DALLAS, Texas, May 1 -- Baylor Scott and White Health issued the following news release: In the first two weeks after Baylor Scott & White Health's internal announcement about a COVID-19 expansion of its long-established employee emergency assistance fund, more than $1.5 million has been committed by the health system's board members, executive team, employees and the community. The fund will provide immediate relief to staff who have been directly impacted or may be incurring unexpected costs   more

DALLAS, Texas, April 29 -- The American College of Emergency Physicians issued the following news release: With some waiting rooms nearly empty, emergency physicians are seeing a worrisome trend play out across the country. Nearly a third of American adults (29 percent) say that they have delayed or avoided medical care because they are concerned about contracting COVID-19, according to a new poll from Morning Consult and the American College of Emergency Physicians. "Waiting to see a doctor i  more

AUSTIN, Texas, May 2 -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas issued the following news release: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a letter with his own opinion on Texas' vote by mail laws. His non-legally binding letter goes against a Texas District Court's ruling in April that states all Texans can request a mail-in ballot due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The Court's order remains the only judicial ruling interpreting whether individuals can vote by mail under the disabilit  more

HOUSTON, Texas, May 1 -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas issued the following news release: Attorneys representing a woman recently released from an immigration detention facility in Houston by a federal court in April have moved to convert the case into a class action to protect other medically-vulnerable people from COVID-19. At the time the original case was filed, only one staffer at the detention center had tested positive for COVID-19. Since then, six new cases of COVID-19 at   more

DALLAS, Texas, April 28 -- The American College of Emergency Physicians issued the following news release: A global pandemic is not stopping America's emergency physicians from advocating directly with lawmakers about what Congress can do to protect the nation's patients and health care workers. Instead of their traditional trek to Capitol Hill, tomorrow nearly 500 emergency physicians across the country will meet virtually with their members of Congress to share their perspectives from the fro  more

DALLAS, Texas, April 29 -- The American Heart Association issued the following news release: Upward income mobility is associated with a trade-off between well-being and cardiometabolic health, according to new research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open access journal of the American Heart Association. The article appears in a special spotlight issue exploring different aspects of the complex relationships between psychosocial factors and cardiovascular health.  more

NASHVILLE, Tennessee, May 2 -- Vanderbilt University Medical Center issued the following news: Marburg is a distant, more lethal cousin of the RNA virus that causes COVID-19. An outbreak of Marburg hemorrhagic fever in Angola in 2004-2005 killed 90% of the approximately 250 people it infected. Now researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and Vanderbilt University Medical Center led by Alexander Bukreyev, PhD, and James Crowe, MD, have isolated non-neutralizing monoclo  more

ARLINGTON, Texas, April 28 -- The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development issued the following news release: PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs (SRL) and ASCD are joining forces to launch #SeniorPortrait, a public awareness campaign to amplify the voices of millions of high school seniors whose class experiences were dramatically disrupted by the coronavirus shutdown. "As soon as school closed, the outpouring of disappointment was crystal clear," said Katherine Whitington, educ  more

PORTLAND, Oregon, April 30 -- The Center for Biological Diversity issued the following news release: The Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies has failed to properly manage the conservation program for the highly imperiled lesser prairie chicken, wasting funds on an unneeded building in Idaho and wrongfully paying staff salaries out of the program's endowment, according to a third-party audit of WAFWA's efforts. WAFWA acknowledges the audit of the program, administered on behalf of  more

MANHATTAN, New York, April 28 -- Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a campaign of Everytown for Gun Safety, issued the following news: The Texas chapter of Moms Demand Action, a part of Everytown, released the following statement in response to reports of a domestic violence-involved shooting in San Antonio. Police believe that a woman shot and killed her two children and her mother; reports indicate that the shooter is also dead. "Our thoughts are with the families and communities   more

FRISCO, Texas, May 1 -- The Health Information Trust Alliance issued the following news release: HITRUST Assessment XChange(TM) (XChange), a wholly-owned subsidiary of HITRUST(R), is providing healthcare organizations free access to its third-party risk management (TPRM) solution, including methodologies, technology, and staff augmentation. The decision to provide the service free of charge was made after discussions with leaders in the healthcare industry concerning operational challenges, fin  more

BEAUMONT, Texas, April 28 -- Immigration Equality issued the following news release: Immigration Equality and Lambda Legal, along with co-counsel Vinson & Elkins, submitted letters to ICE demanding the release of two asylum seekers living with HIV who are currently detained at the IAH Secure Detention Facility in eastern Texas. The men were severely persecuted in Cuba because of their political activism and sexual orientation. They have been detained in the U.S. since October 2019. The legal a  more

BEAUMONT, Texas, April 28 -- Lambda Legal issued the following news release on April 27: Lambda Legal and Immigration Equality, along with co-counsel Vinson & Elkins, submitted a letter to ICE demanding the release of two asylum seekers living with HIV who are currently detained at the IAH Secure Detention Facility in eastern Texas. The men were severely persecuted in Cuba because of their political activism and sexual orientation. They have been detained in the U.S. since October 2019. The le  more

WASHINGTON, April 29 -- The League of United Latin American Citizens issued the following news release on April 28: Domingo Garcia, National President of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), issued the following statement in honor of Guillermo "Memo" Garcia. Memo Garcia was a beloved soccer coach in the El Paso community and had been outside of the Walmart store in El Paso, Texas helping with a fundraiser for his daughter's soccer team when he was attacked. After nearly nine-m  more

