CAPITAL HIGHLIGHTS | Gary Borders
As Texans endure the dog days of summer, experts say deaths related to heat in Texas and nationwide likely are undercounted, the Texas Standard reported.
With climate change causing warmer days and nights, last year was the hottest on record in Texas. Though this summer has not been quite as brutal, those working outside are still at considerable risk.
In 2023, 365 people in Texas died directly from heat, and the rising mercury was named a contributing factor in another 197 deaths. Accounting for heat’s role in a death is challenging, however.
“The health impacts (of heat) are a little bit more subtle,” said cardiologist Sameed Khatana, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. “They can be delayed. And trying to tease apart whether a death or an adverse health effect occurred due to the temperature is quite challenging.”
Heat has been called “the most dangerous phenomenon that workers face,” according to the Texas Standard story.
Overcrowding, understaffing force jails to move inmates
Jails both large and small are struggling to properly house incarcerated people, and millions in tax dollars are being spent to transport inmates to other jails, sometimes in other states, The Texas Tribune reported.
The number of Texas inmates housed outside the county where they were arrested more than doubled from 2019 to 2024, from 2,078 to 4,358. In June 2024, 41% of Texas county jails housed inmates elsewhere, according to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.
“Counties are having to think outside the box,” said Ricky Armstrong, assistant director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. “We know there are some counties housing people out of state. It’s not something we recommend or encourage, but we see that as a necessary evil.”
Among the factors increasing the number of inmates held elsewhere: a law limiting who can be released from jail while awaiting trial; an overburdened mental-health system; and a difficulty in finding jailers.
While law-enforcement officials advocate for increased jail space to ease the problem, civil rights advocates and defense attorneys say the state should invest more in mentalhealth services and alternatives to jail.
“We are addicted to carceral solutions,” Krish Gundu, co-founder of the Texas Jail Project, which advocates for people in Texas county jails, told The Tribune. “If we really cared about not having these people in jails, you’d look at why they are ending up in jail and solve the problem at the root.”
Paxton threatens to sue over State Fair gun policy Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says he will sue Dallas if it does not change a new gun policy. The city plans to ban licensed gun holders from bringing weapons to the State Fair of Texas unless they are active police officers or qualified retired officers. The Dallas Morning News reported the fair announced the change after a shooting last year wounded three people.
A letter from the AG’s office to the city noted the new policy violates state law, which says cities and other entities cannot ban handguns on government property unless there is a legal exception, such as for schools.
More than 70 Texas lawmakers issued a letter last week urging the fair to rescind its new policy, saying “gun-free zones are a magnet for crime because they present less of a threat to those who seek to do evil,” The News reported.
Meanwhile, the Houston Chronicle reported Paxton will work at a food bank as part of a plea deal he made in March with prosecutors to close the securities fraud case against him. He is required to complete 100 hours of community service and pay about $300,000 in restitution to the victims.
Gary Borders is a veteran award-winning Texas journalist. He published a number of community newspapers in Texas during a 30-year span, including in Longview, Fort Stockton, Nacogdoches, Lufkin and Cedar Park. Email: [email protected]
