Latest / The People's News / Home Depot Colluding with ICE?; Dirty Air in The Dark; Cubans Perservere - TPN 8/16/26

Transcript

Home Depot Colluding with ICE?; Dirty Air in The Dark; Cubans Perservere - TPN 8/16/26 · The People's News

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Speaker 1: It's the week of August sixteenth, twenty twenty six, and
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Speaker 1: this is what's on the People's News. Home depot working
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Speaker 1: with ICE and recording customers, limits to public comments on
0:15
Speaker 1: air quality, Draconian abortion laws in Texas hurting expecting mothers.
0:24
Speaker 1: Cuba is still open for business despite the US embargo.
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Speaker 1: All that and more on the People's News. I'm Steve Gallington.
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Speaker 1: This is the People's News, and the People's News starts now.
0:44
Speaker 1: Fifty four year old Juan Francisco Morey Toure, a Guatemalan citizen,
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Speaker 1: called police after witnessing a shooting in the parking lot
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Speaker 1: of a home depot in bel Air. First on the
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Speaker 1: scene were US Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE. The
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Speaker 1: man that made the call was taken away by ICE
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Speaker 1: and Houston police were not able to talk to him
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Speaker 1: about the shooting he witnessed. This comes on the heels
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Speaker 1: of the murder of Lorenzo Salgado Oraju, who was driving
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Speaker 1: to work and was driven off the road and shot
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Speaker 1: by ICE agents. This brought national attention to ICE's involvement
1:22
Speaker 1: in the Houston area. Since then, they have continued with
1:26
Speaker 1: their arrests. The Houston Police Department has continued to work
1:30
Speaker 1: with ICE, holding a person suspected of immigration violations for
1:35
Speaker 1: a reasonable time until ICE shows up. HPD has stated
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Speaker 1: that the man that was arrested was already in custody
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Speaker 1: of ICE when they made it to the Home Depot.
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Speaker 1: FEEL which means faithful, PSL which is the Party for
1:52
Speaker 1: Socialism and Liberation, and SERSEN which means they grow. Are
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Speaker 1: all immigration rights groups. They asked, the question is what
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Speaker 1: is the relationship between Home Depot and ICE? Are they
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Speaker 1: working together?
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Speaker 2: Yi momentum kaster cast.
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Speaker 3: For you're Hell's.
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Speaker 2: Locmili Staca nacial analyst pay They used this san yesmo
2:58
Speaker 2: ca inste Castle.
3:01
Speaker 4: But before we continue, I did want to We found
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Speaker 4: the flow cameras director.
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Speaker 2: Attached to that black pole right there, and you see
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Speaker 2: they're very they're very small, but they can turn over
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Speaker 2: information in real time to ICE to be able to
3:15
Speaker 2: either serve as licensed plate reader or facial recognition.
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Speaker 4: So you see that they're not super huge cameras.
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Speaker 5: They're not.
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Speaker 2: They're meant to be hidden so that people can drive
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Speaker 2: past them, uh and and not notice. So this ICE
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Speaker 2: is not blog camera.
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Speaker 5: KAA.
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Speaker 4: We actually saw a video over this weekend I don't.
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Speaker 2: Know if you guys saw it on social media where
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Speaker 2: there was a family who got pulled over because they
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Speaker 2: were using the licensed plate readers and the vehicle came
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Speaker 2: back to an undocumented person even though the person that
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Speaker 2: was not driving, that was driving excuse me, was a
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Speaker 2: US citizen.
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Speaker 3: So I mean the.
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Speaker 4: Venus and mala familiado la caro.
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Speaker 3: So would you believe that companies like home people.
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Speaker 6: By allowing to have blogs cameras and therefore U you know,
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Speaker 6: still that data basation.
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Speaker 4: The proof is in the pudding.
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Speaker 2: Every single home depot in the Houston area and in
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Speaker 2: other parts of the country have flog cameras.
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Speaker 4: How is that not How is this not.
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Speaker 2: Allowing them to be or to work in collaboration with
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Speaker 2: ice pay and get depos that you said the vice
5:00
Speaker 2: in an system of flocks permit ex then in truce
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Speaker 2: grub that orson the fact that they allow flock cameras
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Speaker 2: on their property is a clear indicator that they are
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Speaker 2: collaborating to a sert to some extent, the full extent
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Speaker 2: with us, because that system goes directly ties.
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Speaker 4: Okay, so at this time we'll go ahead and we'll
5:35
Speaker 4: go ahead and conclude aggresses.
5:41
Speaker 2: Not in conformation, and these flielans will have more updates
5:44
Speaker 2: as has become available.
5:45
Speaker 4: Thank you so much.
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Speaker 1: Sezar Espinosa is with feel and he says there are
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Speaker 1: cameras around the parking lot that he alleges are used
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Speaker 1: to give information to authorities.
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Speaker 4: I think that's a feeling of.
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Speaker 2: Many people, and that's what we're hoping people think twice
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Speaker 2: not about coming to home people until they change their policies.
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Speaker 2: So we see, at least in the Houston era, every
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Speaker 2: single home people that we visit the house flock systems
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Speaker 2: uh and and then we're also noticing that more and
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Speaker 2: more home peoples than are not having this also architecture
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Speaker 2: which we're currently standing on to dissuade people or to
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Speaker 2: deter people from looking for work here. So I think
6:19
Speaker 2: it's something that we're asking the public to make a
6:21
Speaker 2: determination for themselves whether or not they want to support
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Speaker 2: companies who don't support them. I know a lot of
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Speaker 2: immigrant people come here not only to the work, but
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Speaker 2: also to patronize the shop here, and.
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Speaker 4: So at the end of the day, we have to
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Speaker 4: be smarter about where.
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Speaker 2: We put our money, and we have to make sure
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Speaker 2: that that we support businesses that support us.
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Speaker 7: Whistlers like loads or anything, or they doing the same thing.
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Speaker 2: Or that you know, from what we know so far
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Speaker 2: and in our investigation, we have not seen FLOT cameras
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Speaker 2: at other stores, only at home people.
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Speaker 7: And you think that they're with the police, We.
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Speaker 4: Know that they for years.
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Speaker 2: So I used to organize this very same corner twenty
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Speaker 2: five years ago, and even then they were working closely
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Speaker 2: with the councils and police to deter people from looking
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Speaker 2: for work here. And so now as things goes on,
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Speaker 2: as it becomes easier, it would be it would come
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Speaker 2: as no surprise that they're now collaborating.
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Speaker 4: More and more with ICE.
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Speaker 1: Elma Cooper with Cresson says the same thing about the incident.
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Speaker 7: So we hit today, I'm shut of the home depot it.
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Speaker 7: They're saying that Home Depot is now working with ICE.
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Speaker 8: If it is not.
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Speaker 6: Working legally or under a sign paper, it is collaborating
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Speaker 6: because of the flock. But a camera that Cecar just
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Speaker 6: pointed out, it is installed within the home Depot property.
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Speaker 7: But they were saying it was ever there for security.
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Speaker 6: Yeah, ICE also say that it's for security to the US,
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Speaker 6: the American security and go to another people with that argument.
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Speaker 4: Which is fake.
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Speaker 6: It's a fake news, it's a fake information. It is
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Speaker 6: not working with working, working families.
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Speaker 8: It's a fake.
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Speaker 7: Ice agents going into the store at all. What is
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Speaker 7: it ice agents going into the into the people at
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Speaker 7: all or from outside?
