January 26, 2018

UT declined to sanction professor who pleaded guilty to violent felony

A professor at the University of Texas who pleaded guilty to a felony charge of strangling his girlfriend to the point that she saw “stars” remains on the job despite a school policy condemning domestic violence as prohibited conduct that it “will not tolerate,” an American-Statesman investigation has found.

Richard A. Morrisett had also been accused of a second violent incident that sent his girlfriend to the hospital, and of repeatedly violating a court order to stay away from her. After learning of the charges against Morrisett, university officials placed him on paid administrative leave for 18 days in August 2016 while it conducted a review that included interviews of faculty members and students.

“The review found no relation between how the professor acted in this situation and how he acted on campus, and as a result he was allowed to continue his teaching and lab activities” in UT’s College of Pharmacy, university spokesman J.B. Bird said in an email.

Records obtained by the Statesman under the Texas Public Information Act show that Morrisett was not sanctioned by the university even though administrators concluded that he had violated a policy requiring employees to notify a supervisor of criminal charges. The rule states that failing to report “is a violation of policy and will lead to disciplinary action.” Administrators were alerted to Morrisett’s case by campus police.

Read more: http://www.mystatesman.com/news/local/declined-sanction-professor-who-pleaded-guilty-violent-felony/turzhL5nv6dPkQ6bVjJo1J/

January 26, 2018

Tim Duncan gets back $7.5 million in settlement with ex-adviser

Retired San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan has settled his lawsuits against his former financial adviser, getting back $7.5 million that the adviser defrauded from the NBA legend.

Duncan had alleged that he lost more than $20 million investing in various ventures with the adviser, Charles Banks IV of Atlanta, because of Banks’ misrepresentations. But after duking it out in court, Duncan decided to settle with Banks, who was sent to federal prison following a criminal investigation by the FBI over one of his deals with Duncan.

“I wouldn’t say this makes him whole,” said Richard C. Danysh, one of Duncan’s attorneys at Bracewell LLP. “But given the amount of time expended by Mr. Duncan and his lawyers and the courts, the amount of money spent chasing this fellow, and Mr. Banks’ statements that he doesn’t have any (more) money, it seemed like the wise thing to do — bring it to a conclusion.”

The deal ends a federal lawsuit Duncan filed against Banks in San Antonio over allegations that Banks duped him into investing about $1.1 million in a cosmetics company that eventually went belly up. It also dismisses Banks from a federal lawsuit Duncan filed in Colorado naming Banks and Gameday, a sports merchandising company that Banks had an interest in.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Tim-Duncan-gets-back-7-5-million-in-settlement-12526295.php

January 26, 2018

Justice Sotomayor wows crowd at UTSA

Texas was the first state Sonia Sotomayor, the associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, visited after her book tour was launched in 2013. While in Austin, she discovered that busloads of San Antonians had come to see her.

“I was so deeply touched that people did that, that I made a promise: I told them that the next time I came to Texas, San Antonio would be my first stop,” she said.

And so it was, with the justice wandering among rows of audience members, shaking hands and offering warm smiles throughout a talk Thursday morning at the University of Texas at San Antonio. It drew more than 1,000 people to a small auditorium and overflow rooms.

Responding to a series of student-generated questions, Sotomayor, 63, wove together a story of perseverance and discovery.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/education/article/Justice-Sotomayor-wows-crowd-at-UTSA-12526562.php

January 26, 2018

Alaska sets up process for reviewing clemency applications

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Those with criminal records who want leniency or forgiveness for their legal troubles have sent pleas for a fresh start to Alaska's parole board for years, hoping to get the attention of the state's governor.

But for more than a decade and through three Alaska governors, those clemency requests — now numbering 274 — have sat in limbo, as the state wrestled with establishing a review process following fallout from pardons by former Gov. Frank Murkowski that turned the normally compassionate act into a thornier proposition.

Cindy Strout, past president of the Alaska Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said she sometimes gets calls from individuals asking about the clemency process, which she said is not widely used, mostly because it carries political ramifications.

"I basically have told people, I won't say it's a hopeless proposition but whatever next to hopeless is, in terms of getting something like that," she said.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/crime/article/Alaska-sets-up-process-for-reviewing-clemency-12526247.php

January 26, 2018

Adam Kokesh, a little-known presidential candidate, is finally out of a Texas jail

Libertarian presidential candidate Adam Kokesh has finally left the Wise County Jail.

Kokesh’s campaign team posted on Facebook Thursday afternoon that he had been released after posting a bail bond.

Arrested and jailed last week on drug charges, Kokesh had been refusing to post bail after a district judge dropped it from $76,500 to $21,500.

His campaign strategist, Ben Farmer, said Kokesh found a note in his cell that said “Get out, you’re in danger,” so they decided it was time for his 9-day jail stay to end.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/state/article196616409.html

January 26, 2018

Ex-New York Giant from Fort Worth area learns fate in $1.6M fraud case

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A former NFL player was sentenced to two years in federal prison Thursday and ordered to repay nearly $1.6 million in bogus worker’s compensation claims.

