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INSIDE.

Oh, Brother’s. Stefan Modrich reviews Brother’s Pizzeria on North Shepherd Drive.

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Sara in the City. An Oak Forest resident offers event-planning services to the neighborhood.

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Man accused of murder in death at Heights home By Adam Zuvanich azuvanich@theleadernews.com

A man has been arrested and charged with murder after allegedly beating another man to death with a brick last week at a home in the Heights, according to Harris County court records. The victim, Erasto Ven-

Quintanilla-Duran

SPX’s Perkins running own race in basketball journey

Homeless housing initiative receives $100 million boost in joint effort landan@theleadernews.com

By Landan Kuhlmann landan@theleadernews.com

DeMya Walker-Wheatfall is a mom, a coach and a former WNBA All-Star and champion. St. Pius X High School’s girls basketball coach said her daughter, Zachara Perkins, has the potential to go even further in the sport and wants the public to recognize Perkins for her exploits. Perkins has been the engine for the Lady Panthers for much of the last two seasons and is following up an all-state season last year with an even better campaign this season. The 6-foot-3 Perkins is averaging 23.7 points, 12.6 rebounds and 3.9 blocked shots per game for SPX. She is also tied for the national lead in double-doubles this season with 26 of them, according to MaxPreps.com. “(Zachara) has earned it, and I want to scream that from the mountaintops,” her mom said. “… There are so many ways she will separate herself from me that she earns because she works for it. Not everybody gives her full credit for what she has accomplished, which is unfair to her.” Perkins echoed her mother in wanting to make her own name on her own merits. “Yes, my mom helped me – because your mom is always supposed to help you wherever you’re trying to go,” she said. “But I’m getting where I am from what I know and what I’ve learned from her.” Perkins’ path to athletic stardom did not begin on the court, but rather in the pool. Walker- Wheatfall said her daughter was a swimmer in the early years of her life and envisioned a future in which she was an Olympian. But Perkins made an about face around 5th grade – and has taken off since starting playing AAU basketball around age 11. The now 15-year-old sophomore was a first-team TAPPS All-State selection last year after a freshman season in which she averaged 19 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.1 blocks for the Lady Panthers. And she has elevated her game to another level this season despite being consistently doubleand triple-teamed by opposing de-

where they found Ventura lying on the floor at the residence. He was pronounced dead at the scene, according to HPD. Police say an investigation identified Quintanilla-Duran as a suspect in the death, and he was arrested and charged Monday. Follow Adam Zuvanich on Twitter @AZuvanich

By Landan Kuhlmann

Contributed photo Zachara Perkins, a 6-foot-3 sophomore for St. Pius X High School, dribbles the basketball up the court during a game.

Contributed photo St. Pius X High School basketball coach DeMya Walker-Wheatfall roams the sideline during a game. The former WNBA all-star is the mother of sophomore standout Zachara Perkins.

A large-scale effort to provide housing for the homeless population in Houston and Harris County is set to receive a massive influx of funding. Officials from the City of Houston, Harris County and the nonprofit Coalition for the Homeless on Jan. 26 announced a combined pledge of $100 million that will be used for the second phase of the Community COVID Housing Program (CCHP). The program is a housingfocused reTurner sponse to the pandemic for people experiencing homelessness, offering them housing and supportive services while attempting to decommission homeless enHidalgo campments around the region. The city and county each intends to invest $35 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) Local Fiscal Recovery Funds in Phase 2 of the project, according to a news release from the Coalition for the Homeless. The city has also secured an additional $26 million from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA), the release said, while the Coalition will raise additional funding from private philanthropy. “By pulling together in the same direction, Harris County and Houston are showing the rest of America how to get within striking distance of solving an intractable issue like homelessness,” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said. As part of the program, the city, county and Coalition for the Homeless have partnered to decommission numerous homeless encampments throughout the region in an effort to reduce homelessness and its strain on government services. The process involves offering housing to people living in encampments, cleaning up the sites and clearing them of structures and personal belongings. Among the encampments that have been decommissioned since the proSee Funding P. 4A

More changes made to plan for 11th Street Bikeway By Adam Zuvanich

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azuvanich@theleadernews.com

THE INDEX. Church....................................................... 4A Classifieds.............................................. 5A Coupons................................................... 3B Food/Drink............................................. 7A Obituaries............................................... 8A Opinion..................................................... 3A Public Information......................... 8A Puzzles...................................................... 3A Sports......................................................... 4B

Salvador, according to court documents, which show he has been living in the Washington Avenue area. He remained in jail as of Tuesday morning on a $200,000 bond, according to court records. The Houston Police Department said its officers were called to the home at 725 Allston St. shortly before 2 p.m. last Tuesday, Jan. 25,

Like mother, like daughter

See Perkins P. 5A College bound. Several local high school athletes signed with colleges Wednesday.

tura, 65, died of blunt force trauma to the head, according to the Harris County medical examiner, which determined the death to be a homicide. Court records show that Franklin Quintanilla-Duran, 31, has been charged with murder in connection to Ventura’s death. Quintanilla is a foreign national from El

File photo by Adam Zuvanich A woman pushes a stroller across 11th Street at its intersection with Nicholson Street in the Heights.

The plan for the 11th Street Bikeway has undergone multiple iterations since it first was unveiled to Heights-area residents nearly three years ago. More changes have been made to the design for the transformative transportation project since the last community engagement meeting in November, after which more than 100 impacted residents provided feedback to the City of Houston, according to project coleader Lauren Grove, a senior staff analyst for Houston Public Works.

A detailed update will be presented at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 7, during a virtual meeting of the Houston Heights Association’s Land Use Committee, with the meeting link available at https://www.letstalkhouston.org/11th-street-bikeway. Among the most significant changes to the plan, according to Grove, was eliminating the idea for a continuous concrete median on 11th between North Shepherd Drive and Yale Street to the east, and scrapping the plan to allow left turns at only two intersections along that stretch. Grove said the design now calls for allowing left turns at roughly half of the inter-

sections between Shepherd and Yale, and placing concrete medians at selected spots where traffic data shows that crash rates are highest. Grove said the changes are in response to concerns expressed by community members about limited direct access to their homes as well as the potential for increased cutthrough traffic on some streets. “We heard a lot, and we heard it loud and clear,” Grove said. “So the (Planning & Development Department) and public works decided to go back and take a look at traffic data and crash data to see how we might redesign that section.” See Bikeway P. 4A

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