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Speaker 6: They based on the information was given here and the
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Speaker 6: one that I saw on the the news.
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Speaker 3: It says that the.
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Speaker 4: Day before yesterday, there was a mister murray or I
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Speaker 4: can't remember his name.
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Speaker 6: He was arrested here in the home depoty Properties parking
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Speaker 6: parking space and then ICE came and got him and
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Speaker 6: other people and he was minutes later the HPD came here.
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Speaker 4: People from HPD came here.
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Speaker 6: And and he said that he was a They said
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Speaker 6: that he is a witness of a crime that has
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Speaker 6: committed for somebody else. Then he said something, he made
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Speaker 6: his statement. I don't know how he could make antment
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Speaker 6: here in the parking lot. And then later after that
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Speaker 6: I got him. He is still in he's still in
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Speaker 6: somewhere and the ice under ice custody, so HPD was.
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Speaker 7: Holding him until.
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Speaker 4: He came out in the rest.
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Speaker 6: I think Ice came first and then HPD came and
9:53
Speaker 6: then this person made his statement and then ICE got him.
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Speaker 6: So based on what I know, that was the order
10:02
Speaker 6: of the events, which means that ICE came before HPD.
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Speaker 6: An HPD couldn't or want it. Protect is a person
10:14
Speaker 6: who is under ICE because they are collaborating. Does the
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Speaker 6: world collaborating with Ice?
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Speaker 4: Which shouldn't be accepted.
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Speaker 1: Christopher Rivera is the Criminal Legal Program Senior Advocacy Manager
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Speaker 1: with Texas Civil Rights Projects. He says he can see
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Speaker 1: a lot of violations here of people's rights.
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Speaker 9: Sure, well, I work at the textavill Rights Project. We've
10:39
Speaker 9: been round since nineteen ninety and we're in a civil
10:42
Speaker 9: rights organization. We have three day departments. We have an
10:45
Speaker 9: immigration side, we have a boding rights arm as well
10:48
Speaker 9: as a criminal legal department which I actually worked for.
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Speaker 9: My name is Chrisio Riverai, working Texta Rights Project and
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Speaker 9: the civil Senior avaccy manager for the Criminal Legal Program.
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Speaker 7: And listen, we at home legal right now. And this
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Speaker 7: is something that with civil rights you guys, you know
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Speaker 7: people come here or Valley.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely.
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Speaker 9: What's happening here is that unfortunately mister Monroy was deported here.
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Speaker 9: We don't really understand why or how the circumstances of
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Speaker 9: how Ice came to be aware of his location. But
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Speaker 9: if you look around, there's actually four different flock cameras
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Speaker 9: throughout this parking line. There's actually one across the street
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Speaker 9: right over there. And what these cameras do, it's actually
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Speaker 9: the in the entrance, there's one over there, and then
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Speaker 9: I think there's one over here, and these are like
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Speaker 9: their solar plants, all those ones there. But essentially, what
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Speaker 9: these flow cameras do is they track all your license plates.
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Speaker 9: And what if they do is if it build out
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Speaker 9: a profile of where you've been, where you work, where
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Speaker 9: your children go to school, and where you worship and
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Speaker 9: also which one deepot you locate. So we're not exactly
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Speaker 9: sure if they use flock to deport mister Monroy, but
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Speaker 9: there has been instances where HVD has used flog cameras.
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Speaker 9: Matter of fact, they've used it one hundred and seventy
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Speaker 9: different times to do immigration inquiry specifically, So there is
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Speaker 9: a lot of information showing that HPD has have a
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Speaker 9: hand in eighty facilitating deportation efforts and working with Ice.
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Speaker 9: Matter of fact, recently they've been actually stopping individuals for
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Speaker 9: a long determined amount of time instead of just the
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Speaker 9: allowed amount, which is usually about twenty minutes or so,
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Speaker 9: they've been holding people about ninety minutes on average waiting
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Speaker 9: for ICE to come. So there is a strong connection
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Speaker 9: where HBD is working with ICE. So when they say
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Speaker 9: that they say they didn't call ICE this time. The
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Speaker 9: community is a little bit suspect because they have a
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Speaker 9: long history of working with ICE. So we're here because
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Speaker 9: one home people you know, everyone frequents it.
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Speaker 4: But also they have.
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Speaker 9: These flood cameras which monitor and track our location and
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Speaker 9: really that does wear our furthamment right against unreal soarch
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Speaker 9: and seizure and police officers are now able to use
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Speaker 9: this well a warrant, so they're able to surveil us
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Speaker 9: without any justification.
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Speaker 4: Really policy was like fifteen victory us exactly.
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Speaker 9: It was that, and then they think they changed the
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Speaker 9: English to just a reasonable amount of time, but apparently
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Speaker 9: a reasonable amount of time is enough time to have
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Speaker 9: ICE come in and DeepArt our committee members.
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Speaker 1: That was Christopher Rivera with Texas Civil Rights Project. Their
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Speaker 1: website is Texas Civil Rights Project All put Together dot org.
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Speaker 1: Harris County District Attorney Sean terror has stated that the
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Speaker 1: investigation in the shooting is ongoing but paused because he
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Speaker 1: cannot talk to the person who made the nine to
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Speaker 1: one to one call. That person is being held in
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Speaker 1: Montgomery County by Ice. He says this is now becoming
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Speaker 1: a public safety issue because people are becoming less likely
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Speaker 1: to get involved and come forward when a crime happens.
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Speaker 1: The relationship between Ice and the city has become strained.
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Speaker 1: Feel PSL and Cressen are not yet calling for a
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Speaker 1: boycott of Home Depot.
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Speaker 8: HI.
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Speaker 1: This is Steve Gallington, producer and host for The People's News.
14:03
Speaker 1: You have rights when dealing with the police or ice,
14:08
Speaker 1: no matter or immigration status number one. If they do
14:13
Speaker 1: not have a warrant, an arrest warrant or a search warrant,
14:16
Speaker 1: you do not have to open the door for the
14:19
Speaker 1: police or ice. You do not have to answer any
14:24
Speaker 1: questions about status or country of origin. The right to
14:27
Speaker 1: remain silent is protected under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.
14:32
Speaker 1: You have the right to ask to see a lawyer.
14:37
Speaker 1: You have the right to refuse searches of your person
14:41
Speaker 1: and your car if the police do not suspect a crime.
14:45
Speaker 1: This is the fourth Amendment of the Constitution. Never sign
14:50
Speaker 1: anything without knowing what it says, and you have a
14:55
Speaker 1: right to record what happens. Commentary on air quality issues
15:02
Speaker 1: might be a thing of the past. The Environmental Protection
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Speaker 1: Agency is proposing allowing state agencies to decide whether the
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Speaker 1: public has a voice on air permits to companies operating
15:13
Speaker 1: in their neighborhoods. This affects workplaces, schools, and homes that
15:19
Speaker 1: are around places like petrochemical plants, rock crushers, and similar facilities.
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Speaker 1: The new rule gives the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality,
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Speaker 1: an agency with a horrible track record in protecting the environment,
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Speaker 1: the right to decide on who and how much participation
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Speaker 1: the public has in the process. For more on how
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Speaker 1: this can affect the general public, we talk to Jennifer
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Speaker 1: Hadaiah with Air Alliance Houston.
15:45
Speaker 8: Ever since the.
