Month: July 2021

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - A former Bryan High School quarterback has been sentenced to 25 years in prison by a judge in Fort Worth. Brodrick “B.J.” Ross was arrested after a man was killed in Fort Worth in January 2017. A judge sentenced Ross Tuesday in Tarrant County after he plead guilty for his part in the murder of Chris-Dion Russell. Russell was robbed and killed according to prosecutors. Ross was also starting quarterback at McMurry University in Abilene where he led the War Hawks in both rushing and passing yards as a freshman. KBTX previously reported Ross was a quarterback for the Bryan Vikings who graduated in 2016. Friends from Bryan and College Station tell us they had written the judge asking for a more lenient sentence saying he had been a good young man and has a good family. ...

A new study has found that COVID-19 vaccines may be somewhat vulnerable to the California “Epsilon” strain of virus. The variant has three spike protein mutations it uses to weaken current vaccines by up to 70 percent, according to researchers from University of Washington and the San Fransisco-based lab Vir Biotechnology. The strain’s mutations break down neutralized antibodies, which are produced by vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna and protect against infection, according to the study, published in the journal Science on July 1. The spike mutations may also be able to side-step the naturally produced antibodies a person forms after being infected with the coronavirus, according to the report. The effectiveness of current shots could be reduced ...

Mercy Health officials announced Wednesday that all employees will be required to get the COVID-19 vaccine by Sept. 30. The new requirement comes as COVID-19 cases are increasing in communities in northeast Oklahoma and Arkansas, officials with the health system said. The delta variant of COVID-19 continues to spread rapidly in Missouri, where Mercy has hospitals and clinics in Joplin, Springfield, St. Louis and other locations. Mercy officials said they are seeing the real-world impact of the protection vaccines provide, and that the majority of Mercy patients recently hospitalized with COVID-19 have not been vaccinated. “What we are seeing aligns with the Associated Press analysis of CDC data,” said Dr. John Mohart, Mercy’s senior vice president of clinical services. “More than 95%...

Plant-based meat alternatives may look and cook like real meat, but scientists say that the nutritional components may not be the same. Researchers at Duke University compared 36 food samples -- 18 of widely known plant-based meat alternatives to 18 grass-fed ground beef options from a ranch in Idaho. For each sample, they measured the number of metabolites, small molecules that make up the nutrients in foods.  Plant-based meat alternatives may look and cook like real meat, but scientists say that the nutritional components may not be the same, a new study suggests. (iStock).  The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, discovered the beef contained 22 metabolites that the plant-based substitutes did not have. The plant-based meat, meanwhile, contained 31...