Here are things to know for Wednesday, June 16:
1. ‘How is he not involved?:’ Mother of 5-year-old Samuel Olson speaks for first time since boy was found dead
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Two weeks after 5-year-old Samuel Olson’s body was found in a motel room in Jasper, Texas, the boy’s mother spoke out for the first time on Tuesday.
“I’m holding up. It’s hard,” Samuel’s mother, Sarah Olson, said on Tuesday. “I’m taking it day-by-day. No one ever expects anything like this to happen. I’m trying to understand things.”
Sarah’s attorney, Marco González, said this is the first time the mother is speaking out publically because she wanted to wait until the boy’s body had been identified, which happened on June 9.
González also stated that Sarah felt like Samuel’s father, Dalton Olson, should be in custody after learning that his girlfriend, Theresa Balboa, was arrested and charged with tampering with evidence in connection to Samuel’s case.
“With all of the evidence that has been brought to life, how is he not involved?” Sarah asked.
2. Why is ERCOT asking us to conserve electricity? Here’s what we know
ERCOT admitted the majority of lost reserve electricity generation on Monday was due to unscheduled maintenance issues.
ERCOT said 9,691 megawatts of the total loss on Monday was due to a forced outage, meaning it was unplanned and unexpected.
“The number of power plants that were offline for outages was a bit concerning given where we are and the temperatures,” Dr. Joshua Rhodes, a research assistant who studies the Texas Electrical Grid at the University of Austin, said.
Rhodes characterized the issue as a “yellow light,” not yet an emergency, but a potential problem if these power generation issues are not rectified before the hottest days of summer arrives.
3. Houston mayor, other US mayors lobby President Biden for more federal support in fighting gun violence
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner joined the mayors of Dayton, Chicago, Austin, and Savannah during a virtual press conference Tuesday to discuss the rise in gun violence across the country and to urge President Biden to take immediate action to make their cities safer for their residents.
Watch video of this event in the player above.
4. Donald Trump to tour border wall with Gov. Greg Abbott on June 30
Former president Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he “accepted the invitation” to tour Texas’ southern border with Gov. Greg Abbott on June 30.
“The Biden Administration inherited from me the strongest, safest, and most secure border in U.S history and in mere weeks they turned it into the single worst border crisis in U.S history. It’s an unmitigated disaster zone,” Trump said in a statement.
Building a wall along the Texas-Mexico border was a key promise throughout Trump’s presidency, but he never fully delivered. His promise that Mexico would pay for the wall was unfulfilled, and the 450 miles of barrier he did build were mostly in Arizona and far less was completed in the Rio Grande Valley where border crossings are more prevalent, according to The Washington Post.
5. Texas ‘critical race theory’ bill limiting teaching of current events signed into law
Gov. Greg Abbott has signed the controversial bill that prescribes how Texas teachers can talk about current events and America’s history of racism in the classroom, according to Texas Legislature Online. His signature makes Texas one of a handful of states across the country that have passed such legislation, which aims to ban the teaching of “critical race theory” in K-12 public school classrooms.
Critical race theory is an academic term that studies how race and racism have impacted social and local structures in the United States. Over the past year, GOP leaders have decried its teaching in public schools, pointing to limited examples in various school districts across the state. In 2020, former President Donald Trump had banned federal employees from training that discusses “critical race theory” or “white privilege,” calling it propaganda.