Nueces County Democratic Party chair race

The rumored list of candidates to replace Alex Garcia: Joan Veith, Evy Coppola, Danny Noyola Sr. and Carolyn Moon.

John Bell, where are you when we really, really need you? Alex, please run again!

Some object to burying nuclear waste in their backyards

Imagine that!

Environmentalists and residents want the state to reject a proposal by a Dallas-based company to bury tons of radioactive waste in West Texas, a move some fear is the first step to making the state a dumping ground for dangerous pollution.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality issued a draft license last month to allow Waste Control Specialists to bury low-level radioactive material at its plant in Andrews County, northwest of Midland on the New Mexico border. If approved, the company will bury tons of waste, already at the site, from a long-abandoned uranium-processing plant in Fernald, Ohio, near Cincinnati.

TCEQ, inappropriately named, says go for it.

Well, duh! Immigrants' kids learn English.

Three-quarters of Hispanic immigrants do not speak English well, but the overwhelming majority of their children and grandchildren speak the language fluently, according to a new study from the Pew Hispanic Center.

"The second generation has a foot in each world, and the third has made the transition to English," said D'Vera Cohn, co-author of the study. "By the third generation and beyond, English is dominant, and Spanish has faded into the background."

Republicans in Wharton chuck electronic voting

That's too funny! Weren't DREs part of Karl Rove's plan for a permanent Republican majority?

On whether computerized electronic voting machines are reliable and secure, the Republican leadership in Wharton County votes "no."

Precinct chairmen in the county southwest of Houston decided this week to return to using paper ballots in the March GOP primary for president, congressional seats and local races. About 3,000 people are expected to vote in the primary.

Faith-based reasoning trumps reason-based reasoning

If a mother argues from data that her child should not be vaccinated, too bad. If a mother argues from her religion, she wins. Huh?

In a case balancing religious rights and child protection, an appellate court ruled that a mother who loses her child to Child Protective Services still can refuse to have the child vaccinated on religious grounds.

Patterson to visit Big Bend, discuss Christmas Mountains

And, most likely weasel a way to sell out Texans and other Americans to a private crony hunter.

Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson planned to fly to Big Bend National Park on Friday to discuss the future of the Christmas Mountains.

Patterson was scheduled to meet with Bill Wellman, superintendent of Big Bend.

Who died and made Patterson king so that he unilaterally and without precedent gets to decide that hunting is the prime reason to have a park? Oh, yeah, he's a Republican. They all think that they're royalty.

Perry's the BEST of the GOP governors?

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he will downplay partisan politics as he campaigns for fellow Republicans as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, a position he was expected to assume Friday at a California conference.

By downplaying partisan politics, does James 'Rick' Perry mean 'Gee, I hope people forgot how bad us Republicans f*cked things up.'?

Rene Oliveira may have an opponent

Brownsville attorney John "Roca" Shergold says he is seriously considering a run for the Texas House seat currently held by veteran state Rep. René Oliveira, D-Brownsville.

Many years ago Shergold was a legislative aide in Austin to legendary Fort Worth senator Doyle Willis. He said his experience at the state Capitol, coupled with his career as an attorney, made him eminently qualified to represent the voters of District 37.

“I have not made a final decision but I am giving it serious consideration,” Shergold told the Guardian.

Shergold said that if he did run in next March’s Democratic primary, the issue of ethics would be a big part in his platform.

Good Samaritan says helping young boy worth being deported

An illegal immigrant who gave up his long walk into the U.S. to help a boy whose mother was killed in a van crash in the desert said Wednesday that he never thought of leaving the child.

"I am a father of four children. For that, I stayed," Manuel Jesus Cordova Soberanes said in Spanish from his home in the Mexican state of Sonora. "I never could have left him. Never."

Authorities said Cordova may have saved the life of 9-year-old Christopher Buztheitner, whose mother was killed when their van ran off a cliff in a remote area north of the Mexican border on Thanksgiving Day.

A spokeswoman for the Mexican consulate in Nogales said the office is working to obtain a short-term visa for Cordova so he can come to Arizona and be recognized for his actions.

Isn't that kinda cruel to invite him, say 'thanks', then 'ba bye'?

Using campaign funds to buy a gun

I'm not making that up.

The Harris County District Attorney's Office has launched an investigation into whether Precinct 4 Commissioner Jerry Eversole misused thousands of dollars in campaign contributions for his own benefit, District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said Wednesday.

The inquiry will focus, in part, on collector-quality guns and a Florida vacation Eversole bought at charity auctions.

The probe was prompted by stories about Eversole's work habits and campaign spending aired by KTRK (Channel 13) in recent weeks. A story by KTRK reporter Wayne Dolcefino questioned whether Eversole benefited from auction items purchased with campaign contributions.

You just know he's a Republican.

Fort Bend Republicans elect a new county chair

Former chair, Gary Gillen, resigned in a snit along with other officers leaving the Fort Bend Republican party in disarray.

Rick Miller, the only declared candidate for Fort Bend County Republican Party Chairman, will serve in that position in an interim capacity until party elections next spring.

Miller and a slate of officers were elected at a special GOP Executive Committee meeting Tuesday night, held to find interim replacements for the county party’s five top officers, who abruptly resigned Nov. 8.

Aransas Pass' North Bay Hospital keeps employee health insurance premiums, gives no health insurance

Current and former employees of North Bay Hospital have no health insurance after hospital administrators collected insurance premiums but failed to use that money for medical claims.

Bill Dodge, South Texas regional salesman for Houston-based Entrust Inc., said hospital administrators have been deducting money from employee paychecks but not sending that money to Entrust, a third-party administrator that oversees the health fund and administers claims for the self-insured Aransas Pass hospital.

This means medical claims filed with Entrust are not being paid, Dodge said.

Some people ought to go to jail.

Henry Garrett, Melody Cooper and Bill Kelly are a**es for giving Skip Noe high marks!

The Corpus Christi city manager didn't bother to ensure that proper water testing procedures were followed, waited AT LEAST an extra 24 hours to tell the city to boil water, and allowed the city council to find out about E.Coli in the drinking water from the press. Oh, yeah. And there's that little matter of hiring a police chief who got drunk and visited an old girlfriend who accused him of rape. No charges were filed, but I wonder what his brand new fiance had to say about it.

Skip Noe failed in basic oversight of the most important city function: delivering safe, clean water. Skip Noe failed in basic judgment: failing to act quickly to notify the public so that they could take care of the problem themselves.

Henry Garrett, Melody Cooper, and Bill Kelly give high marks to allowing dirty water to flow through Corpus Christi water pipes an extra 24 hours. Thanks.

See previous posts.

Is Karl Rove panicked over the 'immigration issue'?

Rove said that one out of 20 workers in America is here illegally.

"If you think we can take 5 percent of our work force and throw them out, you're kidding yourself," Rove said. "We would suffer serious economic damage. There's a moral cost. There's a practical cost."

The Republican corporate cronies are getting restless. Restaurants want cheal labor.

Larry Durrett knows from his experience as an owner of businesses in Fort Worth that it's not always easy to fill jobs at fast-food restaurants.

But if 12 million workers -- the number of illegal immigrants estimated to be in the United States -- suddenly leave the work force, the fallout would be dramatic, Durrett said.

"I hear people say we should send those people back to where they came from," said Durrett, president of Jacksonville-based Southern Multifoods and owner of about 30 Taco Bells and KFC restaurants in Fort Worth.

"We can't. We'd shut down."

What if restaurants paid a living wage? Couldn't you get workers then?

Ok. Ok. The baby boomers are starting to retire and American citizens can't fill all of the potential job openings. What to do? Any solution should start with a living wage and decent working conditions. Neither of which Republicans support.

Dewhurst disses superhighway

Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on Tuesday told community leaders that the proposed “superhighway” that would stretch from Mexico to Canada lagged among state projects.

