February 23, 2015

Feds raid Texas secessionist meeting

It seemed like a typical congressional meeting for the Republic of Texas. Senators and the president gathered in the center of a Bryan, Texas, meeting hall, surrounded by public onlookers, to debate issues of the national currency, develop international relations and celebrate the birthday of one of their oldest members.

But this wasn't 1836, and this would be no ordinary legislative conference. Minutes into the meeting a man among the onlookers stood and moved to open the hall door, letting in an armed and armored force of the Bryan Police Department, the Brazos County Sheriff's Office, the Kerr County Sheriff's Office, Agents of the Texas District Attorney, the Texas Rangers and the FBI.

In the end, at least 20 officers corralled, searched and fingerprinted all 60 meeting attendees, before seizing all cellphones and recording equipment in a Valentine's Day 2015 raid on the Texas separatist group.

"We had no idea what was going on," said John Jarnecke, president of the Republic of Texas. "We knew of nothing that would warrant such an action."

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Feds-raid-Texas-secessionist-meeting-6096637.php

February 23, 2015

Perry lawyers: Prosecutor alleging facts not in indictments

AUSTIN, Texas — Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry's legal team again argued Monday that felony abuse-of-power charges against their client should be tossed, saying that a special prosecutor's attempts to modify the original indictment seek to "substitute his own version of the facts."

Perry was indicted in August on charges stemming from a 2013 veto of state funding for a public corruption division within the office of Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg. Special prosecutor Michael McCrum earlier this month modified a charge of coercion of a public servant in response to an order by judge overseeing the case, Republican Bert Richardson.

In 30 pages of filings Monday, Austin attorney David Botsford states that McCrum "should not be allowed to take inconsistent positions and insert facts not found by a grand jury into an indictment."

The filing also says that if it's allowed to stand, another charge Perry faces, abuse of official capacity, should be converted to a misdemeanor. That's because, the filings argue, the case centers on the veto, not the state funding. It therefore had no monetary value — and any action worth less than $20 doesn't constitute a felony in Texas.

Read more: http://www.statesman.com/ap/ap/texas/perry-lawyers-prosecutor-alleging-facts-not-in-ind/nkG98/

February 23, 2015

Abbott floats like a butterfly on GOP presidential race

Boxing great Muhammad Ali once predicted he could avoid being hit in a fight by floating like a butterfly, and Greg Abbott displayed that same skill today while talking to CBS newsman Bob Schieffer about the Republican presidential nominating process and illegal immigration.

The Texas governor showed a skillful dodge when the Texas-born host of Face the Nation asked him about the prospects that Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz and Rick Perry will seek the Republican presidential nomination. Will they all run, Schieffer asked.

“I would not be surprised if they all run,” Abbott replied. “If I can expand on that, the Texas connection, Carly Fiorina was born in Austin, Texas, as you were. We also have Rand Paul, who is a Texas native. So the odds favor the next president, at least the Republican nominee, is going to have a Texas connection.”

That list also might include Democrat Hillary Clinton, who along with her husband, worked as a field coordinator in Texas for the 1972 George McGovern campaign for president.

Read more: http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/abbott-floats-butterfly-gop-presidential-race

February 23, 2015

Feds regain control of South Texas prison

RAYMONDVILLE — Authorities began moving inmates from the federal prison here to other facilities on Sunday after regaining control of the prison.

More than 300 of the 2,800 inmates were loaded onto buses Sunday morning and were to be transferred to other federal prisons in the region, Management and Training Corp., the company that operates the complex for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, said in a statement.

“Inmates continue to be fully cooperative with the relocation process,” the statement said.

The inmates are being moved because they severely damaged their housing units after a prisoner uprising on Friday, leaving the units “uninhabitable,” officials said.

Read more: http://www.themonitor.com/news/local/feds-regain-control-of-willacy-prison/article_13df6c5e-bafb-11e4-b8e9-8fe4b952fcc9.html

February 21, 2015

Anti-abortion advocate Dr. John Willke dies at 89 in Ohio

CINCINNATI (AP) — Dr. John Willke, an obstetrician who helped shape the modern anti-abortion movement with ideas including a belief that a woman can resist conception from a sexual assault, has died. He was 89.

