(Pat Hernandez, KUHF Public Radio)
Mayor Annise Parker joined the Houston Parks director and numerous park boards to announce a plan to rebuild memorial park, after the drought killed thousands of trees and altered the canopy.
Re-Plant Memorial Park is a multi-year, multi-part campaign that targets the reforestation of the 1500 acre park. Houston Parks Director Joe Turner says the plan was developed before the devastating drought killed an estimated 11,000 trees.
“We knew we couldn’t take all of them out of here, and we also knew we had a forestry plan through Advanced Ecology that we’d been working with. That’s why we stayed away from the heavy forested areas of our tree removals.”
He says the removal and mulching of the understory continues, to prepare the sight for planting seedlings in the winter. (More at KUHF Public Radio)
OTHER HEADLINES:
- Authorities Find Kids Missing Since Wednesday’s High-Speed Car Chase (KTRK 13 News)
- Group Targeting McDonald’s in Houston Hospitals (Houston Chronicle)
- Cyclists Put the Pedal to the Metal to Get to Work (KRIV 26 News)
- Report: Youths Wield Control at State’s Largest Lockup (Texas Tribune)
- Mexicans Seeking Refuge Come Together to Speak Out (Texas Tribune)
- Bastrop State Park Reopens Cabins, Campground After Fire (KHOU 11 News)
- Scientists Link Rise In Quakes To Waste-Water Wells (KUHF Public Radio)
OPINIONS ON THE NEWS:
Health Care For Our Most Vulnerable
- Texas Children Need Health Insurance
(Houston Chronicle)
“We understand that tough times call for sacrifices. But when we see the dramatic difference that health insurance makes to the lives and health of our children, we wonder how effective [Texas Medicare & CHIP] cuts are, even financially, not to mention in human terms: the tremendous costs to taxpayers of all those emergency room visits and the fact that we are handicapping so many of our kids’ development.” - How to Save American Health Care
(Fared Zakaria, CNN)
“The United States has the most marketized system in the world and the most expensive and inefficient one with bad outcomes and low levels of customer satisfaction.”