Source: AP

GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP) — President Barack Obama will not attend next month’s event marking the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in Pennsylvania, national park officials said.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will instead represent the administration the Nov. 19 sesquicentennial, officials at Gettysburg National Military Park said Wednesday.

Jewell and historian James McPherson will share the role of keynote speaker. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett also plans to attend the ceremony.

McPherson, a top Civil War historian who won the Pulitzer for “Battle Cry of Freedom,” said he was surprised by Obama’s decision.

Read more: http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2013-10-31/obama-wont-attend-remembrance-150th-anniversary-gettysburg-address

Like a mean Halloween joke, the bad-news minutiae of Michael Brown's federal bankruptcy case keeps piling up as the former Houston hand surgeon presumably battles the effects of a serious heart attack in Miami.

-snip-

The court record, meanwhile, shows no let-up in activity due to his illness.

For example, on Oct. 28 the Chapter 11 trustee, who is responsible for administering the bankruptcy plan, asked the court to order Brown to remove his personal property from his Miami Beach luxury home so it can be put on the market. The mortgage was not paid in October, the suit states.

"The trustee has been informed that the primary period for selling luxury homes in Miami is seasonal, beginning in early November through the winter holidays," the filing states. "Emergency consideration is appropriate ..."

More at http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Michael-Brown-s-heart-attack-hasn-t-stopped-flow-4943255.php?cmpid=hpbn .

Dr. Conrad Murray, the physician convicted in the death of pop icon Michael Jackson, is seeking to reinstate his medical license in Texas, alleging the state medical board prematurely revoked his permit to practice.

Murray argues the board went against laws in California that say a defendant must exhaust all of his appeals before his privileges can be taken away, according to a petition filed this week in Travis County district court. The court papers were filed three days before his Oct. 28 release from Los Angeles County Jail on a felony conviction of involuntary manslaughter.

The revocation of his license in Texas now opens him to the risk of also losing his license in the state of California, which he says would cause him “irreparable harm” as he has four dependents and no ability to make income, the records state. In a court declaration, he says he owes more than $400,000 in debts.

“Effectively, the Texas Medical Board has said to California, ‘Your laws don’t matter,’” said Houston lawyer Charles Peckham, who has represented Murray on the issue since November 2009. “It has resulted in an improper and illegal domino effect based on that fact that (the board) is disregarding the United States Constitution.”

More at http://www.statesman.com/news/news/crime-law/physician-convicted-in-michael-jackson-death-seeks/nbdSn/ .

A member of a Texas separatist group who was twice arrested for impersonating a Texas Ranger agreed Wednesday to begin serving probation.

Gregory Brent Davis, a 62-year-old member of the Republic of Texas, also agreed to pay a $1,250 fine and complete 200 hours of community service as part of his plea agreements for impersonating a public servant and unlawfully carrying a handgun.

Republic of Texas members believe that Texas never legally joined the United States and hope for a peaceful return to national sovereignty, according to the group's website.

Davis initially was arrested at a charity rodeo event in July 2011 while wearing a silver badge that said “Ranger” and carrying a Colt Model 1911 pistol in a leather holster, according to court documents.

More at http://www.chron.com/news/local/article/Texas-Ranger-impersonator-gets-probation-4940848.php?cmpid=hpbn .

The state's highest criminal court ruled Wednesday that a law banning sexually explicit online communication with minors is unconstitutional.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals struck down a section of the law against online solicitation of a minor, arguing that it outlawed a "whole cornucopia of 'titillating talk' or 'dirty talk' but also includes sexually explicit literature such as 'Lolita' '50 Shades of Grey' 'Lady Chatterly's Lover' and Shakespeare's 'Troilus and Cressida.'"

The 2005 law was written to prevent anyone from using the internet or electronic messages, including texts, to "lure" children into sexual situations, according the ruling.

But because part of this law was so generally written, it violates the First Amendment right to free speech, according the opinion authored by Justice Cathy Cochran.

More at http://www.chron.com/news/article/Texas-Court-OK-to-talk-dirty-to-minors-4939966.php?cmpid=hpts .

WASHINGTON — Sen. Ted Cruz, already fodder for late night comics, will make his first in-person appearance on late night television. NBC just announced that the Texas freshman will appear Friday, Nov. 8, on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”

He’ll discuss the recent government shut-down, the debt ceiling, gridlock in Washington and the current state of the Republican Party, according to NBC.

Just a wild guess: “Green Eggs & Ham” will also be mentioned.

