For everything that we love about reality television, it’s often overlooked that before our eyes are real people — scripted or not! — doing their best, and most times the most, to simply entertain us. For those that succeed in doing so, the pressure to continue finding ways of putting on for the world while maintaining that same persona the world originally fell for can be taxing for any one person from year to year.
Let’s take decades-spanning reality TV queen Joseline Hernandez for example.
Her introduction in 2012 by way of the debut season of Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta brought forth a rambunctious, unfiltered and by all means unruly personality. It’s what Black America had been craving since the fire-hot debut a near-decade prior of Tiffany “New York” Pollard as a castmember-turned-solo-star from Flavor Of Love. You could say VH1 was on a roll.
After exhausting the LHH franchise, Hernandez branched out into branding herself in music, films, daytime hosting and television production by way of her very own reality TV franchise, Joseline’s Cabaret. However, living the life of a wild child stripper in exchange for fame and notoriety came with its vices; for Joseline, that happened to be cocaine.
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While in some ways fueling the machine that kept her in the limelight, in reality the drug abuse was taking her away from motherhood — her beautiful daughter with Stevie J turns 10 this year — and pretty much everything positive that we mentioned above. Thankfully, through the power of strong will and dedication, it appears that she’s not only been sober for the past three years but had an important message to share to young girls in particular.
“My mind is clear and the body is strong,” she wrote in a lengthy note shared to her social media channels today (January 13), highlighting a three-year journey of being, in her words, “off that nose candy,” in addition to achieving clear-mindedness and a sense of solitude. Thanking God for giving her the grace to push forward and humbleness to forgive herself for past mistakes, she gave all praised to The Most High that she didn’t succumb to “the white girl” — again, her words. Speaking to the young girls directly, she ended the caption by adding, “it’s not a game and it’s not worth it.” Ain’t that the truth.
We can only pray she intends to practice what she’s currently preaching, especially with the nature of a typical season of Cabaret in mind. Nonetheless, we have to give credit where it’s due when someone dedicates to the work of overcoming drug addiction and getting clean. Not to mention, she is getting busy with that hand-to-eye coordination in terms of the therapeutic slap-boxing.
Respect to The Puerto Rican Princess!
We salute Joseline Hernandez again on the three-years-and-counting sobriety journey, and most importantly for spreading the message of anti-drug use when it comes to cocaine. See what others are saying on social media below:
1. I’m so glad Joseline Hernandez is 3 yrs sober. It’s beautiful to see her growth
via @Sam_E_Couture
2. All glory to God Joseline Hernandez marks 3 years clean#joselinehernandez #godisgreat #hiphopculture #follow #jviewsdaily
via @jviewsdaily
3. “Three years off that nose candy” – Ms. Joseline Hernandez, MY PR Princess!
via @TheeMomager_Kai
4. I love Joseline Hernandez
via @bomb_2domme
5. I love how she’s honest about her journey
via @itsMagicHeaux
6. The white girl . Go, Joseline .
via @niinabelle
7. Love this for her. Go awf Joseline. The PR Princess.
via @YaFavJamerican
8. It’s a few of y’all on this timeline that needs to follow Joseline’s lead and put down that WhyGurr
via @itsKARY_
9. damn i am proud of Joseline bein 3yrs clean. That takes a lot of discipline and dedication!!
via @DelBaby7
10. Good for her! Now can she go whoop Amber’s ass? I want Joseline to get her lick back.
via @JoshuaJamal
Great Job Keenan Higgins & the Team @ Black America Web Source link for sharing this story.
The parents of an 8-year-old boy have filed a lawsuit against the man accused of sexually assaulting their child at a Houston Texans game last month, along with the food, beverage and housekeeping provider at NRG Stadium and the company that manages the stadium and surrounding complex.
According to the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Harris County, the family of the victim accuses Ushay Marquise Nixon, 21, of assailing the boy during a Dec. 14 football game at NRG Stadium. Nixon, beverage and housekeeping provider Aramark Sports and Entertainment Services of Texas, LLC, and NRG Park managing company ASM Global Parent Inc. are listed as defendants in the lawsuit, which seeks monetary damages as well as court costs.
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Nixon, who worked for Aramark at the time, is also facing criminal charges of indecency with a child and aggravated sexual assault of a child, according to Harris County court records. The Houston Police Department, in a Tuesday social media post, said it wanted to speak with anyone who might have information about the alleged crime.
“This case is every parent’s worst nightmare,” attorney Anna Greenberg, who is representing the boy’s family, said in a statement. “An 8-year-old boy went to his first NFL game expecting excitement and joy, and instead he was targeted by an employee who never should have been allowed anywhere near children.”
Nixon is alleged to have approached the boy in a bathroom before locking him into a stall with him and attempting to assault him, according to court documents, which show the boy then rushed out of the stall back to his parent, who was waiting outside the bathroom.
According to the lawsuit, a “good Samaritan” witnessed the incident in the bathroom and alerted the boy’s parent. The boy then pointed out Nixon as the alleged assailant, causing Nixon to run away, court documents state.
The lawsuit claims that Aramark was negligent in hiring Nixon because he had previously been charged with indecency with a child and indecent assault. Nixon was charged with those crimes in 2022, according to Harris County court records, which show the charges were later dismissed.
