State Capital Highlights: Heat-related deaths in Texas likely undercounted

State Capital Highlights: Heat-related deaths in Texas likely undercounted News Staff Tue, 08/20/2024 - 9:58 am X

Gary Borders gborders@texaspress.com

As Texans endure the dog days of summer, experts say deaths related to heat in Texas and nationwide are likely undercounted, the Texas Standard reported.

With climate change causing warmer days and nights, last year was the hottest on record in Texas. Though this summer has not been quite as brutal, those working outside are still at considerable risk.

In 2023, 365 people in Texas died directly from heat, and heat was named a contributing factor in another 197 deaths. Accounting for heat’s role in a death is challenging, however.

“The health impacts (of heat) are a little bit more subtle,” said cardiologist Sameed Khatana, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. “They can be delayed. And trying to tease apart whether a death or an adverse health effect occurred due to the temperature is quite challenging.”

Heat has been called “the most dangerous phenomenon that workers face,” according to the Texas Standard story.

Overcrowding, understaffing force jails to move inmates

Jails both large and small are struggling to properly house incarcerated people, and millions in tax dollars are being spent to transport inmates to other jails, sometimes in other states, The Texas Tribune reported.

The number of Texas inmates housed outside the county where they were arrested more than doubled from 2019 to 2024, from 2,078 to 4,358. In June 2024, 41% of Texas county jails housed inmates elsewhere, according to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.

“Counties are having to think outside the box,” said Ricky Armstrong, assistant director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. “We know there are some counties housing people out of state. It’s not something we recommend or encourage, but we see that as a necessary evil.”

Among the factors increasing the number of inmates held elsewhere: a law limiting who can be released from jail while awaiting trial; an overburdened mental health system; and a difficulty in finding jailers.

While law enforcement officials advocate for increased jail space to ease the problem, civil rights advocates and defense attorneys say the state should invest more in mental health services and alternatives to jail.

“We are addicted to carceral solutions,” Krish Gundu, co-founder of the Texas Jail Project, which advocates for people in Texas county jails, told The Tribune. “If we really cared about not having these people in jails, you’d look at why they are ending up in jail and solve the problem at the root.”

Paxton threatens to sue over State Fair gun policy

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says he will sue the City of Dallas if it does not change a new gun policy. The city plans to ban licensed gun holders from bringing weapons to the State Fair of Texas unless they are active police officers or qualified retired officers. The Dallas Morning News reported the fair announced the change after a shooting last year wounded three people.

A letter from the AG’s office to the city of Dallas said the new policy violates state law, which says cities and other entities cannot ban handguns on government property unless there is a legal exception, such as for schools.

More than 70 Texas lawmakers issued a letter last week urging the fair to rescind its new policy, saying “gun-free zones are a magnet for crime because they present less of a threat to those who seek to do evil,” The News reported.

Meanwhile, the Houston Chronicle reported Paxton will work at a food bank as part of a plea deal he made in March with prosecutors to close the securities fraud case against him. He is required to complete 100 hours of community service and pay about $300,000 in restitution to the victims.

A cooler and wetter July for most of the state

The drought situation in Texas continues to ease, thanks in part to a wetter and cooler July, according to Mark Wentzel, hydrologist with the Texas Water Development Board. At the end of July, 20% of the state was in drought, down five percentage points from the end of June. That is the lowest extent of drought since October 2021.

“Precipitation varied considerably, with large areas of Central and East Texas getting twice their normal rainfall, while parts of West Texas and the Panhandle got less than 25 percent of normal,” Wentzel wrote.

The return of the La Niña weather system is likely to bring warmer and drier temperatures to the state this winter, according to Wentzel. Much of the drought area that remains in Texas is in the Big Bend area, as well as in the Hill Country west of San Antonio.

TWDB adopts the first state flood plan

The state now has its first comprehensive statewide assessment of flood risk after the water development board voted to adopt the 2024 State Flood Plan.

“Adopting the first-ever state flood plan is a monumental achievement for Texas,” said TWDB Chairwoman Brooke Paup.
The plan presents about 4,600 plans and projects from 15 regional flood planning entities. Approximately one in every six people in Texas lives or works in known flood hazard areas.

TWDB will produce a new state flood plan every five years.

Fraudulent banking website reported

The Texas Department of Banking is warning consumers to be aware of a fraudulent banking website purporting to offer online and in-person banking services. A fake bank calling itself  “All Finance Bank of Texas,” claiming to be located in Houston, and a website, allfinanbnktxus, are not known to be associated with a known bank.

“No bank doing business under the name All Finance Bank of Texas has been authorized to provide banking services in Texas, nor is any bank by that name supervised by the Department of Banking, the FDIC, the Federal Reserve, or other U.S. regulatory authorities,” TDB said in a news release.

Anyone with information or questions about the purported bank are urged to call TDB at 877-276-5554.

Gary Borders is a veteran award-winning Texas journalist. He published a number of community newspapers in Texas during a 30-year span, including in Longview, Fort Stockton, Nacogdoches, Lufkin and Cedar Park. Email: gborders@texaspress.com.

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