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Speaker 10: New EPA administration took over, there have been repeated proposed
15:52
Speaker 10: weakenings of environmental protections. Typically, that would be a rule
15:56
Speaker 10: that governs the amount of an air police that can
16:00
Speaker 10: be emitted, such as methane or particulate matter, But more
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Speaker 10: recently the EPA has focused its efforts on other kinds
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Speaker 10: of rules that have to do with public participation, and
16:14
Speaker 10: that is the requirement at a federal level, a federal
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Speaker 10: minimum requirement that when an air permit is issued, certain
16:23
Speaker 10: types of air permits are issued, that the public has
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Speaker 10: the right, number one to know about them and number
16:29
Speaker 10: two the right to weigh in on them.
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Speaker 8: And it's a bit of the change in.
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Speaker 10: What the EPA considers its effort around deregulation. Again, we've
16:39
Speaker 10: seen efforts by the EPA to deregulate restrictions on air pollution.
16:44
Speaker 10: Now they are trying to deregulate by weakening the restrictions
16:52
Speaker 10: around the requirement to involve the public. That's the most
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Speaker 10: current rollback that we're seeing, and we all are bumping
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Speaker 10: up very soon against a deadline for that proposed rollback.
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Speaker 10: The one the EPA is looking at right now with
17:06
Speaker 10: a comment deadline of August twenty first, is a rule
17:10
Speaker 10: that sets a minimum federal floor, a minimum level of
17:15
Speaker 10: public participation on what's called minor new source review permits.
17:20
Speaker 10: And I always think of minor in air quotes. It's
17:24
Speaker 10: a minor by a policy definition, not minor based on
17:29
Speaker 10: the amount of pollutants that are emitted. Because many of
17:31
Speaker 10: these sources, even though the EPA calls them minor they
17:35
Speaker 10: emit quite a bit of concerning pollution, and in Houston
17:39
Speaker 10: they can do that very close to where people live, learn, work,
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Speaker 10: and play because of our lack of zoning. So minor
17:45
Speaker 10: sources that would be affected by this proposed rollback are
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Speaker 10: things like concrete batch plants or rock crushers. Even some
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Speaker 10: small petrochemical facilities would fall into the definition of quote
17:58
Speaker 10: unquote minor diesel generators fall into the definition of quote
18:03
Speaker 10: unquote minor sources. And if you're following the story around
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Speaker 10: data center expansion in Texas, many of those proposed new
18:14
Speaker 10: data centers run based on on site diesel generators. So
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Speaker 10: if this rollback happens, then it would also affect the
18:22
Speaker 10: public's right to know and right to engage on data
18:25
Speaker 10: center diesel generation. So these these may be considered minor
18:29
Speaker 10: sources from the EPA's perspective, but when you live next
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Speaker 10: door to a concrete bass plant, a rock crusher, a
18:35
Speaker 10: diesel generator, they're not minor to you as a person
18:38
Speaker 10: breathing that dirty air. So the current proposal is the
18:42
Speaker 10: minimum floor, the minimum requirement for the community's right to
18:45
Speaker 10: know and right to weigh in on to publicly participate
18:49
Speaker 10: in permit decisions would be eliminated. That's what EPA is
18:52
Speaker 10: trying to do right now now. If it happens, you know,
18:57
Speaker 10: to paint the full picture. It's not a light switch.
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Speaker 10: It doesn't mean that that public participation requirement will immediately
19:05
Speaker 10: turn off.
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Speaker 8: But what it will do is.
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Speaker 10: Give states, including Texas, the right to decide if they
19:11
Speaker 10: want to keep public participation minimums in place or if
19:14
Speaker 10: they want to take them away. And in Texas, unfortunately,
19:18
Speaker 10: we have a state regulator, the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality,
19:22
Speaker 10: that has not ever been very good when it comes
19:24
Speaker 10: to public participation. They they have had to be compelled
19:29
Speaker 10: to protect public participation, compelled through court orders, consent decrees,
19:33
Speaker 10: even state legislation. So our concern, of course, is that
19:37
Speaker 10: the PCQ will see this as an opportunity to eliminate
19:41
Speaker 10: the public participation that is currently in place that community
19:45
Speaker 10: members organizations like mine have thought so hard to protect
19:48
Speaker 10: and have had to compel them to offer. They will
19:50
Speaker 10: see this as a free for all to just eliminate
19:53
Speaker 10: public participation altogether for these types of sources. If that happens,
19:58
Speaker 10: then again these quote unquote minor sources could be permitted
20:03
Speaker 10: without anyone in the community who lives close to them
20:06
Speaker 10: knowing about it at all. They wouldn't know that those
20:08
Speaker 10: permits are issued, and they certainly wouldn't have the opportunity
20:12
Speaker 10: to speak up and speak out about those permits, to
20:15
Speaker 10: ask questions, do we even know what's going on? And
20:18
Speaker 10: then to weigh in on what on whether or not
20:20
Speaker 10: they agree with those permitting decisions. So again, you know,
20:24
Speaker 10: we have seen the EPA just chipping away and chipping
20:27
Speaker 10: away and shipping away at the Clean Air Act. Now
20:29
Speaker 10: they're starting to chip away at the public's right to
20:32
Speaker 10: even know about the pollution sources in their neighborhood.
20:35
Speaker 11: That's what the question I had was the does this
20:39
Speaker 11: include the petro chemical plants, their line through Dalveston all
20:45
Speaker 11: of Delmia.
20:46
Speaker 10: It depends, Yeah, it really, It really depends, and it
20:53
Speaker 10: depends on the size of the petrochemical facility. Whether a
20:58
Speaker 10: permit is considered minor or major depends on the amount
21:03
Speaker 10: of pollutants that facility will emit into the air on
21:06
Speaker 10: an annual basis. It's not determined by the type of facility.
21:12
Speaker 10: It's determined by the amount of air pollutants emitted every year.
21:17
Speaker 10: So if a petrochemical facility qualifies for the definition of
21:21
Speaker 10: a minor source, meaning that they're polluting less, they are
21:25
Speaker 10: polluting under a certain limit, and it will be Frankly,
21:29
Speaker 10: it's different for every type of pollutants, so there's a
21:32
Speaker 10: bit of a detail that has to be known about them.
21:34
Speaker 10: But yes, if they are polluting below that minimum, they
21:37
Speaker 10: could very well be considered a minor source. And if
21:40
Speaker 10: they do fall under that limit, then and if this
21:44
Speaker 10: new proposal is approved, and if the TCQ embraces and
21:49
Speaker 10: adopts it, then yes, a small petrochemical facility could get
21:53
Speaker 10: a permit, either for a new construction or more likely
21:57
Speaker 10: for an expansion project. We see most often with petrochemicals
22:01
Speaker 10: in the Houston area that they are proposing expansions. They're
22:05
Speaker 10: not building a lot of new petrochemical facilities, but they
22:08
Speaker 10: are expanding those facilities quite often. If that expansion falls
22:12
Speaker 10: into the definition of a quote unquote minor source, then yes,
22:17
Speaker 10: this rule change would apply to those sources as well.
22:20
Speaker 10: What this rule change does not apply to, thankfully, are
22:25
Speaker 10: major sources. So major sources of air pollution have to
22:29
Speaker 10: get a federal permit that's called a Title V permit.
22:33
Speaker 10: We are hoping beyond hope. We are advocating, We are
22:38
Speaker 10: talking to elected officials and other policymakers to say, you
22:42
Speaker 10: cannot start chipping away at the major source protections. They
22:47
Speaker 10: are too big, they are too impactful. The community must
22:51
Speaker 10: retain their right to know about those major sources. We
22:55
Speaker 10: don't want it to go to that level. We don't
22:57
Speaker 10: know if the EPA will try to do that next.
