TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalWindstorm association gets new board members
AUSTIN — The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association has a new nine-member board that has aimed at better representing the coast.
Georgia Neblett, of Port Aransas and director of external affairs for the University of Texas Marine Science Institute and a member of the Port Aransas Chamber of Commerce Tourist Bureau, was kept on the board.
The board's nine members include three who live in coastal counties, three board members who live at least 100 miles from the coast and three insurance industry representatives who write and renew windstorm and hail insurance along the coast.
Before the board had four insurance representatives, four coastal representatives and an independent swing vote.
Read more: http://www.caller.com/news/state/state-bureau/windstorm-association-gets-new-board-members-21118ec6-3bc3-5bd5-e053-0100007f0e91-330341211.html
Work expected to resume at Brenham Blue Bell plant soon, ice cream in DFW on Nov. 2
Blue Bell Creameries announced Thursday it was entering the second phase of re-entering the market, with its products available in several additional markets, including Dallas, Fort Worth and Waco, on Nov. 2.
Ricky Dickson, the company’s vice president of sales and marketing, said the company continues to make good progress and expects to begin production at its main plant in Brenham during the next few months. Currently Blue Bell Ice Cream is being made in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and Sylacauga, Alabama.
Blue Bell ice cream returned to stores in Brenham, Austin, Houston and most of the Brazos Valley on Aug. 31.
Blue Bell voluntarily recalled its products in April after they had been linked to 10 listeria cases in four states, including three deaths in Kansas.
Read more: http://www.theeagle.com/news/blue_bell/work-expected-to-resume-at-brenham-blue-bell-plant-soon/article_34272f92-68c0-11e5-999c-436bcc8e9b8d.html
TEA commissioner to appoint board of managers at Progreso ISD
PROGRESO— After a nearly two year-long investigation into Progreso school district the Texas Education Agency decided to lower its accreditation and assign new state-appointed leadership.
The school district received formal notification from TEA Commissioner Michael Williams on September 23, of his decision to dissolve the current board of trustees, assign a board of managers and superintendent, and to lower its accreditation to Accredited-Warned for the 2014-2015 school year.
If the commissioner’s decision is upheld, the district would be run by the state for up to four years, said TEA spokeswoman Lauren Callahan.
“The management team has ongoing concerns related to the board’s actions over the past year, the district’s finances, and the board of trustees’ inattention to the district’s finances,” states Williams in a letter sent to district officials.
Read more: http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/valley/article_9d762a2a-689d-11e5-baa2-1700a594ebd0.html
Follow-up: Insurance reimburses Pantex Federal Credit Union for $1.2M
A Borger credit union CEO said on Thursday that members were protected when an audit revealed $1.2 million had been stolen.
Pantex Federal Credit Union CEO Cliff Murley said the credit union has been reimbursed through a fraud insurance policy for the embezzled funds.
“We have been made whole by that and have not been financially impacted,” Murley said.
On Tuesday, Dorothy Stegall Barnes, former assistant vice president of teller operations at the credit union, pleaded guilty in federal court to stealing $826,000. Barnes took the money over a 14-year period, from September 1996 to November 2010.
Barnes was discovered in October 2014 when she was asked to audit the vault of a banker who had suddenly quit, according to court documents. Barnes later reported that the former employee’s vault was short $380,000. This was determined not to be a clerical error and the president then called in an auditor.
Read more: http://amarillo.com/news/latest-news/2015-10-01/insurance-reimburses-credit-union-12m
Cross-posted in Omaha Steve's Labor Group.
Earlier threads:
Banker admits to stealing $826K from Pantex Federal Credit Union Texas Group
Banker admits to stealing $826K from Pantex Federal Credit Union Omaha Steve's Labor Group
Follow-up: Insurance reimburses Pantex Federal Credit Union for $1.2M
A Borger credit union CEO said on Thursday that members were protected when an audit revealed $1.2 million had been stolen.
Pantex Federal Credit Union CEO Cliff Murley said the credit union has been reimbursed through a fraud insurance policy for the embezzled funds.
“We have been made whole by that and have not been financially impacted,” Murley said.
On Tuesday, Dorothy Stegall Barnes, former assistant vice president of teller operations at the credit union, pleaded guilty in federal court to stealing $826,000. Barnes took the money over a 14-year period, from September 1996 to November 2010.
