TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalFake millionaire tycoon gets prison for online dating scam
NEW YORK — A man who posed along the East Coast as a millionaire oil tycoon to scam women on internet dating sites out of hundreds of thousands of dollars was sentenced on Thursday to nearly four years in prison.
U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain described John Edward Taylor as sick and dangerous as she ordered him to serve three years and 10 months in prison in addition to 14 months he served after a related Virginia conviction.
The judge said 16 of Taylor’s two dozen victims from New York to Atlanta lost from several hundred dollars to more than $50,000 after encountering his “quest for money, respect, admiration and control.” She said some victims, who lost a total of more than $290,000, were left financially ruined while others had credit ratings ruined or were left suffering from fear, depression, anxiety and concern for their personal safety.
The scam ended after a married couple who met Taylor at a Philadelphia Phillies game they attended with their children on April 25, 2015, reported him to the FBI.
Read more: http://www.caller.com/story/news/nation/2018/01/04/fake-millionaire-tycoon-gets-prison-online-dating-scam/1006258001/
At War Over Water, Texas And New Mexico Will Face Off Next Week At The Supreme Court
As the state’s population booms, water – or the lack of it – is becoming an increasing problem in west Texas. Each drop is precious. On January 8, Texas and New Mexico are headed to the Supreme Court to give their oral arguments in a dispute over an 80-year-old compact involving water from the Rio Grande. Texas claims New Mexico hasn’t been handing over the state’s allocated share of water, leaving its residents and their pecan trees high and dry.
As soon as the Ramirez Pecan farm in Clint, Texas opens on a Saturday morning, it gets busy. Several customers are walking through the farm’s 300 trees, buckets in hand, collecting pecans while others buy pre-packaged ones in the small gift shop.
Lupe Ramirez runs the family farm.
“My grandmother works here. My aunt works here. My uncle comes in often. My dad stops in when permitted by health. My mom comes out here and does baking. I’m out here,” Ramirez says.
In recent years, getting enough water for the 10-acre farm has become a challenge. About five years ago, Ramirez had to install pumps for groundwater. Lately there just hasn’t been much water in the Rio Grande for farmers like him who live near the end of the 1,800-mile river.
Read more: http://www.texasstandard.org/stories/at-war-over-water-texas-and-new-mexico-will-face-off-next-week-at-the-supreme-court/#
Cross-posted in the Texas Group.
At War Over Water, Texas And New Mexico Will Face Off Next Week At The Supreme Court
As the state’s population booms, water – or the lack of it – is becoming an increasing problem in west Texas. Each drop is precious. On January 8, Texas and New Mexico are headed to the Supreme Court to give their oral arguments in a dispute over an 80-year-old compact involving water from the Rio Grande. Texas claims New Mexico hasn’t been handing over the state’s allocated share of water, leaving its residents and their pecan trees high and dry.
As soon as the Ramirez Pecan farm in Clint, Texas opens on a Saturday morning, it gets busy. Several customers are walking through the farm’s 300 trees, buckets in hand, collecting pecans while others buy pre-packaged ones in the small gift shop.
Lupe Ramirez runs the family farm.
“My grandmother works here. My aunt works here. My uncle comes in often. My dad stops in when permitted by health. My mom comes out here and does baking. I’m out here,” Ramirez says.
In recent years, getting enough water for the 10-acre farm has become a challenge. About five years ago, Ramirez had to install pumps for groundwater. Lately there just hasn’t been much water in the Rio Grande for farmers like him who live near the end of the 1,800-mile river.
Read more: http://www.texasstandard.org/stories/at-war-over-water-texas-and-new-mexico-will-face-off-next-week-at-the-supreme-court/#
Cross-posted in the New Mexico Group.
At Least 42 LGBTQ Texans Are Running for Office in 2018
With equality under attack by the Trump administration and the Texas Legislature, LGBTQ candidates across the state are lining up to fight back.
A record of at least 42 openly LGBTQ people are running for public office in Texas in 2018, according to an extensive review by OutSmart. That’s roughly three times as many as in any previous election cycle in the state’s history.
The unprecedented field of LGBTQ candidates includes two for governor, one for Texas Supreme Court, three for Texas Senate, 10 for Texas House, eight for Congress, and dozens for various judicial seats.
Twenty-one of the LGBTQ candidates are female, and 21 are male. Five are transgender, three are African-American, and eight are Hispanic. Six are incumbents who are among the state’s 18 current LGBTQ elected and appointed officials.
Read more: http://www.outsmartmagazine.com/2018/01/at-least-35-lgbtq-texans-are-running-for-office-in-2018/
Texas House candidate says pipe bomb conviction stems from blowing up tree stumps
The primary challenger to state Rep. J.D. Sheffield, R-Gatesville, pleaded guilty in 2001 to making a pipe bomb — but he says he meant no harm and wants to change the laws that led to his conviction.
"Growing up, I blew up tree stumps recreationally," Sheffield's opponent, Chris Evans, said in a statement Thursday to the Tribune that also included a promise to voters in House District 59. "After I become a legislator, I'm going to get rid of dumb laws that hassle country kids who aren't hurting anyone."
