July 17, 2015

Epileptic man cleared of DWI charge seeks more than $1 million from city, two Dallas cops

A Lakewood man who was cleared of driving while intoxicated and abandoning his child in 2013 is seeking more than $1 million from the city and two officers who he said mistreated him during his arrest.

Michael Thomas Ryan, 33, claims in a lawsuit filed late Thursday in Dallas County civil court that he suffered “severe mental anguish” and physical injuries and had “an extraordinarily difficult time finding a job” after his July 21, 2013, arrest.

Ryan blamed the incident on epileptic seizure and said he wasn’t drunk. A Dallas County grand jury declined to indict him on the felony charges a few months later. But not before the damage was done, he said.

“This incident crushed me,” Ryan said in an interview Friday.

Read more: http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2015/07/epileptic-man-cleared-of-dwi-charge-seeks-more-than-1-million-from-city-two-dallas-cops.html/

July 17, 2015

The other Texas the boom forgot: Rural counties struggle to stay afloat

CROWELL — The big black-and-white photos on the walls of the tightly packed Fire Hall Museum show off Crowell and Foard County back in the 1950s and ’60s when sharp-finned cars filled the angled parking spaces around the county square and crowds jammed the local movie house.

But even then Foard and dozens of other rural Texas counties were slipping — their populations dropping by 10, 20, even 30 percent in each census, a trend that never really changed.

Each year, when the U.S. Census Bureau releases the latest population estimates, attention turns to the surging growth along the Texas Triangle — shaped by the three interstate highways connecting the state’s biggest cities.

But there’s barely a mention of this other Texas, more than 100 counties in the east and the Panhandle, scattered across the Plains and the emptiness of the west. And this is the iconic Texas people imagine when they hear the name, where horses and cowboys are part of the landscape and the open expanses stretch off to the horizon.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/state/headlines/20150717-the-other-texas-the-boom-forgot-rural-counties-struggle-to-stay-afloat.ece

July 17, 2015

Conservatives warn IRS could target gay marriage opponents

WASHINGTON (AP) - A brief exchange during Supreme Court arguments in the same-sex marriage case has exploded into a full-blown crisis for some conservatives who warn that the IRS could start revoking the tax-exempt status of religious groups that oppose gay marriage.

The attorneys general of 15 states have written Congress asking for legislation to protect religious schools and other groups. Bills in the House and Senate are gaining support.

Officials are responding to the Supreme Court ruling in June that required every state to recognize same-sex marriages.

In a brief statement, the IRS said Thursday the ruling will not affect the standards agents use to evaluate tax-exempt organizations. Democrats, meanwhile, say Republicans are creating a straw man to fire up the GOP base as they try to resist America's changing social mores.

Read more: http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/national/conservatives-warn-irs-could-target-gay-marriage-opponents

July 17, 2015

Plans for Muslim cemetery stir apprehension among Farmersville residents

FARMERSVILLE — There’s a Buddhist meditation center on the outskirts of town, and a Mormon church recently opened along Audie Murphy Parkway.

But it’s the prospect of an Islamic cemetery that has upset some residents in this Collin County city with a population of fewer than 4,000. In shops along the brick-lined streets of the quaint downtown area, many wonder, “Why Farmersville?”

“The concern for us is the radical element of Islam,” David J. Meeks, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, said of the Islamic Association of Collin County’s plan to build a cemetery west of the city.

While a cemetery seems benign enough, the pastor is convinced that it will be the start of a Muslim enclave in the heart of this rural community.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/collin-county/headlines/20150716-plans-for-muslim-cemetery-stir-apprehension-among-farmersville-residents.ece

July 17, 2015

State Sen. Royce West calls on DPS to release video of Chicago woman’s traffic stop

Sandra Bland

State Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, is asking the state Department of Public Safety to publicly release video of the state trooper traffic stop that began the series of events that ended in Sandra Bland’s death in the Waller County Jail.

West wrote a letter to DPS Director Steven McCraw on Thursday about the “tragic, and I will call suspicious,” death of Bland. The senator said he had “unconfirmed information” that Bland was followed “for some distance” by the state trooper before the traffic stop.

“This detainment, arrest and the events that transpired have raised a number of questions for numerous persons, none more than myself,” West wrote. “It comes months and weeks into what seems to be an unabated season of unfortunate police-citizen encounters.”

-snip-

Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith, however, did address accusations that he was fired from his prior job as Hempstead Police Chief because of police conduct toward African-Americans.

“Am I racist? No, I’m not,” he said. “I can assure you that black lives matter to Glenn Smith.”

Read more: http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2015/07/family-friends-question-account-of-womans-death-at-southeast-texas-jail.html/

Cross-posted in the Texas Group.

July 17, 2015

State Sen. Royce West calls on DPS to release video of Chicago woman’s traffic stop

Sandra Bland

State Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, is asking the state Department of Public Safety to publicly release video of the state trooper traffic stop that began the series of events that ended in Sandra Bland’s death in the Waller County Jail.

