TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalParadise Lost in Fort Worth
You’ve got to hand it to the Trump administration. Even though they’ve had more turnover than your neighborhood Walmart, they’ve managed to keep a razor-focus on job one: screwing over the American people. Trump Co. has just proposed weakening mercury regulations (the metal is especially dangerous to children and fetuses) and has effectively eliminated the EPA office in charge of children’s health.
And our own state government, never allowing common sense to interfere, has worked tirelessly toward more or less the same aims: to stop young people from voting, to arm teachers, and to stop “those people” from going to the restrooms of their choice. And for their efforts, the base of the Republican party is all energized by these petty cruelties disguised as public policy and foursquare against communists and socialists, neither of which is slated to run in the general election.
And in our own fair city, despite local elections being nonpartisan, the mayor and the power structure all bat from the right and sometimes the far right. And they are second to none in screwing over the average citizen.
Part and parcel of the conservative movement is the 40-year project of underfunding, then delegitimizing, the public sphere. Once they degrade what was once thought to be public, they privatize it to prove most of all that government can’t do anything. Lately, we’ve seen it here in this idea to privatize the Fort Worth Botanic Garden. The city’s muckety-mucks want us to shrug our shoulders, see it as a fait accompli. Fort Worth doesn’t have the money to spruce up the gardens, so let’s make it so only those who can pay can go.
Read more: https://www.fwweekly.com/2018/11/07/paradise-lost-2/
Border maquilas are short 65,000 workers
MCALLEN, RGV – Maquiladoras along the U.S.-Mexico border are short 65,000 workers, according to a report by INDEX, the maquila trade association.
In Reynosa, the vacancy rate is 13,000, while in Matamoros it is 6,000.
INDEX has voiced its concerns about labor shortages to Luisa Maria Alcalde, the attorney and former legislator who is slated to become minister of labor and social welfare in the new Andrés Manuel López Obrador administration.
Details on the shortage of workers were explained by Enrique Castro, president of INDEX Reynosa, at a recent McAllen Economic Development Corporation board meeting. The issue was also addressed at a recent INDEX Reynosa meeting held at the Cimarron Club in Mission.
Read more: https://riograndeguardian.com/border-maquilas-are-short-65000-workers/
Statements from MJ Hegar and Mike Collier
These statements appeared on the main page for the Williamson County Sun:
http://www.wilcosun.com/
More than 200,000 turn out to vote in Wilco
By CHARLOTTE KOVALCHUK
Republican Congressman John Carter took home the victory Tuesday night, beating Democrat MJ Hegar by 8,846 votes by the Sun’s press time.
By press time, Congressman Carter had received 140,443 votes and Ms. Hegar got 131,597 votes.
"I am humbled to have been a part of this, and while things didn't go as we hoped, we gave our all and left nothing on the field,” Ms. Hegar said. “We ran a clean and honest campaign and I have no regrets. I'm inspired how we encouraged bipartisanship and inspired people from both sides of the aisle to find places where we could agree. We can never take our eyes off the ball when it comes to civil liberties and the freedoms we take for granted.”
-snip-
"Today is not a bad day. We showed Texas that if you campaign on issues that Texans care about, you can have a strong showing in this state,” Mr. Collier said in a statement.
“Dan Patrick promised retired teachers that they could trust him forever. He told all Texans he was for strong schools. He said he would lower property taxes. He said he would give Texas teachers a raise. He was elected on the basis of these promises, and I plan to respectfully yet decisively hold him to his word.”
Case of UT stabbing suspect Kendrex White will be heard without jury
Prosecutors and defense lawyers for Kendrex White agreed Wednesday to set the case for a trial by court without the assistance of a jury, according to the Austin-American Statesman. Though a specific date for the start of the trial has not been set, the two sides worked out an agreement for a trial by court on the second week of December.
White was indicted in July 2017 on a first-degree murder charge and three counts of aggravated assault after a May 2017 stabbing attack left freshman Harrison Brown dead and three students injured. The stabbing, which occurred near the intersection of 21st Street and Speedway, has ignited conversations on increasing campus safety in the year since.