23:00
Speaker 10: Certainly that is in the back of our minds as
23:03
Speaker 10: we see them shipping away at minor source public participation.
23:06
Speaker 10: We don't want them to feel emboldened and then start saying, well,
23:09
Speaker 10: in that case, we should dis eliminate public participation rules
23:13
Speaker 10: for major sources as well, because those are the very
23:16
Speaker 10: very big ones, the you know, coal fire power plants,
23:19
Speaker 10: the very large petrochemical and traditional oil refinery campuses that
23:24
Speaker 10: line the Houstonship Channel. We definitely don't want that day
23:27
Speaker 10: to come.
23:30
Speaker 12: What do you see this coming from though this administrations?
23:33
Speaker 12: You know, we have what's going on in big Band
23:35
Speaker 12: right now. Yeah, the governor, the governor himself has can
23:40
Speaker 12: up with the idea that less regulations. Yeah, how do
23:47
Speaker 12: you keep that by going locally?
23:49
Speaker 10: Well, what we see is uh, a false narrative from industry,
23:55
Speaker 10: and that narrative is permitting and regulation is bad for business.
24:01
Speaker 10: That's the narrative that industry has embraced pretty strongly, and
24:04
Speaker 10: you know, frankly, Texas As public policy has embraced that.
24:08
Speaker 10: I think I think they refer to that as the
24:10
Speaker 10: quote unquote the Texas miracle that even when the rest
24:13
Speaker 10: of the country is economically challenge, taxes continues to boom
24:18
Speaker 10: because we have so little regulation. I think that's a
24:21
Speaker 10: false narrative. We have government regulation for a reason. We
24:26
Speaker 10: have the Clean Air Act for a reason, we have
24:28
Speaker 10: permits for a reason, because otherwise, unfortunately, companies for whom
24:34
Speaker 10: their main driver is is profit, don't always do what's
24:37
Speaker 10: in the best interests of the public. And that's the
24:40
Speaker 10: role of government. Government regulations is supposed to have the
24:43
Speaker 10: best interest of the public in mind. And when you
24:46
Speaker 10: think about agencies like the EPA, their mission is to
24:50
Speaker 10: protect public health and the environment. There are other administrations
24:55
Speaker 10: out there that are that are whose mission is to
24:57
Speaker 10: support small business or to create economic growth. The EPA's
25:01
Speaker 10: mission is to protect public health and the environment, not
25:03
Speaker 10: to protect economic interests of major corporations, but that's that
25:08
Speaker 10: is a It is a false narrative generated by industry.
25:11
Speaker 10: It is a false narrative that many of our elected
25:13
Speaker 10: officials have themselves embraced for probably a variety of reasons.
25:17
Speaker 10: I don't even know what those reasons may be personally,
25:19
Speaker 10: but it's all based on a false a false narrative
25:23
Speaker 10: that you cannot have both economic development and public health
25:28
Speaker 10: at the same time. We don't believe that. We believe
25:30
Speaker 10: that you must have public health in order to have
25:32
Speaker 10: economic growth. Unhealthy people can't work, Unhealthy communities don't contribute.
25:39
Speaker 8: So you need both.
25:40
Speaker 10: And government regulation is there to protect the public's interest,
25:44
Speaker 10: not to protect the interests of profit makers.
25:47
Speaker 11: Before I let you go, yeah, what's the update on
25:51
Speaker 11: the the recycling plant they caught on fire? Oh?
25:55
Speaker 10: Yes, so I think we are seeing another one of
25:59
Speaker 10: the impact of heat, the extreme heat, and again a
26:05
Speaker 10: presence of lax regulation. We have a number of recycling
26:10
Speaker 10: facilities in Houston that loosely meet the definition of recycling.
26:14
Speaker 10: In Texas, we have very loose definitions of recycling in
26:18
Speaker 10: Texas law that allows facilities to claim to be recycling
26:23
Speaker 10: facilities and yet really all they're doing is stockpiling tires
26:26
Speaker 10: or stockpiling other flammable or combustible material is what the
26:30
Speaker 10: TCQ calls it. By definition, combustible material combusts, especially when
26:38
Speaker 10: you are in a heat dome scenario, as Southeast Texas
26:42
Speaker 10: and much of the United States has been under for
26:44
Speaker 10: the past several weeks and predicted to continue. So you've
26:47
Speaker 10: got extreme heat, combustible materials exposed to the elements, and
26:52
Speaker 10: that leads to fire. We've had at least one type
26:59
Speaker 10: of fire like this at a quote unquote recycling facility
27:03
Speaker 10: or other kind or other type of scrap's facility or
27:07
Speaker 10: other type of facility where combustible materials are being accumulated.
27:10
Speaker 10: We've probably had one of those fires at least once
27:13
Speaker 10: a month all year long. The two most recent themam
27:18
Speaker 10: of metal recyclers was massive burned for close to forty
27:21
Speaker 10: eight hours. It was visible across the entire city. That
27:24
Speaker 10: was a very large tire fire. That facility wasn't even
27:29
Speaker 10: permitted to stockpiled tires, and yet they were doing it.
27:34
Speaker 10: It's a great example of lax regulation and poor oversights
27:38
Speaker 10: that allows facilities to do things they're not permitted or
27:41
Speaker 10: registered to do, and then the result can be a
27:44
Speaker 10: major fire like this, the result can be harmed the community,
27:48
Speaker 10: a lack of safety for the community. And then just
27:51
Speaker 10: earlier this week, we saw another similar facility, it's called Ironman.
27:55
Speaker 10: The Ironman recycling facility had the same scenario, stockpiled combu
28:00
Speaker 10: the wale materials that caught fire. Thankfully, that fire only
28:04
Speaker 10: lasted a few hours. Very grateful to first responders and
28:07
Speaker 10: are firefighters who put that fire out very quickly, unlike
28:12
Speaker 10: mammoth metal recycling that burned for a couple of days.
28:15
Speaker 10: So we are seeing these things that we're seeing a pattern.
28:19
Speaker 10: A pattern is clearly emerging, and it's a pattern based
28:22
Speaker 10: on two sources, one of which we can control and
28:25
Speaker 10: one of which we can When there's great heat, there's
28:28
Speaker 10: greater chance for combustibility. There's not so much we can
28:31
Speaker 10: do about the heat right now, at least in the
28:33
Speaker 10: immediate But the second cause is something we have control over,
28:37
Speaker 10: and again that's lacks regulatory oversight and permitting. We strongly
28:42
Speaker 10: believe that these recycling facilities, every single one of them
28:45
Speaker 10: in Houston Harris County, claiming to be recycling, needs to
28:49
Speaker 10: be investigated. It needs to have an on site visit.
28:51
Speaker 10: They're permitting needs to be revisited either by local municipal
28:55
Speaker 10: regulators or and I will say and by the state
28:58
Speaker 10: to ensure they are are actually providing the services they're
29:03
Speaker 10: claiming to provide and not providing services they have not
29:06
Speaker 10: they have not disclosed to provide. If they are stockpiling
29:09
Speaker 10: the bustible materials, they are not allowed to stockpile. That
29:12
Speaker 10: needs to be investigated. It needs to be stopped, It
29:15
Speaker 10: needs to be course corrected immediately before any more of
29:18
Speaker 10: these fires continue in Houston Harris County. So we do
29:22
Speaker 10: have an opportunity for improvement. There are multiple ways that
29:25
Speaker 10: we can improve the scenario with these types of facilities
29:28
Speaker 10: so that another fire doesn't happen, But we have to
29:30
Speaker 10: have the commitment of our local and state regulators to
29:33
Speaker 10: make it happen.