In a statement to Houston Public Media on Tuesday, an Aramark spokesperson said the company was aware of the “very disturbing situation” and that Nixon was no longer employed with the company. The spokesperson also said the company was fully cooperating with authorities.
The lawsuit accuses ASM of not adequately protecting the 8-year-old boy while he was on the company’s property. ASM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nixon’s defense attorney in the criminal case did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An attorney for him in the civil case was not listed in online court records as of Tuesday.
Great Job & the Team @ Houston Public Media for sharing this story.
The sizzling temperature pace set nationally in recent years continued in 2025, as the contiguous 48 United States experienced its fourth-hottest annual average temperature on record. As reported by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) on January 13, the 48-state temperature of 54.64°F for 2025 placed fourth behind 2024, 2012, and 2016. The average for 2025 came in 2.63°F above the average of 52.01°F for the entire 20th century (1901-2000).
Across the entire 131 years of U.S. recordkeeping, the ten warmest years are now packed into the last two decades, and nine of those years have occurred since 2011. For over half a century, the Dust Bowl year of 1934 reigned as the nation’s hottest on record, but since 2015, most years have ranked warmer than 1934.
Figure 1. Average annual temperature for the 48 contiguous U.S. states for each year through 2025 in records that go back to 1895. (Image credit: NOAA/NCEI)
The annual-scale warmth is especially impressive given that the year got off to a relatively chilly start. But the consistent warmth that arrived in springtime — and especially from autumn onward — made the difference. The latter part of December was astonishingly warm in many parts of the country, including the warmest Christmas Day national average (December 25) by a margin of 3°F.
Month by month, the 48-state average played out this way: January: 33rd coldest February: 54th warmest March: 6th warmest April: 13th warmest May: 26th warmest June: 7th warmest July: 19th warmest August: 27th warmest September: 7th warmest October: 7th warmest November: 4th warmest December: 5thwarmest
Consistency also pushed 2025’s heat over the top on a state-by-state basis. Two states – Nevada and Utah – experienced their warmest year on record, as did the four-state Southwest region as a whole, and every state made it into its respective Top 30 list for heat.
Figure 2. A map of state-by-state rankings for temperature in 2025 as compared to all 131 years in the period 1895-2025. Higher numbers denote warmer conditions. (Image credit: NOAA/NCEI)
About three times as many record highs as record lows
Independent meteorologist Guy Walton, who publishes at guyonclimate.com and on Bluesky as @climateguyw, has compiled and analyzed local heat records from the United States and beyond for more than 15 years, cowriting peer-reviewed papers on the topic. According to preliminary NOAA/NCEI data as analyzed by Walton, locations across the 50 U.S. states set or tied 38,956 daily record highs in 2025 compared to 13,204 daily record lows — meaning that there were close to three times as many record daily highs as there were lows. The ratio was even more skewed in the more rarefied categories of monthly record highs vs. lows (2,572 vs. 296) and all-time record highs vs. lows (135 vs. 17).
A drier-than-average 2025 for the nation as a whole
The year 2025 ranked as the 40th driest on record when averaged across the 48 contiguous states. This national-scale level of dryness wasn’t especially unusual, although it did mean that five of the last six years have fallen below the long-term increase in nationwide precipitation (see Fig. 3).
Figure 3. Average annual precipitation for the 48 contiguous U.S. states for each year through 2025 in records that go back to 1895. (Image credit: NOAA/NCEI)
Precipitation records are almost always more variable in time and space than temperature records, and this year was no exception. The Great Plains and the Tennessee and Ohio valleys were among the few areas that racked up heavier-than-average precipitation for 2025 (Kentucky had its 10th wettest year on record). An absence of hurricane landfalls in 2025 for the first time in a decade (see below) contributed to drier-than-average conditions for the year along most of the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, particularly Florida, which had its 11th driest year on record.
Figure 4. A map of state-by-state rankings for precipitation in 2025 as compared to all 131 years in the period 1895-2025. Higher numbers denote wetter conditions. (Image credit: NOAA/NCEI)
Flood and fire produced the deadliest and most damaging U.S. weather/climate disasters of 2025
The year 2025 brought 23 weather-related U.S. disasters that each topped at least $1 billion in damage, according to the U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters website. The site was adopted by Climate Central last October after it had been discontinued by NOAA, its original creator, last May. Adam Smith, who had served as lead NOAA scientist on the project over the last 15 years, continues to lead the project at its new home at Climate Center, where he is now senior climate impacts scientist.
The billion-dollar disasters of 2025 caused a total of 276 direct fatalities. Their estimated cost, according to Climate Central, is $311 billion (USD 2026). This puts the year in eighth place among the 46 years of data after adjusting for inflation. The year’s tally of 23 billion-dollar events was the third highest in the 46-year database.
After the US admin cancelled the $B Climate + Weather Disaster dataset, @climatecentral.org hired the scientists who ran it and set it back up. Now the 2025 numbers are in: it’s 3rd highest year on record and highest year w/o land-falling hurricanes. More: www.climatecentral.org/climate-serv…
The costliest event of the year by far was a series of cataclysmic wildfires that ravaged more than 57,000 acres (89 square miles) across the Los Angeles area in early January (see photo at top). As reported by Climate Central, the total direct losses were estimated to excdeed $60 billion, making it by far the nation’s most expensive wildfire disaster in modern records. Most of the damage was wreaked by the massive Eaton and Palisades fires, which together destroyed more than 12,000 structures.
