Several mobile clinics will be available on Saturday. Although there currently aren’t any active cases of the disease in Harris County, there have been 198 confirmed measles cases related to the outbreak in West Texas.

Co-hosts Brandon Rottinghaus and Jeronimo Cortina delve into the latest news in politics.

I’m sorry I have not written in a while: between raising a kid and having your country’s next door neighbour attack your country, it has been a tiring and stressful time. Make sure you’re subscribed because I hope to get back into the groove of things in the coming weeks.

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Canada is under attack by the US, which has placed universal 25% tariffs on its longtime ally and close partner (higher than those placed on China, all while prominent American officials try to get friendly with Russia). These tariffs have a justification that is paper thin and nonsensical, and the damage is and already has begun mounting — In the coming days, people are going to start losing their jobs.

Of course, at the same time, the US president and his band of lackeys have been going around talking about how Canada needs to be annexed and disrespecting our whole nation, not to mention its leaders. This is of course deeply upsetting, if not entirely surprising, and I’m confident Canada and our attitude towards the United States will never be the same.

However, since now is the the time for national unity, strength, and immediate action to protect our country and fellow citizens, I want to make the case that transit has never made more sense. We need to invest (and continue investing), and increase the scale and scope of our investments in public transit across Canada. That means more projects (with a serious effort given to cost control), and investments and new frameworks to ensure long-term sustainable funding to actually operate systems (with a serious effort at national standardization and operating efficiencies).

Transit Supports Jobs

For one, transit agencies across the country already provide well over 100,000 jobs, and that number could grow rapidly by running more service, which could have lots of immediate benefits. We could also honestly benefit from some more well-paid customer-facing staff, especially in our biggest cities where making it easier for tourists to get around would help encourage more travel and make riding more pleasant for everyone (helping older people reload their fare card etc.).

Transit Lowers Costs

One of those big benefits of running more service and thus making transit a better option for more people is lowering costs. No matter where you lie on the three-trucks-to-car-free spectrum, you stand to save money pretty immediately by taking the trips you can on transit — Even if it’s a few a week, or to sports games and concerts. I think this is broadly under-appreciated, but gas and vehicle depreciation are already expensive things, not to mention maintenance, insurance and parking. All of these things are tied to car use, not actually having the car. As people rely on their cars less and less, they can pare down the number they have, while keeping virtually all of the flexibility (it’s amazing how little real added flexibility multiple cars give you over one car). All of the saved money is money we don’t need to spend on foreign oil — and let’s be honest, mostly foreign cars, the majority of which are made in the country currently attacking Canada.

Transit is Domestic

By comparison, transit is, and can be almost entirely domestic, with us certainly not needing to rely on the US. Canada already has two big (and yes, perfectly fine) bus manufacturers in New Flyer and Novabus, we also do have super substantial domestic rail rolling stock manufacturing capability with Alstom (we clearly do need to whip them into shape though). We can of course also buy tons of good transit vehicles from our European and Asian allies, we just need to make sure the likes of CAF, Stadler, Siemens, and Hitachi aren’t building trains for us in Trumpland. There’s also a lot of potential to make more use of domestic steel and aluminum to build these trains, vehicles, and infrastructure for all of it.

But transit isn’t just physical things — Canada is increasingly relying on enormous amounts of consultants to plan and execute transit projects (learn more here). Many of those consultants / firms are American (why we would choose a country with worse and more expensive transit projects for this work is another question). The trade war is yet another reason to build state capacity and bring stuff in-house, and what can’t be brought in house should go to competent international firms like Systra.

Transit Differentiates and Strengthens Us

Something that you learn after living in Canada and talking to a lot of people here is that things like good public transit, public healthcare, and decent people are why people move to Canada. There are often “Americanizing” forces in Canadian politics, trying to convince us that bigger cars, less regulations, and unfettered consumerism inspired by the US is the answer to making Canada a better country for its people. The secret is that so often, what makes this country great is what differentiates us. You might not get paid as much here, but you won’t go bankrupt if you get sick and you get to ride frequent trains and buses in most of the big cities.

Toronto, my home, shows the immense value that is unlocked by frequent and comprehensive bus service — an investment in service that employs lots of people and uses lots of Canadian-made buses, and makes people’s lives much more affordable. At the same time, we are building new rail services using Canadian-made trains and trams.

Now more than ever is the time for more, and better transit.

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To see more political cartoons from Ben Sargent, visit our Loon Star State section. Find Observer political reporting here.

The post Loon Star State: Remember When… appeared first on The Texas Observer.

The Canadian prime minister welled up during one of his final press conferences as leader of the country.

In brief: After a delightful pair of days in Houston, the humidity returns today. The weekend will not be a washout, but there may be some showers or even a storm around on Saturday before we cool off significantly and clear out on Sunday. Then, buckle up for a splendid start to spring break week for those who celebrate.

Today

The last couple days have been incredible around the area with low humidity and extremely comfortable temperatures. One could gripe with the wind a bit, but nothing’s ever perfect. Today will see a bit of a change. Humidity will begin increasing again as onshore flow resumed yesterday afternoon. Dewpoints rose into the 40s yesterday evening, and they’ll push into the 60s by this evening marking the return of more “clammy” Houston weather. Aside from that, we will see increasing clouds as well with highs into the 70s. With a little sun, we could test 80 degrees this afternoon.

