Blue Bell lays off 1,450 workers, furloughs 1,400 more

Brenham-based Blue Bell Creameries said Friday it was laying off 1,450 workers and furloughing 1,400 more in light of a listeria outbreak that has idled operations at its four production facilities and sparked a nationwide recall of 8 million gallons of frozen treats.

About 750 of the workers being laid off are full-time, CEO Paul Kruse said a written statement, with the remaining 700 classified as part-time.

The company has almost 4,000 workers nationwide, including 900 in Brenham, where it is the city’s largest private employer.

Some remaining workers will see their hours and pay slashed.

Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/business/blue-bell-furloughs-1450-workers/nmHNs/

Cross-posted in LBN. See thread for an additional article that appeared in the Dallas Morning News that provides further details.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141094726

Blue Bell lays off 1,450 workers, furloughs 1,400 more

Source: Austin American-Statesman

Brenham-based Blue Bell Creameries said Friday it was laying off 1,450 workers and furloughing 1,400 more in light of a listeria outbreak that has idled operations at its four production facilities and sparked a nationwide recall of 8 million gallons of frozen treats.

About 750 of the workers being laid off are full-time, CEO Paul Kruse said a written statement, with the remaining 700 classified as part-time.

The company has almost 4,000 workers nationwide, including 900 in Brenham, where it is the city’s largest private employer.

Some remaining workers will see their hours and pay slashed.



Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/business/blue-bell-furloughs-1450-workers/nmHNs/

Anti-gay marriage bill author says his measure may not be dead

AUSTIN — The author of an anti-gay marriage bill that died in the Texas House said early Friday that he would study whether he can revive it — or parts of it — as an amendment to a bill or bills that are still alive.

Rep. Cecil Bell, R-Magnolia, said he was disappointed by two days of stalling tactics, mainly by Democrats, that prevented floor action on his measure. Midnight Thursday was the deadline for tentatively passing House bills in the House.

“We missed an opportunity tonight, but the session is still intact, the session still moves on,” Bell told reporters. “No bill is dead, as long as there are other bills in front {further along in the process}. You just have to find something that’s germane. … We will continue to look for places that it fits {and} work to get this effort … done.”

Bell said that his bill easily would have passed if it had come up Thursday for a vote — and would have drawn some Democratic votes.

Read more: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2015/05/anti-gay-marriage-bill-author-says-his-measure-may-not-be-dead.html/

One of the greatest artists of the century.

One of the greatest artists of the century.

Baton Rouge, New Orleans law firms, others agree to $4.9 million Stanford settlement

Prominent law firms in Baton Rouge and New Orleans and other individuals have agreed to pay a combined total of $4.9 million to end civil claims for $1.8 billion stolen from investors by former Houston promoter Robert Allen Stanford.

A lawsuit by a court-appointed receiver and an investors committee claimed the loss was caused by the wrongful conduct of the law firms, who provided services to Stanford’s companies, and other defendants.

The Baton Rouge firm of Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson agreed Wednesday to pay more than $1.7 million to settle claims, civil court records in Dallas show. The New Orleans firm of Adams and Reese agreed to pay $1 million.

Cordell Haymon, a former director of The Stanford Trust Co. in Baton Rouge, agreed to pay $2 million in return for dismissal of all such claims against him.

Read more: http://theadvocate.com/news/neworleans/12375263-148/baton-rouge-new-orleans-law

Mom in circumcision fight found, jailed

After two months in hiding, Heather Hironimus, the mother at the center of a bitter circumcision battle, was booked Thursday into Broward County Jail, records show.

A Palm Beach County judge in March signed a warrant for Hironimus' arrest for contempt of court after she failed to appear in court with the boy so a circumcision could be performed. According to Broward county records, Hironimus was booked in into the jail just after 6 p.m. Thursday.

Hironimus has been fighting Dennis Nebus, the father of her child, for years over the circumcision of their son. After the couple split, they decided on a "parenting plan" in 2012 that allowed for Nebus to circumcise the boy.

A state court judge ruled in Nebus' favor in May 2014, and in March ordered Hironimus to hand the boy over.

Hironimus and her son, now 4-1/2, did not show up in court and went into hiding.

Read more: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/palm-beach/fl-heather-hironimus-booked-bso-20150514-story.html

Heroin, syringe found at gym with San Antonio boxing legend Tony Ayala Jr.'s body, police say

SAN ANTONIO — Controversial boxing legend Tony Ayala Jr. may have died from a drug overdose, according to a San Antonio Police Department report released Thursday.

Ayala Jr., 52, was found slumped over early Tuesday morning at Zarzamora Street Gym, located at 1402 N. Zarzamora. A syringe filled with apparent narcotics and a ball of heroin wrapped in tape were found on a desk inside the gym, along with a cooker cap and spoon, the police report said.

The only signs of trauma, according to the report, appeared to have been from Ayala’s head striking the floor.

“The death appears to be an overdose at this time,” the report states.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/San-Antonio-boxing-legend-Tony-Ayala-Jr-was-6264206.php

10-year-old Texas boy to be charged with felony in fatal dog beating

A 10-year-old boy from Fort Worth will face a felony torture charge after allegedly beating a neighbor's dog to death with a stick.

The boy allegedly cornered Cookie, a 15-pound cavalier-poodle mix belonging to the family of neighbor Jennifer Johnson Knittel, on another neighbor's porch and beat him to death with a stick on Monday, Knittel said in a Facebook post.

Fort Worth Police Sgt. Steven Enright told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that police intended to charge the boy with delinquent conduct/animal cruelty-torture, a state jail felony punishable up to two years in prison.

Knittel said a neighbor witness told police that she saw Cookie and another dog hiding underneath a truck. The witness later returned to find Cookie dead on the porch with the boy standing by.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/crime/article/10-year-old-Texas-boy-to-be-charged-with-felony-6263391.php

Judge dismisses 'whodunit' suit over sex toy

Declaring on Thursday that a case presented to a jury this week remains a "whodunit," a Houston federal judge granted a directed verdict requested by a United Airlines lawyer and ended a sex toy humiliation case without closing arguments or jury deliberation.

Christopher Bridgeman and his husband, Martin Borger, sued the air carrier for invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress after claiming that Borger's black duffel bag emerged on a Norfolk International Airport carousel with a purple sex toy protruding and fouled by fecal matter.

After a trip to Costa Rica in May 2011, the couple returned to the United States on a Continental flight through Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport, cleared customs and rechecked their bags for the domestic trip home to Norfolk, Va. (Since then, Continental has fully merged with its parent, United.)

Testimony began Tuesday morning and ended Thursday afternoon when the plaintiffs' lead lawyer, Dax Faubus, rested his case.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Judge-dismisses-whodunit-federal-suit-6265001.php

[font color=green]I'm waiting to hear from the lawyers on DU...[/font]