April 29, 2013

Gun owners camp out early to stock up on ammunition

On a muggy Thursday morning, a line stretched outside of the College Station Academy Sports and Outdoors. The group of 30 people had started to congregate at midnight, eight hours before opening.

In Central Texas, gun owners know the places that will ration out what little ammo is available and what times they reload. In the wake of a Connecticut elementary school massacre that left 20 children dead, and the subsequent cries for gun control, the sales of firearms and ammunition has never been better. Since December, guns and ammunition have been hard to come by, even for law enforcement.

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A lot of the customers are worried about gun control measures, Stulce said.

"That's the big thing we're hearing," he said. "They may have had one or two boxes of ammo at home and they felt that was all that they needed, and now they're not satisfied unless they have a couple of thousand rounds."

More at http://www.theeagle.com/news/local/article_d8fa18f1-d989-5bac-b154-c51ad023092a.html .

April 29, 2013

UT could lose up to $18 million for research under sequestration

University of Texas graduate student Joe Hanson has shaped his lifestyle to accommodate the meager salary he earns as a genetic engineering biology researcher. He supplements his income with a job as a college teaching assistant. He and his wife don’t take vacations; they drive a 1999 Ford truck with manual windows. They have even postponed having children.

But federal budget cuts to college research dollars have Hanson, who makes $25,000 a year, rethinking his career choice. According to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the government slashed an estimated $57.5 billion for research over the next four years under the across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration, cuts that will hit many as the school year — and annual research contracts — comes to a close.

Federal research grants are used to pay the salaries of graduate students, whose labors are guided by university faculty. A reduction in funding likely means that many students will have their pay cut or possibly lose their jobs. Research projects could be discontinued if local or private dollars aren’t found to close the gap. Professors also are worried that the brightest graduate students and research professors will be lured overseas to countries where research is better funded.

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The cuts are a blow to UT, which is working to cement its status as a Tier 1 research campus. The $18 million in federal cuts — about 3 percent of UT’s total research budget — come as the state has frozen $9 million in cancer research grants at UT, a double-whammy for researchers, who need the money to hire assistants and buy equipment.

More at http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local-education/ut-could-lose-up-to-18-million-for-research-under-/nXZ4G/ .

April 29, 2013

Legislature doesn’t go with Perry’s proposed $1.6 billion business tax cut

Gov. Rick Perry’s $1.6 billion tax cut proposal for businesses had a shelf life of about three days.

On April 15 — the deadline for filing federal income taxes — Perry announced his four-point tax plan to cut franchise taxes for 109,000 Texas businesses as part of his promise in January to deliver $1.8 billion in unspecified tax cuts.

Three days later, the House tax-writing committee approved a bill that deleted the major provision Perry had borrowed from existing legislation for his “tax day” news conference because, at $1.6 billion, it would cost too much.

That is not to say tax cuts are dead, but it seems certain the makeup of those cuts will look very different from what Perry laid out at his news conference. Perry solely targeted the franchise tax — his creation in 2006 — which has become controversial among small-business owners.

More at http://www.statesman.com/news/business/legislature-doesnt-go-with-perrys-proposed-16-bill/nXZ4F/ .

April 29, 2013

Tea Party influence may be waning

The emergence of a broad center-right policy consensus in both chambers of the Texas Legislature, at least regarding the budget, has led to suggestions that the influence of the Tea Party movement in Texas politics is waning.

But public opinion regarding the Tea Party suggests a more complex situation. At the very least, reports of the Tea Party’s demise are premature as the label still claims a good expanse of the cognitive real estate of Texas voters — most importantly, among Republicans. But the Tea Party has also become a more predictable part of the political universe — and as predictability has increased, fear and intimidation have waned.

The Tea Party can no longer claim the sexy outsider status of an insurgency. It has repeated the journey of many outside agitators in the American two-party system, which since the 19th Century has specialized in incorporating and de-fanging dissident movements. The insurgents of 2009-10 are now well on their way to becoming another constituency nestled within the GOP. The self-styled revolution has not taken power; rather, it has settled for seats at the table.

So the reality is far more than a binary choice of whether the Tea Party is on the ascent or in decline.

More at http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/2013-04-28/tea-party-influence-may-be-waning .

April 29, 2013

Four stabbed at Albuquerque church

Four people were stabbed this morning at St. Jude Thaddeus Parish in Northwest Albuquerque, police said.

Two of the four were critically injured, according to an emailed statement from APD spokesman Rob Gibbs, and all are expected to survive.

The church service was closing, Gibbs wrote, and the choir was beginning closing hymns when a man jumped over several pews, walked quickly to the front of the church and began stabbing choir members.

