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UVALDE — Brett Cross has been tenting outdoors Uvalde’s faculty district places of work for almost 200 hours. He hasn’t slept a lot. He’s grieving.
However the 32-year-old wind turbine service technician mentioned he’s not going to finish his vigil till Uvalde’s faculty board suspends the 5 faculty district cops who had been at Robb Elementary on Might 24, the day an 18-year-old gunman entered the varsity and killed 19 college students and two lecturers.
One of many victims was Uziyah Garcia, Cross’s 10-year-old nephew. The college district police had been among the many a whole bunch of regulation enforcement officers who waited greater than an hour to confront the gunman, going in opposition to active-shooter coaching that teaches officers to instantly get rid of the menace. A Texas Home committee report criticized the native, state and federal regulation enforcement businesses concerned for a chaotic scene that was devoid of clear management.
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Cross, who was Uziyah’s authorized guardian, began the protest on Sept. 27, joined by a couple of dozen victims’ households and Uvalde residents. Since then, Cross has been staying in a single day by himself on the faculty grounds.
“I’m asking … get these officers off of those campuses till it’s proved whether or not or not they had been justified in sitting outdoors of the classroom for 77 minutes,” Cross mentioned.
Cross’ spouse, Nikki, incessantly joins him in the course of the day. She positioned 19 faculty backpacks and two totes in entrance of the doorways of the varsity district’s constructing on Tuesday, representing the 21 lives misplaced within the taking pictures.
Backpacks made by Nikki Cross, with the names of the 19 youngsters killed within the Robb Elementary taking pictures, line both aspect of the entrance door to the Uvalde faculty district administration constructing on Tuesday.
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Credit score:
Evan L’Roy/The Texas Tribune
Pals and Uvalde residents go to commonly and produce the couple meals, drinks and followers to beat again the Texas warmth.
“The households get collectively. We chortle. We cry. We inform tales,” Cross mentioned.
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Hal Harrell, superintendent of the Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased Faculty District, met privately with Cross three days into the protest. Harrell mentioned that for safety causes, he can not afford to droop faculty district cops.
Greater than 30 Texas Division of Public Security officers are also on Uvalde faculty campuses, however Harrell mentioned DPS officers are restricted in what they’ll do and carry out completely different roles from faculty district cops. The district didn’t elaborate on how the roles differ.
“We don’t condone this group’s conduct and are searching for to finish the disruption,” Harrell wrote in a letter to district households on Sept. 30. “We’re working to establish state and native companions who’re keen to help us in restoring peace which is able to permit us to conduct faculty enterprise within the method to which you might be accustomed.”
Former Uvalde CISD police Chief Pete Arredondo, who was one of many first officers on the scene and was the designated incident commander within the district’s active-shooter plan, has acquired a lot of the blame for the botched response. The district suspended Arredondo on June 22 and fired him Aug. 24.
DPS, the U.S. Division of Justice, a Texas Home committee and the Uvalde County district lawyer have launched separate investigations into regulation enforcement’s response.
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On Sept. 28, the day after the protest started, Uvalde CISD introduced that an exterior group, JPPI Investigations, will conduct an impartial assessment of the Uvalde CISD police actions on Might 24.
The announcement didn’t fulfill Cross, who mentioned he desires extra transparency and accountability from the varsity district.
“I truthfully really feel that they don’t care. They need to maintain making excuses,” Cross mentioned. “All they need to do is sweep it below the rug and act prefer it didn’t occur and go on with their merry lives, amassing their good little paychecks and never being held accountable.”
Gloria Cazares, the mom of 10-year-old sufferer Jackie Cazares, joined the protest on the primary day and has returned to take a seat with Cross. She mentioned she was exhausted however that it was important to strain the district to launch an impartial investigation as a result of it has the jurisdiction to carry faculty police accountable.
“No person would reply us. No person would speak to us. They wouldn’t reply to our questions,” Cazares mentioned. “We’ve been ready 18 weeks. We tried doing it their method, and that didn’t work. So now we’re attempting a unique method.”
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Cross mentioned the concept to protest and camp outdoors the varsity district’s constructing in Uvalde got here to him after speaking to Manuel Oliver, whose son Joaquin Oliver was killed in a 2018 mass taking pictures at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Excessive Faculty in Parkland, Florida, that killed 14 college students and three college members.
Cross mentioned he spoke to Oliver in Washington, D.C., earlier this 12 months, and Oliver recounted how he protested the federal government’s lack of motion on gun management outdoors the White Home till he acquired a gathering with federal officers.
After the Parkland taking pictures, Florida lawmakers enacted a purple flag regulation that enables counties to take weapons from individuals discovered to pose a “important hazard” to themselves or others. Florida additionally raised the minimal age for purchasing firearms from 18 to 21.
A poster of Uziyah Garcia, one of many youngsters killed at Robb Elementary, leans in opposition to the wall outdoors the again entrance of the Uvalde CISD administrative constructing. Brett Cross, Garcia’s guardian, has been protesting there for greater than every week.
Credit score:
Evan L’Roy/The Texas Tribune
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The Uvalde households have known as for the passage of a Texas purple flag regulation, a proposal that has didn’t get traction within the Texas Legislature. They’ve additionally pushed to lift the minimal age to purchase AR-style rifles like these bought by the Robb Elementary shooter.
