TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalTX congressman claims he's under surveillance. Is Gohmert 'paranoid' or a target of the 'deep state'
WASHINGTON — Tyler congressman Louie Gohmert claims the Department of Justice has been spying on him.
He has offered no evidence to back up the allegation, which he has made repeatedly in recent days.
Apart from claims that he’s been the target of domestic surveillance, Gohmert — a tea party Republican who served as a criminal court judge before his election to Congress — also cites concerns about a “deep state” effort to discredit him as he seeks to derail a special counsel investigation that has so far yielded five guilty pleas from associates of President Donald Trump.
Gohmert, a frequent defender of Trump on conservative news outlets, told Fox Business on Monday night that he’s “been told in the past that there’s great concern about who I saw, what I did, and that I was being monitored.”
Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2018/07/03/texas-congressman-claims-surveillance-gohmert-paranoid-target-deep-state
Grapevine lender UDF's execs pay more than $8 million after SEC sues for misleading investors
More than two years after a Grapevine residential lender came under federal scrutiny, United Development Funding settled a case with the Securities and Exchange Commission over improper use of investor funds.
The investment firm — which financed more than $1 billion in residential community development in Dallas-Fort Worth and across the state — is accused of using money from new investors to fund older ventures.
The company is also charged with misleading its investors about how their contributions were spent.
"UDF solicited investments by allegedly touting consistent investment returns," Shamoil T. Shipchandler, director of the SEC's Fort Worth regional office, said in a statement. "But instead, as we allege, the family of funds and its executives concealed the economic reality of UDF's business operations and masked the fact that payments to investors in an earlier fund came from a newer fund."
Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/business/real-estate/2018/07/03/grapevine-lender-udfs-execs-pay-8-million-after-sec-sues-misleading-investors
Men plead no contest in deadly California warehouse fire
OAKLAND, Calif. — Two men charged in a California warehouse fire that killed 36 people agreed to a plea deal Tuesday during an emotional hearing where the judge read the name of each victim aloud, bringing tears from loved ones in the courtroom.
Under the terms of a plea agreement, Derick Almena and Max Harris each pleaded no contest to 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter involving the 2016 blaze at a dilapidated Oakland warehouse known as the “Ghost Ship” during an unlicensed concert.
Almena could be sentenced to nine years in prison and Harris could face a six-year term when a judge sentences them next month.
The men could have faced life in prison if convicted at a trial. Now, with good behavior, they are only expected to serve half their sentences after spending a year in jail.
Read more: https://www.dentonrc.com/ap/national/men-plead-no-contest-in-deadly-california-warehouse-fire/article_96629918-a39b-5fda-8e89-dd21f9ac199b.html
South Texas ex-mayor gets 8 years plus a month in prison
DEL RIO, Texas (AP) — The former mayor of the South Texas town of Crystal City has been sentenced to eight years and a month in federal prison for corruption.
Besides the 97-month prison term, Ricardo Lopez was sentenced in Del Rio on Monday to pay $24,000 in restitution and spend three years under federal supervision upon release.
In June 2017, a federal jury in Del Rio found Lopez and William James Jonas III, Crystal City's former city manager and city attorney, guilty of bribery, wire fraud and theft counts from a corruption probe.
Trial testimony revealed that Jonas, Lopez and other city officials used their official positions to enrich themselves by seeking and taking bribes from persons doing business in Crystal City.
Jonas was sentenced on May 16 to 35 years in prison.
https://www.lmtonline.com/news/article/South-Texas-ex-mayor-gets-8-years-plus-a-month-in-13046239.php
(brief article)
Largest Texas solar farm to be built in West Texas for $400 million
A Canadian renewable energy company has bought what will be the largest solar project in Texas when it is built.
Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. will build the 250 megawatt Phoebe solar farm in Winkler County, which is on the border of New Mexico, after buying the project from Longroad Energy Partners. Innergex said the solar farm will cost nearly $400 million and is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2019.
The project has a 12 year power purchase agreement with Shell Energy North America, which is Shell's North America wholesale energy marketer and trader.
The farm would be much larger than the 180 megawatt Upton 2 solar farm operated by Vistra Energy in Upton County, currently Texas' largest. It was recently announced that a 10 megawatt, 42 megawatt hour battery would be installed at the Upton 2 farm to shift some of the solar power to peak usage hours, which are typically between 5 and 7 p.m.
Read more: https://www.mrt.com/business/eagle-ford-energy/article/Largest-Texas-solar-farm-to-be-built-in-West-13046949.php
OOPS: Rep. Konni Burton Demands Fort Worth Schools Release Information Already Available
Tea Party/Trump Party Republican Konni Burton (SD10 – Southlake) hitched a ride on Ken Paxton’s high horse to charge backwards into a bogus attack on the Fort Worth Independent School District designed to drive a wedge between parents and school officials.
