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A judge in Virginia heard arguments but didn’t issue a final ruling Friday on whether a lawsuit over Charlottesville’s decision to remove the Confederate monument should proceed. A decision that helped spark a violent white nationalist rally. 

The judge sided with Charlottesville on some points, removing them from further consideration. But he said he needed more time to study the “main issue,” the question of whether a state law on memorials for war veterans amended in the 1990s applies retroactively, protecting the statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee.

White nationalists descended on Charlottesville last month, in part to protest the city’s plan to take the statue out of a downtown park and sell it. Fights broke out before the rally got started, with attendees and counterprotesters brawling in the streets. After authorities forced the crowd to disperse, a car rammed into a group of people protesting the white nationalists, killing one woman and injuring many more. 

Since then, Charlottesville has shrouded the monument, and one of Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, with a black tarp as a symbol of mourning for 32-year-old Heather Heyer.

On Friday, the judge spent hours hearing from attorneys on both sides and asking them questions. 

Deputy city attorney Lisa Robertson cited previous case law and an opinion from Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring in arguing that the war memorials law does not apply to those erected before 1997, when the statute was amended. 

“It must be applied prospectively only,” she said. 

But an attorney for the plaintiffs, who include area residents and the Virginia division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said “plain common sense” shows it applies to the Lee statue.

“They didn’t pass this thinking, OK, next year we’re going to build some monument to the Revolutionary War,” attorney Ralph Main said. 

The violence in Charlottesville has fueled a re-evaluation of Confederate statues, symbols and namesakes in cities across the nation, accelerating their removal in much the same way that a 2015 mass shooting by a white supremacist in South Carolina renewed pressure to take down the Confederate flag from public property.
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The smoke from massive wildfires hangs like fog over large parts of the U.S. West, an irritating haze causing health concerns, forcing sports teams to change schedules and disrupting life from Seattle to tiny Seeley Lake, Montana.

Air quality has been rated unhealthy across the region because of blazes that show no signs of abating. Officials said Friday that one of the worst U.S. wildfire seasons in terms of land burned is likely to keep scorching Western states and blanketing them with smoke until later this fall.

Headaches, raspy voices

People who live in small towns to the populous San Francisco Bay Area have had enough.

“Last night, I went to sleep with the windows open and woke up with a stomachache and a headache,” said Tresa Snow, who owns a hair salon in Brookings, Oregon, near a large wildfire. “I knew before I could even smell it that the fire was back. And you can hear my voice, kind of raspy. We’re all kind of like that.”

She said business has been down in the town near the California border. 

“Businesses are closing because they don’t have their help,” Snow said. “People have been evacuating.”

As the long Labor Day weekend approached, several high school football teams changed their season-opening games to avoid the smoke, and other athletic events have been postponed. 

​Fleeing homes in Burbank

In Southern California, an erratic wildfire just north of Los Angeles forced the closure of Interstate 210, an essential link to routes in and out of town just as Labor Day weekend travel was starting.

Firefighters had reduced the raging flames, but the freeway was expected to be shut down all night.

The fire also spurred mandatory evacuations. Residents in the Brace Canyon Park area of Burbank were ordered to leave their homes as the fire got dangerously close. About 50 homes were being threatened late Friday.

Air hazardous, events canceled

The poor air quality has caused the cancellation of some performances at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland and the Cycle Oregon Classic Ride, a 400-mile bicycle event this month.

Smoke from wildfires in British Columbia pushed down into western Washington in August, choking the region and prompting health officials to warn the Seattle area that children, the elderly and people with respiratory problems should stay inside.

Smoke has affected the Montana town of Seeley Lake to such a degree that health officials urged people to escape the pollution weeks before an order Tuesday to evacuate part of town because of the encroaching fire. 

The town’s air quality had hourly pollution readings classified as hazardous in 26 days in August, topping out the ability of the monitor to measure the pollution in many cases. It was considered hazardous Friday, too.

“There aren’t even the correct health categories to describe what they’re seeing,” air quality specialist Saran Coefield said.

