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Nationwide political leaders barnstormed by means of the Lone Star State this weekend to assist Texans from each political events make their closing plea to voters on the eve of the midterm elections.
First girl Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Democrats, joined campaigns in Harris County whereas Republican Home Minority Chief Kevin McCarthy of California and nationwide celebration chair Ronna McDaniel are rallying supporters in South Texas.
The primary girl stopped in Houston church buildings to push Texans to vote. Biden appeared alongside two Texas Democrats dealing with reelection, Harris County Choose Lina Hidalgo and U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston.
“A lot is at stake on this election. And with the polls closing in simply two days, all of us have to make our voices heard,” Biden stated Sunday on the Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church, the place the pews had been stuffed. “We should communicate up on justice and democracy.”
Political observers had anticipated the state’s aggressive governor’s race to drive turnout just like high-watermark elections in 2018 and 2020. Nevertheless, to date, turnout has been slower, making this weekend’s push to have interaction voters extra salient.
Thirty-one % of registered voters had voted by Friday, the final day of early voting, in accordance with the Secretary of State’s web site. Extra folks vote early than on Election Day — a pattern that has been constant a minimum of for the reason that 2008 presidential election.
Incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott began his closing push to energise supporters in Lubbock on Saturday.
“We’ve bought to get extra folks within the polls. Lubbock is Republican territory, and … there are a lot of individuals who haven’t but voted,” Abbott stated at a Lubbock barbecue restaurant earlier than knocking on just a few doorways, in accordance with the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. It was his second marketing campaign go to to West Texas up to now two weeks.
His Democratic challenger, former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke spent Saturday night block strolling in Houston.
“I believe that is going to be actually shut. It might be determined by a matter of votes, it might be determined by the votes of these doorways that you just’ll be knocking on,” O’Rourke stated to marketing campaign volunteers in Houston.
Abbott, a Republican who’s searching for his third four-year time period as governor, has promised voters to proceed pushing a conservative agenda centered on jobs and border safety. O’Rourke has criticized Abbott’s dealing with of the 2021 winter storm, mass shootings and assist for a ban on abortion, together with in instances of rape and incest.
Vice President Kamala Harris additionally threw her assist behind Hidalgo, calling in to a digital telephone financial institution for the Harris County chief on Friday night. She recalled her interactions with Hidalgo throughout the 2021 power-grid failure and stated Hidalgo has been an “extraordinary chief throughout immense disaster.”
“You may have confirmed your self throughout a few of the most tough instances for Harris County,” the vice chairman informed Hidalgo, earlier than urging volunteers to redouble their efforts for the ultimate weekend earlier than the election. “She has been a unprecedented chief, however we will not take her with no consideration.”
4 years after unexpectedly ousting a popular Republican, Hidalgo is dealing with a tricky reelection battle in opposition to a well-funded Republican opponent, Alexandra del Ethical Mealer.
Whereas Harris didn’t point out Mealer, she did paint a distinction with Republicans, who she urged try to divide folks and wish to unwind the progress of the Biden administration. She warned they’d repeal the Inflation Discount Act and cross a nationwide abortion ban, pertaining to a difficulty — abortion rights — that Hidalgo has made central to her marketing campaign.
Mealer has centered most of her marketing campaign on the county’s excessive variety of homicides and the legal indictment of three Hidalgo staffers.
In South Texas, GOP heavyweights McCarthy, McDaniel, and former Home Speaker Newt Gingrich are set to talk at a get-out-the-vote rally. They’ll seem alongside Congresswoman Mayra Flores, Monica De La Cruz and Cassy Garcia in an effort to safe a Republican majority within the Home.
Republicans are calling Flores, De La Cruz and Garcia a triple risk. GOP leaders are more and more bullish on a sweep of all three seats.
In 2020, Republican Monica De La Cruz got here inside 3 proportion factors of unseating Democratic Congressman Vicente Gonzalez in Congressional District 15, a closely Hispanic border district that features McAllen. This 12 months, De La Cruz is operating for a similar seat after Gonzalez was drawn out of the district and moved over to neighboring District 34. Flores is the incumbent congresswoman after successful a particular election this 12 months to exchange Democrat Filemon Vela, who had resigned earlier than the tip of his time period. And Garcia, a former staffer for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, is dealing with off in Laredo-based District 28 in opposition to longtime Democrat incumbent Henry Cuellar.
The Republican marketing campaign cease in South Texas gained’t go unchecked. Former president Invoice Clinton is anticipated to stump in South Texas on Monday to assist Cuellar and Democratic Home candidate Michelle Vallejo, De La Cruz’s challenger.
SNAP recipients in Texas are now eligible to collect replacement benefits following severe storms in the Lone Star State.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits are issued monthly to low- and no-income households to help them buy groceries. Following a storms and tornadoes, eligible claimants in Texas can apply for replacement benefits up to the value of the goods purchased using their SNAP electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card.
