Texas Model Confronts A Fellow Airline Passenger Who Body-Shamed Her

Our daily roundup of Texas headlines.

By Becky FogelJuly 5, 2017 5:22 pm

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

A Texas-based plus-sized model has received national attention for confronting a man who body-shamed her on a flight.

Natalie Hage was traveling from Dallas to Los Angeles for a photo shoot last week – and paid extra to sit in an exit row.

But as soon as she sat down in the middle seat, the man in the window seat had a noticeable and immediate reaction.

Hage told ABC’s Good Morning America he also began texting jokes about her weight.

“The person he talked to said ‘hopefully she hasn’t had any Mexican food’ and he said ‘well, it looks like she’s eaten a whole Mexican,’” Hage said.

Hage posted photos of the texts on her Instagram account and wrote “This is a fat person’s daily reality and not just on a plane.”

At the end of the flight, Hage called the man out for making fun of her and captured the exchange on Facebook Live.

“You made me feel so uncomfortable to exist in this seat,” she said in her video.

She also told him: “my body is none of your business.” 




U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was met with protests while participating in an Independence Day celebration in largely Democratic McAllen Tuesday.

The Texas Tribune reports that during his speech, Cruz – who is up for re-election in 2018 – had to speak over the protestors, even acknowledging them twice.

Demonstrators carried signs that said things like “Healthcare is a human right” – highlighting their opposition to attempts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

Wednesday, Cruz is scheduled to hold a town hall in McKinney as part of a statewide tour.

That’s before heading to town halls in Austin and Houston on Thursday and Friday, respectively.




A new device is making it a lot easier for crews in charge of cleaning up graffiti in Houston to get the job done.

Houston Public Media’s Al Ortiz explains.

The device is a blaster that uses almost microscopic glass beads mixed with water and compressed air, which makes it easier to clean up difficult surfaces like concrete, asphalt and limestone rock.

Martin Chavez, works for the Greater East End Management District (GEEMD). He’s in charge of its Graffiti Abatement Team.

They started using the blaster just last month and Chavez explains the device is also good for the environment because it doesn’t require using chemical solvents.

“It’s just, you know, glasses, it’s like beach sand actually and it’s just compressed air and just a little bit of water,” Chavez says.

The new tool is also saving time.

As an example, a job that could have required more than 10 hours was completed in just one hour.

The GEEMD’s Graffiti Abatement Team started working in 2001 in the East End.

Eventually, it expanded to other parts of Houston through agreements with management districts and even beyond that.

“We also partnered with the City about six years ago. They contracted us to do the City graffiti abatement for the whole city, which includes parks, libraries…,” says Chavez.

So far, the crew has cleaned up approximately 198,000 graffiti sites in Houston.”