1 2.47 5.78 - UntdPrclSv UPS 164.72 3.04 -23.2 154.87 233.72 3.69
5-year t note 4.23 4.27 -0.04 4.14 3.63 3.04 1.13
Howrd Hghs HHC 57.87 0.70 -43.1 50.90 105.51 - US Silica SLCA 11.91 0.68 26.7 8.72 21.54 -
10-year t note 4.02 4.02 -0.01 3.88 3.45 2.92 1.57
Huntsman HUN 26.22 0.35 -24.8 23.54 41.65 3.24 USPhysclTh USPH 79.11 1.69 -17.2 73.30 131.50 2.07
30-year t bond 3.96 4.00 0.03 3.84 3.52 3.08 2.04
HwlttPckrd HPE 12.78 0.19 -19.0 11.90 17.76 3.76 Valero En VLO 115.50 1.38 53.8 65.13 146.81 3.39
IES Inc IESC 30.64 0.90 -39.5 24.94 55.98 - Verzn Comm VZ 37.18 0.80 -28.4 35.04 55.51 7.02
Insperity NSP 109.86 3.86 -7.0 83.94 127.10 1.89 Via Rnwbls VIA 5.55 0.12 -51.4 5.41 12.28 13.06 PRIME, FED FUNDS
IONGeophys IOGPQ 0.00 - -99.7 0.00 2.67 - W&T Offsh WTI 7.38 0.38 128.5 2.97 9.01 - Rate 6-month change 1-year change
JPMrgnChs JPM 115.86 4.67 -26.8 101.28 172.96 3.45 Walmart WMT 131.37 0.94 -9.2 117.27 160.77 1.70 Bloomberg Prime Rate 6.25 78.57 92.31
KBR Inc KBR 46.21 1.24 -3.0 40.97 56.94 1.04 Wast Cnnct WCN 128.13 3.59 -6.0 113.50 148.20 0.72 Fed Funds Target 3.25 550.00 1200.00
Kindr Mrgn KMI 17.50 0.31 10.3 15.01 20.20 6.34 Waste Mgmt WM 157.82 3.09 -5.4 138.58 175.98 1.65
Kirby Corp KEX 67.15 2.74 13.0 50.58 75.08 - WdsdEnGrp WDS 20.87 0.41 31.2 14.67 26.14 10.46 COMMODITY PRICES
KLXEnSvcs KLXE 9.95 0.63 221.0 2.94 13.36 - Westlake WLK 92.67 0.15 -4.6 81.29 141.19 1.54
Closing values for the most active contract of various commodities:
Kroger Co KR 42.11 -1.05 -7.0 38.22 62.78 2.47 WhtstnREIT WSR 8.63 0.25 -14.8 8.15 13.66 5.56
LGI Homes LGIH 80.94 1.34 -47.6 71.73 160.59 - WlgrnsBtsA WBA 33.00 -0.24 -36.7 30.39 55.00 5.82 METALS
LyndllBsll LYB 78.32 0.52 -11.0 71.46 112.53 6.08 WllsFrg & WFC 43.96 0.79 -8.4 36.54 60.30 2.73 Name C Date Last Price Pvs Close Day % Chg YTD % Chg Unit
Macy's Inc M 18.24 0.78 -30.3 15.10 37.95 3.45 WstlkChemP WLKP 22.87 0.23 -14.9 19.71 29.40 8.24 Copper Dec 22 3.42 3.42 -0.5 -22.7 usd/pd
MainStCap MAIN 34.10 0.96 -23.5 31.66 46.72 7.74 WstrnMdstP WES 26.60 0.53 19.4 18.95 29.50 7.52 Gold Dec 22 1,664.00 1,648.90 0.4 -10.1 usd/oz
Marthn Oil MRO 27.14 0.09 65.3 14.29 33.24 1.18 Palladium Dec 22 1,999.90 1,997.30 -0.2 3.8 usd/oz
Platinum Jan 23 913.60 894.90 2.1 -6.0 usd/oz
BLOOMBERG HOUSTON CHRONICLE 150 MOVERS Silver Dec 22 18.72 18.07 2.8 -21.1 usd/oz
Daily Gainers Daily Losers
Last 1-day 1-month Last 1-day 1-month AGRICULTURE
Tick Name Price % Chg %Chg Volume Tick Name Price % Chg %Chg Volume
FTK Flotek Industries Inc 1.17 12.5 3.5 240,405 KR Kroger Co/The 42.11 -2.4 -10.9 10,964,010 Name C Date Last Price Pvs Close Day % Chg YTD % Chg Unit
NINE Nine Energy Service Inc 4.24 12.2 39.5 983,584 SBOW SilverBow Resources Inc 30.24 -2.2 -8.0 500,323 Live Cattle Dec 22 1.49 1.48 1.0 3.1 usd/pd
SMLP Summit Midstream Partners 17.68 7.3 12.0 113,922 ORN Orion Group Holdings Inc 2.43 -2.0 -4.3 40,495 Coffee Dec 22 1.96 1.97 -0.6 -12.4 usd/pd
KLXE KLX Energy Services Inc 9.95 6.8 54.7 145,048 BSM Black Stone Minerals LP 17.00 -0.9 8.3 841,857 Corn Dec 22 6.84 6.90 -1.0 25.0 usd/bu
AMZN Amazon.com Inc 113.79 6.4 -7.9 62,413,486 WBA Walgreens Boots Alliance 33.00 -0.7 -3.7 12,896,393 Cotton Dec 22 0.83 0.83 -0.1 -10.3 usd/pd
TDW Tidewater Inc 25.57 6.2 8.5 404,699 MUR Murphy Oil Corp 42.35 -0.2 7.6 1,842,093 Lumber Nov 22 509.60 494.00 3.2 -48.9 usd/bd ft
RIG Transocean Ltd 3.09 6.2 2.0 21,465,022 LUV Southwest Airlines Co 32.72 -0.1 -5.8 4,653,914 Orange Juice Jan 23 1.92 1.89 1.4 33.8 usd/pd
SLCA US Silica Holdings Inc 11.91 6.1 -7.4 803,648 SUN Sunoco LP 39.68 0.1 -0.7 182,126 Soybean Nov 22 13.85 13.84 0.0 9.0 usd/bu
BAC Bank of America Corp 33.62 6.1 -1.5 87,332,507 SHLX Shell Midstream Partners 15.83 0.1 0.0 1,715,741 Wheat Dec 22 8.61 8.60 -0.1 11.6 usd/bu
CSTL Castle Biosciences Inc 23.35 6.0 -14.0 306,253 PRO PROS Holdings Inc 25.06 0.2 11.1 487,490
B4 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022 HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

Southwest seeks to lure

small firms onto planes
By Kyle Arnold
DA L L AS MORNING NEWS
Dallas-based Southwest
Airlines is trying to lure
small and medium busi-
nesses into its travel sys-
tem as the airline industry
faces another rough patch.
Southwest Airlines
rolled out a referral pro-
gram for small and medi-
um-sized businesses Mon-
day, giving 25,000 rewards
points per company for
funneling other firms into
the airlines’ managed trav-
el system.
It’s a play to capture one
of the hardest-to-reach yet
most reliable audiences
coming out of the CO-
VID-19 downturn, as large
firms have pulled back on
travel in favor of video con-
ferencing and work-from-
home policies while small
firms have been eager to
win back customers with
face-to-face meetings.
“A lot of these small and
midsized companies just
don’t have the structure to
slow people down,” said
vice president of South-
west Business Dave Har-
vey. “If they don’t get peo-
ple out there traveling to
generate sales and new
business development,
they could lose the compa-
ny completely.”
EARNINGS
About14 percent of com-
panies still have lock-
downs on air travel com-
ing out of the COVID-19
pandemic, according to
the Global Business Travel
Association. That number
recovered quickly in 2021
as travel resumed after
travel restrictions dropped
but has leveled off this
year.
Corporate air travel
purchases are still down
about 25 percent from 2019,
according to ticket-data
service ARC, a number
that has stagnated as com-
panies now face economic
headwinds on top of pan-
demic recovery setbacks.
Southwest has long
bragged that small and
medium businesses are
major customers even if
the data doesn’t reflect it.
Smaller customers are un-
likely to show up on data
because their tickets are
bought outside of man-
aged corporate sales plat-
forms.
Last year, Southwest
made a major push to get
in front of large corporate
travel managers by getting
into the global distribution
system for Southlake-
based Sabre, the biggest
such platform in the world
for corporate travel.
Those types of systems
are essential for airlines
because corporate travel
managers tend to use them
first to book travel.
Harvey said Southwest
has pumped up its corpo-
rate sales team to about
250 people from just 20 a
few years ago. But, Harvey
said, small and medium
businesses are often buy-
ing tickets ad hoc, using
airline websites or third-
party sites.
“We don’t necessarily
have dedicated account
managers assigned to
some of those small busi-
nesses,” he said.
Southwest has topped
out the new referral pro-
gram at 125,000 reward
points, which would be
worth about $1,875, accord-
ing to Nerdwallet’s airline
mile estimates. Those
miles don’t go as far as they
used to since Southwest’s
mile redemptions are
based on prices and air-
fares have spiked in recent
months with high de-
mand.
“Most of these compa-
nies they don’t have big in-
ternational travel needs,
it’s more domestic,” Har-
vey said. “When you think
about our point-to-point
network, it’s one of our
points of strength across
the country.”
Gulf Coast Community Services Association, Inc. is seeking proposals from CAUSE NO. 2022- CAUSE NUMBER:
vendors to provide Armed Security Guard Services . The service provided will be 06400 202218367
for a one-year period with an option to renew for four additional one-year terms. EBONY JONES Plaintiff: KOENIG,
Proposals will be available on-line and can be downloaded at Plaintiff, TRAVIS HOWARD
www.gccsa.org beginning October 17, 2022. Submission deadline is December vs. vs.
2, 2022 at 5:00 p.m. This project is indirectly funded by the U.S. Department of DOMINIC Defendant: WILIAMS,
Health and Human Services and the Texas Department of Housing and Commun- AKPUOMOBUDE and WILLIE MAY
ity Affairs. FUNJOM NCHAMUKONG IN THE 133RD JUDICIAL
Defendants. DISTRICT COURT OF
CITATION BY HARRIS COUNTY,
TEXAS
PUBLICATION
Request for Proposal - Houston-Galveston Area Council – Main Office NOTICE CITATION BY
COMES NOW, EBONY PUBLICATION
Renovations General Contractor/Construction Manager –
FIN-AD-RENOGC-10-2022 JONES., hereinafter refer- THE STATE OF TEXAS
red to as Plaintiff, and file County of Harris
H-GAC is seeking construction services from a qualified General Contracting this lawsuit against DOM- To: WILLIAMS, WILLIE
firm to coordinate and oversee construction with the demolition and renovation INIC AKPUOMOBUDE MAE (A/K/A WILLIE
of interior office spaces of our primary office located in Houston, Texas 77027. and FUNJOM MAE WILLIAMS WASH-
Those firms interested in submitting a proposal to provide General Contractor NCHAMUKONG, herein- INGTON A/K/A WILLIE
services must respond to this Request for Proposal. H-GAC intends to hire the after referred to as De- MAE WILLIAMS ROSSEN
highest qualified responsive and responsible contractor who provides the best fendants, now pending in A/K/A WILLIE MAE WIL-
value and meets the needs of H-GAC. the 157th Judicial District LIAMS STEVENS)
Court of Harris County,
Cause #2022-06400.
(WHOSE ADDRESS AND
WHEREABOUTS ARE
To view/download the solicitation documents visit
https://www.h-gac.com/procurement or ESBD (txsmartbuy.com) This is a claim for injuries UNKNOWN)
and damages sustained YOU ARE HEREBY COM-
Response Deadline: November 10, 2022 @ NOON by Plaintiff EBONY MANDED to be and ap-
JONES in a car wreck that
occurred on March 31,
pear before the 80th Ju-
dicial District Court of
Request for Proposal (RFP)
2020 as a result of the Harris County, Texas in
negligence of Defendants the Courthouse in the city
Purchasing Cooperative of America (PCA) is a national public procurement DOMINIC of Houston, Texas at or
cooperative working with a public agency to provide Requests for Proposals for
response by Vendors who can provide the following products/services to public
AKPUOMOBUDE and before 10:00 o’clock A.M.
Monday, November 14,
FUNJOM NCHAMUKONG.
sector entities. Vendors are invited to respond electronically to RFPs through the
PCA website portal at www.pcamerica.org/solicitations. 1) OD-374-22 Grant
“You have been sued. You 2022, being the Monday
may employ an attorney. next after the expiration
Writing for Federal & State Grants; 2) OD-375-22 Lockers & Related Items ; 3) If you or your attorney do date of forty-two days af-
OD-376-22 Site & Area Security & Related Items ; 4) OD-377-22; Web Based
Career & College Courses & RI; 5) OD-378-22 National Job Order Contracting
not file a written answer ter this citation is issued,
with the clerk who issued and you are hereby com-
for Facilities & Energy Conservation; 6) OD-379-22 EV Charging Stations & Re- this citation by 10:00am manded and required
lated Items; OD-380-22 Website Services & Related Item. Proposals are due by then and there to appear
11:00 AM CT on Tuesday, November 22, 2022 . Direct inquiries to Elaine Nich-
on the Monday next fol-
lowing the expiration of and file written answer to
ols, Director, at 844-722-6374.
42 days after you were the PLAINTIFFS AMEND-
served this citation and ED ORIGINAL PETITION
petition. A default judg- AND REQUEST FOR DIS-
Up Excellence, Inc. the sponsoring entity of UP Excellence Academy , a
proposed tuition-free public charter school , will host a public information
ment may be taken
against you.”
CLOSURE filed in said
Court on September 16,
meeting on Saturday, October 15, 2022, from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm and Saturday This citation shall be 2022, in a suit numbered
October 22, 2022, from 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm at McCrane - Kashmere Gardens served by the sheriff or 202218367 on the docket
Neighborhood Library at 5411 Pardee Street, Houston , Texas 77026. The Found- any constable of any of said court, wherein
er and founding board will share information about the proposed school model county of the State of KOENIG, TRAVIS HO-
and design . Attendees will have an opportunity to meet the founder, Tamika Texas or by the clerk of WARD Plaintiff(s) and
Griffin and founding board members, including Kyra Hardwick, Tamika Bartley, the court in which the WILLIAMS, WILLIE MAY,
Iralee Acosta, Christine Aboud, H.Nicole Beasley and Shawn Spearman. matter is pending by hav- Defendant(s), the nature
ing the same published of plaintiff’s demand be-
ONCE each week for ing and the said petition
FOUR (4) CONSECUTIVE alleging:
WEEKS, in the Houston QUIET TITLE
Chronicle, Houston, TX SUMMARY
LEGAL NOTICE CAUSE NO: 2019-76660
This is the action to qui-
PUBLIC HEARING WITH A VARIANCE OR SPECIAL In The Interest of :
EXCEPTION (both Virtual Meeting and Face-to- JULIAN ALEXANDER et title on real property,
-Face Meeting) hereafter referred to as
The Houston Planning Commission has received an
GARCIA
MINOR CHILD(REN) NOTICE TO CREDITORS “the Property”, more
application to allow the partial replatting of Towne In the 507TH Notice is hereby given
fully described as Lot7,
block 542, SSBB Addi-
Lake Sec 63 being all or part of lot 8 block 3 as re- Judicial District Court of that original Letters Tes-
corded in Volume 698 Page 763 of the Harris County Harris County, Texas tamentary for the Estate
tion, otherwise known as
1215 Sampson Street,
Map/Deed Records for the purpose of revising a
building line.
CITATION BY
PUBLICATION
of Nellie Marie Schilhab, Houston, Texas 77003,
Deceased, were issued on
The new subdivision name is Towne Lake Sec 63 Par- THE STATE OF TEXAS the 12th day of October
Tax Assessor’s Account
Number
tial Replat No 1. COUNTY OF Harris 2022, in Cause No.
This is the written notice of a public hearing the City TO THE SHERIFF OR ANY 0022620000007, dated
509067, pending in Pro- May 31, 2006, recorded
sends to all owners of property within 300’ of the CONSTABLE OF TEXAS bate Court No. 3, Harris
boundary of the plat. OR OTHER AUTHORIZED as document
County, Texas, to: Randall Z336616/201160268 of
State law allows for protest when the proposed replat
requires a variance or special exception. The protest
PERSON
TO BRITTANY ANN
Edward Schilhab. the Property Records of
All persons having claims Harris County, Texas
must be filed in writing prior to the close of the pub- BROWN against this Estate which

Bank of America’s earnings

lic hearing. If owners of 20% of the land area within AND TO ALL WHOM IT A judgment was taken in
is currently being admin- Plaintiff’s favor to quiet
the original plat boundary that is within 200 feet of MAY CONCERN, istered are required to
the replat protest the replat, approval of the replat RESPONDENT(S) title as to Norfleet Wil-
present them to the un- liams, III, Phyliss Wash-
must receive an affirmative vote of at least three-- You have been sued. You dersigned within the time ington, Jeanette Wash-

don’t signal recession ahead

By Emily Flitter
N EW YO RK T IME S
If there are signs of an
impending recession in
the United States, they are
hard to find in Bank of
America’s quarterly earn-
ings report released Mon-
day.
The second-largest
bank in the country
earned $7.1 billion in prof-
its in the third quarter, an 8
percent drop from a year
ago, but more than ana-
lysts were expecting. Con-
sumer deposits grew 1 per-
cent, and credit card
spending rose 13 percent.
fourth (3/4) of the Houston Planning Commission may employ an attorney.
Members present. In computing the percentage of If You or your attorney do
land area for the purpose of protest, streets and al- not file a written
leys are included. answer with the Clerk
The Houston Planning Commission will hold a public who issued this citation
meeting and public hearing on this replat. The Com- by 10:00 a.m. on the
mission is the non-legislative body authorized to re-
view and render decisions on subdivision applica-
Monday next following
the expiration of 20 days
tions and requests. The meeting at which this item after you were served this
will first be considered is listed below. A sign with citation and PETITION TO
this information has also been posted on the project MODIFY PARENTCHILD
site.
PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING INFORMATION:
RELATIONSHIP , a default
judgment may be taken
Thursday, November 10, 2022, beginning at 2:30 against you. The Petition
p.m. of, RICHARD JULIAN
City Hall Annex Building, 900 Bagby Street GARCIA Petitioner, was
City Council Chamber, Public Level, Houston, Texas filed in the 507TH District
Court of Harris County ,
Members of the public may make comments or ex- Texas, on the 4TH day of
press concerns about the proposed project by either APRIL, 2022, Against Re-
attending the meeting at City Council Chamber listed spondent, BRITTANY
above or attending the meeting via Microsoft Teams. ANN BROWN , numbered,
2019-76660 and entitled
The Microsoft Teams meeting will allow for a t-
wo-way video/ audio communication with the Hous- “ In the Interest of” JULI-
ton Planning Commission. For instruction on how to AN ALEXANDER GARCIA,
join the meeting, interested persons are advised to A child ( or children ).
check our website 72 hours prior to the Planning The suit requests
Commission meeting: www.houstonplanning.com or PETITION TO MODIFY
Call: 832-393-6624. PARENT-CHILD
You may submit comments to:
speakercomments.pc@houstontx.gov
RELATIONSHIP
The date and place of
Michael Dwyer/Associated Press Contact the applicant at (713)337-7447 or the City of birth of the child (chil-
Houston Planning Department at (832)393-6600 for dren) who is (are) subject
Bank of America reported Monday that its any additional information of the suit
consumer deposits grew 1 percent and credit card JULIAN ALEXANDER
GARCIA
spending rose 13 percent in the third quarter. MALE; DOB: 03/03/2019
“THE COURT HAS AU-
THORITY IN THIS SUIT
and in the manner pre-
scribed by law.
c/o: Robin L. Apostolakis
Stilwell, Earl & Apostola-
kis, LLP
1400 Woodloch Forest
Drive, Ste. 590
The Woodlands, TX
77380
DATED the 14th day of
October, 2022.
By: /s/Robin L.
Apostolakis
Robin L. Apostolakis
State Bar No. 24045416
1400 Woodloch Forest
Drive, Ste. 590
The Woodlands, TX
77380
Telephone:
(281) 419-6200
Facsimile: (281) 419-0250
www.woodlandstxlawfirm.
com
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
Original Letters Testa-
mentary for the Estate of
Albert Karl Dittmer, De-
ceased, were granted on
August 22, 2022, in
Cause No. 312618 pend-
ing in the Probate Court
Number Two of Harris
County, Texas, to Diane
Matiel Dittmer King, who
qualified as successor In-
dependent Executor on
August 31, 2022.
ington, William J. Wash-
ington, Allen Washing-
ton, Elaine Walton,
Everetta Williams,
Norfleet Williams, and
Quincy Maria Williams
on March 3, 2018.
Plaintiff is the rightful
owner, entitled to pos-
session of the Property
by virtue of his purchase
of the property.
Defendant Willie Mae
Williams aka Willie Mae
Williams Washington aka
willie Mae Williams
Rossen aka Willie Mae
Williams Stevens, pur-
ports to have an adverse
claim or interest in the
property that operates as
a cloud on Plaintiff’s ti-
tle to the Property.
In order for plaintiff to
enjoy title to the Proper-
ty, the adverse estate or
interest claimed by the
Defendant(s) must be
removed.
Plaintiff has requested a
declaratory judgment
that Plaintiff is the sole
and rightful owner of the
Property.
Notice hereof shall be giv-
en by publishing this Ci-
tation once a week for
four consecutive weeks
previous to NOVEMBER

The bank’s chief finan-
cial officer, Alastair Borth-
wick, said Bank of Amer-
million to the pool of funds
it has set aside to cover fu-
ture loan losses, but Borth-
Notice To
business providing global TO ENTER ANY JUDG-
MENT OR DECREE IN
transaction services to THE CHILD’S (CHILDRE-
N’S) INTEREST WHICH
large companies, and its WILL BE BINDING UPON
All persons having claims 14, 2022, in some news-
against this Estate which
is currently being admin-
paper published in the
County of HARRIS, if
istered are required to there be a newspaper
present them to the un-

ica’s retail customers ap-
peared to be in great shape.
“Overall, consumers re-
wick said that even that
was a good sign: It reflect-
ed an increase in lending
Creditors
loan and lease balances YOU INCLUDING
THE TERMINATION OF
among large corporate cli- THE PARENT-CHILD RE-
ents rose 18 percent. LATIONSHIP, THE DE-
TERMINATION OF
dersigned within the time
and in the manner pre-
scribed by law.
c/o: Gabriel G. Gallas
published therein, but if
not, then the nearest
county where a newspa-
per is published, and this
Citation shall be returned

main resilient and they
continue to spend at an el-
evated pace,” Borthwick
by the bank rather than a
deterioration in the quality
of the loans already on its
Ad
Borthwick said the PATERNITY AND THE AP-
POINTMENT OF A CON-
bank had seen some of its SERVATOR WITH AU-
multinational customers THORITY TO CONSENT
TO THE CHILD’S (CHILD-
Gallas Law pllc
1403 W 6th Street
Austin, TX 78703
DATED the 22nd day of
September, 2022
on NOVEMBER 8, 2022,
which is forty two days
after the date it is issued,
and the first publication
shall be at least twenty-

said in a call with report-
ers Monday. “They’re pay-
ing down their loan bal-
ances at elevated rates
with continued ability to
borrow.”
The only hint that a
change could be coming,
Borthwick said, was a
slight drop in the rate of
growth in consumer
spending, to 9 percent
from 12 percent earlier in
the year.
The bank added $378
books.
On Wall Street, Bank of
America’s sales and trad-
ing revenue rose 13 per-
cent, with revenue from
trading bonds, commodi-
ties and other financial in-
terests up 27 percent from
the same period last year,
while revenue from trad-
ing stocks fell 4 percent.
Revenue from invest-
ment banking fees fell 46
percent. But the bank took
in 44 percent more in its
hurt by the “negative im-
pact of valuations on for-
eign currencies.”
Bank of America’s
shares rose more than 2
percent in premarket trad-
ing. Its earnings echoed re-
ports from Citigroup,
JPMorgan and Wells Far-
go last week that showed
the lenders preparing for a
potential slowdown but
reporting mostly resilient
results as consumers con-
tinued to spend.
$74.00*
REN’S) ADOPTION.”
ISSUED AND GIVEN UN-
DER MY HAND AND
SEAL OF SAID COURT AT
HOUSTON TEXAS ON
Call the Legals Team THIS THE 12TH Day of
OCTOBER, 2022.
713-224-6868 (seal)
Ext. 6435 or 4204 NEWSPAPER: HOUSTON
CHRONICLE
Issued at request of:
*$74.00 includes first 36 lines ANGELA OAKS
ADDRESS: 13100
and 1 Affidavit of Publication WORTHAM CENTER
DRIVE, 3RD FL. Harris
*$1.92 per line over 36 lines County, Texas
HOUSTON, TX 77065
BAR NO # 24062924
MARILYN BURGESS,
To: JEFFREY MALATAK DISTRICT CLERK
At the instance of: JEN- 201 Caroline, Houston,
NIFER GREENE, f/k/a Houston Community TX 77002
PO Box 4651 Houston TX
JENNIFER POPOVICH College (HCC)
By Attorney: JAMES M. LEGAL NOTICE TO 77210
HERB, ESQ. BIDDERS BY__/s/ Melissa Fortner_
MELISSA FORTNER,
You are Hereby cited to NOTICE IS HEREBY GIV-
be and appear before me, EN that HCC will receive Deputy
/s/ Gabriel G. Gallas
Gabriel G. Gallas
State Bar No.: 24069750
Attorney for Diane Matiel
Dittmer King
eight days before said re-
turn 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 Bur-
gess, District Clerk, Har-
ris County Texas
GIVEN UNDER MY
HAND AND SEAL OF
SAID COURT at Houston,
Texas on September 27,
2022.
(SEAL)
Newspaper:
Issued at the request of:
TROIANI, ANTHONY P.
611 E. WASHINGTON
STREET
BROWNSVILLE, TX 78520
956-541-4235
Bar Number: 00795914
/s/ Marilyn Burgess
Marilyn Burgess, District

