Grul I had to save them first : Family, rescuers recount close escape from wildfires
Texas officials are calling on residents to report any incidents of price gouging amid food and water shortages that have followed widespread power outages after a winter storm battered the state this week.Houston-area residents have lodged complaints over bottled water and hotel rooms being offered for inordinate prices, according to Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, chief civil attorney for Texas biggest county, and Harris County Judge Linda Hidalgo. We ve seen some anecdotal evidence of outr stanley cup ageous prices on necessary items like food and water, basically, price gouging, Hidalgosaidat a news conference. Whether it s spiking the price of basic necessities, whether it s posting an Airbnb with power for $1,000 a night mdash; we can t imagine something more cruel than taking advantag stanley cup e of people who are suffering right now in this disaster and have been suffering for days, added Hidalgo, who urged residents to report instances of abuse.Within 20 hours of setting up a reporting systemon Wednesday, Hidalgo and Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee said more than 450 complaints of price gouging had poured in. stanley cup With power coming back online, Texans face new financial challenges 03:50 Dallas resident Dashawn Walker, 33, sought in vain to book a hotel roo Tyzz Access to early voting has seen major expansion since 2000, report finds
Chicago mdash;The family of Empire actor Jussie Smollett has released a statement saying the actor was the victim of a racial and homophobic hate crime and pushing back against any suggestion that he was anything but truthful with the police.Detectives have recovered more surveillance footage of Smollett walking in downtown Chicago before and after he said he was attacked by two masked men, including video of him arriving home with a rope around his neck, but they re still searching for any footage of the attack, a police spokesman said Thursday.Smollett, who is black and gay and plays the gay character Jamal Lyon on the hit Fox adidas campus television show, said the men beat him, subjected him to racist and homophobic insults, threw an unknown chemical substance on him and put a thin rope around his neck before fleeing. Jussie Smollett Getty He returned to his apar adidas originals tment afterward and his manager called police from there adidas originals about 40 minutes later, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. When officers arrived, the actor had cuts and scrapes on his face and the rope around his neck. Smollett later went to a hospital for treatment. In the early hours of Tuesday morning, our beloved son and brother, Jussie, was the victim of a violent and unprovoked attack. We want to be clear, this was a racial and homophobic hate crime, the family statement