TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalExplosion reported at hotel in downtown Houston
A large explosion was reported at a hotel in downtown Houston on Friday.
Emergency crews responded around 1:30 p.m. to the incident at the Whitehall Hotel, 1700 Smith Street. Houston Fire Department Chief Blake White told reporters that the blast was caused by a transformer explosion in the building's electrical room.
Three people were replacing a circuit breaker at the time, he said, one of which sustained major injuries. The other two had minor injuries.
Live video from the scene shows one side of the hotel covered in black marks. Multiple fire trucks are on scene, and streets nearby have been blocked off.
At Two Allen Center, just a few blocks away, management notified residents in an email that the explosion had "caused rolling blackouts."
Read more: http://www.chron.com/houston/article/Explosion-reported-in-downtown-Houston-12348170.php
Dallas firm pays itself $800 million as struggling grocery chain nears default
Shed no tears for Lone Star Funds, the Dallas private equity firm that invested about $150 million in a buyout of the Bi-Lo grocery chain in 2005.
By some accounts, Bi-Lo is close to default, putting in jeopardy about $1 billion of debt and 50,000 jobs at Winn-Dixie, Harveys, Fresco y Mas and its namesake stores. But Lone Star has already come out ahead, even after committing more capital. The firm has paid itself at least $800 million since 2012, regulatory filings show, and collected still more in management fees.
Led by chairman and founder John Grayken, Lone Star has followed the private equity business model: Borrow money to buy a company and load it with debt. Use the debt to pay yourself and -- with interest rates at rock bottom -- issue more debt and pay yourself more.
From the start of 2013, private equity owners have taken $100 billion in debt-funded payouts, according to data compiled by LCD, a unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence. During the same period, private-equity-owned companies defaulted on $49.2 billion worth of loans, the data show.
Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/business/food-industry/2017/11/10/dallas-firm-pays-800-million-struggling-grocery-chain-nears-default
Family sues Texas emergency room chain for over $1 million after preschooler's death
It was slightly before 10 one August morning in 2016 when Keller resident Brian Steinborn discovered his 4-year-old daughter Olivia in bed, her body cold, skin blue and vomit on her face.
He and his wife, Juli Treadwell had only managed a few hours of sleep the evening before.
At about two in the morning, the couple had taken their feverish child to be examined by a doctor at the nearest emergency room — a freestanding facility run by Excel ER, less than 1 mile away from their North Texas home.
She was alert and her fever had fallen from its 101 degree peak. But her heart continued to beat rapidly and her breathing remained abnormal. Her vital signs were checked and labs ordered. She was given fluids and sent home later with a prescription for an antibiotic to treat an ear infection.
Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/business/health-care/2017/11/10/family-sues-texas-emergency-room-chain-1-million-preschoolers-death
ABA gives 'qualified' rating to Texas court pick who sees 'Satan's plan' in transgender kids
WASHINGTON -- The American Bar Association has issued a "qualified" rating to Jeff Mateer, the nominee for a lifetime federal judgeship in Texas who has described transgender children as part of "Satan's plan."
That's the ABA's second-highest rating. At least two and as many as five lawyers on the ABA's 15-member screening committee voted to declare him "unqualified."
President Donald Trump nominated Mateer on Sept. 7 for a vacancy in Sherman, in the Eastern District of Texas. Two weeks later, CNN uncovered his 2015 remarks on transgender children, and other remarks that year bemoaning state-level bans on conversion therapy -- controversial treatment intended to turn gay people straight. The Pan American Health Organization has deemed such therapy "a serious threat to the health" of those treated.
Mateer, now the deputy to state attorney general Ken Paxton, made the comments as general counsel for First Liberty Institute, a conservative Plano-based law firm focused on promoting religious liberty.
Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2017/11/10/texas-court-pick-sees-satans-plan-transgender-kids-rated-qualified
List of Democratic candidates submitted in bid to replace Tim Murphy
One new candidate has entered the already-crowded Democratic field seeking to replace Tim Murphy in next year's special election: Mt. Lebanon resident Keith Seewald.
Mr. Seewald's candidacy was the only surprise by 4 p.m. Thursday, the deadline for being considered as the possible Democratic nominee. The six other candidates who submitted petitions — which had to include five signatures from committee members within the district — by the deadline had already made their intentions clear. They include:
Rueben Brock, a psychologist and assistant professor at California University of Pennsylvania
Gina Cerilli, a Westmoreland County Commissioner and former Miss Pennsylvania
Mike Crossey, a former Allegheny County Councilman and teacher's union official
Pam Iovino, a retired Navy captain and former official in the Department of Veterans Affairs
Conor Lamb, a former federal prosecutor who previously served in the Marine Corps
Bob Solomon, an emergency physician
Mr. Seewald could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday afternoon, but on his filing with the party he identified himself as a gardener and writer. His published work appears to include "Liar Sean Hannity," a fictional work available on Amazon, in which the conservative Fox News talk host is indicted for treason.
