March 2, 2017

Former Detainees Can Sue Private Prisons for Forced Labor

In an unprecedented case, a federal judge ruled Monday that a private prison company can be sued under federal laws prohibiting what amounts to slave labor.

The ruling allows current and former detainees at a privately-run immigrant detention center to join a class-action suit alleging that the contractor running the prison forced detainees to work for low or no wages, threatening solitary confinement for those who refused.

GEO Group, one of the nation’s largest private prison companies, runs facilities in Colorado and in Texas. Betsy Woodruff with the Daily Beast reports as many as 60,000 current and former detainees could act as plaintiffs in the case.

GEO Group and other large private prison companies get a significant portion of their business through contracts with the Department of Homeland Security to detain immigrants who may be in the country illegally and are awaiting immigration court proceedings.

Read more: http://www.texasstandard.org/stories/former-detainees-can-sue-private-prisons-for-slave-labor/

March 2, 2017

Juno Spacecraft Is Rewriting What We Know About Jupiter

This is what Jupiter sounds like.

https://soundcloud.com/paulflahive/juno-waves-nasa-swri-jpl

These creepy noises are radio waves detected by the Juno spacecraft in August. While these screeching sounds shock the ears, what NASA is discovering from the spacecraft about Jupiter is Earth shattering.

"Or Jupiter shattering, I should say," says Scott Bolton, principle investigator for the Juno Mission and associate vice president of Research and Development for the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.

He says Juno's launch five years ago launched a renewed interest in the giant planet with theories on what they would find when the spacecraft settled into orbit last July 4th.

"Maybe they'll see this? Maybe Juno will see that, but none of them have been as out of the box as what we are seeing," says Bolton

Read more: http://tpr.org/post/juno-spacecraft-rewriting-what-we-know-about-jupiter#stream/0

March 2, 2017

At Planned Parenthood fundraiser, Bush daughter emphasizes group's importance under Trump

At a Planned Parenthood fundraiser in Fort Worth on Wednesday, Barbara Pierce Bush, the daughter of former President George W. Bush, insisted that the work the organization is doing is especially important after a changing of the guard in Washington.

Bush was the keynote speaker at Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas' annual Fort Worth luncheon. In audio of her speech obtained by The Texas Tribune, Bush hinted that President Donald Trump's electoral victory over Hillary Clinton caught her by surprise.

“In October when I was asked to speak, I said yes and I was thrilled, but I was under the assumption that history was going to go differently,” Bush said to an excited audience of roughly 1,000 people. “That was not meant to be a political statement; I just thought the cards were going to fall in a different way. I’m so happy I said yes because this work could not matter more.”

During her address, Bush said she was inspired to pursue a career in global health issues following a trip to East and Central Africa when she was 21.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2017/03/01/planned-parenthood-fundraiser-bush-daughter-emphasizes-impact-groups-u/

March 2, 2017

Businesses line up against Dan Patrick's high-priority insurance bill

Major business interests are lining up against one of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s top priorities — a bill that would make it harder for Texans to force their insurance companies to pay up when calamity strikes.

Patrick and his allies say the bill, Senate Bill 10, is needed to stop greedy trial lawyers from cashing in on hail damage lawsuits. But the word "hail" doesn’t appear anywhere in the legislation, and this week businesses ranging from 7-Eleven to Ryan LLC — founded and led by Republican mega-donor Brint Ryan — conveyed their deep opposition to it in a letter sent to Patrick and other top Republican leaders.

The blistering critique of the bill, which has a companion, House Bill 1774, in the House, was sent on behalf of the major corporate interests by Haynes & Boone lawyer Ernest Martin. He warns it “greatly harms businesses” by making it harder for anyone who insures property in Texas to get paid after filing a claim. Trial lawyer interests have been making the same argument about the impact on average Texans, but they don’t have the kind of political stroke business groups enjoy at the Capitol.

“This insurance bill does more harm to Texas business policyholders than it does to prevent litigation abuses by homeowners or their storm chasing lawyers,” Martin wrote. He said the legislation would “thwart Texas businesses from recovering legitimate claims under insurance policies they purchased at great cost.”

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2017/03/01/businesses-line-against-dan-patricks-pet-insurance-bill/

March 2, 2017

Hillary Clinton to speak in Houston in April

Hillary Clinton is coming to Texas for one of her first political appearances since her devastating defeat in the presidential election last year.

Clinton is set to speak at a luncheon on April 7 in Houston for Annie's List, a group that works to elect Democratic women in Texas. Annie's List announced Clinton as a speaker Wednesday night.

The luncheon will honor Amber Mostyn, a top Democratic donor who has long been involved with Annie's List, and "distinguished guests working to turn Texas blue," according to an invitation.