In a classic and tragic sequence, two wet years had led to abundant grasses and shrubs that then dried out in the months leading up to the fires. Virtually no rain had fallen over the area from May through December 2024, the second-driest such stretch in records going back to 1877. Topping things off, an unusually potent wind-making weather setup arrived in early January, pushing fierce winds far deeper into the Los Angeles area than usual.
At least 31 people were killed in the L.A. fires, but as with many such disasters, the indirect toll was far greater. One study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in August estimated that the fires contributed to at least 440 deaths. These deaths were related to such factors as smoke inhalation, which complicated cardiovascular and respiratory conditions, and physical and mental health emergencies in which response was compromised by fire-related disruption.
An event that didn’t make the billion-dollar disaster list, but that produced the year’s highest direct/immediate death toll from a U.S. weather disaster, was the catastrophic flash flooding that peaked early on the July 4 holiday along the Guadalupe River in the Texas Hill Country. At least 138 people died in the floods, most of them on the Fourth, when torrential rains that fell from a slow-moving thunderstorm complex triggered a rapid rise along the Guadalupe that inundated cabins, vehicles, and campgrounds.
Figure 5. Texas Game Wardens and local law enforcement carry the body of a flood victim from the banks of the Guadalupe River during recovery operations on July 5, 2025, near Hunt, Texas. (Photo by Eric Vryn/Getty Images)
A three-hour rainfall total of around 6.5 inches (170 mm) was recorded in the predawn hours along the Guadalupe at Hunt, at a location ideally positioned to flood the narrow canyon just downstream. (An even larger five-day total of 20.32 inches for July 3-8 was estimated near Bertram, about 100 miles to the northeast of the Guadalupe flood.) These rains were fed by the remnants of former Tropical Storm Barry, which had moved north over several days after its landfall in northeast Mexico.
Although a flash flood warning had been issued along the Guadalupe by the National Weather Service several hours ahead of the worst flooding, multiple weak or missing links in the warning-to-response process left dozens of people, including many children, unaware of the grave danger and unable to evacuate once the flooding struck full force. The event was the deadliest U.S. flash flood in 49 years, and it marked the latest in a string of weather-disaster tolls that would once have been considered unlikely or even unimaginable in the 21st century.
The Texas floods also followed several months of intense drought — a premier example of the “weather whiplash” that’s been increasing as a warming climate boosts hydrologic extremes. The syndrome both increases the impacts of drought, mainly through landscape-parching heat, while also forcing more water to evaporate into the atmosphere, which raises the odds of intensified rainfall events.
As I work through the 1.5 hour edit I’m reviewing images captured on the day of the tornado outbreak in North Dakota.This was an image I had yet to review clearly showing the EF5 Captured south of Enderlin, June 20, 2025Video edit to be premiered via www.youtube.com/DanielShawAU
U.S. tornadoes: A busy but not-super-destructive year, and the first EF5 in more than a decade
Based on preliminary local reports compiled by the NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center, an estimated 1559 tornadoes plowed across the U.S. landscape in 2025. This is substantially above the 2005-2015 average of 1402, and the third-highest total in a separate analysis dating back to 2010.
The tornado death toll of 67 in 2026 was close to the recent annual average of around 69. The deadliest single tornado crashed through Laurel County in southeastern Kentucky after dark on May 16. This mile-wide tornado, which peaked at EF4 on the enhanced Fujita scale, took 17 lives. The tornado’s location east of the Mississippi and its arrival after dark exemplify two dangerous ongoing trends. The areas of peak tornado activity are tending to shift from Tornado Alley of the Southern Great Plains toward the mid- and lower Mississippi Valley and points east, where rural populations are more dense than in the Plains and often lack easy access to robust shelter. Moreover, tornado season here often starts by late winter; this pushes more hours of potential twister development into the nighttime period, when visibility is poor (especially in forested areas).
Of the year’s fatalities, 25 (about 40%) occurred in mobile/manufactured homes, which are especially vulnerable in tornadic winds.
Another tornado – one that took three lives but caused relatively little property damage, striking near Enderlin, North Dakota, on June 20, 2025 – made history by ending a highly publicized record-long “drought” of top-end tornadoes, those ranked as EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. Prior to this event, the last EF5 tornado had struck more than 12 years earlier, in Moore, Oklahoma, on May 20, 2013. Research published online just months before the Enderlin tornado suggested that the unprecedented absence of EF5 twisters could be related to changes in how single-family-home destruction was rated before and after the switch from the original Fujita Scale to the Enhanced Fujita Scale.
Hurricanes steered clear of the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts, but two former tropical cyclones contributed to havoc in Texas and Alaska
As summarized by Jeff Masters in a 2025 season wrap-up post on December 1, four out of this year’s five Atlantic hurricanes reached Category 4 or 5—the highest percentage on record for any Atlantic season. However, prevailing steering currents kept all of those behemoths away from U.S. shores. This was the first year since 2015 that not a single hurricane made landfall on the U.S. Gulf and Atlantic coasts.
The only system to reach the nation while still an active named storm was Tropical Storm Chantal, which brought 50-mph sustained winds to northeastern South Carolina on July 6. Torrential rains from slow-moving Chantal struck North Carolina, and the storm led to $500 million in damage while taking three lives.