Airline to pay $7.5M over fees

DA L L AS MORNING NEWS
American Airlines is set
to pay at least $7.5 million
to settle a lawsuit for over-
charging customers for
baggage fees, according to
a deal reached last week.
A group of passengers
from Texas, California,
Missouri and Minnesota
sued American Airlines in
federal court in Fort
Worth in 2021 for charging
to check luggage even
though they had airline
status, credit cards or
bought premium tickets
that gave them free bags.
The passengers said
they showed up at the air-
port and had to pay a fee to
check their bags, even
though they had confirma-
tion emails and receipts
saying that they wouldn’t
have to pay anything.
Lawyers came to a pre-
liminary deal in August
before the case went to tri-
al and presented the settle-
ment last week to Judge
Reed O’Connor, who has
to approve the deal.
American charges be-
tween $30 and $200 for
checked bags on domestic
flights and more for flights
to South America, Europe
and Asia, depending on
the type of ticket. But fly-
ing with one or more free
bags is one of the major
perks of getting airline sta-
tus in its AAdvantage pro-
gram or an American Air-
lines-branded credit card
through companies such
as Citi and Barclay’s.
American brings in
more revenue than any
other carrier in luggage
fees, collecting about $1.2
billion in 2021, according
to the Bureau of Transpor-
tation Statistics. Commer-
cial carriers in the U.S.
charged about $5.3 billion
in fees in total .
The settlement will
force American to pay at
least $7.5 million plus legal
fees. Customers will be eli-
gible for $25 to $200 re-
funds for each instance if
they were incorrectly
charged and could get
even more back if there is
money left in the settle-
ment account.
The class-action lawsuit
covered passengers be-
tween 2013 and early 2021,
but the terms of the settle-
ment limited the group to
those that checked bags
with American between
February 24, 2017, and
April 9, 2020.
Administrators over-
seeing the settlement fund
are still working out how
to pay passengers, but
those affected should be
notified.
American Airlines de-
clined to comment.
Clerk of
Michael McGeever, Direc- bids per the instructions Harris County, Texas
tor of Department of in the solicitation for 201 Caroline, Houston,
Court Records, furnishing HCC with the Texas 77002
Wills/Orphans’ Court Di- following: P.O. Box 4651, Houston,
vision of Allegheny Coun- PRODUCTS AND/OR Texas 77210
ty, Pennsylvania on or be-
fore 7th day of November,
SERVICES Generated By: BRIANNA
IFB 23-10 Cosmetology
2022, at 10 AM, prevail- Lab Buildout – Alief
J. DENMON
ing time in my office at
414 Grant Street, 1st
Bissonnet Campus:
submittal/close
Floor, City County Build- date/time:
ing, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, November 7, 2022, by
TO SHOW CAUSE 2:00 PM CDT NOTICE TO CREDITORS
Why Letter of Administra- A Pre-Bid Conference Notice is hereby given
tion should not be grant- (Non-Mandatory) will be that original Letters
ed to Jennifer Green f/k/a held by the Procurement Testamentary for the
Jennifer Popovich for the Operations Department, Estate of Margaret Clem
Estate of Dawn L. Greene, October 19, 2022 at Preston, Deceased, were
deceased.
The date November 7th,
10:00 am (local time).
Solicitations are located
issued on October 13,
2022, in Docket No.
2022, is not a hearing at https://hccs. 507528 pending in Pro-
date. An answer must be bonfirehub.com/portal/ bate Court No.2 of Harris
filed before this date; ?tab=openOpportunities County, Texas, to: Kay
However, the hearing date
will be arranged between
Preston Forbes.
All claims against the
counsel and the Director. Estate of Margaret Clem
Given under my hand and Preston, Deceased should
seal of Office at Pitts- be presented to:
burgh, this 7th day of Kay Preston Forbes
October, 2022. C/O Kurt M Andreason
/s/ Michael McGeever ANDREASON LAW FIRM,
Director of Department of PLLC
Court Records P. O. BOX 19429
/s/ Patricia
Capozo li/Index
SUGAR LAND, TX
77496-9429
All persons having claims
against this Estate which
is currently being admin-
istered are required to
present them within the
time and in the manner
prescribed by law.
DATED the 17th day of
October 2022.
ANDREASON LAW FIRM
By: Kurt M Andreason
Attorney for the Estate
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM
China to mine more coal in climate clash
By Joe McDonald
AS S OC IAT E D PRE SS
BEIJING — China plans to
boost coal production through
2025 to avoid a repeat of last
year’s power shortages, an offi-
cial said Monday, adding to set-
backs in efforts to cut climate-
changing carbon emissions
from the biggest global source.
China is a big investor in
wind and solar, but jittery Com-
munist Party leaders called for
more coal-fired power after eco-
nomic growth slumped last
year and shortages caused
blackouts. That prompted
warnings that carbon emis-
sions will rise faster through
2030, when the government
says they should peak.
The ruling party aims for an-
nual coal production to rise to
4.6 billion tons in 2025, a deputy
director of the Cabinet’s Nation-
al Energy Administration, Ren
Jingdong, said at a news confer-
ence held during a ruling party
congress. That would be a 12
percent increase over last year’s
4.1 billion tons.
Ensuring an adequate power
supply is especially sensitive af-
ter economic growth slid to 2.2
percent over a year earlier in the
first six months of this year, less
than half the official target of 5.5
percent. The ruling party earli-
er called for this year's produc-
tion to rise by 300 million tons,
or about 7 percent of last year's
output.
The challenges of relying on
renewable sources were high-
lighted by a dry summer that
left reservoirs in China's south-
west too low to generate hydro-
power. That forced power cuts
U.K. leader in peril as her economic plan gets the ax
By Jill Lawless
and Danica Kirka
AS S OC IAT E D PRE SS
LONDON — The U.K.’s new
Treasury chief ripped up the gov-
ernment’s economic plan on
Monday, dramatically reversing
most of the tax cuts and spending
plans that new Prime Minister
Liz Truss announced less than a
month ago. The move raises
more questions about how long
the beleaguered British leader
can stay in office, though Truss
insisted she has no plans to quit.
Chancellor of the Exchequer
Jeremy Hunt, said he was scrap-
ping “almost all” of Truss' tax
cuts, along with her flagship en-
ergy policy and her promise —
repeated just last week — that
there will be no public spending
cuts.
While the reversal of policy
calmed financial markets and
helped restore the government’s
economic credibility, it further
undermined the prime minister’s
rapidly crumbling authority and
fueled calls for her to step down
before her despairing Conserva-
tive Party forces her out.
Truss declined to attend the
House of Commons to answer a
question on the economy from
the leader of the opposition,
sending House of Commons
leader Penny Mordaunt in her
place. Mordaunt denied a law-
maker's suggestion that Truss
was “cowering under her desk”
to avoid scrutiny.
"The prime minister is not un-
der a desk," Mordaunt said,
Ex-IRS heads alarmed next chief still not appointed
By Alan Rappeport
N EW YO RK T IME S
WASHINGTON — A group of
former IRS commissioners is
raising concerns over the fact
that the White House has yet to
nominate a replacement for
Charles Rettig, whose term as
IRS commissioner is scheduled
to expire next month, warning
that the looming vacancy could
stall the Biden administration’s
planned $80 billion overhaul of
the agency.
The additional funds are ex-
pected to help the beleaguered
IRS crack down on tax cheats,
improve customer service and
update antiquated technology.
The funds, which were included
in a bill that Democrats passed,
are a central part of the Biden ad-
ministration’s plans to raise
more than $120 billion in addi-
tional tax revenue over the next
decade.
Overseeing that transition
will be a significant undertak-
Mine workers inspect machinery at Qianyingzi mine in Suzhou, China. Beijing plans to boost coal production through 2025 even
as it turns to more wind and solar projects.
in Sichuan province and the
major city of Chongqing.
Beijing will “give full play to
the ‘ballast role’ of coal and the
basic regulating role of coal
power,” Ren said. He said the
country will “vigorously en-
hance oil and gas exploration
and development.”
Ren said officials are trying
to ensure China meets targets in
the ruling party’s latest five-
year development plan for non-
fossil fuel sources to supply 20
Jeremy Hunt trashed Liz
Truss’ economic strategy.
words hardly likely to inspire
confidence in the leader who on-
ly came to power last month.
Truss’ spokesman said the
prime minister and Hunt had
jointly agreed on the economic
changes. But Hunt told Conser-
vative lawmakers that Truss
“backed him to the hilt in making
difficult decisions” — suggesting
he has a free hand to make policy.
With Truss sitting silently be-
side him, Hunt told lawmakers
that he was canceling Truss' plan
to reduce the basic rate of income
tax by 1 percentage point and
most of her other libertarian eco-
nomic policies. In a message
aimed squarely at reassuring the
financial markets, he said Britain
was “a country that funds our
promises and pays our debts.”
“And when that is questioned,
as it has been, this government
will take the difficult decisions
necessary to ensure there is trust
and confidence in our national fi-
nances,” Hunt said.
Hunt was appointed Friday af-
ter Truss fired his predecessor
Kwasi Kwarteng, who spent less
than six weeks in the Treasury
job. Hunt is seeking to restore the
Conservative government’s cred-
ibility for sound fiscal policy af-
Al Drago/Bloomberg
The term of Charles Rettig,
the IRS commissioner, who
was appointed by President
Donald Trump, ends Nov. 12.
ing, and several former IRS lead-
ers are warning that the lack of a
new leader could hamper the
transformation of the agency.
The term of Rettig, who was
appointed by President Donald
Trump, will end Nov. 12.
The former commissioners,
who served under Democratic
and Republican presidents, are
Fred Goldberg, Charles Rossotti,
Mark Everson and John Koski-
percent of power by 2025 and 25
percent by 2030. He said that in-
cludes wind, solar, hydro, nu-
clear and geothermal.
China will “comprehensively
build a clean energy supply sys-
tem,” Ren said.
Another official, Zhao Chen-
xin, deputy director of the Cabi-
net's planning agency, the Na-
tional Development and Re-
form Commission, said plans
include building 450 million ki-
lowatts of “large-scale wind and
ter Truss and Kwarteng rushed
out a plan for tax cuts without de-
tailing how they would pay for
them.
Truss and Kwarteng jointly
came up with a Sept. 23 an-
nouncement of $50 billion in un-
funded tax cuts that immediately
spooked the financial markets.
The cuts fueled investor con-
cerns about unsustainable levels
of government borrowing, which
pushed up government borrow-
ing costs, raised home mortgage
costs and sent the pound plum-
meting to an all-time low against
the dollar. The Bank of England
was forced to intervene to protect
pension funds, which were
squeezed by volatility in the bond
market.
Over the weekend, Hunt has
been dismantling that economic
plan. The government had al-
ready ditched parts of its tax-cut-
ting plan and announced it
would make a medium-term fis-
cal statement on Oct. 31, weeks
earlier than previously sched-
uled.
On Monday, Hunt went fur-
ther. He scaled back a cap on en-
ergy prices designed to help
households pay their bills. It will
now be reviewed in April rather
than lasting two years — sweep-
ing away one of Truss' signature
plans to help Britons facing a
cost-of-living crisis as food, fuel
and mortgage prices soar.
Hunt told lawmakers that the
measures he announced would
save 32 billion pounds a year, but
that spending cuts were also
coming.
nen. They were joined in their
statement by Nina Olson, a for-
mer national taxpayer advocate.
“A prompt appointment of the
next commissioner is essential,”
they wrote in the statement,
which was reviewed by the New
York Times. “Until that position
is filled, essential improvements
to the IRS are at serious risk of
delay, if not failure.”
They added: “Only a con-
firmed commissioner can build
external and internal support for
such a big and complex transfor-
mation of an agency.”
It is not unusual for an agency
such as the IRS to have an inter-
im leader during a period of
transition. However, the nomi-
nation delay is surprising con-
sidering that Democrats have
long wanted to bolster the agen-
cy’s resources.
The deployment of the addi-
tional resources is also the sub-
ject of intense political focus,
with Republicans warning that
the 87,000 planned new hires
solar bases" in the Gobi Desert
in China's north.
Beijing has spent tens of bil-
lions of dollars on solar and
wind farms to reduce reliance
on imported oil and gas and
clean up its smog-choked cities.
China accounted for about half
of global investment in wind
and solar in 2020.
Still, coal is expected to sup-
ply 60 percent of its power in
the near future.
Authorities say they are
“There remain, I’m afraid,
many difficult decisions to be an-
nounced” in the fuller budget
statement on Oct. 31, he said.
Hunt also said he was setting
up a new Economic Advisory
Council of economists and in-
vestment bankers to help inform
policy — a far cry from Truss' bid
to throw out economic “ortho-
doxy.”
The pound rose more than 1
percent to above $1.13 in London
after Hunt's announcements.
That pushed the U.K. currency
back above where it was trading
on Sept. 22, the day before Kwar-
teng announced the tax cuts.
Yields on 10-year government
bonds, an indicator of govern-
ment borrowing costs, fell to
3.947 percent from 4.327 percent
on Friday. It was 3.495 percent on
Sept. 22. Bond yields tend to rise
as the risk of a borrower default-
ing increases.
Paul Johnson, director of the
Institute for Fiscal Studies think
tank, said Monday's announce-
ments would not be enough “to
undo the damage caused by the
debacle of the last few weeks. But
they are big, welcome, clear steps
in the right direction.”
The financial fiasco has turned
Truss into a lame-duck prime
minister. She took office just six
weeks ago after winning a party
election to replace Prime Minis-
ter Boris Johnson, who was
forced out in July after ethics
scandals ensnared his adminis-
tration. Many Conservatives
now believe their only hope is to
replace Truss — but they are di-
will become a shadow army in-
tended to target conservatives.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yel-
len sent Rettig a memo in August
outlining her top priorities, in-
cluding clearing a backlog of un-
processed tax returns, improv-
ing taxpayer services, revamp-
ing antiquated technology and
hiring thousands of new em-
ployees. She directed the agency
to draft the plans within six
months, and she tapped her dep-
uty, Wally Adeyemo, to work
with Rettig to develop the new
initiatives and timelines.
The role of the IRS commis-
sioner can be a difficult one to fill
because of the scrutiny that the
position attracts.
Julia Krieger, a Treasury De-
partment spokesperson, said in
a statement that “the administra-
tion is committed to ensuring the
agency has the tools it needs to
best serve the American people,
and collect taxes from wealthy
evaders who today do not pay
what they owe.” She added that
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022 B5
Han Xu/Associated Press
shrinking carbon emissions per
unit of economic output. The
government reported a reduc-
tion of 3.8 percent last year, an
improvement over 2020’s one
percent gain but down from a 5.1
percent cut in 2017.
Last year’s total energy use
increased 5.2 percent over 2020
after a revival of global demand
for Chinese exports propelled a
manufacturing boom, accord-
ing to the National Bureau of
Statistics.
vided about who should take
over.
In a BBC interview, Truss con-
ceded that she had made mis-
takes. But, she vowed, “I will lead
the Conservatives into the next
general election.”
Few believe that possible. The
Conservative Party still com-
mands a large majority in Parlia-
ment, and — in theory — has two
years until a national election
must be held. Polls suggest hold-
ing an election now would be a
wipeout for the Tories, with the
Labour Party winning a big ma-
jority.
Labour Party economics
spokeswoman Rachel Reeves
said Truss was “barely in office,
and she is certainly not in pow-
er,” and claimed the Conserva-
tives could not fix the problems
they had caused.
“The truth is an arsonist is still
an arsonist, even if he runs back
into the burning building with a
bucket of water," she said.
Chris Beauchamp, chief mar-
ket analyst at online trading firm
IG, said the markets were reas-
sured by the presence of Hunt, a
former U.K. foreign secretary
and health chief.
“I think markets in some ways
would rather things just stayed
as they are for a while,” he said.
"OK, the PM has found her au-
thority quite truncated. But at
least you’ve got the chancellor in
place almost running the coun-
try.
"I think they’re quite content
with that slightly odd state of af-
fairs, for the moment.”
“Treasury and the IRS are hard
at work, and taxpayers will start
to see initial service improve-
ments next filing season.”
White House press secretary
Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday
that she did not have anything to
preview in terms of a future
nominee but that the timeline
would not affect the IRS’ trans-
formation.
“It’s not going to slow down
the overhaul of the agency,” Jean-
Pierre said. “We take this very
seriously.”
But the former commission-
ers are not convinced.
Rossotti said in an interview
that money alone would not
modernize the IRS and that the
Biden administration should
prioritize putting someone in
place to put its imprint on the
agency.
“If you have a situation where
you’ve created expectations, but
there’s no progress because
there’s not a leader, that’s not a
good situation,” Rossotti said.
B6 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022 HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

Rapper to acquire social network Parler

By Michelle Chapman
and Barbara Ortutay
A S S OC IAT E D PRE SS
The rapper formerly known
as Kanye West is offering to buy
right-wing friendly social net-
work Parler shortly after get-
ting locked out of Twitter and
Instagram for antisemitic posts.
The acquisition of Parler
would give West, legally known
as Ye, control of a social media
platform and a new outlet for
his opinions with no gatekeep-
er. The question is, who will lis-
ten?
Even among the new breed of
largely right-wing, far-right and
libertarian social apps that pur-
port to support free speech by
having looser rules and moder-
ation, Parler’s user base is tiny
— and with competition only in-
creasing for the relatively small
swath of mostly older people
who want to discuss politics on-
line, there is no clear road map
to growing it beyond a niche
platform chasing crumbs left by
mainstream social media.
If Tesla CEO Elon Musk goes
through with his planned pur-
chase of Twitter, things may get
even more complicated for Par-
ler. That’s because Musk has al-
ready made it clear he would
like to loosen Twitter’s rules
and content-moderation efforts,
including reinstating the ac-
count of former President Don-
ald Trump. If the libertarian
and far-right us-
ers who left
Twitter — either
because they felt
it was constrict-
ing to their politi-
cal views or be-
Ye cause they were
kicked off — re-
turn, sites like Parler, Gab and
Trump’s Truth Social could end
up losing users.
Parlement Technologies,
which owns Parler, and Ye said
Monday the acquisition should
be completed in the fourth
quarter, but the price and other
details were not disclosed. Par-
lement Technologies said the
agreement includes the use of
private cloud services via Parle-
ment’s private cloud and data
center infrastructure.
Parler restructured its busi-
ness last month to form Parle-
ment Technologies, which it
said aims to become the
“world’s premier free speech
technology infrastructure and
platform.” This means that
rather than running a single
platform such as Parler, the
company wants to provide ser-
vices to other niche sites that are
often deemed too extreme for
mainstream tech companies to
support. A Parlement spokes-
person said the deal with Ye was
not yet in the works when the
company was restructured and
the two transactions are sepa-
rate.
The price and other details about the deal to sell the social
media platform Parler have not been disclosed.
Ye was blocked from posting
on Twitter and Instagram a
week ago over antisemitic posts
that the social networks said vi-
olated their policies. In one post
on Twitter, Ye said he would
soon go “death con 3 on JEW-
ISH PEOPLE,” according to in-
ternet archive records, making
an apparent reference to the
U.S. defense readiness condi-
tion scale known as DEFCON.
Ye has also suggested slavery
was a choice and called the CO-
VID-19 vaccine the “mark of the
beast.” Earlier this month, he
was criticized for wearing a
“White Lives Matter” T-shirt to
his collection at Paris Fashion
Week.
“In a world where conserva-
Christophe Gateau/Associated Press
tive opinions are considered to
be controversial we have to
make sure we have the right to
freely express ourselves,” Ye
said in a prepared statement.
Parler has struggled amid
competition from other conser-
vative-friendly platforms like
Truth Social, which are tiny as
well compared with main-
stream social media sites. Parler
had an average of 725,000
monthly active users in the U.S.
for the first half of this year, ac-
cording to Data.ai, which tracks
mobile app usage. That’s down
from 5.2 million in the first half
of 2021. Overall, including peo-
ple outside the U.S., Parler still
failed to reach the 1 million mark
in the first half of this year.
Truth Social, meanwhile, had
2.4 million monthly users dur-
ing the same period, despite
launching just in February and
only on Apple devices, accord-
ing to Data.ai. The market re-
search firm said another right-
leaning platform, Gettr, which
launched in July 2021, is ahead
of both Parler and Truth Social
with about 3.8 million monthly
active users.
None of them come close to
Twitter, which reported that it
had a daily average of about
237.8 million active users during
its most recent quarter. Many of
the right-wing platforms
emerged from opposition to the
content-moderation restric-
tions at mainstream services
such as Twitter and Facebook,
but they have failed to attract
users in large numbers.
Part of that reason may be
that most people don’t actually
want to discuss politics online.
According to the Pew Research
Center, one-third of tweets sent
in the U.S. are political in na-
ture, but these are mainly sent
my a small subset of mostly old-
er people. Parler launched in
August 2018, but it didn’t start
picking up steam until 2020. It
was kicked offline in January
2021 over its ties to the deadly in-
surrection at the U.S. Capitol
earlier that month. A month af-
ter the attack, Parler announced
a relaunch. It returned to Goo-
gle Play last month.

Pipeline violations to cost Enbridge $11M Jones, Thomas Zepeda, Margaret

A S S OC IAT E D PRE SS
ST. PAUL, Minn. — En-
bridge Energy, the owner
and operator of the Line 3
pipeline project in north-
ern Minnesota, will pay
more than $11 million after
investigations identified
water quality violations
and three aquifer breaches
related to the pipeline's
construction, state regula-
tors said Monday.
The Minnesota Pollu-
tion Control Agency and
Department of Natural Re-
sources announced the re-
sults from investigations of
water quality violations
and aquifer breaches relat-
ed to the construction proj-
ect.
Combined with the pre-
vious DNR actions, and in
partnership with Fond du
Lac Band of Lake Superior
Chippewa, the investiga-
tions have resulted in more
than $11 million in pay-
ments, environmental
projects, and financial as-
surances from Enbridge,
according to the state agen-
cies.
The Minnesota agency
investigation found that
Enbridge violated regula-
tions when it discharged
construction storm water
into wetlands and inadver-
tently releasing drilling
mud into surface water at
12 locations in June and Au-
gust of 2021. The DNR also
finalized agreements with
Enbridge to address three
aquifer breaches related to
Line 3 construction.
Minnesota Attorney
General Keith Ellison also
said Monday he has filed a
misdemeanor criminal
charge against Enbridge in
Clearwater County Dis-
trict Court for taking water
without a permit at the
Clearbrook aquifer.
A statement from En-
bridge said that the charge
will be dismissed follow-
ing one year of compliance
with state water rules.
“Enbridge, with the sup-
port of union and tribal
contractors, implemented
strong environmental safe-
guards and protections to
meet these regulatory re-
quirements and protect
natural resources. This in-
cluded construction over-
sight by agency and tribal
monitors with the author-
ity to stop construction at
any time,” the statement
said.
Enbridge said $7.5 mil-
lion of the $11 million will
be used to provide finan-
cial assurances and fund
multiple environmental
and resource enhance-
ment projects.
“At the start of this proj-
ect, the MPCA issued our
most stringent water qual-
ity certification to date and
permits that were strong,
enforceable, and protective
— and this enforcement ac-
tion holds Enbridge ac-
countable for the viola-
tions that occurred during
construction,” said MPCA
Commissioner Katrina
Kessler.
Environmentalist Wi-
nona LaDuke, applauded
the action taken by the
state and attorney general,
but added the agencies
failed Minnesota's natural
resources and tribal treaty
rights by allowing the proj-
ect to continue.
“Remember that the
aquifer is still hemorrhag-
ing water and the level of
contamination is increas-
ing,” the executive director
of Honor the Earth said.
Silverman, Dan
THOMAS LAWSON JONES
07/21/1946 - 10/03/2022
Thomas Lawson Jones
went home to be with the
Lord on October 3, 2022. His
legacy and life will be cher-
ished by his wife, daughters
and family. “Precious in the
sight of the Lord is the death
of His saints.”
A memorial service will be
held on Saturday, October 22,
2022 at 10:00 am at Greater
Emmanuel Family Wor-
ship Center, 3915 Kelley St,
Houston TX 77026.
DAN SILVERMAN
04/04/1933 - 10/15/2022
Dan Neil Silverman passed
away on Saturday, October 15,
2022. He was born on April
4, 1933 in Dayton Ohio, to
Natalie and Milton Silver-
man. After living in numer-
ous cities around the country,
his family settled in Houston

Exxon finishes Russian pullout,

when he was 15 years old.

