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Watch rare moment elephants, lions and other zoo animals play in Texas snow

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Watch rare moment elephants, lions and other zoo animals play in Texas snow


Animals at Houston Zoo were treated to a rare frosty treat last week when a snowstorm swept through Texas.

In adorable video footage, an Asian elephant was seen trotting through the snow, while a North American river otter slid across icy terrain.

Nearby, sea lions seemed unbothered by the cold, splashing in their temperature-controlled pool as the snow drifted down around them.

For Houston residents, snowfall is a rare phenomenon. Historical records from the National Weather Service show that Houston has seen snow accumulations of more than an inch on just 11 occasions since 1920. The city’s most significant snowfall occurred in 1895, when 20 inches fell, shutting down the city in a once-in-a-lifetime event.

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A bongo, a type of antelope, uses its horns to shovel the snow, left, and, right, an Asian elephant frolics.

Kevin Kendrick/Houston Zoo/AP

More recently, Houston experienced a light dusting of snow in February 2021 during a devastating winter storm that paralyzed much of the state.

This year’s snowfall was lighter, with accumulations of 2 to 4 inches reported across parts of Southeast Texas, including Jefferson, Orange, and Harris counties.

The National Weather Service had issued blizzard warnings for some regions, cautioning against travel due to whiteout conditions. Schools, highways, and airports were temporarily shut down, disrupting daily life for millions.

Houston Zoo officials shared videos and images of the animals—including those from climates not used to such conditions—enjoying the rare snow day and the entertainment the white stuff provided.

Lions made paw prints, while capybaras were given a pile of snow to examine—and taste.

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Zoo animals in snow
A lion and a capybara enjoy some snow-based enrichment at Houston Zoo.

Kevin Kendrick/Houston Zoo/AP

In a post on its own site, Houston Zoo said: “During the weather event, a group of 66 dedicated staff members stayed at the Zoo to ensure the security of the campus and watched as animals enjoyed the snow in a fun and enriching way.

“Each animal at the Houston Zoo receives specialized care tailored to their species’ needs, ensuring they remain comfortable during colder months. All animal buildings, barns, and night houses are equipped with heaters and designed to withstand extreme weather conditions.”

The snow has since melted in Houston and the current forecast predicts no further snowfall for the city, with temperatures now hovering around 44°F (7°C). Rain is expected on January 29 and 30, followed by a return to sunny skies.

This isn’t the first time animals at a zoo have had the chance to enjoy snow. In 2022, zoo animals including bears and wallaby Bennet enjoyed themselves when heavy snow fell in Washington, D.C.



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Texas outpaces other states in killings by police. Here’s what needs to be done. | Opinion

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Texas outpaces other states in killings by police. Here’s what needs to be done. | Opinion


“Beauchamp is promising action to make sure disinformation is not spread through state-sanctioned training after the commission’s staff recently wrapped up its own months-long investigation” — NBC, July 27, 2023 

Corpus Christi and San Antonio have the highest ratio of deaths by law enforcement per capita versus other Texas cities, according to data compiled by the website Mapping Police Violence. Over a 10-year period (2013-2022), their rate was 5.8 per million.

For comparison, the Dallas suburb of Plano has the lowest, 1.2 per million. In other words, there are proportionally more than four times as many “deaths by cop” in Corpus Christi versus Plano.

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The above quote is from a 2023 NBC DFW investigation into Texas law enforcement. At the time, Mr. Beauchamp was the interim director of the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, the body charged with training police. He is now general counsel. And there is no doubt that training is sorely needed. Here is just one example.

Last summer, a 46-year-old resident (Melissa Perez) with schizophrenia was having a mental breakdown at her San Antonio apartment. Three officers, all Latino, came to see about her. They ended up shooting her to death because she would not leave her residence and threw a candlestick at officers. All three were subsequently fired. Two have been charged with murder and the other with aggravated assault. But due to questionable procedural issues, the case has not yet been tried.

Last year, there were 5.66 per million shooting deaths in Texas caused by police (seven in Nueces County alone), according to Mapping Police Violence. But in Illinois, which is used by many as an example of a violent state, there were only 1.95 per million. In other words, police in Texas shot and killed citizens at three times the rate of Illinois officers. Further, in 2024 versus 2023, there were 17% more fatal shootings of Texans by law enforcement … so the situation is getting worse. The question is: Why?

I come from a law enforcement family with relatives who have been with the FBI, the New York Police Department and corrections departments. I fully support the appropriate use of force against criminals, regardless of race or ethnicity. And I believe officers should be treated with respect. 

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But respect goes both ways. We cannot simply assume a police officer is in the right if all the evidence shows him to be wrong, the proverbial “bad egg,” as has been the case in many incidents documented via videos and cameras … including in San Antonio.

Statistics also show that deaths attributable to police actions have increased over time, up 45% between 1999 and 2013. Further, during this time period, the rate of “legal intervention deaths” for whites versus white Hispanics was very concerning. The Hispanic death rate was 89% higher.

