In mid-October, KPRC 2′s Syan Rhodes discussed the upcoming election -- from taxes to abortion -- with candidate Beto O’Rourke.

After the bitter presidential campaign and four years of political divide, how can the United States again find a path toward unity? University of Houston Sociology Professor Luis Salinas, Ph.D., says the challenge will be to get beyond the current climate of lies that are permeating our daily discourse. “A lot of baseless rumors, conspiracy theories go around and basically rev up fear, rev up hate to further divide people,” he said. “We had every major convention in Houston cancel,” said Michael Heckman the Acting President & CEO of Houston First. “We’ve seen some major conventions move from the first quarter and the second quarter to the second half of the year so that’s very good news.”Much more on this week’s Houston Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall.

HOUSTON – Harris County Commissioners voted 3-2 to extend the county’s disaster declaration till August 26 Tuesday afternoon. BREAKING: By a 3-2 vote, Harris County Commission extends COVID-19 Disaster Declaration until August 26. According to spokeperson for Judge Hidalgo, because the mask order falls under this declaration, that is also extended to August 26. But a group of Harris County business owners took the mask order to court, asking a judge to stop it. The mask mandate went into effect Monday, June 22, and was set to expire Tuesday if the Harris County Commissioners did not vote to extend it.

SAN ANTONIO – Two of the three people killed in a small airplane crash in San Antonio on Sunday night have been identified. Family confirms 22-year-old Eric Naranjo of Sugar Land was one of three people killed in Sunday plane crash near San Antonio International Airport. He was a student at University of Texas at San Antonio and graduated Dulles High School in 2015. At least 26 fire units were dispatched to the 600 block of West Rhapsody Drive, near the San Antonio International Airport, around 6:26 p.m., according to the San Antonio Fire Department’s active call list online. The plane originated from Hooks Memorial Airport, then briefly stopped at Sugar Land Regional Airport before heading to San Antonio, according to Fire Chief Charles Hood.