Marcus Buckley, 46, of Weatherford, Texas, submitted numerous fraudulent claims after the New York Giants initially agreed to a $300,000 settlement in 2010 for cumulative stress injuries from playing football, federal prosecutors said.

Buckley played for the Giants for seven seasons between 1993 and 2000.

He filed false invoices, false credit collection notices for late medical bills and false statements from medical providers to receive additional compensation beyond the initial settlement.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/crime/article196766304.html

January 26, 2018

Emmy-winning 'Roots' star Olivia Cole dies in Mexico at 75

Source: AP

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Olivia Cole, who won an Emmy Award for her portrayal of Matilda, wife to Chicken George in the landmark miniseries "Roots," has died, a burial association executive said. She was 75.

Cole died last Friday at her home in San Miguel de Allende, a central Mexico city, said Linda Cooper, executive secretary of the 24 Horas de San Miguel de Allende cremation and burial group.

The cause of death was a heart attack, Cooper said Thursday.

Cole received an Emmy Award for her role in ABC's smash hit 1977 drama based on African-American writer Alex Haley's book "Roots," which dramatized the lives of his ancestors from West Africa to slavery and post-Civil War.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/entertainment/television/article/Emmy-winning-Roots-star-Olivia-Cole-dies-in-12525911.php?ipid=hpctp

January 26, 2018

Too many lawsuits or bad nursing home care? What's behind bankruptcy, injuries, deaths at Texas-base

Too many lawsuits or bad nursing home care? What's behind bankruptcy, injuries, deaths at Texas-based chain

A trail of blood and brains led nursing home staff in Houston to a room where a mentally ill resident had beaten his two roommates to death.

A 45-year-old man who had been missing for hours at his Kentucky nursing home was found dead in a stairwell, his wheelchair on top of his chest.

And residents were left for hours in dirty diapers, clothes and sheets as they waited for help at seven New Mexico nursing facilities, the state’s attorney general alleges.

A stream of documented complaints from three separate states flows back to one nursing home operator: Preferred Care of Plano, which filed for bankruptcy in November.

-snip-

When contacted by The Dallas Morning News, Preferred Care’s bankruptcy lawyer, Stephen McCartin, reiterated that point.

“It is in the best interest of citizens to have tort reform. That clearly reduces contingency-fee, ambulance-chasing lawsuits. It absolutely does have an effect,” he said Wednesday.

Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/business/health-care/2018/01/25/preferred-care-texas-based-nursing-home-elder-neglect-injury-death-bankruptcy

I call bullshit on Stephen McCartin. It is in the best interest of citizens to receive proper care when they are in nursing homes. Having a civil justice system that allows residents and their families to address negligence is more important than protecting a company that fails to provide the services that are the mission of that business.

January 26, 2018

Walmart job cuts to total nearly 1,000 at Bentonville HQ

Walmart Inc. is cutting as many as 1,000 jobs at headquarters, the latest effort to streamline a retail empire under threat from Amazon.com Inc.

The first wave of layoffs totaled between 400 and 500 jobs and hit the company's marketing, human resources, merchandising, real estate and other divisions this week, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based chain said. Those affected will have 60 days to find a new role.

A second phase of cutbacks will come in 2019, when some buildings are consolidated to make way for the company's new corporate headquarters. Under 500 positions will be part of that wave, Walmart said.

The shake-up extends a busy month for the world's largest retailer, which also shut 63 Sam's Club warehouses and reorganized that unit's purchasing division. But even as it makes cuts, the company has also taken broader steps to retain employees -- like boosting its hourly wage and creating new roles focused on its online grocery business.

Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/business/retail/2018/01/25/walmart-job-cuts-total-nearly-1000-bentonville-hq

January 26, 2018

Here's where you can get that Mardi Gras King Cake ice cream from Blue Bell in Texas

First, the good news: Yes, Blue Bell does make Mardi Gras King Cake ice cream.

Now the bad. If you're in North Texas, you're going to have to travel to get it.

The special flavor, described as "cinnamon ice cream with pastry pieces, candy sprinkles and a cream cheese swirl," is available only for a limited time in select markets, and Dallas-Fort Worth is not one of them.

The flavor was originally distributed in 2004 in New Orleans as "Mardi Gras Ice Cream," but expanded the next year into Galveston and Beaumont because both have a large festival each year, Blue Bell spokeswoman Jenny Van Dorf said.

Years later, the Brenham-based company switched to a cinnamon ice cream base and added cake pieces and the new flavor was born. Mardi Gras King cake is also available in Brenham, greater Louisiana, Mobile, Ala. and Jackson, Miss., she said.

Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/life/texana/2018/01/25/can-get-mardi-gras-king-cake-ice-cream-blue-bell-texas

I'll have to look for it since I like cinnamon ice cream.