TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalEl Paso's Caminos de Vida church helping 150 immigrants dropped off by ICE on Tuesday
Saira Lara wiped away tears as her toddler son tugged at her leg begging for a cookie.
Inside an El Paso church turned into a temporary immigrant shelter, the Honduran mother sobbed, saying it was painful to hear her child "crying for a little bit of food," she said. "They go to sleep crying and they wake up crying. For us, it's suffering."
On Tuesday evening, Lara and her 2-year-old son were among about 150 migrants that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released at the Caminos de Vida church in the Lower Valley.
Lara and her boy, Kenner Steven Lara Martinez, left their home in Honduras 15 days ago. On Sunday night, they crossed the U.S. border seeking asylum.
Read more: https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/immigration/2019/02/26/caminos-de-vida-church-gets-150-mostly-honduran-immigrants-ice/2997584002/
San Patricio County approves tax incentives for Steel Dynamics mill
San Patricio County could be the site of a massive $1.8 billion flat roll steel mill, and local officials are doing what they can to make that a reality.
Members of the San Patricio County Commissioners Court on Monday voted to approve a 10-year tax abatement agreement that they hope will make Indiana-based Steel Dynamics select the area for its new mill. The company announced back in November it was looking at sites around the southwestern portion of the United States, and just last week confirmed San Patricio County as a site of interest.
The company is looking at several sites in Louisiana and Texas.
"At (Steel Dynamics), we pride ourselves on being very employee-oriented, customer-oriented, and actually we become part of the community — that's very, very important to us," said Glenn Pushis, senior vice president for Steel Dynamics.
Read more: https://www.caller.com/story/news/local/2019/02/25/san-patricio-county-approves-tax-incentives-steel-dynamics-project/2976700002/
Texas jury returns $33 million verdict against Goodyear
CARRIZO SPRINGS, Texas — A jury in a Texas county court returned a $33 million verdict against Goodyear in a case involving an allegedly defective tire on a cement truck.
Goodyear, however, said in a statement that it reached a confidential agreement with the plaintiffs before the verdict.
The tire maker said it was "disappointed" with the verdict.
The tire involved in the case was a Goodyear G286A Super Single tire manufactured at Goodyear's Danville, Va., plant in May 2009, according to John Gsanger, attorney with the Houston-based Ammons Law Firm, who represented the family of the late Ramiro Munoz Jr.
Mr. Munoz, a teacher and community leader, was killed in June 2013 in an accident near Carrizo Springs when the tire on a cement truck allegedly lost its tread, causing the truck driver to lose control. The truck struck Mr. Munoz's vehicle.
Read more: https://www.tirebusiness.com/article/20190226/NEWS/190229962/texas-jury-returns-33-million-verdict-against-goodyear
More Twin Peaks cases dismissed by special prosecutors
WACO -- One of four Houston attorneys assigned to handle four Twin Peaks biker cases as special prosecutors dismissed the remaining three cases Monday and called the way the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office handled the 2015 deadly shootout a “harebrained scheme” that was “patently offensive” to him.
Special prosecutors Brian Roberts, Brian Benken, Feroz Merchant and Mandy Miller filed motions Monday to dismiss the first-degree felony engaging in organized criminal activity charges against bikers William Chance Aikin, Billy McCree and Ray Nelson. The motions to dismiss said, “Upon reviewing all the facts, circumstances and evidence, it is the state’s position that no probable cause exists to believe the defendant committed the offense.”
The team of special prosecutors dismissed the case against Hewitt resident Matthew Clendennen in April 2018.
“I think, unfortunately, — and this is probably a poor choice of words — but it was simply a shoot-first-ask-questions-later mentality,” Roberts said. “I can’t imagine what (former McLennan County DA) Abel Reyna was thinking other than this was a big case and it was somehow going to be beneficial for him or his office.”
Read more: https://www.wacotrib.com/news/courts_and_trials/more-twin-peaks-cases-dismissed-by-special-prosecutors/article_d59fcc83-31d1-5d04-bd67-6019398a9d15.html
Arkansas House approves tightening abortion ban to 18 weeks
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.— The Arkansas House on Monday approved a proposal to ban abortion 18 weeks into a woman's pregnancy, moving the state closer toward enacting what could be the strictest prohibition in the country.
Without any debate, the majority-Republican House approved the ban by a 77-13 vote. Arkansas already has some of the strictest abortion limits in the country and bans the procedure 20 weeks into a woman's pregnancy. The bill advanced Monday includes an exemption for medical emergencies, but not for rape or incest. The 18-week ban now heads to the majority-Republican Senate.
"We're pulling it back two weeks," Republican Rep. Robin Lundstrum told lawmakers before the vote.
Arkansas' Republican governor last week signed into law another measure that would ban abortion in the state if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing the procedure nationwide. Gov. Asa Hutchinson has not said whether he'd sign the 18-week ban if it reaches his desk.
