Here are things you need to know for Friday, June 12:
1. 'Flatten the curve again’: Judge Hidalgo, Mayor Turner say recent spike in COVID-19 cases puts Houston-area at Threat Level 2
Recommended Videos
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner announced a new system coronavirus threat level system that would help residents know what they need to do to avoid spreading the virus.
The system, which was paid for by funding from FEMA the CARES Act, breaks down threat levels in four tiers that are color-coded.
At present, Harris County is at Threat Level 2, Hidalgo said. At this level, while residents don’t need to strictly stay home at all times, they are advised to minimize all contact with other people as there is still a significant and uncontrolled level of coronavirus spread in the county.
2. Texas reports largest single-day increase in coronavirus cases
Texas hit a new daily high in COVID-19 cases Wednesday with 2,504 new cases reported, according to data released Wednesday by the Texas Department of State Health Services. That topped the previous daily high of 1,949 cases May 31.
3. HISD Board approves $2B budget, pay increases for teachers, stipends for employees
The Houston Independent School District Board of Trustees approved a $2 billion budget in a 7-2 vote Thursday evening that includes $34.4 million salary and benefits package as well as an increase in employer contribution to health insurance premiums for employees.
4. Prosecutors: Pimp charged with murder after woman he brought from Las Vegas hit, killed on 610
A man has been arrested after a woman he is accused of bringing to Houston from Las Vegas to act as a prostitute was hit and killed by a vehicle on Interstate 610 over the weekend.
Deandros Finks, 29, was charged Wednesday with murder and compelling prostitution after the body of a 23-year-old woman was found about 3:20 a.m. Sunday on the West Loop feeder road near Alabama Street.
5. 2 confederate statues in Houston to be relocated from public parks in commemoration of Juneteenth, Turner says
Mayor Sylvester Turner announced the city’s plans to relocate two Confederate statues, the Dowling and Spirit of Confederacy, in commemoration of Juneteenth.
The holiday on Friday celebrates the day enslaved people in Texas learned that the Emancipation Proclamation had granted them freedom three years earlier.
3 things to share
WORD OF THE DAY
Uakari [wah-kahr-ee] (noun) any of several medium-sized, tree-dwelling Amazon basin monkeys of the genus Cacajao, the only New World monkeys having a short tail: all are now rare.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
June 12, 1987: In one of his most famous Cold War speeches, President Ronald Reagan challenges Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down” the Berlin Wall, a symbol of the repressive Communist era in a divided Germany.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“One could not pluck a flower without troubling a star.” - Loren Eiseley