29:34
Speaker 12: Well those companies find find it all.
29:37
Speaker 10: You know, we don't know yet. For the most recent fires,
29:41
Speaker 10: we honestly don't know. We have not had the results
29:43
Speaker 10: of the We've not seen the results of the investigation
29:46
Speaker 10: of Mammoth Metal Recyclers. The TCQ stated publicly they were
29:50
Speaker 10: conducting an investigation. We have not seen the results of
29:53
Speaker 10: that investigation yet. And the Ironman fire of course just
29:56
Speaker 10: happened this week. So given the fact that Ironman did
30:00
Speaker 10: burn for a relatively short period of time, we don't
30:05
Speaker 10: know if that will result in a fine. We don't
30:07
Speaker 10: know what they're permitted to admit. But again, the TCQ
30:10
Speaker 10: is the only entity that can decide that, and we
30:13
Speaker 10: often wait for the TCQ to conduct their investigations and
30:16
Speaker 10: to make those results public. Sometimes we have to compel
30:19
Speaker 10: them to make it public. We probably won't know that
30:21
Speaker 10: for a little bit of time.
30:22
Speaker 5: Now.
30:23
Speaker 1: That was Jennifer Hadaiah with Airlines Houston.
30:28
Speaker 8: Hi.
30:28
Speaker 1: This is Steve Gallington, producer and host of the People's News.
30:33
Speaker 1: If you have a story that needs to be told,
30:35
Speaker 1: come to us. We accept fully produced audio, written material,
30:39
Speaker 1: or just give us the idea and we will run
30:42
Speaker 1: with it. Shiny new one hour episodes of The People's
30:45
Speaker 1: News drop each Sunday on The People's News podcast, hosted
30:50
Speaker 1: by spreaker dot com and linked to my website Gallington
30:54
Speaker 1: dot com. Texas doctors say that the abortion band affects
30:59
Speaker 1: care for expected mothers. We hear more from FRIEDA. Ross
31:03
Speaker 1: and the Texas News Service.
31:05
Speaker 13: Newly confirmed US Attorney General Todd Blanche reportedly told faith
31:10
Speaker 13: leaders that he and President Donald Trump are working on
31:13
Speaker 13: a national abortion van. Pro life advocates want stricter mandates
31:17
Speaker 13: on the distribution of abortion inducing medications. Texas Attorney General
31:23
Speaker 13: Ken Paxton has filed multiple lawsuits against doctors who have
31:27
Speaker 13: mailed mifepristone into the state OBGI in doctor Anitra Beasley
31:32
Speaker 13: says doctors put the health of their patients first, but
31:35
Speaker 13: Texas laws make it more difficult for them to do
31:38
Speaker 13: their jobs.
31:40
Speaker 14: The focus should be completely on the patient, not whether
31:44
Speaker 14: I can lose my license, not whether there's going to
31:47
Speaker 14: be a huge fine that I have to pay, not
31:49
Speaker 14: whether I'm risking being food or put into jail.
31:53
Speaker 13: Texas already has one of the strict disabortion bans in
31:57
Speaker 13: the country. A report by Pro Public Cut shows that
32:00
Speaker 13: after abortions were banned in the state in twenty twenty one,
32:04
Speaker 13: the maternal mortality rate in the state increased as the
32:08
Speaker 13: national rate dropped. The abortion ban allows for a pregnancy
32:12
Speaker 13: to be terminated to save a pregnant person's life. Members
32:16
Speaker 13: of the legislature issued clarified information about the law last
32:21
Speaker 13: year after doctor said they were unsure when a procedure
32:24
Speaker 13: could be performed. Basically, says doctors should be able to
32:28
Speaker 13: rely on their education and training to do their jobs,
32:32
Speaker 13: not a law.
32:33
Speaker 15: If someone come then and they're having heavy bleeding, I
32:36
Speaker 15: know what I mean to do, but the laws that
32:38
Speaker 15: we practice under make me question whether or not the
32:43
Speaker 15: patient's situation is enough.
32:46
Speaker 14: Are they bleeding enough?
32:48
Speaker 13: She says. The laws are making it unsafe for pregnant
32:51
Speaker 13: patients in the state, especially low income residents, people of color, immigrants,
32:57
Speaker 13: and the uninsured.
32:58
Speaker 14: We don't wait for people to get before we take
33:01
Speaker 14: care of them. We do not tie physicians' hands.
33:04
Speaker 8: Behind their backs.
33:05
Speaker 14: We do not tell them what they can and can't
33:07
Speaker 14: say in the exam room. We do not scare them.
33:11
Speaker 14: We don't do this with any other aspect of medicine.
33:14
Speaker 13: I'm Freda Ross. Texas News Service. Find our trust indicators
33:19
Speaker 13: at Publicnews Service dot org.
33:22
Speaker 1: As Cubans celebrate what would have been former Cuban leader
33:26
Speaker 1: Fidel Castro's hundredth birthday, the island is going through one
33:30
Speaker 1: of the hardest times in its history. The US has
33:33
Speaker 1: put pressure on Cuba with harder sanctions and an oil
33:37
Speaker 1: embargo that has had the effect of rolling power outages
33:41
Speaker 1: on the island, food is harder to find and the
33:44
Speaker 1: economy continues to take hits. In addition to the oil embargo,
33:50
Speaker 1: the US government has hit the tourism industry in Cuba.
33:55
Speaker 1: That includes going after banks and hotels owned by the
33:59
Speaker 1: Cuban government. But the private sector is still operating and
34:03
Speaker 1: for those wanting to go to Cuba, it is still doable.
34:06
Speaker 1: We talked to Sarah Arizaga, us manager with Cuban Adventures,
34:10
Speaker 1: Cuba tour company, to get a feel on how the
34:13
Speaker 1: embargo has affected her company and the people of Cuba.
34:18
Speaker 8: He's what they're doing with the May first sanctions and
34:22
Speaker 8: the July thirteenth sanctions that they released is they're trying
34:26
Speaker 8: to discourage business with Cuba by putting sanctions on any
34:32
Speaker 8: company that does business with certain sanctioned entities in Cuba.
34:37
Speaker 8: So for us, most of these don't apply except for
34:42
Speaker 8: the sanction on Mentor, which is the Ministry of Tourism
34:46
Speaker 8: in Cuba, which all legal tourism in Cuba has something
34:50
Speaker 8: to do with Mentor, and as a legal company, we
34:53
Speaker 8: had to make some changes to our operations in order
34:58
Speaker 8: to not put ourselves that rich of being sanctioned. Because
35:01
Speaker 8: the sanctions are secondary sanctions, meaning not only is the
35:05
Speaker 8: entity in Cuba sanctioned, but anyone who does business any
35:10
Speaker 8: foreign company that does business with this entity can also
35:15
Speaker 8: be sanctioned at the will of the United States. So
35:19
Speaker 8: even though we're a small company, we don't want to
35:22
Speaker 8: run the risk of being sanctioned for having transactions with Mentor,
35:27
Speaker 8: So we are basically having to work out a way
35:32
Speaker 8: to do everything in the private sector, which a couple
35:37
Speaker 8: months ago Cuba announced that there would be tourism would
35:43
Speaker 8: be legal in the private section private sector, whereas before
35:46
Speaker 8: it was not, and so we're hoping that they enact
35:51
Speaker 8: the new policy sooner rather than later so that we
35:56
Speaker 8: can keep all our business in the private sector. But
35:59
Speaker 8: even prior to these sanctions, most of how we operate
36:04
Speaker 8: was with private businesses, private costs, private restaurants and so,
36:10
Speaker 8: but our guides being licensed, they were licensed with Mentors,
36:15
Speaker 8: so that was the only way to do things legally.