Will the weather be trill for Bun B’s birthday bash? No, but it won’t cause you any headaches. Temperatures will drop back into the lower 70s through the evening, but the humidity will make it feel a touch damp. Otherwise, no rain is expected for this evening. Nothing “Ludacris” (alert alert) about that.

The weekend

A cold front is going to push through the Houston area tomorrow night. Ahead of it, there will almost certainly be scattered showers or a few rumbles of thunder during the daytime and evening hours Saturday. The Storm Prediction Center has areas just off to our northeast under a marginal risk (1/5) for severe storms, which is to say we probably won’t see anything too earth-shattering in the Houston area.

Still, don’t be shocked to hear some thunder Saturday. Morning lows won’t get much below 70 degrees and daytime highs should be in the low-80s. There could be areas of patchy dense fog near the coast. That front sweeps the humidity and any fog back out into the Gulf on Sunday, and we get a taste of late winter with a good bit of sunshine. Morning lows will start in the 40s Sunday and warm into the low-60s, if that on Sunday afternoon. It will also be a bit breezy at times once again. Bust out the jackets!

Monday & Tuesday

Next week starts off delightful with highs in the low-70s and morning lows in the 40s. Expect lots of sunshine, so for those of you staying close for spring break, prepare to deal with lots of crowds in the usual outdoor spring break magnets. But with weather this nice, perhaps it’s worth it! Truly chamber of commerce weather.

Rest of next week

For those who think the 70s and 40s routine is a bit tired and cool, good news. Temps will warm into the 80s on Wednesday and Thursday, possibly even the mid-80s. Look for our friend the wind to return late next week, possibly quite gusty by Friday or so. There may be a shower or storm in the forecast by Wednesday or Thursday.

In Kenneth Tam’s solo show, The Medallion at Bridget Donahue, new works by the artist are installed in the elongated gallery in such a way that the whole show could be read as a single work. The floor pieces are installed on top of or connected to 370,000 Recitations (2025), a piece made out of wooden bead seat covers that viewers can step on. At one end of the gallery, Dissolved personal archive (2015-2024) (2025), an AI-generated 8-minute video, loops on a taxi-top video display, like the ones many Yellow Taxis have in NYC, showing the same video on both sides of the display. The video is a source of bright light in the dimly lit show. In it, human figures are being dissolved, but occasionally, the objects that the figures use get dissolved as well. 

At the other end of the gallery, The Medallion (2025), a two-channel video projected onto opposite walls, provokes the viewers to move since they can’t see both screens without turning. In the film, taxi drivers describe the extreme difficulties of being in debt, with one of the drivers mentioning how his medallion was taken. Medallions are the permit cab drivers need, which can be transferred, bought, sold, and taken as collateral. NYC taxi medallions lost most of their value when unregulated tech businesses invaded the industry. The film gives space for drivers to describe their experience of the taxi medallion crisis, a crisis experienced by immigrant workers that has pushed drivers to suicide. 

At moments in the film when the drivers are speaking, the opposite screen shows an underwater scene where a few bodies are moving their legs. In some, you can’t see if the head and upper body are underwater, too, and in others, the head is barely above water. The video also shows the drivers and the artist moving together slowly as their bodies touch. At other moments, the artist and drivers appear by themselves, stretching and moving slowly. 

In the first chapters of his famous book on debt, David Graeber contradicts the popular origin stories about debt with anthropological evidence. Similarly, Tam’s approach in The Medallion brings stories to the surface — stories that contradict ongoing hegemonic stories around debt. 

Through the gallery, different floor pieces are in dialogue with one another, and the videos further explore themes while emphasizing the high referentiality of the art objects.  

It is no use to worry (expansion reservoir), It is no use to worry (coolant overflow), It is no use to worry (prayer wheel), and It is no use to worry (radiator reservoir), all from 2025, continue the gesture of using beaded seat covers, with one section of the wooden beads being replaced by plastic ones, lighting those plastic beads, and placing hand-blown glass sculptures, a dashboard prayer wheel, and a used radiator coolant container on top of the lighted sections.

 Lost It All (2025) appears as a regular man’s shoe, but it has been resined, signaling the bodies lost to systemic suicides — results of the neocolonial capitalism inherent in the taxi medallion crisis. Tam’s Bag pieces also received resin treatment and are reminiscent of Liz Magor’s work, but the resined fabrics are empty in some of Tam’s work. The works are also reminiscent of emerging artists like Lola Carlander, who plays with the boundaries between reality, perception, and symbolism on resined sculptures that appear as ready-mades.

In Anxiety Clock (2025), the plastic beads are illuminated in the red typography of some digital clocks and taxi meters. The numbers, letters, and symbols appear in ways that don’t always make sense. At times, the piece also abruptly changes colors throughout the beads, breaking the red clock structure into quickly changing colorful lights. These lights illuminate other areas of the show for a few moments before stopping and returning to the taxi meter structure with no noticeable pattern.

Collision (2025) is an arrangement of objects on the floor that incorporates car debris, a man’s shoe, a wooden Guanyin hanging car charm, and, significantly, a taxi medallion.

