A fire broke out on an HVAC unit outside of the Odessa Animal Shelter. The unit is used to cool the animal kennels at the shelter.
A news release said city employees are working hard to get a cooling system in place. As a result of this situation, the shelter is temporarily closed.
The animals are safe, the release said.
The Odessa City Council awarded nearly $3.5 million in hotel occupancy tax funds during a quick one-hour meeting Tuesday night.
Twenty-one agencies asked for a portion of the city’s hotel occupancy tax funds this year and another six were seeking general funds.
This was the first year the city council made decisions as to which agencies should get the funding with the help of a committee who reviewed each application to determine how many “heads in beds” they were responsible for.
The following agencies asked for $3.97 million in funding and received the following:
The Black Cultural Council of Odessa requested $100,000 and the 53rd Tejano Super Show requested $90,000 this year. The committee recommended the cultural council receive nothing out of the HOT funds and $50,000 out of the general fund and the city council agreed. The committee recommended the supershow receive $20,000 and the council gave them nothing. The council followed the committee’s recommendations otherwise.
The following agencies asked for a total of more than $406,000 and received a combined $305,000 from the city’s general fund:
The city council followed all but one of the committee’s recommendations when it came to the general fund. Odessa Teen Court Program Coordinator Rebecca Grisham said she originally requested $44,593, but later amended her ask to $80,000 after learning Ector County isn’t funding any non-profits this year. She said she received a letter from Director of Finance Kaylie Banda on June 14 informing her the committee would be recommending they be awarded $89,185. They ended up receiving the $40,000.
City spokeswoman Monica McDaniel confirmed Banda informed the committee about the amended Teen Court request on June 14 and the committee recommended the committee receive $89,185.
It’s unclear if or when the committee and the city council became aware Grisham amended her request because of the county.
Last year, Odessa Teen Court received $50,000 when they asked for $72,260.
Council members Denise Swanner and Mark Matta recused themselves from the Teen Court discussions last year. Program Coordinator Rebecca Grisham had fired Swanner from her position as assistant coordinator earlier in the year and Matta serves on the program’s board.
At the time, Grisham said she suspected her firing of Swanner led to the council’s funding decision.
Matta again recused himself this year, but Swanner recommended teen court receive $40,000.
In other matters, the council:
During the council’s work session, the council:
An Odessa boy was killed Tuesday afternoon in a two-vehicle crash that also injured five people.
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, a 37-year-old Midland woman driving a Chevrolet 1500 disregarded an official traffic control device at FM 554 and Cottonwood Road around 1:15 p.m. and struck a GMC Acadia being driven by a 61-year-old woman from Andrews.
Both drivers received minor injuries, but one of the Acadia passengers died and three others in the Acadia were seriously injured.
Everyone involved was wearing a seat belt, according to DPS.
According to DPS, Catherin Anne Koonsman, 53, of Ralls died early Wednesday morning in a two-vehicle crash in Andrews County.
A preliminary investigation revealed Koonsman was traveling east on SH 176 in a Mack CXU when she was truck while trying to make a U-turn by a tractor-trailer that was being driven westbound by a 38-year-old man from Casa Grande, Arizona.
Koonsman was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, which happened around 3:40 a.m. The other driver was seriously injured. Both were wearing seat belts.
Both crashes remain under investigation.
Getting up close and personal with bacteria, fetal pigs and nature are just some of the things participants in University of Texas Permian Basin’s biology camp got to experience this week on campus.
Camp coordinator and biology lecturer Paula Gutierrez said there were 13 participants from 13 to 18 years old.
Laith Hilal, 13, is going into eighth grade at Nimitz Middle School and Miali Sanchez, 12, is going into eighth grade at STEM Academy. Both wanted to try something different for summer camp this year. On June 26, they were dissecting fetal pigs, something only college students usually get a chance to do.
“It’s pretty cool. I mean, anything anything that involves … altering bacterial genes, dissecting pigs, and extracting DNA from bananas for some reason, it’s pretty cool,” Hilal said.
Sanchez said she’d never really done anything with biology before.
