March 27, 2015

Dallas mayoral candidate Richard Sheridan arrested for June 2014 ‘666’ taggings (anti-gay vandalism)

Richard Sheridan in his mug shot taken at 4:02 p.m. today (Dallas County Sheriff)



Nine months after someone tagged a dozen locations — including the Legacy of Love Monument at Cedar Springs and Oak Lawn, the Cathedral of Hope near Dallas Love Field, Dallas City Hall and The Dallas Morning News — with a red “666,” Dallas police say a grand jury has indicted the man they suspected all along: perennial Dallas mayoral candidate Richard Sheridan.

Assistant Dallas Police Chief Randy Blankenbaker says Sheridan has been indicted, arrested and charged with vandalizing the Legacy of Love Monument and the Cathedral of Hope. The graffiti charge is a state jail felony, says Blankenbaker, but if it’s proved he selected those locations because of their “significance to the LGBT community,” that charge may be upgraded to a third-degree felony.

Says Blankenbaker, Sheridan is not being charged with the 10 other instances of graffiti “at this time.” He says “significant” time was spent on this investigation, and the two cases that led to Sheridan’s indictment and arrest were the best cases.

In August, police told The Dallas Morning News that Sheridan was the only person who’d been questioned in the case. Sheridan maintained he didn’t do it: “I’m not guilty, I’m not guilty, I’m not guilty,” he told our Tristan Hallman on August 14 in the lobby of Dallas police headquarters. But Sheridan said he knew who did — and that he agreed with the tags. He also said that despite what police were saying, the tags were “not a hate crime {but} an act of love — and a warning.”

Read more: http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2015/03/dallas-mayoral-candidate-richard-sheridan-arrested-for-june-2014-666-taggings.html

Related threads:
Dallas “666” anti-gay tagging suspect says they are ‘act of love,’ but blames another person Texas Group
http://www.democraticunderground.com/107820144

Dallas “666” anti-gay tagging suspect says they are ‘act of love,’ but blames another person LGBT Group
http://www.democraticunderground.com/113739798

Dallas police release description of suspect who tagged 11 sites with '666' in anti-gay hate crime
http://www.democraticunderground.com/107819381

Cross-posted in the Texas Group.

March 27, 2015

Once worth $1 billion, Sam Wyly is bankrupt but still fighting

Maverick entrepreneur Sam Wyly created tens of thousands of jobs and put billions of dollars into the pockets of investors of his tech, restaurant and retail companies.

And he built a personal fortune along the way.

Wyly and his brother, Charles, bought mansions in Dallas and ranches in Aspen, Colo. They gave $67 million to charities. They set up trusts in the Isle of Man that would pay them and their family millions of dollars in annual annuities for the rest of their lives.

Nine years ago, Forbes estimated Sam Wyly’s personal worth at $1.1 billion.

“Circumstances sure can change fast,” he says, looking back.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/business/business-headlines/20150327-once-worth-1-billion-sam-wyly-is-bankrupt-but-still-fighting.ece

[font color=green]I would have sympathy for him, but he contributed lots of money to Republicans.[/font]

March 27, 2015

Texas A&M scientists discover oxygen-breathing life more than 200 feet below sea floor

The discovery of oxygen-breathing life more than 200 feet below the sea floor could open up new research possibilities in the ocean's greatest depths and beyond, according to one Texas A&M University researcher.

Carlos Alvarez-Zarikian, expedition project manager and staff scientist with the International Ocean Discovery Program at Texas A&M, was part of an international team that discovered microbial life exists throughout the space between the ancient igneous basement rock that forms the crust of continents. The revelation reverses a widely accepted belief that life can only exist within the top few meters of sediment below the ocean floor, which could help scientists understand more about how life can exist in the harshest conditions. Alvarez-Zarikian said he was surprised by the discovery.

"The surface water in this region, there is basically no bioproductivity," Alvarez-Zarikian said. "There is a lack of plankton, so the water is very clear. There is very little food in terms of organic carbon. We didn't expect to find much life there."

