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Houston Area Flu Cases Spike!

THE CHRON: If you've been putting off your annual flu shot, don't delay any longer: Texas is already being hit hard this flu season.

Houston-area hospitals have seen a spike in the number of emergency room visits for flu-like symptoms, said Porfirio Villarreal, spokesman for the Houston Department of Health and Human Services. During the week of Nov. 18, about 1,580 visits to emergency rooms were attributed to flu-like illnesses, compared with just 249 visits during the same week last year, Villarreal said.

Influenza is a serious disease that can lead to hospitalization or even death, the CDC says.

Every flu season is different, and even healthy people can get very sick from the disease and spread it to others. From 1976 to 2007, estimates of U.S. deaths each year due to flu ranged from 3,000 to 49,000.

"Flu is predictably unpredictable," said Dr. Gail Demmler-Harrison, pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Texas Children's Hospital and pediatrics professor at Baylor College of Medicine. "There's no cause for alarm but cause for action. People should get themselves vaccinated so it doesn't get any worse."

National Influenza Vaccination Week, a campaign established in 2005 to counter the notion that December is too late to get a vaccination, ends Saturday. Once a vaccine is administered, it takes about two weeks to develop immunity.

Although the influenza season usually peaks in February, 48 states and Puerto Rico have reported cases, with rates rising quickly nationwide, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week.

Along with Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee are also reporting high levels of activity.

In Houston, Texas Children's Hospital has seen an early start to the season with 123 confirmed cases of Type A influenza and 32 cases of Type B, compared with just two Type A cases in the same span last year, Demmler-Harrison said.

Everyone who is at least 6 months old should get a flu vaccination, but the CDC says it's especially important for these groups:

» People at high risk of developing serious complications like pneumonia if they get the flu, including those with medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes and chronic lung disease.

» Pregnant women.

» People 65 years and older.

» People who live with or care for others who are at high risk of developing serious complications.

Apartment fire in Cypress Creek

KHOU.com staff

CYPRESS, Texas – Firefighters with the Cypress Creek Volunteer Fire Department responded to reports of an apartment fire just after midnight Wednesday.

The fire was reported at the Central Park Regency apartments on Regency Green at Jones Road.

Firefighters found heavy flames shooting through the roof of an attached laundry room at the end of the apartment building. They were able to put it out before it spread, but nearby apartments suffered water and smoke damage.

The Harris County Fire Marshal was called to the scene to investigate.

No injuries were reported.

Mormon church in Cypress gets new leadership

On Oct. 28, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced the appointment of a new ecclesiastical leader, David R. Lauck, who will serve as the president of the Cypress Texas Stake in Northwest Houston. He succeeds Stirling D. Pack Jr., who successfully completed nine years of service.

The church is organized geographically into stakes, which are similar to a Catholic diocese. In his new assignment, President Lauck will preside over 12 congregations in Cypress, Waller, Fairfield, Tomball and Northwest Houston.

“I am humbled by this responsibility but committed to do my best, one step at a time,” said Lauck. “Challenges help us to develop spiritual power. Through the love of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and through his atonement, each one of us can seek the strength we need to climb the mountains in our lives and to raise our eyes to new heights.”

Stake presidents typically serve for about 9-10 years and come from a variety of backgrounds. Lauck was raised in the Sugar Land/Missouri City area. He graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s degree in business. Currently he resides in Northwest Houston and is a business development manager with Shell Oil Company, where he has worked for over 21 years.

The church has no salaried ministry, so Lauck will continue to work full time while fulfilling his new ecclesiastical responsibilities.

He and his wife, Leanne, have been married for 23 years. Houston has been their home for 14 of those years. They have three children — one currently serving a two-year church mission in New York, one attending college and one a student in Cy-Fair I.S.D.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a worldwide Christian church with a membership of nearly 14.5 million people in more than 160 countries. Currently in Houston there are approximately 60,000 Latter-day Saints in 120 congregations.

13 year old Cypress girl steals car to see boy friend

CYPRESS, Texas – A 13-year-old lovesick Cypress girl who stole her brother's car to visit her boyfriend in Kentucky has been found safe in Nashville. Elizabeth Annette Robinson is with juvenile authorities with the Nashville Police Department. The teen's parents discovered she was missing Thursday morning, along with the car and her mom’s ATM card. They last saw her around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday at their home in the 17100 block of Ledgefield in Cypress. "We love her so much. We don’t know why she’s done this," said Tressa Robinson, Elizabeth’s mother. She believed her lovestruck daughter was heading to Hodgenville, Kentucky to meet a 12-year-old boy named Dylan. The pair met while playing Xbox games online. "She had mentioned that she was talking to a boy online and said he was her boyfriend," Tressa Robinson said. "She started staying in her bedroom more, isolating herself where she was always with the headset, always talking. That’s how they communicated through the Xbox." Elizabeth’s dad took away the Xbox earlier this week and that’s when she apparently got mad and concocted the scheme to run away. Robinson’s mom said she had been asking questions about the brother’s car and what kind of gas mileage it gets. Elizabeth left a note saying she was running away to a girlfriend’s house because of bullies at school. But her parents figured out her true destination when they found an email from Dylan with his address and contacted his grandmother. Authorities began tracking Elizabeth’s travels through her mom’s ATM card. She used it Thursday in Henderson, Texas, about 180 miles north of Houston. Elizabeth’s dad hit the road to try and find his missing child. Dylan stayed at home in Kentucky. He apparently said over the phone that he told Beth not to do this. An Amber Alert was issued in Nashville, Tennessee and Beth was pulled over and taken into custody. The family released the following statement: Thank you all so much...We can’t thank you enough for all of your help in finding our daughter. An amber alert was placed in Nashville, Tennessee and Beth was pulled over and taken into custody by the Nashville Police Department.. Beth is safe and sound. Thank God! My husband will be in Nashville in 30 minutes and is on his way to the police station, to pick Beth up and bring her home... Thank you all and God Bless You for the Amazing Job in Finding our Daughter! -- Robbie & Tressa Robinson & Family