“That’s not on their priority list,” Dewhurst said about the Texas Department of Transportation after a question about the status of the project at a joint meeting of the city’s three Rotary clubs at the Harlingen Elks Lodge.

“We’re going to leave that up to TxDOT,” Dewhurst said.

Silliest, dumb a** headline of the day!

From the Fort Worth Telegram's McClatchy news service: "Bush follows predecessors: When in trouble, become statesman'". To give McClatchy some credit, Bush is trying, but the possibility is so ludicrous I would expect the Hancock building in Chicago to fly, before Bush could even begin to show the basic semblance of a statesman.

Some Sugar Mill workers return to work without concessions

At least 50 sugar workers returned to work Tuesday, putting the sugar mill in operation for the first time in almost a week.

Jose Torres of Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, which represents the striking workers, said some mill employees accepted a 25-cent raise offered by the Rio Grande Valley Sugar Growers.
But some workers continue to wait for a sweeter deal.

“The majority of the truck drivers are going to wait for a counter offer from the sugar growers,” Torres said.

I't hard around this time of year to be out of work. The brave people who are fighting for respect, safety and decent wages are to be commended. Your efforts help workers everywhere. Thank you.

DOJ gets an earful about Galveston schools

Galveston public school district administrators and trustees lied to the public, ignored parents’ complaints and made ill-informed decisions when deciding to close elementary schools and reconfigure middle schools, island residents told U.S. Assistant Attorney Allison Brown on Tuesday night.

More than 150 parents, residents, teachers and students gathered at Galveston VFW post Tuesday afternoon to complain to visiting U.S. Department of Justice officials in English and Spanish that elementary-school closures and the reconfiguration of island middle schools had put an unfair burden on minority students.

When the district closed San Jacinto and Alamo schools, it took advantage of its poorest citizens, several citizens said.

See previous posts.

State audit on elections magically pushes Republican agenda to suppress Democratic voters

The Texas Secretary of State’s Office needs to improve its voter registration oversight to make sure no dead people or ineligible felons are registered to vote, a state auditor’s report found.

Auditors did not find any cases of ineligible voters casting ballots.

And while the report focuses on voters who might not be eligible, it doesn’t look as closely at another problem: eligible voters whose records aren’t in the system.

What about those electronic voting systems like the e-slate that didn't record straight ballot votes if you also selected the candidates individually? I'll bet e-slate alone lost 10 more votes than any number found due to dead people voting.

wonderful news from Fort Bend Now!

Bob Dunn of Fort Bend Now has done a great job of covering the news on the internet for Fort Bend County. We've posted and linked to his stories more times than I can count.

It turns out, that instead of leaving his enterprise, Fort Bend Now will be growing.

FortBendNow is going to stay open for a long time to come.

Not only that, good fortune and the backing of some very talented visionaries will allow for what I believe will be a greatly expanded and improved FortBendNow – with more mobile journalists to provide broader, deeper and even more instantaneous coverage of news, issues and information important to the people of Fort Bend County.

Fantastic news! Thanks, Bob!

McAllen is #1! In plus sizes, that is.

The McAllen-Edinburg-Mission area has risen to the top of the charts — and not in a good way.

According to an annual women’s health survey published in the December issue of Self magazine, which hit newsstands Tuesday, the region is the worst place in the country for women to have a baby, and is also the fattest region in the U.S.

On the plus side, the region was named the third “least smoky” city, with less than 6 percent of women reporting they smoke daily.

The magazine ranked McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 58th out of 100 cities for its overall health, encompassing numerous factors from disease rates to environmental pollution data.

This is not good news.

Perry, forced to share e-mails, gets snarky

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, under fire for his frequent purging of office e-mail, has agreed to give an open-government advocate a batch of electronic records that might otherwise have landed on the electronic ash heap of history.

For a price.

Perry's office wants to charge citizen activist John Washburn $142 for each day's worth of e-mail messages he asked for in his first request, according to a bill sent last week. At that rate, Washburn, a software consultant based in Milwaukee, has calculated that he would have to cough up $2,982 for what he has requested so far -- three weeks' worth of e-mail messages from the governor's staff computers.

Oh, Ricky boy, I don't think John Washburn is through with you yet.

Not enough nursing school teachers

North Texas colleges are trying Web-based classes, offering stipends to new teachers and exploring other ways to keep offering nursing classes in the face of a growing shortage of nursing instructors.

State health officials warn that Texas faces a shortage of nurses that could reach critical stages within a decade. But, they say, half of qualified applicants are turned away from nursing programs at many colleges, in part because there's already a shortage of nursing faculty.

Attend a border wall hearing AND a protest

The McAllen Chamber of Commerce is to stage a No Border Wall Rally at the same time and in the same venue as the federal government holds a public meeting on the issue.

Chamber President and CEO Steve Ahlenius said he hopes thousands of Valley residents opposed to the border wall will show up for the rally, including groups such as the No Border Wall group, La Unión del Pueblo Entero, and Valley Interfaith, and then go next door and testify against the government’s controversial plan.

Lady Bird died, park service takes opportunity to dishonor agreement

The Coalition of National Park Service Retirees issued a statement saying that only four months after the death of Lady Bird Johnson, the park service is considering undermining the agreement the Johnsons made to open their Hill Country land to the public.

Despicable. That's a Republican-run agency for ya'.

Sugar Mill owners make offer in strike, sound tough

Take it or leave it, apparently.

The owners of the Rio Grande Valley Sugar mill have made their final offer to striking workers, the cooperative’s attorney said Monday.

Now, it’s up to the striking workers to accept it or not, attorney Raymond Cowley said.

No further negotiations are scheduled, he said.

Tuition going up, up, up for Texas A&M International University

The Republican plans to kill public education are right on track.

When TAMIU students enroll in new courses next fall, they likely will face a college bill nearly 8 percent higher than this year, if the university's latest tuition and fee proposal is approved as expected.Texas A&M International University officials will have two public hearings, one on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. and another on Monday at 12:30 p.m., to gather suggestions, questions and concerns.

TxDOT reconsiders calling guy's license plate obscene

The Texas Department of Transportation gets so many requests for vanity plates spelling out cuss words and sex acts that its employees were convinced that plates reading "FORNO 1" just had to mean something dirty.

TxDOT Director Amadeo Saenz and the head of the vehicle titles and registration division signed off on the decision last month not to issue Houston resident Armando Florido the plates.

On Monday, the vehicle titles and registration division reversed course, recommending that Saenz approve the plates — which Florido sought because he owns Fornos of Italy restaurants.

As always, the joke's on TxDOT.

See previous post.

5th circuit court will get to reconsider vacation as a punishment for alleged sexual assault

A woman who has accused U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent of unwanted sexual touching will have her case reheard by a disciplinary panel of the 5th Judicial Circuit, her attorney, Rusty Hardin, said late Monday.

Late that afternoon, Hardin gave the panel summaries of interviews his team did of 20 people who have had contact with Kent. Hardin claims those interviews show that Kent has misbehaved toward women since shortly after he was named to the federal bench in Galveston in the early 1990s.

Hardin said he and his client are asking that the panel refer the matter to the Judicial Council of the United States with a recommendation that Kent be impeached.

Perhaps a 4-month paid vacation isn't the right 'punishment' after all. The 5th Judicial Circuit is an embarrassment to us all.

See previous posts.

No Federal rules for ferry screeners means sleeping on the job is okay

All the fuss about that d*mn fence is not about security. If Bush and his band of Republicans cared about security, wouldn't there be Federal rules for ferry screeners?

One federal Coast Guard official said it doesn’t appear Seawolf Marine Patrol screeners broke any national security rules at the Galveston ferry landing, but that may be because there are no federal rules to break.

Screeners slept on the job, refused to screen cars and left their posts vacant for hours, according to state records.

See previous posts.