The exploration of delicate themes using found objects and sculptures in ways that highlight the representational referentiality, with a focus on how bodies will perceive these gestures, might at moments help remove from Tam’s exploration the causational systemic circumstances that have aggravated the situations for taxi drivers.

The Medallion is on view at Bridget Donahue, New York, through March 8. 

The post Review: Kenneth Tam: “The Medallion” at Bridget Donahue appeared first on Glasstire.

SAN FRANCISCO—Warning that every flaccid member across the globe now represented a ticking time bomb in his hands, cackling Hims CEO Joseph Ludlum released a statement Friday in which he threatened to pull a switch that would activate all the world’s erections at once.

In the three-minute video address, which was broadcast suddenly to millions of screens across the planet, Ludlum dared world leaders to question his resolve and stood before a massive electrically charged array that he referred to as the Universal Engorgement Generator. Sources confirmed that as energy crackled through the minimalist, pastel-
colored laboratory in the recording, Ludlum insisted that only if his demands were met could the planet avoid the mass chaos that would ensue if the genitals of countless men were to grow harder than anyone could ever imagine.

“Citizens of Earth, we at Hims have long served as overseers of your sexual health, and today we come with a simple request: $10 trillion by midnight, or we will trigger every last one of your erections,” Joseph Ludlum said in the video, letting out a high-pitched laugh as he marveled at how easy wresting control of the world’s phalluses had been. “For years, you fools have sat idly by, enjoying discreet shipping to your door and chomping down on our Hard Mints like so much candy. Did you ever think to question what all the low prices were for? Did you not realize your lifeless members were slowly becoming marionettes in thrall to my every order?”

“Picture it, if you will: millions and millions of once-limp penises, all growing stiff in an instant with the same active ingredients used in Cialis and Viagra,” Ludlum continued.

Authorities have treated as credible claims that the extensive Hims telehealth network—which gives the company access to billions of erections—could be utilized to create widespread havoc through sudden engorgement, blue balls, and even premature ejaculations. However, officials urged citizens to stay calm and refrain from tampering with their genitalia, stressing that any misstep on their part could immediately set off every erection in a 10-mile radius.

Even as all 193 U.N. member states refused to capitulate to what they called the “ravings of a madman,” the Hims website reportedly updated with a countdown clock and a new “Frequently Asked Questions For Hapless Nitwits” section, which included such entries as “Myths of ED: If you cross the Hims corporation, will your penis inflate so much that it blows up?” “What happens if I already have an erection when the engorgement beam strikes me?” and “If Hims can make me hard whenever they want, can they also make me soft again, and then hard and then soft, so that my member is forever prancing to their mad tune like a dancer to a piper’s song?”

Reports confirmed that each passing minute since the broadcast has brought mounting terror among untold numbers of men who have grown paralyzed with fear at the prospect of losing control of their own genitals, which could become distended with blood and potentially never go flaccid again—a scenario that the Hims executive described in a taunting follow-up warning.

“Can your puny governments not comprehend the consequences of such mass penis-hardening?” Ludlum said in a second video. “Mayhem in the street. Cars driving off roads. Entire city blocks left in ruin. Do you fools dare defy our warnings? Well, then, perhaps a little taste of our stiffening power will show you how serious we truly are.”

“Now, come, my soft little pretties, and rise up for your master’s commands!” he added, throwing a switch that began crackling with electricity as it sent a wave of engorgement through the atmosphere of the Northeastern United States.

With widespread disorder spreading across the region, officials in New York and Boston confirmed boardrooms descended into panicked chaos, planes stalled on runways, and men stared at their penises while screaming in response to the sudden unimaginable rigidity entering their loins. The Centers for Disease Control confirmed that over 12,000 residents were hospitalized with erections that lasted longer than four hours.

The Hims CEO later issued a press release that simply read, “Tick-tock, tick-tock, dear friends,” before signing off as “the Puppetmaster of Phalluses.”

“Now, you fools, midnight fast approaches, and I will turn my device to full blast, demonstrating the true power of my—of my—oh no, I’m…I’m…gahh!” an out-of-breath Ludlum said in his final dispatch, moments after the machine misfired and blasted him with its engorgement beam, causing the CEO to fall to his knees in a gasp of defeat. “Curses! Someone must have meddled with the Premature Ejacu-Ray setting. Hold on. No, it’s fine. Just leave me alone. It’s just… I said it’s fine! Don’t touch me. I just don’t like to be touched afterwards.”

“You haven’t seen the last of me!” he added. “But for now I must go rest and regain my strength.”

The post Cackling Hims CEO Threatens To Pull Switch Activating All World’s Erections At Once appeared first on The Onion.

Q: Why is the Trump administration targeting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration?

A: To encourage forecast-obsessed Americans to live in the moment.

Q: Why do we need NOAA?

A: We’re about to find out.

Q: Why do Republicans want to privatize the agency’s work?

A: Conservatives believe a free market will provide the best possible weather.

Q: Is it not hubris for the mind of man to seek to touch the realms of the firmament?

A: Yeah, it kind of is. 

Q: What is the main benefit to privatizing weather data?

A: Less traffic on evacuation routes.

Q: What should we rely on for weather forecasting now?

A: The aching joints of the elderly.

The post What To Know About NOAA appeared first on The Onion.

