TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalBillionaire Discount Tire Founder, Art Collector, Pot Hater Bruce Halle Dies at 87
Bruce Halle, art collector and billionaire founder of Discount Tire, died on Thursday according to multiple reports. Forbes ranked the 87-year-old Paradise Valley resident as the richest person in Arizona and the 144th wealthiest person in the U.S. Halle's net worth was about $5.2 billion, according to Forbes.
Halle built his wealth with the chain of independent tire stores. He founded the company in 1960 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the company eventually grew to include 950 stores nationwide.
Halle and his tire empire occasionally courted controversy, including multiple calls for a boycott of his stores. In 2016, Discount Tire stores here posted "Re-Elect Sheriff Joe Arpaio" signs in their windows. And the same year, Halle and Discount Tire contributed $1 million to the anti-Prop 205 campaign, which would have legalized recreational marijuana in Arizona.
Halle and his wife, Diane, were also well-known Latin American art aficionados and amassed a collection of 300 works. The two sponsored various art exhibitions. Works from the Diane and Bruce Halle Collection have been displayed at exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Phoenix Art Museum.
Read more: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/phoenix-landfill-search-no-body-doesnt-mean-there-is-no-case-10013301
Phoenix Cleanses Roosevelt Street Site After Clearing Out Homeless Camp
One day after the Phoenix Police Department arrested at least three people at a homeless camp downtown, a team from the street transportation department was busy removing any signs that the camp ever existed.
By a little after noon, there was hardly anything left to suggest that a dozen or so individuals had been sleeping at a small median on Roosevelt and Third streets just a few days earlier. City officials and advocates descended on the park this week to remove the people living there after concluding that it violated an ordinance.
Phoenix Police Sergeant Matt Butler and two other officers stood by on Friday as a group of workers on the scene picked up trash, raked mulch back into position, and doused the benches with a disinfectant spray. The traffic island where the encampment had grown over December has a metallic sculpture, "Shadow Play."
The city said that because of the median's location as a site for underground utilities, the camp was in violation of an ordinance prohibiting urban camping on city property and right-of-ways.
It sits next to high-end apartment buildings that rent for $1,200 per month and is across the street from a sleek coffee bar.
Read more: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/city-scours-roosevelt-street-site-after-clearing-out-homeless-camp-10015369
'Dracula Clause' Protects AZ's Medical Cannabis Consumers No Matter What Sessions Does
Stay strong, Arizona medical-marijuana patients.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and local authorities have little power to stop you from consuming, possessing, or even growing cannabis under state law.
Sessions on Thursday rescinded the Obama-era actions that gave rise to the modern, state-legal marijuana industry, the so-called Cole and Ogden memos.
In theory, the new non-guidance to top federal prosecutors (the state U.S. attorneys) grants them more leeway to pursue enforcement actions against cannabis companies that are complying with their state laws. Medical-marijuana companies would be immune from this enforcement — but only for another month, if Congress fails to extend a key law banning funds from being spent on such enforcement.
As Phoenix New Times and other media outlets reported Thursday, the anticipated shift in policy has sent a chill throughout the multibillion-dollar industry. Operators and investors with the state's 130 or so dispensaries must wait to see how it all shakes out.
Read more: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/dracula-clause-protects-arizona-medical-cannabis-sessions-10015268
15 Bills to Watch For During Arizona Legislature's 2018 Session
The Arizona Legislature, a world-renowned institution that's frequently compared to a meth lab, convenes once again on January 8. And your elected representatives are already plotting to make it illegal to wear masks in public, place medical marijuana ads on billboards, lie about having a service dog, and more.
Battiness aside, however, this year's agenda also includes numerous pieces of legislation intended to address the opioid crisis and change how sexual misconduct cases are handled. There's also talk of reducing the elementary school suspension rate and putting an end to "lunch-shaming" at school cafeterias.
Out of hundreds of bills that have been filed so far, we've singled out 15 that are worth paying attention to. This isn't intended to be a comprehensive list, since plenty more laws will be proposed in the coming weeks and months. But, for now, here's a look at what Arizona legislators hope to accomplish this year:
Prohibit teen weddings.
Currently, you can get married in Arizona before you've turned 18 — so long as you have parental permission. (Anyone under 16 is also required to undergo premarital counseling and get the approval of a judge.) This bill would eliminate that option, and prevent anyone who's under 18 from getting a marriage license — period.
Bill number: HB 2006
Sponsor: Rep. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, R-Scottsdale
Read more: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/arizona-legislators-look-to-ban-bump-stocks-pot-billboards-teen-weddings-and-more-9989729
How to Raise a Billion Dollars For Schools Without Raising Sales Taxes
Friday's big education news is a funding package put together by AZ Schools Now to generate $950 million in additional money for schools without increasing the sales tax. That's enough to get us even with where we were in 2008.
Arizona is spending less per student now than it was in 2008 using inflation-adjusted numbers. Exactly how much depends on how you crunch the numbers. AZ Schools Now says it would take a billion dollars, more or less, to get us back to 2008 levels.
A billion, more or less, to get us back where we were. The sad thing is, we've been beggaring our schools for so long, a billion is significantly less than we need. We're at or near the bottom of the country in per-student funding, and adding a billion dollars would only raise us two notches. We'd move past Oklahoma and pull even with Mississippi.