WASHINGTON, April 30 -- The Military Officers Association of America issued the following news: Members of the Greater Dallas and the North Texas chapters of MOAA founded in 2014 the Veterans Center of North Texas (VCONT), a nonprofit that assists veterans and their families with accessing needed benefits and services. Today, about 13 members of the chapters -- which merged this year to become the Greater Dallas and North Texas Chapter -- support VCONT. Lt. Col. Charles Kelley, USAF (Ret), cha  more

WASHINGTON, April 28 -- NARAL Pro-Choice America issued the following news release on April 27: NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation launched a new ad campaign exposing the hypocrisy of anti-choice officials who call themselves "pro-life" while jeopardizing the lives of millions of Americans amid the COVID-19 pandemic. NARAL Pro-Choice America will be running seven 15-second digital ads in Washington, DC, Georgia, Texas, Iowa, and Maine, which showcase the hypocrisy on full display from anti-c  more

WASHINGTON, May 1 -- The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws issued the following news release: Officials with the United States Department of Agriculture are continuing to approve states' plans regulating domestic hemp production. Under federal law, states wishing to license commercial hemp production must submit their plans for approval from the federal agency. In recent weeks, the agency has approved plans submitted by regulators in Florida, Kansas, South Carolina, and W  more

WASHINGTON, May 2 -- Protect Our Care issued the following news: Protect Our Care marked Medicaid Awareness Month throughout April with activities nationwide, highlighting Medicaid's overwhelming importance as the country grapples with a crisis that threatens Americans' health and safety. Medicaid is an essential program for more than 70 million Americans currently receiving coverage, including more than 35 million children and 7.2 million seniors. Despite its successes, Medicaid is continuousl  more

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, April 28 -- The Society of Professional Journalists issued the following news: The Society of Professional Journalists recognizes the best collegiate journalism in Region 8 with 2019 Mark of Excellence Awards winners. SPJ's Region 8 comprises Oklahoma and Texas. First-place winners will compete at the national level among other regional MOE winners from the 12 SPJ regions. Regional winners would normally be recognized at regional conferences, however, all SPJ Regional C  more

SAN ANTONIO, Texas, April 29 -- Southwest Research Institute issued the following news release: Southwest Research Institute Senior Safety Engineer Matthew Herron, P.E., CSP, CPE, has been awarded the 2020 Emerging Professional Award by the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP). The award recognizes Herron's leadership, volunteerism, and desire to impact workplace safety. "This is a tremendous honor, and it feels wonderful to be recognized by an organization I have been a member of f  more

HOUSTON, Texas, April 28 -- The Local Initiatives Support Corp. issued the following news release, dated April 24: The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) has named one of the country's top community development practitioners to lead its investment activity in Houston, building on the organization's $381 million in local support for affordable housing, small businesses, health, community safety, education and jobs. Steven Dow, founder and executive director of the nationally recognize  more

WASHINGTON, April 28 -- The Texas Association of Broadcasters issued the following news: TAB is offering a Noon CDT webinar this Thursday, April 30, to help member stations document and comply with the use of federal loans received as part of the federal government's financial lifeline to businesses during the pandemic. The free online session, produced by TAB's federal legal counsel, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, is a follow up to an earlier April webinar on applying for available SBA loan  more

WASHINGTON, April 28 -- The Texas Association of Broadcasters issued the following news: Local broadcasters have been garnering overwhelming support from the Texas Congressional delegation over the past couple weeks for two different efforts to help stations overcome the financial strains stemming from the COVID19 pandemic. A proposal to direct billions in federal ad dollars to local newsrooms - broadcast and print - is the focus of one effort that, in part, acknowledges the extraordinary drai  more

AUSTIN, Texas, April 27 -- Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association issued the following statement by President Ed Longanecker: While the oil and gas industry has in recent weeks been battered from destructive market conditions and extremely low commodity prices, energy companies are still finding ways to step up and help communities close to home that have been impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Through charitable contributions and generous donations, our indust  more

HOUSTON, Texas, April 30 -- The Texas Organizing Project issued the following news release: Thanks to the leadership of Commissioner Rodney Ellis, the Harris County Commissioners Court gave preliminary approval for the creation of a $15 million fund to help people affected by the COVID-19 crisis who were unjustly left out of the federal stimulus package. "The impact of this crisis has been felt by nearly every family in Harris County, but the federal government isn't helping all of us," said D  more

ARLINGTON, Texas, April 30 -- The Telecommunications Industry Association issued the following news release: The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), the leading association representing the manufacturers and suppliers of high-tech communications networks, announced a series of upgrades and updates to its online Sustainability Assessor. The Sustainability Assessor was developed by TIA's QuEST Forum for companies looking to rapidly self-assess and benchmark their sustainability and cor  more

KANSAS CITY, Missouri, May 1 -- The Veterans of Foreign Wars issued the following news release: One of VA's largest regional health care networks has come under scrutiny by the Department's inspector general's office. The North Texas VA Health Care System reportedly went without a full-time gynecologist for almost two years. Other issues reported includes a lack of privacy and secure spaces for female patients, according to the Jan. 23 report from the VA Office of the Inspector General. Texas  more