January 4, 2018

Hamilton Tiger-Cats move closer to signing Johnny Manziel

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats moved even closer to getting Johnny Manziel back on a football field after trading quarterback Zach Callaros to the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Wednesday.

The move gets Collaros off the Ticats' salary and adds a second round pick in the CFL draft (what will be the 10th overall pick).

Hamilton is reportedly trying to re-sign quarterback Jeremiah Masoli but also has the former Texas A&M Heisman Trophy winner on their negotiation list.

Masoli started in 10 games for the Ticats last season and made an appearance in every game.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/sports/texans/article/Hamilton-Tiger-Cats-move-closer-to-signing-Johnny-12471485.php?ipid=hpctp

January 3, 2018

Omaha zoo scientist works to save the black-footed cat, one of the world's smallest felines

An Omaha zoo scientist is among a dozen or so in the world striving to protect one of Earth’s smallest cats.

You won’t find these scrappy, 4-pound kitties emblazoning conservation posters, like an elephant or a lion. You won’t even see them on display — the Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium moved the species from its home near Red Barn Park to an off-exhibit space in the Desert Dome years ago.

Only about 45 of these cats are in American zoos, and only 15 females are considered quality candidates for breeding. The captive population has suffered from a high incidence of kidney disease, and the wild population is declining, now classified as “vulnerable,” one step closer to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s “endangered” designation.

In the fight against extinction, the black-footed cat goes relatively unnoticed. But Dr. Jason Herrick, the first-year director of reproductive sciences at the zoo, is looking out for these little creatures.

Read more: http://www.omaha.com/living/zoo/omaha-zoo-scientist-works-to-save-the-black-footed-cat/article_7d70f0ad-71c5-573a-9d8b-e73ecc7ec174.html

January 3, 2018

Booted from the Alamo, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas kept treasured library

by Alex Arriaga, Texas Tribune

SAN ANTONIO — When the state fired the Daughters of the Republic of Texas as caretakers of the Alamo in 2015, the women's group fought — and won — the right to keep a piece of the shrine that they considered sacred: an archive collection of 38,000 photographs, artworks, maps and manuscripts prized by Texas historians.

Now, after keeping the archives in storage for a year, the Daughters have settled their library into a new home just as San Antonio prepares to highlight the city's history for its 300th anniversary in 2018. The Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library — which now lives at the Presidio Gallery in the Bexar County Archives Building downtown — includes everything from a map of the Austin colony hand-drawn by Stephen F. Austin to family documents and architectural blueprints about San Antonio's people and buildings.

“It brings San Antonio back to what it used to be, what it used to look like, how it used to feel, almost what it used to smell like, there’s so much personality,” Barbara Stevens, the organization's president, said. “When you look at the archives, it tells the story of early Texas, which is our mission and goal in life as the Daughters of the Republic of Texas."

To become a member of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, women must prove they had ancestors in Texas prior to its annexation by the United States in 1845. Since the founding of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas in 1891, it has grown to include 7,000 members and 106 chapters in Texas and across the country.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2018/01/01/san-antonio-celebrates-its-300th-anniversary-long-history-told-through/

January 3, 2018

What to expect in Texas' voting rights court fights in 2018

by Alexa Ura, Texas Tribune

As far as court battles go, 2017 was a busy year on the voting rights front in Texas — and 2018 will likely be no different.

After years of litigation, Texas and its legal foes — minority and civil rights groups and voters of color — begin the year waiting on the courts to rule on the fate of the state’s embattled political maps and voter identification requirements. Federal judges are also expected to have the final word on whether lawmakers intentionally discriminated against Texans of color in drawing up both measures.

There’s no saying whether the cases will be resolved in 2018. But as the sides await a final resolution years after the measures were first enacted, the attention will ultimately fall on whether Texas will be placed back under federal oversight of its election laws.

The fight over the state’s political maps

Texas and the minority rights groups suing over the state’s congressional and House districts maps are waiting to hear whether the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the state’s appeal of a lower court ruling that invalidated parts of the state’s political maps where lawmakers were found to have discriminated against voters of color.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2018/01/03/what-expect-texas-voting-rights-court-fights-2018/

January 3, 2018

Julian Castro launches new PAC supporting Democratic Party, has already backed one Dallas candidate

AUSTIN — Julián Castro launched a new political action committee Tuesday to help the Democratic Party groom younger candidates and take control of the U.S. House of Representatives, according to the Texas Tribune.

The former U.S. Housing and Urban Development secretary has already used his PAC to support Congressional District 32 candidate Colin Allred, who served as a special assistant to HUD under President Barack Obama and Castro. Allred also played in the NFL for the Tennessee Titans.

The civil rights attorney is looking to unseat incumbent Rep. Pete Sessions of Dallas, and has to navigate a crowded Democratic primary in March before battling Sessions in November.

Sessions hasn’t had a serious Democratic challenger since 2004, when he beat Democrat Martin Frost.

Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2018/01/02/julin-castro-launches-new-pac-supporting-democratic-party-already-backed-one-dallas-candidate

January 3, 2018

Austin apartment complex plan hits speed bump with new tax law

Travis County staffers warned Tuesday that the federal tax overhaul could stymie efforts to fund a proposed affordable housing project in Austin that largely depended on low-income housing tax credits.

Tax credits are the U.S. government’s primary tool to encourage the development of affordable housing. The government grants the credits to developers, who then sell the credits to banks and other investors, who in turn use those credits to lower their own tax bills.

However, a key change in the recently approved federal tax bill — the corporate tax rate reduction from 35 percent to 21 percent — could put a dent in the developer’s returns from the program, Karen Thigpen, county corporations project and program manager, told the Commissioners Court at its Tuesday meeting.

The lower the tax obligation, after all, the less the credits are worth to investors, she said.

“We do not yet have a precise measure on these declines — both in dollars or in demand,” Thigpen said. “It’s too early to quantify how large of an impact this will have … but we are hearing that it may be as much as 10 cents on the dollar per tax credit, which is a significant decline.”

Read more: http://www.mystatesman.com/news/local/austin-apartment-complex-plan-hits-speed-bump-with-new-tax-law/D5jM5rlPz6df0oagiKwsAK/