Alvarez-Zarikian said the research team of 35 scientists representing 12 countries used a prior expedition's findings that suggest life may exist deep below the ocean floor and set out to investigate the ocean's deadest areas for proof. The crew aboard the IODP's research ship JOIDES Resolution used more than 3 miles of pipe to plunge 12,000 feet under water and burrow down 220 feet into sea floor sediment at seven sites in the South Pacific.

Read more: http://www.theeagle.com/news/local/texas-a-m-scientists-discover-oxygen-breathing-life-more-than/article_5780f717-f4b9-590e-a1d8-858fce007b8a.html

Cross-posted in the Science Group.

March 27, 2015

Texas A&M scientists discover oxygen-breathing life more than 200 feet below sea floor

The discovery of oxygen-breathing life more than 200 feet below the sea floor could open up new research possibilities in the ocean's greatest depths and beyond, according to one Texas A&M University researcher.

Carlos Alvarez-Zarikian, expedition project manager and staff scientist with the International Ocean Discovery Program at Texas A&M, was part of an international team that discovered microbial life exists throughout the space between the ancient igneous basement rock that forms the crust of continents. The revelation reverses a widely accepted belief that life can only exist within the top few meters of sediment below the ocean floor, which could help scientists understand more about how life can exist in the harshest conditions. Alvarez-Zarikian said he was surprised by the discovery.

"The surface water in this region, there is basically no bioproductivity," Alvarez-Zarikian said. "There is a lack of plankton, so the water is very clear. There is very little food in terms of organic carbon. We didn't expect to find much life there."

Alvarez-Zarikian said the research team of 35 scientists representing 12 countries used a prior expedition's findings that suggest life may exist deep below the ocean floor and set out to investigate the ocean's deadest areas for proof. The crew aboard the IODP's research ship JOIDES Resolution used more than 3 miles of pipe to plunge 12,000 feet under water and burrow down 220 feet into sea floor sediment at seven sites in the South Pacific.

Read more: http://www.theeagle.com/news/local/texas-a-m-scientists-discover-oxygen-breathing-life-more-than/article_5780f717-f4b9-590e-a1d8-858fce007b8a.html

Cross-posted in the Texas Group.

March 27, 2015

Democrats Aim for Blake Farenthold's Seat

WASHINGTON – The hunt is on in Southeast Texas for a Democrat to challenge U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi.

At first glance, it might seem like an absurd notion; Farenthold won re-election by a 2-to-1 margin in 2014. But some Democrats say they have designs on the seat because of the seediness of accusations against the third-term congressman in a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against him in 2014.

For now, the Democrats’ political point man for House races only speaks about Texas in broad tones.

“We’re looking for opportunities all over the country, wherever they may be,” U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico told The Texas Tribune last week.

Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/27/democrats-aim-blake-farentholds-seat/

March 27, 2015

Halliburton, Baker Hughes shareholders OK $35 billion deal

Source: Fuelfix.com

HOUSTON – The world’s second and third-largest oil field service firms took another step toward closing a $34.6 billion merger Friday.

Shareholders of Halliburton and Baker Hughes overwhelmingly approved deal at separate special meetings early Friday, the firms said. Roughly 98 percent of the shareholder votes cast in both votes were in favor of the deal, which is expected to close in the second half of this year.

Halliburton’s acquisition, one of the biggest in energy deals so far this century, still has to pass a regulatory review by antitrust authorities. The firms could look to sell businesses with up to $7.5 billion in revenue to appease federal trustbusters, but Halliburton CEO Dave Lesar has said he expects the sum to be well below that.

UBS analysts last week said Halliburton executives anticipate they’ll begin lining up buyers for the spin-off businesses in late April or early May.

Read more: http://fuelfix.com/blog/2015/03/27/halliburton-baker-hughes-shareholders-ok-35b-deal/

March 27, 2015

DMV: Truck that hit I-35 bridge in Salado lacked permit for ‘over-height load’

The semi-truck that hit the bridge in Salado on Thursday was not authorized to haul an “over-height load,” according to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.

“The motor carrier that struck the bridge did not have the legally required permit to carry an over-height load,” said Adam Shaivitz, a spokesman for the agency.

He could not say if the truck was carrying an over-height load, and officials with the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Department of Transportation did not immediately return calls for comment.

