TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalRep. Dawnna Dukes Hurt in Car Crash; At Home Recuperating
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Some scary news today: State Representative Dawnna Dukes was seriously hurt in a car crash on I-35 last Thursday, the Austin American-Statesman reported today.
The Representative posted the photo at right on her Facebook page along with several others. Her car was reportedly totaled by a tractor-trailer rig.
Dukes is at home recuperating. The House held a moment of silence for her today when they gaveled in.
Dukes has represented HD-46, including parts of East Austin and Eastern and Northeastern Travis County since 1996.
Source: http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/13893/rep-dawnna-dukes-hurt-in-car-crash-at-home-recuperating
McLennan County DA: Investigation into West paramedic reveals no link to explosion
There is no evidence linking a jailed former paramedic to West’s deadly fertilizer explosion, the McLennan County district attorney told the Waco Tribune-Herald.
District Attorney Abel Reyna said he had reviewed a report from The Texas Rangers to determine if the state should file charges against Bryce Ashley Reed and found no connection to the blast.
“Based on the review I have completed thus far, I have seen no evidence linking him to the fire and subsequent explosion. But I still have additional material to review,” Reyna told The Waco Tribune-Herald.
Reyna was the first official to speak publicly and deny Reed’s involvement in the blast since the 31-year-old was arrested in May for possessing pipe bomb materials. Investigators and other authorities have remained mum, even as Reed’s lawyer and family denied any connection to the blast and called on investigators to clear his name.
More at http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2013/08/mclennan-county-da-investigation-into-west-paramedic-reveals-no-link-to-explosion.html/ .
Ted Cruz Made $1 Million Representing Sketchy Clients While Running for Senate
While he travelled the state running for Senate last year, Ted Cruz found time to make $1 million representing deeply immoral clients of his former law firm. As the Dallas Morning News explains in their (pay-walled) investigate report, among his final clients were "a businessman who pleaded guilty to bribery, a drug manufacturer that fired an employee who refused to break the law, and a company that illegally copied another's tire design." Cruz lost all of those cases.
The businessman was Robert Mericle, who bribed two judges to give minors harsher sentences in the infamous "kids for cash" system. Why? To make money for his private juvenile detention center. Cruz lost the case, but he took home hundreds of thousands of Mericle's money.
Two days after the arguments, Cruz appeared in his first primary debate with Dewhurst. The court had Mericle pay $2.15 million to fund local children's health and welfare programs, and he faces up to three years in prison. His lawyer is now arguably the most prominent Republican in America.
In another case, Cruz represented Moog, a company that fired a spokesperson for refusing to promote its pain control pump Accufuser for nonapproved purposes. Cruz argued in appeals court that the trial jury didn't fully analyze whether the company made the request. The appeals court found the evidence for illegal misconduct to be overwhelming, and Cruz lost that case too. Ka-ching for Cruz nonetheless.
More at http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/13891/ted-cruz-made-1-million-representing-sketchy-clients-while-running-for-senate .
Big bidness: Other states seize on Texas’ inaction on roads
Big business groups urged lawmakers Monday to get a move on and send voters a road-funding measure they claimed is vital to continued growth of Texas’ economy.
“The need for additional money is as clear as can be,” said Bill Hammond, president of the Texas Association of Business, the state’s premier business lobby.
-snip-
Hammond said state inaction on roads and water supplies has begun to harm economic development efforts.
“We know that other states … are using this against us: ‘Don’t go to Texas. They don’t have water and they don’t have roads,’” he said.
More at http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2013/08/big-bidness-other-states-seize-on-texas-inaction-on-roads.html/ .
In DC, state Sen. Wendy Davis vows bid for governor or reelection; no other options under review
WASHINGTON — Headlining a National Press Club luncheon, state Sen. Wendy Davis said she’s considering only two options: run for governor, or seek reelection.
“A lot of people are asking me that question lately, as you can imagine,” she said, when the emcee asked her whether — having just lambasted Gov. Rick Perry — she plans to run for his job next year.
“I’m working very hard to decide what my next stps will be,” she said, adding that many Texans seek a change from the state’s divisive, partisan Republican leadership.
She ruled out a run for any office other than governor or reelection from her Fort Worth Senate district.
That, she said, “I can say with absolute certainty.”
More at http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2013/08/in-dc-state-sen-wendy-davis-vows-bid-for-governor-or-reelection-no-other-options-under-review.html/ .
NASA's Curiosity rover celebrates its first year on Mars
LOS ANGELES — Mount Sharp has beckoned Curiosity since the NASA rover made its grand entrance on Mars exactly a year ago, dangling from nylon cables to a safe landing.