36:18
Speaker 8: That's currently the only way to do things legally, but
36:20
Speaker 8: we're hoping it changes rather quickly so that we can
36:25
Speaker 8: continue to keep our staff safe by running things you know,
36:30
Speaker 8: above the law or sorry in line with the law,
36:33
Speaker 8: but then also not putting ourselves at risk for sanctions.
36:37
Speaker 8: So in terms of the impact on other companies, depending
36:45
Speaker 8: on which sectors they work in, it's been huge. The
36:50
Speaker 8: it's essentially taken a big chunk out of the national
36:57
Speaker 8: income and it's effecting millions of people right now. So
37:04
Speaker 8: things are pretty bad in Cuba.
37:07
Speaker 3: Are people still?
37:09
Speaker 5: Are people at risk that Americans at risk are if
37:12
Speaker 5: they want to travel to Cuba right now?
37:15
Speaker 8: No, not at all, not at all. In some ways.
37:19
Speaker 8: In some ways it's I guess it's the most legally clear, uh,
37:26
Speaker 8: time to go because we know what the US government
37:29
Speaker 8: supports and what it doesn't support. And as long as
37:32
Speaker 8: you're doing cultural travel using private businesses, you're in the clear.
37:40
Speaker 8: It's it's if you are dealing with government entities that
37:45
Speaker 8: you may you put yourself at risk of violating the sanctions.
37:52
Speaker 8: But the majority of travelers can just go without any issues.
37:58
Speaker 5: What about what about the ramifications oralialierate.
38:04
Speaker 16: The government here, the US government going after you for
38:07
Speaker 16: going to Cuba and I mean, like you know, going
38:10
Speaker 16: after they said they would go after the people at work,
38:12
Speaker 16: their jobs and that type of stuff because you went
38:15
Speaker 16: to Cuba.
38:15
Speaker 8: Now, No, that's that's not true. The problem is not
38:21
Speaker 8: with visiting Cuba. The problem is with visiting the all
38:27
Speaker 8: inclusive resorts, the government hotels. You know. The problem is
38:32
Speaker 8: with the delegations that the humanitarian delegations that work with
38:36
Speaker 8: the Cuban government to bring humanitarian aid to Cuba. That's
38:40
Speaker 8: the stuff that the US doesn't want. They don't mind
38:43
Speaker 8: you or I going to Cuba, staying in a privately
38:47
Speaker 8: owned boutique hotel, going to paladads, which are privately owned restaurants,
38:53
Speaker 8: that's not what they care about. That is perfectly legal.
38:57
Speaker 8: It has then perfectly legal since the Obama administration since
39:02
Speaker 8: at least twenty fourteen, and you should not expect any
39:07
Speaker 8: issues if you travel like that. The problem is that
39:11
Speaker 8: these businesses that they want us to support are being
39:16
Speaker 8: strangled by the sanctions that the US is putting on
39:21
Speaker 8: the country. So that's the problem. The problem is that,
39:26
Speaker 8: you know, because of the huge impact on tourism, because
39:31
Speaker 8: of the huge impact on shipping to Cuba, these businesses
39:36
Speaker 8: are just they're not able to get the goods that
39:40
Speaker 8: they need, or they're not able to get the customers
39:43
Speaker 8: to support their businesses. And that's what the impact that
39:47
Speaker 8: a tourist might see is but that being said, weirdly,
39:54
Speaker 8: the weird impact of what the US is doing is
39:59
Speaker 8: that the private sector and in Cuba is getting stronger
40:03
Speaker 8: under the most you know, horrible circumstances, but it is
40:07
Speaker 8: getting stronger. So whereas you you know, there are people
40:10
Speaker 8: who are starving, there are also restaurants that are full
40:14
Speaker 8: of Cubans that have a lot of money burning a
40:17
Speaker 8: hole in their pocket. So it's it's crazy the impact
40:21
Speaker 8: on Cuban society that this this crisis is having, that
40:25
Speaker 8: these sanctions are having. So it's an interesting time to
40:29
Speaker 8: visit for the brave.
40:32
Speaker 5: Yeah, you say it's an interesting time for the brave,
40:34
Speaker 5: and that that might scare off people from visiting, but
40:39
Speaker 5: you say, but you do say, I think it's a
40:41
Speaker 5: good time to go.
40:43
Speaker 8: Yeah. Absolutely. It's just you know, the average traveler is
40:47
Speaker 8: going to read the headlines and think, oh my gosh,
40:50
Speaker 8: this is like a dystopian wasteland and no way am
40:55
Speaker 8: I going to Cuba. But if you, you know, learn
40:59
Speaker 8: a little bit more about it, you're going to see
41:01
Speaker 8: that there's still thousands and thousands of people who are
41:05
Speaker 8: going to Cuba, even to the resorts. Although cultural travel
41:09
Speaker 8: is best for the US traveler, and there are restaurants open,
41:15
Speaker 8: there are guides who are just dying to work. There
41:18
Speaker 8: are you know, beautiful causes that do have generators and
41:22
Speaker 8: solar powers. So if you can look beyond the headlines
41:26
Speaker 8: and you know this is mostly going to be for
41:29
Speaker 8: a traveler who wants to go to Cuba for very
41:32
Speaker 8: specific reasons, then there's no reason not to go. Just
41:36
Speaker 8: making sure that you're well prepared, making sure that you've
41:39
Speaker 8: packed properly, and and that's it. It's better if you go,
41:45
Speaker 8: obviously with a professional organization that knows you know how
41:49
Speaker 8: to how to advise you and how to keep you safe.
41:52
Speaker 8: But I mean a solo traveler just doing it on
41:56
Speaker 8: their own independently, if they if they do the re search,
42:00
Speaker 8: they can go with no problem. So it's just you know,
42:04
Speaker 8: I say, brave traveler because you have to want to
42:09
Speaker 8: get beyond the headlines of what's happening in Cuba. You
42:12
Speaker 8: have to have a certain amount of you know, curiosity.
42:15
Speaker 8: And also when you go to Cuba right now, you
42:18
Speaker 8: can't make demands on Cuba. You can't say I want,
42:21
Speaker 8: you know, I want air conditioning, I want you know,
42:26
Speaker 8: I want gluten free bread, and I want you know,
42:31
Speaker 8: Ipa is no like Cuba. Cuba is in a crisis,
42:35
Speaker 8: and you need to be flexible and open minded. And
42:39
Speaker 8: there's plenty of food to eat, there's water to drink,
42:43
Speaker 8: there's beautiful places to stay. But it also is what
42:48
Speaker 8: it is.
42:50
Speaker 5: What do you use now Cuban dollar or use American
42:54
Speaker 5: dollar or and can you use the ATM machine there?
42:58
Speaker 5: How's that work?