Evans was given eight years of probation for the offense, but he ultimately had to serve only four years. Yet his criminal record could color the race between him and Sheffield, one of roughly two dozen House primaries where GOP incumbents are facing opposition from their right.
The case in question dates back to 1998, when Stephenville police learned from a former roommate of Evans — who was then in his early 20s — that he was keeping in his apartment two 1-foot pipe bombs and a 2-foot piece of PVC pipe. The roommate, who had recently moved out after a fight, told police that Evans referred to the 1-foot bombs as practice bombs and the 2-foot piece of pipe as ultimately "his bomb," according to a police report obtained by the Tribune.
Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2018/01/04/texas-house-candidate-says-pipe-bomb-conviction-stems-blowing-tree-stu/
Abilene Christian University encourages students not to apply at Hooters
Abilene Christian University is urging students not to apply for a job at a new Hooters location that is just weeks away from opening.
According to local Abilene new station KTXS, the director of public and media relations for the Texas university told them that the campus has asked students to avoid working for the establishment.
"We have asked students to consider both what Hooters represents, " the article said, "and whether that is something they really want to support in terms of both their faith and the value this business model places on women."
ACU's media director also mentioned that, according to the handbook, students are "challenged" to make decisions that glorify God, and that the school could review each person who they felt did not uphold that standard.
The Hooters is set to open Jan. 15 and the company is looking to fill several positions before that date.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Abilene-Christian-University-Hooters-job-12474280.php
Where's the border security? Texas Republicans blame Trump
WASHINGTON -- Texas Republicans have more at stake than anyone as Washington’s border security deliberations drag on.
Eleven months from Election Day, they say the White House has paralyzed their ability to motivate their base.
Without bolstered border security, Texas GOP strategists fear their voters could stay home in 2018, potentially costing the party as many as four Republican-held congressional seats.
President Donald Trump alone has the authority to determine what his base will accept on immigration policy though, Texas’ Washington lawmakers say, particularly when it comes to his border wall.
Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/latest-news/article193035684.html
Democrats hope Texas voters choose politics over football game
For much of Right-Thinking America (defined as those who accept college football as a deity), attention on Monday night starting at 7 p.m. Austin time will be firmly fixed on Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium where the hated University of Alabama Crimson Tide, led by the hated Nick Saban, will take on the beloved University of Georgia Bulldogs for the college gridiron national championship.
(Some of you might think that sounded a bit biased. Let me assure you that it was. My son’s a UGA grad. Go Dawgs!)
So that’s where much of the nation’s focus will be. Except maybe for Texas Democrats, bless their somebody-get-them-a-calendar hearts.
Their attention might be trained on 1 Love St. in San Angelo. That’s where the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts is located. One of the current exhibits is called, “I Once Was Here: Ghosts and Memories.”
The unkind among you might think that’s an appropriate exhibit for Texas Democrats. But that’s not the reason their attention will be on the art museum. The real reason is the museum is the venue for a Democratic gubernatorial candidate forum, starting at 7 p.m. and hosted by the Tom Green County Democratic Party, in which eight of the 10 contenders are expected to participate. This is always subject to change.
Read more: http://www.mystatesman.com/news/opinion/herman-democrats-hope-texas-voters-choose-politics-over-football-game/PFg9cCI2mSoDMTzQC2jeWJ/
Southwest Airlines to pay $15 million to settle allegations that it colluded to raise fares
Southwest Airlines has agreed to pay $15 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that accuses the Dallas-based carrier and other U.S. airlines of illegally colluding to restrict capacity and increase airfares.
Southwest is the first airline to settle in the case, but did not admit any wrongdoing. In addition to the cash payment, the airline agreed to provide additional information and make certain employees available for interviews by the plaintiffs’ attorneys.
“We did not enter into any unlawful agreements with other airlines, against which we compete vigorously, and this settlement does not constitute any admission of wrongdoing,” Southwest spokesman Brad Hawkins said. “We’re entering into this settlement to avoid considerable distraction and expense of protracted class-action litigation.”
A federal judge preliminarily approved the settlement on Wednesday and air travelers will have a chance to object before it is finalized.
Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/business/airlines/2018/01/04/southwest-airlines-pay-15-million-settle-allegations-colluded-raise-fares
TCU fraternity pledges were burned, hazed before group was suspended, police report says
Pledges to a Texas Christian University fraternity were forced to hold a lighted match while reciting the Greek alphabet and were blindfolded and put in a closet, according to hazing allegations reported by KXAS-TV (NBC5).
Claims of hazing by members of the Epsilon Beta chapter of Delta Tau Delta were detailed in police documents obtained by the station. The reports emerged last month, and the fraternity was suspended by its national organization.
A criminal investigation was opened after a student told a campus administrator about the allegations Nov. 1 and campus police were notified, according to the documents.
The complaint states that new members were forced to do a number of things including holding a match while reciting the Greek alphabet. They could not blow out the match until they had finished, and some were burned, according to NBC5.
Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/higher-education/2018/01/04/tcu-fraternity-pledges-burned-hazed-before-group-suspended-police-report-says
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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
Number of posts: 112,063
