GOOD MORNING! If you haven't made it out to Trailhead Beer Garden on the campus of Schreiner University, you're really missing something. We visited there last night for music and beverages. Today, our cover photo is from the dancing on the night to Grammy-winning artists Los Texmaniacs, who thrilled the crowd Wednesday night.
 |
 |
A BIG WIN FOR TEXAS CONSERVATIVES
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled late Wednesday night, 5-4, to not intervene in stopping Texas' new anti-abortion law — potentially clearing the way for the end of Roe V. Wade in setting precedent on abortion in the U.S.
The new Texas law, also known as the fetal heartbeat law, effectively bans abortions once a heartbeat is detected — estimated to be about six weeks. It makes no exceptions for rape and incentivizes anti-abortion groups to sue people they suspect of having an abortion or providing abortion services.
Even before the decision, the new Texas law was the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter for most of Wednesday, but when the ruling came down social media exploded (as usual).
Here's some reaction from the pro-life crowd:
|
Twitter
See @SteveDeaceShow's post on Twitter.
twitter.com/SteveDeaceShow
|
 |
|
Twitter
See @frfrankpavone's post on Twitter.
twitter.com/frfrankpavone
|
|
|
Twitter
See @AbbyJohnson's post on Twitter.
twitter.com/AbbyJohnson
|
|
But the reaction on the left, from pro-abortion groups, was furious:
|
Twitter
See @GeorgeTakei's post on Twitter.
twitter.com/GeorgeTakei
|
|
|
Twitter
See @JamaalBowmanNY's post on Twitter.
twitter.com/JamaalBowmanNY
|
|
SPEAKING OF SCHREINER UNIVERSITY
On Wednesday afternoon, Schreiner University's men's and women's soccer teams made their season debuts against Our Lady of the Lake. The women lost 4-0, while the men fell, 2-0.
 |
 |
SCHOOLS UPDATE
We, once again, asked for comment from Kerrville Independent School District Superintendent Mark Foust about the COVID-19 situation in the schools, but he declined.
On Wednesday, parent groups tracking the cases found 31 — driving the number to at least 117 this week. KISD's positivity is now beyond the entirety of the last school year.
What's not happening is a real-time picture of the number of collateral infections caused by the school district. If you consider the rate of spread, those 117 cases are likely to be spread to parents and others.
Disclosing the information to the community about rapidly infectious diseases is good public policy to protect public health, but with mandates against mandates, there's not much KISD can do. However, sometimes good policy is defying bad, especially when the numbers provide you a clear path.
KISD could have found a loophole, like the Paris Independent School District, and challenged Gov. Greg Abbott's executive order against masking in schools. What's the worst that could have happened?
That's a question we'll never have answered.
WE CHATTED WITH JUDY EYCHNER
Kerrville City Councilwoman Judy Eychner was our guest on The Lead Live on Wednesday. She provided this criticism of those who led an effort to block funding of a new public safety building.
"We are dealing with people who are uninformed," Eychner said bluntly. "They will believe what someone tells them. Sometimes, I think they want to be uninformed. We have a lot of people who like to stir things up to say things that aren't true. I use the term; it's not a good term; I always say you can't fix stupid."
Eychner said she left the Aug. 24 City Council meeting so frustrated that she questioned her purpose on it. However, when asked if the city could have done better in its messaging about the public safety building, Eychner said the city had a solid plan in place.
"A certificate of obligation would have been quick and allowed us to move ahead," Eychner said about the Council approving a certificate of obligation rather than a voter-approved general obligation bond. "We are so strong financially. We are able to handle what we've got. We've got good management. We could have paid that off. It would have been fine."
Watch the full interview here: https://www.facebook.com/thekerrcountylead/videos/1275762269511064
CHIEF McCALL ON THE NEW PERMITLESS CARRY
Wednesday was the first day that Texans can carry handguns publicly without a permit, training or competency.
Like Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha, Kerrville Police Department Chief Chris McCall said his department has been training for the new law.
"As with other matters such as this, KPD will be following the law and protecting our citizens rights under the law," McCall said via email. "We are conducting training related to this topic internally to ensure our officers have a good understand of the new law."
We'll have more on this story later this week.
QUESTION ON THE NUMBERS
Yesterday, we got a question about the meaning of 4,000 days of care for COVID-19 patients at Peterson Regional Medical Center.
With an estimated 760 people hospitalized since the start of the pandemic, it appears an average hospital stay is six to seven days per patient. On Wednesday, we began sifting through U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data supplied by Peterson Health. We've asked Peterson to verify the accuracy of the data submitted to HHS.
However, the data demonstrates examples of the pandemic's sustained pressure on hospital staffing for more than a year.
HERE'S AN INTERESTING ONE — ON PIG GAS
A study out of New Zealand found that feral hogs and pigs produce as much carbon output as one million cars. Texas is one of the world's leaders regarding feral pigs, and their damage to farms is well documented.
However, the University of Queensland scientist found that pigs are a much greater environmental problem than previously understood.
We were first alerted to the article in a publication called Treehugger, and read the story here https://www.treehugger.com/wild-pigs-release-co2-million-cars-5199457, but here's how the scientist explained his findings.
"Wild pigs are just like tractors plowing through fields, turning over soil to find food," Dr. Christopher O'Bryan said in a publication of the University of Queensland.
"When soils are disturbed from humans plowing a field or, in this case, from wild animals uprooting, carbon is released into the atmosphere.
"Since soil contains nearly three times as much carbon than in the atmosphere, even a small fraction of carbon emitted from soil has the potential to accelerate climate change.
"Our models show a wide range of outcomes, but they indicate that wild pigs are most likely currently uprooting an area of around 36,000 to 124,000 square kilometers, in environments where they're not native.
"This is an enormous amount of land, and this not only affects soil health and carbon emissions, but it also threatens biodiversity and food security that are crucial for sustainable development."
