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Welcome to Friday. Texas faith-based organizations are calling out the governor for a lack of leadership and preparation following a record-breaking winter storm that has left millions without power, water or both. A new HBO documentary puts the spotlight on Luis Miranda, father of famous "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda.
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** Texas faith leaders call out 'sheer negligence' behind power outages ([link removed])
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Yesterday morning, Bob Fleming put out a call to his network of faith-based organizations, asking how people in the Houston area are coping with the record-breaking winter storm that has gripped much of Texas for five days.

"For those asking, it's four days later and I still don't have power. I've been looking for a hotel since day two. We got power for maybe 20 minutes yesterday and then it went back out. It's devastating for me and my two children," said one woman.

The winter storm and freezing temperatures have left more than millions of people without power, water or both.

The failure of the state electric grid led faith leaders across the state to call out Gov. Greg Abbott for a lack of leadership and preparation. They urged him to request assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Administration and to utilize the state's $10 billion "rainy-day" fund to help Texans cover expensive home repairs and energy bills.

They also called on state leadership to take steps to modernize and weatherize its electric grid. They pointed to cities like El Paso and Beaumont, both of which receive electricity from out-of-state grids and did not face the same level of outages.

You can read more of the story at EarthBeat here ([link removed]) .

More background:
* EarthBeat publishes a newsletter every Friday written by climate editor Barbara Fraser. Sign up here to get the weekly email in your inbox ([link removed]) .

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** Luis Miranda: He gets the job done ([link removed])
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Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the smash hit musical "Hamilton," is practically a household name. And as a theater enthusiast who has long admired his work, NCR national correspondent Christopher White has had a peripheral knowledge of his father, Luis.

"It's hard to watch any interview with Lin without detecting his father's influence on him and, very often, Luis is seen in the background cheering on his son," writes White. And with the release of a new HBO documentary, "Siempre, Luis," Luis Miranda is now center stage.

Long before his son was in the spotlight, Luis Miranda made a name for himself as a fixture in New York's state politics, first cutting his teeth in the 1980s working for Mayor Ed Koch. He has since gone on to advise Sen. Chuck Schumer, Hillary Clinton and a host of other political luminaries.

As the documentary chronicles, Luis has two great loves in life: family and country. And for him, the borders of both should be welcoming and expansive.

You can read more of White's interview with Luis Miranda here ([link removed]) .

More background:
* You can find more content like this in NCR's weekly culture newsletter, written by opinion editor Olga Segura. Click this link to sign up for the newsletter ([link removed]) .

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** More headlines
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* NCR political columnist Michael Sean Winters says ([link removed]) the U.S. bishops should capitalize on President Joe Biden restoring the faith-based partnership office in the White House, rather than picking fights with the president.

* St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Chicago has received a $1 million grant ([link removed]) from the Lilly Endowment to help establish a center inspired by Fr. Augustus Tolton, the first U.S. Catholic priest recognized as Black.

* Students are demanding a stronger response from Boston College ([link removed]) after two recent cases in which white students were accused of harassing Black and Hispanic students in a campus dorm.

* Your thoughts on the U.S. bishops disbanding ([link removed]) its controversial working group formed to deal with President Joe Biden.

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** Final thoughts
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EarthBeat has launched a regular series called Reflections on the Care of Creation ([link removed]) , in which Fr. Emmet Farrell examines our impact on the planet and our responsibility, as people of faith, for our common home. Today's dispatch ([link removed]) focuses on how our fossil fuel use and our population has grown exponentially in recent decades, making human-induced climate change especially urgent. You can sign up to get an email ([link removed]) each time a new reflection is posted.

Until Monday,

Stephanie Yeagle
NCR Managing Editor
[email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
Twitter: @ncrSLY ([link removed])

P.S. Did you enjoy this newsletter? Please forward to a friend and ask them to subscribe ([link removed]) .

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