A great deal of additional U.S. impact came from two named storms – one from the Atlantic and one from the Northwest Pacific – that affected the nation long after they had gone post-tropical. As noted above, the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry fueled the catastrophic floods in Central Texas in early July, almost a week after Barry’s landfall in Mexico. And in Alaska, the remnants of Typhoon Halong caused widespread destruction in a number of Native Alaskan communities along and near the state’s southwest coast. More than 1500 people were forced from their homes, and record storm surge flooded many structures in the town of Kipnuk.
Figure 6. As I watched this aurora play out above Louisville, Colorado, on November 11, 2025, it was only perhaps 25% as vivid to the naked eye as it looks here – but the structures and colors were all there, shifting in mesmerizing fashion. (Image credit: Bob Henson)
An autumn feast for skywatching eyes
Perhaps the most captivating atmospheric event of 2025 wasn’t too destructive at all – except maybe to the pride of aurora lovers who missed out on it. A fast-evolving pair of coronal mass ejections from the sun, the second one moving faster than the first, teamed up for a “cannibal” solar storm that led to an impressive northern-lights sky show across much of the United States and other parts of the Northern Hemisphere, especially on November 11-12.
Arriving with only a few hours of notice, the event was photographed by countless people using cellphone cameras that can now capture auroras in far more vivid colors than the naked human eye can detect. So don’t despair — your friend who saw the aurora while you missed out may not have gotten quite as much of a visual treat as their phone pix might suggest!
Jeff Masters contributed to this post.
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Great Job Bob Henson & the Team @ Yale Climate Connections Source link for sharing this story.
Throughout the segment, Evening News treated climate change as contextual background in a story explicitly framed around youth climate anxiety and individual reproductive choices. Global warming was presented as one influence among many, not as a driver of instability meriting examination on its own terms. The framing steered viewers to question whether climate is given too much weight in personal decision making, effectively displacing a discussion about the real, worsening, and existential impacts of climate change.
After citing a survey showing that climate concerns influence some young people’s reproductive decisions, the story pivoted to fertility and economic data suggesting that declining birth rates are driven by economic factors rather than climate change. Regardless of whether this is even accurate, the claim further narrowed the frame, positioning climate concern as secondary and contestable rather than as a rational response to worsening conditions and separating climate disruption from the harm it compounds.
To reinforce that narrowing frame, CBS featured Alina Voss, communications director of the American Conservation Coalition, which CBS described as an “environmental nonprofit that promotes conservative values.” The ACC describes itself as a “pro-innovation,” limited-government organization that prioritizes market-based approaches to environmental issues. Voss told viewers that “the innovation is working” and, according to the correspondent, expressed confidence that “technology will protect families from the worst impacts of climate change,” a claim the segment did not challenge or contextualize. By presenting that reassurance without scrutiny, the segment also laundered technological optimism, a familiar narrative that downplays climate change.
Great Job Media Matters for America & the Team @ Media Matters for America Source link for sharing this story.
Black men face unique barriers when it comes to seeking and receiving mental health care. Here are some of them.
Cultural Stigma
When it comes to mental health stigma in the Black community, many community members tend to adhere to an unhealthy definition of strength, particularly when it comes to Black men, says Derrick Gordon, PhD, a psychologist and an associate professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut.
“As folks of color, we’re supposed to be able to kind of endure independently. We’re supposed to have the capacity to kind of manage this on our own,” Dr. Gordon says.
“Black men are taught inherently to be strong and stoic, and there’s this idea of like John Henry–ism – this inherent need, or at least socialization, of Black men, to be strong and to outperform everyone and everything,” says Omotola K. Ajibade, MD, MPH, apsychiatrist and the founder of Ajibade Consulting Group in Atlanta.
“That’s really in order to not be perceived as weak,” says Dr. Ajibade. “Black men tried to hide their vulnerabilities, even from those who love them and would want to help nurture and heal some of those vulnerabilities.”
According to research published in the Journal of Black Psychology, certain faith communities, especially the Christian tradition, sometimes exacerbate negative stigma around mental health issues and care within the Black community, encouraging members to “pray about it” rather than also seek professional help.
“One of the biggest barriers that we encounter sometimes has to do with folks’ belief that, ‘if I have these mental health challenges, I don’t believe in my faith tradition as strongly as I should.’” Gordon says. He tries to reframe this conversation with clients so they can understand that it’s possible to rely on both psychotherapy and faith. “Those two things are not in opposition to one another,” says Gordon.
Medical Mistrust
Medical mistrust involves fear of harm or exploitation by medical professionals or institutions. This mistrust may stem from previous negative experiences, familial narratives, or systemic inequities such as racial biases and other discriminatory practices.
When discussing medical mistrust, we often point to the Tuskegee Experiments as an example, says Ajibade. The Tuskegee Experiments were held by the United States Public Health Service (PHS), which was the precursor to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and involved using Black men without adequate consent to test the effects of untreated syphilis over a 40-year span. But the origins of the Black community’s healthcare hesitation go back much farther.
“There are generations of things that have happened to Black people before and since, that all contribute to the nature of mistrust. Especially when you think about mental health, you also have to think about the fact that mental health issues are not divorced from the societies that birthed them.”
