TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalProtest, outrage follow scuttled vote on Texas State student president
SAN MARCOS -- Embattled Texas State University student government president Connor Clegg, who avoided an impeachment trial Wednesday when 19 student senators skipped a planned hearing, told the American-Statesman that he did not have anything to do with the absences and that he wished the trial had gone forward.
“The folks who missed tonight — I have no idea what their motivation was,” he wrote in an email shortly before midnight. “Yes, I have relationships with some of them, but I’ve done my absolute best to remain impartial. And that means cutting off communication with people. It’s a shame we didn’t meet quorum tonight.”
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After Wednesday’s hearing was cancelled because there were not enough senators present to vote on the matter, several senators and student activists called the absences a coordinated effort to avoid an impeachment trial for Clegg, whose term ends next week.
Though largely symbolic this late in the semester, Clegg’s impeachment saga has crystallized anger and frustration at the San Marcos campus, where minority student groups have said they felt abandoned by university administrators in the face of regular targeting of the campus by neo-Nazi groups distributing propaganda.
Read more: https://www.statesman.com/news/local-education/protest-outrage-follow-scuttled-vote-texas-state-student-president/A4xnOnMMMBaJTIIEFTKhLL/
House committee drops investigation into Blake Farenthold, urges him to repay $84K used in settlemen
The House Ethics Committee has dropped its investigation into harassment claims brought against former U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold after he resigned abruptly from Congress on Friday.
The committee said in a statement it “no longer has jurisdiction” over Farenthold, since he decided to step down from office effective immediately only days before the panel was scheduled to take up its investigation.
Specifically, the panel had planned to look into harassment and discrimination claims brought against the former congressman, who had represented parts of Bastrop and Caldwell counties.
It also would have looked at whether Farenthold required his staff to work on his campaigns or had made false statements before the committee.
Read more: https://www.statesman.com/news/local/house-committee-drops-investigation-into-blake-farenthold-urges-him-repay-84k-used-settlement/TYBarG1nZcbT1X5qL5SXZK/
Cross-posted in LBN.
House committee drops investigation into Blake Farenthold, urges him to repay $84K used in settlemen
Source: Austin American-Statesman
The House Ethics Committee has dropped its investigation into harassment claims brought against former U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold after he resigned abruptly from Congress on Friday.
The committee said in a statement it “no longer has jurisdiction” over Farenthold, since he decided to step down from office effective immediately only days before the panel was scheduled to take up its investigation.
Specifically, the panel had planned to look into harassment and discrimination claims brought against the former congressman, who had represented parts of Bastrop and Caldwell counties.
It also would have looked at whether Farenthold required his staff to work on his campaigns or had made false statements before the committee.
Read more: https://www.statesman.com/news/local/house-committee-drops-investigation-into-blake-farenthold-urges-him-repay-84k-used-settlement/TYBarG1nZcbT1X5qL5SXZK/
Cross-posted in the Texas Group.
Idaho Democrats say the 2018 session 'was entirely about politics'
House and Senate Democrats touted their legislative successes this year, but said when it came to the session’s top-tier issues – from two major tax bills to the “stand your ground” law and anti-trespassing bill – majority Republicans shunted them aside. “Democrats were completely cut out of the room in those discussions,” said House Minority Leader Mat Erpelding, D-Boise, during comments Wednesday afternoon as adjournment neared.
“When you muzzle us, you’re not just muzzling Democrats – you’re muzzling our people who we represent,” said Senate Minority Leader Michelle Stennett.
Erpelding said, “It was entirely about politics.” He particularly decried the majority’s unwillingness to take votes on bills that had made it all the way to the House floor, including the governor’s dual-waiver health care bill and his own Plan First Idaho bill on family planning coverage for low-income Idaho women. “That’s about party, not policy,” he said.