Most of the smoke entering Washington state this year is coming from neighboring states and British Columbia, said Joye Redfield-Wilder of the state Department of Ecology.

“I’m smelling smoke in my office right now,” she said.

Long, destructive season

The National Interagency Fire Center said more than 25,000 firefighters and personnel are spread out across the Western U.S. fighting 56 large uncontained wildfires, 21 of them in Montana and 17 in Oregon. 

Fire center spokesman Jessica Gardetto said Friday that besides one of the most destructive wildfire seasons, 2017 is turning into one of the longest, starting in the spring in Oklahoma, Arizona and New Mexico.

“Some of these firefighters have been working on fires for six months now,” she said.

The 10,600 square miles (27,500 square kilometers) that have burned rank this season as the third-worst in the last decade. The area burned is about 2,600 square miles (6,700 square kilometers) above the 10-year average.

In Northern California, a wildfire burning near the town of Oroville has destroyed 20 homes. The blaze about 70 miles (112 kilometers) north of Sacramento had consumed nearly 6 square miles (15 square kilometers) and was threatening 500 homes, officials said.

Besides poor air quality, Montana lost a historic backcountry chalet in Glacier National Park this week to a wildfire. Firefighters tried to protect two-story Sperry Chalet, which was built in 1913 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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A Utah nurse said she was scared to death when a police officer handcuffed and dragged her screaming from a hospital after she refused to allow blood to be drawn from an unconscious patient.

After Alex Wubbels and her attorneys released dramatic video of the arrest, prosecutors called for a criminal investigation and Salt Lake City police put Detective Jeff Payne on paid leave Friday.

“This cop bullied me. He bullied me to the utmost extreme,” Wubbels said in an interview with The Associated Press. “And nobody stood in his way.”

The Salt Lake City police chief and mayor also apologized and changed department policies in line with the guidance Wubbels was following in the July 26 incident.

Training, protocols observed

Wubbels, a former alpine skier who competed in the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics, said she adhered to her training and hospital protocols to protect the rights of a patient who could not speak for himself.

“You can’t just take blood if you don’t have a legitimate concern for something to be tested,” Wubbels said. “It is the most personal property I think that we can have besides our skin and bones and organs.”

Payne did not return messages left at publicly listed phone numbers, and the Salt Lake Police Association union did not respond to messages for comment. The department and a civilian board also are conducting reviews.

“I was alarmed by what I saw in the video with our officer,” Police Chief Mike Brown said.

Police body-camera video shows Wubbels, who works in the burn unit, calmly explaining that she could not take blood from a patient who had been injured in a deadly car accident, citing a recent change in law. A 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling said a blood sample cannot be taken without patient consent or a warrant.

Wubbels told Payne that a patient had to allow a blood sample to determine intoxication or be under arrest. Otherwise, she said police needed a warrant. 

‘We’re done, you’re under arrest’

The dispute ended with Payne saying, “We’re done, you’re under arrest” and pulling her outside while she screamed and said, “I’ve done nothing wrong!”

He had called his supervisor and discussed the time-sensitive blood draw for over an hour with hospital staff, police spokeswoman Christina Judd said.

“It’s not an excuse. It definitely doesn’t forgive what happened,” she said.

Payne wrote in a police report that he grabbed Wubbels and took her outside to avoid causing a scene in the emergency room. He said his boss, a lieutenant whose actions also were being reviewed, told him to arrest Wubbels if she kept interfering.

The detective left Wubbels in a hot police car for 20 minutes before realizing that blood had been drawn as part of treatment, said her lawyer, Karra Porter. Wubbels was not charged.

Criminal investigation sought

Wubbels and her attorneys Thursday released the video they obtained through a public records request to call for change. She has not sued, but that could change, said attorney Jake Macfarlane.

Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said that the video was concerning and called the police chief to ask for a criminal investigation.

The department is open to the inquiry that will be run by Salt Lake County’s Unified Police, Judd said. Gill’s office will review the findings.