Another historical example is drapetomania, a fabricated mental illness that was once said to be what led enslaved people to run away, says Ajibade. Coined in 1851 by Dr. Samuel Cartwright, drapetomania was seen as a legitimate disease and used to justify slavery in the 19th century.
“The idea that you would want to escape your own dehumanization and oppression was seen by the mental health community as an illness,” says Ajibade. “When you’ve had generations of this medical gaslighting come and go, you tend to not trust the system at large.”
“‘Medical gaslighting’ [is] an act that invalidates a patient’s genuine clinical concern without proper medical evaluation, because of physician ignorance, implicit bias, or medical paternalism,” according to research published in the American Journal of Medicine. This often results in dismissal of symptoms and concerns, including the refusal to adequately test or investigate a medical issue, the same research states.
While drapetomania is now seen as pseudoscience, the racism and dismissal that gave rise to it is still prevalent within the medical community, research shows.
In addition to historical trauma, socioeconomic disparities, and medical trauma, Black men also face medical gaslighting, according to Ajibade.
Examples of this from earlier studies showed how medical professionals held beliefs rooted in racism, such as the notion that Black patients have higher pain tolerances, leading to biases within treatment and assessments.
Because of factors like this, it’s important for providers to make a hesitant patient comfortable once they arrive for care. “Once you get them through the door, they recognize that they can share themselves with you and you don’t judge them, and that this can be reparative and helpful to them — it creates a safe space,” Gordon says.
Ajibade agrees. “I go to work every day knowing that I participate in a system that has contributed to numerous harms against people that look like me,” he says. “But, I also know that we have the capacity to act differently and to use those very same tools to help heal people rather than harm them.”
Lack of Representation
Black men make up just under 6 percent of active therapists in the United States, according to the American Psychological Association.
These numbers, in conjunction with some prevailing negative ideas about mental health, can contribute to the overall lack of investment or accessibility to mental wellness for Black men. “A lot of folks think that mental health is a ‘white people thing,’ but it’s a fundamental part of the human experience,” Ajibade says.
Part of Ajibade’s work includes supporting clients within the correctional system. He shared an encounter with a patient’s family member that recognized his last name as Nigerian and asked for his help.
“The mere fact that he recognized my name as a Nigerian and we sort of speak the same language lifted a huge weight off of his and his family shoulders — he knew that someone was going to see about his loved one. That’s something that no textbook is going to teach you,” he says.
“Representation really matters, especially if we’re trying to increase access to these kinds of supports and services,” Gordon says.
“I have worked with men of color across the diasporas, and we have to be thinking about the way representation shows up, and how it can be so powerful to have them hear their own stories, to tell their stories,” Gordon says.
Insurance Barriers
With the exception of peer-run spaces, mental health support often doesn’t come cheap. Instead of solely focusing on professional licensure, peer support groups are led by individuals who have lived experience.
But for those who opt for more traditional therapy arrangements, it can be difficult to finance. Many individuals aren’t able to pay for sessions out-of-pocket and rely on their health insurance coverage to foot at least some of the bill. According to a report from KFF, Black individuals are uninsured at rates higher than that of their white counterparts.
Even for those with healthcare coverage, accessibility issues arise, especially if you’re interested in connecting with a provider that shares your cultural background or identity. Not every practitioner is paneled with every health insurance carrier. This means that if you’re going through your health insurance, you are picking from a smaller pool of people, rather than any professional within your state.
Because the number of Black male therapists is already small, the extra limit of insurance coverage can significantly impact your options for a practitioner that looks like you.
And, some experts don’t take insurance at all. There’s an understanding that this can make it hard on clients, but the reality is that getting paneled with insurance carriers can serve as a barrier for practitioners as well. “Some people don’t take insurance because there’s so many hoops to jump through,” Gordon says.
Great Job Zuri White-Gibson & the Team @ google-discover Source link for sharing this story.
Houston freshman Guard Kingston Flemings (4) taking a shot against Texas Tech at the Fertitta Center in Houston Texas, on Tuesday, Jan. 6| Raphael Hernandez/The Cougar
No. 7-ranked Houston Cougars battled it out against the No.14 Texas Tech Red Raiders in a top-15 matchup on Tuesday, Jan. 6, at the Fertitta Center. The last time these two teams played, Houston won 69-65. Now, Houston leads the series 38-32.
Texas Tech started with an early lead and tried to maintain it, but Cougars responded and took the lead five minutes into the game. Both teams would go back and forth, trying to keep the lead and run with it, but the score would stay close.
The game then stayed tied 16-16 until the halfway point of the first half, when Houston freshman forward Chris Cenac Jr. scored two points to give the Cougars a lead.
Going back and forth, each team dealt blows to the other, but Houston would lead 25-19 and extended that lead with five minutes left in the first half.
Both teams’ defenses battled and endured, and the score was tied 31-31 at the end of the first half. Houston’s Senior guard Emanuel Sharp, was on fire, leading in points with 11 after the first half.
In the second half, Houston began scoring to take the lead, 37-33, and tried to pull away from Texas Tech, but the Red Raiders narrowed the lead to two points.
Although the score was 39-35, Texas Tech struggled to make shots and set up their offense, allowing Houston to capitalize on the Red Raiders’ mistakes.
The score were in Texas Tech’s favor as they took the lead 44-41 while on a 9-0 run for over two minutes. Houston broke the scoring streak but were still be down by three points with 12 minutes left in the second half.
