Apparently, what is good enough for city employees is not good enough for their boss.
The city of Houston says the COVID-pandemic is causing a budget crisis. Three thousand city employees will be furloughed because of this. After a City Council meeting yesterday, Mayor Sylvester Turner was asked if he or his staff would be taking a pay cut.
"Three-thousand are being furloughed. That is a pay cut," Turner stated.
The reporter repeated the question and asked Turner if he would take a salary reduction.
"Uh, I don't anticipate it," is how he answered.
Elsewhere, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo is trying to tie the Texas re-opening to what she says will be a coming spike in COVID-19 infections. Hidalgo says 300 new contact tracers should be hired by next week. The timing, she says, is key.
"That should be right on time for when we start seeing symptoms and hospitalizations from folks who have been out and about since the Governor's re-opening started," Hidalgo said.
Elsewhere:
- It took just 90 minutes for the 15 million dollars in the Houston rental assistance program enrollment to be committed.
- According to numbers from the Texas Department of State Health Services, there has been a slight uptick in the number of cases being reported by Harris County. The County says that by the end of next week they should hit their goal of hiring 300 contact tracers.
- The Greater Houston area reported 5 deaths yesterday for a total of 353.
- The state of Texas reported 26 new deaths for a total of 1,172.
- Police in Pasadena say parents are taking down police tape to let their children play in a park playground that had been roped off because of COVID-19 concerns.
- The Golden Nugget Casino in Lake Charles is re-opening it's hotel, pool and restaurants tomorrow. The casino floor re-opens Monday.
- The Houston Museum of Natural Science is re-opening tomorrow.
- Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset enforcing social distancing will be 'almost impossible' during Go Topless Jeep Weekend, which is expected to draw thousands.