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Student activists place fliers in banned books at a park across the street from Seven Lakes High School in Katy on Monday, Feb. 21, 2022. The group will distribute books to other students in Katy ISD.

Members of the Memorial Park Conservancy attend the inauguration ceremony of the eastbound Memorial Drive Land Bridge, Monday, March 28, 2022, in Houston.

Artist Roland Saldana (@soder_texas) pained the Selena mural outsideThe Arena vintage clothing store at 4802 Washington.

Ron Paul couldnt deliver the presidency for the Libertarian Party but the doctor appears to have earned a spot in history after revelations that he delivered a beloved American musical icon in a Lake Jackson hospital. The Chronicles Joey Guerra reported this week, citing overlooked comments in a recent interview of Abraham Quintanilla, that his daughter, Selena, was delivered in 1971 by the former presidential hopeful and former Texas congressman. The father claims Paul didnt just bring the late Latina star into the world, he saved her from another doctors bad diagnosis. Quintanilla says his wife had been told she had a tumor and needed an operation to remove it, but when they consulted Paul for a second opinion, Quintanilla said Paul told him, that tumor that the other doctor wanted to remove has two arms and two legs. Shes pregnant. Imagine. Without Paul, there may have been no Selena, even for the short time that the Queen of Tejano Music graced this earth. To that prospect, we say ah-ah-ay, cmo nos duele!

The bird wasnt born in Texas but it visits as often as it can. An African flamingo known affectionately as Pink Floyd and officially as No. 492 for the tag on his leg, was spotted recently near Port Lavaca after 17 years on the lam following his triumphant 2005 jail break from the Sedgwick County Zoo in Kansas. Looks like Pink Floyd has returned from the dark side of the moon! Texas Parks and Wildlife wrote this week in a Facebook post complete with a video of the lanky, blushing bird sunning amid glistening waters. Sadly, his (or her?) pink partner in crime in the great escape from Kansas was never seen again. Were not sure how No. 492 has eked out a living all alone in the wild. We guess he just winged it. Spotted annually in Texas since 2018, with pit stops in Louisiana and Wisconsin, Texas wildlife officials say the flamingo is the only bird of its kind on the Texas Gulf Coast. Oh, the stories No. 492 could tell. His journey, the New York Times declared, would fit snugly into a Pixar movie script. Unfortunately, the best we can do is this humble Thumbs mention. Thumbs up to a flamboyant fowl out seeing the world, living his best life. Were confident this isnt the last leg of his journey. Texas wildlife officials say they have no plans of clipping the wild wanderers wings.

Kids these days. You cant seem to keep them away from books. Or at least, Katy ISD cant seem to. School districts like Katy ISD gained national interest for efforts to ban or restrict access to books like Maus, a nonfiction graphic novel-style text about the Holocaust published decades ago that is currently under review in KISD. In response, students across the state organized to resist with book clubs and distributions. At a Katy ISD school board meeting Monday, several students spoke against district efforts that encourage parents to flag books like Toni Morrisons Beloved for review and removal. I encourage you to read these books, Seven Lakes High School student Cameron Samuels told the board. Samuels has been making the case for five months now along with students like Cinco Ranch High School senior Peniel Otto. Were unimpressed with a school district playing book police. Thumbs up to the students you know, the people the school board claims to be protecting for standing up for themselves and their peers.

Big news for the big tunnels on Memorial Drive. After starting construction in 2020, the first 25-foot high tube covered in grass is now open. Part of a blockbuster project, the tunnels are part of a land bridge that pedestrians will eventually be able to use and cross, connecting the two sides of Memorial Park. Its historic. Its transformational, Mayor Sylvester Turner told reporters the day before the eastbound lane opened to traffic Monday. Across Houston, theres a need for projects that stitch together green spaces and walkable infrastructure. And we like the planned addition of acres of prairie landscape atop the land bridge. But its hard not to see the big investment as yet another accommodation to cars, which are now free to speed through the eastbound tunnel. Theyll have to wait until May to try out the westbound tunnel.

Speaking of accommodating cars, the estimated costs of the Interstate 45 rebuild jumped $750 million, according to the latest numbers. The project has been years in the making despite ongoing community complaints. While the highway overhaul has support from suburban drivers and officials, people in neighborhoods that would actually be affected by the plans, as well as environmental advocates, have continued to object to the now increasingly pricey project. For now, the federal government is still reviewing those objections. What primarily is a highway for, we asked back in 2021 when the city and county both raised their frustrations with the plans. Is it to move people through an area as quickly as possible? Or is it designed to help make life better for the residents through whose neighborhoods and cities it passes? The jury is still out, it seems. Meanwhile, the meter is running as a flawed project gets even more expensive.

The kind of dedication that leads a sports columnists to literally eat the ink-spiced strips of an entire Chronicle sports page just because he said he would if his Texans prediction proved wrong deserves more than a mention in Thumbs. It deserves admiration, gratitude and maybe even a whole day named just for him. And thats exactly what Hall of Fame sportswriter John McClain got when he announced his retirement this week in his 47th year on the job. Mayor Sylvester Turner announced plans to proclaim April 5 John McClain Day in the city of Houston. Amid the well wishes and fond memories from coaches, players, Chronicle readers and especially colleagues who recalled not just a journalist of integrity but a man of kindness and generosity who made time to sign autographs and mentor new colleagues, one Twitter follower summed up McClain simply: Legend, the post read. Exactly.

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Thumbs: We have Ron Paul to thank for music icon Selena? - Houston Chronicle