Start of something big?
Across the aisle
Regarding “Republican U.S. Rep. Nehls offers to help Biden’s criminal justice reform,” (April 30): U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls reached out to Joe Biden, and “I’ll reach out to you,” the president replied. When Nehls voted against ratifying the Biden win, I thought he was a lost cause, having proclaimed his total loyalty to Donald Trump during his campaign. When the resistance offers to change its mind publicly, that’s a success in the management of change. This small step could be the start of something big. Britt D. Davis, Houston
Spring cleaning
Am I the only one embarrassed every time I see Houston’s City Hall? Whether in person or on television, it just looks dirty. It represents the city to visitors and residents alike. It needs to be cleaned. My homeowners association would never allow my house to look like our City Hall looks.
Chris Manzke, Houston
Global Health Security Act
Regarding “India’s hope may lie in locally developed vaccine,” (A1, May 3): During COVID-19, over 3 million people have lost their lives and countless family members and loved ones have been affected. Now that more and more vaccines are being distributed on a daily basis, the daily death toll in the United States has gone down
from around 4,000 to around 800 since mid-January. The focus needs to slowly start shifting toward foreign policy to aid other countries that still have extremely high rates of new cases and deaths such as India. The Global Health Security Act would increase the U.S. government’s efforts to offer support with countries struggling with epidemics and pandemics, as well as prevent disease outbreaks. The passing of this bill through the House and
uplifting other countries through this pandemic would allow for safe international travel and large group gatherings again. Beyza Yildirim, Sugar Land
Not what we need
Regarding “Texas moves to ban Griddylike electricity plans,” (B1, April 30): This proposed legislation is the opposite of what we need to smooth out the Texas power load. Griddy-type plans sell electricity for $0.01 per kilowatt hour at midnight, which encourages the ownership of battery powered cars, and $0.30 in the August afternoons, which encourages homeowners to install rooftop solar panels. Texas needs more distributed power production like this, not less.
What the Legislature should do is require CenterPoint to offer the same deal: $0.01 at night and the balance during the day. This way, homeowners are incentivized to help the grid to avoid future crises.
Tom Schmal, Houston