Only Murders In The Building, Hulu: Yes, season four technically came out in August, but we’ve been busy, okay?

Nova: Decoding The Universe, PBS: Tell everyone you’re watching this one so they know just what a smarty pants you are.

Tomb Raider: The Legend Of Lara Croft, Netflix: Lara Croft returns in this action-packed animated series, this time with help from another PlayStation legend—the triangle button.

America’s Got Sob Stories, Peacock: Performers tell their most emotionally manipulative backstory, hoping to be crowned the saddest of them all.

Sabrina The Middle-Aged Witch, Hulu: Just in time for spooky season, this series picks up years after the original show ends and follows Sabrina’s repeated attempts to treat her bladder condition through magic.

Iguana Swap, Paramount+: This reality show follows two families who swap pet iguanas for a week to largely unremarkable outcomes.

Friends With Banner Ads, Max: Capitalizing on the continued success of the beloved sitcom on streaming platforms, Max is hoping no one will notice that it put a few more ads on the screen this time.

Young Jabba, Disney+: The newest Star Wars series will follow a teenage Jabba the Hutt as he navigates high school, friendships, and his changing mucus discharge.

Gnome Buddies, Disney+: This show about zany gnomes will enter the subconscious of an entire generation at a crucial stage of cognitive development, shaping the next century in unfathomable ways. 

Amish 600-Pound 90-Day
Fiancé Sister-Wives, Hulu: Amish obese polyamorous Mormon couples have just three months to get married before deportation. 

MTV’s Total Request Live, Netflix: Just in case Gen Z wants to choke down some more reheated millennial slop. 

Bar Mitzvah Rescue, Paramount+: Jon Taffer brings his signature no-nonsense management methods to a floundering boy’s pathetic celebration of manhood. 

Birth Of A Nation (Reboot), PBS: Sorry, all other recognizable IP was taken. 

Mentally Unstable Women Getting Plastic Surgery, Hulu: Women who desperately need help are given breast implants instead.

Squid Game, Netflix: Tune in to the second season to find out if the attractive, famous protagonist with the highest salary on the show will survive through the next round.

Deadly Duos: Murder Times Two, Hulu: Having run out of murderers to profile in true crime documentaries, this series invites experts to speculate about what might have happened if two famous murderers had met each other and teamed up to commit more murders.

The post Streaming Guide appeared first on The Onion.

The post Erewhon Defends $19 Strawberry: ‘It’s Made To Be Split’ appeared first on The Onion.

“Cheetozard,” a 3-inch Flamin’ Hot Cheeto shaped like the popular Pokémon character Charizard, has sold at auction for $87,840. What do you think?

The post Pokémon-Shaped Cheeto Sells For $87,840 appeared first on The Onion.

Drawing this page was a torment unequal to the final result, but I tried to render what I had roughed out a month before.

The post Principles of detection appeared first on Bad Machinery.

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Austin Street and its bike lanes, which connect downtown to Midtown as well as the Museum District and Texas Medical Center, were unexpectedly blocked in late February by construction. After reporting from Houston Public Media and complaints from advocates, the city took action.

WASHINGTON D.C. – Following a robust initial showing, US President Donald J. Trump has announced to Canadians that he is unable to keep his strong tariffs going, in part “due to American booze”. White House insiders explain that Trump’s tariffs, “while oddly-formed and taking an unusual shape”, were initially intended to last much longer. “Mr. […]

The post Trump unable to keep tariffs up, blames alcohol appeared first on The Beaverton.

She was found at her home in the Hollywood Hills after dying by suicide, said the Los Angeles medical examiner's office.

Colombian police apprehended a man attempting to smuggle 220 grams of cocaine in small bags hidden under his toupee, which authorities are now describing as a “narco wig.” What do you think?

The post Police Catch Man Smuggling Cocaine Under Toupee appeared first on The Onion.

The cancelation announcement comes after hundreds of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) employees were laid off as part of a workforce reduction by the Trump administration. NOAA is the federal agency that oversees the National Weather Service. 

In recent years, Los Fresnos has changed, much like the rest of the Rio Grande Valley. More retail chains are coming to the town of around 8,400, mostly along Highway 100—called Ocean Boulevard in town. Suburbs expand from that road toward Olmito or Bayview, with the oldest neighborhoods being rural colonias or collections of craftsman homes. The farmland and railroad tracks that spurred the city’s development remain, but it is the roadside businesses that most people know—including, for the last 13 years, Abby’s Bakery.

Abby’s has been a mainstay stop for conchas and donuts not just for the growing population of Los Fresnos locals but also for those traveling to or from the coastal town of Port Isabel and the touristy South Padre Island. Now, Abby’s has become something else as well: a target of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans.

In the weeks after Trump’s second inauguration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents began making highly publicized arrests, including in Cameron County—home to Los Fresnos—where 8.5 percent of the population is undocumented.

Social media livestreams have shown ICE actions in real time across the Valley. On February 12, video footage circulated on Facebook showing apparent arrests being made by agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the wing of ICE ostensibly focused on transnational crime, in the parking lot of Abby’s Bakery. According to a federal criminal complaint filed two days later in the Southern District Court of Texas, eight undocumented immigrants were apprehended that day at Abby’s, including two who were designated as witnesses in an investigation into the bakery’s owners, Leonardo Baez and Nora Alicia Avila-Guel, for “bringing in and harboring certain aliens and aiding and abetting the harboring of aliens.”