In response to the incident, Judd said the department updated its blood-draw policy last week to mirror what the hospital uses. She said officers have received additional training.

The hospital said it’s proud of the way Wubbels handled the situation.

The patient was a victim in a car crash and Payne wanted the blood sample to show he had done nothing wrong, according to the officer’s written report.

The patient, William Gray, is a reserve police officer in Rigby, Idaho, according to the city’s police. They thanked Wubbels for protecting his rights.

Gray is a semi-truck driver and was on the road when a pickup truck fleeing from authorities slammed into him and his truck burst into flames, police reports say.
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Rescuers continued their search for survivors Friday in Texas, one week after Hurricane Harvey began sweeping through the Gulf Coast region, dumping unprecedented amounts of rain, displacing more than one million people and claiming the lives of at least 39 others.

As floodwaters began to recede, some Texans returned to their homes to begin the sobering task of assessing the damage inflicted by Harvey.

Despite receding water levels, Texas officials warned that many rivers and basins continued to present the possibility of “life-threatening” flooding.

As of Thursday, more than 93,000 homes had been damaged and nearly 7,000 destroyed, according to a Texas Department of Public Safety report.

The report, however, does not include figures from Houston, the country’s fourth most populous city, and other storm-ravaged cities such as Port Arthur and Beaumont. State authorities said the numbers would likely rise significantly.

Nearly 100 centimeters of rain

The National Weather Service reported that Houston was inundated with more than 99 centimeters (39 inches) of rain in August, more than twice as much as the previous monthly record. 

Meteorologist Jeff Lindner said Clear Creek, Texas, nearly 50 kilometers southeast of Houston, received the most rainfall: 120 centimeters.

Amid the rescue efforts, federal officials are keeping a close watch on a chemical plant outside Houston, where a series of explosions occurred early Thursday. They created anxiety among residents in the area and prompted authorities to establish a 2.4 kilometer evacuation zone around the plant. Fifteen public safety officers were hospitalized after inhaling fumes from chemical fires. Officials said there is the possibility of more explosions at the evacuated facility, located in the town of Crosby.

The city of Beaumont, about 170 kilometers northeast of Houston, continues to struggle with its loss of drinking water. The city’s primary and secondary pump stations were disabled by flooding and it is unclear when the water would turn back on.

A hospital in Beaumont began transferring patients to other facilities Thursday due to the loss of water.

The Neches River, which flows into Beaumont and neighboring Port Arthur, was forecast for a record crest Friday.

Immigrant fears

In Harris County, which includes Houston, residents contemplated the daunting task of rebuilding their lives, with one group of people grappling with a special set of concerns. Immigrants who are in the country illegally are afraid that if they apply for help they will be arrested. Outreach workers have been deployed to reassure them that they will not be detained when they seek help.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner has said earlier in the week he would personally represent anyone arrested on immigration violations after seeking help.

Cesar Espinosa, executive director of Immigrant Families and Students in the Struggle said Turner’s statement was a “big deal” for immigrants. “When they hear it from an official, they say,’OK, now we believe it,'” he added.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has said it is “not conducting immigration enforcement operations in the affected area.”

​Lost homes

Nearly 780,000 Texans had been ordered to evacuate their homes and another 980,000 fled voluntarily, according to federal estimates.

Tens of thousands of people are packed into evacuation centers throughout the region.

Thousands of Harris County residents who are in shelters have lost everything, including their homes. Harris Country (Texas) FEMA Director Tom Fargione said his agency’s priority now is to relocate people who have lost their homes into some form of temporary housing.

“This is a tremendous disaster in terms of size and scope,” Fargione said Thursday.

Harvey moves east

Harvey, which has lost its tropical cyclone characteristics, moved eastward Friday toward the Ohio Valley, the National Weather Service reported, paving the way for U.S. President Donald Trump’s second visit to Texas this week.

In a Twitter post Friday, Trump applauded the rescue and recovery efforts and said he would return to the storm-stricken state on Saturday.

