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TexasTowelie's JournalOilfield services company to pay $140M fine over accounting fraud
The Securities and Exchange Commission hit Weatherford International with its biggest financial penalty of the year, alleging that deceptive accounting practices used by the oilfield services company to inflate profits extended beyond gross negligence to outright fraud.
Weatherford, which has its main operations in Houston, agreed to pay $140 million to settle charges that it overstated its earnings by nearly $1 billion between 2007 and 2012 and had virtually no oversight over its tax department, where the deceptive practices were centered.
Over the past decade, only two other companies paid bigger penalties over allegations of financial fraud: BP, which paid $525 million in 2012 for misleading investors during the Deepwater Horizon tragedy, and Computer Sciences Corp. of Tysons, Va., which paid $190 million last year to settle charges that it manipulated financial data to boost its profits.
"Weatherford denied its investors accurate and reliable financial reporting by allowing two executives to choose their own numbers when the actual financial results fell short of what was previously disclosed to analysts and the public," Andrew Ceresney, director of the SEC's enforcement division, said in a statement.
Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/business/energy/2016/09/28/oilfield-services-company-pay-140m-fine-accounting-fraud
Abortion opponent admits to smashing window at Addison Planned Parenthood
A Farmers Branch man pleaded guilty to damaging an Addison Planned Parenthood last year because he believed abortions were being performed there, officials announced.
Matthew Ring, 32, pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of damaging property of a reproductive health services facility. He faces up to a year in prison, $100,000 fine and no more than one year of supervised released.
Ring is scheduled to be sentenced in January, U.S. Attorney John R. Parker said.
Early in the morning of Aug. 29, 2015, Ring drove to the Planned Parenthood on Beltline Road, parked nearby, put on a surgical mask in an attempt to disguise himself and smashed a window of the facility with a crowbar, according to court documents.
Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2016/09/28/man-pleads-guilty-smashing-window-addison-planned-parenthood
'Affluenza' teen Ethan Couch appears in court, hoping to have his sentence thrown out
"Affluenza" teen Ethan Couch was back in a Tarrant County courtroom on Tuesday as his lawyers argued that the judge in his case should be removed.
After filing a new motion last month challenging State District Judge Wayne Salvant's jurisdiction, Couch's lawyers made their arguments to a visiting judge, David Evans, KTVT-TV (Channel 11) reports.
Couch, then 16, killed four people and seriously injured two others when he crashed a pickup while driving drunk in June 2013.
His case gained national notoriety after a psychologist testified that he suffered "affluenza" because his dysfunctional relationship with his wealthy parents prevented him from having any sense of personal responsibility. He was sentenced to probation.
Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/courts/2016/09/27/affluenza-teen-ethan-couch-appears-court-hoping-sentence-thrown
Controversial technique results in baby born with DNA from 3 people
NEW YORK (AP) — Scientists say the first baby has been born from a controversial new technique that combines DNA from three people — the mother, the father and an egg donor.
The goal was to prevent the child from inheriting a fatal genetic disease from his mother, who had previously lost two children to the illness.
The birth of the boy is revealed in a research summary published by the journal Fertility & Sterility. Scientists are scheduled to present details at a meeting next month in Salt Lake City.
The magazine New Scientist, which first reported the birth, said the baby was born five months ago to Jordanian parents, and that they were treated in Mexico by a team led by Dr. John Zhang of the New Hope Fertility Center in New York. It's not clear where the child was born.
Read more: http://kentuckytoday.com/stories/baby-born-with-dna-from-3-people-first-from-new-technique,5378
Death threats cited by victim as former UK board chair pleads not guilty in rape case
Former University of Kentucky board chairman Billy Joe Miles of Owensboro pleaded not guilty Monday to rape, sodomy and bribing a witness at a hearing in which the prosecutor said the alleged victim has received death threats and other harassment since the charges were filed.
An attorney for Miles denied any involvement by him or any member of his family.
Miles, 76, was charged by a grand jury Sept. 5 in Daviess Circuit Court. The first-degree rape and sodomy charges are Class B felonies, each subject to 10 to 20 years in prison. The bribing charge is a Class D felony, subject to one to five years in prison. Fines for the felonies range from $1,000 to $10,000.
Miles is a prominent farmer and businessman in Daviess County.
Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article104490136.html
House Dems: Bevin withholding $4M from schools
House Democrats on Wednesday accused Gov. Matt Bevin of withholding more than $4 million needed by public schools to make up for a formula-based funding program’s financial shortfall, although the governor pre-emptively released a video disputing their claims.
Standing together in the Capitol rotunda, House Speaker Greg Stumbo and other Democrats claimed that Bevin has refused to release about $4.6 million that is meant to account for a gap in so-called Support Education Excellence in Kentucky, or SEEK, funding.
The SEEK formula primarily benefits poor school districts, said state Rep. Rick Rand, D-Bedford, who chairs the House budget committee. The SEEK shortfall for fiscal year 2015-16, which ended June 30, totals more than $4.6 million.
Rand said he believes Bevin has full authority to distribute that money and called on him to do so.
Read more: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2016/09/28/house-dems-bevin-withholding-4m-schools/91232236/
Beshear criticizes Bevin for text message calling AG's office an embarrassment
Gov. Matt Bevin fired off a text message to Attorney General Andy Beshear on Monday evening calling his office an "embarrassment to the Commonwealth."
It's the latest in the ongoing battle between Bevin and the Beshear family in which Bevin has removed Beshear's mother from a state commission and Beshear has sued Bevin over other actions, claiming the governor has overstepped his authority.
The last two dust-ups have gone in Beshear's favor with a ruling last week from the state Supreme Court saying that Bevin's cuts to state universities violated the law and Tuesday when Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd ruled that his executive order essentially firing the entire University of Louisville board of trustees was illegal as well.
The text message, which Beshear received around 6 p.m. Monday, said, "I would strongly suggest you get your house in order. Your office is becoming an increasing embarrassment to the commonwealth."
Read more: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/ky-governor/2016/09/28/beshear-criticizes-bevin-text-message/91243556/
Judge rules against Bevin in University of Louisville trustee case
Ruling that Gov. Matt Bevin had illegally acted as “judge, jury and executioner” in abolishing the University of Louisville board of trustees and appointing his own, a judge on Wednesday permanently set aside Bevin’s orders.
In another blow to Bevin’s executive powers, Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd said Bevin’s June 28 actions were “entirely without precedent.”
Shepherd wrote in a 17-page opinion that Bevin “maligned the integrity and competence” of the former board members by calling them “operationally dysfunctional,” then broke the law by giving them “no recourse whatsoever” to contest his “unilateral fiat.”
The judge also said Bevin improperly agreed to fire and replace the board as a condition of getting President James Ramsey’s agreement to resign.
Read more: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/ky-governor/2016/09/28/judge-rules-against-bevin-u-l-trustee-case/91221200/
The Americas Are Now Officially 'Measles-Free'
The Americas are now free of measles, the first region in the world to achieve that goal, the Pan American Health Organization announced this week. The success is credited to the effectiveness of mass vaccination programs over the past 22 years.
Yet measles remain a significant problem in other parts of the world, public health officials warn. There were 244,704 cases reported in 2015. And outbreaks could still pop up in the Americas if unvaccinated travelers spread the disease.
To find out more about the status and risks of measles, we spoke to Dr. Seth Berkley, the CEO of GAVI, a Geneva-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve and provide vaccine and immunization coverage to children in the world's poorest countries. (Note: GAVI's funders include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is also a funder of NPR and this blog.) The interview has been edited for space and clarity.
Read more: http://tpr.org/post/americas-are-now-officially-measles-free
Lawsuit over Gov. Martinez’s campaign emails dismissed
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A 2-year-old civil lawsuit over emails released from Gov. Susana Martinez’s hijacked email account has been dismissed.
The Albuquerque Journal reports (http://bit.ly/2ddnqiq ) on Monday, court filings showed that both parties have agreed to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning it can’t be refiled.
Attorneys in the case declined to comment.
Four plaintiffs were suing several people including a former state Democratic Party chairman and Martinez’s ex-campaign manager for violations of laws over the interception and protection of electronic communication in 2010.
Read more: http://rdrnews.com/wordpress/blog/2016/09/27/lawsuit-over-gov-martinezs-campaign-emails-dismissed/
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
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Current location: Bryan, Texas
Member since: Sun Aug 14, 2011, 03:57 AM
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