TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalThe Latest Gambit to Save the Bathroom Bill
Texas House Speaker Joe Straus and some of his lieutenants have been promoting the idea that the House is where bathroom bills come to die. But on Tuesday, social conservative Republicans are expected to try to breathe some life into the controversial issue by adding an amendment to the legislation extending the life of the state agency that regulates oil and gas.
No, the Texas Railroad Commission would not suddenly become the regulator of intra-state bodily emissions pipelines. The amendment merely would require the agency to restrict gender access to restrooms under its control to the gender listed on a person’s birth certificate. (UPDATE: Straus ruled the amendment was not germane to the bill and would not allow the House to debate it.)
Since the start of the legislative session, Straus has been signaling that the House is unlikely to debate Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick’s Senate Bill 6 that would limit bathroom access in all government buildings by the gender on a person’s birth certificate. In an interview last Friday with University of Texas political science professor James Henson, Straus called the bill “contrived” and said there was “no fervor” for it in the House, though he admitted it might pass if it was pushed on the members. Straus went on to say he personally opposes the bill. “Count me as a no.”
Many major businesses and the LGBT community oppose the bill as discriminatory against transgender persons. The Senate two weeks ago approved what its sponsors are calling the Texas Privacy Act by a 21-10 margin.
Read more: http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/latest-gambit-save-bathroom-bill/
Cruz And Cornyn Co-Sponsored Bill That Allows Your Web Browsing History to be Sold Without Consent
The U.S. Senate voted on Thursday to nix Obama-era regulations that required internet service providers (ISPs) to get your permission before they track and sell your data to third parties. The resolution was headlined by Arizona Senator Jeff Flake and was co-sponsored by two dozen other Republicans, including high-profile conservatives like Marco Rubio, Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul, and Texas Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz.
This resolution would essentially turn your web browsing history, in all of its naked shame, into a package to be sold and distributed. For example, let’s say Cruz Googled “Campbell’s Chunky Soup” 43 times over the weekend. Under the resolution he supported, his ISP would be able to sell that data in the corporate world without notifying him. Next time Cruz fires up Internet Explorer, he’d likely be inundated with ads for Campbell’s Chunky Soup.
But this runs deeper than soup. As the digital civil liberties non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation explained in a blog post, allowing ISPs to collect and store large amounts of personal data would potentially make it vulnerable to hackers. “Imagine what could happen if hackers decided to target the treasure trove of personal information Internet providers start collecting,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation writes. “People’s personal browsing history and records of their location could easily become the target of foreign hackers who want to embarrass or blackmail politicians or celebrities.”
In a statement sent from Cruz’s office to Austin ABC affiliate KVUE, the senator said that the FCC rules were federal overreach. “The rule that was overturned {Thursday} passed the FCC by a 3-2 vote ten days before the November elections despite strenuous objections from throughout the Internet community,” the statement said. “It was a clear-cut case of federal government overreach that harms consumers. Sen. Cruz cosponsored this resolution, and was grateful to see it passed by the Senate because the FCC’s proposed ‘privacy’ rules would have severely restricted small businesses, disadvantaged low-income consumers, encouraged disparate treatment of Internet Service Providers and effectively chilled free speech.”
Read more: http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/cruz-cornyn-co-sponsored-bill-allows-web-browsing-history-sold-without-consent/
Senate budget guts funding for UTRGV School of Medicine
MCALLEN, RGV – State senators look set to take up their version of the state budget on Tuesday and, as things stand, it looks very bleak for UT-Rio Grande Valley’s School of Medicine.
UTRGV asked for $60 million for the School of Medicine for the next biennium, which is the amount the school received during the last legislative session. The Senate budget provides $25 million.
UTRGV Vice President Veronica Gonzales is monitoring the budget process closely. Gonzales, a former state legislator, is drafting an op-ed to be signed by county judges and business leaders that will urge state leaders to provide adequate funding for the School of Medicine.
“State funding is critical to UTRGV’s School of Medicine as it ramps up its operations, just as it is for every new medical school,” Gonzales told the Rio Grande Guardian.
Read more: http://riograndeguardian.com/senate-budget-guts-funding-for-utrgv-school-medicine/
Paul Quinn Becomes First Historically Black College to be Designated a Work College
Paul Quinn College in South Dallas has become the first historically black college and university to be named a “Work College” by the U.S. Department of Education.
The new designation will help Michael Sorrell, president of Paul Quinn, achieve his goal of creating a national system of work programs based on the Paul Quinn model. “We’re the first urban work college in the country,” said Sorrell, who was notified about the designation on March 2o. “Our goal is to expand this program to other cities.”
Sorrell said he plans to share the model with other colleges in urban areas that could benefit, solely for the sake of improving those communities. Sorrell is also considering opening branches of Paul Quinn in other cities. “We’re going to be malleable in terms of which format that takes,” he said about the expansion of the program. “But the goal is to create a system of urban work colleges.”
Four years ago, faith-based Paul Quinn introduced a work program based on a broad network of off-campus partners offering industry training opportunities to students. The new urban college model provides a low-cost, structured work program where students can learn new skills and receive coaching and evaluation from experts in their chosen fields, Sorrell said. The program requires students to work 10 to 20 hours a week and has helped reduce student tuition by $10,000. Employers not only pay students for their work, but also help fund tuition. Companies supporting the program include J.C. Penney, Oncor, and PepsiCo.