Trump also said Friday he expects to soon submit a funding request to Congress to help Gulf Coast victims recover from the storm. The request is expected to total about $6 billion. 

Trump made the remark in an Oval Office during a meeting with religious leaders in which he thanked charitable groups for assisting the victims.

He also signed an executive order designating Sunday as a “day of prayer” for the victims of Harvey.
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The Grand Canyon — one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World — has inspired adventurers, poets and painters for hundreds of years. Whether looking down from its massive rim or up from the rushing waters of the Colorado River, it’s easy to see how it got its name. National parks traveler Mikah Meyer explored the majestic site during an eight-day adventure he says he’ll never forget. He shared highlights with VOA’s Julie Taboh.
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In Silicon Valley, all eyes are on Dara Khosrowshahi, the new CEO of Uber, who starts his turnaround of the ride-hailing firm on Tuesday.

But for Iranian Americans working in tech, Khosrowshahi’s appointment is not just about who will guide Uber, a nearly $70 billion company that has searched since June for a new leader.

Khosrowshahi, 48, is Iranian American. Born in Tehran, he came to the U.S. when he was nine. His appointment highlights the prominence of people of Iranian descent in the tech industry at a time when many feel under increased scrutiny.

“The Persian Mafia in Tech gets $70B bigger!” noted one Iranian American tech investor.

Khosrowshahi’s hiring prompted Ali Tahmaseb, a tech entrepreneur, to compile a list of more than 50 Iranian Americans who have founded companies, become tech investors or are in leadership roles at tech firms.

They include Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay, and Falon Roz Fatemi, founder and chief executive of Node.io and, when she was 19, Google’s youngest employee at the time.

Uber board’s appointment of Khosrowshahi comes at a time when Iranian Americans are increasingly worried about how they are perceived, said Leila Austin, executive director at the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans, a non profit organization based in Washington, D.C.

More than 80 percent of Iranian Americans in a recent survey said they worried about rising discrimination, double those had expressed the same concern in 2015. And 56 percent said they had personally experienced discrimination.

Khosrowshahi, until recently the chief executive at Expedia, spoke out against the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict Iranians traveling to the U.S.

The Trump administration argues that its more restrictive visa and immigration policies will make the United States safer, and American citizens more prosperous.

In January, Khosrowshahi told his employees in a memo, obtained by Business Insider, that the travel ban would make the U.S. “ever so slightly less dangerous as a place to live, but it will certainly be seen as a smaller nation, one that is inward-looking versus forward thinking, reactionary versus visionary.”

Khosrowshahi faces a long list of problems at Uber. Sexual harassment claims. An aggressive, break-things culture. Internal strife within the board.

And then there is the actual Uber business, which has transformed transportation worldwide. The company has faced more pressure from Lyft, its main U.S. competitor. It has given up in big global markets, ceding to rivals in China, Russia and India. In his first all-hands meeting with Uber employees, Khosrowshahi said the company planned to go public in 18 to 36 months.

No doubt Khosrowshahi’s job at Uber is a big one, yet the enormity of the challenge adds to the Iranian community’s sense of pride, said Pirooz Parvarandeh, a longtime Silicon Valley executive who created a nonprofit to gather and analyze data about Iranian Americans’ contributions to the U.S.

Khosrowshahi’s ascendancy at Uber is “symbolic of the value and service that Iranian Americans bring to America,” he said.
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Activists are asking the Department of Homeland Security to extend Temporary Protected Status for over 1,000 Sudanese and South Sudanese nationals living in the United States.

By September 3, DHS is expected to decide whether to extend, redesignate or terminate the program for the two countries.

The current period ends November 2 for 49 South Sudanese and 1,039 Sudanese TPS beneficiaries.

Patrice Lawrence of UndocuBlack Network, an advocacy group for undocumented black immigrants, wants an extension.

‘Stuck in this status’

“If the administration decides to not extend TPS for some of these people that have been here for decades, decades under this, there is no way for them to be able to get a green card or to get citizenship, so they are stuck in this status until something else happens,” Lawrence said.

