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TexasTowelie's JournalMichael Avenatti pleads not guilty to federal charges during Santa Ana court appearance
High-profile attorney Michael Avenatti pleaded not guilty Monday, April 29, to federal fraud and embezzlement charges during a brief hearing at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana.
Avenatti – best known for representing porn star Stormy Daniels in her legal battles against President Donald Trump and for his own one-time presidential ambitions – formally denied the charges that were laid out earlier this month in a 36-count grand jury indictment.
Avenatti attended the hearing without the private attorneys who joined him during his last criminal court appearance in Southern California. He initially told the judge he was in the process of “finalizing an agreement with private counsel.” He agreed to allow a federal public defender temporarily represent him.
Asked to enter his plea, Avenatti, standing with his hands clasped behind his back, replied, “Not guilty to all charges.”
Read more: https://www.ocregister.com/2019/04/29/michael-avenatti-pleads-not-guilty-to-federal-charges-during-oc-court-appearance/
After synagogue shooting, Newsom supports $15 million to secure religious facilities
Shocked by Saturday's mass shooting at the Chabad of Poway, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed Monday to significantly increase funds for security at synagogues, mosques and other religious institutions in California that face threats of hate-motivated violence.
Newsom announced his support after the 14-member California Legislative Jewish Caucus made an urgent request for $15 million to be budgeted this year for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which only provided $500,000 last year.
The money would go to nonprofit organizations including religious congregations, private and nonprofit schools, LGBTQ organizations, and women’s health groups to pay for reinforced doors and gates, high intensity lighting and alarms, security guards and other protective measures.
“We all must call out hate — against any and all communities — and act to defend those targeted for their religious beliefs, who they love or how they identify,” Newsom said Monday. “An attack against any community is an attack against our entire state — who we are and what we stand for.”
Read more: https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-poway-synagogue-shooting-security-funds-20190429-story.html
Ex-chairman accused of racial discrimination in 3rd suit against California Democratic Party
Two former California Democratic Party employees and an activist sued the organization in Sacramento County Superior Court on Monday, alleging that they were subjected to sexual assault, harassment, racial discrimination and retaliation by former Chairman Eric Bauman, and that the party failed to protect them.
The lawsuit is the second filed against the party and Bauman in two weeks and the third legal action against both since he resigned in November following allegations of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior toward party staff members and activists.
In the lawsuit filed Monday, former party operations director Tina McKinnor alleges that Bauman discriminated against her because she is black and former communications director John Vigna claims that Bauman groped him and sexually harassed him “on nearly a daily basis.” The complaint also alleges that the state party retaliated against McKinnor and Vigna for helping another employee file a sexual harassment complaint against Bauman when it fired them in December.
A third plaintiff, party activist Spencer Dayton, alleges in the suit that he was groped on at least two occasions by Bauman.
Read more: https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-california-democratic-party-eric-bauman-harassment-discrimination-lawsuit-20190429-story.html
Big Fresno Fair announces its first concert lineup. It includes Roseanne Barr
This is a PSA on events to avoid.The Big Fresno Fair has announced the first round of its 2019 entertainment lineup and it’s what we’ve come to expect. There’s Christian rock and some classic oldies funk, a regional Mexican star and a comedian (though it’s somehow not Gabriel Iglesias).
In order of appearance: Christian Nodal will end the fair’s first weekend. The Mexican singer performs Sunday, Oct. 6. Nodal’s songs have been all over Billboard’s Regional Mexican Songs charts, including last year’s “No Te Contaron Mal.” Tickets are $25-$85.
Comedian (and professional social media ranter) Roseanne Barr performs Oct. 8. Barr had returned to the stand-up comedy world following a storied acting career that included two stints on her own television show. More recently she made news (and was fired from her own series) over a racist tweet.
“The Big Fresno Fair has always been a venue of choice. Rosanne is a well-known entertainer who has a wide-array of fans, and some who are not,” said the fair’s CEO, John C. Alkire.
Read more: https://www.fresnobee.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/fresno-beehive/article229643039.html
So Roseanne is relegated to the fairgrounds?
Beto O'Rourke tells San Franciscans what sets him apart from the Democratic crowd
Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke dropped into San Francisco Sunday, the locus of liberalism in the Bay Area, spreading his message of political and economic democracy to an eager audience.
O’Rourke’s regular guy, values-driven style was well-received by a crowd of hundreds packed into the United Irish Cultural Center in the city’s Sunset district.
But was it enough to set him apart from the crowded field of Democrats vying to unseat Trump in 2020?
Running late to the event, O’Rourke spoke broadly on several key issues, moving quickly from healthcare, to immigration, to equal pay and voter rights in a frenzied pace that was light on specific action plan.
Read more: https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2019/04/28/beto-orourke-tells-san-francisans-what-sets-him-apart-from-the-democratic-crowd/
PG&E crafts wildfire relief fund, but victims criticize bankrupt utility
PG&E has no estimate when it might establish a wildfire relief fund to compensate victims of the Northern California infernos of recent years, the company conceded during an acrimonious bankruptcy hearing Monday that included fresh criticism regarding how the disgraced utility is treating fire victims.
The unsettling revelations about the uncertainties over when PG&E might set up a special fund to compensate victims of the infernos of 2015, 2017 and 2018 arose during a meeting of creditors on Monday that was held in connection with PG&’s $51.69 billion bankruptcy filing.
“We are looking to provide relief for those most in need from the fires,” PG&E’s Chief Financial Officer Jason Wells testified during the meeting of creditors. “It’s our intention to file as quickly as possible. I can’t give you any kind of timetable.”
One wildfire victim, Bryan Montgomery, a resident of Mountain House in Calaveras County at the time of a lethal inferno in 2015, told the hearing that he’s been waiting for more than three years to be compensated by PG&E, which caused that deadly blaze.