Texas Tech still had the lead 55-49 as Houston narrowed the score down to four points. With six minutes left, the Cougars, determined to come back and grab the lead, narrowed the deficit to two.
The score stayed 57-55 with the Red Raiders on top for over two minutes until Texas Tech would score again to increase the lead to four. Houston responded quickly as junior forward Joseph Tugler made a two-pointer to close the lead back down to two.
Houston’s freshman guard Kingston Flemings made a 3-pointer to take the lead 60-59 with two minutes left in the game.
Houston increased the lead to three, but Texas Tech lowered the lead back to one. Then Flemings made another critical three to bring the lead to four. With just 13 seconds left, Houston got the ball again and won against Texas Tech 69-65.
Flemings scored 23 points, five assists and a block. Tugler and Cenac combined for 21 rebounds, as Cenac grabbed 11 and Tugler snatched 10. Sharp also contributed with 17 points, two assists and a steal.
Overall
Houston made a statement against Texas Tech by showing determination, perseverance and game sense. Flemings dominated by scoring points, while Cenac and Tugler found ways to rebound and contribute defensively.
Both Sharp and Houston senior guard Milos Uzan made shots that mattered to turn the tide in Houston’s favor.
Houston at home has a 117-7 record since 2018, with a win percentage of 94%, the best record among all teams since that time. The Cougars are bringing a lot of confidence to their next game, as they face the infamous Baylor Bears on Jan. 10 at 12 pm.
sports@thedailycougar.com
Great Job Micah Clay & the Team @ The Cougar for sharing this story.
Although public backlash against data centers has been intense over the past twelve months, all of the tech industry’s biggest companies have promised additional buildouts of AI infrastructure in the coming year. That includes OpenAI partner Microsoft, which, on Tuesday, announced what it calls a “community-first” approach to AI Infrastructure.
Microsoft’s announcement, which comes only a day after Mark Zuckerberg said that Meta would launch its own AI infrastructure program, isn’t unexpected. Last year, the company announced that it planned to spend billions to expand its AI capacity. What is a little unusual are the promises the company has now made about how it will handle that buildout.
On Tuesday, Microsoft promised to take the “steps needed to be a good neighbor in the communities where we build, own, and operate our data centers.” That includes, according to the company, its plans to “pay its own way” to ensure that local electricity bills don’t go through the roof in the places where it builds. Specifically, the company says it will work with local utility companies to ensure that the rates it pays cover its full share of its burden on the local grid.
“We will work closely with utility companies that set electricity prices and state commissions that approve these prices,” Microsoft said. “Our goal is straightforward: to ensure that the electricity cost of serving our data centers is not passed on to residential customers.”
The company has also promised to create jobs in the communities where it touches down, as well as to minimize the amount of water that its centers need to function. Water usage by data centers has obviously been a contentious topic, with data centers accused of creating substantial issues for local water supplies and spurring other environmental concerns. The jobs promise is also relevant, given lingering questions around the number of both short-term and permanent jobs that such projects typically create.
It’s pretty clear why Microsoft feels it is necessary to make these promises right now. Data center construction has become a political flashpoint in recent years, generating intense backlash and protest from local communities. Data Center Watch, an organization that tracks anti-data center activism, has observed that there are as many as 142 different activist groups across 24 states currently organizing against such developments.
This backlash has already impacted Microsoft directly. In October, the company abandoned plans for a new data center in Caledonia, Wisconsin, after “community feedback” was overwhelmingly negative. In Michigan, meanwhile, the company’s plans for a similar project in a small central township have recently inspired locals to take to the streets in protest. On Tuesday, around the same time Microsoft announced its “good neighbor” pledge, an op-ed in an Ohio newspaper (where Microsoft is currently developing several data center campuses) excoriated the company, blaming it and its peers for climate change.
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Concerns have extended even to the White House, where an AI buildout has become one of the major tenets of the Trump administration. On Monday, President Trump took to social media to promise that Microsoft specifically would make “major changes” to ensure that Americans’ electricity bills wouldn’t rise. Trump said the changes would “ensure that Americans don’t ‘pick up the tab’ for their power consumption.”
In short, by now, Microsoft understands that it’s fighting a tide of negative public opinion. It remains to be seen whether the company’s new assurances of jobs, environmental stewardship, and low electricity bills will be enough to turn the tide.
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Houston Texans defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins (90) celebrates with cornerback Tremon Smith (11), defensive end Will Anderson Jr. (51) and linebacker E.J. Speed (45) after a touchdown during the second half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Pittsburgh.
PITTSBURGH — Sheldon Rankins returned a fumble by Aaron Rodgers 33 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter to highlight a dominant performance by the NFL’s top-ranked defense, and the Houston Texans beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 30-6 on Monday night for the first road playoff win in franchise history.
The Texans (13-5) play at New England (15-3) in the divisional round at 2 p.m. Sunday.
C.J. Stroud turned it over three times but also threw a first-half touchdown pass to Christian Kirk, who had eight catches for 144 yards. Woody Marks had 112 yards rushing for Houston, which had been 0-6 on the road in the postseason before shutting down Rodgers and the Steelers (10-8).
MORE: Houston Matters discusses the Texans’ win and previews the next round
Marks’ 13-yard touchdown run with 3:43 to go sealed it, and Calen Bullock added Houston’s second defensive score with a 50-yard pick-6 less than a minute later on Rodgers’ final throw of the game — and possibly his 21-year career.