El Paso City official charged in forgery

El Paso County District Attorney Jaime Esparza's office on Monday filed a Class A misdemeanor charge of forgery against East Side city Rep. Rachel Quintana.

Conviction on a Class A misdemeanor charge carries a punishment of up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.

If Quintana is convicted, she could also be removed from office under a provision of the City Charter.

The charge stems from a police investigation that found Quintana allegedly signed the name of her former supervisor at FedEx to obtain free or discounted tickets on a Southwest Airlines flight to Sacramento, Calif., for herself and her daughter on Oct. 25.

See previous posts.

Huckabee mocks Rick Perry

Why is that news? Don't we all?

If Gov. Rick Perry decides to give up his posh digs while the Governor's Mansion is being renovated, Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Monday he'd help find the Texas governor a more Arkansas-like residence - a triplewide mobile home.

Huckabee stayed in a trailer while the Arkansas governor's mansion was renovated. Perry is spending nearly $10K a month on his 'posh digs'. He isn't worth 1/100th of that!

Had to go out of Nueces County to find a judge for Celis

A former District Judge from Bexar County will preside over local businessman Mauricio Celis' trial, officials said Monday night.

Judge J. Manuel Bañales assigned on Monday Judge Mark Luitjen to hear the criminal case. Celis, 36, was indicted Nov. 16 on charges of theft, perjury, impersonating a lawyer and impersonating a police officer.

Mark is getting all of the fun. He's running the Michael Ratcliff trial, too. The Victoria County judges all recused themselves in the sexual assault case involving former Sheriff and DA chief of staff, Michael Ratcliff.

Nueces County Commissioners want to give your tax money away to a private business

Yeah, I'm talking about giving out money to a sports business.

Nueces County Commissioners want to bring a new baseball team to Robstown in time for the 2008 baseball season.

County Attorney Laura Garza Jimenez will meet with commissioners today in closed session where she is expected to lay out two sets of options -- leasing the field or seeking proposals from leagues interested in bringing in an expansion team.

Why not buy books for the brand new, empty library? Why not fix a few more roads? Why not fix a few more drainage problems? Isn't there something better to do with taxpayer money than throw it at a private business? Isn't it just basically wrong in the first place?

Brownsville city commissioner gets his Federal job back

Charlie Atkinson was celebrating Monday, after an arbitrator found that the city commissioner was unlawfully terminated from his federal job in February.

Shortly after Atkinson won a seat on the City Commission in 2006, he lost his job with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and has been fighting to regain it since.

“If you stick to your rights, you should win,” Atkinson said Monday of the ruling that could restore his employment.

Maybe, Charlie was celebrating a little too early when he got that DUI.

See previous posts.

Abbott gets injunction against colonia developer

No, it wasn't Bob Perry.

Texas Attorney General Gregg Abbott has filed a temporary injunction against Cameron County developer Manuel J. Montemayor, alleging he sold some 26 half-acre lots in the Tierra Linda Gardens subdivision without basic water and wastewater services.

The Attorney General’s Office has given Montemayor and his company, MG Joint Venture, until Dec. 20 to bring the subdivision into compliance with the state’s colonia prevention laws.

How is a North Texas course on Islamic Studies going to fly?

How will the 'ignorance is bliss' crowd handle this?

Leaders of the University of North Texas are considering launching a center for Islamic studies on campus in hopes of fostering a greater connection to the Muslim world for students and scholars.

UNT president Gretchen Bataille said officials are exploring the level of interest among supporters because the university would need to raise private funds to pay for the center. She stressed that talks are very preliminary.

Such a center, Dr. Bataille said, would help connect the university's existing programs in the Arabic language, Islamic studies and other areas. It could also allow students and staff to work with scholars from the Middle East.

In today's political climate, the university needs to be aware of ideological issues, she said.

That sounds reasonable. Reason, tolerance, and knowledge scare the Christian up-is-down groups.

Sugar mill workers send new offer

“The workers are willing to continue negotiations to end this labor dispute, and all items outlined herein are negotiable, but they are very determined to push for better wages, safer working conditions, and respect,” wrote Rodolfo D. Sanchez, an attorney for Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid Inc., in a fax sent to the Valley Morning Star outlining the new proposal.

Jose Torres, of the Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, said Sugar Mill management’s latest proposal was “practically nothing.

All American labor deserves better wages, but aren't safe working conditions a legal requirement? Isn't respect a human requirement?

Houston law firms donate time to immigrant children

So on a recent afternoon, Maria Mitchell, an attorney for Catholic Charities immigration services in downtown Houston, began matching the children with lawyers from some of the city's most powerful law firms.

And in this case, money was not an object. These high-priced lawyers from firms such as Baker & Hostetler and Jones Day are working for free.

''The law is very complex, and not all of you will be able to stay here legally," Mitchell told the group of 10 teens in Spanish. ''For those of you who can't stay, we still want to represent you in court and get you returned to your country the best way possible."

Next to Mitchell were five lawyers from top Houston law firms, who helped explain how the teens could qualify for a visa to remain in the U.S. Once the presentation ended, the lawyers arranged to meet later with the kids to work on their cases.

El Paso Police Chief expected to resign soon and announce he is running for Sheriff

Once [Police Chief, Richard Wiles,] stops working for the city, he will be able to disclose if he is running for sheriff.

Wiles has said he is "strongly considering" running for sheriff after he retires, but civil service procedures prevent him from filing or seeking public office as long as he is a city employee.

So far, five people have formally said they are running for sheriff. The are Maria Guadalupe Dempsey, Carlos Leon, Alejandro "Al" Patiño, Jose Ramirez and Gabriel Serna.

Wiles has run the Police Department since 2003. He became a police officer about 25 years ago after briefly being an El Paso firefighter. As chief, he oversees a department that has a budget of nearly $110 million, more than 1,100 commissioned officers and about 300 civilian employees.

Blog Science 101: It's the TPA blog roundup!

It’s Monday, and that means it’s time for another Texas Progressive Alliance Blog Round Up, compiled by Vince from Capitol Annex.

Dealing with recalled toys that contain lead is putting a damper on charities’ holiday toy drive efforts. Muse discovers some charities are not accepting toys or are throwing donations away.

Despite the Dallas Morning News article claiming the Texas Railroad Commission is stepping up Barnett Shale inspections, an injection well in N. TX remains seriously out of compliance. TXsharon has pictures, history and solutions at Bluedaze.

Who wont be President in 2009? John Coby at Bay Area Houston compiles an obvious list of Who wont be President in 2009 Any Republican candidate. The Republican party must have worked overtime to find this bunch of losers for President. White. Old. Dull.

McBlogger takes a brief look at the concerns of a Republican Bexar County Commissioner who doesn’t realize the Republican Party of Texas is already known as the Tolling Party of Texas.

North Texas Liberal reports on President Bush’s loss of an ally in staunch conservative PM John Howard of Australia, whose Liberal Party lost handily to the Labor opposition in Saturday’s elections.

The Texas Cloverleaf visited Capitol Annex for Thanksgiving with a guest blog about Turkey, Football, and JFK. Oh my!

Off the Kuff looks at mass transit versus highways for dealing with traffic congestion.

Vince at Capitol Annex reprises his holiday tradition begun last year by reprising his Laws of Thanksgiving–with a 2007 update.

In “Giving Thanks for the Corporations”, PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has a few choice words from David Van Os, Jeff Cohen, and John Edwards.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson notices the conspicuous absence of Rep. Mike Krusee since a rumor surfaced that he may be retiring in Where’s Krusee?

CouldBeTrue at South Texas Chisme notes Lyndon Johnson was right, but demographics are having the last laugh.

More sh*t raining down on Celis along with insinuations about Mikal Watts

The San Antonio Express News has an interesting article about Mauricio Celis and trolling for lawsuits in Mexico.

Long beyond the reach of most U.S. lawsuits, Mexico was for a few heady years a gold mine of lucrative wrongful death cases for enterprising legal prospectors like Mauricio Celis and his partners.