Six of the apprehended workers held temporary visas that allowed them to travel into the United States but not to work, as reported by the Texas Tribune.

Baez and Avila-Guel weren’t arrested that day, and they thought that was the end of it. Lacking employees, Abby’s Bakery sold all their pan dulce 2 for 1 that afternoon, trying to clear inventory. The next day, a hand-drawn sign on the front door said the shop was closed indefinitely. 

On February 17, the bakery reopened. “Muchas gracias a todos por su espera,” Abby’s Bakery’s Facebook page read that day. Comments on the post ranged from expressing happiness at the reopening to approval of the employees being deported.

Precinct-level data suggests that a slim majority of Los Fresnos voters favored Trump in 2024, mirroring a flip of the overwhelmingly Latino Cameron County from blue to red.

Only two days would pass before HSI agents, armed with rifles fit more for a war zone than a local panadería, returned to Abby’s during an afternoon rush.

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Before the second raid, things looked almost normal. People filed in and out of the bakery, moving counterclockwise to collect their sweet breads and coffee, pay, and leave.

Then, the agents arrived in unmarked cars. Documented on a Facebook livestream, one customer berated the officers as they detained the owners, Baez and Avila-Guel, off-screen. “My dad,” a child is heard crying in the video.

“They didn’t do nothing wrong,” the person filming the livestream said. “They’re hard-working people.” The agents then walked back to their unmarked cars in the alley behind the bakery.

That video now has over 6 million views. The thousands of comments include residents of Los Fresnos and other RGV communities decrying the raid, expressing a growing fear in a region where lacking papers is common.

“People are scared to go out because they go out with their kids, and they don’t want to go to a place where (people are) going to show up with guns to check whether they’re a U.S. citizen or not,” Rosa Muñoz Vallejo, a lifelong Los Fresnos resident and, at one time, candidate for mayor against current Mayor Alejandro Flores, told the Texas Observer. “That was very upsetting for a lot of people.”

The bakery owners were arrested on felony charges of harboring undocumented immigrants, with bonds set at $100,000 each. According to Homeland Security Agent Dillon Duke, who testified as a witness in the owners’ hearing, agents found a room in the same plaza as the bakery with six beds and two bathrooms, where workers were allegedly living.

KRGV reporter Stefany Rosales reported on the couple’s arraignment, where they appeared dressed in orange jumpsuits and shackled and were told by the judge that they could reopen their business if they did so “legally.” If convicted, they both face up to 10 years in prison.

Baez and Avila-Guel were held in U.S. Marshals Service custody in separate federal detention centers for 5 days. A technical issue with the court payment system delayed successful posting of bail, extending their detention, according to Avila-Guel’s attorney Jaime Díez. Meanwhile, Abby’s Bakery sat dark and lifeless.

Facing harboring charges for allegedly providing accommodations to employees is rare, Díez said, as such cases are more commonly brought against human smugglers. “For harboring, that usually requires a person to be crossed [across a border], and … they are provided with a place so they can hide from detention,” Díez said. Duke said the apparent living quarters in the bakery had cardboard covering the windows, but Díez said that isn’t enough to prove concealment.

The arrests were the consequence of a tip that HSI got in December. Another raid occurred at a McAllen tortilleria a few days later, where HSI arrested 8 workers.

“What we are witnessing is the deliberate abduction of individuals as they are being uprooted from their lives,” reads a statement from La Union del Pueblo Entero in response to the RGV raids. “Trump’s deportation machine knows no bounds, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake.”

Díez echoed this. “It changes your life when you get arrested and you see everything that you ever had about to go away because you were trying to provide a living,” Díez said. “A lot of these people provide work for people because nobody else wants to do the job.”

Viviana Ramirez, a Los Fresnos resident who works in healthcare, told the Observer: “Somehow this little town, Los Fresnos—it’s become a part of this huge conversation that I don’t think anyone really expected. Maybe this is a chance for people to really look at what’s happening.”

Los Fresnos’ Republican-backed mayor, Flores, posted on his official Facebook page after the owners were arrested: “As this is an ongoing issue, we are unable to speculate at this time. I do agree that this doesn’t look good and since ICE is not putting out any statements, we are left to speculate. My prayers are with Mr Leonardo Baez and his family during this difficult time.”

Some locals feel the mayor should have taken a clearer stand against the ICE raids. Isidro Ramirez, Viviana’s husband, shared screenshots of an apparent exchange with the mayor on Facebook, in which Ramirez shared the livestream of the raid. 

“So what many people don’t know is they had beds in the back,” Flores wrote back. “People were living there.” 

Ramirez wrote back “Disgrace to our community” in response, which his wife told the Observer was meant to refer to the raid, with the exchange then escalating to the mayor writing “Dude fuck you.” Flores later apologized in a public post about the exchange. Flores has not directly addressed the raid since, though he did make a post celebrating Abby’s reopening. Through the city secretary, Flores declined to comment for this story.

While Flores appears to want to stay neutral, some local Valley officials have gone even further in Trump’s direction. For example, McAllen’s mayor, a former GOP county chair, recently posted assurance that his city would assist in immigration enforcement.

