March 3, 2015

Fiji 'border patrol' party did not violate University rules, UT administrators say

Texas Fiji’s “border patrol” theme party held on Feb. 7 did not violate any University rules and will not result in any penalty for the fraternity, according to Soncia Reagins-Lilly, senior associate vice president for Student Affairs and Dean of Students.

Though the party was intended to have a “Western” theme, according to Fiji President Andrew Campbell, several party attendees said the party theme was communicated as “border patrol.” Many attendees wore sombreros, ponchos and construction hats with names such as “Jefe” and “Pablo Sanchez” written on them.

Reagins-Lilly said the fraternity did not violate any rules, primarily because the party was held off campus, but she said the Dean of Students office is working with the fraternity to increase its cultural sensitivity.

“Civility, diversity and citizenship are integrated into the fabric of the University of Texas at Austin,” Reagins-Lilly said. “‘There is ongoing work integrated in everything we do.”

Read more: http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2015/03/02/fiji-border-patrol-party-did-not-violate-university-rules-administrators-say

March 3, 2015

Texas journalists back bill seeking more libel protection

AUSTIN — Texas journalists asked legislators Monday to cement into law guarantees that they will be shielded from libel lawsuits if they accurately report a whistleblower's allegations that turn out to be false.

They say that's been common practice in Texas for years, but that they want to see legislation passed particularly after a 2014 Texas Supreme Court ruling left state libel law unclear.

Republican Sen. Joan Huffman said media groups asked her to push the bill, which she presented Monday to the Senate State Affairs Committee. Opponents say the measure is not necessary and that journalists in the state already have many protections.

The bill would shield journalists from litigation when they report on allegations brought by a whistleblower, if the accusations were made and were accurately reported.

Read more: http://www.mrt.com/news/article_fdcadcc0-c13d-11e4-9395-0f48b8b59da1.html (Midland Reporter-Telegram)

March 3, 2015

DPS director: 4 years to get 500 troopers in Rio Grande Valley

The Department of Public Safety will take four years to fulfill Gov. Greg Abbott’s promise of an additional 500 troopers in the Rio Grande Valley, Director Major Steve McCraw told state representatives last week.

During his State of the State speech, Abbott said he wanted to secure the border by putting that many more boots on the ground. Once that happened, he claimed, National Guard members — already on one of the longest deployments on domestic soil — would be sent home.

But it appears that won’t happen any time soon, if McCraw’s estimates are right.

Hampering the Guard’s removal is that DPS needs to fill 243 vacancies first — the amount of troopers previously budgeted for. The next class of troopers graduating in June will drop that number to 187, McCraw said at the committee meeting.

Read more: http://www.themonitor.com/news/local/dps-director-years-to-get-troopers-here/article_c7e22d64-c149-11e4-b498-231b575cba70.html

March 3, 2015

Burnet County authorities attribute jail disturbance to poor weather

Authorities are attributing a disturbance took place at the Burnet County Jail on Monday afternoon to poor weather conditions and limited recreational time for inmates.

On Monday, March 2 at 3:56 p.m., Burnet County dispatch called officers to the jail facility on Houston-Clinton Drive to help jailors handle a disturbance that involved “possibly eight subjects.”

Burnet County Sheriff W.T. Smith later clarified that the fight occurred in a cell between two inmates, and neither were injured.
“It’s been tough lately because they (inmates) are boxed in there and since the weather has been poor, we can’t let them out for recreation as much,” Smith said.

http://www.highlandernews.com/articles/2015/03/02/authorities-attribute-jail-disturbance-poor-weather

March 3, 2015

Galveston County judges: Change in insurance just the latest attack

GALVESTON — Local judges say they had been uninsured for more than two weeks before realizing the county had plans to alter their legal insurance — a move some took as just the latest in a series of conflicts with county commissioners.

The commissioners didn’t renew a contract with the Texas Lawyer’s Insurance Exchange at the end of last year, ending policies that have insured the county’s 11 judges against legal action for 20 years. The court then voted last month to self-insure all county elected officials — including judges — and agreed to offer counsel if officials are sued.

Read more: http://www.galvnews.com/news/article_2cf6718c-bfc5-11e4-be4e-db85b5c49434.html (subscription required)

March 3, 2015

Texas man wears perfect T-shirt for 9th DWI arrest

Luciano Gutierrez, 66, was booked into Bell County Jail on Feb. 26, 2015, on his ninth driving while intoxicated charge while wearing a shirt that read, "Warning: I Do Dumb Things."

A 66-year-old Temple man with a future-predicting shirt was arrested last week for his ninth driving while intoxicated charge.

Police booked Luciano Gutierrez into Bell County Jail on Thursday while he wore a shirt reading, "Warning: I do Dumb Things," according to KCEN.

If convicted on the charge, the apparent master of self-fulfilling prophecy faces up to 10 years in prison for the felony charge.

Gutierrez — whose bond was set at $25,000, KBTX reported — later posted bond, according to jail records.

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/local/crime/article/Texas-man-with-Warning-I-Do-Dumb-Things-6109749.php

March 3, 2015

1,100 calves missing from Braum's dairy facility near Follett

It’s literally a question of “Where’s the beef?”

