FOX 26 Daily Digital News Brief for Feb. 21, 2018
A young boy from Houston is dead after getting the flu. This is the city's first pediatric flu-related death this season. According to the Houston Health Department, the boy was between the ages of 6 and 10 years old and died in early February. He did have an underlying health issue. HHD is urging people to get the flu shot if they haven't already. They're offering free or discounted flu shots to anyone who meets certain requirements. Houston-area hospitals are still seeing more than 2,000 people a week with flu-like symptoms.
President Donald Trump hosted students, teachers and parents affected by the Parkland, Fla. high school shooting for a listening session at The White House on Wednesday. He promised to strengthen background checks and put a strong emphasis on mental health. Students staged protests and walkouts throughout the U.S. on Wednesday, demanding action on gun control.
There won't be any such protests in the Needville Independent School District unless students want to be suspended. In a letter, Superintendent Curtis Rhodes said demonstrations during school hours won't be allowed. Any student who does protest will be suspended for three days.
In Houston alone, there have been seven threats made to school safety since Feb. 5. Houston Police Department Chief Art Acevedo conducted a joint press conference with the Houston Independent School District superintendent and Harris County Sheriff about school safety on Wednesday. The chief said a 12-year-old boy threatened to bring an AR-15 to KIPP Academy and shoot up the campus on Wednesday morning.
"That is a terroristic threat and it is a crime," said Chief Acevedo, "But it starts with parents at home. You have to have these conversations with the children. The do’s and don'ts of 2018 in a world of violence, in a world of gun violence."
The Houston ISD superintendent said the district is stepping up efforts to improve safety at schools and will have active shooter drills. Parents will be notified before the drills.
The world is remembering Reverend Billy Graham. The man nicknamed "God's Ambassador" died on Wednesday morning at his home in Montreat, N.C., of natural causes. He was 99 years old. Graham was known as "Pastor to the Presidents." His son, Franklin Graham, said on social media that his father personally knew every American president since Harry Truman. He held three crusades in Houston. The last one was in 1981 at Rice Stadium. He held 13 total events in Texas between 1951 and 2002.
A Pasadena Memorial High School student who was punished for getting sick was finally back at school on Wednesday. Fifteen-year-old Jazmin Garcia felt dizzy and her head started hurting on Jan. 26. She couldn’t walk and had to be taken to the nurse’s office in a wheelchair. Instead of calling 911 or her parents, Garcia's attorney says Pasadena ISD police searched her for drugs. They didn’t find any and made her do a field sobriety test. Her family took her to the doctor. Tests showed there were no drugs in her system. Even so, the school suspended her and sent her to alternative school. Days later, a specialist diagnosed Garcia with a neurological condition. Her family is calling for the district to change its policies.