Houston Newsmakers Oct. 9: Presidential candidates' appeal; School grant; Elder care

HOUSTON – R.W. Bray is a Harris County GOP precinct Chairman and the Engagement Director for the Republican Party of Texas. He is also African-American and said Donald Trump is the kind of leader minorities can count on.

"What we see is that African-Americans, whites and Latinos are looking to shake things up a bit," he said. "So when you take away the monolithic vote all of a sudden, there's an opportunity for African-Americans and other minorities to advance. I think that Donald Trump is an opportunity for us to step away from what hasn't worked in the past and what's going to work in the future."

Houston City Council member Dwight Boykins is a supporter of Hillary Clinton and said Trump is not sincere with asking for the African-American vote and the bigger issue is his lack of knowledge.

"Foreign policy is a major issue with the presidential candidates and Trump cannot read teleprompters and written scripts from someone and articulate the importance of what's going on in Syria and these other countries," he said. "You've got to have somebody who understands the seriousness of what's going on."

Boykins and Bray engage in a lively debate about their candidates as they head into their 2nd of three presidential debates.

ALSO:

Bertie Simmons, Ed.D. came out of retirement for what was supposed to be a few months as principal of Furr High School. Sixteen years later at the age of 83 she's still there and recently received a $10 million grant for innovative ideas to redesign American High Schools. A huge feat for an elderly woman at what was a gang infested school.

"I'd never worked with gangs," she said. "I was clueless about what to do, but what I found was that if you show respect, you get respect. I started getting to know these kids you know we became so close that they would even walk me to my car at night to be sure that I was safe."

Simmons talks about the challenge of being a white woman in a minority school and why she has no plans to quit anytime soon. She is an amazing example of a dedicated educator.

AND:

Did you know 65 percent of those who care for the elderly are family members? The totals costs can be astronomical.

"We are seeing these caregivers losing close to 300-thousand dollars in wages and their health is declining as a result," said Valerie Peterson, CEO of ElderCounsel, said. "They're at risk of depression heart disease and other stress related illness."

ElderCounsel helps people plan the aging process like you plan for financial retirement.

[WATCH NEWSMAKERS EXTRA WITH VALERIE PETERSON]

Houston Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall, every Sunday Morning at 10 a.m. right after Meet the Press on KPRC Channel 2.

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