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Severe storms hit Texas beginning on Thursday, May 16, causing damage to property, flooding and downed trees, while leaving thousands without power. Four people are confirmed to have died as a result. According to a report by Reuters, more than 100,000 households and businesses are still without power.
“Due to recent severe weather and flooding that devastated communities across our state, impacted Texans will be able to apply for SNAP replacement benefits for food that was lost or destroyed during these devastating storms,” said Governor Greg Abbott. “Eligible Texans can apply for these benefits by dialing 2-1-1. I thank the Texas Health and Human Services Commission for working with our federal partners to ensure Texans have the resources they need to recover and move forward from these storms.”
Those living in Austin, Chambers, Colorado, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, Polk, San Jacinto, Trinity, Walker and Waller counties are eligible to get replacement SNAP benefits if their groceries were lost or destroyed during the deadly storms.
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Recipients can apply by phone, mail or fax. Those wishing to apply by phone can dial 2-1-1 and select option two. For anyone wanting to apply by post, they should download a Form H1855 (Affidavit for Nonreceipt or Destroyed SNAP Benefits) and either mail it to Texas Health and Human Services Commission, P.O. Box 149027, Austin, TX, 78714-9027, or fax it to 877-447-2839.
Applicants must specify on the form the value of the lost or destroyed groceries, as well as how much in benefits they receive per month.
When replacement SNAP benefits become available, there is usually a 10-day time limit on applying following the discovery of lost groceries. However, the U.S. Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has clarified that in this instance the time-limit has been waived.
Newsweek contacted the FNS via email outside of normal working hours for comment.
Any SNAP recipients who live outside of the specified counties but were still affected by last week’s storms can still apply for replacement benefits, but they must do this in person at a local benefits office. However, the 10-day time limit applies to anyone not in the listed areas.
If successful, claimants will receive their replacement funds on their Lone Star Cards within two days.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
NORTH TEXAS — For the fourth day in a row, the high temperature for the metroplex reached 90° or higher. We now are at the fifth warmest May on record to date.
The warm and humid conditions continue Wednesday with high temperatures forecast to reach the mid to upper 80s again. We see more cloud cover in place ahead of a cold front that will move into North Texas in the late morning hours into the early afternoon. The front will help storm development coupled with the dryline so we have issued alerts for Wednesday and Thursday.
All severe weather parameters are possible on Wednesday so stay alert to the First Alert Forecast.
Large hail, damaging winds with localized flooding are the main threats but there is a low tornado threat. The Storm Prediction Center has most of North Texas under a Level 3 Enhanced risk of severe storms.
The cold front enters our northwest counties in the late morning hours and stalls over North Texas in the early afternoon. Wherever the front stalls will be the area of concern for the storms to develop.
The timing of the storms looks to be late morning through the early evening hours. We can’t rule out the chance of some strong to severe storms into the 9 p.m. – 10 p.m. time frame but they should be weakening.
Thursday, the front lifts back north as a warm front and, depending on the frontal position along with the dryline, we could see more showers and storms with large hail and damaging winds possible.
After Thursday, turn our attention to Memorial Day weekend and the hot and humid conditions in the forecast. There is a potential heat advisory this weekend, especially from Sunday to Monday. We will see feels-like temperatures above 100° Friday through Monday.
While celebrating the long weekend, stay hydrated and take breaks in the A/C if possible. The rain chances drop to about 20% Saturday through Monday but stay weather-aware in lake areas.
By Shelby Shank
Field Editor
Severe weather swept across the Lone Star State this month, bringing damaging hail and excessive rainfall that has taken a toll on some farmers’ crops.
Among those affected were Matthew Hoelscher, who raises cattle and grows hay, corn and wheat in Falls County.
“The corn was looking like it was on the right track,” Hoelscher said. “But we’ve had excessive amounts of rain the past few weeks. The corn was starting to show signs of some drowning out, but overall, I had a good, healthy crop that was potentially going to be something.”
But a storm in mid-May changed that for some of his crop.
“We had some hail that blew in, and it was kind of light for a minute. Then all of a sudden, we had some massive, heavy winds pick up,” Hoelscher said. “Then, the hail came down hard, and the storm lasted about five to 10 minutes. It was very intense and very, very windy.”
The hail was anywhere from the size of a marble to a ping-pong ball.
Hoelscher has about 100 acres with slight damage from the storm, but 60 acres that were severely destroyed.
“The hail just stripped the corn to pieces,” Hoelscher said. “Lost all the leaves, snapped the stalks off in half, and it just looks completely stripped.”
This growing season is vastly different from the past two years for Hoelscher.
While the rain was initially a welcome relief from the prolonged drought, the sheer volume has created its own set of challenges.
“I’ve quit counting how much rainfall we’ve been receiving, but just in May and mid-April, it’s been 15 to 20 inches,” Hoelscher said.
As the weather continues to fluctuate, Hoelscher, as well as farmers across the state, will keep adapting and finding ways to sustain their livelihoods through the challenges.
“It’s just how it is working with Mother Nature,” Hoelscher said.
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