“I just wanted to try something new because I’ve never really done anything like dissecting, or really like doing much with bacteria, really much of anything about biology,” she added.
Sanchez said it’s been really fun.
“Even now, which I’m kind of squirming about a little,” she said.
Last year, Gutierrez, who was leading a section on anatomy June 26, said the kids chose to dissect a starfish, clam and an earthworm.
“But this year, we thought let’s really focus on the pig and that way we can focus on going through all the body organs with them,” she said.
They are trying to make the camp more comprehensive this year.
“We’re trying to make sure that we keep it a really wide breadth of information,” Gutierrez said.
She said June 26 that the camp had gone well so far.
“We tried to keep all our topics very, very broad so that we can expose them to more things, so we’re trying to each day focus on one particular area of biology. Today would be anatomy. Yesterday was microbiology. They bioengineered bacteria to make it glow in the dark. The day before, that’s genetics and so we extracted DNA from some bananas. Then tomorrow (June 27) will be field ecology. We’ll go outside, we’ll take a little field trip pasture and we’ll collect some measurements from out there,” Gutierrez said.
She added that the camp gives the kids a head start on things they’ll be learning later on in their educational careers.
“… These kids are doing some things that, like the pig, for example, college students … dissect the pig. But the owl pellets, we don’t do that here at UTPB. That’s something that our college students are really excited about. They want to try it out,” Gutierrez said.
With the pigs, she said, you can see the organs very well. The kids had work sheets to see how many organs they could identify.
Jennifer Nutting is a UTPB student working with the biology camp.
“I wish my kids were old enough to be here. It teaches them a lot about science … I like it,” Nutting said.
Family Features
In between summer adventures and hot afternoons spent poolside, you’re likely looking to combat rising temperatures with a cool, refreshing beverage. This year, quench your thirst with drinks that play up the trendiness of bold flavors.
While many concoctions can help you beat the heat, some gems seem to hit the spot better than others. Consider one of the trendiest beverages that is increasingly becoming available at smoothie and juice bars nationwide but which you can also prepare at home: the tempting, bold taste of the Mangonada. With a harmonious fusion of sweet, spicy and tangy flavors, this thirst-quencher captures the essence of tropical indulgence with the majestic mango at the center of its symphony of flavors.
“Mango not only adds a burst of flavor but also brings a unique depth to the beverage,” said Dan Spellman, director of marketing for the National Mango Board.
Central to the Mangonada is Tajín Fruity Chamoy Sauce and Clásico Seasoning – a zesty blend of chili peppers, lime and sea salt – which are must-have ingredients to make the beverage. They combine to infuse the drink with a subtle kick, balancing the mango’s sweetness with a hint of spiciness that hits different.
This beloved beverage has captured the hearts and palates of people worldwide with its bold flavors and vibrant spirit to make summer deliciously unforgettable.
For another take on a classic drink, give this Tangy Chamoy Tropical Daiquiri a try at your next summer cookout. You can enjoy its cool, refreshing flavor with just the right touch of spice from Tajín Fruity Chamoy Hot Sauce with the yellow cap, which is made with natural ingredients but offers a unique fruity and tangy flavor, ideal for pairing with sweet snacks like fruits, smoothies, mangonadas and ice pops. With no added sugar or coloring, they’re perfect for the entire family all summer long.
There are thousands of ways to enjoy these unique flavors. To find more refreshing drinks that beat the summer heat, visit tajin.com.
Recipe courtesy of the National Mango Board
Ingredients
Directions
Measure 1 cup mango cubes, mango nectar, lime juice, ice and agave nectar into blender cup. Blend until smooth.
In separate small dishes, add 1 ounce hot sauce and 1 ounce seasoning.
Dip rim of 14-ounce Collins glass into hot sauce then seasoning to coat. Drizzle remaining hot sauce along inside of glass.
In glass, pour 1 tablespoon chamoy sauce followed by blended Mangonada. Top with remaining fresh mango cubes and sprinkle with additional seasoning. Add tamarind candy to glass, if desired.
Total time: 15 minutes
Servings: 2
Ingredients
To Rim Glass:
Drink:
Directions
Rim two glasses in hot sauce then in seasoning.
