TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalTeacher walkouts in other states unlikely in Ohio: Here's why
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The teacher walkouts in Oklahoma and West Virginia, plus the teacher protests in Kentucky and Arizona, that have caught national attention in recent weeks won't likely happen in Ohio.
Ohio has very different labor and funding laws than those states, allowing teacher strikes while some others do not. And Ohio has higher pay for teachers than the states with major controversies right now.
Ohio's average teacher pay for 2015-16 was $56,441, which ranked 21st nationally, according to an annual report by the National Education Association that compares data across states.
The average in West Virginia that year was $45,622 - 48th in the country - and Oklahoma's $45,276 was 49th.
Read more: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2018/04/teacher_walkouts_in_other_states_are_unlikely_in_ohio_heres_why.html
To voters at a Saturday Democratic governor's race forum, Dennis Kucinich's payments from pro-Assad
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio - If Syria is an issue in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, it didn't show Saturday night at a debate in this largely liberal Cleveland suburb.
Just days after news broke that former U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich took $20,000 from a pro-Syrian government group for a speech in London, Kucinich along with former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray, state Sen. Joe Schiavoni and former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Bill O'Neill took the stage at the Cleveland Heights Community Center.
The initial news of Kucinich's payment - and the initial lack of disclosure - received condemnation on social media. The former congressman from Cleveland had already been lambasted numerous times for visiting Syrian President Bashar Assad - who multiple intelligence agencies have concluded used chemical weapons on his own people.
Kucinich's staunch refusal to condemn Assad for the chemical weapons attack has only compounded the criticism, with Kucinich's detractors saying he is providing cover to the Syrian dictator.
Read more: http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2018/04/to_voters_at_a_saturday_democr.html
The article also mentions that former governor Ted Strickland endorsed Cordray.
Audit of Supreme Court justices raises eyebrows, questions
One point that stands out in the legislative audit of the state Supreme Court is the pure chintziness of some of the alleged transgressions.
A justice presumably worth seven figures is tooling around in a nine-year old Buick to save a few bucks on commuting (and on the occasional golf outing)?
A justice presumably skipping out on attending meetings at judicial conferences in order to partake of mini-vacations in locations like San Francisco, San Antonio, Montreal and Boston on the taxpayers’ dime?
Despite multiple conferences, and IRS guidance, the justices ignored directives to report their use of state vehicles as a taxable fringe benefit, presumably to save a few bucks on their taxes?
Read more: https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/columnists/phil_kabler/statehouse-beat-audit-of-supreme-court-justices-raises-eyebrows-questions/article_43036622-098e-5ef9-949e-a330f5caa93b.html
Seeing Through the Rhetoric of the Alt-Right: Spotting White Supremacist Propaganda in West Virginia
A year ago this week, white supremacist groups descended on Pikeville, Kentucky, aiming to rally “white working families,” where they were met by anti-fascist groups from across Appalachia and elsewhere in the country. After a deadly incident in Charlottesville, Virginia in August, many of these white supremacist groups have fractured as a result of increased scrutiny and internal power struggles. But, there is evidence that remnants of those groups have recently sprung up in north-central West Virginia.
In late February, Fairmont resident Stephanie Carter was poking around on a community Facebook group when she saw a post that some suspicious flyers had gone up around town.
“The day after that post, I just went looking -- walked around for a couple of hours and they had kind of narrowed it down based on some of the buildings that were surrounding where they thought it was,” Carter said. “And so, actually, it was right here on this pole.”
Carter points to a telephone pole in her working-class neighborhood about a mile from downtown Fairmont. The flyers were from a group called The Patriot Front, a neo-Nazi white supremacist organization -- one that would fall under an umbrella known as the “alt-right.”
Read more: http://wvpublic.org/post/seeing-through-rhetoric-alt-right-spotting-white-supremacist-propaganda-wva
West Virginia community, technical colleges planning tuition, fee hikes
West Virginia public community and technical colleges are planning to increase their annual tuition and fees required for all residents seeking associate’s degrees by an average $104, or 2.6 percent. This will bring the average yearly cost to $4,040 next academic year.
Matt Turner, executive vice chancellor for administration for the state agencies that oversee two- and four-year colleges, said the state Community and Technical College System’s presumption is that each community college’s board of governors has already approved these increases.
CTCS officials said tuition and fee increases don’t require CTCS board approval unless they’re 10 percent or higher in a single year or average 7 percent or higher over a three-year period, but the board nonetheless received the figures for their Thursday meeting.
According to the CTCS data, Eastern West Virginia is alone among the nine colleges in not planning to raise associate’s degree tuition and universally required fees for the upcoming academic year.
Read more: https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/education/wv-community-technical-colleges-planning-tuition-fee-hikes/article_d2f032a9-af26-5fb6-9751-f6486151acf9.html
West Virginia County Declares State of Emergency Over Roads
A West Virginia county has declared a state of emergency over "deplorable" road conditions.
The Dominion Post cites a release from the Preston County Commission that says Thursday's proclamation asks the state to address several roads that "pose a danger for motorists, commercial traffic and first responders."