Gov. Greg Abbott mentioned in final Friday’s gubernatorial debate with Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke that elevating the age minimal to purchase assault-style rifles in Texas could be unconstitutional and that he opposed a purple flag regulation as a result of it “would deny lawful Texas gun homeowners their proper to due course of.”
Cross is urging individuals to vote within the November elections. He mentioned he desires Abbott out of workplace.
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“These individuals in energy overlook that they work for us, not the opposite method round,” he mentioned. “It’s excessive time that we make them keep in mind that.”
Cross mentioned he yearns for evening’s sleep in his mattress and to be along with his household. However he gained’t go residence till the cops are suspended.
“Nothing I say or do goes to deliver again [Uziyah], however I can assist craft and preserve a greater future for the remainder of my children and for everyone else’s children,” he mentioned.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager was out of the lineup for the second straight game Tuesday night since getting hit by a pitch on his left wrist.
Manager Bruce Bochy said Seager took some swings before the series opener at home against San Diego, and was doing better since getting hit Saturday night. The shortstop went to the ground before getting up and walking off the field after getting struck on a check swing in Baltimore.
Initial X-rays revealed no broken bone, and that was confirmed by an MRI on Monday after the Rangers got home from the trip.
While the Rangers hope to get Seager back soon, third baseman Josh Jung hasn’t swung a bat since his last rehabilitation game June 20. He is coming back from a fractured right wrist that occurred when he was hit by a pitch in the fourth game of the season on April 1. He had surgery the next day.
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Jung has been dealing with inflammation and soreness in the tendon of his wrist after 17 at-bats in four rehab games.
“Just trying to get this thing to calm down. That’s really all we’re doing,” Jung said Tuesday in the Rangers clubhouse.
Outfielder Evan Carter, who has missed 31 games with a lumbar sprain, has been taking some swings at the team’s complex in Arizona, and Bochy said he should be facing live pitching within a few days. Carter is still considered a rookie even after his debut at the end of last season and his standout play through the playoffs as the Rangers won the World Series.
Right-hander Tyler Mahle was making his first rehab start Tuesday night for Double-A Frisco, about 13 1/2 months after he had Tommy John surgery in May 2023. The Rangers signed him to a $22 million, two-year contract during the winter, knowing he would be out for much of this season. If all goes well, he could join the team in early August.
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Jung was voted by fans as the American League starter in last year’s All-Star Game when he was a rookie. He said he is trying to keep his legs fresh and in shape. He does some stuff in the batting cage trying to see pitches and can go through some fielding work without throwing the ball.
“Not a whole lot baseball activity-wise,” he said. “I try to do everything I can to stay as ready as I can. … I’m not really able to do a whole lot right night, so just do everything I can to stay ready in my mind.”
Bochy said Jung had a significant injury, and the manager expressed that he’s “not surprised there’s been a hiccup or two along the way.”
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Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, became the first elected Democrat to call on President Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, saying “too much is at stake.”
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Acknowledging Biden’s accomplishments for his party, Doggett said in a Tuesday statement that “many Americans have indicated dissatisfaction with their choices in this election.”
“President Biden has continued to run substantially behind Democratic senators in key states and in most polls has trailed Donald Trump. I had hoped that the debate would provide some momentum to change that. It did not. Instead of reassuring voters, the President failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s many lies,” Doggett said.
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Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, said Tuesday he is hopeful Biden “will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw” from the 2024 race for the White House.(Getty Images)
“Our overriding consideration must be who has the best hope of saving our democracy from an authoritarian takeover by a criminal and his gang,” he continued. “Too much is at stake to risk a Trump victory — too great a risk to assume that what could not be turned around in a year, what was not turned around in the debate, can be turned around now.”
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“President Biden saved our democracy by delivering us from Trump in 2020. He must not deliver us to Trump in 2024,” he added.
Amid his call for Biden to withdraw, Doggett reflected on the “painful” decision made by former President Lyndon Johnson not to seek re-election to the White House in 1968.
“I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson. Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw. President Biden should do the same,” the Texas lawmaker said. “While much of his work has been transformational, he pledged to be transitional.”
Doggett claimed Biden “has the opportunity to encourage a new generation of leaders from whom a nominee can be chosen to unite our country through an open, democratic process.”
“My decision to make these strong reservations public is not done lightly nor does it in any way diminish my respect for all that President Biden has achieved. Recognizing that, unlike Trump, President Biden’s first commitment has always been to our country, not himself, I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw. I respectfully call on him to do so,” he concluded.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called Monday for doubling a state fund to $10 billion to support new natural gas generation.
Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, both Republicans, wrote in a joint statement that they were concerned by recent comments from the head of the state’s main grid operator that Texas may need as much as 150,000 megawatts of electricity online by 2030 to meet growing demand. Currently, the state can produce about 85,000 megawatts at maximum capacity, said Pablo Vegas, CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, during testimony before a Texas Senate Business and Commerce Committee meeting.
“If the new estimate is correct, the updated numbers provided by Mr. Vegas call for an immediate review of all policies concerning the grid,” wrote Abbott and Patrick.
The challenges facing the Texas electric grid were thrust in the national spotlight in 2021 when Winter Storm Uri caused widespread generation failures in the state, leading to power outages that lasted nearly a week. More than 200 people died as a result.