“How can you be neutral when somebody comes in your community … and they take away 8 people that, turns out, 6 of them had a documented status, and you have a business close down?” Jared Hockema, the Cameron County Democratic Party Chair, told the Observer at a protest against the raid held in front of Abby’s Bakery. “How can you be neutral about that?”

Hockema, who organized the February 24 protest, was part of a dozen or so others who stood outside the then-closed bakery with signs critical of Flores.

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On the first Monday in March, Abby’s Bakery reopened again. Just like the last day it was open, the doors never seemed to stop opening and closing, with customers filing in and out—expressing gratitude to the employees for being there and giving away coffee.

The owners’ ordeal has not ended: Baez and Avila-Guel have now been indicted on three counts in the harboring case. They are expected to appear in court March 13. Under the conditions of their bonds, they can’t leave the Valley or go to Mexico. The two employees designated as witnesses were remanded to U.S. Marshals custody on February 20, the federal docket shows. Many documents in the case are sealed.

On this Monday, however, it’s like the last two weeks haven’t happened. The drone from Highway 100 remains the same, the pan dulce, too, and the “buenos días” and clanging tongs of a bakery that is once again providing for the Valley.

“I’m hoping that things will get better, I’m hoping that this won’t happen again here in our community,” Muñoz Vallejo told the Observer in front of the reopened bakery. “People are still scared to go out because of what happened here—and even though they’re scared, they’re here. They’re showing up.”

The post ICE Raids on Beloved Bakery Reverberate Through Rio Grande Valley appeared first on The Texas Observer.

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

Okay, federal workers and others affected by All This, you asked for an open thread to talk about what’s happening, and here it is. Have at it.

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

A reader writes:

I work in an office with two full-time employees, a manager, and 80+ contract employees. Jane, the other full-time employee, and I both support the contract employees in vital, yet different ways. Let’s say that she schedules appointments, and I process payments. Each office in our company has a scheduler and a payment processor, and while both are technically hourly, each cohort has different duties and perhaps a different culture. Payment processors have many more responsibilities than schedulers, and both are occasionally asked to pick up an outside task or six.

Here’s where things get tricky. Both Jane and I have had salaried positions, and Jane is from outside the industry in a larger, more corporate environment. We treat our jobs quite differently. There’s no time clock, but the payment processors tends to prioritize customer service to the contract employees/getting things done efficiently over keeping within eight hours. We frequently stay a little late and often put in a couple hours over a weekend (at home) so as not to return to an anxiety-producing avalanche of work. Depending on the time of year, I probably work 42-50-hour weeks, the latter during super busy times/events. My impression of the schedulers is that many (but not all) of them are the same.

We don’t get overtime, but we get flex time, which admittedly I can forget to track/use. Jane, by contrast, leaves exactly on time (or early, according to some), sticks only to her assigned duties, and demands flex time as compensation for even 15 minutes spent outside her work hours. To be fair, she legally has the right to do this, but it feels quite different from our corporate culture.

Jane gets a lot done within her daily hours but is unavailable outside that time, even for sudden crises. This is difficult for the contract employees, whose jobs are not locked into a neat 9-5, Monday through Friday routine. While they respect my personal time and space, the contract workers know that if difficulty arises, I will be there. Meanwhile, there was incident in which a contract employee came to Jane 40 minutes before the end of an early-release day with a task that would take at least an hour and she firmly said no. She was working from home that day and had no plans but felt it unfair to be asked at such late notice. The contact employee complained all the way up the chain of leadership and another of Jane’s cohort had to step in and do the project.

This has led to some dissatisfaction and (unfortunately) comparison between us. Personally, I get where Jane is coming from – especially legally – but I also see that it fits neither company culture nor my personal work ethic. The company was incredibly good to me when I needed to take a long family leave, and the contract employees and management have been generous about sharing some of their bonuses. I know that Jane resents me for working beyond my eight hours and once reported me to HR for it. (They did nothing.) But am I setting a bad precedent? Am I being unfair to Jane? I am not intentionally trying to look better in the eyes of the contact workers or corporate leaders; I am just trying to do a good job and help the company along.

Yeah, you’re probably setting a bad precedent, and also being a bit unfair to Jane!

If you’re working for free as a non-exempt worker, you’re putting pressure on colleagues to do the same. You’re also exposing your company to legal liability, since they can be subject to fines and penalties for allowing you to do that.

For what it’s worth, the whole set-up might be illegal. You said you get comp time instead of overtime, so I want to make sure you know that in the U.S. it’s illegal to pay non-exempt workers overtime in comp time instead of in money. The exception is if the comp time is taken in the same work week that it was earned in. For example, if you work nine hours on Monday and take an hour of comp time on Tuesday to balance it out, and as a result your total hours for the week don’t go over 40, your company wouldn’t owe you overtime. But if you work nine hours on Monday and don’t take the comp time until a few weeks later, your company owes you overtime pay for all hours over 40 you worked in that original week. (Also, some states calculate overtime by the day instead of the week, meaning in those states you can’t even do the take-it-that-week plan.)

It’s your prerogative if you prefer the comp time set-up and don’t plan to require your employer to follow the law … but in doing that, you’re making it harder for people like Jane who do rightly expect the company to meet its legal obligations to pay them.