While attending Con-

says operation was expropriated

By Kevin Crowley
B L O O M B E RG
Exxon Mobil Corp.
completed its exit from
Russia, calling the depar-
ture an “expropriation” of
its main Russian opera-
tion and potentially set-
ting up a future legal
challenge.
“With two decrees, the
Russian government has
unilaterally terminated
our interests in Sakha-
NURSING
From page B1
west Houston.
Accesso, an investment
manager and operator of
office and multifamily as-
sets based in Hallandale
Beach, Fla., has signed
more than 108,000 square
feet of leases so far this
year at Ashford, including
deals by Houston Research
Institute, Houston Medical
Imaging and engineering
consulting firm Smith
Seckman Reid. Ashford
features renovated lobbies
with new seating areas,
and shared amenities in-
cluding a fitness center
and conference center with
kitchen and reception fa-
cilities.
Denver College of Nurs-
ing said Houston’s stature
as one of the nation’s fast-
est growing cities with a
growing population of res-
idents age 65 and up factor-
ed into the decision to es-
tablish a location where
lin-1 and the project has
been transferred to a
Russian operator,” an Ex-
xon spokesperson said in
a statement. “We have
safely exited Russia fol-
lowing the expropria-
tion.”
Exxon has been wind-
ing down production at
Sakhalin-1 since May af-
ter announcing its inten-
tion to leave just weeks af-
ter Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine earlier this year.
there is a substantial need
for nurses. Students will
also have an opportunity to
gain clinical experience in
addition to studies in the
classroom.
Houston also has one of
the world’s premier medi-
cal centers anchored by
leading hospitals such as
Memorial Hermann,
Houston Methodist and
Baylor St. Luke’s.
“We have students from
around the country who
are interested in our pro-
grams,” Brandon Villar-
real, campus president of
DCN Houston, said in a
statement.
With the latest lease,
Ashford is 64 percent
leased, according to Acces-
so. The renovations were
made to position the build-
ings for new tenants fol-
lowing the departures of
ConocoPhillips and Sasol.
“We are very pleased to
have had a very strong year
on the leasing front at Ash-
ford, which is a testament
to our value creation strat-
The operation is hugely
complex and produced
about 227,000 barrels a
day last year. It has mul-
tiple records for the lon-
gest wells ever drilled, us-
es ice breakers to main-
tain exports when the sea
freezes over in winter and
was regarded as an engi-
neering marvel when it
first started pumping in
2005.
In August, Exxon sent
a “notice of difference” to
egy and the strength of our
operating platform,” said
Mike Adams, managing
director — Southern Re-
gion for Accesso. “The
leases with DCN, Houston
Research Institute, Hous-
ton Medical Imaging and
Smith Seckman Reid fur-
ther solidify that our deci-
sion to undertake a cos-
metic refresh of the prop-
erty and expand our tenant
amenity program was well
executed and well re-
ceived.”
Robert LaCoure, Jill
Nesloney, Chris Lewis and
Bryce Adams of Lee & As-
sociates – Houston bro-
kered the lease behalf of
Accesso. Darren Shibuya
and Anya Marmuscak of
JLL represented Denver
College of Nursing, which
is part of a network of
schools managed by Edu-
cation Affiliates, in the 12-
year lease agreement.
Accesso owns 36 office
properties, of which nine
are in Houston, totaling
14.8 million square feet.
Russian authorities after
the Kremlin blocked the
Texas oil giant from exit-
ing Sakhalin-1, which is
the first step toward filing
a lawsuit against the
country.
“We made every effort
to engage with the Rus-
sian government and oth-
er stakeholders,” Exxon
said. The company ex-
pects about 700 employ-
ees to transfer to Sakha-
lin-1’s new operator.
gregation Emanu El, Dan
was confirmed at St. Paul’s
United Methodist Church
just prior to the dedication travelling with golf destina-
of the Temple at 1500 Sunset tions as a major component.
Boulevard. He graduated He spent 38 years at Allied
high school from the New Distributing in the auto parts
Mexico Military Institute in distributing business that was
Roswell, New Mexico, and started by the Epstein family.
completed one year of college
there as well. Dan is survived by his wife
Eileen, son Neil and his wife
Due to his father’s early Traci, two grandchildren
death at the age of 45, Dan Grant Silverman and Ali
dropped out of college at the Tucker, grandson-in-law Ben
University of Texas to sell Tucker, his sister’s children
his father’s optical business Susan Jansen, Terri Green,
and was drafted into the Norman Clark, and Roberta
army where he served two Clark. Dan was preceded
years in Germany. Upon his in death by his parents, son
discharge, he was married to Mark, and his sister Elaine
Shirley Epstein in Houston. Clark. He was a loving
They had two children Mark husband who adored his
and Neil. sons and grandchildren. The
funeral service will be held
In 1980, Dan married on Wednesday, October 19,
Eileen Zuckerman who 2022, at 2:00 p.m. at the
moved to Houston from New cemetery chapel of Emanu El
York. They enjoyed entertain- at 8341 Bissonnet.
ing friends and family with
many meals centered around
Dan’s wonderful BBQ’d ribs.
They enjoyed many years of
MARGARET ZEPEDA
12/29/1924 - 10/14/2022
Margaret Zepeda, 97,
died peacefully Oct. 14 in
Houston, Texas. Born Dec.
29, 1924, in Piney Point, Tex-
as, Margaret was a devoted
wife, mother, grandmother
and great-grandmother.
She was preceded in death
by her husband, Gustavo
E. Zepeda. She is survived
by three daughters: Elvira
Gonzales, Yolanda Pacheco
and Melinda Galvan; and
two sons: Gus Zepeda Jr. and
Daniel Zepeda. She is also held Wednesday, Oct. 19 from
survived by six grandchildren: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Vazquez
Jason Galvan, Gary Galvan, Funeral Home, 219 E. Cross-
John Gonzales, Erica Zepeda, timbers, followed by graveside
Daniel Zepeda and Samuel services at 1:30 p.m. at Earth-
Zepeda. She also leaves be- man Resthaven Cemetery,
hind five great-grandchildren. 13102 North Freeway.
A memorial service will be
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM
HYDROGEN
From page B1
tially lucrative business for oil-
producing regions like Texas.
But interest has ramped up
dramatically in recent month
after Congress passed billions
of dollars worth of hydrogen
tax credits through the Infla-
tion Reduction Act, the largest
climate legislation in U.S. histo-
ry, in addition to the $7 billion
awarded to the Department of
Energy last year to develop six
to 10 hydrogen hubs around the
country.
Suddenly, clean projects that
appeared too expensive to be
commercially viable now po-
tentially make sense, said
Frank Wolak, president of the
Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy
Association, a Washington-
based trade group.
The challenge is convincing
large financial institutions or
the energy and industrial firms
that are going to be bankrolling
these projects that clean hydro-
gen is a good investment.
“You’re going to be confront-
ed with the system that exists,
and many of the ideas about hy-
drogen energy have to be
matched up with how the mar-
kets apply capital,” Wolak said.
“They want to see reasonable
revenue projections, good tech-
nology and some degree of cer-
tainty someone is going to buy
the hydrogen.”
Oil companies maintain hy-
drogen is critical to their future
in a global economy in which
carbon emissions are increas-
ingly constricted, jumping over
each other to announce plans to
develop clean hydrogen fuel
projects.
“Our industry is committed
to advancing innovative tech-
nologies like low-carbon hy-
SENIORS
From page B1
income for most of 2021, which
made for a comfortable if mod-
est living.
But when his wife had to
leave for New Mexico to take
care of her mother, the couple
divorced, leaving Cox with a
$765 Social Security check to
cover all of his bills. That will
leave him below the official pov-
erty threshold of $12,996 for a
person 65 or older living alone.
He has been mowing yards for
some extra income, but he can’t
do anything he had imagined
doing in retirement, like a road
trip to Yellowstone National
Park.
“I literally cannot afford to do
anything but put gas in my car,
buy groceries and pay my utility
bills,” Cox said. “Because of the
divorce, it’s looking pretty grim.
But I’m hopeful that things im-
prove.”
For many older Americans,
an inflation adjustment to So-
cial Security payments — an 8.7
percent increase for 2023 was
announced on Thursday — will
help next year. But people hit-
ting retirement today often de-
pend on Social Security as their
only source of income, which
wasn’t the program’s original
intention.
Older workers’ wages have
grown more slowly compared
with other groups over the past
few years, and many didn’t have
401(k) accounts, or didn’t con-
tribute enough to them, as com-
panies closed their defined-
benefit pension plans.
“We’re getting more and
more older people who lived
through this experiment with
do-it-yourself pensions, and
they’re coming into this age
group without the same kind of
incomes that older people
have,” said Teresa Ghilarducci,
an economics professor at the
New School who specializes in
retirement policy. “I don’t think
it’s a blip.”
Even though the share of el-
derly people officially below the
poverty line is low by historical
standards in the United States,
it remains among the highest in
the developed world.
LIPMAN
From page B1
Tomball tax assessor’s of-
fice told me that I had to
have letters of testamentary.
My lawyer probated her will
as a muniment of title, so I
don’t have the aforemen-
tioned letters. My attorney
suggested that I go to a dif-
ferent tax office. What can I
ALLEX engineer Isabelle Kitowski, left, talks to Andrew
Garrett, vice president of hydrogen syngas, at the Air Liquide
hydrogen plant in La Porte in April.
drogen, which are crucial to re-
ducing greenhouse gas emis-
sions economywide,” Aaron
Padilla, a vice president at the
American Petroleum Institute,
said last week.
Only at the moment, hydro-
gen is a niche market, used al-
most entirely in industrial pro-
cesses like oil refining and steel
and chemical production.
Hydrogen technology firms
are after the much larger trans-
portation and power markets,
which some forecasts show
could grow U.S. hydrogen de-
mand to more than 100 million
tons per year by 2050, 10 times
what it is now.
The first step would seem-
ingly be cleaning up existing
production, either by storing
the carbon dioxide produced
when natural gas is converted
to hydrogen or using large
amounts of renewable electric-
ity to convert water into hydro-
gen — a zero-emissions tech-
nology that has been used on
Becky Freeman, an employee of a governmental agency, reviews bills during a home visit with
Mildred Sneed in Meadowview, Va. Trends show more seniors are at the poverty level.
The average poverty rate for
older Americans also masks far
higher shares among more vul-
nerable groups, with nearly one
in five Black and Hispanic
women 65 or older falling below
the official poverty threshold in
2021. It’s higher for single peo-
ple, too — a reality forced on
hundreds of thousands of older
Americans whose spouses died
of COVID-19.
The poverty rate is also not a
bright line when it comes to fi-
nancial hardship. It doesn’t
take into account debt, which
more seniors have accumulated
since the Great Recession.
Moreover, nearly one in four
people 65 or older make less
than 150 percent of the federal
poverty line, or $19,494 on aver-
age for those living alone.
Another measure, developed
by the Gerontology Institute at
the University of Massachu-
setts Boston and called the El-
der Index, finds that it takes
$22,476 for a single older person
in good health with no mort-
gage to cover basic needs, with
the cost escalating for renters
and those with health prob-
lems.
“To some extent we’re split-
do to get the title trans-
ferred?
A: You should have used
Form VTR-262 (mentioned in
the previous answer) to trans-
fer title before you started the
muniment of title probate be-
cause now it’s technically too
late to use that form.
Under the law, once you
start the probate, that form can
no longer be used. At this
point, it will probably be nec-
Brett Coomer/Staff file photo
spacecraft for decades.
In Europe, where industries
must meet climate mandates
and nations are eager to reduce
reliance on Russian natural
gas, large clean hydrogen deals
are already coming together.
But it’s unclear hydrogen
customers in the United States
are willing to pay a higher price
for hydrogen that doesn’t con-
tribute to climate change when
there’s no regulation here re-
quiring them to do so.
“What is the customer will-
ing to pay,” an executive at one
large oil company said, request-
ing anonymity to share internal
conversations. “They might be
willing to pay a small premium,
but they still need to make a
profit to have a sustainable
business.”
For now, U.S. clean hydrogen
producers are mostly focused
on the West Coast, where state-
sponsored low-carbon fuel pro-
grams offer financial incentive
for hydrogen vehicles.
ting hairs when we talk about
people who fall just above and
just below, because they’re all
struggling,” said Jan Mutchler,
a demographer at the Universi-
ty of Massachusetts at Boston
who helped devise the Elder In-
dex.
That’s true for Juanita
Brown, 77, who lives on her own
in Galax, a small town in Vir-
ginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains.
A farmer’s daughter, she
worked as a nanny, and then a
certified nursing assistant, and
then a preschool teacher.
Her husband worked in the
local textile industry, and after
raising two children, they had
built a substantial nest egg.
But then Brown’s mother de-
veloped Alzheimer’s disease
and couldn’t support herself.
Brown stopped working to take
care of her, which cost another
$500 per month in expenses.
Her husband got prostate can-
cer, which required extended
trips to the hospital in Winston-
Salem, N.C.
“That depleted us,” Brown
said.
After her husband died in
2019, she was left with a car pay-
ment and more bills that went
essary to have your lawyer go
back to court to change the
probate to a regular probate
where you are appointed to
serve as independent executor
(assuming you are the one
designated in the will). Then
you will be able to get the let-
ters from the court.
Muniment of title probates
should be used only in the
rarest of circumstances. The
reason is that in so many pro-
In May, Air Liquide, which
maintains a U.S. headquarters
in Houston, opened a facility in
Nevada that can run on biogas
captured at landfills and sew-
age plants — considered clean
under California law — with
enough production to power
40,000 hydrogen vehicles.
And now other states are
looking to get in on the action.
Indiana recently passed a simi-
lar law to California, and pres-
sure is building to do the same
in Texas when the state Legisla-
ture meets next year.
The Gulf Coast, with its large
petrochemical base and pletho-
ra of existing hydrogen infra-
structure, has turned into one
of the epicenters of the clean hy-
drogen movement.
Last year, Air Products, a
Pennsylvania-based gas and
chemical company, announced
it was building a $4.5 billion
clean hydrogen facility in Loui-
siana, with emissions to be
stored in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Port of Corpus Christi,
one of the sponsors of the con-
ference in Washington last
week, is looking to bring up to
10 clean hydrogen projects to
the region in the years ahead,
offering up tens of thousands of
acres of land for wind and solar
farms along with carbon stor-
age options in the Gulf.
No final investment decision
have been made, but Sean
Strawbridge, the port’s CEO,
said he was confident it was on-
ly a matter of time.
“A lot of people are flying to
Corpus Christi to talk to us,” he
said. “I used to fly to them, but
there’s a frenetic pace of activity
and interest around the concept
of a hydrogen-powered econo-
my. It’s nice to be the belle of the
ball.”
james.osborne@chron.com
Mike Belleme/New York Times
unpaid during his illness. She
took out another mortgage on
her home to help cover them,
along with the $1,465 she gets
from Social Security on the
fourth Wednesday of every
month.
That technically puts her
above the poverty line. But that
hasn’t left enough money to re-
place the dentures she lost three
years ago, or to replenish her
heating oil, which now costs up
to $250 a tank.
Brown uses her wood stove
as much as she can, but it gets
much too cold at night, which
aggravates her arthritis. She re-
cords every expense in a little
booklet.
“When you sit down and look
at your income, and what you
got to pay for every month, you
got to cut corners,” Brown said.
Sometimes, one of her sons will
visit and leave her with $50,
even though she knows they
can’t afford it either.
To prevent the poverty rate
from rising further, advocates
for the elderly recommend
three types of actions: shoring
up employer-sponsored retire-
ment programs, helping older
people earn more by working
bates, an asset is discovered
that requires a signature to
transfer title. That is exactly
what has happened in your
case.
Probating your wife’s will
using a regular probate would
have meant doing only slightly
more work by your attorney,
and thus only a nominal in-
crease in fees paid by you, but
it would have made it possible
for you to get letters testamen-
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022 B7
ACQUISITION
From page B1
development and offtake exper-
tise with BP’s trading capabilities
and scale, strong balance sheet
and access to customers, and
customers who are increasingly
seeking help to decarbonize their
own energy demand.”
Archaea Energy captures
methane produced by landfills
and refines it to fuel power
plants, homes and vehicles. The
processed renewable natural gas
is interchangeable with conven-
tional natural gas. In vehicles, it
burns cleaner than traditional
diesel or gasoline, according to
the Environmental Protection
Agency, and meets federal and
state standards for a low-carbon
fuel. RNG also can be liquefied
for export or compressed for use
as a commercial transportation
fuel. Republic Services runs
about 20 percent of its vehicles
on compressed natural gas.
Projects in Archaea’s pipeline
would increase its RNG volumes
fivefold by 2030, BP said. Ar-
chaea’s joint venture with Re-
public, expected to be unaffected
by the acquisition, is grabbing
the attention of transportation
fuel markets, which view RNG
as a cheaper way to meet carbon
emissions standards than alter-
natives, such as switching to
electric vehicles.
“Archaea has become one of
the largest and fastest-growing
RNG platforms in the U.S.,” said
company CEO Nick Stork, “and
today’s announcement will fur-
ther enable this business to real-
ize its full potential.”
Archaea’s shares rose $9.14, or
54 percent, to $26.02 on Monday,
while shares of BP ticked up 14
cents to $30.48.
amanda.drane@chron.com
longer if they need to, and bas-
ing eligibility for public benefits
on a more realistic definition of
economic hardship.
In 2022, the Labor Depart-
ment reported that while 72
percent of civilian workers had
access to an employer-spon-
sored retirement plan, only
about 56 percent took part in
one.
That, in part, is why the low-
est one-fifth of the income dis-
tribution in households headed
by seniors gets 80 percent of its
income from Social Security.
For those retiring today who
do have a 401(k), a swooning
stock market is forcing them to
recalibrate what income they
can expect going forward.
Those without adequate re-
tirement savings often have to
keep working late into their 60s
and 70s. Emily Allen, interim
president of the AARP Founda-
tion, says too many seniors
overestimate their ability to
take a break — or are pushed
out of jobs — and end up in a
bad situation.
To supplement low wages,
the American Rescue Plan of
2021 temporarily made people
over 65 eligible for the earned-
income tax credit, for which
they otherwise don’t qualify.
Advocates have pushed to make
that change permanent, since
the wage supplement is often
enough to lift people out of pov-
erty.
Meanwhile, though, most aid
programs that had been created
or strengthened in 2020 and
2021 are gone.
Gail Gorlen, 77, started lean-
ing more on her credit card af-
ter the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program went from
sending her $170 each month —
an amount increased during the
pandemic — to $115.
She feels lucky to have found
an apartment in a subsidized
senior housing complex in Jop-
lin, Mo., when she and her long-
time partner split up last year,
and is hoping that her Medicare
Advantage program will pro-
vide some extra help with food.
But for now, even cooking all
her food at home, the days be-
fore her benefit card arrives on
the 20th of the month are
stressful.
tary from the court.
The information in this column is
intended to provide a general
understanding of the law, not
legal advice. Ronald Lipman of
the Houston law firm Lipman &
Associates is board-certified in
estate planning and probate law
by the Texas Board of Legal Spe-
cialization.
Email questions to: stateyour-
case@lipmanpc.com.
B8 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022 HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

WEATHER
HOUSTON’S SEVEN-DAY FORECAST | Go to AccuWeather.com COASTAL FORECAST
GALVESTON BAY: Wind
70 70 79 82 86 88 86 from the north-northeast at
42 44 54 62 66 59 64 10-20 knots today. Seas 2-4
feet. Visibility generally clear.
TODAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY Tonight: Wind from the north
Mostly sunny and nice Pleasant with plenty of Delightful with plenty Plenty of sunshine Warm with brilliant Mostly sunny with a Some sun with a stray at 8-16 knots. Seas 2-4 feet.
sunshine of sunshine sunshine warm breeze thunderstorm Clear.
MATAGORDA SHIP CHAN-
METRO AREA NORTH AMERICA TODAY INTERNATIONAL NEL TO HIGH ISLAND OUT 20
TO 50 MILES: Wind from the
OUTLOOK Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. Today Wed.
north-northeast at 10-20 knots
TODAY: Mostly sunny and nice. 110s Vancouver Saskatoon Africa
Calgary Cairo 83/66/s 82/67/s today. Seas 1-3 feet. Visibility
High 67 to 72. Winds north 8-16 100s generally clear. Tonight: Wind
mph. TONIGHT: Clear and Winnipeg
Cape Town 74/58/s 81/55/pc
90s Seattle Regina Casablanca 82/68/pc 79/64/pc from the north at 10-20 knots.
cold; coldest night since last Thunder Bay
80s
Montreal
Dakar 86/81/pc 86/80/s Seas 2 feet or less. Clear.
spring. Low 39 to 44. Winds Johannesburg 76/55/t 76/56/t
70s Portland
north 6-12 mph. Lagos 87/76/sh 87/76/t
60s Ottawa
Toronto Asia/Pacific
50s Beijing 65/36/s 68/42/pc
Minneapolis Boston
40s Detroit Ho Chi Minh City 88/75/sh 86/75/sh
AIR QUALITY 30s New York Hong Kong 71/68/sh 77/73/c
Salt Lake City Islamabad 92/61/pc 92/59/s
Today’s forecast for the entire Chicago
20s San Francisco Jakarta 90/78/t 88/78/t
metro area by the TCEQ: Denver Washington
10s Karachi 93/74/s 92/72/pc GALVESTON TIDES
0s
Kuala Lumpur 90/75/c 91/76/t Highs Feet Lows Feet
Manila 86/77/t 84/77/sh
-0s New Delhi 90/67/s 90/67/s 2:52 a.m. 1.8 5:48 p.m. 0.5
Los Angeles
Ozone watch -10s Seoul 58/35/s 62/40/s --- --- --- ---
Phoenix Little Rock Shanghai 67/51/pc 69/53/s
Good Unhealthy Atlanta Singapore 87/78/t 88/79/pc
T-storms
Sydney 70/61/pc 73/65/pc
RIVERS, CREEKS AND
Moderate Very unhealthy Rain Dallas
Unhealthy Hazardous Showers
El Paso Taipei 70/65/r 72/67/r BAYOUS
Tokyo 64/55/sh 62/53/pc Flood Latest 24-hr.
for sensitive Snow
Houston Canada Location stage stage chg.
groups Hermosillo New Orleans Calgary 74/42/c 74/43/s
Flurries
Chihuahua Edmonton 70/37/pc 70/41/pc Brays Bayou South Main 54 16.70 +0.01
Ice Brazos River Bryan 43 7.29 -0.07
POLLEN AND MOLD Jet stream
Miami Montreal
Toronto
55/38/c
44/37/c
54/35/s
44/34/pc Hempstead 50 9.72 -0.03
Yesterday’s readings by the Vancouver 62/50/pc 62/50/s Richmond 48 8.04 -0.07
Monterrey
Houston Health Department: Winnipeg 39/21/pc 52/31/pc Buffalo Bayou Piney Point 50 28.00 -0.03
Havana Europe
Countpercubicmeterofair Shepherd Dr. 23 1.39 +0.07
Cancún Amsterdam 62/44/c 59/48/pc
Tree pollen Low 8
Guadalajara
Mérida
Athens 69/59/s 74/58/pc
Clear Creek Friendswood 12 1.06 +0.13
Weed pollen Extremely heavy 569 Anchorage Berlin 61/45/sh 57/39/sh Colorado R. Austin 29 10.78 +0.07
Mexico City
Grass pollen Medium 10 Veracruz Copenhagen 59/43/pc 52/41/pc Bastrop 25 2.32 +0.03
Mold spores Medium 12612 Forecasts and
Dublin 59/52/c 57/55/r La Grange 32 2.32 -0.18
Honolulu Acapulco Villahermosa Belmopan Frankfurt 65/48/sh 64/49/pc Columbus 34 9.30 -0.23
graphics provided by Geneva 72/52/s 71/52/s
Low Heavy Cold Warm Stationary
AccuWeather, Inc. Istanbul 68/61/c 67/55/c Wharton 39 7.21 +0.23
front front front
Medium Extremely heavy ©2022 London 66/53/pc 65/59/c Bay City 44 2.41 -0.10
Madrid 83/57/pc 74/55/t Greens Bayou Eastex Fwy. 61 38.83 none
Note: No measurements on weekends; Moscow 55/39/r 47/38/pc
charts in Sunday and Monday papers reflect
Guadalupe R. Hunt 12 7.65 -0.01
forecast ratings from the previous Friday. FOR THE RECORD TEXAS NATIONAL cont. Paris
Prague
70/56/c
66/49/sh
75/61/pc
55/36/pc
Comfort 26 3.13 +0.03
George Bush Intercontinental Today Wed. Today Wed. Rome 75/58/s 76/58/s Spring Branch 36 -1.20 -0.01
Airport through 3 p.m. Mon. Abilene 66/43/s 75/53/s Cleveland 43/38/sn 46/34/sh Stockholm 50/35/pc 46/31/pc New Braunfels 13 9.38 +0.01
COMFORT INDEX Amarillo 64/41/s 77/45/s Columbus 47/36/c 48/31/pc Vienna 69/54/pc 65/38/pc Gonzales 31 10.87 +0.01
The comfort index takes into
Temperature Degrees F Austin 68/39/s 71/45/s Denver 68/41/s 74/42/s Warsaw 64/46/r 54/35/sh Cuero 20 6.56 -0.35
account how the weather will High 74 Beaumont 69/40/s 68/41/s Des Moines 42/22/s 51/35/pc Zurich 71/49/pc 68/48/pc
Low 66 Brownsville 70/53/r 75/51/s Detroit 46/37/sn 46/35/c Latin America Victoria 21 4.67 +0.38
feel based on a combination of
Bryan/College St. 70/40/s 68/46/s Duluth 41/25/s 47/32/pc Bogota Dupont 20 7.78 -0.10
factors. A rating of 10 feels very Normal high 83 65/48/r 64/49/sh
comfortable while a rating of 0
Corpus Christi 66/50/r 74/48/s Fairbanks 40/28/pc 37/26/c Buenos Aires 66/63/c 70/62/pc Little River Little River 30 3.29 +0.03
Normal low 61 Dallas/Ft. Worth 64/40/s 67/51/s Great Falls 74/38/s 72/44/s Caracas Cameron 30 2.20 -0.06
feels very uncomfortable. 88/75/sh 88/74/t
Record high 93 in 1895 El Paso 65/47/s 69/47/c Hartford 59/34/pc 55/36/pc Havana 88/69/t 82/69/t Navasota R. Easterly 19 3.13 -0.01
Today Wed. Thu. Fri. Sat. Sun. Record low 40 in 1977 Galveston 71/54/s 70/56/s Honolulu 87/71/pc 85/73/pc Kingston 88/77/t 88/77/pc
Kingsville 64/48/r 74/46/s Indianapolis 46/32/c 52/30/s Lima Neches River Evadale 19 4.74 none
6 10 9 9 7 7 Precipitation Inches 67/58/c 67/57/c
Pine Island B. Sour Lake 25 11.81 -0.01
Laredo 59/51/r 73/53/s Jackson, MS 58/29/s 62/33/s Rio de Janeiro 81/73/sh 82/73/t
24 hours through 3 p.m. Mon. 0.33 Longview 65/31/s 68/37/s Juneau 52/48/r 50/44/r San Juan 88/76/pc 88/76/pc Sabine River Bon Wier 30 11.95 -0.08
UV TODAY Month to date 0.33 Lubbock 61/44/pc 75/47/s Kansas City 46/21/s 57/38/pc San Salvador 85/70/t 84/71/t Deweyville 24 13.50 +0.22
McAllen 64/53/r 74/52/s Las Vegas 87/63/s 89/64/s Santiago
Values indicate the exposure to Normal month to date 2.84 Midland/Odessa 61/42/pc 69/46/s Little Rock 56/31/s 61/36/s Sao Paulo
75/47/pc 73/49/pc Orange 4 0.98 -0.13
the sun’s Ultraviolet rays. 71/62/r 76/64/pc Burkeville 43 11.37 +0.10
Year to date 30.95 San Angelo 65/39/pc 75/48/s Los Angeles 86/67/pc 89/67/pc St. Thomas 86/78/pc 87/79/pc
8 a.m. 10 a.m. Noon 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 6 p.m. Normal year to date 41.32 San Antonio 68/45/pc 72/49/s Memphis 54/33/s 59/37/s San Bernard R. E. Bernard 17 5.98 -0.01
Texarkana 62/30/s 65/39/s Miami 86/70/t 77/64/t Mexico E. San. Jac. R. Cleveland 19 4.09 +0.01
1 3 5 5 3 1 Other readings Victoria 70/42/s 74/43/s Milwaukee 45/35/c 47/34/pc Acapulco 85/78/t 86/77/t
W. San. Jac. R. Conroe 116 93.36 +0.02
Top wind speed 20 mph Waco 68/36/s 70/49/s Minneapolis 43/26/s 47/36/pc Cancun 87/72/c 82/72/t
0-2, Low 8-10, Very high Nashville 54/32/s 59/31/s Guadalajara 80/58/t 79/52/c San Jacinto R. Sheldon 10 1.13 +0.07
3-5, Moderate 11+, Extreme High barometer 30.05 in. 64/44/s Guanajuato 80/56/t 74/48/pc Sims Bayou Telephone Rd. 30 1.09 +0.17
Low barometer 29.94 in. NATIONAL New Orleans
New York City
65/45/s
57/40/pc 54/41/s Mazatlan 89/74/s 90/74/s Trinity River Goodrich 36 4.63 -0.02
6-7, High
High dewpoint 73° Today Wed. Oklahoma City 57/30/s 66/44/s Merida 87/71/t 78/70/sh
Liberty 26 7.19 +0.09
Low dewpoint 55° Albany, NY 55/34/pc 52/36/pc Orlando 84/57/pc 72/52/pc Mexico City 69/58/r 67/51/c
Village Creek Kountze 20 1.62 +0.01
SUN AND MOON Albuquerque 64/47/s 70/49/s Philadelphia 56/38/pc 55/39/pc Puerto Vallarta 90/75/t 88/74/t
Average dewpoint 67° Anchorage 44/36/c 46/40/c Phoenix 88/68/s 91/68/s Tampico 80/64/r 73/63/c White Oak B. Heights Blvd. 48 7.73 +0.01
New First Full Last
moon quarter moon quarter High humidity 100% Atlanta 56/36/s 60/37/s Pittsburgh 43/35/c 43/30/sn Veracruz 84/74/r 78/73/r
Low humidity 60% Baltimore 56/37/s 55/36/pc Portland, OR 76/51/pc 78/51/s Middle East TEXAS LAKES
Billings 76/45/s 73/47/s Sacramento 83/54/pc 86/51/pc Baghdad 103/69/s 104/70/s
Birmingham 56/30/s 60/31/s St. Louis 50/29/s 54/36/s Beirut 79/67/pc 80/68/s Full Latest Release
Boise 77/44/s 77/44/s Salt Lake City 75/48/s 73/49/s Dubai 98/80/pc 96/80/pc pool level cfs
Oct 25 Nov 1 Nov 8 Nov 16 KEY TO CONDITIONS Boston 62/44/r 60/42/s San Diego 80/67/pc 87/67/pc Jerusalem 77/57/s 78/57/c Canyon Dam 909 900.92 58
s - sunny r - rain Buffalo 46/37/sn 46/37/sh San Francisco 73/57/pc 76/56/pc Kabul 75/40/s 73/36/sh Conroe 201 198.67 0
Sunset tonight 6:47 p.m. pc - partly cloudy sf - snow flurries Charleston, SC 66/40/s 63/40/s Santa Fe 62/38/s 67/39/s Mecca 101/76/c 101/76/s
Sunrise Wednesday 7:26 a.m. c - cloudy sn - snow Charlotte 58/32/s 60/33/s Seattle 70/51/pc 69/49/s Riyadh 94/67/pc 95/66/s Houston 41.73 41.86 N.A.
Moonrise today 12:47 a.m. sh - showers i - ice Chicago 45/31/c 47/33/pc Tucson 82/61/s 83/61/pc Tehran 84/58/s 76/58/s Lake Travis 681 641.11 447
Moonset today 3:15 p.m. t - thunderstorms Cincinnati 47/33/pc 50/31/s Washington, DC 57/40/pc 56/39/pc Tel Aviv 82/62/s 82/63/s Livingston 131 129.88 N.A.

Small firms brace for cautious shoppers

By Mae Anderson and Wednesday where the
AS S OC IAT E D PRE SS average order was $46.68, $13
less than what shoppers spent
NEW YORK — Small busi- during the company’s Prime
nesses are stocking the shelves Day sales event in July, accord-
early this holiday season and ing to the data group Numera-
waiting to see how many gifts tor.
inflation-weary shoppers feel Some business owners are
like giving. hoping to take advantage of any
Holiday shopping was rela- shift to shopping in holiday
tively strong during the past markets and in stores.
two years as shoppers flocked Kimberly Behzadi operates
online to spend, aided by pan- Read It & Eat Box in Buffalo,
demic stimulus dollars. Sales in N.Y., which sells themed boxes
November and December have with food and a book in each
been averaging roughly 20 per- one. She started the business in
cent of annual retail sales, ac- 2020, during the pandemic. She
cording to the National Retail has an online shop but is hop-
Federation, making the holiday ing the return of holiday mar-
season critical for many retail- kets to full capacity will boost
ers. sales. She depends a lot on the
This year, small businesses holidays — 40 percent of her an-
are bracing for a more muted nual revenue comes between
season, as some Americans October and December.
spend more cautiously. Alix- She’s planning on being at six
Partners, the global consulting markets this year, with two
firm, forecasts that holiday more applications pending.
sales will rise between 4 per- Darron Cummings/Associated Press “Last year, holiday markets
cent to 7 percent, far below last Hannah Nash boxes jewelry in Noblesville, Ind., out of her home office. Small businesses are were still limited by the neces-
year’s growth of 16 percent. stocking the shelves early for the holiday season, hoping inflation won’t scare away customers. sary safety protocols for CO-
With inflation running above 8 VID-19 ,” she said. “This year,
percent, retailers would see a causing delivery snarls. food, chocolate, wine and gift- shopping,” Nash said. gratefully, we are able to attend
decrease in real sales. A study for the Council of ware. He’s seeing corporations Nash also expects more peo- and sell at more holiday mar-
To prepare, owners say Supply Chain Management order holiday gift baskets earli- ple to shop in stores during kets locally, so my expectation
they’re ordering inventory ear- Professionals by global con- er as well. these holidays. She started her is to double my holiday revenue
lier to avoid the supply chain sulting firm Kearney found that “Everyone’s planning business, based in Indianapo- this year.”
snags that frustrated them the U.S. business logistics costs ahead,” Pond said. “I think ev- lis, during the pandemic, when Behzadi also plans on being
past two holiday seasons and to surged 22.4 percent in 2021 to erybody’s learning from the online shopping boomed. The more promotional.
draw in early birds. They’re $1.85 trillion. past two years.” percentage of total retail sales “With inflation rates high
stepping up discounts as much “There’s a bit of a hangover While the pandemic’s eco- done online jumped from 11.5 this year, I expect consumers to
as they can in the face of their from that, a bit of fear,” Rhodes nomic effect has subsided percent in 2019 to 17.7 percent in be looking for deals, so I have
own higher costs. And owners said. While it’s too early for somewhat, consumers are now 2020, then rose again to 18.8 adapted my holiday strategy to
also hope more people will shop sales data, the term “Christ- being tag-teamed by high infla- percent last year, according the include more bundles and
in stores and holiday markets mas” was the most searched for tion and rising interest rates. Mastercard SpendingPulse, deals,” she said. She’s offering a
after doing more of their shop- term on the site in mid-Septem- Overall, spending has held up, which tracks all kinds of pay- $60 box that’s bundled with a
ping online during the pandem- ber. That’s two weeks earlier although some Americans have ments, including those by cash blind-date book worth $25 for
ic. than last year and eight weeks been forced to pull back on dis- and debit card. Black Friday, for example.
Max Rhodes, CEO of Faire, earlier than 2020, Rhodes said. cretionary items. Any decline Nash is stepping up dis- Mariana Leung-Weinstein
an online marketplace used by “The one thing we’re certain can be meaningful because con- counts and offering bundles to sells alcohol-infused jam and
small businesses to sell their of is it’s not going to be predict- sumer spending makes up 70 attract shoppers: Her plans in- marshmallows and other farm-
wares wholesale as well as buy able. … We really don’t know percent of economic activity. clude a 15 percent discount for inspired gifts at about 25 stores
goods for retail shops, said he’s what to expect, and our retail- Hannah Nash, owner of the new customers this year, up via her Wicked Finch Farm
seeing earlier ordering from ers feel the same way,” Rhodes online jeweler Lucy Nash, ex- from 10 percent, starting in No- brand in Pawling, N.Y. She
merchants who for two years said. pects sales of her earrings, vember. And she’ll offer bun- started the business in 2019.
had trouble getting enough hol- Mat Pond operates The Epi- bracelets and other jewelry to dles of products that are about She’s focusing on stocking up in
iday inventory stocked in time curean Trader in San Francisco, slow after two years of strong 20 percent cheaper than buying stores in case online sales slow.
for Christmas. Stores faced including four brick-and-mor- growth. The main culprit: infla- items separately. “I expect people will enjoy
shortages of everything from tar stores, an online shop and a tion. Major retailers such as Ama- seeing and touching things in
holiday décor to gift items as corporate gift basket business. “There is less money going zon and Walmart are also offer- person this time around, which
COVID-19 lockdowns forced In past years, he started build- around to the average person, ing holiday deals to cash- puts more of my focus in getting
factories to shut, costs rose and ing inventory in November, but and we expect their living ex- strapped Americans earlier my products in physical stores
fewer shipping containers and this year he’s already stocking penses to impact how much this year. Amazon held a two- in time for the holidays,” she
truckers were available, all up on items such as gourmet they can spend on holiday day discount event last Tuesday said.