Cypress woman uses Linkedin to promote meth

A Texas woman accused of cooking methamphetamine allegedly used her LinkedIn account to conduct business, according to the Houston Press. 25-year-old Lindsay Ann Grice was charged with the crime after her meth lab exploded, scorching her partner in the process. In addition to the illegal drug operation, police also uncovered a cache of stolen goods at the residence. Grice, it would seem, has been a very busy woman.

What happened was there were two individuals making what’s called a shake in bake. It’s a one person hit cooker,” Deputy Thomas Gilliland explained to the Cypress Creek Mirror. “Somehow the guy did not know what he was doing and it exploded. The vapors caught fire. It singed his hair; it singed his face and upper body.”

Although the house wasn’t damaged in the explosion, an unidentified man was badly burned in the blaze. After taking the wounded guy to the hospital, Grice and her accomplice, 37-year-old Thurman Lee Hall, quickly rushed back to their home to dispose of the evidence. Before they could properly cover up their crimes, police descended on the property and arrested the suspects.

The Houston Press reports that Grice and Hall were originally charged with manufacturing and possessing meth. After investigating the matter, the pair are now facing an additional charge of arson while manufacturing a controlled substance.

In order to help spread the word about her meth operation, Lindsay Ann Grice took to LinkedIn to network with those in the market for some illegal drugs. In addition to “consulting offers” and “expertise requests,” Grice was also down for “new ventures” and “business deals.” Although the suspect claimed to be a chemical expert and a self-proclaimed baller, police weren’t overly impressed with her setup.

“It wasn’t really a meth lab, so to speak,” Deputy Gilliland explained. “The whole area was about the size of a shoebox.”

As of this writing, both Grice and Hall are being held at Harris County Jail without bail.

Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/317961/texas-woman-uses-linkedin-to-promote-her-meth-business/#x4WFB4w5v9zrbrYz.99

Hurricane warning issued for Houston & Vicinity

By Eric Berger, Houston Chronicle McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

Aug. 27--Tropical Storm Isaac moved into the Gulf of Mexico late Sunday, setting the stage for a midweek rendezvous with the northern Gulf coast.

In response to the growing threat, the National Hurricane Center issued hurricane warnings for the coast from Morgan City, La., to Destin, Fla.

Forecasters said it remained difficult to determine the storm's most likely track, but New Orleans was in the middle of the hurricane center's "cone of uncertainty."

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal called a state of emergency on Sunday and suggested that people leave low-lying parts of the state. A voluntary evacuation of New Orleans began Sunday, and mandatory evacuations could begin as early as Monday.

An emergency declaration was also issued in Mississippi by Gov. Phil Bryant amid concerns of storm surge threatening low-lying areas.

By late Sunday Isaac remained a powerful tropical storm, with 65-mph sustained winds, and forecasters anticipated it would grow into a hurricane by Monday. The official forecast predicts Isaac will come ashore as a Category 2 hurricane along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast, although some forecast models strengthened it into a major hurricane before landfall.

Isaac could reach the northern Gulf coast by Wednesday -- the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Passing through the Florida Keys as a tropical storm, Gov. Rick Scott said Sunday evening that only minor damage was reported in Florida.

In Tampa, Republican National Convention officials said they would convene briefly on Monday, then recess until Tuesday afternoon, when the storm was expected to have passed.

Offshore, energy companies were preparing for the storm, as they stepped up evacuation of workers from the Gulf and shut down some production.

By midday Sunday, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement reported 24 percent of the current daily oil production in the Gulf had been shut down, along with just over 8 percent of current daily natural gas production.

Satish Nagarajaiah, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice University, said the evacuations and production shutdowns were routine. More platforms will be shut down by Monday, he said, most of them in the eastern Gulf. And once the storm passes, production will be restarted quickly unless the platform sustains damage, he said.

Drilling in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico accounts for 23 percent of domestic crude oil production and about 7 percent of natural gas production, according to U.S. government statistics.

More than 40 percent of the country's refining capacity is located along the Gulf coast, too. So far, refineries are continuing operations.

BP said Sunday it had temporarily suspended production at all of its operated production platforms in the Gulf. Apache Corp. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. both said they shut in some production. BP had begun evacuating workers Friday; by Saturday, Chevron, Murphy Oil, Shell, Exxon Mobil and other companies were evacuating nonessential workers.

On Sunday afternoon some forecast models suggests Isaac could move as far west as the Texas-Louisiana border before moving inland, possibly posing a hurricane threat to Texas.

But that scenario remained unlikely, forecasters said. "There's not a zero percent chance on Texas, but it certainly is still an outlier" that the state would get hit, said Bill Read, the recently retired director of the National Hurricane Center.

Depending how close Isaac moves to Texas, waters offshore Galveston could see some higher waves, and winds could rise over the region on Wednesday and Thursday. Some rain is also possible.

Staff writer Jeannie Kever contributed to this report.