If it’s a problem that Jane refuses to be available outside of her scheduled hours, that’s something her manager should address with her. If the job requires occasional work outside of normal hours, they need to clearly explain that. (But then they also need to pay for that time. Any chance Jane is so rigid about never working outside of 9-5 because she knows she won’t be paid for it?)

If you’re ending up with more than your fair share of the work because Jane refuses to stretch her hours and so people come to you instead, that’s something you should talk to your manager about as well. Maybe that means they talk to Jane about adjusting her availability (and paying her for it). Maybe it means that you get compensated at a higher rate in recognition of your greater contributions. I don’t know — but if it’s causing problems, that’s squarely in “talk to your boss” territory.

Right now you’re framing this all as “Jane is out of sync with our corporate culture, and that culture works fine for the rest of us” … but when part of your culture is “we break the law,” that’s not really a good way to look at it.

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QUEEN’S PARK – Ontario Premier Doug Ford is reportedly starting to feel he may have bitten off more than he can chew in his attacks on the United States after realizing they are immune to his most trusted tactic; slowly ruining the local healthcare system. “Folks, turning the province’s hospitals to shit has gotten me […]

The post Ford unsure how to fight back against country with already ruined healthcare system appeared first on The Beaverton.

Following his Oval Office clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, President Donald Trump has paused military aid to Ukraine. The Onion fact-checks Trump on the Russia-Ukraine war.

Claim: Zelensky never told the United States ‘thank you.’

False: Every voice other than his own just sounds like high-pitched ringing to Trump.

Claim: Ukraine started the war.

False: Ukraine provoked a “special military operation,” not a war.

Claim: The United States has given Ukraine $350 billion.

Unverified: This cannot be confirmed because fingers only go up to 10.

Claim: Zelensky is a dictator.

False: Dictators tend to be fashionable.

Claim: Trump berated Zelensky as if Ukraine were one of America’s worst enemies. 

False: Trump used a tone of voice normally reserved for JD Vance. 

The post Fact-Checking Trump On The Russia-Ukraine War appeared first on The Onion.

Glasstire counts down the top five art events in Texas.

For last week’s picks, please go here.

1. Women’s Work
Talley Dunn Gallery (Dallas)
March 1 – 15, 2025

From Talley Dunn Gallery:

“Talley Dunn Gallery is delighted to present Women’s Work. Organized in an afternoon and installed in less than four days with an opening on Saturday, March 1st, the exhibition is accompanied by artist talks each weekend of the exhibition’s short three-week run. Women’s Work highlights engaging and significant artwork by an international grouping of women artists represented by the gallery.

Featured artists include: Helen Altman, Nida Bangash, Natasha Bowdoin, Julie Bozzi, Pia Fries, Francesca Fuchs, Kana Harada, Letitia Huckaby, Eva Lundsager, Tina Medina, Vicki Meek, Melissa Miller, Arely Morales, Cynthia Mulcahy, Linda Ridgway, Ursula von Rydingsvard, and Sarah Williams.”

2. Mosh Now, Cry Later: San Antonio’s love of sad rock and its impacts on visual culture
The Contemporary at Blue Star (San Antonio)
March 7 – June 8, 2025

From The Contemporary at Blue Star:

“Mosh Now, Cry Later: San Antonio’s love of sad rock and its impacts on visual culture is a multidisciplinary group exhibition reflecting on San Antonio’s intergenerational and subcultural enthusiasm for alt rock genres and the significance of the community generated by these scenes. From the late 1980’s through the aughts, to current trends of today, alternative and independent rock genres have had a passionate and consistent audience in San Antonio (including punk, post punk, new wave, emo, screamo, hardcore punk, goth, shoegaze, indie rock, and other intersecting genres).

The exhibition pinpoints the shared sensibilities of a cultural undercurrent within the visual art and music scenes of San Antonio and explores parallels in emotional undertones. Mosh Now, Cry Later features artworks reflecting themes and methods aligned with those in these musical subgenres. Themes include melancholia, irony, lonerism, the symbolic use of the macabre to express heartache, and audience as performers (mosh!).

3. Brian Edwards Jr.: On My Way Home: Everything the Light Touches
Lanecia A. Rouse Gallery (Houston)
February 28 – April 20, 2025

From The Lanecia A. Rouse Gallery

“Over the past several years, Brian has documented the nuances of the Black western lifestyle — from rodeos to ranching — capturing its authenticity and the people who carry it forward. This collection explores the genius, resilience, and legacy embedded in his hometown and the surrounding areas, with each photograph serving as both a reflection of and tribute to the community that raised him.”

4. Juan Cisneros: Tethered Ashes
Co-Lab (Austin)
March 1 – 29, 2025

From Co-Lab:

“Tethered Ashes features a body of work researching urbanization, genre, algorithm, and indeterminacy in music composition. Through deconstructed instruments, scores, and installation, a lens on listening, environment, and power dynamics is called to focus.

Our relationship to creation is one of control which can live and die by our ability to acquiesce this desire. The humor of human folly is inherent in the craft of technological development. The impresa of the cyborg, our hybrid circumstance calls us to reckon with our instruments and man-made environments as an extension of selves and mapping out their limitations.”