Because of an ongoing conflict between the two countries, South Sudan was first designated for TPS in October 2011 after it gained independence from Sudan. Sudan’s designation was granted in October 1997.

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, individuals can be granted a temporary immigration status if their country is designated for TPS.

Sharon Scheidhauer, a public affairs officer at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said in an email: “At least 60 days prior to the current expiration date, the acting secretary or secretary of homeland security will review conditions in these countries and determine whether an extension, redesignation or termination of Sudan’s and South Sudan’s TPS designations is warranted.”

So far, no announcements have been made public.

If it is terminated, Lawrence said, beneficiaries will be forced to make an impossible decision, even as conflict in both countries continues. There are questions about whether they’ll be able to find work and provide for their families.

It’s like being between “a rock and a hard place. Where do you go? What do you do? … All your family is here and you have lost so many things. What do you do? It is an impossible dilemma,” Lawrence said.

Once granted TPS, an individual cannot be detained by the Department of Homeland Security on the basis of his or her immigration status in the United States, according to USCIS.

TPS also allows beneficiaries to legally work in the United States.

Shorter extension for Haiti

In May, Haiti was granted a six-month extension, a break from the usual 18-month extension.

Speaking near the White House at a joint rally for TPS and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA — a program that protects

eligible immigrant youth who came to the United States when they were children from deportation — Greisa Maritnez Rosas said undocumented immigrants like herself fear the government could take away programs that allow them to make a living in the U.S.

“Moving forward, I will always be unafraid,” Rosas said. “But I think it’s important to know that we are ready to continue to fight and ready to continue to put our faces and our bodies on the line to protect our democracy.”

Becky Belcore, who works for the North Korean American Service and Education Consortium, said TPS and DACA are programs that should be more comprehensive so immigrants do not live under the constant threat of being deported.

“We’re going to continue to fight. And so we will continue to advocate for both of those programs, that they should be restored, but we are also going to be looking for legislative solutions that are more permanent,” Belcore said.
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Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is raising speculation that Harriet Tubman’s future on the $20 bill could be in jeopardy.

In a CNBC interview, Mnuchin on Thursday avoided a direct answer when asked whether he supported the decision made by the Obama administration to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with Tubman, the 19th century African-American abolitionist who was a leader in the Underground Railroad.

“People have been on the bills for a long period of time,” he said. “This is something we’ll consider. Right now, we have a lot more important issues to focus on.”

During last year’s campaign, Donald Trump praised Jackson, the nation’s seventh president, for his “history of tremendous success” and said the decision to replace him with Tubman was “pure political correctness.”

Trump suggested during the campaign that one possibility would be to put Tubman on another bill and leave Jackson on the $20. He and Ben Carson, currently secretary of housing and urban development, had both suggested during the GOP primaries that Tubman might go on the $2 bill instead.

Then-Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew announced last year that he had decided to place Tubman on the $20 bill as part of a make-over of the nation’s currency to improve security features on the bills. The new currency bearing Tubman’s portrait was scheduled to be unveiled in 2020, the 100th anniversary of passage of the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote.

Lew arrived at the decision to displace Jackson on the $20 bill after generating a loud outcry with an initial proposal to put a woman on the $10 bill replacing Alexander Hamilton.

In the CNBC interview, Mnuchin said, “The number one issue why we change the currency is to stop counterfeiting. So the issues of why we change it will be primarily related to what we need to do for security purposes.”

At the White House, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters, “I’m not aware of any policy change. I’d certainly have to check into that.”

In a wide-ranging interview, Mnuchin also:

— Said the original goal of getting Congress to pass comprehensive tax reform by August “got delayed a bit,” but he stressed that the administration was still on track to have a measure signed into law by the end of this year.

Mnuchin’s comments on taxes came one day after Trump launched the administration’s fall push to overhaul the nation’s tax system with a speech in Springfield, Missouri. There he said the plan, details of which have yet to be revealed, would unlock strong economic growth, reduce the tax burden of the middle-class and encourage corporations to keep jobs in America.