Great Disruptor’s exit is step in right direction
BRIAN T. SMITH
C OMME NTA RY
Jack Easterby was the most
loathed Texan in franchise
history, even though he never
wore a uniform, threw a bad
pass or blew a 24-0 lead to
Kansas City in a playoff game.
NO. 1 NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS
NO. 3 HOUSTON COUGARS
Highly regarded
Voters put UH at No. 3 in AP preseason basketball poll
By Joseph Duarte
STAFF WRIT E R
The road to the men’s Final
Four ends at NRG Stadium.
It could take a slight detour
through the University of
Houston campus.
UH was voted No. 3 in the
Associated Press Top 25 poll
released Monday, the highest
ROCKETS
Porter makes himself at home,
signs $82.5 million extension
By Jonathan Feigen
STAFF WRIT E R
Kevin Porter Jr. would not
have believed it.
He believed in his talent. He
believed in his work ethic. But
the idea that days before the start
of the 2022-23 season, he would
sign a four-year, $82.5 million
contract was, when he first ar-
rived in Houston cast off in a
trade for nothing, incomprehen-
sible, even and maybe especially
to him.
He would have thought, Por-
ter said, “That they were just
talking.”
SPORTS
HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022 • SECTION C
Monday’s news that Hous-
ton’s NFL team had finally
moved on from the nasty, rot-
ten ways of the Easterby era?
A deep cleanse for a rebuild-
ing organization that is still
trying to win back all the fans
it lost during the Easterby
years.
A dividing line in Texans
history — and the biggest day
on Kirby Drive since Bill
O’Brien was fired as head
coach and general manager.
Remember that uplifting
feeling you had when the Tex-
ans found a way to banish
Brock Osweiler to Cleveland?
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
ARMANDO
BACOT
Ben Solomon/Getty Images
MARCUS
SASSER
Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer
preseason ranking for the
Cougars since 1983, when Phi
Slama Jama made a second
consecutive trip to the national
title game.
North Carolina, which re-
turns four starters from last
season’s national runner-up,
was the runaway pick for No. 1.
The Tar Heels received 47 of 62
first-place votes from a nation-
“I’ve always seen my potential
but that’s what it’s been these
past few years, just potential,”
Porter said. “I’m starting to put
everything together. It’s dope.”
Porter had not forgotten Mon-
day all that brought him to this
point and could not deny “the
mishaps,” as he has called them,
along the way. That made the
moment he signed his extension,
to begin with the 2023-24 season,
that much sweeter, that much
more rewarding.
“It makes everything feel a lot
more, wow, just worth it,” Porter
said. “Everything up to this
point, the offseason last season,
UP NEXT
TEXANS AT RAIDERS
When/where: 3:05 p.m. Sunday
at Las Vegas.
TV/radio: CBS; 610 AM, 100.3
FM, 101.1 FM (Spanish)
Texans Twitter united in
celebration Monday morning
as the McNairs finally did what
should have been done years
ago. Current GM Nick Caserio
also got the professional dis-
tance he needed from an exec-
Smith continues on C4
NO. 2 GONZAGA BULLDOGS
NO. 4 KENTUCKY WILDCATS
al media panel.
Gonzaga — the top-ranked
team in the preseason the past
two years — was No. 2, with 12
first-place votes. UH received
one first-place vote, followed
by Kentucky (two first-place
votes) at No. 4 and Baylor and
Kansas, the last two national
champions, tied for fifth.
Duke is No. 7, with UCLA,
UP NEXT
ROCKETS AT HAWKS
When/where: 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday at Atlanta.
TV/radio: ATTSW; 790 AM, 104.9
FM HD-2 (Spanish).
the year with John (Wall), just
learning, … picking his brain,
turning into a point guard, all of
that. It was a journey, and the
journey is not going to stop here.
“It means a lot. This is a mile-
stone in my life that I’ve reached.
Rockets continues on C6
Jack Easterby had been executive vice president of football
operations with the Texans since 2019.
DREW
TIMME
Michael Conroy/Associated Press
OSCAR
TSHIEBWE
Michael Hickey/Tribune News Service
Creighton and Arkansas
rounding out the top 10. Three
other Texas schools are in the
poll: Texas (No. 12), TCU (No.
14) and Texas Tech (No. 25).
The lofty preseason ranking
represents another marker for
the Cougars under coach Kel-
vin Sampson, who entering his
ninth season has turned the
UH continues on C8
Kevin Porter Jr. credits the Rockets for getting his life turned
around after being traded from Cleveland in January 2021.
Brett Coomer/Staff photographer
ASTROS
Roster
changes
are likely
for ALCS
Pitching depth has
been pivotal so far
in this postseason
By Chandler Rome
STAF F WRI TE R
The Astros finished the
lengthiest shutout in postsea-
son history with 100 pitches
left in the bullpen. José Urqui-
dy prepared to throw them be-
fore Luis Garcia began the
bottom of the 18th inning. Gar-
cia needed nine pitches to
complete the marathon and
unleash mayhem inside the
visiting clubhouse at T-Mobile
Park.
“We could have played 30
innings today,” pitching coach
Josh Miller quipped between
sips of Budweiser.
Saturday’s ALDS-clinching
win over the Mariners illus-
trated the Astros’ embarrass-
ment of pitching riches while
reaffirming general manager
James Click’s choice to carry
six starters during a five-game
series. Phil Maton punched a
locker and fractured his finger
to make the decision easier,
but Click, his lieutenants and
Houston’s coaching staff
should still be lauded for such
foresight.
Similar decisions loom for
the American League Champi-
onship Series. Presuming Click
adheres to past precedent, the
Astros will add a pitcher and
drop a position player from the
26-man roster that faced the
Mariners, but a scheduling
quirk still favors the roster con-
struction Click prioritized in
the Division Series.
Astros continues on C2
UP NEXT
ASTROS VS. TBD
When/where: 6:37 p.m.
Wednesday, Minute Maid Park.
TV/radio: TBS; 740 AM; 92.5
FM, 93.3 FM (Spanish), 1010
AM (Spanish)
Mark Mulligan/Staff photographer
C2 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022
GAME 1
CLE/NYY
AT ASTROS
6:37 p.m. Wednesday
CLE/NYY: TBD
HOU: TBD
TV: TBS
Rain pushes decisive Game 5 to Tuesday
By Ronald Blum
A S S OC IAT E D PRE SS
NEW YORK — The de-
cisive Game 5 of the AL Di-
vision Series between the
New York Yankees and
Cleveland Guardians was
postponed by rain and re-
scheduled for Tuesday at
3:07 p.m.
Both teams took batting
practice Monday ahead of
the scheduled 7:07 p.m.
start. Major League Base-
ball announced a delay at
6:20 p.m., rain started fall-
ing at 7:30 p.m. and the
postponement was an-
nounced at 9:38 p.m.
“If weather is an issue, I
don’t want to be powering
through that necessarily,”
Yankees manager Aaron
Boone said around 4 p.m.
Cleveland outfielder
Myles Straw, who got into
an angry confrontation
with Yankees fans in
April, exchanged football
tosses with fans in the
first and second decks
during the delay, as did
backup outfielder Will
Brennan.
The center field video
board showed split screen
coverage of New York
City's 3-0 win over Miami
in the Major League Soc-
cer playoffs, the New York
Rangers' NHL game
against the Anaheim
Ducks and the Denver
Broncos' NFL matchup
vs. the San Diego Char-
gers.
This was the second
postponement of the se-
ries following Game 2 at
Yankee Stadium being
pushed back a day until
Friday.
Cleveland or New York
will start the AL Champi-
onship Series at Houston
on Wednesday night.
Aaron Civale had been
scheduled to start Mon-
ASTROS
From page C1
There is only one sched-
uled off day during the
ALCS — between Games 2
and 3 — presenting the
possibility of playing five
games in five days. Should
that scenario transpire,
length out of the bullpen is
imperative to avoid over-
working relievers. The
setup almost mandates in-
cluding both Garcia and
Urquidy on the ALCS ros-
ter, even if neither starts a
game.
Houston will deploy a
four-man starting rota-
tion in this seven-game se-
ries. Friday’s off day
means the Astros’ Game 1
starter — presumably Jus-
tin Verlander — could re-
turn on full rest for Game
5. The team could turn to
Verlander on short rest in
an elimination scenario,
but a fourth starter is re-
quired in any other case.
On paper, Cristian Ja-
vier is the most logical
choice, but his usage in the
ALDS raises questions. Ja-
vier threw once in Game 1
— a 21-pitch relief outing in
a game Houston trailed —
and curiously was not
available during Game 3.
Afterward, manager
Dusty Baker told some re-
porters that Verlander
would have started Game
4, creating more intrigue
around Javier’s unavail-
GAME 2
CLE/NYY ASTROS
AT ASTROS AT CLE/NYY
6:37 p.m. Thursday 4:07 p.m. Saturday
CLE/NYY: TBD HOU: TBD
HOU: TBD CLE/NYY: TBD
TV: TBS TV: TBS
Guardians outfielder Myles Straw tosses a football to fans in the stands during Monday night’s rain delay at
Yankee Stadium in New York. After a rain delay of nearly three hours, the game was postponed to Tuesday.
day for the Guardians and
Jameson Taillon for the
Yankees. The postpone-
ment allows the possibili-
ty for Cleveland ace Shane
Bieber and New York All-
Star Nestor Cortes to start
on three days' rest.
After losing last week's
opener, Cleveland won
Infielder David Hensley acquitted himself well in a key Game 1 plate appearance against Seattle and has
impressed the Astros’ coaching staff with his poise and plate discipline.
ability.
Of the three traditional
starters in the ALDS bull-
pen, Javier is the most con-
ditioned to pitch in relief.
Garcia had not made a re-
lief appearance all season
before firing five scoreless
innings to clinch the
sweep. Urquidy, who did
not pitch at all during the
ALDS, was the only mem-
ber of Houston’s 26-man
roster not to appear in a
game.
Perhaps some combina-
tion of these three would
take the Astros through
Sports Editor: reid.laymance@chron.com • 713-362-2734 • sptletters@chron.com
ASTROS EXTRA
AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
GAME 3 GAME 4
ASTROS
AT CLE/NYY
6:07 p.m. Sunday
HOU: TBD
CLE/NYY: TBD
TV: TBS
*If necessary
YANKEES-GUARDIANS
Games 2 and 3, overcom-
ing a two-run deficit in the
ninth inning to win Game
3 by 6-5. The Yankees won
4-2 on Sunday night in
Cleveland to force the se-
ries back to New York.
New York gets a day for
its beleaguered bullpen to
rest.
Game 4, but Baker and
Miller’s aggressive ap-
proach with Javier in Game
1 of the ALDS prompts
wonder whether that will
repeat itself in the ALCS.
With Maton unavail-
able, the most notable
omission from Houston’s
ALDS bullpen was veter-
an lefhander Will Smith.
Smith seems almost a cer-
tainty if Houston plays
Cleveland in the ALCS.
The Guardians have three
lefthanded hitters in their
everyday lineup, including
Rookie of the Year candi-
*GAME 5
ASTROS
AT CLE/NYY
3:07 p.m. Oct. 24
HOU: TBD
CLE/NYY: TBD
TV: TBS
New York used Clay
Holmes for 17 pitches and
Wandy Peralta for seven
on Sunday, a night after
Peralta threw 27, Clarke
Schmidt12, Jonathan Loái-
siga 15 and Lou Trivino
seven.
The Yankees are miss-
ing Chad Green, Scott Ef-
date Steven Kwan and
cleanup man Josh Naylor.
Franchise cornerstone Jo-
sé Ramírez is a switch hit-
ter with worse splits
against lefthanded pitch-
ing.
A more intriguing deci-
sion awaits if New York ad-
vances. The current crop
of Yankees is righthanded-
heavy but could receive
more balance before the
ALCS if trade deadline ac-
quisition Andrew Benin-
tendi returns from a frac-
tured hamate bone. Benin-
tendi, a lefthanded hitter
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM
*GAME 6 *GAME 7
CLE/NYY CLE/NYY
AT ASTROS AT ASTROS
5:07 p.m. Oct. 25 6:37 p.m. Oct. 26
CLE/NYY: TBD CLE/NYY: TBD
HOU: TBD HOU: TBD
TV: TBS TV: TBS
ALDS
GUARDIANS
VS. YANKEES
Series tied at 2-2
G1: Yankees 4, Guardians 1
Tuesday at New York
G2: Guardians 4,
Yankees 2
Friday at New York
G3: Guardians 6,
Yankees 5
Saturday at Cleveland
G4: Yankees 4,
Guardians 2
Sunday at Cleveland
G5: at New York
CLE: TBD
NYY: TBD
3:07 p.m. Tuesday at NYY
Sunday’s game
Yankees 4, Guardians 2
New York AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Torres 2b
Judge rf
4 1 1 0 0 1 .188
4 1 1 0 0 1 .125
Rizzo 1b 4 0 2 1 0 1 .286
Stanton dh
Donaldson 3b
3 0 0 1 0 2 .083
4 1 1 0 0 2 .250
Cabrera ss 4 0 0 0 0 2 .133
Bader cf 3 1 1 2 0 0 .286
Trevino c 3 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Hicks lf 2 0 0 0 1 0 .000
Totals 31 4 6 4 1 10
Cleveland AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Kwan lf 3 1 1 0 1 0 .412
Rosario ss 4 0 1 0 0 3 .235
Ramírez 3b 4 0 1 1 0 2 .412
J.Naylor dh
O.Gonzalez rf
4 1 1 1 0
4 0 1 0 0
0 .222
1 .222
Giménez 2b 4 0 1 0 0 1 .250
Arias 1b 3 0 0 0 0 2 .286
Hedges c 1 0 0 0 1 0 .143
a-Brennan ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .167
Maile c 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Straw cf 3 0 0 0 0 1 .143
Totals 31 2 6 2 2 11
New York 120 001 000—4 6 1
Cleveland 001 100 000—2 6 1
Elsa/Getty Images a-struck out for Hedges in the 7th.
E: Bader (1), Rosario (1). LOB: New York 2, Cleveland 4.
2B: Rizzo (1). HR: Bader (3), off Quantrill; J.Naylor (1),
off Cole. RBIs: Rizzo (3), Bader 2 (4), Stanton (3), Ramí-
rez (1), J.Naylor (3). SB: Torres (1), Kwan (1). CS: Rizzo
(1). SF: Stanton.
Runners left in scoring position: New York1(Cabre-
fress, Zack Britton, Mi- ra); Cleveland 2 (Brennan, J.Naylor).
chael King and Ron Mari- New York
Cole, W, 2-0
IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
7 6 2 2 1 8 110 2.03
naccio because of injuries. Holmes, H, 1 1 0 0 0 1 2 17 0.00
Cleveland has not used Peralta, S, 1-1
Cleveland
1 0 0 0 0 1
IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
7 3.60
its top relievers since Fri- Quantrill, L, 0-2 5 4 3 3 1 3 66 5.40
day, when All-Star closer Morgan
Morris
1 2 1 1 0 2 23 4.50
2 0 0 0 0 3 22 0.00
Emmanuel Classe threw Plesac 1 0 0 0 0 2 11 0.00
HBP: Cole (Giménez).
33 pitches after Trevor Umpires: Home, Will Little; First, Alan Porter; Second,
Stephan had 21 and James Mark Ripperger; Third, Jordan Baker; Right, Dan Iassogna;
Left, Jeremie Rehak.
Karinchak 29. T: 3:02. A: 36,728 (34,788).
OPS in 99 plate appearanc-
es during the regular sea-
son. Only seven right-
handed relievers held
righties to a lower batting
average. Martinez spent
the ALDS on the taxi
squad and, like his fellow
taxi squad pitchers, threw
bullpen sessions or live
batting practices to stay
sharp.
The new ALCS pitcher
will presumably arrive at
the expense of Jake Mey-
ers, Mauricio Dubón or
David Hensley. It’s hard to
imagine Houston omitting
Hensley, who handled
himself well in a pivotal
Game 1 plate appearance
and has impressed the
staff with his poise and
plate discipline.
If Hensley is safe, Bak-
Karen Warren/Staff photographer er’s ALDS management
suggests Meyers might be
the odd man out in this
round. Meyers started in
with playoff pedigree, did Game 2, struck out in both
not make the team’s ALDS of his at-bats, and was re-
roster but is inching to- moved for a pinch hitter
ward full health for a pos- before his third. He did not
sible matchup against the see any action in Houston’s
Astros. Without Beninten- 18-inning win Saturday.
di, Anthony Rizzo is the Instead, Dubón trotted
Yankees’ lone lefthanded out in the final frame as a
presence. late-game defensive re-
The Yankees are so placement in center field —
righthanded that, if they Meyers’ exact role on this
advance, Seth Martinez roster. Dubón did it during
should be thrust into seri- Games 1 and 2, too, illus-
ous discussion for the final trating the faith Baker has
spot in Houston’s bullpen. in him.
Martinez held right-
handed hitters to two ex- chandler.rome@chron.com
tra-base hits and a .394 twitter.com/chandler_rome
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM
Philadelphia second baseman Jean Segura, left, jokes with San Diego third baseman Manny Machado
during Monday’s practice ahead of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series in San Diego.
Improbable run has
Wild Cards in play
By Scott Lauber
P H IL A DE LPHIA INQU IRE R
PHILADELPHIA — Thanksgiving?
Seventeen days ago, the
Phillies got swept out of
Chicago a few hours be-
fore the San Diego Padres
lost for the fourth time in
seven games. And in that
moment, it was difficult to
tell which team looked
less like it actually wanted
to make the playoffs.
Yet here they are, the
last two entrants into the
tournament, getting set to
square off in the National
League Championship Se-
ries.
Go figure.
The Phillies went 87-75
and punched a ticket to
their first NLCS since 2010
by dispatching the de-
fending World Series
champion Atlanta Braves
in four games in the divi-
sional round. The Padres,
89-73 in the regular sea-
son, will play for the pen-
nant for the first time
since 1998 after vanquish-
ing the 111-win Los Angeles
Dodgers.
Storylines abound, and
there are only two days to
digest them. Game 1 is
Tuesday night in San Die-
go, so let’s get right to it.
Nola vs. Nola
Prepare to see a lot of
the Nola family over the
next week.
A.J. and Stacie Nola
have two sons. Austin is
the Padres catcher, Aaron
the Phillies co-ace. Austin
is four years older, but
Aaron beat his brother to
the majors by four years.
When Austin made his
debut in 2019, Aaron said,
“I think I was happier for
him getting called up than
I was when I got called up,
to be honest with you.”
The Nola boys faced
each other for the first
time in 2021 and again in
June, with A.J. wearing
both a Phillies and Padres
jersey.
Austin has one hit and
one walk in six plate ap-
pearances against Aaron,
who has two strikeouts.
Now, they will be the first
brothers to meet in LCS
play since the Alomars
NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
(Roberto and Sandy Jr.) in
1997.
Loser has to host
Harper vs. Machado
It was the dominant lo-
cal baseball story during
the “Stupid Money” off-
season of 2018-19 — Should
the Phillies sign Bryce
Harper or Manny Macha-
do? — and it dragged on
for four months.
Machado memorably
visited Citizens Bank Park
on Dec. 20, 2018, and was
stopped on Pattison Ave-
nue by a construction
worker who pointed to
Lincoln Financial Field
and said, “Super Bowl
champs! World Series
here. Do the right thing
and sign! Get the money!”
Eventually, Machado
grabbed a 10-year, $300
million deal from the Pa-
dres before Phillies owner
John Middleton offered up
a 13-year, $330 million con-
tract for Harper. Four
years later, neither team
can complain about the re-
turn on its investment.
Harper’s numbers with
the Phillies: .282/.394/.546
(.940 OPS), 101 homers,
14.7 bWAR in 455 games.
He won his second NL
MVP award, his first with
the Phillies, last season.
Machado’s numbers
with the Padres: .280/
.352/.504 (.855 OPS), 108
homers, 17.6 bWAR in 519
games. He’s an MVP can-
didate this year.
Given their coinciding
free agencies, they are in-
extricably linked. Having
led their playoff-starved
teams deep into October,
it’s only fitting that they
square off now for the
pennant.
Say hello to Hader
In authoring an im-
probable Phillies come-
back June 7 in Milwaukee,
Alec Bohm and Matt Vier-
ling hit solo home runs
against Josh Hader, who
hadn’t given up a run in 40
consecutive appearances,
tied for the major-league
record.
And for a while, it
seemed like maybe they
broke him.
NLCS
PHILLIES VS. PADRES
G1: at San Diego
PHI: Wheeler (12-7, 2.82)
SD: Darvish (16-8, 3.10)
7:03 p.m. Tuesday, FS1
G2: at San Diego
3:35 Wednesday, Fox/FS1
G3: at Philadelphia
6:37 p.m. Friday, FS1
G4: at Philadelphia
6:45 p.m. Saturday, Fox
*G5: at Philadelphia
1:37 p.m. Sunday, FS1
*G6: at San Diego
7:03 p.m. Oct. 24, FS1
*G7: at San Diego
7:03 p.m. Oct. 25, Fox/FS1
*If necessary
Beginning with that
game, Hader gave up 16
runs in a span of 14 1⁄3 in-
nings before getting trad-
ed to the Padres. In his
first seven outings for San
Diego, he posted a 23.14
ERA.
But Hader is back to
dominating again. The
lefthander didn’t allow an
earned run in his final 10
regular-season appear-
ances and has struck out
seven of 15 batters in the
postseason, including
Mookie Betts, Trea Turn-
er, and Freddie Freeman
in the ninth inning of the
clincher against the Dodg-
ers.
Can the Phillies climb
back into his head and
steal a game in the series?
For starters
Both teams are an-
chored by their starting
rotations.
The Phillies have Zack
Wheeler, Nola, and likely
Ranger Suárez lined up to
start the first three games,
while the Padres figure to
counter with Yu Darvish,
lefty Blake Snell, and Joe
Musgrove. It will mark the
Phillies’ first time seeing
Snell since he broke Har-
per’s thumb with a way-
ward fastball on June 25.
Gregory Bull/Associated Press
There are other similar-
ities between the teams.
Both have stars in the mid-
dle of the order (Harper
and J.T. Realmuto vs. Ma-
chado and Juan Soto).
After difficult regular
seasons, Padres center
fielder Trent Grisham and
Phillies counterpart Bran-
don Marsh are having
breakthroughs in the
playoffs. Grisham is 8-
for-21 with three homers;
Marsh is 4-for-13 with one
homer.
No place like home
Kyle Schwarber helped
the Chicago Cubs break
their 108-year World Se-
ries hex in 2016 and went
to the playoffs with the
Boston Red Sox last year.
He has been to the playoffs
in seven of his eight sea-
sons. But the Phillies lead-
off hitter was duly im-
pressed by the decibel lev-
els of the sold-out crowds
at Citizens Bank Park for
Games 3 and 4 against the
Braves.
“No offense to any fan
base because they’re all
amazing,” Schwarber
said, “but this is by far the
best Division Series I’ve
ever seen at a home field,
just how electric it was.
(The fans) are in tune with
every single pitch in every
big spot. It was just elec-
tric.”
That’s what happens
when fans don’t get to ex-
perience playoff baseball
for 11 years.
In San Diego, it had
been 15 years. The Padres
made the playoffs in 2020
but Petco Park was empty
because of the pandemic.
So, when they returned
home for Games 3 and 4 of
the divisional series
against the Dodgers, the
ballpark was rocking,
with sights and sounds
that resembled what was
happening in South Phil-
ly.
The Padres have never
won a World Series and
haven’t made an appear-
ance since 1998. The Phil-
lies haven’t won it since
2008 or been there since
2009. The atmosphere in
both ballparks figures to
be supercharged.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022 C3
Astros, Rockets
reach settlement
with Comcast
By David Barron
C O RRE S P O N D E N T
The Astros, Rockets
and Comcast have agreed
to settle their decade-long
legal dispute stemming
from the collapse of Com-
cast SportsNet Houston,
ending Comcast’s efforts
to seek tens of millions
from the teams and clear-
ing the way for the Astros
to focus their efforts to re-
gain part of their lost in-
vestment on a lawsuit
against former team own-
er Drayton McLane.
The agreement, filed
Friday with the U.S.
Bankruptcy Court in
Houston, will dismiss
Comcast’s pending claims
against the teams to re-
gain $74 million of a $100
million secured loan used
to start the failed network
in 2012 and a lawsuit in
which the Astros, former
Rockets owner Leslie Al-
exander and other credi-
tors sought damages from
Comcast for CSN Hous-
ton’s demise.
It also dismisses Com-
cast as a defendant in a
case, now pending before
the Texas Supreme Court,
filed in late 2013 by the As-
tros against McLane and
Comcast. That suit alleges
that owner Jim Crane and
his partners were misled
about the potential value
of CSN Houston when
they purchased the team
and its share of the net-
work from McLane in
2011.
Financial details of the
agreement were redacted
from the motion made
available for public view.
The teams and Comcast
have asked U.S. Bank-
ruptcy Judge Robert Is-
gur to seal those details,
and the agreement speci-
fies that the only public
comment will be that “the
parties have reached a
settlement that fully re-
solves their disputes re-
lating to the Houston Re-
gional Sports Network.”
The agreement, when
entered by Isgur, will end
the most publicly contest-
ed portion of the CSN
Houston debacle, the
largest failure of a region-
al sports television net-
work in the industry’s
history.
Launched by the As-
tros, Rockets and Com-
cast in the fall of 2012 with
an estimated value of
more than $700 million, it
was sold out of Chapter 11
bankruptcy in October
2014 to DirecTV and
AT&T for $1,000 plus a
$50 million investment
used to relaunch the
channel under its current
name, AT&T SportsNet
Southwest.
In the process, almost a
hundred CSN Houston
employees lost their jobs,
and the Rockets and As-
tros agreed to write off
more than $200 million in
unpaid rights fees and
other expenses in ex-
change for the court’s ap-
proval of the reorganiza-
tion plan that led to the
creation of AT&T Sports-
Net Southwest.
The agreement elimi-
nates the need for a
scheduled January 2023
hearing in which Isgur
would be asked for a sec-
ond time to determine if
Astros owner Drayton McLane waves to the crowd
after a video tribute to him on Sept. 29, 2011.
Comcast deserved pay-
ment from the Astros and
Alexander, who retained
his interest in the case af-
ter selling the Rockets to
Tilman Fertitta in 2017, for
the balance of its $100 mil-
lion startup loan used to
launch the network.
Isgur ruled in 2014 that
the teams did not owe the
loan balance to Comcast,
but the 5th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals in 2018
vacated the decision and
ordered a rehearing. That
rehearing was scheduled
for March 2020 but was
postponed because of the
COVID-19 pandemic and
the issue has languished
in limbo since then.
Houston Regional
Sports Network, the cor-
porate name for Comcast
SportsNet Houston, was
formed by the Rockets
and Astros in 2003 to
market the teams’ local
television rights. The
company agreed in 2010
to partner with Comcast
to launch a new RSN that
would take over game
broadcasts from Fox
Sports Houston, which
had aired Astros and
Rockets games since the
early 1980s.
The network was
launched in the fall of 2012
but failed to achieve
widespread carriage in
the Houston area because
carriers such as Time
Warner Cable, DirecTV,
Dish Network and Sud-
denlink refused to pay its
subscriber fee of $4.50 per
subscriber per month in
the 20-county Houston
market area.
Since the network nev-
er had clearance to more
than 40 percent of Hous-
ton’s 2.2 million TV
households, CSN Hous-
ton was unable to pay the
approximately $100 mil-
lion in annual rights fees
that it promised the As-
tros and Rockets in 2013.
When the Astros
threatened to revoke their
telecast agreement, Com-
cast filed an involuntary
Chapter 11 bankruptcy pe-
tition, setting off the long
legal battle that will be
concluded with the agree-
ment filed Friday. The As-
tros and Rockets each lost
more than $100 million,
and the parties lost their
equity in the network
(46.5 percent for the As-
tros, 31 percent for the
Rockets and 22.5 percent
for Comcast).
The Astros’ case
against McLane, howev-
er, continues. In a case
filed in the fall of 2013,
Crane’s Houston Baseball
Partners investment
group claimed that
McLane misled them
about the value of CSN
Houston, which account-
ed for more than half of
the value of the $640 mil-
lion that Crane paid
McLane in 2011.
McLane denied the al-
legations and sought to
have the suit dismissed,
but that claim was reject-
ed by a Harris County dis-
trict court judge. McLane
appealed to the 14th state
Court of Appeals and,
when his appeal failed, to
the state Supreme Court.
The high court is
scheduled to hear
McLane’s latest appeal on
Oct. 25.
Staff file photo
C4 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022
Easterby’s turbulent tenure ends
Given more power,
his decisions played
part in team’s demise
If you asked someone what
Jack Easterby did
in almost four
seasons with the
Texans, chances
are they still
wouldn’t fully
know. Never in
Brooks Houston football
Kubena history had there
been such an
O N THE
TE X A NS enigmatic exec-
utive whose
influence reached
so far beyond his qualifications,
whose cryptic job title afforded
him a wide enough range to lay
claim or receive both praise and
blame for even things in which
he was not supremely involved.
Perhaps there never will be
again. The Texans fired Easterby
on Monday, a pivotal decision by
chair and CEO Cal McNair that
in terms of Easterby’s direct
impact on the team’s on-field
performance was arguably two
seasons delayed. The peak of
Easterby’s power had passed, yet
he was allowed to remain in the
background while the franchise’s
new leadership rectified the
roster and budgetary blunders
that still mire the Texans below
mediocrity.
The timing of Easterby’s de-
parture is curious, although the
decision was inevitable. East-
erby’s responsibilities as exec-
utive vice president of football
operations had been reduced
significantly since general man-
ager Nick Caserio was hired in
January 2021. McNair said in a
statement that Easterby’s role can
be absorbed by the team’s foot-
ball operations staff, “effective
immediately.”
Teams do not usually shake
up their front-office structure
midseason without a plan in
mind, and Houston’s open week
presented a convenient platform
for both parties to part ways.
Coach Lovie Smith declined to
comment on Easterby’s ouster
but said he is “well-versed with
what’s going on right now” and
how the franchise’s organiza-
tional structure will proceed for
the remaining 12 games.
Easterby oversaw logistical
and technological groups that
supported the workflow of foot-
ball operations — like the nutri-
tion program, weight room and
sports medicine team — and
each department has a leader
who now falls directly under
Caserio’s direction. The stream-
lined executive leadership ought
to provide immediate clarity for a
franchise that will decide in the
SMITH
From page C1
utive vice president of football
operations who never had the
Texans’ best interests at heart.
My lasting impression of the
Easterby era, other than the
fact that the Texans are 9-28-1
in their last 38 games?
Every time that I answered
the phone or engaged in a con-
versation, and someone was
relaying the latest unbelievable
Easterby-related news.
He’d taken credit for this
when he hadn’t done anything.
He had leaked this and this
and this, even though the Tex-
ans knew he was giving away
private organizational informa-
tion from within the supposed-
ly impenetrable walls of NRG
Stadium.
He’d convinced someone new
to write a puff piece proclaim-
ing all of his invaluable talents
— even though, on the record
and with the tape rolling, a
passive Easterby would always
insist that he was just a tiny
cog in the big machine known
as life.
Sometimes, though, it was
just Easterby sitting in a room,
trying to convince everyone
else how smart and advanced
he was, while throwing others
within the Texans under the
bus that Easterby was also
driving.
If you think Houston traffic
at 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. is the
worst, try running an elite NFL
franchise while empowering
someone who wasn’t qualified
to make big executive decisions.
Texans chairman Cal McNair stood by Jack Easterby, left, for years before deciding it was now time to part ways.
offseason whether those depart-
ments require a shared manager.
Easterby’s ambiguous job title
often defied definition. The na-
ture of his status left room for
complication. Only three people
directly reported to McNair —
Caserio, Easterby and team pres-
ident Greg Grissom — and none
of them reported to one another.
None of them could fire one
another. Easterby could range
across departments and create
conflict but ultimately would be
accountable only to McNair.
McNair chose to retain East-
erby beyond the 2020 firing of
former head coach and general
manager Bill O’Brien. Problemat-
ic personnel decisions made in
the O’Brien-Easterby era pro-
duced roster disarray and salary
cap chaos that have prevented
the Texans from pursuing top
free agency talent for two straight
offseasons. Caserio has said he
knew the rebuild would be a
“massive undertaking” when he
was hired.
Beyond a lopsided trade that
sent All-Pro wide receiver
DeAndre Hopkins to the Cardi-
nals, Easterby negotiated contract
extensions in 2020 with lineback-
er Zach Cunningham, defensive
end Whitney Mercilus and cor-
nerback Bradley Roby that all
included at least $18 million in
guarantees. None of those con-
tracts lasted beyond Caserio’s first
year in Houston, and the Texans
Or prance around on the side-
line and get in a head coach’s
ear. Or hand out bad contracts
that are still holding a rebuild
back.
Disruption. That’s a cool,
often-repeated buzz word in
our chaotic modern times.
For the Texans, Easterby
was the Great Disruptor.
And what did it get them?
And how many AFC cham-
pionship games did they reach?
And how many within a
conflicted organization were
fired or simply left one of 32
NFL teams in the world be-
cause they couldn’t put up
anymore with Easterby pre-
tending like he knew how to
rule the world?
The oddest part of it all since
2019: The McNairs and the
Texans brought it all on them-
selves. And they continued to
publicly back Easterby … until
they finally realized that they
could do all the same things
without him getting in the way.
Easterby wasn’t the reason
the Texans only won eight
combined games the last two
seasons.
Easterby didn’t make the call
to promote O’Brien to HC and
GM. CEO Cal McNair did that
and was one of Easterby’s big-
gest early champions.
Easterby didn’t push the
Texans to 1-3-1 this season, as a
rebuilding franchise again
looks toward another draft
while trying to gradually im-
prove on the field.
But was buying into and
promoting Easterby the worst
decision the Texans have ever
made?
TEXANS
still rank second in the NFL with
$69.7 million in dead money,
according to Over the Cap.
That Easterby was involved in
personnel decisions at all was
astounding. He’d arrived in
Houston in 2019 after spending
six seasons as a character coach
with the Patriots. He served in
the same role at the University of
South Carolina from 2005 until
2010, when he joined the Kansas
City Chiefs as a chaplain for two
seasons.
Easterby built an impressive
reputation in New England. He
gained the respect of coach Bill
Belichick, who in November 2020
told reporters Easterby was a
“very valuable person” who
could connect with everyone
within the organization. The
Patriots coach still hedged his
comment by saying “Jack’s not a
personnel person, no.”
Belichick was expressing his
own surprise that Easterby had
ascended beyond a similar team
development role in Houston.
Easterby’s influence grew along
with O’Brien, whose power-
hungry tendencies led to the
ouster of former general manager
Brian Gaine. When O’Brien was
fired after an 0-4 start in 2020,
Easterby was named interim
general manager.
Easterby then ceded all per-
sonnel decisions to Caserio, a
longtime Patriots executive the
Texans had twice previously
Jack Easterby wasn’t the reason the Texans won a combined
eight games over two years, but promoting him was a mistake.
Yes.
And no one else in the NFL
would have done it.
Bill Belichick would have
fired the Texans’ version of
Easterby years ago.
While the Astros wait for
their sixth consecutive Amer-
ican League Championship
Series and the rebuilding Rock-
ets invest in their youth by
extending Kevin Porter Jr., the
Texans finally cleaned up the
mess they made.
The kicker?
Easterby had already been
neutralized and pushed aside
this season — he was no longer
allowed on new HC Lovie
Smith’s sideline — but the po-
larizing salesman was still
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM
attempted to hire. Caserio imme-
diately absorbed all roster-ori-
ented football decisions — the
draft, free agency, trades, con-
tracts — and was also the point
man in each of Houston’s two
head-coaching searches, which
were approved by McNair.
Still, Easterby’s presence was
palpable. The mere sight of him
on the sideline in 2021 drew ire
from a Texans fan base that was
increasingly losing interest in its
hometown team. Easterby and
the Texans did little to squelch
the disdain. Easterby’s only me-
dia appearance in the last 25
months was a rare interview
with a Philadelphia-based sports
podcast during which he defined
his front-office role with Caserio.
Easterby had not appeared in
an on-the-record availability with
Houston media since the an-
nouncement of since-traded
quarterback Deshaun Watson’s
contract extension in September
2020 — a timeline that lasted
through several controversies,
including a series of critical
Sports Illustrated articles about
Easterby’s relationship with the
team.
Easterby’s strongest defender
has been Caserio. The two
worked together in New England
from 2013 until 2018, and Caserio
defended Easterby in a January
interview with Sports Radio 610’s
morning drive show “Payne &
Pendergast,” saying Easterby’s
Brett Coomer/Staff photographer
trying to win over friends and
influence others.
He wasn’t trusted inside
NRG Stadium. Some hated
him. Others, if they had their
way, would’ve moved on from
Easterby last offseason.
The right time to erase the
Easterby stench was Oct. 5,
2020, when O’Brien was fired
because the McNairs had given
far too much power to a false
king who started a new season
0-4.
But Easterby lasted two
more years, which says as
much about the McNairs’ un-
derstanding of a true winning
football culture as it does East-
erby.
The Texans are changing,
Brett Coomer/Staff photographer
“been a punching bag since he’s
got here” and “quite frankly,
some of it’s been unjust.”
How Caserio proceeds to
organize football operations will
be notable. He is five games into
the second season of a six-year
contract, and any eventual suc-
cess or failure will now fall more
squarely on him.
Caserio’s first head coaching
hire, David Culley, lasted just one
4-13 season. The Texans then
nearly hired former quarterback
Josh McCown, who lacked any
college or professional coaching
experience, before turning to
Smith, who was already on staff
as defensive coordinator and
wasn’t officially interviewed until
after finalist Brian Flores filed a
racial-discrimination lawsuit
against the NFL.
Easterby’s potential influence
in both searches could not be
ignored. As interim general man-
ager, he had signed McCown to
the Texans practice squad and
secured McCown three inter-
views for Houston’s head coach-
ing position in less than a year.
But Smith and Caserio are now
indelibly linked.
How much success is ahead
for the Texans? How will Caserio
handle the future?
The punching bag has been
removed.
brooks.kubena@chron.com
twitter.com/bkubena
adapting, listening to you and
trying to get things right. You
could trade in Deshaun Wat-
son’s worthless No. 4 jersey.
Dameon Pierce, Jalen Pitre and
Derek Stingley Jr. are the new
hope for a team that could be
worth believing in again in a
couple years.
Yet Caserio initially stood by
and defended Easterby. Maybe
because at one time in Texans
history a Patriots South trium-
virate of O’Brien, Caserio and
Easterby was a real Houston
dream?
Heck, the franchise almost
hired the completely inexperi-
enced Josh McCown as head
coach — after firing the unbe-
lievably inexperienced David
Culley after one bad year —
because it kept giving Easterby
power and being swayed by his
selflish advice.
In the end, Easterby un-
dercut and outed himself on
Kirby.
The Texans kept losing, in-
formation kept leaking, and all
the Machiavellian machinations
made Easterby expendable.
These Texans are still a 1-3-1
team and a long way from go-
ing up 24-0 in the playoffs
again.
But ending the Easterby era
was an acknowledgement that
it never should have occurred
in the first place.
The Great Disruptor on Kir-
by is gone.
The McNairs finally listened
to what everyone else was tell-
ing them for years.
brian.smith@chron.com
twitter.com/chronbriansmith
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COMHHHH TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022 C5