5. Chad Plunket: Come Before Last
The Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts (Lubbock)
February 7 – March 29, 2025

From the artist:

“What started as a way to pass time, turned into over 100 whittles and 26 small to large sculptures. All of the work is reductive wood sculptures.” Featuring over 30 wooden sculptures ranging in three to over 14 feet, viewers are invited to truly explore the sculpture in the round. Plunket’s new sculptures will be in our Christine DeVitt Exhibition Hall from February 7 through March 29, 2025.”

The post Top Five: March 6, 2025 appeared first on Glasstire.

RANBURNE, AL—Concluding an hours-long summit with top thinkers from the area, residents of a town with a heavyset mule stuck halfway through a barn door declared Thursday that they’re plumb out of ideas.

The townsfolk, who were spotted scratching their chins and shaking their heads, had reportedly convened around the rear end of a stout mule after hearing neighbor Verne Colton cussing up a storm while pushing with all his might on the hindquarters of his 2,000-pound animal, Cloppy, in order to free her from the dang barn door. 

“Well, color me downright stumped,” said Verne Colton, rubbing his pushin’ shoulder after trying and failing to free his mule from where she was stuck and not rile her up too much. “I pushed something fierce, but I ain’t get Cloppy out the hole over there in the door.”

“As God is my witness, I will free that mule,” Colton added, “if it’s nearabout the last thing I do.”

According to sources who’d come by to see what all the fuss was about, the town tried just about everything to free that sturdy mule: first slathering her in pig grease and then roping her hindquarters to a wagon as the town’s most able-bodied menfolk—Bill, other Bill, Big Pete, and the Baker brothers—all tugged on the doorframe and gave her a whack on her meaty rear.

However, local experts reckoned that the dang mule remained stuck as all get-out—really fuming and madder than heck now, too. 

“I thought I could use a paddle to jab her out, but I got kicked in the mug again,” Jarvis Baker said after trying for the fourth time to pry the mule out from the barn door with a broken canoe oar. “Lord willin’, this next time’ll do it, though.” 

Several reports indicated this was the worst case of livestock being stuck in these parts since a July 1991 incident out by the Abernathy place, where a blue-ribbon prize hog called Petunia plugged up the drinking well while she was fixing to quench her thirst. Townsfolk reckoned that Petunia pitched a hissy fit, thrashing her trotters in the air and squealing up a storm before locals used all manner of broomsticks and shovel handles to knock the pig to the bottom of the well. Residents claimed the water still has a tang of pork.

Just before sundown, the town mayor arrived on the scene with an even wider mule, Jumbo, who was brought to the farm to push Cloppy through the doorway. Unfortunately, insiders confirmed, the mule had taken an immediate liking to Cloppy and had gone and gotten his self stuck too.

“Oh, for Pete’s sake,” said Mayor Virgil Hart, dabbing mule spit from his brow with his necktie. “I ain’t never seen a mule that stuck—let alone two—and we used up all my good slidin’ grease on the first one.”

“Not to mention, it’s hotter than blazes out here and the whole town stinks to high heaven of mule and rancid lard,” he added.

At that point, sources reported, the mayor issued a mandate to bring in an even fatter mule that could nudge Cloppy and Jumbo out from behind.

“Oh, dang it, there goes one of them sheep that wandered in to see what all the fuss is about,” Hart said. “Now all three are stuck in there tighter’n a banjo string.”

Not knowing what else to do, head-scratching sources then called in the town sheriff to shoot at the mules and the sheep, hoping to scare them through the threshold, but such efforts were to no avail.

“Hoo doggy, did that make the old gal ornery!” said Sheriff Davis Paine, using a kerchief to wipe the mule blood off his hands and face. “She was sure fumin’ somethin’ awful. And everyone ’round here knows the only thing worse’n one stuck heavyset mule is two angry stuck mules and a sheep that’s all of ’em covered in grease.”

 “How’d a coupla mules get so big anyhow?” Paine continued. “That’s 10 pounds of mule in a 5-pound sack.

The post Town With Heavyset Mule Stuck In Barn Door Plumb Out Of Ideas appeared first on The Onion.

MINNEAPOLIS—In a touching moment that left the terminally ill child excitedly rambling and beaming from ear to ear, witnesses confirmed Friday that Charli XCX had done a line of coke with 11-year-old Make-A-Wish recipient Luna Waites. 

“It’s always been my daughter’s dream to rip lines of blow with Charli, and I’m so glad Make-A-Wish was able to make it happen,” said Luna’s mother, Julia Waites, adding that the pop star went above and beyond when she surprised her child at the hospital, tossed the girl a dime bag, and rolled up a $100 bill on her bed. “After all these years of treatments, I know it meant so much to Luna to be able to meet her idol and do a key bump of nose candy with her. Ever since she got blasted with Charli, she’s been telling all the nurses she wants to grow out her coke nail. She even got to keep the razor blade and mirror!” 

After wiping a tear from her eye, the mother added that Charli XCX had also invited Luna to come to her next show and do MDMA backstage with her drug dealer.

The post Charli XCX Does Line Of Coke With 11-Year-Old Make-A-Wish Fan appeared first on The Onion.

The lawsuit comes after the Board of Regents banned drag shows from the school's 11 public campuses.