...

But by then, according to court documents, Celis and [Corpus Christi lawyer, Vance Owen,] had already found at least 18 Ford and Firestone cases in Mexico that were later litigated or settled in U.S. courts.

By a rough rule of thumb, those cases may have resulted in a payout of $75 million to $150 million, according to several estimates.

Most of the Ford and Firestone cases Celis helped uncover in Mexico were apparently handled by Mikal Watts, a lawyer then practicing in Corpus Christi who now practices in San Antonio.

...

Among the noteworthy twists are allegations by Dugay and Algara of swapped tires on a wrecked car and of a suborned Mexican witness.

After one accident, according to a deposition by Dugay, a Ford Explorer that had been wrecked in Mexico turned up later with Firestone tires that weren't on it when the accident occurred.

And, he testified, a witness to the same accident was paid to change his account of what caused the wreck.

Who's ever dirty, Republican or Democrat, should be exposed and face the consequences. Let's hope the truth comes out.

Headline says it all: State agency, industry on same page in fighting smog cuts

As for the Texas citizens breathing the air? Who cares about you!

Some of Texas' biggest industries have an important ally in trying to keep the Environmental Protection Agency from ordering nationwide smog cuts: the state's top clean-air officials.

At least four times since the EPA previewed its proposal in March, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality – which is responsible for fighting ozone in smog-bound areas such as Dallas-Fort Worth and metropolitan Houston – has urged the EPA not to tighten the federal limit on ozone, smog's chief component.

The TCEQ's arguments closely match those of the heavy industries it regulates, including manufacturers and coal-burning power companies. Last month, two major Texas business groups lifted TCEQ language attacking the EPA proposal and reproduced it, sometimes verbatim, in their own comments to the EPA.

Texas, as envisioned by the Republican Party: government by the crony, for the crony.

Whooping cranes at risk because of development

Capt. Tommy Moore’s business and other industry along the coast would suffer if coastal estuaries do not receive enough freshwater to sustain aquatic life.

If blue crabs struggle to survive, the whooping cranes that eat them would struggle, too, Moore said.

“When the whooping cranes suffer, we all suffer,” said Moore of Rockport Birding and Kayak Adventures.

Veterans health center opened last week in Harlingen

Montalvo, from San Benito, was one of the first veterans to visit the new South Texas Veterans Health Care System center that opened Nov. 19 in Harlingen.

Montalvo, 25, is an Army veteran of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and said he decided to visit the facility to see a psychiatrist.

“This is the best thing that’s happened in the Valley because I would have not gone to San Antonio, and I would’ve dealt with my own problems,” Montalvo said. “I’m glad that they opened this (center).”

Montalvo said that more veterans will be able to get medical attention without the expense of a trip to San Antonio

.

The Washington Post profiles a McAllen Clinton bundler

During the first nine months of this year, Sen. Barack Obama raised just $2,086 for his presidential campaign from people who live in and around this border town of stucco bungalows and weed-covered farm lots, and most candidates raised even less. But Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, has already raised more than $640,000 here, and her campaign expects to collect even more.

Clinton's success in this unlikely setting is based almost entirely on her friendship with one man, McAllen developer Alonzo Cantu. A self-made millionaire who once picked grapes on the migratory farm labor circuit, Cantu persuaded more than 300 people in Hidalgo County, where the median household income in 2006 was $28,660, to write checks ranging from $500 to $2,300 to the senator from New York.

Via the Rio Grande Guardian.

BP got it some crony, revolving door love from TCEQ

BP's Texas City refinery — in a possible revolving-door violation of state law — hired a state engineer in 2003 who had spent the previous two years processing its application for a new air quality permit.

Air quality engineer Ruben Herrera's new job at BP? To advocate for the company before his former state co-workers to obtain the new permit on terms most favorable to BP.

Lawyers representing people injured in the March 23, 2005, explosion at the plant claim Herrera's job switch from state regulator to company advocate was part of an effort to obtain a new air quality permit for the plant without having to upgrade safety equipment that caused the blast.

BP and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality say the state's revolving-door law was not violated because there had been a series of permit applications and Herrera did not work on the one that ultimately resulted in a new permit being issued. BP also denies misleading the TCEQ in getting the permit.

Texas, as envisioned by the Republican Party: government by the crony, for the crony.

Victoria city attorney refuses to hand over his notes in ex Sheriff's sexual assault case

Former Victoria Sheriff and recently, the DA's chief of staff, Michael Ratcliff is charged with aggravated sexual assault of a minor boy. Cover ups are insinuated and now the story gets even more convoluted.

[City attorney David] Smith filed a motion to quash a portion of a subpoena that requested he divulge notes he has from conversations with police.

Smith testified to a grand jury last month. He contends conversations with police are protected by attorney-client privilege.

...

“Ironic that the man who claims cover-up pleads the Fifth to avoid providing information in the investigation he claims is being covered up,” [DA Steve] Tyler told a local TV reporter. “I was, I guess you can call it, mildly surprised, but having listened to and read his comments now for several months, I’m certainly not surprised by anything he might say or do.”

Starr County wants a say in that d*mn fence!

Members of Texas’ congressional delegation have been asked to help persuade the Department of Homeland Security to hold a public hearing about the border wall plan in Starr County.

As part of its draft Environmental Impact Statement, DHS has announced it will hold two “open house” meetings in the Rio Grande Valley next month to ascertain the feasibility of building 70 miles of border fencing in the Valley.

The meetings take place at the McAllen Convention Center on Dec. 11, and the Brownsville Events Center on Dec. 12.

However, no such meetings have been announced for Starr County, even though, according to the EIS, it is more “species-rich” and “ecologically diverse” than Hidalgo or Cameron counties.

Oh, come on. They might hold a meeting, but you know that they don't give a rat's a** about what you have to say. On the other hand, annoying them with reasonable requests is good.

Illegal immigrant gives up safe entry to help 9 year old boy

A 9-year-old boy looking for help after his mother crashed their van in the southern Arizona desert was rescued by a man entering the U.S. illegally, who stayed with him until help arrived the next day, an official said.

The 45-year-old woman, who eventually died while awaiting help, had been driving on a U.S. Forest Service road in a remote area just north of the Mexican border when she lost control of her van on a curve on Thanksgiving, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada said.

Nationalized workers would be hurt with new worker status program

The federal government program that lets employers electronically verify worker eligibility contains outdated immigration information that could result in discrimination against foreign-born workers, a new report warns.

The report on the "E-Verify" program released this week comes amid mounting controversy over a Bush administration proposal to make participation mandatory for federal contractors, a move opposed by big business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

E-Verify, formerly known as Basic Pilot, is a voluntary program that is designed to allow employers to electronically compare an employee's personal information against databases maintained by the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.

I would say that this is just another example of Bush's incompetence, but I wouldn't be surprise if he liked the program to work like this. Keeps the bigoted Republican base happy.

anti-choice foes tired of waiting to over turn Roe v. Wade

Note that the author calls them 'anti-abortion' which is too fuzzy a label. Most, if not all, pro-choice individuals want abortions to be rare. These people aren't just anti-abortion, they want to take this basic decision away from the family and the pregnant woman.

Anti-abortion activists in several states are promoting constitutional amendments that would define life as beginning at conception, which could effectively outlaw all abortions and some birth-control methods.

The campaigns to grant "personhood" to fertilized eggs, giving them the same legal protections as human beings, come as the nation in December marks the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade — the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

During those three decades, abortion foes succeeded in imposing a variety of restrictions, such as waiting periods and parental notification for minors.

But some activists say they are fed up with incremental steps and are not interested in waiting years for a more conservative court to revisit Roe. Instead, they are out to change the legal status of embryos.

Deregulation, good for cronies, bad for citizens

Well, duh!

