Lifestyle

   A 35-year-old Nigerian mother and her 10-year-old daughter drowned in the Colorado River off Riverside Park late Saturday afternoon, July 6, according to state Game Warden and Sheriff’s Department reports.
   While the body of the mother, Kelechi Echefu, was found by a fisherman not long after Game Wardens were notified at about 5:30 p.m. Saturday, her daughter’s body wasn’t discovered until Monday morning, July 8, officials said.
   Game Warden Trey Sparkman said that EMS unsuccessfully tried to revive the mother who was brought to the park’s boat ramp.
   Sparkman said the woman and two daughters, ages 8 and 10, were on a sand bar in the river and the two girls were showing her how their swimming skills had improved.
   Other newspaper reports indicated that the mother’s boyfriend accompanied them.
   As the girls were demonstrating their swimming, they apparently stepped off in water that was seven to eight feet deep, Sparkman said.

   Bay City Tourism Council unanimously approved up to $5,000 in funding for the annual Rotary Club concert during their regular meeting, July 3.
   “They asked for $7,000 this year, but we awarded them $5,000 last year,” said Bay City Tourism Director Heidi Martinez. 
   This year’s concert features American Idol Contestant Colby Swift of Midfield, opening for Ronnie Millsap and lasts from 7 p.m. to midnight, Saturday, Aug. 17, at the Bay City Civic Center. 
   Rotary Club members Jessica Russell, Alyssa Sanders and Tereana Ottis were present at the meeting to provide insights and statistics on the event thus far. 
   “This is the 19th year for our concert and we’re almost sold out in ticket sales,” said Ottis.  
   “We’ve got about 60 individual tickets and one event table left available.” 
   Ottis added that the Club had blocked over 60 rooms between The Hampton Inn, Fairfield Inn and Best Western. 

   Bay City’s own Missy Horne graduated as second lieutenant from West Point in May and is on her way to John Hopkins University to become an Army doctor. 
   Horne is a 2016 Bay City High School graduate who was in every extracurricular activity possible – according to her father, Richard George.
   “Missy’s mother had her in everything she could sign up for during high school,” he added.
   “Even then, she’d come home from school and whatever else to do her assigned homework and anything else her mother found online for her to do. 
   “It didn’t even count towards school, she just pushed her to be the best she could possibly be.”
   George said that when Missy was interested in going to West Point, he was “unsure.”
   “It takes a certain kind of strength and dedication to get through such a hard program and I know I couldn’t have made it myself,” he explained.

   Spider-Man: Far From Home is the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and the 23rd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). 
   The film is directed by Jon Watts, written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, and stars Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, alongside Samuel L. Jackson, Zendaya, Cobie Smulders, Jon Favreau, J.B. Smoove, Jacob Batalon, Martin Starr, Marisa Tomei, and Jake Gyllenhaal.
   In Ixtenco, Nick Fury (Jackson) and Maria Hill (Smulders) investigate an unnatural storm and later encounter the Earth Elemental. 
   A super-powered man, Quentin Beck (Gyllenhaal), arrives to fight the creature. 
   In New York City, the Midtown School of Science and Technology restarts its academic year to accommodate the students who were among those resurrected in “the Blip” eight months prior. 

   HOUSTON – In honor of its 25th season, Conference USA announced its inaugural Hall of Fame class, tabbing Cougar standouts Chandi Jones, Case Keenum and Yulia Pakhalina for induction.
   Chandi Jones, closed out her collegiate career in 2004. 
   Jones was inducted in the Blackcat Hall of Fame in 2005.
   The 5-10 guard from Bay City, led the Cougars onto the national stage during her four-year career. 
   She was named C-USA’s Female Athlete of the Decade in 2005 and was also named the league’s basketball player of the decade and earned a slot on the C-USA All-Decade Team.
   She was a 2004 Kodak All-American, the first in school history, as well as a three-time C-USA Player of the Year (2002, 2003, 2004). 
   She earned First-Team All-C-USA honors in each of her four seasons and is UH and C-USA’s all-time leading scorer with 2,692 points.