Saturday Night Live lampooned Cruz recently. On The Daily Show, Jon Stewart has put a focus on the Texan several times, including here (after the 21-hour Senate talkathon) and here (when Stewart calls the Canadian-born senator a “dirty syrup guzzler”) and here (when Stewart, interviewing former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Cruz’s predecessor in the Senate, likens him to Superman nemesis Lex Luthor.)

More at http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2013/10/jay-leno-books-sen-ted-cruz-for-nov-8.html/ .

Source: Houston Chronicle

As the morning rain stopped, about 35 anti-abortion protesters converged Wednesday at a south Houston Planned Parenthood.

Two Planned Parenthood volunteers stood at the parking entrance but no police were visible at the location in the 4600 block of the Gulf Freeway.

Speakers included state Rep. Steve Toth, R-The Woodlands, who said the Planned Parenthood building is "a shameful monument to a multimillion dollar (abortion) business."

The event was to protest U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel's Oct. 28 ruling that a provision to require abortion providers to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals is unconstitutional.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Texas-abortion-ruling-draws-protest-at-Houston-4939383.php?cmpid=hpbn

Michael Brown, the former Houston hand surgeon whose personal life has played out in the news for the past couple years, has suffered a heart attack.

According to a court filing in Brown's Houston bankruptcy case, the 56-year-old former physician went into cardiac arrest Oct. 24.

"Dr. Brown remains hospitalized and is incapacitated," the court filing states. "The extent of the damage he has suffered is unknown; however, it appears to be severe and, at this time, counsel has no ability to communicate with Dr. Brown."

No updates had been entered into the court case file by Tuesday, and no information was available from other sources.

More at http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Michael-Brown-hospitalized-after-heart-attack-4935885.php?cmpid=hpts .

Moving to begin immediate enforcement of the state’s new abortion law, lawyers for Texas asked a federal appeals court Tuesday to lift a day-old injunction banning a provision that could force 13 of the state’s 32 clinics to close.

Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to issue an emergency stay to allow full enforcement of House Bill 2, including a provision requiring abortion doctors to gain admitting privileges in a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel ruled the admitting privileges requirement violated the U.S. Constitution by placing an unreasonable burden on women seeking an abortion while offering no discernible health benefit for patients.

Abbott’s office quickly notified the appeals court that Texas will challenge Yeakel’s ruling, then followed Tuesday morning by asking the court to allow Texas to enforce HB 2 while its appeal continues.

The state’s motion, signed by Solicitor General Jonathan Mitchell with the state attorney general’s office, argued that Yeakel’s ruling applied the wrong constitutional standard and failed to cite “a single (undue) burden on a single abortion patient.”

“Indeed, the plaintiffs acknowledged that HB 2 would impose little or no burden on tens of thousands of the state’s abortion patients, as their expert found that more than 90 percent of them would remain able to secure an abortion within 100 miles of their residence,” the motion said.

Noting that the admitting privileges requirement was supposed to take effect Tuesday, Mitchell asked the court to act on the motion by the close of business. The New Orleans-based court closed at 5 p.m., however, without addressing the request.

Mitchell also asked the court to set an expedited briefing schedule on the state’s appeal of Yeakel’s ruling. The goal, he wrote, is to set oral arguments for as early as January.

Yeakel’s ruling followed a three-day trial in which abortion providers testified that some doctors had been unable to get admitting privileges within the law’s 90-day deadline, requiring 13 clinics to shut down.

Heather Busby, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, said evidence showed that the closures would prevent more than 22,000 women from being able to obtain an abortion over the next year.

“I’m not sure what trial the (Abbott’s) attorneys were in, but the evidence overwhelmingly supported the judge’s ruling,” Busby said. “By pushing this extreme and harmful law, Abbott is sending the message that he doesn’t trust Texas women to make personal, private decisions about their health and their bodies.”

http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/texas-seeks-emergency-ruling-so-it-can-enact-abort/nbcD7/

A bizarre homophobic note left in lieu of a tip for a waiter at an Italian restaurant in Kansas generated so much buzz that people have been asking for the waiter's table so they can tip him with cash instead.

Last Friday, a couple thanked their 20-year-old waiter for good service at Carrabba's Italian Grill in Overland Park with this creepy note instead of a tip, according to local news reports:

"Thank you for your service, it was excellent. That being said, we cannot in good conscience tip you, for your homosexual lifestyle is an affront to GOD. Queers do not share in the wealth of GOD, and you will not share in ours. We hope you will see the tip your f*g choices made you lose out on, and plan accordingly. It is never too late for GOD'S love, but none shall be spared for f*gs. May GOD have mercy on you."

The story made the rounds in social media, and the restaurant supported the young waiter on its Facebook page.

More at http://www.statesman.com/news/news/kansas-diners-leave-homophobic-note-instead-tip/nbY39/ .