Blend diced pineapple with orange juice, ice and hot sauce; pour into glasses.
Garnish with pineapple slice.
What started as a nurseryman job at a local garden center, Yard Dog, in Odessa, turned into doctoral research in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences for Mason Marshall ’26. Marshall is a graduate student in the Department of Horticultural Sciences who has a passion for horticulture, ornamental plants and teaching.
Marshall ’26 left his hometown behind to pursue his teaching and horticulture dreams in the Department of Horticultural Sciences where he currently works on ornamental plant research.
Marshall grew up in Odessa and began attending a local community college in 2015. Around the same time, he landed a job at a local plant nursery that inspired him to eventually pursue a degree at Texas A&M University.
Marshall took a leap of faith and moved across the state to transfer into the College at Bryan-College Station and never looked back. Seven years later, he’s graduated with bachelor’s and master’s degrees and is working toward his doctorate, all from the same department.
With his seven years of experience across multiple degree’s, Marshall shared his story and perspective as a long-time student in the College and department.
What led you to graduate school at Texas A&M?
I was working at a local nursery in Odessa, and the couple that ran it were big Aggies. One of the owners, Lynn Correa ‘72 happened to be among the first women to graduate from the university. I was already interested in horticulture and had the chance to work closely with some great Aggies, so I wanted to transfer here. I’m grateful for the knowledge and passion Randy and Lynn Correa instilled in me prior to arriving at Texas A&M.
Tell us about your research focus for your doctorate.
I’m working on ornamental selections and breeding, but I’m generally focused on ornamental production, producing plants in a greenhouse and breeding new plants.
I work with Mike Arnold, Ph.D., professor and director of The Gardens at Texas A&M University. He’s my committee chair, and we work on a wildflower called Mexican Hat. It’s a coneflower, and it normally exists in red, yellow or bicolor variations. You see it throughout much of the U.S. Together, we’re screening plants from different areas in the southeast. We found some interesting traits, like lemon color, upright petals and small growth habit. We are hoping to start breeding them, and we’ll do some controlled crossing in the greenhouse. It’s a lot to learn, as it’s a new plant for me, but I am in my second year working with it and am excited to continue.
Also, during my master’s, I served as a teaching assistant for a floral design class, so I have some floral experience. I hope to undertake a few cut flower projects and evaluate how they last as cut flowers for things like bouquets.
What sparked your interest in this field of research?
It all started when I was working on my bachelor’s degree with Terri Starman, Ph.D., a professor in our department. I did undergraduate research with her during my senior year, focusing on a hybrid ornamental sunflower called Sunfinity. This research then carried over into my master’s, where we collaborated with two industry partners.
When I was looking to return to school after completing my master’s, I had potential opportunities to study either here or in Georgia, in a vastly different horticultural area. At the time, I knew Dr. Arnold had a crop here to work on that interested me. Studying this plant with him would be a new challenge, but I knew I could learn a lot from him, which ultimately kept me in College Station.
Tell us about your experience as a current graduate student
I enjoy the experience here because of the opportunities provided through the department and the College, as well as the networking I get here.
Everyone talks about the Aggie network, but specifically in horticulture, I feel that we have such broad connections even though we are a smaller department.
I also really appreciate our department’s applied research opportunities. Many students are interested in plants and horticulture, but we also get to take both applied science courses and creative art courses. Horticulture encompasses both the art and the science of growing and working with plants, not just one or the other.
From STEM activities to kickboxing and a field trip to Chevron, 26 girls are participating in this year’s edition of Wonder Girls Camp.
Organized by the Crisis Center of West Texas, the camp runs for a week at Crossroads Fellowship.
80/20 was brought in again this year for the camp and the theme was Outer Space.
Culligan offered a water demonstration and there was a career day where different professionals shared things about their careers. The last day of camp was a field trip to Chevron. Kickboxing and dance were also offered.
Culligan donated all the water for the weeklong camp that ends June 28 and were going to explain the chemistry of water, for example, Prevention Education Director Alejandra Ramirez.
The first day, campers were shy, but by Wednesday she’d noticed a big difference.