Read more: https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2019/04/29/pge-crafts-wildfire-relief-fund-but-victims-criticize-bankrupt-utility/
Saudi students escaping US justice: Oregon's Ron Wyden alleges 'wide-ranging coverup' by feds
Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon on Friday called on the Trump administration to take immediate action after revelations that the U.S. government knew Saudi Arabian officials were spiriting criminal suspects out of the U.S. for more than a decade yet never intervened.
Wyden called it a “wide-ranging coverup” that has ranged over successive presidents.
“This has gone on through Republican and Democratic administrations, but it is up to the Trump administration to do something about it — today,” Wyden, Democrat, said in a statement. “Anything less amounts to a craven betrayal of Americans’ interests on behalf of a murderous, autocratic regime.
Wyden’s forceful remarks followed a story co-published by The Oregonian/OregonLive and ProPublica that showed how the FBI, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other agencies have been aware of the Saudi actions since at least 2008.
Read more: https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2019/04/saudi-students-escaping-us-justice-oregons-ron-wyden-alleges-wide-ranging-coverup-by-feds.html
Everything Julian Castro Knows He Learned From His Mother
Along the back wall of Pico de Gallo restaurant, in downtown San Antonio, beyond the cases of pan dulce, looms a colorful, 33-foot mural painted by local artist Armando Sánchez in the style of da Vinci’s Last Supper. It depicts 74 notables, virtually all of them Hispanic, including Medal of Honor recipient Roy Benavidez; civil rights icon Dolores Huerta; Tejano singer Selena; and Willie Velasquez, the founder of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project.
The viewer’s eye is drawn to the center of the mural by the image of la Virgen de Guadalupe, Mexico’s most revered religious figure, who hovers over the only family depicted in this painting: the Castros. Just beneath the Virgin is the image of Maria del Rosario “Rosie” Castro, to whom the artist dedicated the mural, in 2013. On the table in front of her is a framed picture of her late mother, who emigrated as an orphan from Mexico to the United States. But the focal point is Rosie, whose reputation as a longtime community activist understates what is arguably her most significant contribution to San Antonio and to America. Flanking her in the mural are the two figures who may turn out to be her greatest legacy: her twin sons, Joaquin, a U.S. congressman who by all appearances is gearing up to challenge John Cornyn for his Senate seat, and Julián, the former mayor of San Antonio and a current candidate for president. Together, the two men personify the political hopes of millions of Hispanics, who make up one of the fastest-growing demographics in this country.
It’s early at Pico de Gallo, a gathering spot for politicos, and months before Julián would invoke his grandmother’s journey and his mother’s passion for politics as he declared his candidacy for president. I take a table close to the mural, and as I’m scanning it to see how many faces I recognize, the painting’s dedicatee quietly walks up behind me and introduces herself.
At this hour, there are few patrons in the restaurant, but our waiter immediately comes over, a look of recognition on his face, to warmly greet her as she takes a seat. She’s dressed casually in a pantsuit and, at 71, has the appearance of someone at ease in her retirement following a long, often contentious career in politics and education. Rosie isn’t as well-known as her sons, but in this town she forged her own path as an activist for Hispanic opportunity and representation. She employed a fierce and outspoken style, as was appropriate, she says, for a different time—one when it was not uncommon throughout the Southwest to see stores with signs that read “No Dogs or Mexicans Allowed.” That attitude was pervasive, even among city leaders. In 1970, when she was in her early twenties, Rosie and a group of fellow activists were arrested while picketing the San Antonio Savings Association, which was owned by Mayor William McAllister, who had said of the city’s Hispanic population, “They’re home-loving. They love beauty. They love flowers. They love music. They love dancing. Perhaps they’re not quite as, uh, let’s say, ambitiously motivated as the Anglos are to get ahead financially, but they manage to get a lot out of life.”
Read more: https://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/everything-julian-castro-knows-he-learned-from-his-mother/
Anti-LGBT bills loom in Legislature
Equality Texas Interim Executive Director Samantha Smoot today urged the statewide LGBT community to “ramp up our engagement and activism during the final month of the legislative session,” as several virulently anti-LGBT bills continue to move through the state Capitol.
Chief among advocates’ concern is Senate Bill 17, which could be headed to committee as early as next week and would create “dangerous ‘religious exemptions’” for virtually every licensed occupation in Texas, Smoot warned.
That includes hundreds of professions, from barbers to tow truck operators to doctors. If an occupational license holder were to call on “sincerely-held religious belief” in taking a discriminatory action, the licensing agency that oversees the occupation would have no recourse to remedy that discrimination, explained in a press release, and that it includes health care providers, who could turn away sick and injured people seeking care.
“We don’t know exactly when the hearing will be on SB 17, but it may be as early as next week, and we want our LGBTQ people engaged and tuned into the Equality Texas website and Facebook page for more information,” a spokesperson said.
Read more: https://www.dallasvoice.com/1000292628-2/
Bevin blames child shooting on teacher sickouts in Jefferson County
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin on Thursday blamed teacher protests at the state Capitol earlier this year for the shooting of a 7-year-old girl, The (Louisville) Courier Journal reported.
That newspaper said Bevin, who was speaking to the Louisville Rotary Club, appeared to be referring to a shooting on March 12 in Shively. The girl was shot when she and her 11-year-old brother were inside a house alone and their uncle, who was their guardian, was outside, according to the newspaper.
The Courier-Journal said that on March 27, police said the boy accidentally shot his sister and she underwent surgery. The girl was “listed in good condition, being transferred to begin rehabilitation, eating solid food,” the newspaper reported.
Jefferson County Schools closed that day because of teacher “sickouts.”
Read more: https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/education/article229676804.html
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
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