Mr. Seewald and the other candidates will be able to address Democratic committee members at a Nov. 19 gathering at Washington High School in Washington, PA. The caucus will vote to recommend a candidate to the party's executive committee, which will have final say on who the Democratic nominee will be.
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-local/2017/11/09/Tim-Murphy-Democrats-Iovino-Brock-Cerilli-Crossey-Lamb-Solomon-Seewald-special-election/stories/201711090182
Travis County Democratic Party chair candidate drops out over Facebook posts
Yet another candidate has announced then quickly pulled out of the race for Travis County Democratic Party chair.
Mike Lewis announced in a statement on Facebook on Thursday that he is ending his campaign in light of the publication of a website that highlighted his previous Facebook posts and made a case that Lewis did not support the Democratic Party agenda.
“I am embarrassed and ashamed by several of the statements from my past,” his statement read. “I want to apologize to any of my supporters that I have let down by my careless words and posts.”
-snip-
The site featuring Lewis’ old Facebook posts, therealmikelewis.com, alleges that the posts show Lewis “supporting Republicans and segregationists, opposing reasonable gun control, affirming anti-immigrant policy, opposing the Affordable Health Care Act, making light of rape, and more.”
Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/local/travis-democratic-party-chair-candidate-drops-out-over-facebook-posts/hbPKKcRDxKlwQjtrNSL7oI/
Good riddance. 
Pennsylvania high court fast tracks gerrymandering case
In a case that could force the redrawing of congressional maps before the 2018 elections, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the Commonwealth Court to decide a gerrymandering lawsuit by the end of the year.
"We will have our day in court, and we will get a decision and a resolution of this matter in time for the 2018 election," said Mimi McKenzie, legal director of the Philadelphia-based Public Interest Law Center, which represents the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania in the case.
If the districts are, in fact, redrawn before next year’s mid-term elections, the result could have national implications. New districts could give Democrats a boost in competitive, Republican-held districts as they push to take control of the U.S. House.
“It’s something that has broad national implications,” said Michael Li, senior redistrict counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2017/11/09/State-Supreme-Court-fast-tracks-gerrymander-case/stories/201711090254
$7 million settlement over Delco inmate's suicide
Janene Wallace’s final 52 days on Earth played out in the same torturous loop.
Lost in the grip of depression and paranoia, Wallace, 35, spent 23 hours a day locked in solitary confinement at the George W. Hill Correctional Facility in Delaware County, where she was being held in 2015 on a probation violation.
As Wallace’s condition deteriorated, a guard at the prison allegedly taunted the Upper Darby woman and encouraged her to kill herself. On May 26, Wallace hanged herself with a bra she tied to an air vent in her cell.
That appalling yet familiar narrative formed the foundation of a lawsuit attorneys David Inscho and Shanin Specter filed two years ago on behalf of Wallace’s estate against Community Education Centers, a for-profit prison company that ran Hill at the time.
The lawsuit was recently settled for $7 million, Inscho and Specter announced Thursday.
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/george-hill-inmate-suicide-lawsuit-7-million-settlement-geo-group-20171109.html
Legal mind behind Main Line payday lender's empire defends business at trial
Midway through his testimony this week, Wheeler Neff — the Delaware lawyer who federal prosecutors have labeled a co-architect of a business tactic that has enabled payday lenders to dodge government regulations for years — was finally asked the questions he had waited to answer since his indictment last year.
Neff had already explained to jurors how he came to the legal conclusion in 2005 that partnering with American Indian tribes would allow the multimillion-dollar payday loan industry to continue issuing low-dollar, high-interest credit nationwide despite the passage of tougher lending laws in states such as Pennsylvania. He said he had helped several lenders forge their first relationships with tribes across the United States.
“Was it your intent to create an illegal payday lending company?” his attorney, Christopher Warren, finally asked his client nearly eight hours into his testimony. “Was this all a sham?”
Neff responded: “Of course not.”
That answer may prove key to the outcome in a racketeering prosecution that has put the widely adopted tribal lending model and its two chief architects in its crosshairs.
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/wheeler-neff-hallinan-payday-lenders-defense-trial-20171109.html
Under accreditation threat, Cheyney to hire permanent president
Cheyney University Thursday asked to have its interim president be made permanent, a move that officials hope will help the school keep its accreditation and remain open.
The request from Cheyney to have Aaron A. Walton elevated to the permanent post comes one week before the Middle States Commission on Higher Education is expected to rule on whether the nation’s oldest historically black university can keep its accreditation. If the school were to lose accreditation, it no longer would be eligible to receive state and financial aid on which many of its students depend and would almost certainly have to close.
The board of governors of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education could act on Cheyney’s request at a meeting next week.
“It’s essential as we near a decision from Middle States that we have strong, stable leadership in place,” Robert Bogle, chair of the council of trustees, said in a statement. “Aaron Walton is the leader we need now, and into the future.”
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/education/under-accreditation-threat-cheyney-to-hire-permanent-president-20171109.html
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
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