TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalLarge train derailment closes southbound US 281 in Pleasanton, south of San Antonio
PLEASANTON — Union Pacific crews will continue working overnight to clear and repair damages caused by a major train derailment in Pleasanton on Highway 281 early Friday morning.
Thirty-two cars carrying gravel were involved in the derailment, which occurred around 2:30 a.m. in the 3000 block of Highway 281 South. The 60-car train was heading south to San Miguel, said Union Pacific spokesman Jeff DeGraff.
Southbound lanes were reduced to one lane while crews work to clear the scene, which has spilled over from the railroad tracks to the road.
More than 500 feet of track were damaged during the derailment and will require repairs before reopening. DeGraff said Friday afternoon that crews hope to have the track back in working condition by Saturday morning.
Read more and see additional photos: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Hwy-281-shut-down-after-train-derailment-in-6265534.php
[font color=green]Weather may have been a factor since the area has received several inches of rain within the past couple of days. It's fortunate that none of the cars carried hazardous cargo since it is in the Eagle Ford shale oil & natural gas area.[/font]
Austin's “Women Leading in Local Gov.” speaker explains upside of long meetings, ‘stupid’ questions
While my earlier blog post on the controversial training session on women focused on two speakers’ comments that were widely perceived as stereotyping women, there was other eyebrow-raising commentary at the March 27 “Women Leading in Local Government” training session at Austin City Hall.
After describing women leaders as more likely to ask questions, less likely to read the agenda packet and disinterested in financial-based arguments, former Lauderdale Lakes, Fla. city manager Jonathan K. Allen pivoted to discuss several tactics that members of city management can use to get what they want:
Late meetings = tactical advantage. Allen confided that it can be a tactical advantage for him when his city commission meetings go late. “If it’s going to be to my advantage and the discussion is going to tire them out, and then I can swoop in with my proposal, I use that to my advantage,” he said. Allen described a time that his city commission was having a high-level policy discussion and “it was getting late in the hour.” He said the discussion was getting off-base and he wasn’t sure if they would arrive at a decision. “I said to myself, it’s getting late, when it’s getting late, they are going to get tired, when they are getting tired it’s at the end when they are going to make a decision,” Allen said. He then said he decided to “let it go on” and started interjecting questions to make the meeting last even longer. “Then I just swoop in with the solution,” Allen said.
(His advice was in response to a question that can’t be heard on the training video. But I thought it was interesting in light of the fact that Austin’s previous City Council struggled with late night meetings, prompting the new council to revamp the way it vets proposals as a way to stop the midnight-decision-making. Still, some meetings run past 10 p.m.)
Read more: http://cityhall.blog.statesman.com/2015/05/15/controversial-speaker-explains-benefits-of-long-meetings-stupid-questions/
House Republicans scrap climate change preparedness proposal
AUSTIN—House Republicans on Friday nixed legislation by a Dallas Democrat that would have asked certain agencies to take weather, water availability and climate change into account in their strategic plans.
The bill had bipartisan support in committee, but at the start of the vote Rep. Ron Simmons, R-Carollton, alerted members that the House GOP caucus opposed the measure. That vote failed 47-84, mostly along party lines.
In an interview Friday after the vote, Simmons said the caucus wants to “make sure we protect the environment, but we’re not quite as sold on the alleged causes of climate change as some organizations are.” He said, though, climate change was not a “stated part” of the caucus’ opposition.
“We felt like it was a step toward unnecessary, potential environmental regulations. We think we already understand where we are climate-wise and we just don’t see any need for that study,” Simmons said.
Read more: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2015/05/house-republicans-scrap-climate-change-preparedness-proposal.html/
[font color=green]Alternative headline: House GOP follow Koch brother's marching orders.[/font]
Tim Cole posthumously receives degree from Texas Tech (black man pardoned for rape)
After Timothy Cole was wrongfully arrested for the rape of a Texas Tech student, his sister Karen Kennard told him she wanted to leave the university’s law school.
But Cole told her to stay — an innocent man behind bars, he sent his sister a letter from prison.
“I still believe in the justice system, even though it doesn’t believe in me,” he wrote.
Karen decided to stay, receiving her law degree from Tech in 1988. In the decades since attending Tech, Cole was wrongfully convicted of rape in 1986, maintained his innocence until dying in prison in 1999 and was eventually posthumously pardoned by then-Gov. Rick Perry in 2010.
Read more: http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2015-05-15/tim-cole-posthumously-receives-degree-tech#.VVaiCJPy3SI
Cross-posted in the Texas Group.
Tim Cole posthumously receives degree from Texas Tech (black man pardoned for rape)
After Timothy Cole was wrongfully arrested for the rape of a Texas Tech student, his sister Karen Kennard told him she wanted to leave the university’s law school.
But Cole told her to stay — an innocent man behind bars, he sent his sister a letter from prison.
“I still believe in the justice system, even though it doesn’t believe in me,” he wrote.
Karen decided to stay, receiving her law degree from Tech in 1988. In the decades since attending Tech, Cole was wrongfully convicted of rape in 1986, maintained his innocence until dying in prison in 1999 and was eventually posthumously pardoned by then-Gov. Rick Perry in 2010.
Read more: http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2015-05-15/tim-cole-posthumously-receives-degree-tech#.VVaiCJPy3SI
Cross-posted in the African American Group.
NASA undertakes design review of most powerful rocket to date
NASA's mission to build a rocket capable of going to Mars has reached a milestone.
This week the agency kicked off a "critical design review" of the project, known as the Space Launch System, at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Designed to carry crew and cargo to an asteroid and ultimately to Mars, the new rocket will be the most powerful launch vehicle ever built, NASA said.