Paxton & Burton Demand Information Already Available
In an effort to divert attention away from the felony criminal charges pending against him, Ken Paxton sent a letter to the FWISD demanding that details of sexual health curriculum taught in the Fort Worth public schools be released to parents.
Shortly after Paxton’s letter was made public, Konni Burton issued a press release joining the demand that the curriculum details be released.
However, there’s a problem with the Paxton/Burton play to drive a wedge between Fort Worth parents and teachers; the information they are demanding is already available to any parent that requests it.
Read more: http://lonestarproject.net/oops-burton-demands-fw-schools-release-information-already-available#ixzz5KGN4njxj
Can Democrats win back the Obama-Trump voter? This race is the test.
CHESTER, ILL. -- He is a top Democratic recruit, a man party officials have eyed for years and who is now running in one of the most competitive districts in the country. And on a Thursday night in late May, he stood before a room of irate Democrats, defending Donald Trump.
“Let me say this in response a little bit: I think there’s a lot of anger in the country,” Brendan Kelly told the gaggle of grizzled attendees here in southern Illinois’ 12th congressional district, as anti-Trump barbs began to fly.
The town hall gathering, held in a fluorescent-lit, wood-paneled meeting room where a Bud Light-emblazoned clock kept the time, was supposed to be about Social Security, pensions and Medicare. And for awhile, it was. But then the Trump-bashing began from the audience: “No one is a bigger liar in the country than the President or Sarah Sanders.” Trump is “an immoral, draft-dodging punk.”
At first, Kelly, a burly Navy veteran and current state’s attorney, tried to engage, aware that the insults represented a minority viewpoint in this district that backed Trump by 15 percentage points: “I’m running in a district that voted for President Trump, and also for [Democratic Sen.] Tammy Duckworth overwhelmingly. The same people. Why do you think that is?”
Read more: https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article214083034.html
NC Influencers say state needs to give schools enough money and close achievement gap
RALEIGH -- Public schools need to receive adequate funding to ensure the continued health of North Carolina, according to a new survey of some of the state's most influential leaders.
A group of 60 North Carolina Influencers — comprised of leaders in the state’s political, business, academic and faith communities — were asked about the importance of 14 different education topics. Nearly all the Influencers listed adequate funding as being very important, saying that taking care of that issue would help solve a variety of other problems affecting the state's K-12 education system.
"While many of these issues are very important, adequate funding is the most important," said Pamela Davies, president of Queens University of Charlotte. "If NC was funding K-12 education appropriately, many deficiencies in our system, including teacher pay and Pre-K, could be addressed.
"However, money alone is not the answer. Strong leadership, both in the system and in the school house, is imperative if we are to deliver the quality of education the children of North Carolina deserve."
Read more: https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/influencers/article213909629.html
National Democrats return to deep-red South Carolina district
WASHINGTON -- National Democrats sent a Washington operative to South Carolina’s First Congressional District this week — a second visit in just three weeks since Republican incumbent Rep. Mark Sanford lost his primary election.
The return trip sends a strong signal Democrats see a big chance to retake control of a seat they haven’t held since 1981 — in a year when the party needs to win 23 races to win back control of the House.
The Democratic effort appears to be a sign the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the party’s official fundraising arm for House candidates, is preparing to make crucial investments in Democratic candidate Joe Cunningham’s campaign.
That could include broadcasting the district as a potential pick-up opportunity on the party's “Majority Makers” list. Cunningham might even land in the DCCC’s prestigious “Red-to-Blue” program, which entitles an election cycle’s most promising Congressional candidates to significant “organizational and fundraising support.”
Read more: https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article214279239.html
Trump administration rolls back racial diversity guidelines for colleges
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Tuesday rescinded an extensive set of guidelines put in place under President Barack Obama that had called on colleges and universities to consider race as a way of promoting diversity.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the 24 documents many of which gave advice to schools on how to deal with Supreme Court decisions on race and admissions “were unnecessary, outdated, inconsistent with existing law, or otherwise improper.”
It has the effect of bringing the federal government’s position on affirmative action close to that of the George W. Bush administration which held that race could be considered only if a university had no other way of achieving a diverse student class.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled over a series of cases that universities may use affirmative action to help minority applicants get into college. Conservatives have argued such programs can hurt whites and Asian-Americans.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-education-race/trump-administration-rolls-back-racial-diversity-guidelines-for-colleges-idUSKBN1JT1HO
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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
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