Clinton has kept a low profile since losing to Donald Trump on Nov. 8. She made her first public appearance since the election about a week later, when she spoke at a charity event in Washington, D.C.

https://www.texastribune.org/2017/03/01/clinton-speak-houston-april/

Cross-posted in the Hillary Clinton Group.

March 2, 2017

Hillary Clinton to speak in Houston in April

Hillary Clinton is coming to Texas for one of her first political appearances since her devastating defeat in the presidential election last year.

Clinton is set to speak at a luncheon on April 7 in Houston for Annie's List, a group that works to elect Democratic women in Texas. Annie's List announced Clinton as a speaker Wednesday night.

The luncheon will honor Amber Mostyn, a top Democratic donor who has long been involved with Annie's List, and "distinguished guests working to turn Texas blue," according to an invitation.

Clinton has kept a low profile since losing to Donald Trump on Nov. 8. She made her first public appearance since the election about a week later, when she spoke at a charity event in Washington, D.C.

https://www.texastribune.org/2017/03/01/clinton-speak-houston-april/

Cross-posted in the Texas Group.

March 2, 2017

16 Arlington cops give up police licenses to avoid criminal charges

ARLINGTON -- Five Arlington police officers indicted on charges of falsely reporting traffic stops had their cases dismissed this week in exchange for permanently surrendering their state peace officer licenses, according to court records.

Eleven other officers involved in the investigation had previously agreed to surrender their licenses so that their cases would not go before a grand jury, said Sam Jordan, spokeswoman for the Tarrant County district attorney’s office.

“They will never be able to be peace officers in Texas again,” Jordan said of the 16 officers, who made up about 3 percent of the city’s 600 officers.

Lt. Chris Cook, police spokesman, said the department was notified Tuesday that the cases had been dismissed and that none of the officers are still employed by the department.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/arlington/article135728673.html

March 2, 2017

Texas woman convicted of voter fraud says she voted Republican

Judge issues $11,111 bond for Grand Prairie mom who got 8 years in voter fraud case

FORT WORTH -- State District Judge Robb Catalano set an appeal bond at $11,111 Wednesday for Rosa Maria Ortega, the Grand Prairie woman who was sentenced last month to eight years in prison on two felony counts of illegal voting.

The bond is the first step in what is likely a low-percentage play to get the mother of four released from custody until an appeals court rules on whether she should be granted a new trial or serve the sentence delivered by the Tarrant County jury.

Ortega’s attorney, Clark Birdsall, and Sheila Finney, court coordinator for Tarrant County Criminal District Court No. 3, confirmed the bond amount.

Ortega’s fiance, Oscar Sherman, said he plans to post the bond.

“If we can get around this immigration thing, yeah, this is a positive first step,” Sherman said.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article135868408.html

March 2, 2017

Plano lab employee headed to prison after inappropriately touching 6 teenage patients

A phlebotomist who worked for Children's Medical Center Plano was sentenced to 19 years in prison last week after pleading guilty to inappropriately touching six teenage patients.

Mohammad Ali, 46, pleaded guilty on Feb. 24 to seven counts of indecency with a child, according to Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis.

"This perpetrator preyed upon young teenaged girls who trusted him to do his job right," Willis said in a news release. "In the end, it was the courage of these very girls that helped us catch him and hold him accountable. He won't be preying on any more children."

A teenage girl reported in December 2015 that Ali touched her inappropriately over her clothes while she was having her blood drawn in an outpatient lab in December 2015. Five other teens came forward after that, describing similar incidents that occurred between August and December 2015.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2017/03/01/plano-lab-employee-headed-prison-inappropriately-touching-6-teenage-patients

March 2, 2017

FBI accountant details multiple cash and check deposits going to Dallas Co. commish John Wiley Price

John Wiley Price received a steady stream of cash, checks and bank transfers over the years from a lobbyist who allegedly bribed him for actions he took on behalf of her corporate clients, an FBI forensic accountant said during testimony Wednesday.

Price, a powerful Dallas County commissioner who has served three decades in office, deposited some of that money into an account he set up in the name of his elderly mother, said David Garcia, the FBI accountant, who is a witness for the prosecution.

But Willie Faye Price, who died at age 87 in 2010, did not receive any of the money, prosecutors said. Price used that account to pay his mortgage, credit cards and other general expenses, Garcia said during Price's federal bribery and tax evasion trial.

Kathy Nealy, the lobbyist who was also Price's political consultant, is accused of giving him almost $1 million in bribes over a decade in the form of cash, cars and land. She will be tried separately.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2017/03/01/fbi-accountant-details-multiple-cash-deposits-wire-transfers-going-john-wiley-price