NFL
TEXANS AT A GLANCE

Collins says ‘ain’t no doubt’ AMERICAN CONFERENCE

East
Buffalo
WLT
510
Pct
.833
PF PA
176 81
Home
2-0-0
Away
3-1-0
AFC
4-1-0
NFC
1-0-0
Div
0-1-0

he’ll play against Raiders

N.Y. Jets 420 .667 143 128 1-2-0 3-0-0 3-2-0 1-0-0 1-0-0
Miami 330 .500 131 155 2-1-0 1-2-0 3-2-0 0-1-0 2-1-0
New England 330 .500 141 113 1-1-0 2-2-0 2-2-0 1-1-0 0-1-0
South W L T Pct PF PA Home Away AFC NFC Div
Tennessee 3 2 0 .600 96 118 1-1-0 2-1-0 2-1-0 1-1-0 1-0-0
Indianapolis 3 2 1 .583 103 121 2-1-0 1-1-1 3-2-1 0-0-0 1-2-1
By Jonathan M. Jacksonville 2 4 0 .333 138 114 1-1-0 1-3-0 2-2-0 0-2-0 1-2-0
Alexander Houston 1 3 1 .300 86 99 0-1-1 1-2-0 1-2-1 0-1-0 1-0-1
STAFF WRIT E R North W L T Pct PF PA Home Away AFC NFC Div
Baltimore 3 3 0 .500 158 141 1-2-0 2-1-0 3-2-0 0-1-0 1-0-0
Texans wide receiver Cincinnati 3 3 0 .500 138 115 1-1-0 2-2-0 2-2-0 1-1-0 0-2-0
Nico Collins was a limited Cleveland 2 4 0 .333 148 163 1-3-0 1-1-0 1-3-0 1-1-0 1-0-0
participant in practice Pittsburgh 2 4 0 .333 97 146 1-2-0 1-2-0 1-4-0 1-0-0 1-1-0
Monday, working off to West W L T Pct PF PA Home Away AFC NFC Div
the side with trainers. He Kansas City 4 2 0 .667 179 149 2-1-0 2-1-0 2-2-0 2-0-0 2-0-0
L.A. Chargers 4 2 0 .667 141 152 2-1-0 2-1-0 4-2-0 0-0-0 2-1-0
wasn’t wearing a helmet,
Denver 2 4 0 .333 91 99 2-1-0 0-3-0 1-3-0 1-1-0 0-2-0
indicating that he was at Las Vegas 1 4 0 .200 125 130 1-1-0 0-3-0 1-3-0 0-1-0 1-2-0
least limited in practice.
But when asked after NATIONAL CONFERENCE
practice about his status East W L T Pct PF PA Home Away AFC NFC Div
Philadelphia 6 0 0 1.000 161 105 3-0-0 3-0-0 1-0-0 5-0-0 2-0-0
for the team’s game Sun-
N.Y. Giants 5 1 0 .833 127 113 3-1-0 2-0-0 2-0-0 3-1-0 0-1-0
day against the Las Vegas Dallas 4 2 0 .667 110 98 2-1-0 2-1-0 1-0-0 3-2-0 2-1-0
Raiders (1-4), Collins was Washington 2 4 0 .333 102 135 1-2-0 1-2-0 1-1-0 1-3-0 0-2-0
matter of fact. South W L T Pct PF PA Home Away AFC NFC Div
“I’m playing,” Collins Atlanta 3 3 0 .500 146 136 2-1-0 1-2-0 1-0-0 2-3-0 0-2-0
said with a laugh. “Yeah, Tampa Bay 3 3 0 .500 121 103 1-2-0 2-1-0 0-2-0 3-1-0 2-0-0
yeah, yeah. Ain’t no New Orleans 2 4 0 .333 141 158 1-3-0 1-1-0 0-1-0 2-3-0 1-2-0
doubt.” Carolina 1 5 0 .167 103 146 1-3-0 0-2-0 0-1-0 1-4-0 1-0-0
Collins said he was North W L T Pct PF PA Home Away AFC NFC Div
“banged up” from the Tex- Minnesota 5 1 0 .833 139 118 3-0-0 2-1-0 1-0-0 4-1-0 3-0-0
Green Bay 3 3 0 .500 107 123 2-2-0 1-1-0 1-1-0 2-2-0 1-1-0
ans’ 13-6 win over the Jag-
Chicago 2 4 0 .333 93 118 2-1-0 0-3-0 1-0-0 1-4-0 0-2-0
uars on Oct. 9, which is Detroit 1 4 0 .200 140 170 1-2-0 0-2-0 0-1-0 1-3-0 0-1-0
why he didn’t practice West W L T Pct PF PA Home Away AFC NFC Div
much and has been work- L.A. Rams 3 3 0 .500 104 126 2-2-0 1-1-0 0-1-0 3-2-0 1-1-0
ing on recovery. He said San Francisco 3 3 0 .500 122 89 2-0-0 1-3-0 0-1-0 3-2-0 2-0-0
the injury was “nothing Seattle 3 3 0 .500 146 163 2-1-0 1-2-0 1-0-0 2-3-0 1-1-0
major.” The team had an Arizona 2 4 0 .333 114 142 0-3-0 2-1-0 1-1-0 1-3-0 0-2-0
open date this past Sun- Week 6 results/schedule
day. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer
New England 38, Cleveland 15
Collins has been key to Receiver Nico Collins is becoming a more integral part of the Texans’ offense in Thursday L.A. Rams 24, Carolina 10
the Texans’ recent offen- recent weeks and leads the team with 272 receiving yards on the season. Washington 12, Chicago 7 Seattle 19, Arizona 9
Sunday Buffalo 24, Kansas City 20
sive success and one of Philadelphia 26, Dallas 17
their most productive Moore, who missed the game at Denver. He has closer to a return to the Atlanta 28, San Francisco 14
Cincinnati 30, New Orleans 26 Monday
players over the last few Jaguars game with a hip only three catches for 8 field. And so is rookie Indianapolis 34, Jacksonville 27 L.A. Chargers 19, Denver 16
weeks. The 6-foot-4, 215- injury, also was among yards in two games, but linebacker Christian Har- Minnesota 24, Miami 16
pound wide receiver, has those who didn’t practice. he’ll be an extra weapon ris, who was designated to N.Y. Giants 24, Baltimore 20
N.Y. Jets 27, Green Bay 10
caught seven passes for “It was kind of an extra for quarterback Davis return to the roster, but Pittsburgh 20, Tampa Bay 18
147 yards in the past two day,” Texans coach Lovie Mills to utilize. has not been added.
games. Smith said. “We’ll have “Brevin is a good foot- Both players began the Week 7 schedule
Thursday’s game
He made a key 23-yard more to say on Wednes- ball player,” Smith said. season on the injured re- New Orleans at Arizona 7:15 p.m. Ari. 2 Ari. 1½ 44½ Amazon
catch on third-and-2 in the day about that. Is he (Nico “He’ll be in the mix once serve. Thomas likely Sunday’s games Time Open Current O/U TV
fourth quarter that helped Collins) on the injury list? he can go. This extra day would have the fastest Atlanta at Cincinnati Noon Cin. 6½ Cin. 6½ 47½
extend the Texans’ game- I mean, there’s a lot of will kind of help us get a track to seeing the field. Cleveland at Baltimore Noon Bal. 6 Bal. 6½ 46½
winning touchdown drive things going on. Let’s wait better idea of who we will Harris missed most of Detroit at Dallas Noon Dal. 6½ Dal. 7 47½ CBS
against Jacksonville. Col- for it and then we’ll talk have available this coming training camp practices Green Bay at Washington Noon G.B. 3 G.B. 5½ 41½ Fox
Indianapolis at Tennessee Noon Ten. 1½ Ten. 2½ 42½
lins leads the team with about it a little bit.” weekend.” with his hamstring injury
N.Y. Giants at Jacksonville Noon Jac. 3 Jac. 3 42½
272 receiving yards in his Meanwhile, tight end Jordan isn’t the only and still has some to learn, Tampa Bay at Carolina Noon T.B. 9½ T.B. 10½ 40½
second season out of Brevin Jordan, who has player who could make a while Thomas already Houston at Las Vegas 3:05 p.m. L.V. 6½ L.V. 7 45½
Michigan. missed the past three return this week. Corner- knows Smith’s defensive N.Y. Jets at Denver 3:05 p.m. Den. 3½ Den. 3½ 42½
Monday’s practice was weeks with an ankle inju- back Tavierre Thomas, system. Seattle at L.A. Chargers 3:25 p.m. L.A. 7½ L.A. 7½ 52½
the Texans’ first since ry, practiced for the first who is eligible to be acti- Kansas City at San Francisco 3:25 p.m. K.C. 1½ K.C. 3½ 47½ Fox
coming off their off week. time since spraining his vated from the injured re- jonathan.alexander@chron.com Pittsburgh at Miami 7:20 p.m. Mia. 6 Mia. 7 44½ NBC
Monday’s game Time Open Current O/U TV
Wide receiver Chris ankle in the team’s Week 2 serve, seems to be getting twitter.com/jonmalexander
Chicago at New England 7:15 p.m. N.E. 6 N.E. 7½ 39½ ESPN
Open: Buffalo, L.A. Rams, Minnesota, Philadelphia

CHARGERS 19, BRONCOS 16 (OT)