West wrote a letter to DPS Director Steven McCraw on Thursday about the “tragic, and I will call suspicious,” death of Bland. The senator said he had “unconfirmed information” that Bland was followed “for some distance” by the state trooper before the traffic stop.

“This detainment, arrest and the events that transpired have raised a number of questions for numerous persons, none more than myself,” West wrote. “It comes months and weeks into what seems to be an unabated season of unfortunate police-citizen encounters.”

-snip-

Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith, however, did address accusations that he was fired from his prior job as Hempstead Police Chief because of police conduct toward African-Americans.

“Am I racist? No, I’m not,” he said. “I can assure you that black lives matter to Glenn Smith.”

Read more: http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2015/07/family-friends-question-account-of-womans-death-at-southeast-texas-jail.html/

Cross-posted in the Illinois Group.

July 17, 2015

Education giant Pearson lays off 208 Texas employees, mostly in Austin

AUSTIN -- Long the largest provider of testing services in Texas, education giant Pearson confirmed Thursday that it will lay off more than 200 Texas employees after the state chose another vendor for the majority of its new standardized testing contract.

On Thursday, 270 employees in the School and North America teams at Pearson were notified their positions were being eliminated. The bulk of the 208 Texas layoffs are in Austin as the company consolidates its four Austin locations into one.

In May, the Texas Education Agency announced Pearson Education would no longer be the exclusive standardized testing vendor, a position the British mega-company had held for more than three decades. The state agency awarded a four-year $280 million contract to New Jersey-based Educational Testing Services to develop, administer and score its standardized tests. Pearson, the state’s sole testing contractor since 1980, was awarded a $60 million contract for testing services for students who are learning English or have severe cognitive disabilities, among other things.

“The loss of that contract means that we need to scale back some of our workforce,” said Laura Howe, Pearson spokeswoman, by email. “While we have a long, proud history of serving students, parents, and educators in Texas, this is never an easy decision.”

Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/education-giant-pearson-lays-off-208-texas-employe/nmz7S/?ref=cbTopWidget

July 17, 2015

Austin animal authorities to search for cobra linked to man’s death

A monocled cobra. Photo by Ricardo B. Brazziell AMERICAN-STATESMAN

AUSTIN --The search will be on Friday morning for a venomous cobra police think is responsible for the death of an 18-year-old Temple man.

The search will be centered around the Lowe’s Home Improvement store near Parmer Lane and Interstate 35 where Grant Thompson was found in cardiac arrest Tuesday night. Thompson was pronounced dead at St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center that night with puncture wounds on his wrist, police said. An autopsy report on Thompson’s death is pending.

The decision to conduct the search came after Austin’s Animal Protection Office opted to wait to see if any sightings of a snake in that area would be reported. The office typically responds to reports of animal cruelty and neglect as well as animal rescues.

“We felt we needed to organize and conduct a proactive search in the interest of public safety,” Animal Protection supervisor Mark Sloat said.

Read more: http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/local/austin-animal-authorities-to-search-for-cobra-link/nm2CQ/#56f45734.257263.735795

Earlier thread:
Police: Cobra missing after man dies of possible snakebite

July 16, 2015

Houston GOP activist Steven Hotze: 'Kids will be encouraged to practice sodomy in kindergarten'

A prominent Houston Republican activist is making some strong assertions about same-sex marriage. Among them: that anal sex will be pushed on kindergarteners following the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage across the country.

Dr. Steven Hotze, president of Conservative Republicans of Texas and Houston talk radio host, articulated that thought yesterday in Dallas while speaking at a kick-off for a new anti-gay marriage organization, the Texas Observer reported. He was joining conservative allies in founding "Real Marriage: One Man/One Woman for Life," a group he said will campaign against the cultural influence of "homo-fascists" in Texas and beyond.

"It's a wicked, evil movement and we're fighting it with everything we have," Hotze said in an interview.

Real Marriage will announce on Sept. 1 the dates of planned conferences. Hotze, a lifelong Houstonian and graduate of St. Thomas High School, has long campaigned against same-sex marriage in Texas. On tour with Real Marriage, he'll spread his message.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/politics/texas/article/Houston-GOP-activist-Steven-Hotze-Kids-will-be-enc-6386471.php

July 16, 2015

Perry defense bill on indictment tops $2M

AUSTIN – Former Gov. Rick Perry amassed another $1 million in legal bills over the last six months defending himself against two felony indictments.

Perry paid large amounts to lawyers from four different law firms, and added a New York legal consulting group to his tab, according to state campaign reports released Thursday.

The bulk of payments went to Tony Buzbee, whose firm received $415,000 from Jan. 1 through June 30. Buzbee is not a criminal defense attorney, but instead is a highly successful civil trial lawyer.

Other payments went to Baker Botts ($292,475), Jones Day ($146,430) and the law firm of criminal defense attorney David Botsford ($160,290).

Read more: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2015/07/perry-defense-bill-on-indictment-tops-2m.html/