Across the country — and especially in Texas — people are questioning whether electricity deregulation has been such a good idea.

When they sold it to ratepayers five years ago, boosters claimed that competition would bring down power prices. Instead, prices shot up and allegations of market abuse and corporate plunder rolled in. Now, many experts are worried that instead of creating competition, the “deregulation” sold by Enron’s Kenneth Lay has been just the opposite: an unregulated monopoly, a sure way to generate big profits.

An accident? I don't think so. Republicans love their cronies.

Americans seeking surgery across the border

As medical costs skyrocket in the United States, one new private hospital in Juárez is stepping in.

...

A week later, another high-tech private hospital opened in Juárez. The smaller Mexican chain Star Medica opened a 10-story hospital, with 53 rooms and five operating rooms, in front of Las Misiones Mall. It represented a $30 million investment, Juárez city officials said.

The downside of medical tourism is the lack of legal recourse if something goes wrong.

Martinez brushes off concerns, saying the new hospital's equipment is top-of-the-line, purchased directly from U.S. manufacturers. Doctors are invited to practice at Hospital Angeles only after a thorough review by all the other doctors. The hospital cares about its reputation, Martinez said.

That's a downside? Perry, Craddick and their Republican cohorts made sure that you can't get legal recourse in Texas, either.

TxDOT finds guy's restaurant name is obscene

Armando Florido said he is about as respectable as you can get — he's been a Houston police officer for 24 years, and has owned and operated Italian restaurants, Fornos of Italy, for 17.

Proud of his eateries, he put vanity plates reading "FORNOS" on his Hummer two years ago. He ordered a second set of plates this year reading "FORNO 1" for a Plymouth Prowler.

The plates are in, and he's even paid for them. But a clerk at the Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector's office told him this week that she could not give them to him.

TxDOT would be a laughingstock if it weren't for the enormous damage they have done to Texas with their crony arrogance.

It's illegal for the Poteet Mayor to enter city hall

Why? Because he's a registered sex offender and the city hall is too close to a youth club.

Poteet's mayor could get arrested for attending City Council meetings.

Or just for going to City Hall.

As a registered sex offender, Mayor Lino Donato could be charged with violating his probation if he goes there because it's close to the Atascosa Boxing Club and Youth Center.

Too bad, so sad. Shouldn't he quit like he promised he would?

See previous posts.

Texas energy market setup for the enormous benefit of the providers

Who would have guessed Republicans would screw the citizens of Texas for the benefit of their cronies? Okay, we all knew.

Texas’ mammoth deregulated electricity market already is plagued by fears that it’s not competitive. Especially when power is in high demand, the biggest generators know they can get almost any price they want for their electricity because the market has to have it.

And the buyout last month of the state’s largest power company will only ensure the market will stay that way, some experts and lawmakers fear.

The buyers are inflating the stock price and taking on $24.5 billion in new debt. They wouldn’t do so unless they were sure they could get that money back — most likely from high electricity rates, observers say.

That might explain why the buyers lobbied so hard to stop measures intended to make the market more competitive.

It's a strike for sugar workers

Sugar field workers said they hope to begin negotiations Friday with the Santa Rosa Sugar Mill after striking for more than two days.

More than 300 workers began the strike Wednesday morning because management had not paid $1,000 bonuses that were promised in May, said Jose Torres, a paralegal in the Weslaco office of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid.

Steve Bearden, president of the Rio Grande Valley Sugar Growers, said the cooperative has paid bonuses to workers in the past but couldn't afford to this year because of equipment costs.

TYC coerces confessions

"From talking with him and other children in TYC, it was pretty apparent that this policy of coercing confessions out of children was unconstitutional," said Scott Medlock, an attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project, which is representing Airick and other inmates in a pending class-action lawsuit against TYC.

"It's a big problem to force kids to give up their rights to go through the treatment that TYC is required to provide," he said.

A hearing hasn't been scheduled. If the judge agrees that the practice is unconstitutional, the ruling could affect other TYC inmates whose cases also are on appeal. That number is unknown because TYC does not track those inmates as a group. It records appellate information only in each youth's individual file.

Laredo mayor to take on senders of hate e-mail

Mayor Raul Salinas has received over 1,000 e-mails over the week or so, some of which he says are threatening his person.

The e-mails surged after Salinas spoke out against CNN talk show host Glenn Beck for what he thought was a negative portrayal of Laredo during one of his shows. Beck subsequently invited Salinas to his radio show to address the issue.

“There's been some threats,” said Salinas. “Nasty, mean-spirited, saying that I was in the payroll of drug dealers, illegal alien runners and stuff like that. It's very unfortunate because what happens is based on a short conversation with Mr. Beck.”

Some of the e-mails have called on Salinas to “go back to Mexico,” which the mayor finds funny considering he served as a U.S. FBI agent for 27 years. Salinas started his career in Washington, D.C., as a U.S. Capitol police officer, specializing in providing protection for the president, the vice president, congressional leaders and visiting foreign dignitaries.

There's that Republican base for ya'.

Perry appoints another judge for Hidalgo County

Gov. Rick Perry announced Wednesday the appointment of Daniel G. Rios of Edinburg as judge of the 449th Judicial District, representing Hidalgo County.

The new court was created under SB 1951 during the 80th Legislature. It is designed to specialize in juvenile matters.

Rios, a Republican, is an attorney in private practice in Edinburg and serves as attorney for the city.

Texas, pro life or just plain mean?

40% of mothers giving birth in Webb County did not have prenatal care. Match that statistic with the recent court ruling that the death of a fetus, not matter what age, is murder.

If Republicans cared so much about babies, why don't mothers get prenatal care? Why are children going hungry in Texas? Why don't Texas children have healthcare?

Statewide, low birthweight and infant mortality rates have increased, child poverty is up for the fifth straight year, unemployment has increased, and Texas continues to have the highest rates of uninsured children in the nation."

The answer is pretty obvious.

DOJ to visit Galveston Schools

The U.S. Department of Justice will visit the Galveston school district, despite the district’s request to the court to deny such a visit.

The justice department this summer complained to Judge Sim Lake that local school closures put an unfair burden on minorities.

Community representatives said Assistant U.S. Attorney Allison Brown, who filed motions accusing the school district’s attorneys of lying to Lake, will visit with community members and school administrators, though justice department spokesperson Jodi Bobb said she couldn’t comment on specific dates or sites.

School officials are not ecstatic.

See previous posts.

Brownsville PUB meeting violated Texas Open Meetings Act

Brownsville PUB trustees violated the Texas Open Meetings Act on Oct. 18, when they conducted business without a valid quorum, according to a court ruling Wednesday.

State District Judge Janet L. Leal ruled that the actions taken at that Public Utilities Board session are “invalid” but that those involved “acted in good faith” on their counsel’s advice.

Mayor Pat Ahumada, who was named in the legal action brought by board member Emmanuel Vasquez, said the ruling is unjust and vowed to continue fighting it.

And, the fighting goes on.

See previous posts.

Juan Escobar's opponent claims campaign files stolen

Tara Rios Ybarra, a candidate for state representative, has issued a news release claiming that her Harlingen campaign office was the target of a Watergate-style political burglary to obtain “confidential campaign files.”

Ybarra, a dentist who practices in Brownsville and who serves as an alderman for Town of South Padre Island, faces incumbent District 43 state Rep. Juan Escobar in the March Democratic Party primary.

“I will not let petty political thievery stand in the way of my intent to serve the people,” Rios Ybarra said in a press release. “Although they may steal my files and create extra work within my campaign, I will continue to reach out to the voters in my district and campaign even harder.”

Escobar is livid that Ybarra’s campaign issued a news release implying that his supporters may be responsible for the Nov. 11 break-in, his campaign manager Fred Cantu said.

Construction worker died using elevator known to malfunction

A tragedy made worse.