42:59
Speaker 8: To us? Travelers have never been able to use the
43:02
Speaker 8: ATMs and that hasn't changed. So it's just it's a
43:08
Speaker 8: cash based society. So you would want to bring all
43:11
Speaker 8: the money that you need in cash because you can't
43:13
Speaker 8: expect to access it there. And you know, keeping your
43:18
Speaker 8: money mostly in US dollars is the way to go
43:21
Speaker 8: because of the exchange rate, and then apply that. It's
43:24
Speaker 8: really just cumbersome to carry around Cuban pasos. I think
43:29
Speaker 8: right now it's like our last time I looked at
43:31
Speaker 8: was one dollar was equal to like over six hundred
43:36
Speaker 8: Cuban pasos. So that's that's a lot to carry around
43:39
Speaker 8: when you can just pay in US dollars and even
43:42
Speaker 8: though you'll get your change in Cuban pasos, that money
43:45
Speaker 8: is useful for making small purchases or you know, tipping
43:50
Speaker 8: to use the bathroom or whatever. So the money situation
43:55
Speaker 8: is basically, bring us dollars if you're coming from Europe,
43:58
Speaker 8: bring your own, and mostly spend those, although if you
44:04
Speaker 8: exchange money that's okay too, it's just less convenient.
44:09
Speaker 5: This is what I've heard of. The Cashew came in
44:11
Speaker 5: and he made everything. He made everything equal as far
44:15
Speaker 5: as no siggregation. Everybody's on the same level. Is it
44:22
Speaker 5: still like that or the blacks in Cuba still fight
44:28
Speaker 5: for civil rights so to speak?
44:33
Speaker 8: Yes and no. The revolution did create create a lot
44:39
Speaker 8: more equality in Cuban society. There's still racism because they're
44:45
Speaker 8: still like white supremacists, right, but it's nothing like it
44:50
Speaker 8: is in the US at all in terms of what's
44:53
Speaker 8: happening now. Unfortunately, the US policy is impacting after fro
45:00
Speaker 8: Cubans or you know, melanated Cubans more than white Cubans.
45:04
Speaker 8: Why it goes way back into how the US took
45:09
Speaker 8: over Cuba when they uh when the Spanish Revolution happened,
45:17
Speaker 8: and how they set up white Cubans to be more
45:22
Speaker 8: economically advantaged, and so that then spread to the exile
45:28
Speaker 8: populations being mostly white because of the racism that the
45:35
Speaker 8: Batista government had and all that. So the exile population,
45:39
Speaker 8: mostly white, comes to the US, start making starts making
45:43
Speaker 8: a lot of money, starts sending it home to their
45:46
Speaker 8: relatives who are also lighter skinned. And so the economic
45:52
Speaker 8: disparity that's being created is being amplified right now because
46:01
Speaker 8: the Afro Cubans are more dependent on the Cuban government,
46:09
Speaker 8: and the Cuban government does not have money or you know,
46:14
Speaker 8: is not using, is not able to supply them with
46:17
Speaker 8: all the things that the revolution promise, which was sued,
46:22
Speaker 8: medical care, medicine, all of that. So they're the ones
46:26
Speaker 8: who are most impacted by the current US policy, and
46:30
Speaker 8: that is going to mean that if this keeps up,
46:34
Speaker 8: is very likely that these people are going to that
46:38
Speaker 8: people are going to start dying from malnutrition from you know,
46:43
Speaker 8: lack of medicine, and those people will be the poorer classes,
46:47
Speaker 8: and the poorer classes are largely Afro descendants.
46:52
Speaker 5: Yeah, how much money story to ask that question, but
46:56
Speaker 5: how much money is would you bring?
46:59
Speaker 16: Would you? And I know she was very safe, but.
47:04
Speaker 5: Caring a lot of money, would you how much money
47:06
Speaker 5: would you if you stay there for like a couple
47:08
Speaker 5: of days or a week.
47:09
Speaker 8: Sure, Okay, if I was staying for a week, I
47:12
Speaker 8: would bring I think I would bring seven hundred dollars
47:16
Speaker 8: to be on the safe side, and I would stay
47:19
Speaker 8: in a in a cosa particul logue and which is
47:22
Speaker 8: you know, the private lodgings that we were talking about,
47:26
Speaker 8: and I would leave everything I wasn't planning to spend
47:30
Speaker 8: in my room locked up, because these are safe places
47:34
Speaker 8: to leave your stuff. The staff is you know, everybody
47:38
Speaker 8: knows everybody. It's very personal. Depending on the size of
47:42
Speaker 8: the cossa, it could be just family that runs it.
47:45
Speaker 8: And so I know that my belongings are safe there,
47:49
Speaker 8: and so I would not bring that money out into
47:51
Speaker 8: the streets. And there's no you know, there's no reason
47:55
Speaker 8: to carry that much. I would make sure that I
47:58
Speaker 8: have a lot of small bills, at least twenty dollars
48:02
Speaker 8: and one dollar bills, and you know, the rest in
48:07
Speaker 8: in ten, five tens, and twenties. And then yeah, if
48:13
Speaker 8: I go out, I might keep like twenty dollars in
48:16
Speaker 8: my wallet and the rest in a money belt. But
48:19
Speaker 8: there's there's no reason to walk around with gobs of cash.
48:23
Speaker 8: And then this is this is the this is the
48:26
Speaker 8: way that everyone has to do it in Cuba. Now,
48:29
Speaker 8: Lisa and MasterCards stopped operating in Cuba out of a
48:33
Speaker 8: reaction to the US sanctions. They no longer wanted to
48:36
Speaker 8: risk doing business with the Cuban government. So even you know,
48:41
Speaker 8: foreign travelers cannot use credit cards like they could. So
48:47
Speaker 8: this is I mean, it's just Cuba and Cuba you
48:50
Speaker 8: have cash. Is this still like.
48:55
Speaker 5: Fear or how are they treating Americans because it's still
49:00
Speaker 5: with fear that the Americans are going to bring the
49:02
Speaker 5: military and that type of thing. So is it any
49:06
Speaker 5: type of resentment towards Americans coming there?
49:09
Speaker 8: No, it's a very warm welcome. And at this point,
49:13
Speaker 8: Cubans are so exhausted, I mean in general, right, this
49:18
Speaker 8: is what I'm hearing, not just among my friends and coworkers,
49:22
Speaker 8: but also in general. Cubans are so exhausted. They just
49:26
Speaker 8: want whatever to happen happen, even if that's a US invasion. Well,
49:29
Speaker 8: the Cuban government might be afraid of a US invasion,
49:33
Speaker 8: the Cuban people are not. Really, They're just too exhausted
49:37
Speaker 8: to do anything but think about how they're going to
49:40
Speaker 8: get their next meal. So they're very welcoming still in
49:47
Speaker 8: my experience, very much grateful that anyone would make that journey,
49:53
Speaker 8: and I would not expect any problems whatsoever. The one
49:58
Speaker 8: thing that you should expect if you go to Cuba
50:01
Speaker 8: is you might get a little extra questioning by the
50:04
Speaker 8: Cuban government because of course they're trying to identify, like
50:10
Speaker 8: what reason you're visiting Cuba, and if you're there to
50:13
Speaker 8: stir up trouble, And that's not a big deal. Cuban
50:17
Speaker 8: customs is by and large very respectful, unlike US customs.
50:21
Speaker 8: So it's just a matter of staying calm answering their questions,
50:25
Speaker 8: and of course not going there for nefarious purposes.
