Ups, downs

Deadline day for ACA insurance; former minister facing charges

Today is the last day to sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act for 2019. Miss the date and you’ll have to wait until next November. Go to healthcare.gov or call 1-800-318-2596 to make sure you’re covered. The good book says in Luke that there is nothing kept secret that will not come to light. It’s a message Jerrell Altic, a former minister at Houston’s First Baptist Church, should take to heart after surrendering to authorities earlier this week on theft charges. Church officials finally got wise to his blatant violations of the Eighth and Ninth Commandments and called authorities. The one-time missions pastor allegedly pilfered at least $823,937 in church funds over six years. In what can only be described as the height of irony, he allegedly spent the money to pay for a doctorate degree in divinity. If convicted, he faces up to 99 years behind bars. As he goes through his fiery trials, we hope Altic remembers this golden nugget: The love of money is the root of all evil. Houstonians won’t have to wait any longer to get full representation in the state Senate — Carol Alvarado won the District 6 special election without needing a runoff, saving everyone a good deal of time and money. But the 2018 midterms aren’t quite over. Now begins the race to fill Alvarado’s former seat in the state House. That state Senate race had the lowest turnout for a special election since at least 1996, with an unofficial count of 15,084 voters. Everybody knows you shouldn’t run with scissors — and going on a spacewalk with sharp, pointy shears probably isn’t the best idea either. That didn’t stop a pair of Russian cosmonauts from slicing into a Soyuz spacecraft during a chaotic and bizarre eight-hour mission. Their goal was to find a small leak, but the whole procedure sent shredded insulation floating off into orbit and had mission control reminding the space men to put safety first. Or, as one cosmonaut said as they were cutting through the orbital module: “Please be careful; my hand is there." The Texas Department of Corrections has announced plans to become the first corrections agency in the country to make dentures for inmates using 3D printers instead of relying on traditional — and expensive — orthodontics. No need for a sharp tip from an insider mole. Our incisive reporter Keri Blakinger exposed how toothless Texas inmates were forced to slurp down liquefied lunches for their meals. We’re glad Blakinger didn’t let up until she got to the root of the story.