Erpelding said when Democrats were able to get legislation through, everyone knew the bills were sound, from Rep. Melissa Wintrow’s bill to ensure rape victims’ personal health insurance isn’t charged for forensic evidence collection from their bodies, to Rep. Ilana Rubel’s push to restore non-emergency dental coverage to 30,000 Idahoans on Medicaid, saving the state millions in the process. “Her bill is the only successful bill addressing health care this session,” Stennett said.
Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article207243839.html
Univ. of Idaho rejects Rob Spear's explanation for 2013 mistakes; students want his resignation
MOSCOW -- University of Idaho Athletic Director Rob Spear told the student senate Wednesday night that he technically might not have violated university policy in a 2013 sexual assault case because of a procedural quirk he recently discovered.
He also blamed “mass confusion” about university policy and insufficient training by the university for his not knowing that he was obligated to report the sexual assault to the dean of students office for investigation.
The university, which placed Spear on a 60-day administrative leave Tuesday, rejected both arguments.
“The policy was clear. Spear’s knowledge of it was inadequate,” a university statement provided to the Idaho Statesman read.
Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/sports/college/university-of-idaho/article207986229.html
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Marchers urge New Mexico to get out and vote in 2018 (featuring Dolores Huerta)
At 87, Dolores Huerta still has a quite a pair of lungs on her.
“Who’s got the power?” she yelled from the stage at Saturday’s 25th annual César Chávez march and fiesta.
“We’ve got the power!” a crowd of hundreds gathered at the National Hispanic Cultural Center shouted back.
Huerta joined marchers through the streets of Albuquerque and was the keynote speaker during the fiesta that followed.
Read more: https://www.abqjournal.com/1155952/huerta-get-out-and-vote-in-18-election.html
A Texas Democrat's campaign just unionized. Here's why so few campaigns do that.
by Alex Samuels, Texas TribuneHey, Texplainer: Campaign workers for Laura Moser, a Democrat running for Congress in Houston, recently unionized, which guarantees them benefits such as health insurance, paid sick days and paid leave. How come most political campaigns don't already do that for their employees?
In late March, the campaign staff for Democrat Laura Moser, who secured a spot last month in a primary runoff to take on Republican U.S. Rep. John Culberson of Houston, announced they had unionized.
Though the workers initiated this, Moser’s support of the move aligned with her campaign’s message. Since announcing her congressional bid, the Democratic activist and journalist has run as a progressive advocating for things like universal Medicare, and improved access to paid family leave when a baby arrives, a child falls ill or an aging parent experiences a medical emergency, according to her campaign website.
“I’m proud of my team for taking this important step to stand in solidarity with one another and with workers all over Texas,” Moser said in a recent news release. “Democrats need to walk the walk when it comes to standing with labor.”
Texas is one of 28 "right-to-work" states in the nation, which means employees aren't required to pay dues or join unions — and those who do join unions and associations must opt in to have membership dues automatically deducted from their paychecks. Approximately 5 percent of working people in the state are unionized, according to Ed Sills a spokesman for the Texas AFL-CIO. Moser’s campaign has said its the first in the state and one of just 10 in the nation to unionize. But this raises the question: Why aren’t Texas candidates already giving these benefits to their employees?
Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2018/04/06/laura-moser-campaign-unions-why-most-dont-do-it/
Moser came in second place during the primary in March. She will be in the May runoff.
Oklahoma rattled by four Saturday morning earthquakes
A magnitude 4.6 earthquake that rattled Oklahoma on Saturday was also felt in neighboring Kansas and Missouri, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
It was one of four Saturday morning earthquakes recorded in northwest Oklahoma. There were no immediate reports of injury or serious damage.
The largest temblor took place at 7:16 a.m., a few miles outside Covington, a town of around 500 people about an hour north of Oklahoma City. But the USGS website showed the quake was felt in Kansas City, Mo., some 300 miles away, as well as in Joplin, Mo., and Wichita, Kan.
Saturday's quakes were in the same area where four others struck Friday, including one with a reading of magnitude 3.7.
Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/us-news/2018/04/07/oklahoma-rattled-four-saturday-morning-earthquakes
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