At least two former workers at the Grand Hyatt hotel project downtown say they had warned the developer months ago about safety issues with its outside elevators.

The around-the-clock construction schedule on one of the city's largest hotels briefly came to a halt early Saturday when 24-year-old Joseph Montez fell 20 stories to his death when the back end of an outside service elevator opened. Construction resumed later that day.

The former workers said they either sent written warnings or told hotel developer FaulknerUSA of Austin about the faulty elevators, known as buck hoists.

Steve Killingsworth, vice president of Lone Star Interiors Inc., sent e-mails and a letter to FaulknerUSA project managers in May warning them about the unsafe elevators. Lone Star is no longer working at the site.

Texas Democrats lose out again at National Convention

Leticia, I thought you were going to take care of us.

There's no way to sugarcoat it. Texas Democrats got stiffed when the party's convention planners issued hotel assignments Tuesday.

The convention is at the Pepsi Center in downtown Denver. Texas' delegates will be staying in ... Aurora.

Ten miles from the action.

The Texans had asked for the downtown Marriott, but Illinois – which has voted Democratic in four straight presidential elections – got it.

ICE to go after serious crimimals, others won't be kept in jail

Officials with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement have notified North Texas cities that they want to target for deportation suspected illegal immigrants charged with more serious crimes and will no longer detain most of those arrested for Class C misdemeanors.

Carl Rusnok, a spokesman for ICE, said Tuesday there had been a recent spike in the number of referrals to the agency because of increased awareness of the Criminal Alien Program.

"The additional referrals required additional resources not immediately available," Rusnok said in a story for Tuesday's online edition of The Dallas Morning News.

Elsa council member forced out of office

The three remaining council members and the city’s mayor voted Monday night to remove colleague Javier Guerrero, 44, from office.

Guerrero has missed 12 council meetings, including five regularly scheduled ones — more than the three in a row required to allow his colleagues to declare his seat vacant.

His streak of absences began July 6, said Mayor Senovio Castillo.

Others, within and outside the troubled city government, said no one has seen or heard from Guerrero in months.

I hope somebody checked his house.

Republicans slow rolling naturalization process for immigrants

Surprise, surprise. So slow that many cannot vote in next year's elections. Again. Surprise, surprise.

Millions of people who applied for naturalization and other immigration benefits to beat a midsummer fee increase are caught in a paperwork pileup that threatens the chance for some to become U.S. citizens in time to vote in next November's presidential election.

The application backlog is so large that Citizenship and Immigration Services, a division of the Homeland Security Department, is months behind schedule in returning receipts for checks written to cover fees — an early step in the process.

The onslaught of applications has led to some files being sent back with errors or mistakenly rejected, while others appear to be lost in the system, applicants and attorneys say. Service centers in Texas and Nebraska have the longest delays. The Texas Service Center is working on applications dating from July 26, according to the agency's latest Web posting.

BP should be fined a LOT more says attorney for some injured workers

A Corpus Christi attorney for workers killed and injured in BP PLC's 2005 plant explosion asked Tuesday that a court reject a plea agreement between the oil giant and the federal government, asserting that the proposed $50 million fine should be increased to $1 billion.

U.S. District Judge Gray Miller agreed Tuesday to recuse himself from the case because he was a partner in one of the law firms that has been representing BP. Attorney David Perry of Corpus Christi had sought Miller's removal in Tuesday's filing.

Last month, BP and the Justice Department agreed the London-based company would pay a $50 million fine and plead guilty to a felony for its role in the explosion that killed 15 workers and injured more than 170 others.

Perry also is asking for permission to speak on behalf of his clients when BP formally enters its guilty plea during a court hearing Tuesday.

The Corpus Christi city council lets the citizens down by keeping failed city manager, Skip Noe

Noe's not exactly on probation, but will get a review in 6 months instead of 12. Big whoop. The guy showed poor judgment in picking a police chief, poor judgment in blocking a boil water notice for contaminated water, and allowed severely flawed procedures for monitoring the city water supply.

Did somebody not want to hurt Noe's feelings? Does Noe have dirt somebody doesn't want exposed? Common. Why else would the city council keep this failure?

Council members Bill Kelly and Melody Cooper said they still support Noe.

"I told him to keep doing a good job," Cooper said.

Keep doing a good job? Melody Cooper thinks Skip Noe has been doing a good job? Next election, fire her a**! And, while you're at it, fire 'Mr. I'm not a crook' Garrett.

See previous posts.

Driscoll demotes its police chief

Ouch!

Police Chief Ben Zapata turned in his badge, key and cell phone Tuesday, minutes after being demoted in a surprise move by two members of the City Commission.

...

The move reignited some of the political division that was relatively dormant for the past few months, since a new administration took office. Two political factions had been warring in Driscoll, population 819, over several lawsuits and allegations of bribery, corruption and infidelity. City Hall had been plagued by poor record keeping, finger pointing and mistrust.

Corpus Christi city council to review early appointment to the Port of Corpus Christi

City Council member, Mike Hummell, gets his wish.

[Mike] Carrell, a local banker who will start his second three-year port term in January, said he would hire a lawyer to fight any attempt to remove him.

The council unanimously reappointed Carrell in March, a month before five new council members took office. City Attorney Mary Kay Fischer has issued a legal opinion, with backing from the general counsel at the Texas Municipal League, that Carrell's appointment and swearing-in were valid and legal.

Most of the five council members who voted to revisit the appointment said Carrell isn't the issue. They have described the March appointment as an early move to circumvent the new council's right to make the appointment.

See previous posts.

Tom DeLay would like to 'bitch slap Paul Krugman'

All that anger, misogyny, oppression and the desire to intimidate the press in just one sentence. That's the GOP for ya'.

But, lest you think that The Hammer is about to start playing for the other team, he did poke fun at New York Times columnist -- and favorite conservative punching bag -- Paul Krugman: "I'd like to bitch-slap him."

Via Think Progress.

Fort Worth, a gay Mecca?

Who knew! What about Austin? Or Dallas? Is Texas turning gay? Along with the ethnic demographic changes, is Texas becoming a nightmare for bigoted Republicans. Schadenfreude galore.

Fort Worth, long known as one of the nation's more conservative communities, is home to 10 times as many same-sex couples than it was 16 years before, a new study shows.

The study, which has been criticized by some, suggests that the numbers are up because more gays and lesbians are coming out of the closet at a time when society is more open-minded.

"Fort Worth is a very live-and-let-live kind of place," said David Reed, president of the Tarrant County Lesbian/Gay Alliance. "It's surprisingly accepting of gay couples."

Former Victoria County Sheriff pleads not guilty to sexual assault

What a sad situation for Victoria County.

Michael Ratcliff pleaded not guilty Monday morning to three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a teenage boy.

The former Victoria County sheriff was charged in late October. He is accused of crimes said to have begun as early as 1997.

The hearing was originally scheduled for today. San Antonio district judge Mark Luitjen was unexpectedly in Victoria on Monday for a hearing to meet the attorneys and to set pre-trial and trial dates. Luitjen was chosen to preside over the trial after the four district judges who serve Victoria County recused themselves, citing a prior working relationship with the defendant.

See previous posts.

Filling up detention centers and jails. Celebrating Christmas and Thanksgiving in Texas.

The controversial border operation [Operation Streamline] has jammed local jails to capacity, strained the staff of the federal public defender's office and sparked charges that immigrants' due process rights are being violated. But it has been applauded by those favoring strict enforcement of immigration laws.

Before the operation, agents with the Laredo patrol sector routinely allowed undocumented immigrants from Mexico to return home voluntarily. And a lack of detention space resulted in a "catch-and-release" policy that allowed non-Mexican immigrants to post bond pending a hearing, but few showed up for their court dates.

But at the federal courthouse in downtown Laredo last week, a mere two weeks after the crackdown began, scores of ordinary people shared the halls where crooked officials, drug kingpins and human traffickers are brought to justice. They included bricklayers, construction workers, dishwashers and waitresses, all snared by agents after crossing the Rio Grande illegally.

