GOOD MORNING! This is the start of an unbelievably busy week in Kerr County. We've got events galore this week, including the return on the Kerrville Triathlon Festival this weekend. Also the 45th Healing Hearts Fiesta Luncheon to support the Hill Country Youth Ranch is on Tuesday. The event is from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Hill Country Youth Event Center. For more information visit here: https://www.facebook.com/events/945246359372651/?ref=newsfeed
ON TODAY'S SHOW
We'll be joined today on the Lead Live by Justin MacDonald to discuss development in the Hill Country. MacDonald's company is developing The Landing — a multi-family housing complex on the south side of the Guadalupe River.
IT'S NOT A SCOOP
News website Axios proclaimed it had a scoop on Sunday when it reported that former U.S. Rep Beto O'Rourke was planning to announce he's running for governor of Texas. The notion of scoops is an old newspaper competition thing but is generally bad for journalism. It means rushing something into print — or in this case — online. In this case, it's just dumb because it's speculation at best, because everyone already knows O'Rourke is considering announcing that he will challenge Gov. Greg Abbott. If O'Rourke announced directly to Axios that's a scoop. It's not a scoop if the sourcing is from his brother's girlfriend's aunt's gardener.
DOWN AT THE BORDER
We took a reporting trip to Del Rio on Sunday to see for ourselves what was going on at the border with a flood of Haitian immigrants trying to cross from Mexico to the United States. You can read our story here: https://kerrcountylead.com/425610772238920
We did run into Kerrville's Morgan Chesky, a national correspondent for NBC News, who was on scene covering the story. Chesky is a Tivy High School graduate.
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ON THE AGENDA
The Kerrville Independent School District board of trustees meets at 6 p.m. tonight. On the agenda is a review of the bids to purchase the former Hal Peterson Middle School site. The board will receive a COVID-19 update.
COVID IN THE SCHOOLS
In the never-ending confusion over COVID-19 data, the Texas Education Agency said more than 126,000 students tested positive for COVID-19 in the opening six weeks of school, but the data appears incomplete — or missing.
However, the number of cases is still astonishing compared to last school year. In Kerr County, at least 504 students and staff tested positive through Sept. 12. Tivy High School had the most cases with more than 120, according to the data. Ingram Elementary School had 58 students infected, with eight teachers testing positive.
MORE ON COVID-19
On Sunday, the Texas Department of State Health Services reported two new deaths of Kerr County residents from COVID-19.
It's the latest in the confusing death toll administered between the state DSHS and Peterson Health — neither seem to agree about the death toll. DSHS said a person died on Aug. 13 and on Sept. 2. None of those reports match Peterson. While both agencies report 111 total deaths, no Peterson death appears included in the state numbers.
As of Sunday night, DSHS said 16 Kerr County residents have died from COVID-19 since Aug. 1. Peterson has reported eight deaths in the same period.
If there was any good news Sunday night, the number of people hospitalized continued to decline. For the first time in weeks, the number of hospitalized dipped below 12,000 people. However, the intensive care units are pushed to capacity, with 3,554 admitted across the state — 76% of those on ventilators.
LIFE IN DEL RIO
While law enforcement converged on Del Rio, we captured this image of a couple of residents herding goats.
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