LAREDO, TX. (KGNS) - Officials with the City of Laredo Health Department are sharing new numbers regarding covid and flu cases across Webb County.

The new statistics were gathered by medical providers throughout the month of December 2023.

Now one covid-related death is being reported and nearly 200 people contracted the virus.

Officials saw over 6,800 patients displaying symptoms related to the flu.

Over 1,600 individuals got an influenza type illness.

In total over 300 cases of the flu were reported across the county.

LAREDO, TX. (KGNS) - A man is detained by Border Patrol following an alleged human smuggling attempt in west Laredo.

The incident happened on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024, at around 3 p.m. when several law enforcement agencies including Border Patrol and Laredo Police were seen near Santa Maria Ave. and Calton Road.

Authorities noticed a suspicious vehicle but when they attempted to conduct a traffic stop, tried to flee but then crashed into another vehicle.

After the crash, the man tried to flee on foot but was later caught by Border Patrol.

The suspect is being questioned by the agency.

LAREDO, TX. (KGNS) - A man is arrested for allegedly harboring a runaway teenager.

On Jan. 17, the Laredo Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit was able to locate an underage teen at a hotel who was allegedly being harbored by Jose Angel Vega, 33.

Vega is also facing charges of possession of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana.

The teen was taken to the Webb County Youth Village and the case remains under investigation.

McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — Texas Democrats are suggesting varied, and unprecedented ways to secure the border safely after the drowning deaths of three migrants this weekend in Eagle Pass, Texas, where Border Patrol agents are currently barred by state officials from a park along the river.

This includes stripping Texas’ National Guard and halting all asylums, at least until Congress can enact immigration reform policies.

During a call with media on Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, suggested federalizing the Texas National Guard, which is part of Operation Lone Star and whose troops are currently guarding a newly installed gate at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass to prevent federal law enforcement from entering the park or boat ramp to the Rio Grande.

On Friday evening, a mother and her 8-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son drowned in the Rio Grande and their bodies were recovered by Mexican officials.

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, was the first to report the deaths, which have sparked an outcry from Democrats and migrant advocates.

“Operation Lone Star seized public property in Eagle Pass’ Shelby Park, to expand their border security efforts. This seizure immediately resulted in the drowning of a migrant woman and her two children due to Operation Lone Star’s blockade of the area limiting Border Patrol’s ability to reach the drowning migrants aiding and abetting the death of children in the name of border security,” Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said Tuesday.

“Given the events of the past few days in particular, President Biden needs to consider federalizing the Texas National Guard because they are being used by the governor to interfere with the duties of the federal government when it comes to immigration. We have to stop this bloodthirstiness we have to stop this harm and this cruelty. We as a Congress have to get real about solutions,” Castro said.

Until Congress comes up with solutions, Texas state Rep. Eddie Morales Jr., D-Eagle Pass, suggested all asylum applications should temporarily be halted to dissuade migrants from heading north into the dangerous region.

“Here’s where I’m coming from: Being boots on the ground here it’s evident that the governor wants to use this and taking over Shelby Park as part of a confrontation for a bigger issue, right? Pitting Biden and the state against each other to just keep this issue more in the limelight. Why feed them exactly what they want? Why not have a temporary ban? It sends a clear message to Latin America that no one will be allowed in here until Congress takes action and it effectively puts the ball and eyes on the right place, which is Congress, and their unmitigated failure to take action in over 30 years,” Morales told Border Report.

Gov. Greg Abbott has repeatedly said that Texas will continue to guard its borders because the state believes the Biden administration has failed to keep immigrants from illegally entering.

“We will use every available tool and strategy to secure the border in Biden’s absence,” Abbott tweeted Tuesday on X.

On Monday, Abbott tweeted a photo of Texas National Guard soldiers at Shelby Park, writing “Texas will continue to use every tool possible to block illegal immigration.”

U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, says Abbott’s language is inciting hatred toward asylum-seekers, and she said this type of rhetoric is what propelled a white supremacist to fatally shoot 23 people in her West Texas town of El Paso in 2019.

“This white supremacist used that language and used an assault-style weapon to slaughter 23 people in my community because he wanted to ‘stop the invasion.’ So all of this has consequences,” Escobar said.

The U.S. Justice Department has filed two requests with the U.S. Supreme Court to try to get Border Patrol agents access to the park. 

McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — Hundreds of migrants have been taken to shelters and other facilities in northern Mexico by Mexican officials who are urging them not to stay in unprotected tent encampments on the Rio Grande during a brutal bitter cold hitting the region.

About 200 asylum-seekers, mostly women and children, loaded onto buses sent by Mexican officials on Sunday and Monday and were taken to a former hospital facility in Matamoros, Mexico, a local pastor told Border Report on Tuesday.

The federally-run hospital facility is guarded and has tents lined in a parking lot and offers hot meals and supplies to the migrants. An estimated 1,000 migrants are currently staying in rows of tents at the facility, which opened in the fall.

Only about 45 migrants, mostly men, stayed overnight Monday at the tent encampment along the river, Pastor Abraham Barberi said.

He said he visited the migrants until about 10 p.m. on Monday as temperatures dipped into the 20s in what is normally a subtropical environment.

“It’s cold!” said Barberi who runs a church in Matamoros. He said he offered to open its doors to his congregates and to the migrants but he said nobody wanted to take him up on the offer.

“They didn’t want to leave because they wanted to stay behind and protect their property,” he said.

Those who got on the buses took only the clothes on their backs to the hospital complex, which is about a 10-minute drive south of the river, he said.

Other shelters also expanded their capacity and the local government in Matamoros turned a gym and swimming pool complex into a facility for the migrants, which can hold 400 people, Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities Rio Grande Valley, told Border Report.

She said some of the migrants from the hospital facility moved to the gymnasium for a more protected environment out of the cold and wind.

And another shelter also expanded its capacity in Matamoros.

“The goal was to move as many who wanted to be in a more protected space,” Pimentel said.

About 55 miles west in the border town of Reynosa, Mexico, the migrant shelter Senda Vida also expanded its capacity and was taking in as many asylum-seekers who wanted to get in from the cold, she said.

On Sunday and Monday, migrants at the Senda facility were given blankets and jackets and free eye exams as volunteers with the nonprofit Practice Mercy Foundation spent two days delivering goods and assessing their needs, the organization’s founder Alma Ruth told Border Report.

In addition, local nonprofits were working with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials to limit the number of asylum-seekers waiting on international bridges and urging them to seek shelter throughout the cold spell. The bridge overpasses are colder than other areas because winds pass underneath and ice can even accumulate on them.

Temperatures Tuesday night are again expected to get into the 20s, but warmer weather, into the 50s, is forecast for Wednesday and Thursday.

(CNN) - A man has been arrested after allegedly biting a crew member on an All Nippon Airways flight heading to Seattle.

Tuesday’s incident on flight AMA 118 occurred mid-flight, according to an airline spokesperson.

The male passenger, whose identity was not released by authorities, was detained after the plane landed in Tokyo.

Officials say the female flight attendant suffered minor injuries.

Over the past month, several incidents of aggressive or bad behavior on flights have been reported.

That includes an American Airlines flight that had to be diverted to an airport in Texas after a passenger allegedly struck a flight attendant and at least one police officer.

RICHMOND, Texas (AP) — A man fatally shot his estranged wife and three other relatives, including his 8-year-old niece, at a home in suburban Houston over the weekend before killing himself, authorities said Wednesday.

Alrick “Shawn” Barrett, 46, opened fire at the home just before 7 a.m. Saturday after returning his young child from a visit, Fort Bend County Sheriff Eric Fagan said at a news conference. Fagan said that after arriving at the home, Barrett told his estranged wife that he wanted to reunite, but she refused.

Deputies responded to the home after getting a call from a 13-year-old boy in the home, Fagan said. The sheriff’s office said the teen is Barrett’s nephew.

The sheriff’s office said that the 13-year-old and Barrett’s 7-year-old child hid during the shooting and were not harmed. The mother of Barrett’s estranged wife was also in the home and was unharmed.

In addition to killing his niece and estranged wife, who was 44, Barrett also killed her 43-year-old brother and 46-year-old sister, according to the sheriff’s office. Fagan said he was not immediately releasing the names of those killed.

Fagan said that some of the family members lived in the home and others were visiting.

He said that last January, authorities had responded to a disturbance call because of a verbal argument between Barrett and his estranged wife. Fagan said that they were still looking into Barrett’s background but so far hadn’t found any further interaction between their office and Barrett.

The sheriff’s office said that since it remains an ongoing investigation, details about the weapon Barrett used are not available at this time.