Texas temporarily drops enforcement of ban on mask mandates
20 August 2021
The Texas Education Agency said in new guidance Thursday that it will temporarily stop enforcing Gov. Greg Abbott's ban on public school districts imposing mask mandates, citing ongoing litigation.
Driving the news: The guidance came the same day that the Texas Supreme Court declined to uphold the mask ban over a technicality, sending the case down to an appeals court.
Why it matters: Public schools can now, for the time being, require students to wear masks as the Delta variant continues to drive a surge in new COVID-19 cases.
- The new guidance will also require schools to report positive COVID-19 tests to their local health department, the state health department and all teachers, family and staff who share a classroom or space with the infected person.
- More than 80,000 people are currently hospitalized with the coronavirus in Texas. Abbott himself has tested positive for COVID-19 and is currently being treated with the Regeneron antibody cocktail that former President Trump received.
- Seven counties and 48 school districts had already defied Abbott's mask ban as lawsuits have made their way through the state's court system, according to AP.
Go deeper: Texas requests mortuary trailers, expecting a surge in COVID-19 deaths
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.