The release says the problems cannot be addressed by local resources and cannot simply be patched.
Commission President Craig Jennings says they're not "backing down" until the roads are fixed.
Read more: http://wvpublic.org/post/west-virginia-county-declares-state-emergency-over-roads#stream/0
Mylan (EpiPen manufacturer) Lays Off 15 Percent of West Virginia Workforce
A pharmaceuticals company has laid off 15 percent of its workforce at a West Virginia manufacturing facility.
Mylan Pharmaceuticals released a statement Friday saying the "right-sizing" is consistent with discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to continue operations. Mylan spokeswoman Christine Waller tells The Dominion Post that around 500 positions have been cut, leaving the West Virginia workforce at around 3,000.
In response to a question that asked if the layoffs were connected to FDA inspections of the plant, Waller said the goal was to reduce the site's size and complexity.
The layoffs are effective immediately. The company is still in discussion with United Steel Workers Local 8-957 regarding separation packages for senior union members.
Read more: http://wvpublic.org/post/mylan-lays-15-percent-west-virginia-workforce
Blake Farenthold and the Consequences of Extreme Gerrymandering
Blake Farenthold’s frat bro image started with a photo from an adult pajama party that surfaced a month before his unlikely rise to Congress in 2010. Thanks to Farenthold, the image of a portly, rosy-cheeked man stuffed into a duck-pattern onesie posing next to a young lingerie-clad waitress is now forever burned into the collective memory of Texas politics.
A lawsuit lodged against the Corpus Christi Republican, filed not long after BuzzFeed revealed that Farenthold’s computer consulting business bought up domains like “blow-me.org,” further fueled the congressman’s party boy reputation. The complaint, by former communications director Lauren Greene, alleged that Farenthold’s excessive drinking and office sex-talk had created a toxic work environment where he’d dish to staffers about his “sexual fantasies” and “wet dreams” (Greene also alleged Farenthold cracked a thinly veiled joke about her having semen on her skirt). Farenthold later became one of the only GOP officials willing to publicly defend Donald Trump’s pussy-grabbing “locker room banter” ahead of the 2016 election. When one talk show host asked if he’d support a candidate who talked about raping women, Farenthold responded, “It depends.”
By late 2017, however, Farenthold’s political career, one filled with more gaffes than legislative accomplishments, took an even sharper nosedive when news broke that he’d settled Greene’s sexual harassment lawsuit with $84,000 of taxpayer money. While Farenthold has denied any wrongdoing and insisted he’s a misunderstood shy guy, he nevertheless abruptly resigned from Congress last week upon learning that a House Ethics Committee investigation into his behavior would not end well, as first reported by the Huffington Post.
How did Farenthold hold on to his seat for so long? Maybe he was simply a shining example of a statesman truly in touch with the people. The more likely answer: He was the beneficiary of extreme gerrymandering.
Read more: https://www.texasobserver.org/blake-farenthold-and-the-consequences-of-extreme-gerrymandering/
UNT Student Calls for Chicken Restaurant to Close After Chef Used Racial Slur
DENTON -- University of North Texas communications student Chelsea Shaw wants a campus restaurant to close after a student employee typed a racial slur on her receipt Tuesday afternoon.
The student employee, who was later identified as the chef, typed the N-word on Shaw’s receipt instead of asking for her name. Both students are black.
According to a news release from Shaw’s attorney, Justin Moore, if Krispy Krunchy Chicken does not close, UNT does not see student safety as a priority.
"The fact that minority students at our universities are not safe from experiencing this type of humiliation is troubling," the release said. "UNT has a job to do, and it is to make its campus accessible and safe for all students, regardless of color. If Krispy Krunchy Chicken continues to exist on UNT's campus amidst such an egregious act, then student safety is clearly not a priority."
Read more: http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/unt-student-calls-for-campus-krispy-krunchy-chicken-to-close-after-racial-slur-10607329
Glenn Beck's Media Company Continues to Crumble as His Company Jet Goes Up for Sale
Conservative TV and radio show host Glenn Beck once had the ear or the ire of almost every political wonk and zealot in America, depending on which side of the political aisle they were on. These days? Well, let's just say that his on-air crying fits would make a lot more sense now.
Beck's network, TheBlaze, has gone through rounds of layoffs and restructuring in the last few years, and the sale of his media company's private plane looks like the latest brick to fall out of his media empire's foundation.
The used aircraft website Controller.com recently listed a 1966 VIP McDonnell Douglas DC9-15 Executive for sale. The plane is registered with the Federal Aviation Administration toMercury Radio Arts, the Irving-based media company founded by Beck in 2002 that encompasses his various projects and business ventures.
An aviation company based in Latroke, Pennsylvania, is putting the plane up for sale and does not list an open bid or sticker price. The ad is offering the aircraft for "immediate full or fractional sale," according to the listing.
Read more: http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/glenn-beck-puts-private-jet-up-for-sale-10595879
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
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Current location: Bryan, Texas
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