Texas State University newspaper fires writer after column calls whiteness 'an abomination'

Editors of the Texas State University Star told readers "we screwed up" this week after publishing an opinion column that called whiteness "an abomination."

Under the headline "Your DNA is an abomination," columnist Rudy Martinez wrote, "I hate you [whites] because you shouldn't exist. You are both the dominant apparatus on the planet and the void in which all other cultures, upon meeting you, die."

The student newspaper immediately faced backlash for publishing the column, and removed it from its website. In an editorial Thursday, the paper's editors said Martinez had been fired.

Denise M. Trauth, president of the San Marcos university, called the column "abhorrent."

Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas/2017/12/02/texas-state-university-newspaper-fires-writer-column-calls-whiteness-abomination

Prosecutors will seek death penalty in slaying of Texas Tech police officer

Lubbock County prosecutors will seek the death penalty in the Oct. 9 shooting death of a Texas Tech University police officer, Lubbock television stations have reported.

Hollis Daniels, 19, was charged with capital murder of a peace officer and is accused of shooting Officer Floyd East Jr., at the university police station in Lubbock. According to court documents obtained by KCBD-TV in Lubbock, a public defender has been appointed to represent Daniels.

A capital murder charge carries a sentence of life without parole or execution, and documents say prosecutors will push for the death penalty.

The station reported that court documents indicate Daniels could be found incompetent and ordered to a lengthy competency restoration program at North Texas State Hospital's Vernon campus.

Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2017/12/02/prosecutors-will-seek-death-penalty-slaying-texas-tech-police-officer

Baloney! Woman fined at U.S.-Mexico border for 227 pounds of contraband sausage

A woman in El Paso was fined Wednesday for trying to sneak 227 pounds of contraband bologna into the United States.

Talk about the wurst day ever.

Customs and Border Patrol officials say the woman approached the Paso Del Norte border crossing around 7 a.m. Wednesday and said she had no fruits, vegetables, meat or other contraband.

But, she said during a second search, there was the salchicha, or sausage.

Bologna is considered contraband due to the possibility of spreading foreign animal diseases to the U.S. pork industry, and officials found 23 rolls of Mexican bologna under the floor mats of the woman's car.

The contraband racked up a $1,000 fine, and could have netted more than 1,800 cold cut sandwiches.

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas/2017/12/02/baloney-woman-fined-us-mexico-border-227-pounds-contraband-sausage

Holy guacamole! Kona woman finds possibly record-size avocado

Roiled by claims, Alabama Senate race goes off the rails

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Shouting matches and threats. A feud with a late-night television host. Standing ovations and standoffs with the media. Long stretches without campaigning.

Republican Roy Moore's supposedly smooth ride to the U.S. Senate has become an off-color demolition derby since he was hit with decades-old allegations of sexual misconduct involving teenagers.

Moore has made limited public appearances, leading to Democrat Doug Jones, who held a flurry of events over the weekend, to mock Moore for hiding.

"We're on the campaign trail meeting all of you and meeting folks here as no one knows where Roy Moore is," Jones said Friday to a crowd of reporters interviewing him.

Read more: http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/36981179/roiled-by-claims-alabama-senate-race-goes-off-the-rails

Has anybody tried looking for Roy at the mall?

100 killed in Pearl Harbor attack identified 76 years later

HONOLULU (AP) - The military has identified 100 sailors and Marines killed when the USS Oklahoma capsized during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor 76 years ago.

The milestone comes two years after the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency dug up nearly 400 sets of remains from a Hawaii cemetery.

Officials exhumed the bodies after determining that advances in forensic science and genealogical help from families made it possible to identify the men. The buried Marines and sailors have been classified as missing since World War II.

The agency has said it expects to identify about 80 percent of the battleship's missing crew members by 2020.

Read more: http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/36979480/100-killed-in-pearl-harbor-attack-identified-after-76-years

'Poor Door': Separate Tower Entrance Planned For Lower-Income Residents

A proposed high-rise condominium tower could bring a lot of firsts to the Ala Moana neighborhood.

ProsPac Tower would be the first 400-foot building along Keeaumoku Street. It’d be the first project built with a transit-oriented development special permit that includes affordable rental units in the same structure as its market-rate condominiums.

And, according to the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting, it would be the first mixed-income building with a separate entrance for low-income residents

The controversial architectural feature has been called a “poor door” by critics elsewhere.

Read more: http://www.civilbeat.org/2017/11/poor-door-separate-tower-entrance-planned-for-lower-income-residents/

Inner-Party Squabbles Could Shake Up Governor's Race

Defense Buildup Includes Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars For Hawaii

WASHINGTON — Faced with new threats from Asia, Congress has overwhelmingly approved the biggest military buildup in decades in a bipartisan effort that would bring hundreds of millions of dollars to Hawaii.

House and Senate conferees from the armed services committees this month finalized a package of proposals for the next fiscal year containing provisions that would benefit Hawaii, including taking steps to protect the state from a North Korean missile attack. It would add more defensive missiles in Alaska and a “discriminating radar” in Hawaii that would be able to differentiate between actual incoming warheads and decoys.

Congress, by a 356-70 vote in the House and 89-9 in the Senate, agreed to give the military even more money than President Donald Trump had requested. Trump had asked for about $675 billion; they authorized $700 billion instead.

In a statement Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, who serves on the House Armed Forces Committee, urged the federal government to act promptly.

Read more: http://www.civilbeat.org/2017/12/defense-buildup-includes-hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars-for-hawaii/

Judge: GovGuam not ready to take over solid waste operations

Solid waste receiver Gershman, Brickner and Bratton will continue to run the government’s solid waste operations until at least June 30, 2018, District Court of Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood stated in an order signed Friday.

Guam's solid waste operations have been under receivership since 2008 after the government of Guam failed to close the Ordot dump and build a new landfill by court-ordered deadlines. The receiver coordinated the dump closure and the construction of a new landfill, fixed billing problems, improved timely pickup of residential waste and implemented a curbside recycling program, among other tasks.

The judge had set the end of the year as the target date to end the solid waste receivership and transition operations back to the government of Guam, but her order states the government needs at least several more months to draft and adopt new rules and regulations for solid waste.

The government rules and regulations that existed before the receivership are no longer applicable to the current solid waste system, the judge stated, and GovGuam has not taken any concrete steps to adopt the rules implemented by the receiver.

Read more: http://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2017/12/01/judge-govguam-not-ready-take-over-solid-waste-operations/912471001/