Even though it's not enough, an added billion would mean a hell of a lot to our teachers and students. If we boosted teacher salaries by a few thousand dollars, maybe we could hold on to teachers who are fleeing the state for better pay. And get some credentialed teachers who have left the profession to return to the classroom. And lure a few more college students into teaching programs to increase the future teacher pool. Add in a few dollars more for classroom supplies and equipment, and we'd move closer to giving our children the education they deserve.
Read more: https://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2018/01/05/how-to-raise-a-billion-dollars-for-schools-without-raising-sales-taxes
Companies in New York 'open' to new payroll tax system: state official
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Companies in New York state are “open to the idea” of moving the state income tax code to a payroll tax system, a senior state official told Reuters on Friday.
Governor Andrew Cuomo earlier this week said the state was exploring using a payroll tax as an alternative to the income tax in order to help residents hurt by new limits on deductions of state taxes from federal returns, under a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. tax code passed in late December.
Cuomo, along with governors of other high-tax states such as California, has railed against the provision of the federal tax overhaul that introduced an annual cap, of $10,000, on the deduction of state and local income and property taxes, known as or SALT. The $10,000 limit, which became effective for the 2018 tax year, will hit many taxpayers in states with high incomes, property values and taxes.
Paying New York state taxes out of corporate payroll rather than an income tax would help ease the effect on residents of the new cap. New York state residents, however, would still face a $10,000 cap on deductions of local and property taxes.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tax-new-york/companies-in-new-york-open-to-new-payroll-tax-system-state-official-idUSKBN1EV04X
Airliners collide at Toronto's Pearson Airport, passengers safe
(Reuters) - Dozens of passengers were evacuated from an aircraft at Toronto’s Pearson Airport on Friday, after a plane under tow struck an arriving jet that was waiting to park, sparking a small fire, the airport authority said.
Fire and emergency services responded to the collision between the two planes from Sunwing Airlines and Westjet Airlines, which happened at 6:19 p.m. (2319 GMT), the Greater Toronto Airport Authority said in a statement.
Calgary-based Westjet said it had unconfirmed reports of “minor injuries” in the incident, but that all 168 passengers and six crew members on board its plane were safe and accounted for.
The jet, a Boeing 737-800, had just arrived in Toronto from the resort of Cancun, Mexico, and was waiting to proceed to the gate at the time of the collision, Westjet said.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-canada-airport-crash/airliners-collide-at-torontos-pearson-airport-passengers-safe-idUSKBN1EV01G?il=0
'Ungodly fast' pig gives Oregon police the slip -- again
Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Police in Oregon shared photos from their repeated encounters with an "ungodly fast" pig that has been dodging capture since the year began.
Tukwila Police said they first received reports of a pig on the loose Monday, and the department's Facebook page variously referred to the porker as Wilbur, Nelson and ultimately by the real name revealed by its owner, Monty.
"Officers at one point had the perp cornered but he is ungodly fast and quickly outran us into some nearby bushes where he disappeared. Nelson 1 - TPD 0," police wrote in a Facebook post. "We shall meet again, Nelson!"
The pig resurfaced Thursday and police posted they were hot on his trail.
"*BREAKING* We are in pursuit of Monty again!" police wrote.
Read more: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2018/01/05/Ungodly-fast-pig-gives-Oregon-police-the-slip-again/9431515168299/
Puerto Rico expects full power in May as some turn to solar
Jan. 5 (UPI) -- It could be another four months before power is fully restored in Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria, leaving some residents of the island to turn to solar power alternatives.
Patty Coffey, the deputy district engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers, told The Tennessean full power is expected by the end of May. This expected deadline is close to the start of the 2018 hurricane season.
"We still believe we'll have 95 percent of power restored by end of February, early March," she said.
Coffey said full restoration in Puerto Rico has been delayed by resources stretched thin by needs in Florida and Texas, devastated by Hurricanes Irma and Harvey respectively. She said officials in Puerto Rico expect to get the supplies they need by the end of January.
Read more: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2018/01/05/Puerto-Rico-expects-full-power-in-May-as-some-turn-to-solar/8861515176138/
Trump Judicial Nominee Howard Nielson: Gay Judges Shouldn't Hear LGBT Cases
One of President Donald Trump’s newest judicial nominees says he believes gay judges shouldn’t hear cases involving issues that affect the LGBT community.
A report by Alliance for Justice found that Howard Nielson was representing the plaintiffs in Hollingsworth v. Perry, a 2013 case that would have banned same-sex marriage in California. As the case played out, Nielson filed a motion saying chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Vaughn Walker “had a duty to disclose not only the facts concerning his [same-sex] relationship, but also his marriage intentions.”
According to the organization, Nielson said it was “extremely problematic that Judge Walker is a practicing homosexual himself.”
Since the case was about same-sex marriage, Nielson argued that Walker, a Ronald Reagan appointee, could not be unbiased unless he did not intend to marry another man. He wrote that only if Walker had “unequivocally disavowed any interest in marrying his partner could the parties and the public be confident that he did not have a direct personal interest in the outcome," the Alliance cited.
Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/2018/01/howard-nielson/
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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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