50:29
Speaker 5: How are the people there doing that that your employees doing,
50:33
Speaker 5: Are they okay?
50:34
Speaker 8: Or you know, Cubans in general don't like to complain
50:39
Speaker 8: their suffering there. As somebody said, as one of my
50:44
Speaker 8: friends there said, it's psychological warfare because it's impossible to
50:49
Speaker 8: live without electricity because water depends on electricity to run
50:54
Speaker 8: the pumps, you know, everything you have to do trying
50:58
Speaker 8: to do it. When the the power comes on at
51:01
Speaker 8: two am, everyone is sleep deprived. Aside from that, it's
51:04
Speaker 8: very hot, and so it's it's hard to sleep, even
51:08
Speaker 8: if they're lucky enough to have fans. Those fans are
51:12
Speaker 8: blowing around a lot of hot air. And aside from that,
51:16
Speaker 8: you know, there's trash filling their neighborhoods because there isn't
51:20
Speaker 8: fuel to run to run the garbage trucks, and and
51:26
Speaker 8: it's it's pretty hard. You know. Fortunately, working in tourism,
51:30
Speaker 8: a lot of our guides have saved up money over
51:33
Speaker 8: the years and so they're living off of savings right now.
51:37
Speaker 8: But for but we're here, and we're you know, we're here,
51:41
Speaker 8: and we are very grateful for any travelers who want
51:46
Speaker 8: to come, any travelers who want to donate to Cuba.
51:50
Speaker 8: We're just when people care, I mean, it gives us hope.
51:54
Speaker 5: So and how do how do we go?
51:59
Speaker 8: It's a very oh there you go that situation. Go ahead.
52:02
Speaker 5: How can people get in touch with you? And if
52:04
Speaker 5: they want to go to Cuba safely? And how can
52:09
Speaker 5: people get in touch with you?
52:12
Speaker 8: Yeah, they can either call us our number seven zero
52:17
Speaker 8: seven seven zero two four six nine three or visit
52:21
Speaker 8: our website which is Cuba grouptour dot com.
52:27
Speaker 5: Do you have to go to group or can you
52:28
Speaker 5: go individually, you can go individually.
52:31
Speaker 8: Generally group travel. You know, there's a lot of benefits
52:34
Speaker 8: to group travel, including that it's more economical. But right now,
52:38
Speaker 8: because there are so few people wanting to go to Cuba,
52:41
Speaker 8: we're mostly focused on our private tours and guide services.
52:45
Speaker 8: So yes, they can go to our website again, that's
52:50
Speaker 8: Cuba Group Tour dot com and our company is Cuban
52:53
Speaker 8: Adventures and they can request a private tour.
52:56
Speaker 5: And how do how do we go?
52:58
Speaker 8: We're still fighting the fight?
53:00
Speaker 5: How do we do?
53:01
Speaker 8: So there's a chair. There's a charity that we work with.
53:04
Speaker 8: It's a five oh one c three nonprofit called Give
53:09
Speaker 8: to Cuba, and they do great work all throughout the island.
53:14
Speaker 8: They are one hundred percent volunteer uh staffed, and your
53:21
Speaker 8: donations are tax deductible to them. So give to Cuba.
53:26
Speaker 8: It's the Give the number two and then Cuba. They're
53:31
Speaker 8: doing excellent work.
53:33
Speaker 1: Cuban Adventures can be found online and on all major
53:36
Speaker 1: platforms Cuba Group Tour, all put together dot com. Their
53:41
Speaker 1: US office number is seven oh seven seven oh two
53:45
Speaker 1: four six nine three. If you want to donate to
53:48
Speaker 1: the people of Cuba, you can go to Give to
53:51
Speaker 1: Cuba and donations are tax deductible. We have spoken about
53:57
Speaker 1: the plight of Haitian people and the fact that over
53:59
Speaker 1: three hundred thousand Haitians living in the US are about
54:03
Speaker 1: to lose their temporary protected status. Houston Haitians United Quarterly
54:08
Speaker 1: advised the public to a press conference at Houston City
54:11
Speaker 1: Hall on nine oh one Bagbee Street, Houston, Texas, seven
54:15
Speaker 1: to seven zero zero two on Monday, August seventeenth, twenty
54:19
Speaker 1: twenty six, at eleven am to address the impact of
54:23
Speaker 1: the recent termination of temporary protected status for nationals of
54:27
Speaker 1: certain countries, including Haiti. They will propose solutions solidarity and
54:32
Speaker 1: safety to ensure humane approaches to mitigate any future negative impacts.
54:38
Speaker 1: In addition, this non partisan event will ensure that the
54:41
Speaker 1: perspectives of those impacted are reflected with nuance and dignity.
54:47
Speaker 1: Oil and gas drilling is dangerous for North Texas students.
54:51
Speaker 1: We hear more from Freed to Ross with the Texas
54:54
Speaker 1: Public News Service.
54:55
Speaker 13: North Texans concerned about oil and gas drilling in the
54:59
Speaker 13: Barnett Shape. We will soon present new findings to the
55:02
Speaker 13: Arlington City Council and school board members. A study by
55:06
Speaker 13: liverbl Arlington shows that seventy six schools in the city
55:10
Speaker 13: are then half a mile to two miles of gas
55:13
Speaker 13: wells or drill sites. The organizations round Jana Bandari says
55:18
Speaker 13: most of the schools impacted are in one part of
55:21
Speaker 13: the city.
55:22
Speaker 17: Almost ninety five percent of the residents are people of color,
55:25
Speaker 17: and they seem to be bearing the highest concentration of
55:28
Speaker 17: fracking in the city, especially the fracking expansions. All the
55:31
Speaker 17: fracking expansion is happening in those parts of town.
55:34
Speaker 4: She says.
55:35
Speaker 13: The report lists every drill site and gas well within
55:38
Speaker 13: two miles of each Arlington public school. The study was
55:42
Speaker 13: conducted using data from the Railroad Commission of Texas and
55:45
Speaker 13: the city. Drilling and Tarrant County started in the early
55:48
Speaker 13: two thousands, and there are close to two hundred drilled
55:52
Speaker 13: wells in Arlington alone. Last year, city council members approved
55:56
Speaker 13: a new gas well site. The new Maverick site is
55:59
Speaker 13: close to every elementary schools. Doctor Lariska Driska with Concerned
56:04
Speaker 13: Health Professionals of New York says younger children are more
56:08
Speaker 13: susceptible to toxins, and they've studied the impacts of fracking
56:12
Speaker 13: on kids for more than a decade.
56:14
Speaker 18: Allowing the continuous, intensifying, long term exposure of densely populated
56:19
Speaker 18: communities to toxic cracking emissions is tantamount to running what
56:24
Speaker 18: is in effect a vast, uncontrolled human experiment atop the
56:28
Speaker 18: Barnett shoe.
56:29
Speaker 13: She adds, there's a definite link between proximity to oil
56:33
Speaker 13: and gas development and increases in childhood cancers. Members of
56:37
Speaker 13: Liverpool Arlington say they hope the data prompt city officials
56:41
Speaker 13: to revisit protections for children and nearby residents. They'd like
56:46
Speaker 13: to see twenty four hour air monitoring at drill sites
56:49
Speaker 13: within a half mile of Arlington schools and compressor stations.
56:53
Speaker 13: I'm frieda Ross Texas news service. Find our trust indicators
56:58
Speaker 13: at Publicnews Service dot org.
57:03
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57:05
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