”They’ve got more energy. They’re excited …,” Ramirez said.
This is the eighth edition of the camp and the first year the theme has been outer space. Ramirez said it takes more than six months to plan. For volunteers, they get older high school students who might need community service hours, but they also have a couple of nurses from Medical Center Hospital that are giving of their time and in the past they have had Ector County ISD teachers.
“80/20, the group that we bring to do the STEM activities, they have been doing like rockets with them, drones, so I feel like a lot of the activities have also incorporated with the new theme …,” Ramirez said.
Gigi Balerio, a 13-year-old seventh-grader at St. Mary’s Central Catholic School, and Jade Raigoza, an eighth-grader at Bonham Middle School, are both returning campers. This is Balerio’s third and last year and Raigoza’s second.
Balerio said she likes that they get to learn new things every year like robots, making ice cream and making a watermelon explode with rubber bands. She’s also looking forward to the field trip to Chevron on the last day of camp.
Raigoza said learning robotics and the other fun activities they do keeps her coming back.
They both said what they learn at camp is useful when they go back to school.
“I did learn how to do coding and also how to work robotics and … fix puzzles and solve them while doing it,” Balerio said.
Raigoza said learning robotics at camp helped her when she was in robotics at school because she already knew how to code some of the stuff.
Balerio said she had noticed the change in theme of the camp this year.
“There’s a lot of new kids that I noticed, not the same old ones have come back just the new ones. And I noticed that they were very excited about it and wanted to learn more about it,” she added.
We see them everywhere, teenagers cocooned in their own private universes, oblivious to the sights and sounds around them. The adolescents embody a curious paradox, isolated among crowds, their earbuds a gateway to a world that directs them inward.
Teenagers average almost five hours a day online, and health officials worry about the negative impact on their mental health. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy addressed the “defining public health challenge of our time” in a recent opinion piece for the New York Times.
“Why is it that we have failed to respond to the harms of social media when they are no less urgent or widespread than those posed by unsafe cars, planes or food?” Murthy wrote.
With more than 95% of our kids using social media, the question has become profoundly relevant. The negative effects may be less visible than the perils associated with liquor or cigarettes, but they are no less insidious.
Murthy equated the danger to road hazards or contaminated food. He proposed tobacco-style warning labels on social media apps, advising parents of the peril to their children. The dangers, apparent for years, have grown into a crisis. Young consumers describe a dynamic eerily similar to the addictions of drinkers and smokers.
Murthy cannot unilaterally impose the warning labels, which would require congressional approval. Neither chamber has introduced such legislation, although the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing exploring the impact of social media on young people earlier this year. The New York Times piece represents the most urgent effort in a campaign that began years ago.
If the use of social media resulted in nothing worse than wasting time, it might seem benign. But the impact is far more disturbing. Research shows that teens who spend more than three hours a day on social media face more mental health problems, doubling their risk of depression.
“It’s no longer the culture for people to talk to each other,” Murthy said during a conference on the mental health crisis last month.
In a 2018 Pew Research Center poll, teens said social media platforms exacerbate already prevalent problems, including body shaming and rumor spreading.
One of the more ironic aspects of the findings is that despite this awareness, adolescents continue to access social media. The apparent paradox demonstrates the wicked nature of addiction.
“These harms are not a failure of willpower and parenting; they are the consequence of unleashing powerful technology without adequate safety measures, transparency or accountability,” Murthy wrote.
In his book, “The Anxious Generation,” published earlier this year, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt struggled to pinpoint the reasons for the problems, but he makes a compelling case that the rise in anguish in teens coincides with the adoption of smartphones.
“What is happening to us?” he asked. “How is technology changing us? The phone-based life produces spiritual degradation, not just in adolescents, but in all of us.”
If the “degradation” afflicts all age levels, it is all the more apparent among our youth.
They lack the discipline, the self-control, of adults, making them more susceptible to the allure of social media. The vulnerability is all the more heartbreaking for teens burdened by the angst of forging an identity on their journey to adulthood.
“I think it’s essential that parents know what we now know, which is that there are significant harms associated with social media use,” Murthy told CNN.
