Award-winning author Kate DiCamillo speaks about the power of telling stories. During this pandemic year, and dark winter, she says “stories are light in a dark world.”
The Newbery Award-winning Minnesota writer told a University of Minnesota audience in a virtual event that she writes alone, “but the story goes out into the world … and it has my heart in it. … There’s comfort in telling a story.”
When we read aloud, DiCamillo says, we are connecting to each other, and we “see each other as fully human.”
“Reading aloud binds us together in unexpected ways, she adds. This pandemic year is a “good time to give reading a chance.”
BONHAM â The December session of the Fannin County Grand Jury handed out 82 indictments, bringing the total number of true bills for the year to a record breaking 603 new felony cases filed, according to District Attorney Richard E. Glaser.
The jury also heard evidence in an officer-involved shooting investigated by the Texas Rangers. Finding the use of force justified, the jury declined any charges against the officer involved, Glaser said.
âIt is important to note that an indictment is a formal charge and should not be considered as evidence of guilt, and that all persons charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt,â Glaser said.
Inmates Face Uphill Climb For Virus Outbreak Relief By
Sarah Jarvis | December 20, 2020, 8:02 PM EST
Advocates for inmates across the country say prisons have not taken appropriate measures to protect the incarcerated from the spread of COVID-19. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
At a Texas prison unit housing mostly elderly inmates, COVID-19 has killed more than 20 men and hospitalized nearly 100 so far. Advocates for the prisoners, who accused the state of failing to implement measures to prevent the spread of the virus, are awaiting a Fifth Circuit ruling they hope will help curb the outbreak.
Earlier this month, the Fifth Circuit heard oral arguments on an expedited briefing schedule over whether it should reinstate a permanent injunction requiring the prison to implement a COVID-19 containment protocol. The Fifth Circuit had
2nd Panhandle-area state prison worker s death linked to COVID-19 this week
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice on Friday announced it is grieving the loss of a Panhandle-area state prison employee that is connected to the COVID-19 virus.
Dorothy Caylor, a 62-year-old human resources specialist who had 15 years of service with the TDCJ and was assigned to the Roach Unit in Childress, died Thursday at an Amarillo hospital, according to a news release from TDCJ.
Caylor s death is the second COVID-linked death of a Panhandle-area state prison employee in the last week, with 77-year-old Harold Smith of the Jordan Unit in Pampa dying in an Amarillo hospital on Tuesday, according to the TDCJ.
The chief executive of Uber had requested the same for rideshare drivers and food delivery workers.
Similar requests for early access to the vaccine came from representatives for teacher groups, home health care workers, rice farmers, federal judges, dialysis patients, journalists and 911 operators, among scores more, according to a state document obtained by the American-Statesman.
The behind-the-scenes competition illuminates the high-stakes demand for a vaccine that remains in relatively short supply, even as the virus cases and hospitalizations continue to surge in Texas. On the line, beyond health and lives, are livelihoods, as industries of all sorts struggle to remain afloat as the pandemic drags on.