Mnuchin rejected the idea that the administration has yet to settle on the details of the tax plan.

“We are on track to get this done by the end of the year,” he said. “So you’re going to see the detail come out [in September.] It’s going to go through a committee process. We expect the House and Senate will get this to the president to sign this year and we couldn’t be more excited about the progress we’ve made.”

Mnuchin would not say whether Trump’s goal of reducing the top corporate tax rate to 15 percent from the current 35 percent would remain in the finished administration proposal, or whether it might be changed to a less ambitious cut to 20 or 25 percent.

“We’ll go through with the [congressional] committees and see where we end up,” Mnuchin said.

— Expressed confidence that Congress will pass legislation needed to raise the government’s borrowing limit this fall and avoid a catastrophic default on the nation’s debt. Mnuchin has authority to use a range of bookkeeping maneuvers to avoid breaching the limit through Sept. 29, although private analysts believe the actual deadline for Congress increasing the current $19 trillion limit will be in mid-October.

— Stated that the administration has a good working relationship with Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. He refused to say how many candidates, other than Yellen, President Donald Trump is considering for the Fed job when Yellen’s current term expires in February. Trump said in an interview last month that Yellen, Gary Cohn, head of Trump’s National Economic Council, and “two or three” other contenders were in the mix.

Yellen used a high-profile speech last Friday at a central bank conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to defend the Dodd-Frank bank regulatory overhaul passed in 2010. She described it as a successful effort to make the financial system stronger following the 2008 financial crisis. Trump has called the measure a “disaster” and he and GOP lawmakers would like to rewrite it extensively to reduce regulatory burden on banks.

Asked if this was an area of conflict between Yellen and the administration, Mnuchin said, “I had breakfast with Fed Chair Yellen this morning. … we have a very constructive dialogue on a lot of issues including regulation.”

Mnuchin said “ultimately the president will make a decision later in the year” on who he will nominate for a new term as Fed chair.
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Gasoline futures surged more than 13 percent Thursday, and crude oil settled nearly 3 percent higher, as almost a quarter of U.S. refining capacity remained offline and traders scrambled to reroute millions of barrels of fuel.

U.S. gasoline futures have rallied more than 28 percent from the previous week to a two-year high above $2 a gallon, buoyed by fears of a fuel shortage days ahead of the U.S. Labor Day weekend’s traditional surge in driving. Gasoline settled up 25.52 cents, or 13.54 percent, at $2.1399.

Hurricane Harvey, which brought record flooding to the U.S. oil heartland of Texas and killed at least 35 people, has paralyzed at least 4.4 million barrels per day (bpd) of refining capacity, according to company reports and Reuters estimates.

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said that roughly 13.5 percent of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico was also shut in Thursday.

US taps strategic oil reserves

The U.S. government tapped its strategic oil reserves for the first time in five years Thursday, releasing 1 million barrels of crude to a working refinery in Louisiana. Traders were also scrambling to redirect fuel to the United States.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled $1.27 higher at $47.23 per barrel, up 2.76 percent. It remained on track to close August down almost 6 percent, the steepest monthly loss since March.

International benchmark Brent crude settled $1.52 higher, or 2.99 percent, at $52.38 a barrel. It had fallen by just more than 2 percent in the previous session.

“The market has turned in reverse pretty sharply,” said Gene McGillian, manager of market research at Tradition Energy. “You do have some signs of rebalancing, regardless of Harvey.”

US refineries key to oil prices

On Wednesday, oil prices fell despite a weekly drop in closely watched U.S. commercial crude stocks of 5.39 million barrels. Crude inventories are 14.5 percent below record levels hit in March.

OPEC output this month also fell 170,000 bpd from a 2017 high, a Reuters survey found, as renewed unrest cut supplies in Libya and other members stepped up compliance with a production-cutting deal.

Analysts called the status of U.S. refineries a key to oil prices.