Read more: http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/arkansas/story/2019/feb/26/arkansas-house-approves-tightening-abortion-ban-18-weeks/767334/
Ex Reeves County official sentenced in bribery scheme also involving former state representative
SAN ANTONIO—A former West Texas county judge has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilty in a scheme that involved former state Sen. Carlos Uresti.
Federal prosecutors say former Reeves County Judge Jimmy Galindo was sentenced in San Antonio Tuesday and ordered to pay $876,000 in restitution. Galindo pleaded guilty in 2017 to conspiracy to commit bribery and failure to file income tax returns.
Prosecutors say Galindo conspired with Uresti, then a Democratic lawmaker from San Antonio, to have a company win a medical services contract for inmates in Reeves County. Authorities say Galindo and Uresti split a $10,000 monthly payment from the company's owner from 2007 to 2016.
Uresti this month was sentenced to five years in prison in the scheme. Last year he got 12 years in a separate fraud case.
http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/texas/story/2019/feb/27/ex-county-official-sentenced/767491/
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Lawyers cite Bundy, McVeigh in Santa Fe, Texas school shooting case
GALVESTON, Texas—Attorneys for a teenager accused of fatally shooting 10 people at a Texas high school want the trial moved to a different city, arguing that the teen should be afforded the same treatment as Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, serial killer Ted Bundy and other suspects in mass killings.
Dimitrios Pagourtzis, 18, is charged with capital murder in the May 2018 attack at Santa Fe High School that also left 13 others wounded. He appeared in court for the first time Monday as his attorneys urged a judge to move the trial out of Galveston County, where the courthouse is just 20 miles east of Santa Fe.
The attorneys said they want to ensure the jury pool is objective. They noted that the trials for McVeigh, Bundy and Washington sniper Lee Malvo were all moved out of the communities where the crimes were committed.
"We have this process the code envisions, that certain cases, because of their notoriety, their emotional impact, simply present too great a challenge to afford a defendant due process," attorney Nick Poehl told the judge Monday. Poehl cited social media comments about the Santa Fe school shooting.
Read more: http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/texas/story/2019/feb/27/lawyers-cite-bundy-mcveigh-texas-school-shooting-case/767516/
Potential Juror Shouts 'He is guilty!' -- And Judge Jails Him On $10,000 Bail
HONOLULU -- A circuit court judge declared a mistrial in an assault case and jailed a prospective juror who repeatedly exclaimed, “He is guilty! He is guilty!” in the presence of his fellow would-be jurors.
An attorney for the defendant in the assault case identified the disruptive prospective juror on Tuesday afternoon as Jacob Maldonado. A bailiff escorted Maldonado into the courtroom for questioning by a judge.
But Maldonado did not respond when Judge Edward Kubo asked him why he made such a loud outburst that could potentially distort the trial’s fairness, according to court documents.
Court documents show that Kubo was upset that Maldonado’s outburst had “infected” the 44-member jury panel. Kubo then dismissed the entire jury panel “as a result of (Maldonado’s) blatant and willful disturbance,” which “created a taint that prevented the court from commencing trial,” court documents state.
Read more: https://www.civilbeat.org/2019/02/potential-juror-shouts-he-is-guilty-and-judge-jails-him-on-10000-bail/
Lava tour operator hit with another lawsuit
A second group of mainland residents who were aboard a lava tour boat last July when a “lava bomb” tore through the boat’s roof is suing the tour company and the boat’s captain.
Plaintiffs in the civil suit, filed Wednesday in Hilo Circuit Court, are Erin Walsh and William D. Bryan Jr., an Oregon couple, and Californians Dawn Li — on her own behalf and on behalf of her minor son, Christopher Li — Dr. Ka Ming Li, a trauma surgeon and Dawn Li’s husband, and the couple’s adult daughter, Erica Li.
Named as defendants are Lava Ocean Tours Inc. and Shane Turpin, captain of the lava vessel “Hot Spot,” and listed as the corporation’s only officer by the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.
Another suit was filed in Hilo Circuit Court last month by the family of Jessica Tilton, a 20-year-old Illinois woman who suffered broken bones to her leg and pelvis.
Read more: https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2019/02/26/hawaii-news/lava-tour-operator-hit-with-another-lawsuit/
Wyoming district will open 1-student school next fall
LARAMIE, Wyo. >> A Wyoming school district plans to re-open an isolated school to serve a single student entering kindergarten this fall.
The Laramie Boomerang reports Cozy Hollow School is about 60 miles north of Laramie. A modular classroom is already there but hasn’t been used for about a decade.
It will be the second one-student school in the Albany County School District. They’re only a few miles apart, but connecting roads are impassable much of the winter.
Wyoming law requires on-site education for isolated students when it’s impossible to transport them to other schools.
Read more: https://www.staradvertiser.com/2019/02/25/news/wyoming-district-will-open-1-student-school-next-fall/
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