The Standard’s news roundup gives you a quick hit of interesting, sometimes irreverent, and breaking news stories from all over the state.
A series of brunches are being held in Austin over the next few months to celebrate Texas icon Selena Quintanilla-Perez. It’s called Bidi Bidi Brunch Brunch.
The special events are being put on by El Chile Group, which manages a number of restaurants in Austin. Bryan Gonzales is their marketing director and he says the Selena-themed brunch is a celebration, “and we’re celebrating all things the Tejano Queen, La Reina.”
Gonzales says this event is near and dear to his heart. He grew up in San Antonio, and like Selena, he didn’t learn to speak Spanish until he was a little older. “I grew up listening to her, [and] I think the first time I spoke Spanish it was me singing her songs in the back of my dad’s suburban,” says Gonzales.
This past Sunday, tons of people packed the parking lot at the El Chilito taco shop in North Austin. People sang along to booming Selena hits and three women even competed in a costume contest – one donned a version of her iconic purple jumpsuit. The winner was decked out in a beaded, white bustier. The next two bidi bidi brunch-brunches are happening in January and February.
The Padre Island National Seashore says more than 200 cold-stunned green sea turtles have been found in Texas since Friday, after last week’s snowfall.
Green sea turtles are one of seven species of sea turtles in the world – all of which are endangered. However, Patrick Gamman, who manages communications for the national park, says the green sea turtle population has been rebounding.
“So, as they’re starting to make a comeback, we’re starting to see them more and more, and what happens is the younger ones especially don’t realize when winter’s coming, you’ve got to get out of dodge,” says Gamman. He adds, “You’ve got to head warmer climates because remember sea turtles are reptiles and whenever the water temperature gets below 50, there’s not enough warmth for them to function.”
As of Sunday afternoon, 227 sea turtles had been recovered on the Texas coast, and only eight have died. Gamman credits a number of partners for successfully saving these sea turtles including the Texas State Aquarium, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Galveston Laboratory, and members of the public, to name a few. Gamman adds that the sea turtles will be released back into the Gulf of Mexico as soon as temperatures warm up in the next week or two.
After a night of 20-degree weather in west Texas last week, 15 Guatemalan nationals who entered the country illegally were found in need of medical attention.
Carlos Morales with Marfa Public Radio reports one of them died from the extreme cold.
Officials say agents were patrolling outside Marfa on December 8 when they came across the Guatemalans’ trail in the snow. The members of group were found in “various states of distress and hypothermia.”
After being evaluated, the Guatemalans were taken down the mountainside they were found on and transported to Alpine for medical care. One of the them who was in critical condition went into cardiac arrest during the transportation and was flown to a trauma center for additional care. The Border Patrol estimates the group had been walking through the desert for a week.