“The disruptions in recent days may delay the ongoing global crude oil rebalancing process,” Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a note.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs and Stifel said U.S. outages would probably last several months, but it was difficult to estimate the exact damage. Others said higher gasoline prices might prompt operational refineries to delay typical September seasonal maintenance.

“Refineries outside the affected area may delay maintenance to benefit from high processing margins,” said Commerzbank oil analyst Carsten Fritsch. “Hence, the negative impact on crude oil demand and oil product supply might be less severe than feared.”

Shrinking crude stocks and expectations for rising growth in global demand meant analysts in a monthly Reuters poll raised their oil price forecasts for the first time in six months.
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U.S. President Donald Trump has chosen the Midwestern U.S. state of Missouri to push for a major tax overhaul that he said would spur economic growth and help ordinary Americans. He appealed to lawmakers to shun partisanship and to act swiftly for the benefit of the country. Trump proposed to cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent and slash individual taxes, but offered few other details. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
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Days of torrential rain have ended in Houston, but many neighborhoods are still under water, especially those near overflowing dams and rivers. The catastrophic weather has brought out a host of volunteers — from across Texas and from other states — to lend a helping hand. Many came with their boats.

Vietnamese-American Peter Chau does not have a boat but decided to turn out to help. His home in the northwestern part of Houston was not flooded. His parents, who came to the United States from Vietnam, said he was doing “a good job” by volunteering for the search-and-rescue efforts.

“We went to downtown Houston and rescued some people that were stuck in their home ’cause the levee broke down there,” Chau said. “We’re trying to get them out as fast as we can.”

The volunteers may not have known each other before, he added, but they all feel like family now.

“No matter what color or race, everyone is out there on the boats. No matter what color, race, we’re there as Houstonians, Texans — helping each other out.”

Volunteers show up

Volunteers have converged on staging areas around Houston, where boat owners get their assignments — which neighborhoods to search for stranded flood victims and where to take them.

In northwest Houston, one of these staging areas is at 3P Offroad, an all-terrain vehicle shop. Through social media, volunteers with or without boats have been gathering here before heading to flooded neighborhoods. People have also been coming to donate household items that flood victims need, such as toilet paper, blankets, water and diapers.

Debbie Winters, who stopped by to pick up some supplies, lost everything when floodwater swept through her home.

“It was up to the second floor in our house … [then] went up to the third floor. … The family got out, but my boyfriend did stay to try to protect the house. He had to be rescued by boats,” Winters said.

Fear of burglars and looters prompted some homeowners to stay put, but then the water began rising. Because of the extraordinary depth of the floods in some areas, some of those Houstonians guarding their homesteads became stranded, surrounded by water far too deep, and often moving too rapidly, to attempt to reach higher ground.

Stranded, but not ready to leave

Justin Albert is one of the volunteers who has been cruising through flooded streets in his boat to see who needs help.

“We ran this river yesterday and found some people on their second-story balconies,” Albert said. “They weren’t willing” to board his boat, he continued, “so there’s nothing we can do about that.”

Steering his craft into a neighborhood that’s now a river, near Humble in north Houston, Albert and his friends heard dogs barking and found two dogs who needed to be rescued from the porch of an empty house.

From people with boats, to those who are donating food, water and household items, volunteers said this natural disaster shows the good in people — all people. Houston, the fourth largest metropolitan area in the United States, has a population of more than 6 million, and it is known as one of the nation’s most ethnically diverse areas, home to diaspora communities that can trace their roots to countries around the globe.

“After watching the news, seeing all the negativity going around the U.S.,” Albert continued, “this shows right here … that Americans can come together and help each other out and be one” — united.

“If the Democrats and the Republicans and the judicial branch and the executive branch can understand that a bunch of people who have nine-to-five jobs come together and rescue people in their greatest time of need,” said Matt Haynie, who commands the 3P search-and-rescue staging area, then “right now, when our country is in the greatest time of need for itself, [the top levels of government] need to get together, and they need to work together like we are.”

“Everyone here is family,” Chau said. “It’s Texas. We take care of our own.”

The volunteers said they will continue to help in anyway they can in the days to come.
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