Disturbingly, research on these cases is very limited. This situation is no doubt due to several factors, with one key factor being self-interested resistance to information gathering by police departments … for obvious reasons. Confidential reporting of instances of police racial and ethnic bias must be facilitated and required.

Police must receive basic training to understand the history of minorities in the USA and their interactions with police. Bad apples must be weeded out early, at the police academy level. Training for experienced law enforcement officers must occur on a recurring basis. Ethnic and racial profiling, directly leading to the targeting of Latino and Black residents throughout our nation, must be stopped. And, yes, some Black and Latino officers are prejudiced against members of their own race/ethnic group and need appropriate education.

Finally, when instances of police misconduct and brutality are discovered, reasonable punishment must be netted out. Police are not, and should never be, immune from our laws. Despite the recent Supreme Court ruling about presidents, we are a nation built on fairness in its legal system.

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This month Scott Leeton, head of the Corpus Christi Police Officers Association, became president of the statewide law enforcement union known as CLEAT (Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas). CLEAT activities include “legal representation, lobbying, local political action, collective bargaining and negotiation support and field-related services.” I would hope that with Mr. Leeton leading the organization, it would take a long, hard look at the training needs of Texas officers, especially regarding diversity.

For many decades Latino and Black ministers have been preaching about overt police violence against minorities. Nothing has come of their good intentions. The time for talk and prayer was yesterday. It’s now past time for action and reform, starting right now in Texas. 



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Piecing Together the Story of Texas’s First Black-Owned Pottery 

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Piecing Together the Story of Texas’s First Black-Owned Pottery 


I chase ghosts! That is, I investigate the forgotten spirits and legacies of enslaved and free potters in Texas during and after the Civil War in the United States of America. This journey began with a 1991 conversation with my graduate advisor John Brough Miller, professor of ceramics at Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas, during which he shared the legend of John McKamie Wilson and enslaved potters in Seguin, Texas. Nearly a quarter century later, in 2014, an internet search led me to the website of the Wilson Pottery Foundation, created by the descendants of Hiram, James, and Wallace Wilson, the founders of H. Wilson and Co. Pottery. Three years later, in 2017, I attended the annual Wilson Pottery Show at the Sebastopol House in Seguin and was surprised by the amount of Wilson antique pottery on display and the number of collectors of it. I left the show with a heightened interest in the Wilson Potters.

 In 2018, Tarrant County College District, where I was an assistant professor of Ceramics, awarded me faculty leave to research the H. Wilson & Co. Pottery, which is located in Capote, Texas, approximately 48 miles east of San Antonio and 12 miles east of Seguin. A search on Ancestry.com led me to a database of United States craftspeople ranging from 1600 to 1995, which lists Hiram Wilson as the founder of H. Wilson and Co. Pottery. Hiram was formerly an enslaved potter at the Guadalupe Pottery owned by John McKamie Wilson from Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Scholars believe H. Wilson and Co. Pottery was the first business owned by an African American in Texas.

A deeper dive led to the other Wilson Potteries (designated as sites by the Texas Historical Commission, which identifies them by number) in the Capote area, including the aforementioned Guadalupe Pottery (41GU6), which was the first Wilson pottery site operated by John McKamie Wilson and his enslaved potters. H. Wilson & Co. (41GU5) was the second site, started by formerly enslaved potters from the Guadalupe site. The third Wilson pottery site (41GU4) was the Durham-Chandler Pottery, owned by Marion “MJ” Durham, a White man, and John Chandler, a formerly enslaved potter trained in the acclaimed Edgefield District of South Carolina. (These sites are often referred to as “First Site,” “Second Site,” and “Third Site” by collectors to help differentiate the pottery produced at each. Second Site pieces, for instance, are more valuable than First Site pieces.) After Hiram died in 1884, H. Wilson & Co. was believed to have merged with Durham-Chandler to become Durham-Chandler-Wilson. According to the United States Craftsperson Files database, Durham-Chandler-Wilson was founded in 1870, which may indicate that Hiram worked at the third site with James, Wallace, and other itinerant potters.

I propose that the relationship between these three sites might stretch back further than folklore holds. What if Marion “MJ” Durham and John McKamie Wilson’s families knew each other in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina? What if Durham was one of the primary investors in the Guadalupe Pottery with John McKamie Wilson? A partnership with Durham would support Wilson’s decision to build a pottery company in Capote. As a member of the Durham potting dynasty in South Carolina, the former certainly possessed the knowledge and pottery production skills to ensure a sound investment.

During my faculty development leave, I visited local historical societies, which were warm and informative. Some locations were rich in artifacts, whereas others had a wealth of documentation supporting the local community. On top of attending the 2018 pottery show at the Wilson Pottery Museum in the Sebastopol House in Seguin, I interviewed Wilson’s descendants, collectors, and others who shared various stories that led them to the show. One gentleman shared his salt-glazed one-gallon H. Wilson & Co. stamped pot he purchased at a thrift store in Austin, Texas. One notable takeaway from this interview session was how often collectors referenced San Antonio-based Texas pottery scholar and pediatrician Dr. Georgeanna Greer. She helped rediscover the Wilson potteries after the sites had been dormant for over 50 years; I discovered the depth of her research when I visited historical societies in East Texas. I was overwhelmed and excited to find letters written by her to local archivists requesting or sharing information on local pottery sites.