Never mind. Put them in a tent or a portable jail.

Want a levee? Here, eat that d*mn fence!

Republicans seem just plain evil. They're setting it up so that fixing levees to prevent a New Orleans style catastrophe in the Valley is tied to building that d*mn fence!

Rio Grande Valley leaders are scrambling to keep two federal projects — the border fence and repairs to levees along the Rio Grande — from colliding.

The top administrators from Hidalgo and Cameron counties went to Washington, D.C., again last week, this time to hand deliver a plan that links the two projects.

Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas says the plan would allow the two projects to go forward quickly and at the same time.

In Hidalgo County, 24 out of 27 miles of the proposed border security fence could conflict with levee repair projects, said Godfrey Garza Jr., manager of the Hidalgo County Drainage District No. 1.

See previous posts.

Many in South Texas go hungry

According to a report released Monday by the South Texas Food Bank, residents who live in the organization's seven-county service area net an income of less than $9,000 a year on average. Residents of Webb, Zapata, Jim Hogg, Dimmit, Maverick, Kinney and Val Verde counties suffer from a poverty rate that is triple the national average, according to the report.

The Food Bank helps more than 35,000 people a month in those seven counties, doling out 7 million pounds of food every year.

The report found that 90 percent of the population served by the Food Bank suffers from chronic hunger, defined as needing charitable food more than four times in a single year. In three of the counties — Jim Hogg, Dimmit and Maverick counties — 100 percent of those served suffered from chronic hunger.

And while poverty in South Texas may not be new, the approach the Food Bank takes toward eliminating hunger is, according to J.C. Dwyer, the group's director of public policy.

"We're hoping to make hunger a public policy issue," he said.

...

Often, the people served at Bethany House are working, and yet have to rely on food stamps, Zuñiga said. According to the Food Bank's study, half the people who rely on food stamps are employed.

You mean it wasn't a public policy issue before?

Edcouch-Elsa school board split over ousting jailed trustee

As with most matters before the Edcouch-Elsa school board, its decision on Monday to ask member Manuel Hernandez Jr. to give up his seat split along factional lines.

But in this case, the dissenting trustees registered their opposition by not showing up to cast a vote.

The trustees called for their embattled colleague’s resignation during an emergency meeting, following a spate of recent arrests for Hernandez, 29, in connection with domestic violence, burglary and drug possession charges.

...

But Ybarra says Hernandez began shirking his board responsibilities even before his latest legal troubles. He has not attended a board function in at least three months, Ybarra said.

See previous posts.

Border lawmakers wish for more personnel, not border cams

Armed with new legislative funding and millions of dollars in federal grants, Gov. Rick Perry is stepping up Texas' border security spending - something he says is needed because the federal government hasn't done its share.But some local officials say it's being spent on unnecessary technology and in towns far from the border, when all they really need is more money to hire more officers and pay overtime.

"It's killing us," said Sheriff Rick Flores of Webb County, which includes Laredo. "We are the first responders. ... We're dealing with a very sophisticated criminal element."

Even the leader of Perry's new Border Security Council, which recommended and got a southbound surveillance program to detect criminals leaving the United States, said the state must commit to hiring more officers.

See previous posts.

Corpus Christi city manager is up for review.

That ought to be a short meeting. Fire his a**! Skip Noe failed to ensure that procedures for a safe water supply were in force. Skip Noe exhibited extremely poor judgment in delaying a boil water notice for the public. If a city manager is unwilling or unable to ensure basic safety AND exhibits poor judgment, why hesitate?

FIRE HIS A**!!!!

Or, and there's that little matter of hiring and keeping a police chief who got drunk, visited an old girl friend in the middle of the night and was accused of rape. No rape charge was filed, but the alleged consensual sex occurred shortly after the police chief proposed to another woman publicly at a Hooks game. Do you want to have a police chief who, according to what he has admitted, shows poor conduct with women and exhibits bad judgment. See previous posts.

Skip Noe has to go!

See previous posts.

Mauricio Celis surrenders to authorities

Mauricio Celis surrendered to authorities Monday after two judges, one on Friday and another Monday afternoon, recused themselves during bail hearings.

In the end, Judge J. Manuel Bañales set bail at $50,000. District Attorney Carlos Valdez had asked for $1 million bail, saying Celis was a flight risk to Mexico. Jail officials late Monday said Celis was released.

Celis, 36, was indicted Friday on charges of theft, perjury, impersonating a lawyer and impersonating a police officer. The case was randomly assigned Friday to Judge Marisela Saldaña, who recused herself and delayed proceedings until Monday.

A second judge, Nelva Gonzales Ramos, was assigned Monday solely to set bail. Celis attorney Tony Canales sought her recusal, which she denied, setting the stage for a hearing in which another judge would decide the matter. She later signed an order formally recusing herself from the case, clearing the way for Bañales to hold a bail hearing.

Why did Ramos recuse herself? Legitimate reason or pressure?

See previous posts.

Why is the infant death rate going UP in Cameron County?

Babies born in Cameron County are faring worse than they were in the past, but children born elsewhere in the Rio Grande Valley seem to be in slightly better health, a new report says.

The report from the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities and Texas KIDS COUNT says that the infant-death rate has increased in Cameron County since 2000, along with the percentage of babies born at less than 5 1/2 pounds.

In Hidalgo, Willacy and Starr counties, however, mortality rates and the percentage of low-birth weight babies decreased or at least stayed the same.

Cameron County’s infant mortality rate increased by 86 percent from 2000 to 2004, the latest figures available. Hidalgo County’s rate dropped 25 percent during that period, according to the report.

...

Experts say that infants born to Hispanics and specifically, Mexican Americans, are more likely to live, which is perhaps why the Valley’s infant-death rates have been lower. However, it’s hard to say why infant deaths could be increasing in some parts of the Valley, said Kathryn Cardarelli, director of the Center for Community Health at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. Cardarelli is an expert on infant mortality.

Cameron County moving along to sue Perry for creating new courts

Cameron County Commissioners on Monday approved the hiring of an Austin law firm to assist in its lawsuit contesting a Texas Attorney General’s Office opinion.

The opinion handed down last month allows Gov. Rick Perry to appoint two judges to the county’s new state district courts.

Commissioners Court on Monday unanimously voted to contract with Allison, Bass and Associates to assist the county in its lawsuit concerning the creation of the 444th and 445th state District Courts, Commissioner David Garza said.

Operation Streamline

The Rio Grande Valley could be the next place to implement a zero-tolerance policy credited with cutting illegal immigration rates by almost 70 percent in other parts of the state.

But critics of the program fear the prosecution of every undocumented migrant caught crossing the border would overwhelm federal prosecutors and crowd local detention centers.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Border Patrol’s Laredo Sector became the second region in Texas to implement Operation Streamline — a policy that charges all illegal crossers with a federal misdemeanor and arranges for deportation. Second-time offenders face felony charges and jail time.

More detainees, more money for the operators. Lamar Smith had a plan for 'catching' more.

As city council members and state lawmakers across the country have taken the fight against illegal immigration into their own hands, so have police agencies that are no longer willing to wait for Washington to solve the problem.

But while city halls and state legislatures sometimes blame the federal government, on the law enforcement side it's all about cooperation.

A section of a 1996 federal immigration law written by U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, has offered local law enforcement agencies a chance to help enforce immigration law. But the program has had few takers — until this year.

The "287g" program allows municipal, county and state law enforcement officers to apply for a five-week training academy run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Once certified, officers become deputized immigration agents.

What is the problem we're trying to solve? Red meat for the Republican base.

Perry's reality TV coming back to the border

Gov. Rick Perry has identified $3 million in federal funding to restore a short-lived but highly publicized "virtual border watch" program that allows Internet users to access video feeds from cameras set up along the border.