The alleged stabber is in custody, according to Gibbs. He has not been identified, and police do not believe he was a parishioner at the church. It is unclear whether he has been arrested or charged.

More at http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2013/04/28/news/breaking-six-wounded-two-critically-in-stabbing-at-nw-abq-church.html .

[font color=green]The story was updated and Albuquerque police are interviewing Lawrence Capener, 24, as the suspect in the Sunday morning stabbings at St. Jude Thaddeus Parish.[/font]

April 28, 2013

Houston Fire Department: 50 water rescues and counting on stormy Saturday

Heavy downpours and thunderstorms hit Harris County on Saturday night, prompting officials to warn people to stay off the roads.

Flood Control District officials reported as much as 6 inches of rainfall in some parts of Harris County in three hours, mostly in the west, southwest and central parts of the area.

Another 2 to 4 inches of rain were expected overnight when another cluster of storms moves into the Houston region from the west, said National Weather Service staff meteorologist Wendy Wong.

There were also some reports of golf ball-sized hail in parts of the Houston metro area.

More at http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Houston-Fire-Department-50-water-rescues-and-4469585.php .

April 28, 2013

Water group sounds alarm; Lake Amistad level at record low

Water levels at Lake Amistad have dropped to a record low, and the amount of water released from Amistad to the Falcon Reservoir will be reduced beginning Sunday.

Levels at Lake Amistad, on the Rio Grande near the Del Rio-Ciudad Acuna Coahuila, dropped to 1,058.29 feet on Friday, below the previous record-low elevation of 1,058.37 feet in August 1998, officials said Friday.

Sally Spener, spokeswoman for the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission, said though the levels have dropped at Amistad, water will continue to be released from Amistad but at reduced amounts.

It is unknown if new low levels will have any impact on the city of Brownsville’s upcoming voluntary water conservation plan scheduled to begin May 1.

More at http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/local/article_4d1cf7d6-aee4-11e2-bf3d-001a4bcf6878.html .

April 28, 2013

92-year-old still fitting bras

Photo Credit: Alberto Martinez


AUSTIN, TEXAS

The new kid at the Julian Gold women’s apparel store on W. Sixth St. is 92-year-old Earlene Moore, Austin’s best-loved bra fitter.

We first brought you Moore’s story in 2010, when she held a similar position at the now-closed Saks Fifth Avenue store in the Arboretum area. That profile brought an added measure of notoriety to Moore, who was already well-known in her field. The foundation department was packed with so many people after the story ran, she said she thought there’d been an accident. Somebody went for champagne. Customers drove in from the Rio Grande Valley.

Saks closed on Dec. 31 and Moore thought that was the end of her career, but Julian Gold store director Melinda Snell lured her back downtown, where she’d worked many decades ago. She started this month and works five hours a day, three days a week.

“All of Austin knew Saks was closing,” Snell said. “I thought it would be wonderful for Julian Gold to have her celebrity.” Moore’s reaction?

More at http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/92-year-old-still-fitting-bras/nXY2P/ .

April 28, 2013

College Station, Texas A&M System hash out details of new development

The College Station City Council and the Texas A&M University System came together Thursday night for negotiations on a mixed-use development that could add millions of dollars to the city's tax roll.

The council voted 5-0 on an agreement between the city and system that lays out responsibilities of the governmental bodies. Councilman James Benham and Mayor Nancy Berry were absent.

The negotiation was atypical, because the majority of state university developments are tax-exempt.

However, the system's Campus Pointe development, which will be located on about 60 acres along University Drive, is different than most university endeavors.

More at http://www.theeagle.com/news/local/article_eec74ddd-6e58-5895-83e8-acb6e28a6574.html .

April 27, 2013

Texas lawmakers pushing back on Gov. Perry in 2013

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Gov. Rick Perry revved up for a presidential bid in 2011 by showing the country who's boss in Texas: He slashed spending, tightened abortion restrictions and declared illegal immigration a state emergency.

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A year after Perry's run for the White House flamed out, the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature is showing signs of defiance in a series of votes that push back against Perry's authority — a poke in the eye of the 12-year governor.

In recent weeks, the Texas House and Senate have approved separate budget plans that increase spending and put some money back into public education, something Perry said the state spends plenty on. The Senate has endorsed a proposed constitutional amendment calling for term limits for statewide office holders and voted to audit Perry's pet Texas Enterprise Fund, which the governor has used for the last decade to give $485 million to private companies looking to expand or relocate in the state.

And members in both chambers have gone on the offensive in challenging Perry's political appointments to the University of Texas System regents, part of a power struggle over who governs day-to-day operations of state universities. The Senate recently voted to curtail regents' authority.

More at http://www.mywesttexas.com/statenation/article_5f958a78-aea7-11e2-8eca-001a4bcf887a.html .