February 7, 2015

In a surprise, Texas says it will stop collecting fingerprints of driver’s license applicants

In a surprise move late Friday afternoon, the Texas Department of Public Safety reversed its position and promised to stop the practice it quietly began a year ago.

The fingerprinting ends as quietly as it began. DPS rolled out the program in January 2014 without any public announcement. Even driver’s license applications didn’t mention the requirement.

What did this mean? For the first time, Texans never suspected of a crime were required to submit their full fingerprints to the government.

Nobody noticed until June when The Dallas Morning News Dave Lieber Watchdog column broke the story.

Read more: http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2015/02/texas-dps-stops-collecting-fingerprints-drivers-license-applicants.html/

February 7, 2015

School board election and nobody gave a damn to vote

ROSWELL, N.M. — The rural southeastern New Mexico town of Hagerman held an uncontested election for three school board seats, but nobody voted. Now what?

The Roswell Daily Record (http://goo.gl/X0pyxj) reports that's what officials are trying to determine.

Chaves County Clerk Dave Kunko said the three candidates needed at least one vote each to be elected. And Kunko said because they aren't incumbents they don't remain in office automatically absent a replacement being elected.

Kunko said he's received legal advice to have the current school board appoint the three candidates for the positions that were up for election.

Read more: http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2015-02-06/zero-turnout-school-election-officials-weigh-next-move#comment-363257

February 7, 2015

Ya man: Bob Marley (the steer) smokes the field, named grand champion at Fort Worth Stock Show

FORT WORTH -- A European crossbred steer named Bob Marley hit all the right notes with judges as the heavyweight claimed the Fort Worth Stock Show’s grand champion title on what would have been his namesake’s 70th birthday.

Bob Marley’s triumph also stretched the string of grand champion victories for European crosses to 33 consecutive years.

The brownish red Maine-Anjou-Chianina cross was shown by Madilyn Priesmeyer, 17, a senior at Austin’s Hyde Park High School and a member of the Round Rock 4-H.

Reserve grand champion steer J.Z. was shown by Myka Blissard, an eighth grader at Borden County School. The runner-up is not named after rap artist Jay Z; his steer brother is called J.J.

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/fw-stock-show/article9413954.html

February 7, 2015

State calls for closing La Marque ISD for poor academic and financial performance

Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams has ordered the closure of Galveston County's La Marque ISD in July unless the school district successfully appeals.

Williams notified leaders of the 2,500-student district this week that he intended to take the rare step of revoking its accreditation after years of poor academic and financial performance.

The Texas Education Agency has not announced what would happen to the students, but it's likely a neighboring school district or districts would be asked to take over, said spokeswoman Debbie Ratcliffe.

The state most recently ordered the closure of Harris County's North Forest Independent School District, and Houston ISD annexed it.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/education/article/State-calls-for-closing-La-Marque-ISD-6067066.php

February 7, 2015

Judge rejects Perry's requests for list of grand jury witnesses

AUSTIN — A Texas judge has denied requests by former Gov. Rick Perry's attorneys to get a list of witnesses who testified before the closed-door grand jury in their client's abuse-of-power case.

In orders released Friday, Judge Bert Richardson also directed prosecutors to give the defense assorted evidence and documents as part of the legal discovery process. That included a list of witnesses the state plans to call at trial.

No trial date has yet been set.

Perry was indicted in August by an Austin grand jury during proceedings that were closed to the public.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/state-politics/20150206-judge-rejects-perry-s-requests-for-list-of-grand-jury-witnesses.ece

[font color=green]Rick thinks that he is special and should receive information that normal defendants rarely obtain.[/font]

February 5, 2015

Texas lawmakers pushing back against gay rights successes

AUSTIN — Socially conservative lawmakers are pushing back against marriage victories by gays and lesbians in federal court and moves by Dallas, Plano and other cities to broaden anti-discrimination measures.

Junior Republicans in the GOP-led Legislature have filed several bills that would blunt gay rights advances, such as one to strip the pay of any local official who issues a same-sex marriage license.

They also have introduced proposals to protect business owners if, based on their religious beliefs, they refuse to comply with local ordinances that bar discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

A leading social conservative activist said the bills are designed to uphold what she called traditional values and rebuff an overreach by gay rights supporters.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/state-politics/20150204-texas-lawmakers-pushing-back-against-gay-rights-successes.ece

February 5, 2015

Plane reportedly clips Lubbock television tower

A reported crash in which a small plane clipped a television tower in the 5600 block of Avenue A caused power outages across parts of South and Southeast Lubbock on Wednesday evening around 7:50 p.m.

Lynn Lunsford with the Federal Aviation Administration said a single engine aircraft dropped off radar while on approach to the Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport.

A search is currently underway for the aircraft, Lunsford said.

Further details about the plane’s occupants or the cause of the crash were not yet available.

Read more: http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2015-02-04/plane-reportedly-clips-lubbock-television-tower

February 5, 2015

Residents not happy about Dallas-Houston rail in Montgomery County

Photo By Scott Engle/Houston Chronicle

Over 800 Montgomery County residents turned out for a meeting at the Lone Star Community Center in Montgomery Monday night.
Source: Montgomery County Police Reporter

A healthy crowd of Montgomery County residents attended a public meeting to rail against a proposed Dallas-Houston train that would run through their area.

Among the chief concerns raised during Monday night's meeting was the issue of eminent domain, according to the Montgomery County Police Reporter.

County residents and opponents of the Texas Central Railway have voiced displeasure at the idea of a "private enterprise" simply grabbing property for their multi-million dollar project.

Other irks and fears included the response times of local authorities and emergency crews in the area and the lack of transparency by the Texas Department of Transportation, who has been funding studies related to the rail line.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Report-Residents-not-happy-about-Dallas-Houston-6062352.php

February 5, 2015

Marble Falls High School student arrested on felony threat charge

A 15-year-old Marble Falls High School student was arrested on felony charges after students made staff aware of a threat made over social media.

Marble Falls Police would not identify a student who allegedly posted threats about fellow students and a teacher on the internet Thursday night, Jan. 29, but said the student was charged with making a terroristic threat, a third degree felony.

Marble Falls Police Sgt. Tom Dillard said the dispute originated over some school assignments.

“Threats were made over social media... Facebook and Instagram,” Dillard said. “The circumstances of the threat specifically mentioned a group of students and a teacher.”

Read more: http://www.highlandernews.com/articles/2015/02/03/high-school-student-arrested-felony-threat-charge

February 5, 2015

McAllen ambulance company owner headed to prison for fraud over $600K

McALLEN — The owner of a McAllen ambulance company pleaded guilty Tuesday to forging documents and submitting more than $600,000 in false claims to federal and state health care programs.

Frank Gonzalez, 32, appeared before U.S. District Judge Ricardo Hinojosa, who accepted his plea for charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.

Gonzalez is the owner of River Valley Transport, also known as Med-Alert EMS. He was charged in October 2013 after investigators discovered that he was responsible for the submission of $601,000 in fraudulent claims to Medicare and Texas Medicaid, in which he was paid almost $318,000, prosecutors say.

As part of his plea, Gonzalez admitted to the fake bills for transporting patients to and from dialysis clinics on dates when the beneficiaries did not receive treatments or even go to the clinics.

Read more: http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/valley/article_2f73cb92-ac21-11e4-8701-cb537e709cb5.html