Read more: https://www.dmagazine.com/business-economy/2017/03/paul-quinn-becomes-first-historically-black-college-to-be-designated-a-work-college/
Attorney requests move for Victoria mosque fire suspect's case
The attorney of suspected mosque arsonist Marq Vincent Perez has requested his client's case be moved from Houston to decrease travel time.
"It is very burdensome. That's a lot of man-hours on the road," said Mark Di Carlo, a Corpus Christi attorney representing Perez.
Di Carlo has requested court proceedings be moved to Victoria or Corpus Christi.
In a motion filed Friday, Di Carlo argued that he, his client and his client's parents are located too far from the U.S. Courthouse in Houston.
Read more: https://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/2017/mar/27/attorney-requests-move-for-mosque-fire-suspects-ca/
Terrorist written outside Muslim man's New Mexico business
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Santa Fe police say they cannot arrest the man they suspect of writing the word terrorist in front of a Muslim man’s store.
Business owner Mohamed “Ziggy” Rzig says he [auth] found the word written in chalk outside the Pyramid Cafe on Sunday.
Santa Fe Police Department Lt. Sean Strahon says the act is not being considered a hate crime and because no physical damages were made, prosecutors cannot press charges.
Rzig says a man to his cafe Saturday upset and called him and his employees terrorists. Since the cafe has no outdoor cameras, Rzig has no evidence to prove that the same man wrote the word.
Read more: http://rdrnews.com/wordpress/blog/2017/03/27/terrorist-written-outside-muslim-mans-new-mexico-business/
Lodger's tax legislation awaits governor's pen
Republican Gov. Susana Martinez is considering whether to approve Democrat-backed legislation that would free up counties in the state to collect lodgers taxes on more short-term vacation rentals, such as those offered on popular hospitality websites like Airbnb.
Two nearly identical bills that passed both chambers of the Legislature with bipartisan support would allow counties to tax property owners who offer fewer than three rooms in a home as short-term rentals. A provision in state law now exempts vendors from paying the tax if they have only one or two rooms for rent for less than a month.
The governor so far has stood by a pledge not to increase taxes, even as she and state lawmakers have wrangled with a budget crisis. The lodgers tax legislation is an example of Democrats, who control the Legislature, proposing new revenues by subjecting more residents and businesses to an existing tax rather than raising tax rates or imposing new taxes.
Asked whether Martinez would sign the lodgers tax legislation, spokesman Michael Lonergan said in an email Friday, “As with any legislation, the Governor will take a close look before acting.”
Read more: http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/legislature/lodgers-tax-legislation-awaits-governor-s-pen/article_1c38fa33-be2d-58da-9a18-3e1a25f6ff55.html
Republican lawyer files three lawsuits against AGs Office over records requests
A Republican lawyer who ran unsuccessfully for a state Senate seat last year is accusing Democratic state Attorney General Hector Balderas’ office of withholding public records out of political spite.
Blair Dunn of Albuquerque in three separate lawsuits accuses the Attorney General’s Office of violating the Inspection of Public Records Act, which the office is charged with helping to enforce.
Balderas spokesman James Hallinan in an email called Dunn’s claims “reckless and false.”
Dunn, who described himself as part of a small circle of Republican political operatives in the state, said Balderas is letting his staff ignore Dunn’s requests because he sees Dunn as a political threat. Dunn also blamed political differences with Assistant Attorney General Ari Biernoff.
Read more: http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/republican-lawyer-files-three-lawsuits-against-ag-s-office-over/article_d7822f43-3969-58ff-8a8b-4e873a5ba36c.html
Deportations could devastate New Mexico's economy
If the undocumented immigrant population in New Mexico disappeared, the state could lose tens of millions of dollars each year in federal money and local taxes.
That’s according to estimates from the state’s de facto demographer, Robert Rhatigan, associate director of the University of New Mexico’s Geospatial and Population Studies. Rhatigan regularly crunches the numbers on state population and serves as the principal consultant for federal officials on U.S. Census Bureau surveys.
Federal funding for everything from Medicaid to education, transportation and housing grants is based on 10-year U.S. Census Bureau surveys of each state’s population. Those surveys are based on gross numbers that ignore nationality and immigration status.
There are no current official numbers on undocumented immigrants in New Mexico. But the Pew Research Center estimates that about 85,000 people – more than 90 percent of them from Mexico – illegally resided here as of 2014. That represents about 4 percent of the total state population, giving New Mexico one of the top 10 highest ratios for undocumented immigrants nationwide.
Read more: https://www.abqjournal.com/976498/deportations-could-devastate-nms-economy.html
Arizona couple get prison for $604K theft from man's parents
PHOENIX — Authorities say an Arizona couple has been sentenced to prison after stealing more than $600,000 from the man’s parents.
The state Attorney General’s Office says 49-year-old Michael Gonzales received a two-year prison term while his 50-year-old wife Kimberly was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison.
Prosecutors say Joseph and Marjorie Gonzales assigned power of attorney to their son and daughter-in-law in 2013.
By 2015, both Joseph and Marjorie were suffering from dementia and she died in January 2016.
Read more: https://www.abqjournal.com/977374/arizona-couple-get-prison-for-604k-theft-from-mans-parents.html
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
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Current location: Bryan, Texas
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