The purpose of the design review, which started Monday and is scheduled to end in late July, is to demonstrate that the project meets all system requirements with acceptable risk and does it within time and budget constraints, according to the agency's announcement.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/nation-world/space/article/NASA-undertakes-design-review-of-most-powerful-6266528.php
Data App: Track Texas Reservoir Levels
Texas endured the most intense drought in recorded state history in 2011, and it has yet to bounce back. Water levels at a number of reservoirs remain significantly low, particularly in West Texas, which is drier than East Texas.
Using data collected from the Texas Water Development Board's reservoir status tracker, we have built a map that visualizes the current state of Texas’ reservoirs. The map auto-updates daily with fresh data. Each icon on the map represents an individual reservoir, color-coded based on how full it is currently.
Hover over a marker to see the name of the reservoir, or click on the marker to see its total capacity and how much it currently holds.
Editor's Note: The location of a reservoir marker on the map is determined by the location of the device that measures that reservoir’s water levels. Elephant Butte Lake is included on this map because although it is in New Mexico, it supplies some of El Paso’s water.
There is an excellent interactive map at http://www.texastribune.org/library/data/texas-reservoir-levels/ .
4 San Antonio Wagner HS students disciplined after 'Black Lives Matter' demonstration at fashion sho
SAN ANTONIO — Four Wagner High School students say they were suspended for a demonstration at a school-sponsored fashion show Thursday in which they carried signs donning phrases such as "Black Lives Matter."
Students Jocelyn Thomas, Daija Wilkes, Victoria Hall and Teylor Nelson participated in the fashion show, which took place Thursday night at Rolling Oaks Mall, as either models, designers or both.
During the event, the students sauntered down the catwalk holding signs unapproved by officials reading “BLACK LIVES MATTER,” “WE CAN’T BREATHE” and “ I AM Mike Brown, Marquise Jones, Aiyana Jones, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner” and “TRANS LIVES MATTER.”
Thomas, a senior, said the school's principal Donald Stewart handed down four-day suspensions to the students in a meeting on Friday.
Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Four-Wagner-High-School-students-face-punishments-6266522.php
Dallas slumlord hospital chain owner gets 11 years for health-care fraud
A federal judge has sentenced a Dallas businessman to 11 years in prison for bilking government health-insurance programs through his troubled Texas hospital chain.
Dr. Tariq Mahmood, 63, also will pay $600,000 in restitution to Medicare, Medicaid and a private insurance provider, U.S. prosecutors announced Tuesday.
The sentence comes nearly 10 months after a jury found Mahmood guilty on 15 fraud counts. He ordered employees to illegally alter diagnoses underlying more than $1.1 million in bogus billings from three of his rural hospitals.
“What we do not need is providers like Tariq Mahmood who masquerade as physicians {and} pretend to care about American health care but actually are determined to loot the Medicare Trust Fund,” said John Bales, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, in a statement praising prosecutors for holding Mahmood accountable.
-snip-
Mahmood is to begin serving his 135-month sentence on June 15. He also is required to undergo mental health treatment.
Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/headlines/20150414-dallas-hospital-chain-owner-gets-11-years-for-health-care-fraud.ece
[font color=green]My apologies, but I did not see this article when it was published in April.[/font]
Related threads (in reverse chronological order)
Associate of Dallas-area hospital slumlord owner Tariq Mahmood pleads guilty to lying
http://www.democraticunderground.com/107822026
Hospital Slumlord Update: Jurors find Texas hospital chain owner guilty on all 15 counts
http://www.democraticunderground.com/107819747
Hospital Slumlord Update: Workers testify that hospitals’ owner interfered in billing
http://www.democraticunderground.com/107819685
Hospital slumlord: Owner of failed Texas hospital chain rescinds deal
http://www.democraticunderground.com/107818030
Indicted owner of Texas hospital chain to plead guilty to fraud conspiracy
http://www.democraticunderground.com/107817949
Loss of East Texas town’s hospital (due to Medicare billing fraud) hits home after toddler chokes
http://www.democraticunderground.com/107812403
FBI investigating recent document destruction at Cameron hospital
http://www.democraticunderground.com/107810860
In rare move, sheriff takes control of Central Texas Hospital; effort aimed at protecting community
http://www.democraticunderground.com/107810599
Other links are available at this newspaper article:
http://watchdogblog.dallasnews.com/2013/08/18-million-to-reward-unsafe-hospitals-alarm-in-congress.html/
The most critical article is this:
http://www.dallasnews.com/investigations/headlines/20130713-patients-died-amid-federal-state-regulatory-inaction.ec
Bill that provides libel protection to reporters headed to Abbott for signature
Accuracy in watchdog reporting may soon be a defense to a libel suit under a measure passed by the state House today.
The proposed legislation would steel reporters and news organizations against legal action for accurate reporting based on a source’s allegations “regarding a matter of public concern.” The bill is headed to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature.
The measure was authored by state Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, and state Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, who worked on the bill’s language with the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, the Texas Press Association, the Texas Association of Broadcasters and the Texas Trial Lawyers Association.
Texas House representatives voted 139-0 to pass Huffman’s Senate companion bill, which already received approval in that chamber.Bill that provides libel protection to reporters headed to Abbott for signature
Read more: http://watchdogblog.dallasnews.com/2015/05/bill-providing-libel-protection-to-reporters-headed-to-abbott-for-signature.html/
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
Home country: United States
Current location: Bryan, Texas
Member since: Sun Aug 14, 2011, 03:57 AM
Number of posts: 112,870
