Mother Of Houston Woman Injured In Charlottesville Protest Seeks Funds To Defray Medical Costs

Our daily roundup of Texas headlines.

By Becky FogelAugust 14, 2017 1:33 pm

The Standard’s news roundup gives you a quick hit of interesting, sometimes irreverent, and breaking news stories from all over the state.

Ericka Chaves told hundreds outside of Houston City Hall on Sunday that her daughter, Natalie Romero, isn’t going to give up.

Romero was one of the counter-protestors injured during a car crash in Charlottesville, Virginia this weekend.

Esto es un solomente sopieso. This is just a small trip. Mi yo misma la puedo, not even myself but can I stop her for fighting for what she believes in,” Chaves said.

Chaves is trying to raise money to pay for medical care for her daughter’s injuries, including skull fractures.

Houston Public Media’s Laura Isensee has more on that effort.

Natalie Romero was protesting against the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville when a car plowed into the group. According to a GoFundMe page, her mother says the 20-year-old was hit by the car. A picture on the page shows her daughter with a bloody face and a bandage on her head.

Romero graduated from Bellair High School in Houston in 2016 and is studying on scholarship at the University of Virginia.

One person – 32-year-old Heather Heyer, was killed. Twenty-year-old James Alex Fields, who was driving the car, has been charged with second-degree murder for her death.

The GoFundMe page Romero’s mom started has already raised more than $90,000 for her medical costs as of Monday morning. The total goal is $120,000.




Last month, the discovery of a tractor-trailer packed with dozens of undocumented immigrants in San Antonio made national headlines.

“As gruesome and as horrifying as this story sounds to many people across the country, the reality is the way these people were being moved is a quite common occurrence along the southern border – especially in this part of South Texas,” said CNN’s Ed Lavandera, speaking on the network in July.

Ten of the people trapped inside the sweltering trailer of that 18-wheeler-died.

Now, authorities have come across a similar case in Edinburg.

Police found 17 undocumented immigrants locked inside a tractor-trailer at a south Texas rest-stop Sunday.

Edinburg Police Chief David White says the department was tipped off by someone in Mexico who said their relative was trapped inside the truck and it was getting hot. All of the migrants were rescued alive.

They are from several countries including Mexico, Guatemala and Romania.

Two suspects in this case are already in custody.




A new Kitten Fostering Program in the Austin area would allow jail inmates to help care for and socialize the animals for adoption. The city’s Animal Advisory Commission is considering whether or not to green-light the program Monday. It would allow approved Travis County Correctional Complex inmates to participate in the program.

Interim Chief Animal Services Officer Lee Ann Shenefiel says the inmates could use skills they learn through the program once they’re out of the correctional system.

“They could either use that potentially when applying for other jobs or at the very least these people are part of the larger Travis County community and we’re sharing expectations about what it means to be a pet owner and care for pets in our community,” Shenefiel says.

In order to care for the animals, inmates must undergo background checks and must be “low security.”

Once OK’d by the commission, the program would still need to be approved by Austin City Council.