Late turnover, Hopkins’ field goal NFL NOTEBOOK

lift L.A. to win in AFC West clash Wentz sits with

By Joe Reedy
AS S OC IAT E D PRE SS
INGLEWOOD, Calif. —
Dustin Hopkins kicked
four field goals, including
a 39-yarder with 2:38 re-
maining in overtime, and
the Los Angeles Chargers
rallied for a 19-16 victory
over the Denver Broncos
on Monday night.
Hopkins, who injured a
hamstring during the first
half, grimaced as he
kicked the ball and fell to
the ground before being
picked up by teammates.
The ninth-year kicker was
inactive for last week’s
game against Cleveland
because of a quadriceps
injury.
Coach Brandon Staley
said Hopkins’ hamstring
kind of cramped up and
strained on him early in
the game, but started to
loosen up during the sec-
ond half.
“You can’t say enough
about him hanging in
there,” Staley said. “Early
in the third quarter, we
were going to be careful
with him which is why we
went for it. But at the end
we had no choice. We were
going to kick no matter
what.”
Hopkins has five career
games with four or more
field goals.
“I was trying to focus on
a little backswing and just
get through the ball. And
that was it,” Hopkins said
of his first OT game-win-
ner. “I wasn’t thinking
about the circumstance or
anything like that. I was
just trying to repeat the
swing thoughts in my
head since it changed from
pregame to the game.”
The Chargers have won
three straight to improve
fractured finger
Dustin Hopkins (6) connects on a 39-yard field goal with 2:38 left in overtime to
propel the Chargers to a 19-16 victory over the Broncos on Monday night.
to 4-2. They are tied with
Kansas City atop the AFC
West.
The game appeared to
be headed toward a tie un-
til Denver’s Montrell
Washington muffed JK
Scott’s punt at the Broncos
32-yard line. It was recov-
ered by Deane Leonard at
the 28.
Washington called for a
fair catch, but Denver
safety P.J. Locke didn’t
hear Washington and
tried to block Ja’Sir Taylor
when Locke bumped into
Washington.
Justin Herbert, who
completed 37 of 57 passes
for 238 yards and an inter-
ception, passed to Mike
Williams for 9 yards to get
Hopkins closer.
Russell Wilson was 15-
of-28 for 188 yards and a
touchdown for the
Broncos (2-4), who
dropped a game in over-
time for the second
Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press
straight week.
“This is very disap-
pointing,” Denver coach
Nathaniel Hackett said.
“We need to have a lot
more urgency across the
board. Starts with me as a
coach, going to all the oth-
er coaches and on to the
players. Players need to
be, you know, just more
urgent. We had some op-
portunities there, and
we’ve got to execute at a
higher level. We’ve got to
come up with some better
plays.”
Denver jumped out to a
10-0 lead with scores on
the first two drives. Bran-
don McManus was good
from 51 yards midway
through the first, and Wil-
son found a wide-open
Greg Dulcich for a 39-yard
touchdown with 1:49 re-
maining in the quarter.
The Dulcich TD was the
Broncos’ first in 87 min-
utes, 54 seconds.
WI RE R E P ORT S thers would receive “un-
disclosed draft compensa-
Carson Wentz under- tion” in return.
went surgery Monday to A person familiar with
repair a broken right ring the trade said the Pan-
finger, sidelining the thers would receive a
Washington Commanders sixth-round pick in 2024
starting quarterback six and a seventh-round pick
games into his tenure with in 2025.
the team.
The Commanders an- Titans close in on
nounced Wentz had sur- new stadium deal
gery in Los Angeles, but
did not provide a specific The Tennessee Titans
time frame of how much have lined up the last
time Wentz will miss. If he financing for an estimated
goes on injured reserve, he $2.1 billion domed stadium
would be out at least four that will put the franchise
games, which would mean in position to host a Super
missing returns to India- Bowl once the new build-
napolis and Philadelphia. ing opens at the beginning
Taylor Heinicke is ex- of the 2026 season.
pected to start Sunday The Titans and Nash-
when Washington hosts ville Mayor John Cooper
Aaron Rodgers and the announced the agreement
Chargers 19, Broncos 16 (OT) Green Bay Packers, his at a news conference,
Denver 10 3 0 3 0 — 16 17th NFL start since being providing $760 million in
L.A. Chargers 0 10 3 3 3 — 19 a surprise playoff star in bonds issued by the Metro
First Quarter
Den: FG McManus 51, 7:20.
the playoffs in January Sports Authority in a deal
Den: Dulcich 39 pass from Wilson (McManus kick), 1:49. 2021. that still must be approved
Second Quarter
LAC: Ekeler 6 run (Hopkins kick), 9:10.
Wentz was injured by the Metro Nashville
LAC: FG Hopkins 37, :53. when his throwing hand City Council.
Den: FG McManus 27, :00.
Third Quarter got tangled up with Chica-
LAC: FG Hopkins 31, 9:08.
Fourth Quarter
go Bears defensive line- DL Onwuzurike
Den: FG McManus 48, 8:21. man Justin Jones while out for the year
LAC: FG Hopkins 35, 3:58. delivering a pass during
First Overtime
LAC: FG Hopkins 39, 2:38. the second quarter of the Detroit Lions defensive
A: 70,240. game Thursday night. He lineman Levi Onwuzurike
Den LAC
First downs 13 24 continued to play despite is out for the season after
Total Net Yards
Rushes-yards
258
23-98
297
24-73
the injury and helped the having back surgery earli-
Passing 160 224 Commanders snap a four- er this month.
Punt Returns
Kickoff Returns
2-0
1-26
3-39
2-45
game losing streak. Detroit has struggled
Interceptions Ret. 1--6 0-0 over the years in part
Cardinals trade
Comp-Att-Int 15-28-0 37-57-1
Sacked-Yards Lost 4-28 2-14 because of its difficulties
Punts 7-46.143 4-44.0
for WR Anderson to select productive play-
Fumbles-Lost 3-1 0-0
Penalties-Yards 10-151 9-89 ers in the second round of
Time of Possession 28:33 38:49 The Arizona Cardinals the NFL draft, and Onwu-
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS made a move to bolster zurike is the latest ex-
RUSHING: Denver, Murray 15-66, Wilson 4-23, Gordon
3-8, Boone 1-1. L.A. Chargers, Ekeler 14-36, Michel 8-28, their struggling offense, ample.
Herbert 2-9.
PASSING: Denver, Wilson 15-28-0-188. L.A. Chargers,
adding disgruntled receiv- The Lions drafted the
Herbert 37-57-1-238. er Robbie Anderson in a former Washington stand-
RECEIVING: Denver, Jeudy 3-54, Dulcich 2-44, Hamler 2-
44, Sutton 2-14, Tomlinson 1-16, Hinton 1-8, Beck 1-7, trade with the Carolina out with the No. 41 pick
Boone 1-3, Washington 1-0, Murray 1-(minus 2). L.A.
Chargers, Ekeler 10-47, Palmer 9-57, Everett 5-29, Par- Panthers on Monday. overall in 2021 and he had
ham 3-53, Carter 3-17, Michel 3-14, Williams 2-17, Bandy
1-4, Horvath 1-0.
Both teams announced an underwhelming rookie
MISSED FIELD GOALS: None. the deal, saying the Pan- season.
C6 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022
ROCKETS NOTEBOOK
Contract moves offer
a measure of stability
By Jonathan Feigen
STAFF WRIT E R
With guard Kevin Porter Jr.
signing his rookie scale exten-
sion Monday and the Rockets
planning this month to pick up
their third-year options for last
season’s rookies, every player on
the roster will be signed for next
season, save center Boban Mar-
janovic and the two players
with two-way contracts.
Not every contract is fully
guaranteed for the 2023-24 sea-
son, but the Rockets can have as
much stability as they choose
while potentially having the
most cap room in the NBA next
offseason.
“Stability is always good,”
Rockets coach Stephen Silas
said. “It feels good to have the
guys we have. I love our group.
The guys that have been here
with Eric (Gordon) and J.T.
(Jae’Sean Tate) and K.J. (Mar-
tin) and then the new guys from
last year and now the new guys
from this year, it does seem like
we’re moving in the right direc-
tion as far as solidifying who
we’re going to be.
“As a coach, it’s always good to
know you have a group you
know is going to be here for a
while and you can grow with
them and teach them.”
Other than Gordon, who is
beginning his seventh season
with the Rockets, Martin and
Tate are the longest-tenured
Rockets players with two sea-
sons each. Porter was traded to
the Rockets in 2020-21, Tate and
Martin’s rookie season.
Of the Rockets’ 15 players with
standard NBA contracts, 10 are
ROCKETS
From page C1
It’s more motivation to keep go-
ing. A lot of things that have hap-
pened in my first few years in the
league, my career has definitely
been a roller coaster, and this is a
blessing.”
Porter had reached a low
point before the trade to the
Rockets, sent by the Cavaliers to
Houston in exchange for a sec-
ond-round pick unlikely to ever
be conveyed. Before last season,
he had said, “This organization
saved my life, probably.”
Reminded Monday of what
Porter believes the Rockets had
done for him, coach Stephen Si-
las fell silent for 16 seconds to try
to compose himself and come up
with a response.
He was tearing up as he forced
out, “It means a lot.”
Porter’s contract is fully guar-
anteed only for the 2023-24 sea-
son at $15.9 million, a person
with knowledge of the deal said.
The second and third years of
the contract become guaranteed
if he is on the roster past June 30,
2024. The fourth season is on a
team option, the individual said.
There are additional guaran-
tees for the third season based
on how much Porter plays in his
second season of the contract
and if the Rockets make the play-
offs in 2023-24. The deal was
structured to provide protection
if Porter has a repeat of the in-
cidents that had sidetracked his
career. He had been suspended
during his one season at USC
and before his second season in
the NBA. The Rockets suspend-
ed him for one game last season
after a halftime blowout, a situa-
tion Silas said brought them
closer because of the “difficult
conversations” that followed.
“Moments like that, you really
find out how much you love
somebody,” Silas said. “And I
love him.”
But Monday was treated as an
occasion to celebrate how far he
had come.
“Thinking about where he
came from, how we got him ...
him in the G League bubble, him
coming up here and having ups
and downs, suspension, every-
thing we’ve gone through to-
gether, I’m proud of him,” Silas
said. “I’m so, so happy for him.
This is just the beginning.
“When you put a lot of time
into something and a lot of effort
and a lot of conversations, a lot
of thought, then for it to come to
fruition, it feels good. There’s no
more proud feeling for me than
how I feel about him right now.
younger than Porter, who is 22.
“Obviously, we’re all young,”
said Martin, 21. “We’re still going
to grow as people.”
Days gets 2-way deal;
Favors put on waivers
The Rockets on Monday com-
pleted the moves required prior
to Wednesday’s opening night by
moving forward Darius Days to
a two-way contract and waiving
center Derrick Favors.
The moves reduced the Rock-
ets’ roster to the permitted 15
players with standard NBA
contracts and two players with
two-way deals.
The move with Favors had
been long anticipated since he
was acquired in the eight-player
deal with the Oklahoma City
Thunder during training camp.
He had been told of the decision
last week. None of the players
involved in that trade are still
with either team, with the Rock-
ets acquiring a second-round
pick in the deal.
Days, a 6-7, 245-pound for-
ward, averaged 13.7 points and
7.8 rebounds for LSU in the
2021-22 season, when he was a
teammate of Rockets rookie Tari
Eason. Days was waived by
Miami in the preseason. He had
previously been moved from a
two-way contract to an exhibit 10
contract, so the Heat would have
had the G League affiliate rights
to him had the Rockets cut him.
Days was undrafted and
played for the Spurs’ summer
league team.
jonathan.feigen@chron.com
twitter.com/jonathan_feigen
Brett Coomer/Staff photographer
Guard Kevin Porter Jr.’s new
contract is fully guaranteed
only for the 2023-24 season at
$15.9 million.
It’s not about me or the organiza-
tion. But yeah, we spent a lot of
time, gone through some ups
and downs, some moments he
grew from.
“He’s been growing since we
got him.”
Silas said the deal could lift a
weight from Porter’s shoulders,
pointing out that when players
are asked about contracts, even
when preferring not to think
about it, “of course they are.”
To Porter, the contract “makes
me want to be here, makes me
want to work harder. Every-
thing is starting to make sense,
definitely.”
In January 2021, however,
when he was traded to the Rock-
ets, Porter could not imagine the
career milestone Monday would
bring.
“I could see why he would say
that,” Silas said. “Based on what
happened in Cleveland, he was
at a low point. If you’re at a low
point in your life, for anybody
whether you’re a basketball
player or any walk of life, you
feel like the walls are caving in
and you’re trying to figure out
how to get out of that.
“I think everybody in the
world has had a moment they
were like, ‘This isn’t going to
work.’ But he fought and he
worked, and he learned, and he
grew, and we were right there
with him all the way and be-
lieved in him.”
A year and a day after Porter
tweeted “I love Houston” and
tweeted, “You gotta kill me to
move on from Houston” he had
reason to believe he would not
be going anywhere.
“H-Town, baby,” he said.
“This is my home.”
jonathan.feigen@chron.com
twitter.com/jonathan_feigen
NBA
Stephen Curry, right, and the Warriors are on a quest to win their fifth NBA championship in
nine seasons, but to do so they will have to navigate through a stronger Western Conference.
Warriors out to repeat
amid sea of contenders
By Tim Reynolds
A SSO C I AT ED P R E SS
Golden State coach Steve
Kerr went into last season un-
certain if his club would be
good enough to contend for an-
other NBA championship.
He got his answer. He’s get-
ting another ring.
And now, the Warriors will
try to do it all again.
The NBA’s 77th season starts
Tuesday night, the opening
doubleheader — Philadelphia
at Eastern Conference champi-
on Boston, then the Los Ange-
les Lakers at the Warriors —
wasting no time in putting title
contenders on display. Com-
missioner Adam Silver will be
in San Francisco for Golden
State’s ring night as the War-
riors begin their quest for what
would be a fifth championship
in nine seasons.
“We’re back in it,” Kerr said.
“But there’s a lot of teams that
are right in it, and the league is
super competitive. I think the
West has gotten even stronger.
There’s a lot of competition out
there. And so, we’re one of the
teams that is in the mix and
that’s exciting. But we have to
start over. It doesn’t just auto-
matically happen from one year
to the next, so we’ve got a lot of
work.”
There is no shortage of con-
tenders for the Warriors to
fend off and no shortage of
teams that made big moves
with hopes of being the last
team standing this season.
Minnesota traded with Utah
for Rudy Gobert and Cleveland
traded with Utah for Donovan
Mitchell; the Timberwolves
and Cavaliers are trying to
reach the league’s upper eche-
lon, and the Jazz are starting on
a new path after a few years of
being good but nowhere near
good enough.
“There’s a very high level of
competition this year,” Gobert
said. “I think a lot of teams got
better.”
Some teams might have got-
ten better by not doing some-
thing. Kevin Durant asked for a
trade out of Brooklyn; cooler
heads prevailed, and Durant
remained with the Nets, who
also should have Kyrie Irving
— whose decision not to get
vaccinated against COVID-19
means he’ll be tested often but
won’t keep him off the floor —
for many more games this sea-
son than the 29 he was limited
to last season. And Ben Sim-
mons, who didn’t play at all last
season, will be out there with
Durant and Irving as well.
Durant’s reason for asking
for a trade was simple: “I was
more so worried about how
we’re approaching every day as
a basketball team,” he said.
Those concerns were ad-
dressed, and in Brooklyn he
stayed, with the Nets expected
to joust with Boston, Philadel-
phia, Milwaukee, Miami and
probably others in a very deep
Eastern Conference.
“A lot of teams have a legiti-
mate shot,” said Hall of Famer
Chris Mullin, now a television
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM
The Lakers’ chances for success this season will depend mostly
on the health of stars LeBron James, left, and Anthony Davis.
analyst for the Warriors. “I
think that’s really good for the
league. A lot of teams have two
and three stars, and if they get
their chemistry right, they stay
healthy, they figure out the
right kind of basketball to com-
plement their talent, then there
are a lot of teams with legiti-
mate aspirations.”
LeBron James enters this
season 1,325 points behind Ka-
reem Abdul-Jabbar for the
NBA’s all-time scoring lead,
and the Lakers — if they can
stay healthy — figure to be
much better than the 33-49 re-
cord they posted last year. The
Los Angeles Clippers have Ka-
whi Leonard back after a year
off with a knee injury, just as
the Denver Nuggets get Jamal
Murray back from knee reha-
bilitation to join forces again
with two-time reigning MVP
Nikola Jokic. Phoenix has a
core that has won more games
than any team in the NBA over
the last two regular seasons,
though it enters this season
with its franchise for sale as a
result of owner Robert Sarver’s
conduct.
All those clubs, and a few
others, plan on contending.
“Hopefully, we can take an-
other step,” Leonard said.
“That’s all I can hope for.”
The Celtics and Warriors
took more steps than anyone
last season, getting to the fi-
nals.
And then, they took steps
back.
Golden State’s preseason
was turned on its head when
Warriors forward Draymond
Green punched guard Jordan
Poole during a practice session,
a story that got immeasurably
worse when video of the inci-
dent was leaked to TMZ. Green
was fined by the Warriors, took
a few days away from the team,
then returned last week.
That all came a few weeks af-
ter the Celtics suspended coach
Ime Udoka until June 30 after
an investigation found he broke
multiple team rules and was in-
volved in an improper relation-
Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
Jae C. Hong/Associated Press
Schedule
Tuesday’s games
Philadelphia at Boston, 6:30 p.m.
L.A. Lakers at Golden State, 9 p.m.
Wednesday’s games
Orlando at Detroit, 6 p.m.
Washington at Indiana, 6 p.m.
Chicago at Miami, 6:30 p.m.
Cleveland at Toronto, 6:30 p.m.
Houston at Atlanta, 6:30 p.m.
New Orleans at Brooklyn, 6:30 p.m.
New York at Memphis, 6:30 p.m.
Charlotte at San Antonio, 7 p.m.
Oklahoma City at Minnesota, 7 p.m.
Denver at Utah, 8 p.m.
Dallas at Phoenix, 9 p.m.
Portland at Sacramento, 9 p.m.
Thursday’s games
Milwaukee at Philadelphia, 6:30 p.m.
L.A. Clippers at L.A. Lakers, 9 p.m.
ship with a female member of
the organization.
Udoka, a feel-good story af-
ter going to the finals in his first
year as a head coach, is being
replaced by 34-year-old Joe
Mazzulla for this season as the
Celtics chase an 18th champion-
ship, one that would break a tie
with the Lakers for the most in
NBA history.
“The great thing about this
organization, the players that
we have, and the season last
year is we have a formula for
what we know we need to do in
order to get better every single
day and get back to where we
want to get to,” Mazzulla said.
“As much as we can focus on
that, we’ll be in good shape.”
There will be surprises.
There will be injuries, probably
some trades, maybe some fir-
ings along the way and presum-
ably even some tanking —
whether teams call it that or not
— with hopes of enhancing
their odds of winning the lot-
tery and being able to draft
French teenage phenom Victor
Wembanyama next June.
Other teams, like the War-
riors, also are thinking about
June. Not for the draft, but be-
cause that’s when a champion
will be crowned.
“We are on hopefully anoth-
er nine-month journey,” said
Warriors guard Stephen Curry,
the reigning NBA Finals MVP.
“And it’s exciting. We’re blessed
to play this game at the highest
level and understand that we
still have an opportunity to win
a couple more championships.”
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM
UH NOTEBOOK
Peyton Sawyer is among the UH players who will see
more work at wide receiver because of injuries.
Golden’s injury
tests WR depth
By Joseph Duarte
STAFF WRIT E R
University of Houston
wide receiver Matthew
Golden is out indefinitely
with a rib injury, coach
Dana Holgorsen said
Monday.
Golden, who suffered
the injury in UH’s Oct. 7
comeback win at Mem-
phis, won’t accompany the
team for Saturday’s game
against Navy in Annapolis,
Md.
“Hopefully we’ll get him
back at some point,” Hol-
gorsen said during his
weekly press conference.
“He’s improving. When he
can get back, that’s a pain
tolerance thing. We’ll see
where he’s at and reassess
it next week.”
A true freshman, Gold-
en is second on the team
with 17 catches for 233
yards and two touch-
downs.
The list of injuries con-
tinues to pile up for the
Cougars, who lost starting
cornerback Alex Hogan
to a left knee injury in the
Memphis game and re-
serve defensive back Mike
Welch to a knee injury
suffered in practice earlier
this month.
With depth at receiver
taking a hit, Holgorsen
said Peyton Sawyer and
C.J. Nelson will take on
extra duties in a group that
includes Nathaniel
“Tank” Dell, KeSean
Carter, Sam Brown and
tight end Christian Tra-
han. Dell returned to
practice Sunday night after
missing the open week
because of illness.
Holgorsen said 15 play-
ers are out, among them
season-ending injuries to
defensive end Derek Par-
ish (torn bicep), linebacker
Malik Robinson (torn
pectoral) and running
back Alton McCaskill
(torn ACL). Wide receiver
Joseph Manjack, who
has missed the last two
games with a hand injury,
could potentially return
“but we don’t know,” Hol-
gorsen said.
“Those injuries are
adding up,” he added.
Cougars hope
to build off win
After taking two days
off during the open week,
the Cougars had a 90-
minute practice Sunday
night in preparation for
Saturday’s game at Navy.
The Cougars enter the
second half of the season
at 3-3, 1-1 in the American
Athletic Conference. UH
will seek to continue the
momentum from its 19-
point comeback to beat
Memphis, 33-32, on Oct. 7.
“If (Sunday’s practice) is
any indication, we’re ready
to go,” Holgorsen said. “I
think our guys are in a
good place, a good frame of
mind.”
John E. Moore III/Getty Images
UP NEXT
UH AT NAVY
When/where: 11 a.m.
Saturday at Annapolis, Md.
TV/radio: ESPNU/950
AM.
Holgorsen not
giving up on Baxa
Late in the Memphis
game, Holgorsen made a
change on special teams,
replacing struggling senior
kicker Bubba Baxa with
sophomore Kyle Ramsey.
Baxa has missed three
field goals in the last two
games, including a 21-
yarder before halftime
against Memphis. He is
9-for-13 on field-goal at-
tempts this season.
“We’re not giving up on
Bubba,” Holgorsen said.
“Bubba’s done some good
things for us this year.
There’s a level of psyche
aspect of it that I’m not an
expert on. The only way I
know how to do it is if it
looks bad is to put some-
body else in there.”
Ramsey entered the
game and made a pair of
extra-point attempts, a
successful onside kick and
the final kickoff as the
Cougars rallied to beat the
Tigers.
Holgorsen noted a close
battle between Baxa and
Ramsey during preseason
camp.
“We felt really good
with Kyle going in there,”
Holgorsen said. “He didn’t
blink an eye. He probably
deserves to kick a little bit
more, but by no means are
we giving up on Bubba.”
Jackson no longer
with the program
Wide receiver Cody
Jackson, a former four-
star recruit who trans-
ferred from Oklahoma in
the offseason, is no longer
with the program, Hol-
gorsen confirmed.
“He stepped away,”
Holgorsen said. “Nothing
happened. I don’t know
why. He’d probably be
playing right now if he
didn’t.”
Jackson did not play in
any of the Cougars’ first
six games this season.
Kickoff still TBD
for USF contest
The AAC announced on
Monday that a six-day
selection window will be
used to determine the
kickoff time and TV net-
work for UH’s Oct. 29
game against South Flori-
da at TDECU Stadium.
The game will be played
at either 11 a.m. on ESPN2
or 2:30 p.m. on ESPN+. An
announcement on the time
will be made after Satur-
day’s contests.
joseph.duarte@chron.com
twitter.com/joseph_duarte
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
TEXAS
Close call against Iowa St.
a ‘culture win’ for Horns
By Nick Moyle
STA F F W RI T ER
AUSTIN — There Jordan
Whittington sat, with eyes
peering straight ahead and
a grin stretching ear to ear,
an 1,800-pound force of de-
struction lurking at his
backside. And not for a sec-
ond did the fourth-year Tex-
as receiver think Bevo
would try to gore him or
teammate Xavier Worthy as
they perched atop the gate
to the big bull’s pen inside
Darrel K Royal-Texas Me-
morial Stadium, flashing
Hook ‘Em signs and sway-
ing like giddy kids in the af-
termath of last Saturday’s
24-21 win over Iowa State.
Call the act naïve, if you
want. Whittington had an-
other word for it: trust.
“We’re friends.
wouldn’t do that to me,”
He
Whittington answered
when asked about turning a
blind eye to Bevo, who once
bull rushed Georgia’s bull-
dog mascot Uga. “We got a
good respect and connec-
tion.”
In a weird way, that sort
of mutual esteem feels like
an accurate description of
the environment Texas has
created this season, too.
The Longhorns were a
team that splintered in the
clutch and detached from
one another off the field last
year. They had enough tal-
ent to build halftime leads
over No. 6 Oklahoma, No. 12
Oklahoma State, No. 15 Bay-
lor and Iowa State in succes-
sive weeks. And they were
volatile enough to lose each
of those games, the first four
legs of an eye-opening six-
game losing streak.
So all offseason long, Tex-
as worked to remedy the ills
that led to its downfall in
2021.
Coaches and players
spoke about “removing the
warts” and forging a more
TEXAS A&M
Aggies likely to turn to King again
By Brent Zwerneman
STA F F W RI T ER
COLLEGE STATION —
Texas A&M quarterback
Haynes King spent much of
his last start on the run at
Alabama on Oct. 8. His for-
titude in ducking and dodg-
ing ill-tempered Crimson
Tide defenders likely
earned him another start on
Saturday night at South
Carolina.
“You go back and watch
the film,” A&M coach Jim-
bo Fisher said Monday.
“(King) made a lot of plays,
and he made a lot of plays in
tough situations and tough
scenarios. … He kept us in it
with his legs and the things
he did.”
King also injured his foot
and took a direct shot to the
ribs along the way in the 24-
20 loss in Bryant-Denny
Stadium, but following the
team’s midseason weekend
off Fisher said his quarter-
back should be ready to go
against the Gamecocks.
“We’re all byproducts of
the people around us and
how we play, especially at
quarterback,” Fisher said of
King’s up-and-down show-
ing to date.
King started the first two
games of this season before
he was replaced by LSU
transfer Max Johnson, who
injured his left (throwing)
hand three games into his
A&M tenure as a starter.
Fisher turned back to
King, who also won the
starting job last year before
he had a season-ending leg
injury in Week 2, against
the Crimson Tide earlier
this month. King finished
25 of 46 for 253 yards with
two touchdown passes and
an interception. Alabama
sacked him three times and
was in his face and gut
Jordan Whittington and Texas pulled out the kind
of close win that evaded last year’s Longhorns.
unified locker room. A new
golden-armed quarterback
arrived with boundless
hype and a sincere desire to
mesh with his new team-
mates.
The locker room also co-
alesced around the idea of a
“revenge tour.” Not so much
“revenge against our oppo-
nents, but revenge against
our own actions,” coach
Steve Sarkisian explained.
Texas lifted the hood and
made the necessary repairs
so it could survive games
like last Saturday’s against
the Cyclones.
And No. 20 Texas (5-2, 3-1
Big 12) isn’t sugarcoating the
24-21win it eked out over the
Cyclones in Week 7. Iowa
State gashed Texas on third
down. Quarterback Quinn
Ewers and the offense pro-
duced 27 yards over their
first three drives and looked
out of sync at other points.
And like they’d done so
many times last year and
even earlier this season
against Texas Tech, Texas
let a halftime lead turn into a
second-half-deficit.
In the past, Longhorns
might have started tearing
into each other on the side-
line once things started go-
ing sideways. This time,
they banded together.
Sarkisian called it a “cul-
ture win.”
Haynes King injured his foot and ribs in the loss at
Alabama on Oct. 8 but is ready to play this week.
throughout the four quar-
ters.
“He didn’t pout … he
worked on getting better
knowing if he had another
opportunity he wanted to
play well,” Fisher said of
King’s attitude during his
demotion.
The Aggies are 7-0
against the Gamecocks as
SEC cross-division rivals,
and A&M will play its
fourth consecutive game
away from Kyle Field on
Saturday night. The Aggies
(3-3, 1-2 SEC) are angling for
a fresh start with the second
half of the regular season
following a subpar start to a
year in which they were
ranked No. 6 in the presea-
son Associated Press poll.
“South Carolina is al-
ways a very tough place to
play,” said Fisher, who is 4-0
against the Gamecocks
while at A&M, including
2-0 in Columbia, S.C. “It’s a
great atmosphere and great
environment, especially
with it being a night game.
They’ll be juiced and ready,
and we need to bring our ‘A’
game and be able to play
and finish out the second
half of the season and play
good football.”
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022 C7
Tim Warner/Getty Images
“I think one thing that’s
important is just not bicker-
ing, not getting mad, not
pointing fingers,” senior de-
fensive tackle Moro Ojomo
said. “Right before we
scored to take the lead back,
I talked to (right tackle)
Christian Jones and was
like,’ Go get it. I believe in
you.’ And they go score.
And when we went back
out there he talks to me
again, encourages me.”
Iowa State took a 21-17
lead with 10:58 remaining.
Texas responded with an 11-
play, 75-yard drive capped
by Ewers’ fourth-and-goal
touchdown pass to receiver
Xavier Worthy.
Running backs Bijan
Robinson and Roschon
Johnson churned out hard
yards on that game-win-
ning scoring drive against
the Big 12’s No. 1 defense.
And the defense, aided by a
rare drop from ISU star re-
ceiver Xavier Hutchinson,
forced and recovered a fum-
ble with the Cyclones in
range for a game-tying field
goal.
And when Texas needed
to convert on third-and-1 to
seal the game, Johnson
picked up two yards thanks
to a friendly push from
Whittington, who rammed
into the senior halfback
from behind to help with
Vasha Hunt/Associated Press
Fisher was asked during
Monday’s weekly press
conference if five-star fresh-
man Conner Weigman of
Bridgeland might earn a
few series against South
Carolina, as well.
“I don’t know, we’ll wait
and see,” Fisher said. “He’s
practicing well, and Haynes
is practicing well.”
King and Weigman are
both considered dual-threat
quarterbacks, and South
Carolina coach Shane
Beamer is aware.
“You’re always preparing
for multiple quarterbacks,”
Beamer said. “And you’re
always aware of who is on
the roster, as well. … We’re
always going to run our sys-
tem; we don’t change be-
cause of who’s in there un-
less it’s two radically differ-
ent styles of play.”
It’s not, although Weig-
man is still an unknown on
the college level while King
finally is gaining some valu-
able experience in the SEC.
“Obviously coach Fisher
has a lot of confidence in
King having made him the
starter last year, and the
starter at the beginning of
this season,” Beamer said.
“He’s played some good
UP NEXT
TEXAS AT OKLAHOMA
STATE
When/where: 2:30 p.m.
Saturday at Stillwater,
Okla.
TV/radio: ABC/790 AM.
the final surge.
“I didn’t know until after
the game,” Johnson said.
“(Whittington) just told me,
‘Yeah, I tackled you past the
first-down marker.’ And It’s
just a matter of us willing
ourselves to win even when
things aren’t perfect. Aver-
age teams don’t win games
like that.”
Even the Longhorns who
weren’t part of the program
on Nov. 27, 2020, were aware
of the “five-star culture ver-
sus five-star players” dig Io-
wa State running back
Breece Hall made that night
after he scored the game-
winning touchdown on
Texas’ homefield. Which is
why this ugly win felt so
good.
Texas is by no means a
finished product at this
point. Sarkisian even noted
they had a “come-to-Jesus”
moment during Monday’s
team meeting after a sloppy
win over Iowa State.
But Sarkisian also stated
his belief that Texas
wouldn’t have won this sort
of game a year ago. Which is
why afterwards, Johnson
felt good enough to fire off a
three-word tweet: “5-star
win.”
“From my years of being
here, there’s been a lot of
talk about culture and us
not having the culture to
win a game like that,” John-
son said. “And I was happy
that we got the win, so I
thought that was a pretty
good thing to tweet.”
nmoyle@express-news.net
twitter.com/nrmoyle
UP NEXT
TEXAS A&M AT SOUTH
CAROLINA
When/where: 6:30 p.m.,
Saturday; Columbia, S.C.
TV/radio: SEC Network;
92.5 FM, 97.5 FM.
football for them.”
King has as many inter-
ceptions as touchdowns
this season (five each) but
has offered plenty of the
same resolve that enabled
Longview High four years
ago to win its first state title
since 1937. King was re-
quested for an interview
this week but he was not
made available to the me-
dia.
“He still has to continue
to play better than he did,
because good enough is
never good enough,” Fisher
said of King’s ongoing de-
velopment. “That’s just who
Haynes is as a person, he’s
going to work and grind
and play the best he can.”
The Aggies won 48-3 two
years ago at South Carolina
in coach Will Muschamp’s
final season with the Game-
cocks. Like A&M, South
Carolina (4-2, 1-2) and
Beamer, son of former Vir-
ginia Tech coach Frank
Beamer, also enjoyed this
past Saturday off.
“They’re playing a lot of
true freshmen and they
continue to get better each
and every week,” Shane
Beamer said of the Aggies,
who had the top-rated re-
cruiting class in the nation
in 2022. “… I’m sure we’ll see
the best version of Texas
A&M coming in here on
Saturday night.”
brent.zwerneman
@chron.com
twitter.com/brentzwerneman
C8 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022 HHHH HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

FOR THE RECORD

AROUND SPORTS SCOREBOARD ON THE AIR

Benzema, Putellas claim Odds

Home team capitalized
MLB
Television
Col. soccer Hofstra at Virginia ACC 6 p.m.

awards as leading players

Tuesday Col. soccer Indiana at Wisconsin Big Ten 8 p.m.
National League MLB ALDS (Game 5): TBS 3 p.m.
Cleveland at N.Y. Yankees
FAVORITE LINE UNDERDOG LINE
SAN DIEGO -120 Philadelphia +102 MLB NLCS (Game 1): FS1 7 p.m.
Philadelphia at San Diego Fox Deportes
W IR E R E P ORT S NBA
NBA Philadelphia at Boston TNT 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday
FAVORITE LINE O/U UNDERDOG NBA L.A. Lakers at Golden State TNT 9 p.m.
PARIS — Karim Ben- BOSTON 2½ 216 Philadelphia NHL Philadelphia at Tampa Bay ESPN 6 p.m.
GOLDEN STATE 6 225 LA Lakers
zema won the men’s NHL Los Angeles at Nashville ESPN 8:30 p.m.
Ballon d’Or for the first College Football Soccer U-17 World Cup Group: FS2 5:45 a.m.
Wednesday Colombia vs. Mexico (w)
time on Monday after a FAVORITE LINE O/U UNDERDOG Soccer U-17 World Cup Group: FS2 9:15 a.m.
brilliant season with Real APPALACHIAN STATE 10½ 59½ Georgia State
France vs. Japan (w)
Madrid capped by the Thursday
FAVORITE LINE O/U UNDERDOG
Soccer Valencia at Sevilla ESPN2 noon
Champions League and GEORGIA TECH 3½ 45½ Virginia Soccer Nottingham Forest USA 1:30 p.m.
at Brighton & Hove Albion
Spanish league titles. SOUTH ALABAMA 3½ 47½ Troy
Friday Tennis ATP: Stockholm Open Tennis 4 a.m.
Spanish player Alexia FAVORITE LINE O/U UNDERDOG Tennis ATP: European Open Tennis 4 a.m.
Putellas won the wom- Tulsa 12½ 52½ TEMPLE
Tennis ATP: Napoli Cup Tennis 4 a.m.
WESTERN KENTUCKY 2½ 57½ UAB
en’s trophy for the second Saturday
Tennis WTA: Guadalajara Open Tennis 4 a.m.
straight year following FAVORITE LINE O/U UNDERDOG
Tennis 11 a.m.
another standout season BAYLOR
Houston
8½
3½
60½
52½
Kansas
NAVY
with Barcelona. Cincinnati 3 61½ SMU
Benzema had his best Francois Mori/Associated Press ARMY
CLEMSON
7
13½
55½
51½
UL Monroe
Syracuse
63.
63.
Zac Blair
Matt Kuchar
54
54
$140,667
$140,667
Semifinals winners, 5 p.m.

season ever at Madrid, Real Madrid's Karim Benzema gives thanks after OHIO STATE 28½ 49½ Iowa 65. Sam Ryder 53 $123,443
being the top scorer in winning the men’s Ballon d'Or at age 34. KENT STATE
RUTGERS
19½
3½
67½
44½
Akron
Indiana
66. Brian Harman 51 $130,000 Tennis
66. Harry Hall 51 $130,000
both leagues. He scored MIAMI 8½ 59½ Duke 68. Will Gordon 48 $104,794
WTA
Toledo 7½ 60½ BUFFALO 69. Satoshi Kodaira 47 $151,674 Guadalajara Open
44 times for Madrid, in- complaint brought by 2020-21 season with the CENTRAL MICHIGAN 6½ 50½ Bowling Green 70. Davis Riley 47 $117,001 Monday
cluding 15 in Europe’s top Brazilian investment Lakers, averaging 15.4 BALL STATE
Northern Illinois
2½
2½
57½
66½
Eastern Michigan
OHIO
71. Zecheng Dou 46 $105,449 At Guadalajara, Mexico
72. Brandon Wu 45 $116,351
competition. group DIS over the points and 5.8 assists in 61 NOTRE DAME 24½ 49½ UNLV 73. Alex Smalley 44 $109,845
Women’s Singles
Round of 64
Benzema, at 34, became amount of the player’s games as a starter. TEXAS TECH
Rice
7½
3½
68½
58½
West Virginia
LOUISIANA TECH
74.
75.
Lucas Herbert
Scott Piercy
43
43
$102,840
$97,091 Liudmila Samsonova, Russia, def. Kaia Kanepi, Estonia,
the oldest winner since transfer. Hornets likely with- MIAMI (OH) 6½ 45½ Western Michigan
LPGA Money Leaders
6-1, 7-5.
Victoria Azarenka, Belarus, def. Elina Avanesyan, Russia,
LSU 1½ 66½ Ole Miss
the first recipient in 1956, The Brazil forward and out Ball: Charlotte Hor- OREGON 6 70½ UCLA Through Oct. 16 6-4, 6-2.
Zhu Lin, China, def. Alize Cornet, France, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Stanley Matthews. the rest of the defendants nets All-Star point guard TULANE
Texas
7½
6½
56½ Memphis
64½ OKLAHOMA STATE
Trn Money
Rebecca Marino, Canada, def. Ann Li, United States, 6-2,
1. Minjee Lee 17 $3,742,440
Benzema won ahead of had to be in court for the LaMelo Ball is expected JAMES MADISON 13½ 53½ Marshall 2. In Gee Chun 17 $2,603,128
7-6 (2).
Bianca Andreescu, Canada, def. Jil Teichmann, Switzer-
Sadio Mané and Man- first day of the trial. He is to miss Wednesday BYU
WAKE FOREST
6½
20½
57½
61½
LIBERTY
Boston College
3.
4.
Brooke M. Henderson
Lydia Ko
20
29
$2,307,584
$2,047,062
land, 6-2, 6-4.
Marta Kostyuk, Ukraine, def. Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Be-
chester City playmaker expected to testify Tues- night’s season opener OLD DOMINION 2½ 66½ Georgia Southern 5. Atthaya Thitikul 23 $2,005,945 larus, 6-1, 6-3.
WISCONSIN 2½ 51½ Purdue
Kevin De Bruyne. Mané day. against the Spurs with a UTSA 10½ 69½ North Texas
6.
7.
Hye-Jin Choi
Jennifer Kupcho
24
23
$1,905,729
$1,879,401
Elise Mertens, Belgium, def. Asia Muhammad, United
States, 6-3, 6-2.
played for Liverpool last World Cup sales sprained left ankle. MARYLAND 13½ 52½ Northwestern 8. Lexi Thompson 16 $1,681,122
ATP World Tour
CHARLOTTE 14½ 59½ Florida International 9. Ashleigh Buhai 21 $1,487,995
season and joined Bayern strong: Nearly 2.9 million Hornets coach Steve Florida Atlantic 4½ 50½ UTEP 10. Nasa Hataoka 22 $1,332,092 European Open
Munich in the summer. tickets have been sold for Clifford said Ball was MISSOURI
STANFORD
13½
3½
53½
55½
Vanderbilt
Arizona State
11. Hyo Joo Kim 14 $1,297,162 Monday
At Antwerp, Belgium
12. Mina Harigae 21 $1,243,976
Benezema succeeded the World Cup in Qatar, doubtful and is uncertain COLORADO STATE 4½ 46½ Hawaii 13. Xiyu Lin 22 $1,232,055 Men’s Singles
Lionel Messi, who won FIFA and organizers said, if he will make the trip to LOUISIANA
Southern Miss
6½
2½
51½
44½
Arkansas State
TEXAS STATE
14.
15.
Leona Maguire
Jin Young Ko
21
13
$1,217,727
$1,210,346 Qualification
the award for a record- leaving about 7 perent of San Antonio. San Jose State 21½ 42½ NEW MEXICO STATE 16. Celine Boutier 21 $1,164,863 Tim van Rijthoven (1), Netherlands, def. Alexander Erler,
Austria, 7-6, 6-3.
Fresno State 10½ 41½ NEW MEXICO
extending seventh time seats still available for the Meanwhile, Hornets ALABAMA 20½ 61½ Mississippi State
17.
18.
Madelene Sagstrom
Nelly Korda
22
13
$1,043,984
$1,035,225
Jesper de Jong (6), Netherlands, def. Manuel Guinard
(4), France, 7-6, 6-2.
last year but was not tournament that begins guard James Bouknight AIR FORCE 3½ 48½ Boise State 19. Charley Hull 17 $1,030,718
Dominic Stephan Stricker (2), Switzerland, def. Nicolas
PENN STATE 4½ 44½ Minnesota 20. Hannah Green 18 $1,002,574
among the nominees this Nov. 20. was arrested for driving Texas A&M 3½ 45½ SOUTH CAROLINA 21. Jessica Korda 14 $976,487
Alvarez Varona (7), Spain, 7-6, ret.
Luca van Assche (8), France, def. Geoffrey Blancaneaux
time after his first season People living in the while impaired in Char- UCF
LOUISVILLE
4½
1½
64½
55½
EAST CAROLINA
Pittsburgh
22. Sei Young Kim 17 $974,027 (3), France, 7-6, 4-6, 6-2.
23. Megan Khang 22 $955,533
with Paris Saint-Germain. United States, Saudi Ara- lotte. Court records show OREGON STATE 24½ 50½ Colorado 24. Hinako Shibuno 20 $942,901 Men’s Singles
TCU 3½ 58½ Kansas State
Putellas scored 42 goals bia and England topped at least three previous WYOMING 3½ 41½ Utah State
25.
26.
Danielle Kang
Andrea Lee
16
18
$930,644
$851,912
Round of 32
Jack Draper, Britain, def. Jenson Brooksby, United
and delivered 22 assists the list of international charges already were Washington 7½ 56½ CAL 27. Ayaka Furue 24 $824,068 States, 6-1, 6-2.
San Diego State 6½ 36½ NEVADA 28. Georgia Hall 18 $823,467 Daniel Evans (5), Britain, def. Tallon Griekspoor, Nether-
last season. She became ticket buyers. Mexico was pending against Bouk- 29. Eun-Hee Ji 16 $761,950 lands, 6-3, 6-4.
the first two-time winner the biggest market outside night for speeding and NHL 30. Jodi Ewart Shadoff 22 $749,662 Richard Gasquet, France, def. Stan Wawrinka, Switzer-
Tuesday 31. Paula Reto 24 $736,986 land, 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4.
of the women’s award, Qatar for corporate hospi- reckless driving, includ- FAVORITE LINE UNDERDOG LINE 32. Lilia Vu 21 $722,006 Stockholm Open
which was created in 2018 tality sales. ing one for going 107 mph NEW JERSEY
TAMPA BAY
-176
-280
Anaheim
Philadelphia
+146
+220
33.
34.
Carlota Ciganda
Sophia Schubert
20
19
$713,115
$699,721
Monday
At Stockholm
but not given out in 2020 in a 65 mph zone. COLUMBUS -134 Vancouver +112 35. Anna Nordqvist 17 $697,382
Men’s Singles
because of the pandemic. NBA Barkley staying put: Boston
N.Y ISLANDERS
-114
-205
OTTAWA
San Jose
-105
+168
36.
37.
Cheyenne Knight
A Lim Kim
21
26
$694,706
$683,676 Round of 32
Neymar appears in Lakers’ Schröder Charles Barkley will not EDMONTON
CALGARY
-275
-156
Buffalo
Vegas
+220
+130
38.
39.
Gaby Lopez
Yuka Saso
22
22
$673,985
$649,219
Maxime Cressy, United States, def. Ilya Ivashka, Belarus,
4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4.
court: A few hours after out several weeks be leaving TNT or the NASHVILLE -146 Los Angeles +122 40. Lizette Salas 20 $621,744 Cristian Garin, Chile, def. Jason Kubler, Australia, 6-2,
scoring the winning goal “Inside the NBA” crew for 41. Marina Alex 20 $596,652 6-4.
Holger Rune (7), Denmark, def. Thiago Monteiro, Brazil,
42. Alison Lee 21 $594,917
in Paris Saint-Germain’s Los Angeles Lakers the foreseeable future. Auto racing 43. Narin An 23 $568,122 7-5, 6-2.
Aslan Karatsev, Russia, def. Lukas Rosol, Czech Republic,
victory over Marseille in guard Dennis Schröder Barkley has signed a NASCAR Cup Series points
44.
45.
Nanna Koerstz Madsen
Ryann O’Toole
19
21
$568,074
$566,833 6-3, 6-2.
the French league, Ney- will be sidelined for sever- 10-year extension with leaders WTA
mar arrived in court in al weeks after undergoing TNT. Barkley's agreement Through Oct. 16 Open Capfinances Rouen
Spain for a trial over al- surgery to repair a liga- coincides with contract
1. Joey Logano .............................................................4084.
2. Ross Chastain ..........................................................4063.
Hockey Metropole
3. Chase Elliott.............................................................4062. NHL Monday
leged irregularities in his ment in his right thumb. renewals for host Ernie 4. Denny Hamlin ..........................................................4051. Rouen, France
EASTERN CONFERENCE
transfer to Barcelona in Schröder re-signed Johnson and analysts 5. William Byron ..........................................................4045.
6. Chase Briscoe...........................................................4042. GP W L OT Pts GF GA Women’s Singles
2013. with the Lakers last Kenny Smith and Sha- 7. Ryan Blaney.............................................................4040. Boston 3 3 0 0 6 16 8 Round of 32
8. Christopher Bell .......................................................4028.
Representatives of the month after playing 49 quille O’Neal. 9. Kyle Larson ..............................................................2206.
Carolina
N.Y. Rangers
3 3 0 0
4 3 1 0
6
6
12
17
3
12
Harriet Dart (9), Britain, def. Daria Snigur, Ukraine, 7-5,
6-2.
Spanish club and Brazil- games with the Celtics Barkley has been with 10. Daniel Suárez..........................................................2199.
11. Tyler Reddick...........................................................2186.
Detroit 3 2 0 1 5 12 7 Tamara Korpatsch, Germany, def. Olga Danilovic, Serbia,
Pittsburgh 3 2 0 1 5 14 7 6-3, 6-0.
ian team Santos also ap- and 15 with the Rockets TNT since retiring as a 12. Austin Cindric..........................................................2169.
Philadelphia 2 2 0 0 4 8 4 Varvara Gracheva, Russia, def. Dalma Galfi (8), Hungary,
13. Austin Dillon............................................................2161.
peared in court after a last season. He spent the player in 2000. 14. Kyle Busch ..............................................................2158. Florida 3 2 1 0 4 10 9 6-0, 6-2.
Misaki Doi, Japan, def. Lucia Bronzetti (3), Italy, 6-3, 6-1.
15. Alex Bowman.........................................................2104. Montreal 4 2 2 0 4 8 11
Caty McNally, United States, def. Oceane Dodin, France,
16. Kevin Harvick .........................................................2035. Toronto 4 2 2 0 4 11 12
6-2, 6-3.
17. Martin Truex Jr .........................................................936. Washington 4 2 2 0 4 13 13
Jessika Ponchet, France, def. Alice Robbe, France, 6-1,
18. Erik Jones..................................................................782. Buffalo 2 1 1 0 2 7 5