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In 2020, I curated a solo exhibition in the Carillon Gallery at Tarrant County College South Campus in Fort Worth, Texas, which suggested a narrative and timeline to these potters by tracing the development of certain techniques. The centerpiece of the show, however, was not the ceramic pieces inspired by the Wilson potters and created for the exhibition, but rather the research identifying those who worked at one or more pottery sites seen via posters, including James and Wallace (and possibly Hiram) Wilson. Pots attributed to the first site, Guadalupe Pottery, suggests that Isaac and George Suttles, potters from Ohio, may have introduced the salt glazing technique found on pieces attributed to the first site’s pottery, as the practice originates from those trained in the North. The Suttles brothers later opened a pottery near Lavernia, Texas. 

The discovery of this extensive pottery community in Capote redirected my focus toward East Texas, known as the entry point of Texas westward expansion. A visit to the William J. Hill Texas Artisans and Artists Archive was crucial to helping me collect information on East Texas potters. A visit to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s Bayou Bend Collections and Garden was also helpful in allowing me to examine Wilson Pottery from all three sites. Through the former, I located a “Checklist of Texas Potters ca 1840-1940,” compiled by Bob Helberg. This list provided names of formerly enslaved potters in the East Texas region, such as Milligan Frazier, A. Prothro, Elix Brown, and Joseph Cogburn. This in turn opened up another world of research possibilities. What if the pottery of the shops praised for their magnificent work such as Guadalupe Pottery were actually produced by trained enslaved laborers instead of the shop’s namesake? In other words, did the early Texas potters continue the industrial enslavement system that made the Edgefield District community in South Carolina famous?

This research is just a start. As I journey from central Texas back to Edgefield, South Carolina, searching for pottery families who migrated west before 1860 with their enslaved labor, bits and pieces of sherds are coming together to recreate the life stories of these potters. A beautiful mosaic is beginning to emerge.



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Texas football 2025 offensive line preview: Besides guard DJ Campbell who else returns?

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Texas football 2025 offensive line preview: Besides guard DJ Campbell who else returns?


With Texas football now in the offseason, the American-Statesman is breaking down each position group.

Who’s gone from the 2024 squad that went 13-3 and fell a win short a national title-game appearance? Who’s back? And what portal arrivals and freshmen from the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class have joined the team?

The Longhorns are coming off an impressive season that include a record 16-game schedule, a spot in the SEC championship game, a spot in the College Football Playoff semifinals for the second consecutive season, and a final ranking of No. 3 in the US LBM Coaches Poll for the past season. The ranking marks the best showing for the Longhorns in the final coaches poll since 2009. The 53 coaches who vote in the coaches poll listed Texas behind just national champion Ohio State and national runner-up Notre Dame.

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Can Texas make another push for a CFP spot in 2025? The roster has a few holes but also boasts loads of potential, as evident by the program’s high ranking in way-too-early preseason polls.

This week, the Statesman will have a daily position-by-position breakdown of the 2025 Texas roster entering the offseason. Earlier this week, we looked at quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers. Today, we look at the Longhorns’ offensive line.

Texas football OL: Who’s gone?

Center Jake Majors (eligibility); guard Hayden Conner (eligibility); tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. (early NFL entry); tackle Cameron Williams (early NFL entry).

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Texas football OL: Who’s back?

Rising senior guard DJ Campbell; rising senior guard Cole Hutson; rising redshirt junior center Connor Roberston; rising redshirt junior guard Malik Ogbo; rising redshirt junior guard Neto Umeozulu; rising redshirt sophomore tackle Trevor Goosby; rising redshirt sophomore tackle Jaydon Chatman; rising redshirt sophomore tackle Andre Cojoe; rising redshirt sophomore guard Connor Stroh; rising redshirt freshman tackle Brandon Baker; rising redshirt freshman tackle Nate Kibble; rising redshirt freshman guard Daniel Cruz.

Texas football OL: Who’s new?

Freshman Nick Brooks, a four-star recruit from Loganville, Georgia; Jackson Christian, a three-star recruit from Port Neches-Groves; Jordan Coleman, a three-star recruit from Cedar Hill; Devin Coleman, a three-star recruit from Cedar Hill.

Texas football OL: Overview

Four players depart after starting multiple seasons, but the Texas coaches are quietly optimistic about welding together another formidable front. Campbell returns as one starter at guard, and fellow guard Hutson also has plenty of starting experience. The versatile Hutson could also start at center, which would free up a guard spot for Umeozulu, who has impressed the coaches. Goosby will enter the season as a presumed starter at one tackle spot after getting one-game starts on both ends in 2024, and former five-star recruit Brandon Baker has the look of a prototypical left tackle. Plenty of young talent will battle for the remaining snaps.

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Reach Texas beat reporter Thomas Jones via email at tjones@statesman.com.

Follow the American-Statesman on Facebook and X for more. Your subscription makes work like this possible. Get access to all of our best content with this tremendous offer.





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