White pled not guilty by reason of insanity in a court hearing in March. White’s case had been paused since that hearing to give state prosecutors a chance to respond to a motion filed by his lawyers, who intend to present evidence for his insanity defense.
During the second week of December, State District Judge Tamara Needles will hear witness testimony that the defense says shows White did not know right from wrong during the time of the attack, a requirement of an insanity defense.
Read more: http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2018/11/07/case-of-ut-stabbing-suspect-kendrex-white-will-be-heard-without-jury
Three Bell County residents plead guilty in Temple VA fraud case
Three Bell County residents have each pleaded guilty in federal court for their roles in an alleged scheme to defraud the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Christopher Sebek and Melissa Sebek, both of Temple, and Jeffrey Pearson, 55, of Killeen, were charged in September for their alleged roles to defraud the Temple VA of about $250,000.
Pearson — owner and operator of Whitetail Industrial Parts and Service, a Temple VA contractor — and Christopher Sebek, 55, operations supervisor in the Engineering Department at the Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Medical Center in Temple, were both charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the government and one count of theft of government property.
Pearson pleaded guilty Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey C. Manske in a U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, in Waco. He remains free on a $25,000 appearance bond before his sentencing, which is scheduled for Jan. 29, 2019, before U.S. District Judge Alan Albright.
Read more: http://www.tdtnews.com/news/article_5ccdbaf0-dd5d-11e8-bcfb-cb9cc07563fc.html
(Temple Daily Telegram)
Taco Bueno files for bankruptcy
Taco Bueno, which originated in Abilene in 1967, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday, according to a news release from the company.
During the restructuring process, Taco Bueno expects to continue operating restaurants across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana and Missouri, which includes restaurants independently owned and operated by franchisees that are not a part of the Chapter 11 proceedings.
The restaurant has one location on the north side of San Angelo, 330 W. 9th St., and another under construction on Sherwood Way near Chick-fil-A. They are owned by WesTex Bueno, LLC.
It does not appear the bankruptcy proceedings will have any immediate effect on the local restaurants, but long-term plans are unclear.
Read more: https://www.gosanangelo.com/story/news/local/2018/11/07/taco-bueno-files-bankruptcy/1922709002/
Texas sending its first Latinas to Congress: Veronica Escobar and Sylvia Garcia
By Julian Aguilar, Texas TribuneEL PASO — A pair of veteran Democratic Texas lawmakers made congressional history Tuesday night as the first-ever Latinas elected to represent Texas in the U.S. House.
Former El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar and state Sen. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, both defeated their Republican opponents.
Escobar will represent Texas’ Congressional District 16, the seat currently held by Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso. O’Rourke gave up the seat in his unsuccessful bid to oust U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Garcia, who has served in the state Senate for six years, will replace Gene Green, D-Houston, as the representative from Congressional District 29.
“It’s about time,” Garcia told her supporters at a victory party in Houston, citing various other elected offices she’s been the first Hispanic, first woman — or both — to hold.
Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2018/11/06/sylvia-garcia-veronica-escobar-first-latina-texas-midterm-election/
Upset! Gina Ortiz Jones (D) squeaks out a win over Rep. Will Hurd (R)
This race for the 23rd Congressional District was called earlier for Will Hurd, but with 100% of the votes in, Gina Ortiz Jones finishes with a 282 vote lead! Gina is a lesbian, Filipina veteran so it's great that this district with its many military bases came out to vote for her.
Candidate Party Votes Pct.
Gina Ortiz Jones
Democrat
100,909 49.0%
Will Hurd*
Republican
100,627 48.9
Ruben Corvalan
Libertarian
4,311 2.1
205,847 votes, 100% reporting (342 of 342 precincts)
*?Incumbent
Will Hurd, a two-term Republican incumbent, held on to his seat in this sprawling swing district in West Texas. Mr. Hurd, a former C.I.A. officer, defeated Gina Ortiz Jones, a former Air Force intelligence officer who worked as a director in the office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/texas-house-district-23
Rep. Pete Sessions lost!
Just reported on MSNBC. Colin Allred is ahead 52% to Sessions with 46%. This is for the Texas 32nd Congressional District.
Profile Information
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: 112,150
