TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalCentral Bankers Spurn Call for Radical Approach at Jackson Hole
Central bankers aren’t retreating from the fight against low inflation, although they’re wary of launching a fresh assault on any daring new fronts.
Faced with disappointing growth after years of ultra-low interest rates, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and her peers who met this weekend in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, re-affirmed their belief in power of monetary policy to stop economies from slipping into deflation. They were less keen on academic proposals that included the abolition of cash, raising their inflation targets, or keeping permanently large balance sheets.
Yellen, in her keynote address at the Kansas City Fed’s annual mountain retreat, said that additional tools remain “subjects for research” and were not being actively considered. Policy makers from Europe and Japan echoed her caution, while reaffirming that they stand ready to boost stimulus if fiscal action proves insufficient to spur growth and inflation.
Central bankers in advanced economies are struggling with low inflation, low productivity and weak levels of investment. For now, however, they’re being cautious in what they’re signaling about the future and are keeping more activist options at arm’s length.
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-28/central-bankers-spurn-call-for-radical-approach-at-jackson-hole
Man skips court, says law doesn’t apply to him
JACKSON -- A local man who was arrested in July for driving with a fake license plate didn’t appear for his status hearing Thursday in Teton County.
“That hearing actually has nothing to do with me personally,” Bradly Watsabaugh told the Jackson Hole Daily. “And if they proceed with it, they are committing a crime against my estate and myself, as I am standing on my fundamental rights protected by international covenant and the Constitution.”
Watsabaugh said he has the status of a private American national and the courts don’t have power over him.
Body camera video from his arrest shows Watsabaugh refusing citations from the arresting deputy July 25. Watsabaugh wasn’t licensed and his vehicle wasn’t registered or insured, according to reports.
Read more: http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/jackson_hole_daily/local/man-skips-court-says-law-doesn-t-apply-to-him/article_669e7898-955d-5ef0-ac1d-11076ec53f23.html
Increase in fines in Wyoming stirs workplace safety debate
CASPER – When her grandson died in 2012 construction accident, Mary Jane Collins began pushing state lawmakers to do more to prevent job-related fatalities.
Regulators fined the company that employed her 20-year-old grandson, Brett, but the firm negotiated the penalties to half of what the Wyoming Occupational Safety and Health Administration had proposed.
Those fines were based on the federal penalties for serious safety violations. Set in 1990, they hadn’t been adjusted until last year, when Congress hiked the maximum fines 78 percent to adjust for inflation. State lawmakers adopted that increase earlier this year. It goes into effect in February.
Wyoming is perpetually ranked as one of the worst states for workplace safety. And while some hope the increase in fines will address that poor record, others contend the state’s small population and high-risk industries are to blame. Incentives, not penalties, will increase the state’s health and safety record, they maintain.
Read more: http://www.wyomingnews.com/news/increase-in-fines-in-wyoming-stirs-workplace-safety-debate/article_b6ba032a-6dac-11e6-a8d2-0b7ab2973b09.html
Wyoming's tourism industry unlikely to offset energy losses
CASPER – In Yellowstone, more visitors than ever are packing the trails and campgrounds, hoping to glimpse a grizzly or take in the epic views.
The nation’s first national park attracted more visitors than ever last year and is on pace for even higher numbers in 2016.
Just to the south, Jackson Hole Airport is breaking passenger records; July was the second busiest month in its history.
As tourism is booming in Wyoming’s most popular region, other parts of the state are working to draw more visitors.
Read more: http://www.wyomingnews.com/news/wyoming-s-tourism-industry-unlikely-to-offset-energy-losses/article_200be9c8-6dae-11e6-9255-bb4c21849fa2.html
Air ambulance companies claim Wyoming owes them $2 million as state fights to cap fees
CHEYENNE — The state of Wyoming is scrambling to try to block a federal judge’s ruling that the state may not regulate how much air ambulance companies charge for transporting workers who are injured on the job.
The state is asking a federal appeals court in Denver to block this summer’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson of Cheyenne that federal law prohibits state regulation of air ambulance companies. The companies are due to file a response later this week.
Health care providers, including ambulance services, generally submit bills for treating Wyoming workers injured on the job to the state’s workers’ compensation program. A state law specifies that it’s up to the director of the state’s Workers’ Compensation Division to determine reasonable charges for the flights.
But Johnson ruled that a federal law Congress passed in the 1970s specified that states may not enact or enforce laws or regulations regarding price, routes or service of air carriers. He ruled Wyoming’s attempt to regulate air ambulance companies violated that federal law and ordered the state to pay the rates that the air ambulance companies charge.
