TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalOz, popular French Quarter dance club, declares bankruptcy, to be sold at auction
Oz, which bills itself as "New Orleans #1 gay dance club," will be sold to the highest bidder during a July 22 auction in bankruptcy court.
The action comes after the owners -- Johnny Chisholm, Doyle Yeager and Bobby Warner -- were unable to pay off millions of dollars in loans that came due last summer. To avoid foreclosure, they declared bankruptcy in October but couldn't come up with a workable refinancing plan, forcing them to sell the business and property located at 800 Bourbon St.
Attorney Caleb Didriksen, who represents Warner, said an interested party has already entered a bid of $4.75 million. If that particular bidder wins, it's his intention to continue to operate the bar as the Oz, Didriksen said.
"I understand from the current high bidder that it's his goal to purchase it by mid-August, specifically to be able to control it before Southern Decadence (Sept. 2-7) because that will be a big money maker," Didriksen said. "Financially, I think it is most likely any new owner would want to build on the existing business. They wouldn't want to just trash can the whole thing."
Read more: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2015/06/oz_popular_french_quarter_danc.html#incart_most-read_
State Won't Track Gay Marriage Numbers
On the first day of legal same-sex marriage in Texas, more than 465 couples received licenses in 10 of the state's largest counties, according to numbers provided by clerk's offices.
But keeping track of how many Texans are issued licenses over time may prove difficult because the state, and some counties, do not plan to keep a separate count of same-sex licenses.
A survey of the state's 15 largest counties found that 10 began issuing same-sex marriage licenses on Friday, after the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing it. (The remaining five counties were all issuing licenses by Monday.) It is unclear which county issued the most licenses to same-sex couples because several did not specifically track that.
Though Texas collects detailed data on marriages by county and age, getting better information on same-sex marriage rates in Texas could take years since the state has no plans to separately track those unions. Following Friday’s ruling, the Department of State Health Services released a new gender-neutral marriage application for counties to use. The application does not ask for the sex of either of the applicants.
Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/30/same-sex-marriage-licenses-wont-be-tracked/
Lufthansa makes Germanwings compensation offer
BERLIN — Lufthansa on Tuesday offered financial compensation to relatives of people killed in the Germanwings crash three months ago — a proposal that a lawyer representing many German families immediately described as inadequate.
Lufthansa, which owns Germanwings, is offering 25,000 euros ($27,740) in compensation per victim in all cases that fall under German law, plus payments of 10,000 euros each to immediate relatives. It wasn’t immediately clear what compensation people claiming in other jurisdictions might expect, or how many people would fall under German regulations.
The airline said it also plans to set aside up to 7.8 million euros to support education for children who lost one or both parents, plus a 6 million euro fund that would provide “individual support for aid projects of the relatives.” Money from that fund would be disbursed by a board of trustees that the company plans to set up in the coming months.
German lawyer Elmar Giemulla, who represents about 30 families of victims, described the offer as “completely inadequate.”
Read more: http://www.abqjournal.com/606304/biz/biz-most-recent/lufthansa-makes-germanwings-compensation-offer.html (Albuquerque Journal)
Dubai Plans to Build 3-D Printed Office Building
Fast-growing Dubai, where something new is always being added to the skyline, may have found a way to make construction move even faster.
The Gulf commercial hub on Tuesday announced plans to add the world's first office building made using three-dimensional printer technology to its collection of eye-catching buildings.
Mohammed al-Gergawi, the United Arab Emirates' minister of Cabinet affairs, said the project is part of a broader effort by the seven-state federation to embrace cutting-edge technology and make it a global hub for innovation.
"This building will be a testimony to the efficiency and creativity of 3-D printing technology, which we believe will play a major role in reshaping construction and design sectors," he said in a statement.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/dubai-plans-build-printed-office-building-32125155
Austin Regional Clinic to Stop Taking Unvaccinated Children as Patients
The Austin Regional Clinic will stop accepting new unvaccinated pediatric patients — that is, children whose parents have opted them out of routine vaccinations. The ARC announced its new policy this morning.
The regional health system, which has locations in Austin plus six surrounding cities, cites patient safety as the reason for the new regulation, set to take effect Wednesday.
“Parents who are unwilling to commit to a vaccination schedule will need to find another physician outside of ARC,” clinic officials said in the release.
The ARC cites December’s measles outbreak in California, which infected more than 100 children in 21 states, as a public health concern. Measles spreads easily, and those who don’t receive preventative measles vaccinations remain particularly susceptible to infection.
Read more: http://kut.org/post/austin-regional-clinic-stop-taking-unvaccinated-children-patients
Gov. Jindal signs marijuana penalty reduction
Penalties for simple marijuana possession are decreasing in Louisiana effective immediately.
The reduction came with Gov. Bobby Jindal’s signing into law of a measure approved during the 2015 Louisiana Legislature.