Barnes was discovered in October 2014 when she was asked to audit the vault of a banker who had suddenly quit, according to court documents. Barnes later reported that the former employee’s vault was short $380,000. This was determined not to be a clerical error and the president then called in an auditor.
Read more: http://amarillo.com/news/latest-news/2015-10-01/insurance-reimburses-credit-union-12m
Cross-posted in the Texas Group.
Earlier threads:
Banker admits to stealing $826K from Pantex Federal Credit Union Texas Group
Banker admits to stealing $826K from Pantex Federal Credit Union Omaha Steve's Labor Group
Abilene Reporter-News goes pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month
We all know someone who has been affected by breast cancer.
We again kick off Breast Cancer Awareness Month by printing today’s Reporter-News on pink paper to salute the efforts to cure and prevent this terrible disease, to thank those who treat it, to put our arms around those who are dealing with it and to pray for all concerned.
Our website is also decked out in pink.
http://www.reporternews.com/news/local-news/yes-virginia-your-newspaper-is-pink
Whole Foods Says It Will Stop Selling Foods Made With Prison Labor
Whole Foods Market has announced that by April of next year it will stop sourcing foods that are produced using prison labor.
The move comes on the heels of a demonstration in Houston where the company was chastised for employing inmates through prison-work programs.
Michael Allen, founder of End Mass Incarceration Houston, organized the protest. He says Whole Foods was engaging in exploitation since inmates are typically paid very low wages.
"People are incarcerated and then forced to work for pennies on the dollar — compare that to what the products are sold for," Allen tells The Salt.
Read more: http://kut.org/post/whole-foods-says-it-will-stop-selling-foods-made-prison-labor
Cross-posted in the Texas Group.
Whole Foods Says It Will Stop Selling Foods Made With Prison Labor
Whole Foods Market has announced that by April of next year it will stop sourcing foods that are produced using prison labor.
The move comes on the heels of a demonstration in Houston where the company was chastised for employing inmates through prison-work programs.
Michael Allen, founder of End Mass Incarceration Houston, organized the protest. He says Whole Foods was engaging in exploitation since inmates are typically paid very low wages.
"People are incarcerated and then forced to work for pennies on the dollar — compare that to what the products are sold for," Allen tells The Salt.
Read more: http://kut.org/post/whole-foods-says-it-will-stop-selling-foods-made-prison-labor
Cross-posted in the General Discussion forum.
DuPont Slammed in Report on Fatal Plant Leak
HOUSTON — Ten months after four DuPont workers died from a toxic gas release at the company's La Porte plant, federal investigators presented their most comprehensive assessment yet of the chemical manufacturing giant’s facility near the Texas coast.
It was a scathing assessment, particularly of DuPont’s insecticide manufacturing unit where the accident occurred.
Facing about 150 people in a downtown Houston hotel, the federal Chemical and Hazard Investigation Board described a unit that routinely endangered workers and the surrounding public until it shut down after the November 2014 tragedy. Were it to reopen today, the board said, it would continue to present dangers.
“Safety deficiencies cost four families their loved ones and eroded public confidence in DuPont,” said Vanessa Sutherland, the board's chair. “My fellow board members and I are determined to make sure this does not happen again.”
Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/09/30/more-problems-dupont/
Cross-posted in Omaha Steve's Labor Group.
DuPont Slammed in Report on Fatal Plant Leak
HOUSTON — Ten months after four DuPont workers died from a toxic gas release at the company's La Porte plant, federal investigators presented their most comprehensive assessment yet of the chemical manufacturing giant’s facility near the Texas coast.
It was a scathing assessment, particularly of DuPont’s insecticide manufacturing unit where the accident occurred.
Facing about 150 people in a downtown Houston hotel, the federal Chemical and Hazard Investigation Board described a unit that routinely endangered workers and the surrounding public until it shut down after the November 2014 tragedy. Were it to reopen today, the board said, it would continue to present dangers.
“Safety deficiencies cost four families their loved ones and eroded public confidence in DuPont,” said Vanessa Sutherland, the board's chair. “My fellow board members and I are determined to make sure this does not happen again.”
Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/09/30/more-problems-dupont/
Cross-posted in the Texas Group.
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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: 112,168