Cattle possibly worth about $1.4 million are missing from a facility owned by Braum’s Dairy in the northeast Texas Panhandle.

The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association is investigating the disappearance of 1,121 steer calves from the Braum’s 24,000-acre facility near Follett on the border of Lipscomb County and Ellis County, Okla. An annual inventory identified the loss.

“They don’t have any photos. The calves weren’t branded,” TSCRA spokesman Laramie Adams said. “We want to let people know about this so they can come to us with information. It’s a difficult case because of the lack of information.”

Read more: http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/2015-03-02/missing-milkers-1100-calves-missing-braums-facility

[font color=green]Abducted by aliens???[/font]

March 3, 2015

At Hearing, Climate Change Called a "Threat Multiplier"

Texas’ Republican leaders have called the issue of climate change a “political agenda which attempts to control every aspect of our lives” and “unsettled science.”

At a House committee hearing Monday morning, though, a Texas-based expert on energy and national security labeled climate change much differently: “threat multiplier.”

“Climate change is often seen through a political lens,” said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Ken Eickmann, a senior research fellow at the University of Texas at Austin's Energy Institute. “I’d like to discuss it from a military perspective. … Climate change poses a serious threat to America’s national security.”

Eickmann told the House International Trade and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee that rising temperatures and sea levels related to global warming are security threats worldwide. In some cases the threat is direct, such as extreme weather disrupting economies and trade. In others it’s indirect, he said, citing an example of drought and water.

Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/02/general-lege-climate-change-threat-multiplier/

March 3, 2015

Aggies Embrace LGBT Culture

The gay bookworm: before Houstonian Don Kelly sold his collection of queer published material to Texas A&M University, he was storing more than 8,000 titles in his studio apartment.

Texas A&M University acquires the Don Kelly Research Collection of Gay Literature and Culture

It’s quite rare to meet someone who you can instantly tell is genuine down to their core. But when I met Houstonian Don Kelly, I instantly knew he is one of the few. In early February, I sat and chatted with Kelly in his humble studio apartment—the walls filled with colorful drawings, paintings, and other memorabilia. But if I had been sitting in the same spot only months earlier, I wouldn’t have just been surrounded by art, but by more than 8,000 queer books, magazines, newspapers, comics, and more. At 74 years old, Kelly touts one of the most impressive collections of LGBTQ books and published materials in the nation—a collection that was recently acquired by Texas A&M University’s Cushing Memorial Library and Archives.

A retired civil servant of 36 years and an openly gay man all of his life, Kelly has always been a lover of books. He was initially inspired to start his collection after discovering author Anthony Slide’s book The Lost Gay Novels, which discussed 50 novels from the early 20th century that told stories with gay themes and characters. “I thought by collecting the listed titles, I would have a fun and interesting project which would allow me to reflect on the gay condition, and maybe tell me something about myself,” Kelly says. Over the next year, he collected first editions of 48 of the 50 books listed.

One thing led to another, and soon Kelly was collecting everything from campy pulp fiction to AIDS literature to some of the first gay periodicals. In reference to the latter, Kelly laughs and adds, “They’re so sleazy.” What started out as a strictly gay male collection has since expanded to include lesbian, bisexual, and transgender literature as well. When asked how he finds and purchases each new acquisition for his collection, Kelly laughs again and says, “I had to learn to use eBay. I’m a technological dinosaur.”

I tend to disagree, however, when I see the digitized version of Kelly’s collection (which totaled 8,070 titles at press time) that he has meticulously organized and put online using the website LibraryThing. Kelly has scanned the cover of each and every item in his collection, labeled each published work with tags to better categorize them, and added notes next to each title that has a special feature such as an inscription by the author. “If I didn’t have LibraryThing, I wouldn’t have even attempted this collection,” he says. The database reveals that Kelly’s collection boasts 1,843 titles that are signed and 213 that feature an inscription by a gay man to another gay man, known as “gay associations.” He notes that he’s been complimented on his virtual collection by numerous collectors worldwide.

Read more: http://www.outsmartmagazine.com/2015/03/aggies-embrace-lgbt-culture/

[font color=maroon]Former governor Rick Perry thinks that this news is fab-u-lous![/font]

March 3, 2015

More Troopers, Less Surging Under GOP Border Bill

State lawmakers Monday made a bipartisan pitch for an omnibus border security bill that would speed up hiring of more Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and establish a physical repository for crime statistics on the border.

House Bill 11, by state Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, contains controversial measures including reestablishing state police checkpoints on the border to check southbound travelers for contraband, and making it a crime to “encourage or induce” a person to remain in the country illegally.

The proposal would also increase a typical workday for border DPS officers from eight hours to 10 for a five-day workweek. It would allow peace officers with four years of experience to join the DPS at a Trooper II level, which pays about $63,000 annually, according to DPS figures.

Bonnen’s HB 11 would also create a “DPS Officer Reserve Corps” of retired troopers to help with things like background investigations and sex-offender compliance. It would require local law enforcement agencies to use the National Incident Based Reporting System to make crime-statistics reporting uniform statewide.

Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/02/texas-gop-introduces-omnibus-border-security-bill/