UH
6-2.
utive weeks in the AP poll AP Top 25 19. Bubba Wallace .........................................................719. N.Y. Islanders 2 1 1 0 2 8 4
20. Aric Almirola ............................................................704. Tampa Bay 3 1 2 0 2 8 11 Guadalajara Open
dating to Jan. 20, 2020. The Top 25 Teams In The Associated Press’ Preseason 2022-
23 College Basketball Poll, With First-Place Votes In Paren- 21. Chris Buescher..........................................................674. New Jersey 2 0 2 0 0 4 10 Monday
From page C1 The ranking is the latest theses, Total Points Based On 25 Points For A First-Place 22. Justin Haley..............................................................670.
23. Michael McDowell....................................................610.
Ottawa 2 0 2 0 0 3 7 At Guadalajara, Mexico
Vote Through One Point For A 25Th-Place Vote And Last Columbus 3 0 3 0 0 5 14
in an offseason of recogni- Year’s Final Ranking 24. Brad Keselowski ......................................................584. Women’s Singles
25. Ricky Stenhouse Jr ..................................................538. WESTERN CONFERENCE Round of 64
program from after- tion for the Cougars, who 1. North Carolina (47)
Record
0-0 1,532
Pts Pvs
- 26. Cole Custer................................................................517.
GP W L OT Pts GF GA Liudmila Samsonova, Russia, def. Kaia Kanepi, Estonia,
thought to perennial title were recently picked as the 2. Gonzaga (12) 0-0 1,479 1 27. Harrison Burton........................................................512.
28. Todd Gilliland...........................................................493. Dallas 3 3 0 0 6 13 3 6-1, 7-5.
3. Houston (1) 0-0 1,404 15 Victoria Azarenka, Belarus, def. Elina Avanesyan, Russia,
contender. unanimous choice to win 4. Kentucky (2) 0-0 1,364 7
29. Ty Dillon ...................................................................490. Vegas
Calgary
3 3 0
2 2 0 0
0 6 10 5
4 9 6
6-4, 6-2.
30. Kurt Busch................................................................485.
“This year’s team’s story the American Athletic 5. Kansas 0-0 1,200 3 31. Corey Lajoie...............................................................417. Colorado 3 2 1 0 4 14 10
Zhu Lin, China, def. Alize Cornet, France, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Rebecca Marino, Canada, def. Ann Li, United States, 6-2,
5. Baylor 0-0 1,200 4 Los Angeles 4 2 2 0 4 16 18
will be told over the next Conference. The most re- 7. Duke 0-0 1,168 9
32. Cody Ware................................................................286.
33. David Ragan...............................................................89. Nashville 4 2 2 0 4 9 12
7-6 (2).
Bianca Andreescu, Canada, def. Jil Teichmann, Switzer-
five months,” assistant cent ESPN bracketology 8. UCLA
9. Creighton
0-0 1,093 11
0-0 1,060 -
34. Joey Hand ..................................................................64. Seattle 4 1 2 1 3 11 17 land, 6-2, 6-4.
35. Greg Biffle ..................................................................24. St. Louis 1 1 0 0 2 5 2 Marta Kostyuk, Ukraine, def. Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Be-
coach and head coach-in- has UH as a No. 1 regional 10. Arkansas 0-0 1,026 17 36. Jacques Villeneuve.....................................................15. Edmonton 2 1 1 0 2 8 7 larus, 6-1, 6-3.
waiting Kellen Sampson seed, along with North 11. Tennessee
12. Texas
0-0
0-0
880 5
844 25
37. Mike Rockenfeller.......................................................15.
38. Boris Said ....................................................................11.
Winnipeg
Anaheim
2 1 1
3 1 2
0
0
2 5 5
2 10 17
Elise Mertens, Belgium, def. Asia Muhammad, United
States, 6-3, 6-2.
said. “I think it’s a pretty Carolina, Gonzaga and 13. Indiana 0-0 745 - 39. Kyle Tilley .....................................................................8.
40. Conor Daly....................................................................3.
Arizona 3 1 2 0 2 9 14 Petra Kvitova (16), Czech Republic, def. Bernarda Pera,
14. TCU 0-0 735 - United States, 6-3, 7-5.
good validation that a lot of Kentucky. Predictably, Kel- 15. Auburn 0-0 623 8 41. Kimi Raikkonen.............................................................1.
Chicago
Minnesota
3 1 2
3 0 3
0
0
2 7 8
0 12 20 Camila Osorio, Colombia, def. Ekaterina Alexandrova
people believe in our pro- vin Sampson did not ad- 16. Villanova 0-0 578 6 Vancouver 3 0 3 0 0 9 14 (15), Russia, 6-4, 7-6 (8).
17. Arizona 0-0 543 2 San Jose 4 0 4 0 0 6 14
gram and believe what dress the No. 3 ranking 18. Virginia 0-0 462 - Golf NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss.
guys have done in the past: with his team Monday. 19. San Diego St. 0-0 394 - PGA Tour FedEx Cup Leaders Top three teams in each division and two wild cards per Transactions
20. Alabama 0-0 281 - conference advance to playoffs.
put one foot in front of the “We see it and talk about 21. Oregon 0-0 260 -
Through Oct. 16
Points Money
Monday’s results BASEBALL
MLB
other, elevate from month it in the locker room, but to- 22. Michigan
23. Illinois
0-0
0-0
229
215 19
-
1. Keegan Bradley 596 $2,260,944
N.Y. Rangers 6, Anaheim 4
Arizona 4, Toronto 2 American League
2. Mackenzie Hughes 566 $1,584,633
to month, and then people day he’ll come out here and 24. Dayton 0-0 170 -
3. Max Homa 538 $1,521,500
Boston 5, Florida 3
Washington 6, Vancouver 4
TAMPA BAY RAYS: Promoted Jorge Moncada from minor
25. Texas Tech 0-0 122 12 league pitching coordinator to major league bullpen
believe by then this pro- get on us real hard so we Others receiving votes: Texas A&M 112, UConn 101,
4. Tom Kim 533 $1,440,000 Montreal 3, Pittsburgh 2 (OT) coach.
5. Matthew NeSmith 393 $1,216,375 Los Angeles 5, Detroit 4 (OT)
gram has produced teams don’t get too big-headed,” Miami 66, Purdue 56, Saint Louis 36, Michigan St. 35,
6. Andrew Putnam 339 $1,208,097 Colorado 6, Minnesota 3 BASKETBALL
Florida St. 32, Xavier 29, Wyoming 25, Ohio St. 23, Iowa
by March that are a tough senior forward Reggie 13, Rutgers 4, Southern Cal 3, Florida 3, Toledo 1, UAB 1, 7.
8.
Rickie Fowler
Taylor Montgomery
337
314
$1,238,000
$889,375
Dallas 4, Winnipeg 1
Carolina 5, Seattle 1
NBA
Memphis 1, Virginia Tech 1, Notre Dame 1. HOUSTON ROCKETS: Re-signed G Kevin Porter Jr. to a
out. Can this team do it? It Chaney said. “He’ll humble 9. Sepp Straka 309 $888,738 Tuesday’s games contract extension.
Anaheim at New Jersey, 6 p.m.
remains to be seen.” us.” 10.
11.
Danny Willett
Emiliano Grillo
300
262
$872,000
$880,216 Boston at Ottawa, 6 p.m. FOOTBALL
UH is bolstered by the Shead, a junior point also will hold preseason 12. Patrick Cantlay 245 $712,000 Philadelphia at Tampa Bay, 6 p.m.
Vancouver at Columbus, 6 p.m.
NFL
13. Tom Hoge 244 $774,333 ARIZONA CARDINALS: Acquired WR Robbie Anderson
return of guard Marcus guard, said the ranking is a scrimmages against No. 12 14. Sahith Theegala 192 $671,500
San Jose at N.Y. Islanders, 6:30 p.m. from Carolina in exchange for an undisclosed draft consid-
Buffalo at Edmonton, 8 p.m.
Sasser, a likely preseason reflection of sustained suc- Texas and No. 7 Duke. 15. Garrick Higgo 190 $545,100 Vegas at Calgary, 8 p.m.
eration. Reinstated WR DeAndre Hopkins to the active
roster. Released K Matt Ammendola.
16. Seonghyeon Kim 186 $514,665
All-American when the cess. In the past three The journey begins Nov. 17. Hayden Buckley 181 $580,091
Los Angeles at Nashville, 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday’s games
BALTIMORE RAVENS: Signed OLB Devon Kennard to the
practice squad.
team is announced Oct. 24, NCAA Tournaments, UH 7 when the Cougars open 18.
19.
Justin Lower
Mark Hubbard
170
165
$463,295
$439,734
Philadelphia at Florida, 6:30 p.m. BUFFALO BILLS: Released LB Andre Smith.
Winnipeg at Colorado, 7 p.m.
and a backcourt consid- has made the Sweet 16, Fi- the season against North- 20. Dean Burmester 151 $423,557 St. Louis at Seattle, 9 p.m.
DENVER BRONCOS: Reinstated S Justin Simmons from
injured reserve. Reinstated CB Michael Ojemudia and TE
ered one of the best in the nal Four and Elite Eight. ern Colorado at Fertitta 21.
22.
Davis Thompson
Nick Taylor
139
135
$404,274
$367,091
Greg Dulcich from injured reserve. Promoted S Anthony
Harris and LS Mitchell Fraboni from the practice squad to
nation with Tramon Mark UH has 143 victories since Center. The Final Four is 23. Maverick McNealy 132 $432,310 Soccer the active roster.
24. Byeong Hun An 131 $383,000 HOUSTON TEXANS: Released executive vice president of
and Jamal Shead. Sasser the 2017-18 season, the sec- scheduled for April 1 and 3 25. Thomas Detry 129 $364,602
MLS playoffs football operations Jack Easterby.
and Mark were limited to a ond most in Division I be- at NRG Stadium, just 5.6 26. Mito Pereira 124 $364,304 First Round INDIANAPOLIS COLTS: Signed WR Vyncint Smith, TE
Jalen Wydermyer to the practice squad. Released TE Na-
27. Joel Dahmen 117 $329,673
combined19 games last sea- hind Gonzaga (155). miles from the UH cam- 28. Sungjae Im 115 $335,796
Oct. 16 results
Salt Lake 2, Austin 2, (Austin 3-1 on penalty kicks)
kia Griffin-Stewart from the practice squad.
LAS VEGAS RAIDERS: Placed CB Nate Hobbs on injured
son due to injuries. “People who have been pus. For historical purpos- 29.
30.
Adam Schenk
Taylor Moore
113
110
$340,234
$323,152
Montreal 2, Orlando 0 reserve. Signed CB Tevaughn Campbell to the practice
Monday’s results
The Cougars return vet- here before us really de- es, only four schools have 31. Nick Hardy 108 $320,664 New York City 3, Miami 0
squad. Released CB Bryce Cosby from the practice squad.
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS: Promoted WR Michael Ban-
32. Brendon Todd 100 $269,350
erans in the frontcourt serve (the ranking),” Shead played in a Final Four held 32. Harris English 100 $269,350
Minnesota 1, Dallas 1, (Dallas 5-4 on penalty kicks) dy and OT Foster Sarell from the practice squad to the
active roster.
with Reggie Chaney and said. “They put that foun- in their home city: City Col- 34. Viktor Hovland 100 $401,500 Conference semifinals
Thursday’s games
MIAMI DOLPHINS: Released RB ZaQuandre White from
35. Robby Shelton 95 $234,422
J’Wan Roberts and wel- dation down for us. We’re lege of New York (1950). 36. Si Woo Kim 92 $269,638 Cincinnati at Philadelphia, 7 p.m.
the practice squad.
MINNESOTA VIKINGS: Waived S Myles Dorn. Reinstated
LA Galaxy at Los Angeles FC, 9 p.m.
come a freshman class that getting the recognition Louisville (1959), UCLA 37.
38.
J.J. Spaun
Greyson Sigg
89
89
$232,925
$249,855 Sunday’s games
WR Blake Proehl from the physically unable to perform
(PUP)list.
includes Emmanuel Sharp, now, but the foundation (1968 and 1972 in Los Ange- 39. Cameron Champ 85 $341,000
Montreal vs. New York, noon
Austin vs. Dallas winner, 7 p.m.
NEW ORLEANS SAINTS: Placed WR Kawaan Baker on
Terrance Arceneaux and has been set, and I’m glad les) and Butler (2010 in In- 40.
41.
Jason Day
Adam Hadwin
83
82
$242,000
$231,795 Conference finals
waivers.
NEW YORK JETS: Promoted OT Mike Remmers from the
Jarace Walker, a McDon- we’re finally getting the no- dianapolis). 42. Dylan Frittelli 79 $207,337 Oct. 30 games practice squad to the active roster. Released OL Connor
McDermott.
43. Kevin Streelman 79 $182,095 Philadelphia—Cincinnati winner vs. New York City-Miami
ald’s All-American and the tice that we deserve.” “It honestly makes us 44. Beau Hossler 79 $224,147 winner-Montreal-Orlando winner, 2 p.m. or 7 p.m. TENNESSEE TITANS: Signed WR C.J. Board to the prac-
tice squad. Released WR Josh Gordon from the practice
top-rated power forward in The Cougars’ noncon- hungry,” Walker said. “We 45. Christiaan Bezuidenhout 78 $179,291 Los Angeles—LA Galaxy winner vs. Dallas-Minneso-
ta—Austin-Salt Lake winner, 2 p.m. or 7 p.m. squad. Signed S Josh Thompson from the Jacksonville
46. Patrick Rodgers 78 $221,273
the 2022 class. ference schedule features haven’t done anything yet, 47. Xander Schauffele 75 $297,000 Championship practice squad. Placed OLB Ola Adeniyi on injured reserve.
HOCKEY
This marks just the third No. 21 Oregon on Nov. 20 in and they’ve already got us 48.
49.
Matt Wallace
Scott Stallings
69
68
$159,120
$181,802
Nov. 5
Conference final winners, 3 p.m. NHL
time in the program’s 77- Eugene, Ore., and No. 20 at (No.) 3. We know we have 50. Adam Svensson 67 $196,816 NWSL playoffs BUFFALO SABRES: Loaned F Matej Pekar to Rochester
(AHL). Waived LW Anders Bjork.
year history that the Cou- Alabama on Dec. 10 at Fer- a long way to continue to 51.
52.
Russell Knox
Joseph Bramlett
64
63
$138,028
$162,462 Sunday’s results CALGARY FLAMES: Assigned Ds Simon Lavigne, Rhett
gars will begin a season titta Center in a rematch of grow and develop and rise 53. Aaron Rai 61 $149,020 Quarterfinals Rhinehart and G Daniil Checkelev to Rapid City (ECHL).
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS: Assigned G Cale Morris to Nor-
54. Lee Hodges 61 $152,697
among the top three, join- last year’s game at Tusca- to No. 1. That’s where we 55. Paul Haley 59 $158,916
Kansas City 2, Houston 1
San Diego 2, Chicago 1
folk (ECHL).
MONTREAL CANADIENS: Recalled G Cayden Primeau
ing the Elvin Hayes-led loosa, Ala., which had a want to be at the end of the 56. Kevin Yu 59 $133,548 Semifinals from Laval (AHL).
57. Brian Stuard 58 $157,889 Oct. 23 games NEW JERSEY DEVILS: Activated F Tyce Thompson form
1967-68 team (No. 2) and Phi controversial ending at the day.” 58. Wyndham Clark 57 $176,434 San Diego at Portland, 4 p.m. injured reserve and assigned him to Utica (AHL).
Slama Jama in 1983-84 (No. buzzer. UH will play No. 18 59.
60.
Harrison Endycott
Stephan Jaeger
57
56
$157,227
$133,357
Kansas City at OL Reign, 6:30 p.m. PHILADELPHIA FLYERS: Recalled D Louis Belpedio and
C Zack MacEwen from Ontario (AHL).
Championship
3). UH has been ranked for Virginia on Dec. 17 in Char- joseph.duarte@chron.com 61. Callum Tarren 54 $141,542 Oct. 29 SAN JOSE SHARKS: Assigned D Billy Constantinou to
61. Ryan Armour 54 $141,542 Wichita (ECHL).
a school-record 46 consec- lottesville, Va. The Cougars twitter.com/joseph_duarte At Washington, D.C.
 STAR
HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022 • SECTION D

DESIGN

Cesar Bejar
The Woodland Heights home of John Tapper and Stephanie Kinzel-Tapper, designed by CONTENT Architecture, will be on the 2022 AIA Houston Home Tour.

Creating a place to call home

By Diane Cowen
STA FF WRIT E R
New designs, renovations One of Doug’s many favorite things about his reno-
vated and expanded home is that he can finally

D
oug and Amber Timmermeyer were
living in a 1,500-square-foot home in
Washington Terrace, dreaming of how
a few tweaks might make it perfect.
And John Tapper and Stephanie Kin-
zel-Tapper were happy in their 1,300-square-foot
home in Woodland Heights until two small children
arrived and they knew their family had outgrown
the home.
The Timmermeyers opted to expand and reno-
vate the interior of their 1940 home, while the Tap-
pers decided to demolish and start over when they
couldn’t find another home that suited their needs
in a neighborhood they liked as much.
Both went in as young couples in starter homes,
and they’ve now created homes they’ll likely stay in
for a while.
The Timmermeyers’ home, renovated by Mark
and Ann Schatz of m+a architecture studio, and the
Tappers’ home, by Jesse Hager of CONTENT Archi-
tecture, are two of the eight homes featured on this
weekend’s AIA Houston Home Tour. In addition to
those two, other homes include a new 5,300-square-
foot home in the Heights by McIntyre + Robinowitz
Architects; a 3,410-square-foot Hurricane Harvey
rebuild in Braeswood Place by Albany Studio; the
Rice Military home of architect Brinn Miracle of
Architangent; a Telge Pace main home and guest
house (4,500 square feet combined) by studioMET;
a 7,154-square-foot Spanish Revival-style home in
Bellaire by Mirador Group; and a 2,608-square-foot
midcentury-style home in Willowbrook by Arc
Three Studio.
When the Timmermeyers bought their home,
they had to work hard to see beyond its prior own-
are open for view during
AIA Houston Home Tour
Benjamin Hill Photography
Doug and Amber Timmermeyer wanted just a
bit more room in their Third Ward home.
ers’ taste: Every room was a different bold color,
there was gold trim, as well as tiger and zebra
stripes painted onto walls. Their Realtor explained
that the prior owner was going for a “Versace look,”
but as they sat on its bare floors eating takeout
sandwiches not long after they bought it in 2003,
even they wondered if they’d just made a big mis-
take.
They went through a lot of primer and paint to
clear the visual clutter and lived out of its tiny kitch-
en, tiny bathrooms and tiny closets for a long time.
keep his clothes in a closet in the room he sleeps in.
They added a 575-square-foot primary bedroom
suite to the back of their home, reworked the interi-
or and added a two-car carport and new side entry.
After moving out for construction, they moved back
into their home in November 2019, just months
before the start of the pandemic.
The Tappers, who moved into their 2,940-square-
foot home in October 2021, needed room for their
growing family — they now have two school-age
daughters — and Stephanie, an attorney for an
Australian-based firm, needed an office for work-
related calls at odd times. John is an artist and stay-
at-home dad, so space over their new garage serves
as an art studio for his mixed-media works.
While a few of the homes on the tour are larger,
Hager and the Schatzes all reveled in the joy that
can come in a modest-size home with no wasted
space.
“The biggest house we’ve done was 15,000 square
feet and, afterward, I said I’ll never do that again. It
was for a family of four and had 11 bathrooms, and
from a mission standpoint, we can’t do that,” Mark
Schatz said. “If you look at the reality of the crisis in
housing right now, a lot of it is driven by the fact
that not a lot of housing stock is being built, and
what is being built basically precludes the starter
home or any kind of renovation in a home like this.
“What my parents could do in the ‘70s, millenni-
als can’t do today. It’s a real, institutional problem,”
he continued.
In the Timmermeyers’ home, the Schatzes recon-
figured interior space to enlarge closets, make the
bathrooms more functional and to have a real laun-
dry room. Adding the new bedroom suite to the
Tour continues on D6

OPERA

Soprano Angel Blue set to make HGO’s

‘La Traviata’ memorable
By Chris Gray
COR R E S P ONDE NT
Angel Blue has star
quality, and Khori Das-
toor should know.
The title star of Hous-
ton Grand Opera’s up-
coming production of
Verdi’s “La Traviata,”
which opens Friday at
the Wortham Center’s
Brown Theater, and the
HGO’s general director
once co-starred in a col-
lege production of Pucci-
ni’s one-act opera “Suor
Angelica.” In Dastoor’s
opinion, Blue’s appeal
goes well beyond what
she — citing HGO col-
league Patrick Summers
— calls a “Rolls-Royce
voice.”
“When her throat
opens, you’re just hearing
a sound that brings you
absolute chills,” Dastoor
says. “And then, because
she is who she is — un-
assuming; very, very
genuine; and almost shy
— everything feels so
authentic to kind of her
humanity, her spirit. That
makes you crave more
and more and more.”
“Traviata” has long
been one of the world’s
most-performed operas
and Violetta one of the
most demanding soprano
roles in the repertoire. A
young Parisian courtesan
secretly dying of tubercu-
losis, she finds herself
unexpectedly falling for
the provincial Alfredo
but battling the wishes of
his archconservative
father, Germond, eventu-
ally resulting in one of
opera’s all-time great
death scenes. In HGO
Courtesy Houston Grand Opera first-timer Blue, who
Angel Blue takes on the role of Violetta in Houston starred as Bess in the
Grand Opera’s production of “La Traviata.” Metropolitan Opera’s
2019-20 production of
“Porgy and Bess” (and
later won a Grammy for
it), Dastoor believes HGO
has found someone who
brings uncommon depth
to the role.
“Her Violetta is a really
different kind of Violetta
than anyone I’ve seen,”
she affirms. “She’s not a
show pony. She is clearly
a woman trapped in a
miserable circumstance,
and a survivor, and
somebody who’s been
told that they’re less than
what they believe
Opera continues on D6
D2 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022 HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

THEATER REVIEW

Gabriella Nissen
Courtney Lomelo, Carolyn Johnson and Faith Fossett star in 4th Wall Theatre Company’s production of “The Thin Place.”

‘The Thin Place’

By Doni Wilson
C OR R E S P ONDE NT
In the 19th century, an
obsession with communi-
cating with the dead was
fueled by spiritualism, a
belief exploited by “medi-
ums” such as the Fox
sisters in upstate New
York who, during their
pricey séances, said that
the “rappings” their cli-
ents heard were messag-
es from the dead.
They eventually ad-
mitted it had all been a
hoax and died in poverty.
But the spiritualist
movement remained
popular anyway, and
feminists, such as Victo-
ria Woodhull (who in 1872
became the first woman
to run for president),
were influential in popu-
larizing it. Woodhull’s
supposed clairvoyance
helped her provide in-
come for her poor family
when she was young.
Later, she and her sister
would set up practice as
mediums, eventually
leaving for a life in En-
is creepily entertaining
gland.
All of this history hov-
ers like a ghostly pres-
ence over Lucas Hnath’s
creepily entertaining
contemporary ghost sto-
ry, on stage at 4th Wall
Theatre Company, called
“The Thin Place,” which
roughly refers to the
demarcation between the
living and the dead. Enter
Hilda (a fitting deadpan
Faith Fossett), who sits in
a chair, in her frumpy
clothes and pensive coun-
tenance, defying the
fourth wall of theater (the
imaginary wall between
actors and their audi-
ence) in a way that dove-
tails perfectly with the
play’s dramatization of
spirits breaking a similar
wall.
She wryly tells us that
her grandmother tried to
teach her how to commu-
nicate telepathically,
practicing with guesses.
Hilda’s mother thought it
was “demonic,” and there
was the “banishing” of
her grandmother, fore-
shadowing their sep-
‘THE THIN PLACE’
When: Through Nov. 5
Where: 4th Wall Theatre Company, 1824 Spring, No. 101
Details: $17-$53; 4thwalltheatreco.com; Oct. 31 is pay
what you can.
aration after her death.
Enter Linda (a memo-
rable Carolyn Johnson), a
medium who claims she
can hear what spirits are
saying. She and Hilda
meet and become person-
ally involved. Hilda
claims she wants to know
about her grandmother,
and Linda can tell her
what she wants to know.
Linda is a hot box of
obnoxiousness, with her
creepy stories of relatives
killing each other, her
condescending assess-
ments of her clients, her
coarse language and
working-class British
accent. She’s certainly not
posh, but she says in-
teresting things that give
you pause: The dead are
more “truthful,” because,
why not? She argues that
fectly played with an
impressive degree of
smarm by Philip Lehl,
who co-directs with Kim
Tobin-Lehl), and Sylvia (a
convincing Courtney
Lomelo) have a party, and
Hilda and the audience
realize Linda has all sorts
she “alleviates pain in of issues: visa issues,
others” and that, unlike employment issues, legal
psychotherapy, her ser- issues.
vices really “work.” Linda tells us how
Her messages from the much Americans are
dead seem to Hilda “irritating” as future-
“something bigger than a looking optimists who
trick,” and as they spend feel guilty for success and
more time together, reve- hate Hitler. But these are
lations unfold. Linda is a the people who turn to
piece of work, Hilda her and her “spiritual”
seems like a weird loner. connections.
Hilda says “Linda makes There are some good
her feel included,” and lines as Sylvia explains
there is nothing like her desire to be more
death to make you feel philanthropic while Jerry
excluded, so we can see exclaims “food banks are
how Linda can fill a need the worst!,” and tells
for someone like Hilda. It everyone to “just do a
is fascinating to watch little reading” if they
and think about, even if don’t believe him.
you want to stage an Somehow, Sylvia pays
intervention. for stuff for Linda, Philip
And you get an in- figures out how to get her
tervention when Jerry, a a job and Philip tells us
political consultant (per- all about how things
work, how bad ideas are
“more interesting” and
that sometimes “charity
does more harm than
good.” It’s a stirring train
wreck of a party, and it’s
the best part of the play;
you forget that you are
supposed to be in a ghost
story until Hilda reels us
back into it and forces
Linda to go with her to
her dead mother’s house.
Then we have the
ghost story part, and it’s
spooky and fun waiting
for the unexpected, and
the creep quotient is
high.
But “The Thin Place”
is a reminder that, with
or without the aid of
spirits or mediums, we
are unsure because,
“Who knows anything,
really?” and “It’s just so
easy to see what you
want to see.” And that
uncertainty is the real
thin place: thin as an
eggshell and just as deli-
cate.
Doni Wilson is a Houston-
based writer.