Rodgers passed for just 146 yards as the Steelers were held to 175 yards of offense. The four-time MVP will take some time before deciding whether to return next fall.
While Rodgers’ play down the stretch was one of the reasons the Steelers won the AFC North, he struggled in much the same way his predecessors Russell Wilson and Mason Rudolph did as Pittsburgh lost its seventh straight playoff game and dropped a Monday night home game for the first time since 1991.
His Hall of Fame career may have ended on a forced downfield throw that Bullock stepped in front of. Rodgers tried and failed to tackle Bullock on the way to the end zone.
The Steelers’ defense, long the biggest problem during a playoff victory drought that is nearing a decade, forced Stroud into numerous mistakes and kept Pittsburgh in the game until late.
The result, however, was the same as it has been for the Steelers and coach Mike Tomlin since they fell to New England in the 2016 AFC championship game, with a long walk to the locker room and a longer-than-hoped-for offseason to figure out what went wrong.
Houston’s 10th straight win was hardly a thing of beauty, as a thrilling opening weekend of the playoffs ended with a rock fight between clubs trying to shed some ignominious playoff history.
The Texans survived the way they have much of the season, by letting the league’s best defense smother their opponent.
The Steelers failed to capitalize on the miscues from a jittery Stroud, who fumbled twice and threw a pick. Pittsburgh scored just three points off those turnovers.
Not even the return of wide receiver DK Metcalf from a two-game suspension for making contact with a fan in Detroit helped. Metcalf finished with two catches for 42 yards and had a critical drop that cost the Steelers a chance to extend a 3-0 lead.
The Texans gathered themselves after an iffy start and took a 7-6 lead when Stroud finished off a 16-play, 92-yard drive by flipping a pass to Kirk for a 4-yard touchdown.
Stroud let a chance to extend the lead get away early in the second half when he was intercepted deep in Pittsburgh territory.
The Steelers’ offense again did nothing with the opportunity.
Ka’imi Fairbairn’s 51-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter pushed Houston’s lead to 10-6. Will Anderson sacked Rodgers on Pittsburgh’s ensuing possession, the ball popped loose and Rankins alertly scooped it up and raced to the end zone to put the Texans up by 11.
Unlike a heart-stopping fourth-quarter rally against Baltimore that earned them their first AFC North title since 2020, this time there was no late-game magic from Rodgers and the Steelers.
Instead, Tomlin’s postseason losing streak hit seven, tying Marvin Lewis of the Bengals for the longest playoff skid by an NFL coach.
While the NFL’s longest-tenured coach is all but assured of returning for a 20th season if he wants — even if there were chants for his firing in the final moments — Pittsburgh heads into yet another offseason in search of a quarterback and answers to a playoff drought whose weight seems to grow by the year.
Houston, meanwhile, heads to New England as the hottest team in the NFL with a quarterback who will be eager for a chance at a reprieve and a defense that can keep a game close against any opponent.
Injuries
Texans: WRs Nico Collins and Justin Watson both went into the concussion protocol in the second half. S Jaylen Reed (forearm), who was activated off injured reserve early Monday, left in the first quarter with a knee injury.
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President Donald Trump went looking for attention late Sunday night, but what he got instead was a wave of confusion, disbelief, and backlash he clearly didn’t expect.
As world leaders and political observers continue to grapple with the fallout from the U.S. move to remove Venezuela’s president, Trump’s latest online stunt only added to the growing unease surrounding his approach to the crisis.
U.S. President Donald Trump takes questions from members of the media during a meeting with oil and gas executives in the East Room of the White House on January 9, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Trump triggered yet another wave of legal and political backlash after posting a meme that falsely labeled him the “Acting President of Venezuela,” a move critics said crossed from provocation into a potentially unlawful assertion of power amid escalating U.S. involvement in South America.
The post, shared on Truth Social, appeared as a fake screenshot of a Wikipedia entry, declaring Trump had assumed the role of Venezuela’s acting president as of January 2026. No such designation exists on Trump’s actual Wikipedia page, and no U.S. law or international process allows a sitting American president to hold executive office in a foreign country.
It followed Trump’s recent statements that the United States would effectively “run” Venezuela after a surprise U.S. military operation led to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Since then, administration officials have described a sweeping U.S. role in reshaping the country’s government, economy, and oil sector.
The post appeared to be meant as a flex, but the reaction made it clear Trump had wildly misjudged the moment. Rather than looking powerful, the claim quickly became a source of ridicule — with critics questioning whether he even understood what he was implying.
“Isn’t it against the law for the president of the U.S to hold any other office while President? Is this his resignation?” one person wrote.
“I bet many Americans wish he’d quit his job as US president to move to Venezuela and do that one,” another joked.
Others saw the post as emblematic of Trump’s disregard for democratic norms.
“Another presidency he didn’t fairly win I see,” one more said.
“I’ve run out of outrage. Nothing he does shocks me anymore,” another person wrote. But I’m sorry to all of our former allies. We are under siege by our own government, under control of a madman. Don’t humor him. Don’t comply. Resist. We live in a stupid timeline.”
Another offered a coping mechanism, “You just have to take it one ‘are you f–king kidding me’ at a time.”
