aboott tests positive

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tests positive for COVID-19 and is receiving treatment

Abbott, despite testing positive for COVID-19, is showing no symptoms, his office reports.

Despite being fully vaccinated, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tested positive for the COVID-19 virus on Tuesday, August 17. Abbott has been tested daily before the August 17 positive result, his communications director Mark Mine announced.

The governor is in “good health” and is currently experiencing no symptoms and is receiving Regeneron's monoclonal antibody treatment, per a statement. He will be isolated in the Governor’s Mansion but plans to be in “constant communication with his staff, agency heads, and government officials to ensure that state government continues to operate smoothly and efficiently,” Mine’s statement notes.

Meanwhile, all those the Governor has been in close contact with have been notified and Texas First Lady Cecilia Abbott has also tested negative,” his office adds.

Abbott recently signed an executive order that banned local governing entities, medical authorities, or school districts from instituting their own COVID protocols. Championing “personal responsibility” in the face of COVID infections, Abbott mandated that those who defy the order will face a $1,000 charge.

The order has been met with myriad legal challenges by local governments, but was upheld by the Texas Supreme Court on August 15.

Kellen Zale, a professor at the University of Houston Law Center, told CultureMap news partner ABC13 that Abbott claims to be operating under the Texas Disaster Act, but is using that power of authority differently than governors before him.

“The Texas Disaster Act has not been used this way in the past,” Zale said, “Previous governors have used this state disaster act to essentially help local governments get through the bureaucracy, and this governor is claiming it gives him the authority to do something else. This essentially suspends the pre-existing powers the local government would have to actually address public health emergencies, and so it is a frustrating situation particularly in the counties where there are escalated cases.”

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”