October 2, 2016

Judge says VA Montana retaliated against whistleblower

HELENA — A senior U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs official in Montana harassed and retaliated against an employee in violation of the federal Whistleblower Protection Act because the worker filed a patient safety report over an operating room error, a judge ruled Friday.

Administrative Judge James Kasic ordered the VA to pay damages and offer former Associate Chief of Inpatient Care Dianne Scotten a job similar to what she held before she resigned in December 2014. Kasic's ruling is an initial order that takes effect Nov. 4 if the VA does not request a review of the decision.

Her former boss, Associate Director of In-Patient Care Services Norlynn Nelson, denied she retaliated against Scotten for filing the report. Nelson faced no penalties in the case.

Scotten is now working for the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services and does not want to return to the VA, said her attorney, Jill Gerdrum. But the judge's ruling should give hope to other employees who want to speak out and lead to change within the Fort Harrison medical center, the attorney said.

Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/news/government-and-politics/judge-says-va-montana-retaliated-against-whistleblower/article_60b663fb-9ec4-52c5-a184-52dfcfaddf9d.html

October 2, 2016

Judge won't dismiss Bergdahl case over Sen. McCain comments

RALEIGH, N.C. — A military judge has rejected arguments that Sen. John McCain improperly swayed the prosecution of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl with negative comments about the soldier who walked off his post in Afghanistan.

Defense lawyers for Bergdahl, a native of Hailey, argued that McCain exerted unlawful command influence by telling a reporter in 2015 that the Senate committee he leads would hold a hearing if Bergdahl weren’t punished.

Bergdahl, who is scheduled for a military trial in February 2017, disappeared from his post in Afghanistan in June of 2009 and wound up being held captive by the Taliban and its allies for five years. The defense had asked the judge to dismiss charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy against Bergdahl, or rule that he face no punishment if convicted.

But Army judge Col. Jeffery Nance decided that the comments by the Republican senator from Arizona haven’t unfairly influenced the case.

Read more: http://magicvalley.com/news/local/judge-won-t-dismiss-bergdahl-case-over-sen-mccain-comments/article_fee607a1-bf7d-5511-b47d-f32a2f7d75d4.html

October 2, 2016

Pleas from uninsured, physicians don’t sway Idaho lawmakers on Medicaid expansion

Following more than two hours of impassioned public testimony, a legislative panel reviewing health care options for thousands of Idaho’s working poor acknowledged Wednesday that it does not expect to reach consensus on what if any action to recommend to the full Legislature.

“I just don’t see us all agreeing here,” said Sen. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian, a panel co-chair, at the end of a daylong hearing that included testimony from approximately 40 people.

Rep. Tom Loertscher, R-Iona, the other co-chair, asked panel members to “put your ideas on paper” for discussion at the next meeting, which is Oct. 24. The panel might submit those findings in a resolution or report to the Legislature, but “for this group to come up with legislation would be foolhardy,” he said.

In the fourth hearing since convening in July, lawmakers Wednesday took public testimony for the first time from an audience that included health care providers, municipal officials, doctors and individuals at various stages of managing health emergencies on their own, without insurance:

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article104708066.html

October 2, 2016

Idaho hunters learn Texas billionaires are locking them out at the last minute

Steve Wolfinger was planning to go on what was his first Idaho elk hunt starting Saturday in Adams and Valley counties.

But a week before he was planning to get on a jet to fly from his home in Arkansas, the 70-year-old got a letter from Regan Berkley, an Idaho Department of Fish and Game wildlife manager from McCall. She told him that private land recently owned by Potlatch Corp. that covers much of the unit where he planned to hunt is now closed.

DF Development, the new owners of the 172,000 acres of timberland and a vast road system in Adams, Valley and Boise counties, informed Fish and Game that the land will no longer be open to hunting.

Wolfinger and 304 other hunters had controlled-hunt tags for units where 30 percent of the land is owned by the Cisco, Texas, company. Berkley told those hunters they could trade their controlled-hunt tag for a general elk tag if they wanted.

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/letters-from-the-west/article104921951.html

October 2, 2016

Incoming Missouri legislator faces rape accusation from colleague

A woman set to begin her first term in the Missouri House of Representatives next year has accused one of her future legislative colleagues of rape, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported early Saturday morning.

Cora Faith Walker, of Ferguson, emerged victorious from a Democratic primary in August and will run unopposed this November. In a letter to House Speaker Todd Richardson, House Minority Leader Jake Hummel and House Assistant Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty, she says that she was a victim of sexual assault and that “my rapist is Steven Roberts, Jr., who hopes to be in the Capitol in January as the Representative of the 77th District.”

“You have spoken about systemic changes you hope to make toward improving the culture at the Capitol so that women can work safely,” her letter states. “I commend and support the changes you have proposed. To that end, I ask that you do everything in your power to prevent Mr. Roberts from perpetrating sexual violence, sexual assault or sexual harassment against me or anyone else in the Capitol. I respectfully request that you not allow Mr. Roberts to be sworn in until this investigation is complete. In the alternative, I ask that his presence in the Capitol be monitored by security.”