Acknowledging the benefits of social media, he said the negatives outweigh the positives.
“For too many children, social media use is compromising their sleep and valuable in-person time with family and friends,” Murthy said.
Warning labels would not eliminate the problem — the surgeon general proposes phone-free zones in schools — but awareness is a key weapon in the assault against any problem.
Similar labels on tobacco products, instituted in 1965, led to a steady decline in cigarette smoking over the years. Health officials hope for similar results with social media; parents should do the same.
San Antonio Express-News
The convictions should have made a difference. But did they?
I was more troubled by what came out at Donald Trump’s trial than I thought I would be. I had initially thought that the district attorney’s case was much ado about not much. But the trial changed my mind. It was not much ado about not much. It was about rigging the election by misinformation and squelching coverage of things people had a right to know about.
Trump falsified business records for the same reason he made the deal with David Pecker and the National Enquirer to kill the Karen McDougal story — so that people, in this case women voters, wouldn’t know the truth about him. A crime or politics as usual? All the while chanting, “Lock her up.”
Does it qualify as a felony or just outright character flaws that go to the core of who he is? His narcissism, his vulgarity, his whole character — it offends me to the core. He has successfully manipulated the system, with the help of the Supreme Court, to avoid responsibility, and he seems on the verge of getting away with it.
I have no sympathy for Hunter Biden. With power and position come responsibility and accountability. When I did politics, I used to always sit down with spouses and kids and tell them they would be held to a higher standard. He was the son of the vice president and president. He shouldn’t have been out there buying a gun. Of course, no one else gets prosecuted for lying on the form and keeping a gun for 11 days. But that comes with the territory. As does a prosecution for falsifying business records.
Joe Biden handled it with grace and dignity — two character values that Trump doesn’t have at all. He made clear that he loves his son but that he would not use the power of the presidency for personal reasons. He accepted the verdict. He will not use his right to pardon his son. He stood by the rule of law. Trump has made clear that he intends to seek retribution for personal attacks if he returns to power. He lacks the character to be president. I would never have said that about Ronald Reagan or either of the Bushes or John McCain or Mitt Romney. The man should not be president. But I fear he will be and will tear the nation apart with his hatefulness.
I taped an episode of my podcast, “No Holding Back,” last week with Dick Morris, the well-known commentator, author and longtime political strategist. I’ve known him for years. He is many things — tough as nails, sometimes mean-spirited, but usually very smart. He’s been wrong before (he predicted Romney would beat Barack Obama in a landslide) but not that often. He thinks the election is already over, that Trump is ahead in all the swing states by more than the margin of error, and that the polls showing him running neck-and-neck with Biden are overcounting the number of Democrats in the sample. I’m worried.
Biden’s approval ratings are awful. I worry that the Biden people are living in a bubble, that we all are — that they cannot believe that working-class people will support Trump, and they will; that young people won’t come out for him; that the electorate is too polarized and the center won’t hold. I wish one of the parties was running a broadly acceptable candidate, but I just don’t see Biden ever withdrawing. I think the debate this week is, potentially, a turning point. Will Trump rant and rave? Will Biden trip and fall? Will it shake up the race any more than the convictions on 34 counts did? Who will emerge as the riskier choice? Or will it simply reenforce the partisan divide, tearing us apart even further than we already are?
Tattoos led to the arrest of an Odessa man on a burglary charge Tuesday.
According to an Odessa Police Department report, a West 33rd Street resident called 911 on June 5 to report someone came into a window and stole items, including several guns.
The man provided police video surveillance that showed a man walking up to his house with a black glove on, try the front door and then walk toward the back of the house, the report stated. On a second video, the same man is seen walking away from the home with a large black bag that looked like a rifle bag.
The suspect had a tattoo covering most of his neck and all of his right arm and after speaking with neighbors and looking at Facebook, a detective was able to identify him as James Williams III, the report stated.
A warrant for Williams was issued and he was booked into the Ector County jail Tuesday on suspicion of burglary of a habitation, a second-degree felony.
He remained in custody Wednesday on a $25,000 surety bond.
