Here are things you need to know for Friday, July 24:
1. Families say staff of Richmond care facility with COVID-19 outbreak has not been honest about cases
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Relatives of residents at a rehabilitation and care facility in Richmond, Texas said Thursday that the facility has not been honest about when the first confirmed case of coronavirus entered the facility.
Cambridge Health and Rehabilitation Center, located at 1106 Golfview Drive, confirmed Wednesday 18 residents had tested positive for coronavirus.
Outbreaks of the coronavirus have been common at care facilities throughout Texas. While management at Cambridge Health and Rehabilitation Center said they were successful at keeping the virus at bay, relatives of residents who contracted the virus suspect management is not being transparent about when COVID-19 entered the facility.
2. Hidalgo County stores bodies in trucks as Texas sets one-day record for COVID-19 deaths
Texas set a one-day record for deaths and hospitalizations Wednesday afternoon, and one Texas county is enforcing a stay-home order after bodies are being stored in refrigerated trucks, Reuters reported.
The state saw 197 deaths and 10,893 hospitalizations Wednesday, becoming one of the hardest states hit by COVID-19. Hidalgo County, located in south Texas, has seen a sharp rise in cases in the last week, according to Reuters.
3. Tesla picks Texas site for second US vehicle assembly plant
Electric car maker Tesla Inc. has picked the Austin, Texas, area as the site for its largest auto assembly plant employing at least 5,000 workers.
The new factory will build Tesla’s upcoming Cybertruck pickup and will be a second U.S. manufacturing site for the Model Y small SUV, largely for distribution to the East Coast.
Tesla will build on a 2,100-acre (85-hectacre) site in Travis County near Austin and will get more than $60 million in tax breaks from the county and a local school district over the next decade. Work on the plant, which will be over 4 million square feet, is already underway, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said.
4. As school reopenings falter, some Texas parents hire private teachers. Others can only afford to cross their fingers.
Earlier this summer, Kristina Boshernitzan and a group of neighbors stood in the driveway of her Austin home for a socially distanced meeting to figure out how to take greater control of their childrens’ educations.
Boshernitzan, who works full-time at a nonprofit, wanted parents to pool resources and find ways to make virtual learning easier. They discussed hiring a college student or nanny to help children complete their online school district coursework, or finding a music or arts instructor who could replace enrichment courses while schools are closed for in-person learning.
To reach even more parents, she created a private Facebook group for parents in northwest Austin who want to connect and form “learning pods,” a term she said is “in the zeitgeist right now.” In less than two weeks, the group gained almost 500 members.
5. As Congress feuds over unemployment payments, many jobless Texans are about to lose a $600 weekly benefit
Texans out of work due to the new coronavirus are bracing for the loss of a $600 weekly addition to their unemployment benefits as Congress’ two chambers appear split overextending the payments that are about to expire.
The payments expire nationwide July 31, according to the federal legislation that created them to help Americans stay financially afloat during the coronavirus pandemic’s economic downturn.
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WORD OF THE DAY
Gavelkind [gav-uhl-kahynd] (noun) (English law) 1. (originally) a tenure of land in which the tenant was liable for a rental in money or produce rather than for labor or military service; 2. a customary system of land tenure whose chief feature was equal division of land among the heirs of the holder; 3. the land so held.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
July 24, 1911: American archeologist Hiram Bingham gets his first look at Machu Picchu, an ancient Inca settlement in Peru that is now one of the world’s top tourist destinations.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“If one way be better than another, that you may be sure is nature’s way.” - Aristotle