If microbes ever existed on Mars, the mountain represents the best hope for preserving the chemical ingredients that are fundamental to all living things.
After a poky but productive start, Curiosity recently pointed its wheels south, rolling toward the base of Mount Sharp in a journey that will last many months. Expect Curiosity to channel its inner tourist as it drives across the rock-strewn landscape, dodging bumps and taking in the scenery.
"We do a lot of off-roading on a lot of little dirt roads," said mission manager Jennifer Trosper.
More at http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2013-08-05/nasas-curiosity-rover-celebrates-its-first-year-mars .
Taste test: Lab-grown hamburger short on flavor
LONDON — The food of the future could do with a pinch of seasoning — and maybe some cheese.
Two volunteers who took the first public bites of hamburger grown in a laboratory gave it good marks for texture but agreed there was something missing.
"I miss the salt and pepper," said Austrian nutritionist Hanni Ruetzler. U.S. journalist Josh Schonwald confessed to a difficulty in judging a burger "without ketchup or onions or jalapenos or bacon." Both tasters shunned the bun, lettuce and sliced tomatoes offered to them to concentrate on the flavor of the meat itself.
Mark Post, the Dutch scientist who led the team that grew the meat from cattle stem cells, regretted having served the patty without his favorite topping: aged gouda cheese.
Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/08/05/5056286/scientists-serve-up-lab-made-burger.html#storylink=cpy
Rosemary Lehmberg effect: Travis Co. Commissioners to vote on funding state’s Public Integrity Unit
Travis County Commissioners will begin discussing Tuesday whether to fund the state’s Public Integrity Unit (PIU).
Governor Rick Perry vetoed $3.7 million in annual funding after Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg refused to resign from office.
The Travis County Commissioners’ Court may come to the rescue and drag taxpayers along with them. Commissioners are expected to approve funding for the unit.
Below is a Monday morning email exchange between County Judge Sam Biscoe and resident Stephanie Ashworth that was sent to local news media.
More at http://digitaltexan.net/2013/austin-local-news/rosemary-lehmberg-effect-travis-county-commissioners-to-vote-on-funding-states-public-integrity-unit/article55996/ .
Developer Says Arlington Killed Plans to Turn Six Flags Mall Into Hispanic Shopping Center (Updated)
Since its anchor stores began moving out in the late 1990s, followed by all but a couple of other tenants, the empty storefronts and weed-sprouted parking lots of Six Flags Mall have become little more than a haunt for camera-wielding, dead-mall fetishists. It's not completely dead -- a Dillard's outlet still operates there, as does a Cinemark movie theater -- but almost.
But where some saw an outdated eyesore, G.L. "Buck" Harris, an affable furniture and antiques dealer from Fort Worth, saw opportunity. Late last year, he snapped up 364,000 square feet of the mall, which included the shops and food court and one of the four anchor stores. The plan was to renovate the building, now called Plaza Central, and transform it into a shopping center targeting Hispanics.
"God led me," he told the Dallas Business Journal.
Harris did his due diligence before making the reported $5 million purchase. He met with city officials who he says assured him he would run into no permit or zoning issues before renovations.
More at http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2013/08/developer_says_arlington_kille.php .
[font color=green]The 76-year-old man screwed up and has filed a lawsuit against the city of Arlington.[/font]
Activists Launch Foolproof Plot to Impeach Obama: Stand on Overpasses with Signs
You heard it here first: The outrage that has been simmering on the right since President Obama's election in 2008 is about to boil over. It will make the claims that he's a crypto-Muslim communist bent on destroying America seem like trifling schoolyard taunts. It will make those early Tea Party rallies seem like -- well, actual tea parties. Here's a snippet from the official call to arms:
When you grow old, would you rather tell your grandchildren that you stood up for Freedom, or would you rather tell them you did nothing as America fell to the iron fisted grip of tyranny?
NOW is your chance to honor the sacrifices of the Founding Fathers, and do your part to preserve their dream of truth, justice and liberty for ALL!
The uprising begins this weekend, when activists will follow in the footsteps of their revolutionary forebears and stand on highway overpasses armed with "Impeach Obama" signs.
Seriously. There's a newly formed group called Overpasses for Obama's Impeachment. Its Texas chapter, which boasts at least one state legislator (The Woodlands Republican Steve Toth), is rallying the troops at 11 a.m. Saturday to overpasses along Central Expressway and Highway 121, with the epicenter on Park Lane.
But that's only the beginning, at least according to Texas chapter leader and self-described "New Age Patriot" David Dunn. He warns in an email that "
t)hese rallies are to continue until the POTUS is impeached."
More at http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2013/08/conservatives_hatch_foolproof.php .
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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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