Politician talks sense on reopening schools
Finally, we have a politician, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, coming out strongly based on science, instead of simply providing lip service (“We can reopen our schools and keep our teachers safe,” Page A12, Feb 21). Science strongly supports the reopening of preschool and elementary schools without any delay.
Our leaders, both political and teachers union, must take appropriate action immediately. Both Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Rochelle Walensky of the CDC cannot be wrong on this.
Our kids are the losers in this pandemic. They have lost a year that cannot be replaced in their life no matter what. Remote learning severely disadvantages our students from our lowest-income families. A child’s social development — the ability to interact with other children and adults — is a critical piece of the development puzzle and all the students are losers now in this key area. Therefore, let us prioritize and open the elementary schools fully right away. — Subru Bhat
Union City
A Dallas police officer was arrested Thursday on two counts of capital murder, more than a year and a half after a man told investigators that he kidnapped and killed two people at the officer’s instruction in 2017, authorities said.
Bryan Riser, a 13-year veteran of the force, was arrested Thursday morning and taken to the Dallas County Jail for processing, according to a statement from the police department. A lawyer for him couldn’t immediately be identified.
Riser was arrested in the unconnected killings of Liza Saenz, 31, and Albert
Douglas, 61, after a man came forward in August 2019 and told police he had kidnapped and killed them at Riser’s direction, police Chief Eddie Garcia said during a news conference.
Garcia did not explain why Riser was arrested nearly 20 months after the witness came forward, and police did not immediately respond to questions about the timing.
Saenz’s body was pulled from the Trinity River in southwest Dallas on March 10, 2017, with several bullet wounds, the chief said. Douglas was reported missing that year and his body hasn’t been found.
Three people were previously arrested and charged with capital murder in Saenz’s killing, according to an affidavit for Riser’s arrest. It does not identify any of them by name.
One of them allegedly told police that he and Riser were involved in burglaries when they were young. They more recently hatched a plan to rob drug stash houses, but they didn’t follow through with it, according to the affidavit.
Instead, the man told investigators that Riser offered to pay him a total of $9,500 to kidnap and kill Douglas and later Saenz. Both were shot and their bodies were dumped in the river, according to the court record.