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/dmv-truck-that-hit-bridge-lacked-permit-for-over-h/nkgY6/

[font color=green]One fatality and three injured in the incident.[/font]

March 27, 2015

Friends, colleagues say Dallas County DA Susan Hawk spent time in drug rehab

Dallas County’s new district attorney Susan Hawk, blasted by former co-workers for acting erratically on the job, spent a month at a rehab center for prescription drug use during the campaign for that office in late 2013, friends and courthouse colleagues say.

Details about the previously undisclosed rehab stint in Arizona have begun to emerge after Hawk fired her second-in-command, Bill Wirskye, stunning fellow prosecutors and hinting at an office in upheaval less than three months into the Republican’s tenure.

His dismissal came shortly after Hawk accused him -- wrongly, he says -- of breaking into her home and stealing an incriminating photo of her, according to a friend familiar with the confrontation, citing it as another example of her bizarre behavior recently around staffers.

Hawk, 44, didn’t respond to several requests for comment Thursday, and she was not in her office Friday morning. Calls to her cellphone went directly to voice mail.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/local-politics/20150327-exclusive-friends-colleagues-say-dallas-county-da-susan-hawk-spent-time-in-drug-rehab.ece

[font color=green]Although the previous DA Craig Watkins had various issues, it appears that Hawk (R) has her own set of problems with hydrocone and oxycontin. Hopefully her stint in rehab will provide a sense of understanding for those arrested for drug problems.[/font]

March 27, 2015

Results for mens short program at World Figure Skating Championship

Pl. Qual. Name Nation TSS
1 Q Yuzuru HANYU JPN 95.20
2 Q Javier FERNANDEZ ESP 92.74
3 Q Denis TEN KAZ 85.89
4 Q Sergei VORONOV RUS 84.70
5 Q Han YAN CHN 84.45
6 Q Jason BROWN USA 84.32
7 Q Florent AMODIO FRA 80.84
8 Q Misha GE UZB 78.52
9 Q Nam NGUYEN CAN 77.73
10 Q Michal BREZINA CZE 76.84
11 Q Adam RIPPON USA 75.14
12 Q Alexei BYCHENKO ISR 74.98
13 Q Joshua FARRIS USA 73.52
14 Q Ronald LAM HKG 72.66
15 Q Jeremy TEN CAN 72.28
16 Q Maxim KOVTUN RUS 70.82
17 Q Brendan KERRY AUS 70.36
18 Q Chafik BESSEGHIER FRA 70.27
19 Q Takahiko KOZUKA JPN 70.15
20 Q Yaroslav PANIOT UKR 69.09
21 Q Alexander MAJOROV SWE 67.53
22 Q Michael Christian MARTINEZ PHI 67.03
23 Q Takahito MURA JPN 64.93
24 Q June Hyoung LEE KOR 64.51

http://www.isuresults.com/results/wc2015/wc2015_Men_SP_Scores.pdf

With the exception of Hernandez, all of the men in the top five had downgrades on their quadruple jumps. Brown from the USA was the highest ranked skater that did not attempt a quadruple jump.

March 27, 2015

Bomb found outside Walburg German eatery

Walburg, Texas -- A man allegedly tried to blow up well-known eatery Walburg German Restaurant earlier this month, police said in an arrest report filed Friday.

Ryan Killingsworth, 38, of Hutto, was charged March 19 with arson, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years inprisonandafine of up to $10,000. He was still behind bars Tuesday morning.

On March 14, Mr. Killingsworth planted a ramshackle bomb outside the restaurant at 3777 FM 972, in downtown Walburg, police said. He made the improvised explosive device using plastic gasoline containers, a metal aerosol can, duct tape and blue paper shop towel.

Restaurant owner Ronald Tippelt found the bomb at the back of the building against a wall with the wick lit and burned down to the container, the report said.

Read more: http://www.etypeservices.com/SWF/LocalUser/Williamson1//Magazine81195/Full/index.aspx?II=81195#1/z (Williamson County Sun)

[font color=green]Walburg was in my rolling territory when I was a college student and I spent many Oktoberfests at the biergarten behind the old mercantile/restaurant building. I am amused that they describe Walburg as having a "downtown" since the population is only a few hundred people.[/font]