Willke, who founded the International Right to Life Federation, died Friday at his home in Cincinnati, his daughter, Marie Meyers, said Saturday. She said the cause of death wasn't immediately known, but that he had seemed in good health for his age.

"The core of his life was caring for people as a husband, a father and a doctor, and that caring extended to his life work for unborn children and their mothers," Meyers said.

Willke quit delivering babies in the late 1960s to oppose abortion, retiring from his medical practice in 1988 to fully devote his time to the anti-abortion movement. He participated in protests and congressional hearings and appeared on national television frequently.

Read more: http://www.valleymorningstar.com/news/us_news/article_7e36f7fb-2fb6-51ba-80f9-07a1d85967be.html

February 21, 2015

Workers protest injunction on Obama’s immigration orders

Carrying posters supporting immigration, including one shaped like a large broken heart, a group of about 40 people marched from the state capitol to the Governor’s Mansion on Saturday asking Gov. Greg Abbott to “have a heart” when it came to his impact on immigrant families.

The event, organized by the Workers Defense Project, was a response to an earlier injunction — for a lawsuit filed by Abbott when he was the attorney general — by a federal judge on Monday that stalled the implementation of the executive orders issued by President Barack Obama in November. The executive actions were for programs that would have provided relief from deportation to about 5 million unauthorized immigrants in the country.

The Workers Defense Project fights for fair treatment of low-income workers, many of whom are undocumented. Many of the group’s members would have qualified for the now-stalled Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Legal Residents program, which would have granted protection to about 4 million people.

“Governor, my heart is broken,” said Virginia Badillo, one of the group’s members, as she stood outside the governor’s mansion. “We build your houses, we clean your houses and we make your beds… Look at who you’re hurting.”

Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/workers-protest-injunction-on-obamas-immigration-o/nkGQC/

February 21, 2015

Pickin' and Grinnin'

February 21, 2015

Civil rights suit over filming Austin officers dismissed

A federal judge dismissed on Friday a local activist’s civil rights lawsuit against the Austin Police Department and several of its officers over his filming of police officers conducting arrests.

Antonio Buehler, the head of Peaceful Streets, filed the lawsuit in late 2013 accusing Austin police of violating his civil rights when they have arrested him, in several occassions, after filming officers during events he has described as police abuse. Buehler had sought an unspecified amount of damages in the suit.

Peaceful Streets Project is an organization that encourages bystanders to record officers if they see what they think is police abuse. Buehler created it after he was arrested in 2012 for filming an arrest in downtown Austin. A jury acquitted him of that charge in October.

He was arrested under similar circumstances in several occassions after that incident.

Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/civil-rights-suit-over-filming-austin-officers-dis/nkGDb/

February 21, 2015

Bill would mandate official state business in English only

Despite several failed attempts in recent years to establish English as the official state language, Republican lawmakers are trying again this year.

Senate Bill 447, filed by state Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood, earlier this month, would mandate that official state business be conducted in English. State Rep. Angie Button, R-Richardson, filed a similar bill, House Bill 1326, in the Texas House.

Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/bill-would-mandate-official-state-business-in-engl/nkF8Y/ (subscription required).

“We are working to bring this unity back to our state,” says state Sen. Bob Hall, the bill’s sponsor.

State Sen. Judith Zaffirini: “Our goals for Texas should not be English-only but English-plus other languages.”

February 21, 2015

86-story tower in Dubai in flames, officials say no one hurt

Photo By Rhea Saran/AP


Photo By Jose Vicente/AP

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — One of the world's tallest residential towers caught fire early Saturday in Dubai's Marina district, sending bright yellow flames several stories high, but there were no reports of casualties, civil defense officials said.

The fire broke out at about 2 a.m. in the 86-story Torch tower on the northeast end of the densely populated district, which is packed with multi-story skyscrapers. High winds whipped through the area and debris from the fire cluttered nearby streets after the blaze appeared to be extinguished.

The civil defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there were no reports of deaths or injuries.

The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Building-in-Dubai-s-Marina-district-in-flames-6092840.php#photo-7554527