Jindal’s office announced the bill signing Monday.
House Bill 149 sponsor state Rep. Austin Badon, D-New Orleans, called it “a compassionate, smart and just approach to justice reform.”
The state’s sheriffs and district attorneys as well as the ACLU and the Catholic Bishops supported the measure.
Read more: http://blogs.theadvocate.com/politicsblog/2015/06/29/gov-jindal-signs-marijuana-penalty-reduction/
Texas, Wisconsin decisions key in Louisiana abortion clinic case
A federal trial judge in Baton Rouge is preparing to weigh in on an anti-abortion battle that appears to be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
A 5-½ day trial, which ended Monday, looked at the constitutionality of a 2014 Louisiana law that opponents claim serves as a barrier to a women’s legal right to the procedure that would end her pregnancy. The law requires abortion clinic physicians to have admitting privileges to a nearby hospital.
Similar laws in Texas and Wisconsin — one upheld, the other not — are on hold because of U.S. Supreme Court actions. The court on Monday stopped Texas from enforcing the law as scheduled Wednesday, pending an appeal of its legality to the high court.
In Louisiana, the decision rests with U.S. District Court Judge John deGravelles, of the Middle District of Louisiana, who said he would rule by Sept. 30 and called the case before him “a very important and very difficult issue.”
Read more: http://theadvocate.com/news/12784924-123/texas-wisconsin-decisions-key-in
Most Louisiana parishes issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples Monday, group says
As soon as Tuesday, it appears same-sex couples across Louisiana will be able to get a marriage license -- so long as they can pay the fee and assemble the records they need to finish their application.
On Friday, Louisiana was the only state in the country where not one same-sex couple received a marriage license following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that overturned state bans on gay marriage.
By Monday afternoon, couples in at least 35 of the state's 64 parishes had walked out of a courthouse with a marriage license in hand, according to Forum for Equality, the state's largest gay rights organization.
"It was really something to see over the course of the day," said Chris Otten, chairman of the Forum for Equality. "All over the state, the clerks were falling like dominoes."
Read more: http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/06/at_least_35_of_64_louisiana_pa.html#incart_2box_
Confederate flag cake, no. ISIS flag cake, yes. Wal-Mart apologizes after YouTube flap
A Wal-Mart store in Slidell {Louisiana} refused a request to decorate a cake with a design featuring a Confederate flag, but another Wal-Mart in Slidell agreed to decorate a cake featuring the flag of the Islamic State terrorist group, or ISIS, a man says in a video posted to YouTube.
Wal-Mart has apologized for selling the ISIS cake, explaining that the employee who handled the order did not recognize it as the group's flag. The corporation, a spokesman said, does not support ISIS.
The YouTube video, posted Friday (June 26) by a man identified as Chuck Netzhammer, shows a man sitting on a motorcycle unfurl a Confederate flag bearing the words "HERITAGE NOT HATE'' and explain that he sought to have that image on a cake he wanted to purchase from the Wal-Mart store on Natchez Drive in Slidell. He said the store refused. But in the YouTube video, the man shows a receipt for the cake decorated with ISIS flag that he said was purchased at the Wal-Mart location on Northshore Boulevard.
"All right, Wal-Mart,'' he says, "you got some explaining to do.''
Read more: http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/06/walmart_refuses_to_make_confed.html#incart_most-read_
Cross-posted in the Louisiana Group.
Confederate flag cake, no. ISIS flag cake, yes. Wal-Mart apologizes after YouTube flap
A Wal-Mart store in Slidell refused a request to decorate a cake with a design featuring a Confederate flag, but another Wal-Mart in Slidell agreed to decorate a cake featuring the flag of the Islamic State terrorist group, or ISIS, a man says in a video posted to YouTube.
Wal-Mart has apologized for selling the ISIS cake, explaining that the employee who handled the order did not recognize it as the group's flag. The corporation, a spokesman said, does not support ISIS.
The YouTube video, posted Friday (June 26) by a man identified as Chuck Netzhammer, shows a man sitting on a motorcycle unfurl a Confederate flag bearing the words "HERITAGE NOT HATE'' and explain that he sought to have that image on a cake he wanted to purchase from the Wal-Mart store on Natchez Drive in Slidell. He said the store refused. But in the YouTube video, the man shows a receipt for the cake decorated with ISIS flag that he said was purchased at the Wal-Mart location on Northshore Boulevard.
"All right, Wal-Mart,'' he says, "you got some explaining to do.''
Read more: http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/06/walmart_refuses_to_make_confed.html#incart_most-read_
Cross-posted in the General Discussion forum.
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
Home country: United States
Current location: Bryan, Texas
Member since: Sun Aug 14, 2011, 03:57 AM
Number of posts: 112,128
