Just got off the phone with Diocese of Austin. They are NOT canceling services for coronavirus concerns now, and will move forward with plans to make temporary changes - like removing holy water, not giving communion directly to mouth, and avoid holding hands.
Until there is a confirmed coronavirus case, they won't cancel services. If there is a confirmed case, many options will be on the table, including canceling services.
Also of note: the Diocese of Austin encompasses 25 counties. They can ask churches in certain areas to make changes if there's an outbreak there, but not necessarily the whole diocese.
Also being told they're not taking cues from #SXSW. They are only going off what local and state health departments are saying.
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Only on @7NewsDC the Va Dept. of Education - VDOE - ruled Prince William Co Public Schools has "a fundamental misunderstanding" of their responsibility to special education students and have "systemically denied" necessary accommodations. Hear from affected parents tonight at 11.
The VDOE ruled the school district was in violation of state and federal special education laws, in response to one parent's complaint they didn't provide special education accommodations for her daughter when applying for a theater specialty program at Colgan High School.
The VDOE ruled the school district needed to set up a process to provide accommodations to special education students applying for specialty programs, and allow the affected student in the complaint to re-apply.
In case you haven't taken a look at today's committee schedule, here it is. Pretty jam-packed day today, I will try to provide updates to most of what's going on. I will be monitoring the redistricting committees for now.
Here's the link to the House redistricting live stream:
Packed house in front of the Williamson County Historic Courthouse, as we wait for Williamson County DA Shawn Dick and Travis County DA Margaret Moore to discuss the grand jury indictment of Sheriff Robert Chody. This is set to start at 3.
Dick starting: Grand jury heard from 19 witnesses before they turned in their indictments for Chody and Jason Nassour. Punishment can be 2-10 years with up to $10,000 fine. Both arrested and released. First court date is November 30.
Moore now speaking: they will continue presentation of evidence to their grand jury later in October.
The Texas Secretary of State's office announced they broke its voter registration record, with 16,617,436 Texans registered. What's notable is how much bigger an increase this is than the previous presidential election year, especially compared to other years' increases:
Here's a quick breakdown of just recent elections:
I spoke with a political expert, he says some of this is population growth, but ongoing issues the country is facing - the pandemic, economic downturn, and racial injustices - are a big factor in this.
#HappeningNow Travis County Commissioners Court starting up. I will keep you updated on this THREAD:
They're going through budget items now. They just unanimously approved the allocation of $351,294 of unclaimed capital credits:$163,013 for hub disparity study, $100,000 for hub consultant, $40,000 to support children in CPS, cont...
$33,281 for sober living houses for parents with substance abuse problems, $15,000 for housing for children without placement