MUSIC

Blink-182 reunites for a world tour
By Kelly Kasulis Cho
WAS H INGT ON P O ST
Blink-182, the rock trio that
rose to fame in the late 1990s
by fusing pop and punk mu-
sic for the mainstream, is
getting back together for the
first time in years and going
on a world tour, which comes
to Houston July 8, 2023.
The group announced the
tour and an upcoming album
last week, ahead of the re-
lease of its new single, “Edg-
ing,” on streaming platforms
last Friday. Tom DeLonge,
one of Blink-182’s founding
members, will rejoin Mark
Hoppus and Travis Barker
for the first time in seven
years, after quitting the band
for a second time in 2015.
Blink-182, whose lyrics
were rife with humor and
teenage angst, sold more than
50 million albums with hits
such as “What’s My Age
Again?” and “All the Small
Things.” Its new tour —
which runs from March 2023
through February 2024 — is
yet another sign that rock
and pop-punk is slowly re-
turning to the mainstream.
For years, genres like elec-
Blame the
Astros:
tronic dance music, hip-hop
and bedroom pop have
public eye. Barker, the drum-
mer, married Kourtney Kar-
year that he had been receiv-
ing treatment for cancer. Elton John
cancels
hogged music charts. But dashian earlier this year DeLonge, a guitarist and
artists such as Avril after courting her in singer, is well known for his
Lavigne, Ma- front of cameras theories on UFOs and aliens,
chine Gun
Kelly, Olivia
Rodrigo,
for the first
season of the
famous
publishing videos that were
later declassified and re-
leased by the Pentagon.
concert
Willow family’s Among the other signs of a By Joey Guerra
Smith Hulu pop-punk comeback is Las STAF F WRI TE R
and Billie show. He Vegas music festival When
Eilish has also We Were Young, which is Elton John has canceled
have all collab- known for its 2000s emo the Houston stop on his Fare-
released orated lineup. Next year, performers well Yellow Brick Road: The
songs in with youn- will include headliners Final Tour.
the past ger stars Blink-182 and Green Day, The show was scheduled
two years such as Wil- along with My Chemical for Nov. 4 at Minute Maid
that venture low Smith Romance, Good Charlotte, Park but has been scrapped
into punk or and Ma- the Offspring, Rise Against, due to the Astros advancing
rock. chine Gun Yellowcard, Sum 41 and Sim- in the MLB playoffs. It will
“It makes /courtesy Kelly. ple Plan. not be rescheduled, so if
perfect sense Blink-182 is back together He “has “Blink-182 influenced a you’ve never seen John per-
… that rock and going on tour. always whole generation of music form, you’re out of luck.
music is remained that came after them and set Tickets will be automatical-
having a resurgence. And cool and hip, and does a lot of that foundation for punk ly refunded at point of pur-
when you have a resurgence, recording with a lot of up- rock,” said Sophie Reeves, an chase. Patrons can contact
there’s always the legends and-coming groups,” said executive producer at cre- tickethelp@astros.com with
who were there and influ- Bobby Borg, a musician and ative studio Production Club. questions. All refunds will be
enced it coming back author. “I think that’s what “I think there’s definitely a processed by Nov. 18.
around,” said Michael Kamin- kind of makes them able to do hope that this music will If the Astros advance to the
sky, founder and president of resurgence tours — they’re make a stronger comeback.” World Series, Game 6 would
the artist management group still respected and looked at “Plaid skirts, combat be scheduled for Nov. 4 in
KMGMT. as relevant.” boots, ripped jeans, leather Houston, if necessary.
Blink-182 last released an Hoppus, the band’s bassist — you’re seeing that again,
album in 2019, but its mem- and singer, also made head- and I just chuckle,” Borg joey.guerra@chron.com
bers have remained in the lines after he announced last said.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022 D3

WORD SLEUTH JUMBLE DAILY CROSSWORD

Find the listed words in the diagram. They run in all directions — forward,
backward, up, down and diagonally. ©2022 King Features Syndicate Inc.
ACROSS 52 *Source of bribe 11 “Death on the
1 “Barbaric” cry in money, perhaps Nile” novelist
Monday’s unlisted clue: STATES WITH A COUNTY NAMED Whitman’s “Song 54 Scoundrel Christie
HOUR. LINCOLN of Myself” 55 Used to be 12 Stayed on the
Tuesday’s unlisted clue 5 Departed 56 Natural hairstyle sidelines
hint: NORTHEASTERN 9 Stockpile 57 Infomercial 13 Snoozes
MOST STATE. 14 Actress Falco disclaimer 18 Activation phrase
15 Thin batteries 60 College application for Apple’s digital
Colorado 16 “Wait Wait... Don’t part assistant
Georgia Tell Me!” host 62 “I’m handing 22 Change genetically
Idaho Peter this off now,” 25 DNA test kit item
Kansas
17 *Busy stretch at a and a phonetic 26 High-sided bed
Kentucky
sandwich shop description of the 27 Big shot, briefly
Minnesota
19 Dish answers to the 28 Ostrich kin
Missouri
20 Snuck a look starred clues 33 “Scram!”
Montana
21 Clock readout 64 Revise 35 Broadway offering
Nevada
23 Shoe front 65 __ as a pin 37 Main mail ctrs.
Oklahoma
24 Verbalize 66 Watch over, as 38 Put in the mail
Oregon
25 *Crumple, as sheep 39 Like some small-
S. Dakota 67 Odorless gas
W. Virginia notepaper filled batch textiles
with bad ideas 68 Tacks on
Wisconsin 69 Poems of praise 40 Card game with
Wyoming 27 Lets off steam an American Girl
29 Lightbulb unit DOWN version
30 “Fiddlesticks!” 1 [You stepped on 41 Belfry critter
31 Brief “If you ask my paw!] 43 Stood for
me” 2 For two voices, in 45 “Cross my heart!”
32 Letter-shaped 46 Blood component
SUDOKU CRYPTOQUIP support
music
47 Figured (out)
3 Connoisseur who
Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3 box contains 34 Provençal pal likely scoffs at 49 Fancy Feast maker
The Cryptoquip is a substitution cipher in which one letter
the numbers 1 to 9. ©2022 King Features Syndicate, Inc. stands for another. If you think that X equals O, it will equal 36 *Fare that pairs boxed Merlot 51 “I __ see the humor
O throughout the puzzle. Single letters, short words and well with beer 4 Eat like a bird here”
words using an apostrophe give you clues to locating vowels. 38 *Ticket 5 Baker’s fat 53 Composer known
Solution is by trial and error.
marketplace with 6 __ de toilette as the “Father of
©2022 King Features Syndicate, Inc. a FanProtect 7 Tracy Chapman the Symphony”
Guarantee hit with the line 57 Butter portions
42 Farmyard oinker “Won’t have to 58 Top of the line
43 Worrisome grades drive too far” 59 Disappointing
44 Actress de Armas 8 Summer top fireworks
45 __ facto 9 Colorado ski resort 61 “It’s __-win
48 “__ sesame!” 10 Prefix with situation”
50 Otherwise practice 63 Glum

at do-it-yourself jobs? Handy Griffith.

©2022 Conceptis Puzzles, Dist. by King Features Syndicate, Inc. ANSWER: What beloved classic television actor was just great

YESTERDAY’S ANSWERS HALF --

By Amie Walker ©2022 Tribune Content Agency 10/18/22

What
college professor comes into the ER, and ‘The Rookie: Feds’ ACES ON BRIDGE
Conrad (Matt Czuchry) realizes it’s a former By Bobby Wolff
patient of his from when he was an intern.

to watch
Michael Seamon was a great
bridge player, the scion of a
MLB Playoffs: strong bridge-playing family.
He died far too young and in
NL Championship Series: some ways never achieved his
potential. For the last decade

TUESDAY Game 1 of his life, he and Jimmy Cayne

October 18, 2022
All times Central. Start times can vary based
on cable/satellite provider. Confirm times on
your on-screen guide.
Gabriel Iglesias:
Stadium Fluffy Live
From Los Angeles
Netflix
Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias became the first
comedian to perform at Dodger Stadium
in this stand-up special, filmed earlier this
year at the Netflix Is a Joke festival. In the
performance, Iglesias shares details about
being a Los Angeles native, a recent attempt at
extortion toward him and where he holds the
record for receiving the highest fine onstage.
Unsolved Mysteries
FS1, 7 p.m. Live
The National League’s two remaining playoff
contenders meet tonight in Game 1 of the
best-of-seven NL Championship Series. FS1
and FOX split coverage of the series, which
will end on Oct. 25 if a seventh game is
needed.
The Voice
NBC, 7 p.m.
The battle rounds continue as the coaches
enlist music-industry powerhouses Jimmie
Allen, Sean Paul, Charlie Puth and Jazmine
Sullivan to prepare their artists to go
head-to-head in hopes of advancing to the
knockouts. Each coach has one steal and one
save at their disposal.
By Design:
The Joe Caroff Story
TCM, 7 p.m.
This Turner Classic Movies original
ERIC MCCANDLESS
the posters: Manhattan (1979), Cabaret
(1972) and A Hard Day’s Night (1964).
Making Black America:
Through the Grapevine:
‘A Growing Resistance’
PBS, 8 p.m.
The docuseries’s third hour looks at how,
to survive a period of economic cataclysm
and global war, African Americans relied
on informal economies, grassroots
organizations and cultural innovations
behind the color line to sustain themselves
and dismantle the oppressive reality of Jim
Crow.
were one of the world’s stron-
ger pairs.
In the match between Teams
Goldman and Cayne in the
1999 trials, Seamon for Team
Cayne made an imaginatively
deceptive play that put him in
position to steal a vulnerable
game.
Against four spades doubled,
George Jacobs started with the
club ace, on which declarer
Seamon, confident from East’s
final double that the clubs were
likely to break 7-1, dropped his
king!
Jacobs knew his opponent well
enough to be unsure that this continued with a second dia-
was a true card; but eventually mond. Seamon ruffed, cashed
the heart king and then ruffed
he decided to believe declarer
and shifted to a low diamond. a heart. When he guessed to
ruff out West’s diamond king,
If he had shifted instead to
a heart, his partner, Ralph he could then ruff a heart to
Katz, would have had a chance dummy, dropping the queen,
to find the underlead of the
diamond ace to Jacobs’ king to
and lead winning diamonds to
obtain a discard for his club
obtain a club ruff, but the dia-
mond shift put the fate of the
loser. All of that resulted in an
exceptionally pleasurable plus
contract squarely on Seamon’s
shoulders.
790.

Volume 3
Netflix  Season Premiere
The third installment of this reboot of the
famed mystery-investigation docuseries airs
as a three-week event, with new episodes
dropping today, Oct. 25 and Nov. 1 that
feature more unexplained deaths, baffling
disappearances and bizarre paranormal
activity.
NBA Basketball
TNT, Beginning at 6:30 p.m. Live
The NBA regular season tips off tonight
with a TNT doubleheader featuring the
Philadelphia 76ers at the Boston Celtics
and the 2022 NBA champion Golden State
Warriors (led by Steph Curry) raising another
banner to the rafters when they host LeBron
James and the L.A. Lakers.
documentary explores the life and work
of Joe Caroff, one of the most influential
graphic designers of the 20th century, who
created iconic movie logos including West
Side Story and the 007 logo of the James
Bond productions, as well as corporate
logos for ABC News and others. Included
are exclusive interviews with the 101-year-
old Caroff, his wife, Phyllis, legendary
movie executive/producer Mike Medavoy
and leading Hollywood poster artist Dan
Chapman. Following the hourlong film, TCM
airs three movies for which Caroff designed
CATCH A
CLASSIC
The Rookie: Feds
ABC, 9 p.m.
When the team splits up to question a
suspect’s father, Simone and Laura discover
critical information on how their abusive
relationship is connected to the crimes in
the new episode “To Die For.” Following this
lead, the team heads to Tucson, Arizona, to
save the suspect’s newest target. Meanwhile,
sparks fly with Laura and her former
colleague Mark Atlas as they debate the
killer’s motive.
Katz won with his diamond
ace, cashed the heart ace and
LEAD WITH THE ACES
©2022 Dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication for UFS
LOOKING BACK
ANSWER: You could try three
clubs, but you have much more
playing strength than is usually
expected for a preempt. I would
not argue with a one-club
opening. Vulnerable in first or
second seat, if this falls within
the constraints of your partner-
ship for a three-level preempt,
you could also go with that.
BIRTHDAYS

FBI Nosferatu (1922)

1968: the U.S. Olympic
Committee suspended
Today’s Birthdays:
College and Pro Football
CBS, 7 p.m. Tommie Smith and John Hall of Famer Mike Ditka
MOVIES!, 11:05 p.m.
The team investigates the death of a wealthy Carlos for giving a “Black is 83. Singer-musician
Director F.W. Murnau’s masterful 1922 si-
accountant who was gunned down for power” salute as a protest Russ Giguere is 79. Actor
secretly testifying against a notorious drug lent German Expressionist film classic — an during a victory ceremony Joe Morton is 75. R&B
lord in the new episode “Flopped Cop.” unofficial (and unauthorized) adaptation FILM ARTS GUILD in Mexico City. singer-actor Ne-Yo is 43.
of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, which 1969: the federal Olympic gold medal skier
from Max Schreck as the vampire Count
The Resident had been published just 25 years earlier —
features an iconic physical performance, Orlok, one of the great monsters in screen
government banned
artificial sweeteners known
Lindsey Vonn is 38. Jazz
singer-musician Esperanza
FOX, 7 p.m. enhanced by wonderful makeup effects, history. as cyclamates because Spalding is 38. Actor-
In the new episode “A River in Egypt,” a of evidence they caused model Freida Pinto is
cancer in laboratory rats. 38. Actor Zac Efron is 35.
1972: Congress passed U.S. Olympic and WNBA
the Clean Water Act, basketball star Brittney
overriding President Griner is 32. Actor Tyler
Richard Nixon’s veto. Posey is 31.
D4 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022 HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

BIZARRO
ROYAL STARS
Your Horoscope for Tuesday, October 18
MOON ALERT: After 1 a.m. EDT today,
there are no restrictions to shopping or
important decisions. The Moon is in Leo.
ARIES (March 21-April 19) HHHHH
This is a great day to schmooze! Drop by
for happy hour. Interactions with kids
will be positive. Likewise, relations with
partners and close friends are cozy.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20) HHHH
A work-related romance might blossom.
MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM Meanwhile, this is also a great day to
entertain or bring someone home for
dinner.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20) HHHHH
You are in a positive frame of mind to-
day, and your energy is pumped! Person-
ally, you won’t be overbearing, because
Venus will soften the edges.
CANCER ( June 21-July 22) HHHH
This is a positive day to deal with family
matters, redecorating or improving your
home in some way.
LEO ( July 23-Aug. 22) HHHHH Today
you’re full of enthusiasm and positive
HAGAR THE HORRIBLE
thinking, which is why your communica-
tions with others are successful.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) HHHH Busi-
ness and commerce are favored today.
Trust in your ability to negotiate financial
matters, because you can do this. Mars is
high in your chart, arousing your ambi-
tion. In addition, three planets are in
your Money House.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) HHHHH
This is a great day to shop for wardrobe
items. This is an excellent day to deal
with partners and close friends. Travel or
make plans about publishing and further
education. Legal matters are blessed.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) HHHH
This is a feel-good day! It’s a good day to
ask for favors from others, because they
will likely help you.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)
HHHHH Today you have a strong desire
to do something different. You want
some adventure and stimulation.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) HHHH
This is an excellent day to deal with
bosses, VIPs, parents, teachers and the
police. They will be impressed with
whatever you have to say or offer, be-
cause you look good to the world today.
AQUARIUS ( Jan. 20-Feb. 18) HHHH
This is a great day to travel. It’s also a
wonderful day to explore opportuni-
ties in publishing, the media and higher
education.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) HHHH
Financial matters will be decided in your
favor today. For example, this is an excel-
lent day to ask for a loan or mortgage.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY (Oct. 18) You have
a regal, dignified manner that makes
others respect you. Personally, you are
creative and courageous. Expect more
solitude this year, because for you it is a
time of learning and possibly teaching.
King Features Syndicate

BLONDIE

BREWSTER ROCKIT: SPACE GUY!

BEETLE BAILEY

GARFIELD

CURTIS

SHERMAN’S LAGOON

B.C.

DEAR ABBY

Dear Abby: Dear Missing:

A decade ago, before my
wife and I had children, we
were deeply in love with each
other. Everything was great
in the bedroom and outside.
ABBY
After we had children, my
wife did a 180. She’s no lon-
ger affectionate with me at all.
We barely hold hands, we never hug,
and kissing is prohibited except maybe
a kiss before bed. We kiss like it’s an
obligation. There’s no touching in our
relationship. In the bedroom we used
to be more physical and less restrained.
I wanted her to be satisfied, without
getting more specific. Now, if we are
intimate, it’s once a month during the
summer and maybe twice a month
otherwise. She won’t allow me to touch
parts of her body, and she’s physically
and emotionally remote.
When I addressed this with her, she
informed me that other couples are
intimate less frequently than we are. She
has let her body go, and doesn’t diet or
even try to watch her weight, and I’m
concerned for her health because she
has become obese. If I try to bring these
matters up, she flies into a rage. Abby,
AM I being selfish?
— Missing the Closeness
The answer to that question is no.
Something has gone radically wrong
with your marriage and you have been
iced out. Sometimes when children
come into the picture, couples “forget”
how to be friends and lovers because REX MORGAN, M.D.
they are so distracted, tired, etc.
You and your wife need to discuss this
in the office of a licensed therapist. If
she’s unwilling to do that, have some ses-
sions alone so you can find a way to get
through to her or figure out whether you
want to continue living in “Siberia” until
your children become adults.
Dear Abby:
Please settle a yearly disagreement.
If I offer to take the birthday girl out for
PHANTOM
lunch, I will be paying the bill. So which
of us chooses the restaurant? I say I
should get to choose where to host the
celebration for which I’m paying. Birth-
day girl insists she gets to choose where
I’m going to take her.
— Unsure in Florida
Dear Unsure:
The choice of where to take your guest
should be yours, not hers. Between you
and me, I think she is nervous to suggest ARGYLE SWEATER HOCUS FOCUS
otherwise.
www.DearAbby.com
Andrews McMeel Syndication

HINTS FROM HELOISE

Dear Heloise:
With rising costs, I am
always looking for a way to
save. Well, I realized that
although my toothpaste tube
or my expensive tube of
body cream seemed empty, I
decided to cut the tube open HELOISE
two inches up using a good
pair of scissors. As I suspected, there
was still plenty in the tube, so I scraped
it out and placed it in the bottom portion
of the tube, while using the top portion
to close it.
You can’t use the regular opening, so I
just pull off the section I cut off and dip
in my toothbrush or scoop out the body
cream with my fingers. This makes each
tube last at least one other month. This
can be done with any soft tube.
— Ann B., Bristol, Connecticut
Dear Heloise:
When a jar won’t open, tap the side
of the lid firmly but carefully on the car-
peted floor. This will break the vacuum
seal.
— Angela S. in Salt Lake City
Heloise@heloise.com
King Features Syndicate
HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022 D5

FAMILY CIRCUS ZIGGY ZITS

MUTTS

WALLACE THE BRAVE

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE

BABY BLUES

DILBERT

PEANUTS

BREAKING CAT NEWS

LUANN

RHYMES WITH ORANGE

HEART OF THE CITY

WUMO

HI & LOIS

CRANKSHAFT

BALDO

FUNKY WINKERBEAN
RED & ROVER

F MINUS
SALLY FORTH
D6 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022 HOUSTON CHRONICLE | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM

TREND

Benjamin Moore makes bold

color choice with ‘Raspberry Blush’
By Diane Cowen
STAFF WRIT E R
Benjamin Moore paint
company made a bold
pick with “Raspberry
Blush” — a vivid red-
orange — as its Color of
the Year 2023.
Andrea Magno, color
marketing and devel-
opment director at Benja-
min Moore, said they
chose the color because
it’s time to “take a step
outside the comfort zone”
and bring color back into
the home.
Its top pick for the
current year was “October
Mist,” a gentle sage green,
so a shift to “Raspberry
Blush” is a dramatic de-
parture for a color she
describes as “awakening
the senses.”
Paint and color compa-
nies have made color of
the year picks for many
years, making color state-
ments about the mood of
the country — and of our
homes — with statements
about how surrounding
ourselves with color can
connect us to nature,
make us feel more calm
and serene or bring on
energy, depending on the
year and the color.
Already this year, Val-
spar announced a palette
of the year for 2023
with 12 colors, five of
which are blue and/
or green. Glidden and
PPG jointly picked
“Vining Ivy,” a pretty
teal. HGTV Home by
Sherwin Williams picked
“Darkroom,” a very dark
gray, and Sherwin-Wil-
liams picked “Redend
Point,” a soft blush-beige.
Choices for 2023 have
varied greatly, even
though varying shades of
green dominated the
HNP choices in 2022 and sever-
Raspberry Blush is the Benjamin Moore Color of the Year for 2023. al companies picked dif-
ferent shades of navy blue
in 2020.
Benjamin Moore’s
“Raspberry Blush,” is
definitely a dramatic
choice for a room, but to
back up the choice, the
paint company hired
electrofunk duo Chromeo
to devote a song to it. The
song — appropriately
named “Raspberry
Blush” — can be
found on Spot-
ify, along with
playlists curated
to reflect the
personality of
seven other colors in its
2023 Color Trends palette:
“Conch Shell” (pale pink),
“Wenge” (charcoal gray),
“Cinnamon” (rust), “New
Age” (pale lavender),
“Starry Night Blue” (navy
blue), “North Sea Green”
(light teal) and “Savannah
Green” (chartreuse).
diane.cowen@chron.com

TOUR
From page D1

back allowed them to reassess

the original space with right size
rooms and to create a kitchen
with enough room for people to
congregate.
An old guest bedroom is now
a home office for Doug, who is
creative director at BrandEx-
tract, and a two-car carport
removes the car shuffle that
often happened if Amber found
herself penned in when she
needed to be at boot camp at
5:30 a.m. Amber works in mar-
keting for J.E. Dunn Construc-
tion.
“The modifications to the
house are modest, but the effect Benjamin Hill Photography

is huge,” Mark Schatz said. “We
hope a lot of people on the
home tour look at this project
and think, ‘We can do that,
too.’ ”
Hager, the architect on the
Tappers’ home, nicknamed the
project the “Puzzle House” for
the unique style of cabinets he
designed, with cutouts that
serve as handles and make a
wall of doors and drawers look
like a jigsaw. The style is repeat-
ed throughout the home, in-
cluding a puzzle table he had
built for the couple’s two young
daughters. It’s positioned in a
play spot at the back of the
home. An added bonus is
they’ve got a great view of the
chicken coop that John built
during the pandemic for the
family’s four chickens — a hob-
by that became so popular in
2020 that at times it was hard to
find baby chicks.
For the family, Hager de-
signed a home with an open
The Timmermeyers’ new bedroom has big glass walls with
automated shades and a photo accent wall.
2022 AIA HOUSTON
HOME TOUR
When: Noon-6 p.m. Oct. 22-23
The homes: 1036 E. 6½,
Mcintyre + Robinowitz
Architects; 4126 Gairloch, Albany
Studio; 5311 Rose, Architangent;
2814 Ruth, m+a architecture
studio; 1334 Glourie, studioMET;
5417 Pine, Mirador Group; 1011 E.
7½, CONTENT Architecture;
4730 Redstart, Arc Three Studio
Tickets: In advance, $30 general
admission, $25 for bike riders,
$20 for children; day of tour, $35
general admission, $30 for bike
riders, $20 for children $15 for a
single home; aiahouston.org
main living area, small out of
the way office and pantry and a
guest suite that their parents
can use when they visit, some-
thing they didn’t have in their Divya Pande
small bungalow. The family’s The Spanish Revival home at 5417 Pine will be on the 2022 AIA
Houston Home Tour. It was designed by Mirador Group and
bedrooms are upstairs, and
their daughters each have an en built by Post Oak Homes.
suite bathroom, plus balconies
help keep the family connected
to nature.
The second-floor landing
serves as a playroom and the
place for slumber parties, and a
nearby ladder leads to a secret
room where the girls can sneak
off to.
“The puzzle theme came from
not finding what they wanted in
cabinets and thinking about the
cost of all of that hardware,”
Hager said. “I think it gives the
house a strong identity. There’s
a certain sophistication to the
house, but it’s also playful and Cesar Bejar
livable and relaxed.” This home at 1011 E. 7½ St. will be on the 2022 AIA Houston
Home Tour. It was designed by CONTENT Architecture with
diane.cowen@chron.com Christopher Jachmich as contractor.

OPERA ‘LA TRAVIATA’

From page D1
they are. She is there to
prove both that she’s up
to the role and prove the
world wrong, but also,
Violetta is there to prove
society wrong about who
she is.”
However, the opera’s
March 1853 premiere in
Venice enjoyed a some-
what bumpy reception.
Many in the audience
found the producers’
choice of Violetta, one
Fanny Salvini-Donatelli,
insufficiently young and
frail for someone suppos-
edly dying of consump-
tion, and were not shy
about saying so. But by
the next century, the
powerful emotions cours-
ing through the unassail-
able soprano-tenor-bari-
tone triangle of Violetta,
Alfredo and Germont —
HGO has cast Virginia
native Matthew White
and Ukrainian-born
Andrei Kymach as the
latter two — lifted “Travi-
ata” into the top tier of
most-performed operas,
where it has remained
ever since.
As its popularity
spread, the top sopranos
When: Oct. 21-Nov. 6
Where: Wortham Theater
Center, 501 Texas
Details: $26-$210;
713-228-6737;
houstongrandopera.org
of their day inevitably
found their way to the
plethora of “Traviata”
recordings: Margherita
Bevignani in 1915; Licia
Albanese in ’46 and ’55;
Maria Callas in ’53, ’55
and ’58; Joan Sutherland
in ’62 and ’79; Beverly
Sills in ’71; Angela Ghe-
orghiu in ’94; Renée
Fleming in 2004; Anna
Netrebko in ’05; Marina
Rebeka in ’19. At least a
dozen are currently avail-
able on Apple Music.
Hollywood wanted in
the game as soon as
sound came to the mov-
ies. Long before “Pretty
Woman,” which bor-
rowed the plot of “Travia-
ta” (with a happier end-
ing) and set a key scene
at a performance, the
Violetta-Alfredo duet
“Sempre libera” appeared
in “One Night of Love,”
from 1934, and the 1942
Gloria Jean/Donald
O’Connor comedy “Get
Hep to Love.”
But even after all that,
she believes Blue’s per-
falls on that person’s
ability to be superhuman
want to see. We have in
our star, someone who’s
Act 1’s “Libiamo ne’ formance merits a second in a way,” Dastoor says. really up to the task of
lieti calici,” — better look at this most familiar “And Angel has it, so I delivering the whole
known as the Brindisi — of operas. just think for people who performance.”
is now up there with “La “It has a tendency to have seen ‘Traviata,’ or
Donna e mobile” from be disappointing because maybe haven’t seen ‘Tra- Chris Gray is a Galveston-
“Rigoletto” for the most the whole thing rises and viata,’ this is the one you based writer.
recognizable bit of pop-
culture Verdi. In the past
decade alone, the lusty
drinking song has ap-
peared in the coming-of-
age comedies “Books-
mart” and “Adventure-
land,” the James Bond
film “Spectre” and Dus-
tin Hoffman’s charming
comedy about retired
opera singers, “Quartet,”
where the Brindisi even
figures into the plot a
little.
Very much also worth
mentioning are Rian
Johnson’s 2019 mystery
“Knives Out,” where Act
1’s “Ah, fors’ e lui” plays
during the scene when it
all snaps into place for
Daniel Craig’s genteel
detective, and Guy Pearce
belting out (well, lip-
syncing) “Sempre libera”
in 1994’s “Priscilla Queen
of the Desert.” Dastoor
even recently found her-
self explaining the plot of
2001’s “Moulin Rouge” to
her young daughter by
referencing “Traviata.”