The White House did not clarify whether the post was intended as satire, a threat, or a claim of authority. It also remains unclear how the image was generated.
In reality, Venezuela has an interim government. On Jan. 5, Delcy Rodríguez — Maduro’s vice president and oil minister — was sworn in as interim president. While Rodríguez condemned the detentions, the Trump administration has backed her government while simultaneously warning that she would “pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro” if she failed to comply with U.S. demands.
The Trump administration’s posture has come with explicit assertions of control, particularly over Venezuela’s oil industry. Rodríguez has softened her rhetoric in recent days, signaling cooperation on energy. Trump has said the U.S. would receive up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil under her government.
Trump also announced he had canceled a “second wave of attacks” against Venezuela, citing progress on energy cooperation.
“The U.S.A. and Venezuela are working well together, especially as it pertains to rebuilding, in a much bigger, better, and more modern form, their oil and gas infrastructure,” he posted on Truth Social last week.
But in an interview with The New York Times, Trump suggested Washington’s direct role in governing Venezuela remained unsettled. While the interim government is “giving us everything that we feel is necessary,” he said, “only time will tell” when the U.S. would stop seeking direct oversight of Caracas.
It looks like Trump didn’t consult with the oil Executives before he invaded Venezuela for their oil and it seems that their plan isn’t going to be as easy as they had imagined it would be! Exxon’s CEO tells Trump that Venezuela’s Oil is uninvestible! pic.twitter.com/LZkym1wADj
Legal scholars note that while the Constitution grants the president sweeping authority over foreign affairs, it does not permit a president to assume office in another sovereign nation. Article II vests executive power solely in the presidency of the United States, while longstanding constitutional norms prohibit officeholders from simultaneously occupying foreign positions of authority.
Supreme Court precedent affirms that the president holds exclusive power to recognize foreign governments — a principle established most clearly in Zivotofsky v. Kerry — but recognition does not equate to governance. The court has repeatedly emphasized that recognition allows the U.S. to acknowledge a foreign sovereign, not replace it.
Trump’s post, critics argue, blurs those constitutional lines at a moment when the administration is already testing the limits of executive authority abroad.
Distinguished Columbia Univ. Prof. Jeff Sachs on Pres. Trump:
“We’ve never had a foul-mouthed president who views himself as above the constitution, above the domestic law, who dismisses any idea of international law and who thinks that he reigns over the world.” pic.twitter.com/wcWcvfQV1o
The reaction online reflected growing fatigue with what many view as performative power grabs layered atop real geopolitical consequences. But at least one conservative commenter found humor in Trump’s latest social media antics.
“TRUMP friggin trolled the libs again,” the user said in a post riddled with emojis of the laughing cat face with tears. “it’s friggin funny because he does whatever he wants without regard to ‘morals’ or ‘laws’ or whatever else these stupid friggin libs can pull out next.”
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Billionaire Nvidia board member Tench Coxe and his wife Simone are donating $100 million to the University of Texas Medical Center in Austin.
The donation, one of the largest gifts in the university’s history, was driven by the couple’s personal history and values aligning with the university’s goal of improving healthcare access in Central Texas, where they live.
The medical center will include a new hospital to treat complex and serious conditions and an expansion of the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, according to a statement from the university. It is expected to open in 2030.
“I hope in 25 years that people will say that UT has one of the best medical centers in the world, and it’s benefiting the whole community,” Coxe said in a video.
Coxe was managing director of Sutter Hill Ventures from 1989 to 2020, and joined the Nvidia board in 1993, an early supporter of Jensen Huang. Coxe is the third largest individual shareholder of Nvidia, behind founder Huang and board member and venture capitalist Mark Stevens, and has an estimated net worth of $7.7 billion, according to Forbes.
The couple relocated to Austin from Silicon Valley in 2020, and Coxe is also a part-owner of Austin FC. They are also Democratic supporters, and each donated $1 million to Beto O’Rourke’s 2022 gubernatorial campaign against Gov. Greg Abbott.
Investing in the future of healthcare
The couple’s personal experiences also influenced their choice to donate to the University of Texas. Their six-year-old son successfully underwent treatment for Burkitt lymphoma at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford Medicine in 2003, which inspired them to pay it forward, Simone said. They also saw the need for more healthcare infrastructure in their own community.
“We have a close friend who had to travel to Houston [from Austin] for care she should have been able to get here at home,” Coxe said. As much as 25% of people in the region leave the area to seek care for serious medical needs, according to the university.
A key part of the Coxes’ decision to donate was speaking with the dean of UT’s Dell Medical School, Claudia Lucchinetti, and hearing her vision to change the model of healthcare by integrating university research with a modern healthcare system.
“Having spent my career backing strong leaders, meeting Claudia made it clear: Supporting the vision for the UT medical center is exactly the opportunity Austin needed,” Coxe said. The gift is unrestricted and the university says they will prioritize hiring world-class staff, construction, technology investments, and expanding access to healthcare.
The couple typically gives quietly or anonymously. In September 2025, Coxe gifted 1 million Nvidia shares, valued at more than $168 million, to undisclosed recipients, Bloomberg reported.
“One of the things that happens with bigger gifts is that it de-risks it a bit for some people,” Simone said. “Our approach to philanthropy is to invest and believe, knowing that there’s a risk and not everything’s going to be perfect. We hope by making this gift, we can help encourage others to take that same view.”
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