She says she filed a police report earlier this week.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article105379786.html

October 2, 2016

Only 5 People Have Ever Finished This Insane Texas Taco Challenge

A local Corpus Christi Tex-Mex joint has one of the most unbeatable food challenges in all of Texas. Chaco’s Taco, located at 3700 Ayers Street, has a nearly 4-pound breakfast taco challenge. The entire meal to be eaten in under just 10 minutes to win. Not surprisingly, barely anyone has managed to complete the feat the two decades that the restaurant has been open.

Chacho’s Tacos owner Mary Gutierrez told MySanAntonio that only five people have successfully completely the food challenge in the 18 years they’ve been in business.

The Almighty Chacho Taco is a 14-inch diameter flour tortilla stuffed with carne guisada, eggs, beans, cheese, bacon and potatoes.

So what happens if you manage to eat the whole taco in the allotted time? You win a t-shirt and get your picture posted on the wall for all to see.

Read more: http://www.wideopencountry.com/only-5-people-have-ever-finished-this-corpus-christi-taco-challenge/

October 2, 2016

Tim Tebow Hit By Pitch, Charges Mound To Offer Instant Forgiveness

PORT ST. LUCIE, FL—Playing in his second instructional league baseball game with the New York Mets organization Thursday, Tim Tebow was hit by a pitch from lefty Chandler Hawkins during his third at bat. According to witnesses, the former NFL player immediately threw down his bat and aggressively charged the pitcher’s mound—but rather than engaging in the traditional fistfight or shoving match, Tebow rushed out to immediately forgive Hawkins face to face.

“I ran out there because I knew he probably felt bad about plunking me, and I wanted to pursue immediate reconciliation,” Tebow told reporters. “The Bible teaches that if your brother has something against you, drop everything and go restore the relationship. I needed to reach out to Chandler right away and forgive him for drilling me in the rib cage with that fastball.”

Witnesses state that Tebow, listed at 6’3”, 255 pounds, held out his arms as he approached the mound at a full sprint. Hawkins, apparently confused by the gesture, dropped his glove and raised his fists, but Tebow immediately wrapped him up in a bear hug.

“I told him it was OK, everyone makes mistakes, and his defensiveness just melted away,” said Tebow. “The Bible says to go to your brother and settle your grievances one-on-one, but if that fails, to bring 2 or 3 brothers with you the next time. I guess that’s why a lot of my teammates came running out of the dugout. They wanted to make sure we followed the Biblical model of reconciliation. I love these guys.”

Read more: http://babylonbee.com/news/tim-tebow-hit-pitch-charges-mound-offer-instant-forgiveness/

October 2, 2016

Relieved Nation Wakes and Realizes Trump Was just a Nightmare, Not a Real Person

In what psychologists are calling a rare instance of a collective national nightmare, Americans went to sleep on Thursday night and dreamed that an unstable and juvenile ignoramus named Donald J. Trump was within inches of being elected president of the United States and having control of the nation’s nuclear arsenal.

On waking Friday morning in a heavy sweat, though, Americans realized it was just a horrible dream. Sitting half upright in bed and pressing their faces into a moist palm, all wide-awake U.S. adults sighed in profound relief as the ghastly scenario was revealed to be nothing but a fiction.

Sleep experts and psychiatrists said that a general state of anxiety and restlessness in the population was the likely cause of the nightmare. As a way of ensuring better sleep and happier dreams, therapists around the nation are recommending that people get more physical exercise, stay mentally active, and repeat the following phrase ten times before going to bed: There is no Trump, there is no Trump, there is no Trump…

http://www.theparsnippety.com/latest/2016/9/30/relieved-nation-wakes-and-realizes-trump-was-just-a-nightmare-not-a-real-person

October 1, 2016

Opal fire penalties went unpaid due to state clerical error

A company that operates a major natural gas hub in southwest Wyoming has yet to pay thousands of dollars in fines imposed for safety violations after a 2014 fire because state regulators failed to send the final bill.

Regulators are investigating why the bill was never sent, but they've determined the company was not at fault, said John Ysebaert, the Department of Workforce Services’ standards and compliance administrator.

“It is clerical and on our end, on my end," Ysebaert said Wednesday. “[The company] has not paid any of the fines, but to be fair they have not been given notice of ‘This is what you owe for all those citations.’ ”

Wyoming regulators do not expect an appeal from Williams Field Services Company, which operates at the Opal plant, because the company already agreed to the final fine amounts in 2014, Ysebaert said.

Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/opal-fire-penalties-went-unpaid-due-to-state-clerical-error/article_84993f53-e88c-5228-9e6d-1a30c732f11b.html

October 1, 2016

Casper's Gerald Gay says media twisted words on women

Embattled Casper Rep. Gerald Gay, who clouded his re-election chances after making controversial comments about working women, tried to clarify his stance Wednesday by accusing the media of twisting his words.

“I would never disparage any working woman,” Gay said during a brisk news conference at a Casper hotel. “Agenda-based articles written recently have portrayed me differently.”

The Republican lawmaker offered no apology to working women in Wyoming and across the country, who expressed outrage online when he told Better Wyoming – and later the Star-Tribune – that women have a dependability problem by taking too much maternity and sick leave to attend to their children, therefore contributing to their lower wages.

He did, however, apologize at the news conference for “any misunderstanding of my words.”

Read more: http://www.wyomingnews.com/news/casper-s-gerald-gay-says-media-twisted-words-on-women/article_cc8b0656-86cd-11e6-bd31-d3cefb7521ec.html