SHELTER

An 18-year-old sex trafficking victim who killed her rapist could be sent to prison after she walked away from an Iowa women’s shelter where she was serving probation following her conviction for manslaughter.

Looking at Huong Bui’s mobile home from the outside, it’s hard to tell that anything is wrong with it. She said the growing problems hidden inside the walls and ceilings have forced her, a mother with three young sons, into a shelter.

As Hurricane Ida prepares to make landfall along the Louisiana coast, many people have already packed up and headed to Texas.

Several warming shelters have opened in and around the Houston area because of the arctic blast. AdLakewood ChurchLakewood Church is open as a warming center. League CityWe’ve opened a warming center at the Hometown Heroes Recreation Center. McGuire Dent Recreation CenterThe City of Galveston is reopening a warming center at the McGuire Dent Recreation Center beginning Wednesday, February 17 at 6 p.m. If you need a warming center, please use the Harris County and Houston centers along with this northside center.

TOMBALL, Texas – A Louisiana family that evacuated ahead of Hurricane Laura has spent the last few nights at a hotel in Tomball. The family of nearly two dozen, including kids, left their homes in the Lake Charles area right before Laura arrived. They initially paid for hotel rooms in Austin, Dailey said. But with costs adding up, she said the Red Cross told her to head to a Hyatt in Houston. We’ve been out of rooms,” Dailey said.

When severe weather threatens and it’s not safe to evacuate, here is what you should do to protect yourself and loved ones in your house, apartment, or mobile home.