Read more: http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/air-ambulance-companies-claim-wyoming-owes-them-million-as-state/article_3bbfc58b-2a7e-5000-9915-9bdbb01aacf9.html
Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood: 'Vaccinations can and do cause autism'
SAN ANTONIO — Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood on Sunday screened a controversial documentary, “Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe,” linking childhood vaccines to autism at a local movie theater, according to a source who received an invitation.
Elected in 2014, LaHood also was videotaped sitting at his desk in his county office making a statement on the controversial topic.
“I’m Nico LaHood,” he said. “I’m the criminal district attorney in San Antonio, Texas. I’m here to tell you that vaccines can and do cause autism.”
The next shot declares that “Niko’s (sic) Story” is “coming” on Tuesday, followed by a plug for the Vaxxed documentary.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/local/article/Bexar-County-District-Attorney-Nico-LaHood-9190563.php
[font color=330099]Darn, he is a Democrat.[/font]
Texas AG sues owner of South Side San Antonio dump site with 1 million tires
SAN ANTONIO -- The state Attorney General’s Office sued a mysterious company last week over a South Side tire dump that investigators call a fire hazard and mosquito breeding ground.
The AG’s petition against Eclipse Renewables LLC over the site at 11150 Applewhite Rd. is the third such lawsuit since 2002, when it first sued the previous owner, Safe Tire Disposal Corp. of Texas, which effectively abandoned the dump in 2005. It sued Safe Tire again in 2008.
State environmental investigators say at least 1 million tires remain, according to the filing. Eclipse Renewables purchased the 36-acre property in 2009.
-snip-
State law would allow a judge to issue a penalty of least $129,850, though the maximum would be nearly $65 million, according to the filing.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/local/article/State-sues-owner-of-South-Side-tire-dump-9190670.php
Houston school employee accused of scamming $34,450 from students
A Houston-area school employee is accused of taking $34,450 from students, and using the money to gamble, after telling them the funds were for their tuition.
According to documents filed in Harris County District Court on Friday, Tony Ho, 60, took the money from 24 students at the Renaissance School of Excellence, a Houston charter school, from March to July. He now has a felony theft charge. Renaissance is at 4141 Southwest Freeway.
Ho, who was hired as a marketing liaison and wasn't supposed to collect funds from students, gambled with the money at a casino in Louisiana, according to court documents.
After a school official accused him of taking the money in July, Ho worked out an agreement with the official to pay back $2,000 a month, court documents show. The complaint against Ho states he stopped after paying $4,000.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/houston/article/Houston-school-employee-accused-of-scamming-9191129.php
9 Texas colleges rank among the 'absolute worst' for LGBT students, gay rights group says
Nine Texas colleges with religious ties — including four in the Dallas area — rank among the "absolute worst" for LGBT students, a national gay rights group said Monday.
Campus Pride accused 102 private, religion-based colleges of openly discriminating against LGBT young people through the schools' policies and practices.
Colleges that receive federal money can't discriminate against students based on sex. But schools can seek exemptions if they believe following the law would violate their religious beliefs.
Most schools on the "shame list," as Campus Pride calls it, have asked for or received waivers from the U.S. Department of Education.
Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/headlines/20160829-9-texas-colleges-rank-among-the-absolute-worst-for-lgbt-students-gay-rights-group-says.ece
[font color=330099]Fortunately, I have only stepped foot on the campuses of three of them to attend athletic events.[/font]
Kansas motel owner gets probation for trying to kill wife
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Hindu man was sentenced to probation in Kansas for trying to kill his wife with a pocketknife after his attorney argued sending him to prison could cause the man's family to be ostracized as part of their culture.
Douglas County District Judge Robert Fairchild on Thursday said the cultural considerations weighed into his sentencing decision for Navinkumar Patel.
The 46-year-old Shawnee man pleaded no contest in March to felony charges of attempted second-degree murder and criminal threat for the June 2015 attack on his wife at the Super 8 Motel in Lawrence, which he owns.
His lawyer, John Kerns, told the judge that in the Hindu culture of Patel's family, his wife and children would suffer if he were sentenced to prison.
Read more: http://hosted2.ap.org/KSMAN/b6381e64325e4486a31510c04f946e09/Article_2016-08-26-US--Attempted%20Murder-Probation/id-9a0cc83a63864076868495a50b98c289
Profile Information
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: 112,587
