"It's like a dream you can't wake up from." Families remember City of Houston employees who've died from COVID-19

https://www.khou.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/family-remembers-houston-public-works-employee-who-died-from-covid-19/285-acdeebed-91ef-4cf1-839b-57dfa02086e7

At least three City of Houston employees died from COVID-19 complications in a matter of days.  One was a longtime Houston Fire Department captain.  Two others were Houston Public Works employees.  They're essential workers too.  I used some old school reporter techniques (the white pages) to locate the sister of one of the public works employees.  She agreed to do an interview with me from her home in San Antonio.  She said she never imagined COVID would impact her inner family.  Her sister, who struggled with asthma her entire life, died within a very short time after being tested for COVID following the apparent diagnosis of a supervisor at work.

On the back-to-school beat

https://www.khou.com/article/news/education/tea-guidelines-commissioner-on-new-guidance-for-texas-school-districts/285-b3417c32-a3ba-44cc-b6b1-1b409cc1b544

COVID-19 continues to impact daily life in many ways.  And it's definitely impacting the way children will learn in the coming school year.  School districts across the Houston area (and many around the nation) continue to tweak plans to include mostly online/remote learning.  Here in Texas, districts waited for weeks for new guidance from the Texas Education Agency (TEA).  This story capsulizes highlights of the new guidance.  I used a TEA YouTube clip for my soundbite and later got a one-on-one interview with the commissioner to use in later newscasts.  KHOU reporters continue to work mostly from home.. But I was able to meet up with my photographer near my place to shoot stand-ups.

Galveston beaches close on July 4th weekend

https://www.khou.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/our-hope-is-that-people-will-just-comply-galveston-island-beaches-officially-close-for-july-4th-weekend/285-f2f3976a-f23c-43bb-9546-347a15f086ed

I've been doing a LOT of Zoom interviews lately.  That includes the one I did for this story on beaches being closed on Galveston Island over the July 4th holiday weekend.  I did it from home.  The chief of the island's beach patrol agreed to Zoom with me and a couple of our photographers went down and shot some b-roll (both ground video and drone video).  It's part of the way we continue to do things at KHOU amid the COVID-19 pandemic.  We do still get out and actually cover events in person on occasion.  As for the story.. closing beaches was fairly controversial given the fact that it means so much money for businesses and so much fun for visitors.