As early as January, viewers might have access to feeds from some of the 200 cameras strategically located along the Texas-Mexico border. They'll be able to alert authorities if they think they see immigrants illegally crossing the border.

Can these cameras be used by Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland to stage a show?

Valley Interfaith working against that d*mn fence!

After becoming the first person to sign Valley Interfaith’s new petition against the border wall, Brownsville Mayor Pat Ahumada said coalition-building was the only way to defeat the federal government’s “ugly” plan.

At a news conference inside St. Francis Cabrini Church in Las Milpas on Saturday, Valley Interfaith leaders announced an ambitious plan to sign up 50,000 registered voters by next November in support of its “Families Agenda & Says No to the Border Wall” campaign.

The first three people to sign the petition were Ahumada, San Juan Mayor San Juanita Sanchez, and Pharr Mayor Pro Tem Adan Farias.

Backlash in the Valley, anyone?

That d*mn fence, now an art exhibit

The Arnulfo L. Oliveira Memorial Library at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College today will open two exhibits on the proposed 700-mile U.S.-Mexico border wall.

The Republican politics of hate, a Rice study and Lyndon Johnson was right

Paul Krugman lays it all out for us.

The centrality of race — and, in particular, of the switch of Southern whites from overwhelming support of Democrats to overwhelming support of Republicans — is obvious from voting data.

For example, everyone knows that white men have turned away from the Democrats over God, guns, national security and so on. But what everyone knows isn’t true once you exclude the South from the picture. As the political scientist Larry Bartels points out, in the 1952 presidential election 40 percent of non-Southern white men voted Democratic; in 2004, that figure was virtually unchanged, at 39 percent.

...

The G.O.P.’s own leaders admit that the great Southern white shift was the result of a deliberate political strategy. “Some Republicans gave up on winning the African-American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization.” So declared Ken Mehlman, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, speaking in 2005.

Wikipedia has more on the Southern Strategy. Lyndon Johnson knew what the racists would do.

There goes the South for a generation," Lyndon Johnson is said to have predicted as he signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act into law. Actually, it's been two generations, but otherwise Johnson was dead-on.

A recent Rice study of Anglo opinions on immigration in the Houston area illustrates the fear and bigotry are still strong, but demographic changes are marginalizing Anglo political clout.

"Anglos who live in predominantly Anglo areas are less likely to interact and meet minorities," said Stephen Klineberg, the Rice University sociology professor who has directed the annual survey for 26 years. "And they have more reservations about ethnic diversity."

Paul Burka highlights the real problem facing our population:

Klineberg began by saying, the most critical issue facing this state--and if we don't deal with it, "not a whole lot of things are going to go right"--is a demographic revolution, accompanied by a restructured economy. He traced recent Houston history. From 1970 to 1982, the price of the region's principal industrial product [oil, of course] tripled. Houston was booming. An astounding 82% of the primary jobs were related to energy. You didn't need an education to succeed. You could get a job in the oil industry for good money. The biggest employers in Houston in 1970 were Hughes Tool and Cameron Iron Works. Then, in May 1982, what was essentially an 80-year boom suddenly collapsed.

* The resource-based industrial-era economy (land, cotton, cattle, timber, oil) has receded into history. It has been replaced by an increasingly high-technology, worldwide, knowledge-based economic system.

* The traditional "blue-collar path" to financial security has largely disappeared. Most good-paying jobs today require high levels of technical skills and educational credentials.

* "What you earn," as the saying goes, "depends upon what you've learned."

Charles Kuffner, being the nice guy he is, sees the silver lining in the Rice study.

It's been my opinion for awhile that what's driving a lot of the anti-immigrant sentiment is economic anxiety.

That's true, but Republicans have focused the anxieties of their base into hate of a particular group. It's all the hippies, Liberals, blacks, gays or Mexicans fault. Wedges make a nifty marking tool that takes away Republican accountability. Too bad, so sad the demographics are coming back to bite them!

Cameron County to sue over Perry's new courts

Cameron County will contest a Texas Attorney General’s Office opinion that allows Governor Rick Perry to appoint two judges to the county’s new state district courts.
County Commissioners on Tuesday authorized its legal counsel to file a suit in Travis County contesting the opinion that was handed down on Oct. 31, which did not specify how the courts would be funded.

The lawsuit will be filed against the Texas Attorney General’s Office and state Comptroller’s Office, County Judge Carlos H.Cascos said after the meeting.

See previous posts.

Bexar County elevators fail to pass state certification

How scary is that? I hope the Tower of the Americas, which had several problems recently, isn't one of the uncertified.

State records show there are 1,805 buildings with elevators in Bexar County. A quarter of those — including public buildings, medical buildings and schools — haven't met state standards, some in several years.

"It is against the law to operate an elevator in this state without a valid certificate of compliance," said Lawrence Taylor of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

State law requires that elevators have yearly inspections and a certificate of compliance as an assurance of safety. That certificate is required to be clearly posted for anyone to see.

Taylor says he does not know how so many elevators could be without certificates and that based on the numbers, Bexar County residents should be concerned.

How could that happen? Because Republicans don't care about safety. Republicans care about cronies.

Many people going hungry in Laredo

A study being released today identifies 90 percent of the approximately 35,650 South Texans receiving monthly food assistance as being chronically hungry. About 41 percent of those are children, the report said.The South Texas Food Bank's 2007 State of Hunger in South Texas report is the first of its kind in the area, not only identifying hunger problems but also offering solutions.

In Webb County, the percentage of people considered hungry is three times the national average, a large chunk of which is children.

"We really want to make this a public policy issue," said J.C. Dwyer, director of public policy for the South Texas Food Bank. "It's really a lot bigger than anyone realized. It's worth the public investment."

Hungry children. You know Republicans don't care.

Reforms slated for TSU

Disgraced former TSU president, Priscilla Slade's, legacy.

Texas Southern University is proposing top-to-bottom changes to ease the concerns of state lawmakers, including greater oversight from regents, tighter controls over spending and the involvement of outsiders in academic and financial matters.

The sweeping set of reforms comes after nearly two years of turmoil at the state's largest historically black university and could lead to an infusion of money from the state.

While the additional funding is an immediate and critical need, campus leaders characterized the proposed strategy as the best chance for improving a school with myriad of problems, including declining enrollment and low graduation rates.

The long-range plan calls for new policies that would require the governing board to be more involved than before, especially in money matters. At the same time, it says the regents' first priority should be to hire a permanent president.

El Paso medical examiner may have fudged his resume

Allegations that the county's medical examiner might have padded his résumé and may not meet the county's requirements for the position will be discussed during today's County Commissioners Court meeting.

Medical Examiner Dr. Paul Shrode, who was hired Oct. 31, 2005, has been questioned about inaccurately stating on his résumé that he received a graduate degree in law from Southwest Texas State University in 1979.

Noriega has a primary challenger who wanted to run as an Independent

Tired of "politics as usual," [Ray McMurrey, a Corpus Christi high school teacher], who said he is a lifelong Democrat, initially planned to run as an independent. After determining that gaining the 43,000 petition signatures required to get on the ballot was too arduous, he signed up as a Democrat.

McMurrey will campaign on repealing tax cuts instituted by the Bush administration, hastening the transition from fossil fuels to alternative energy, campaign finance and ethics reforms and against laws he says have undermined small business, family farmers and average workers, among other issues.

McMurrey wants international borders secured to stop illegal immigration and a redirection in war efforts in Iraq toward forces responsible for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Why would a 'lifelong' Democrat want to run as an independent? Color me skeptical.

Republicans have blurred the message about helping 'small business and family farmers'. McMurrey will have to be more specific. 'Securing the borders to stop illegal immigration' is Republican racist code-talk for 'I hate brown people'. Can McMurrey articulate the problems associated with illegal immigration and then propose plans to address those problems? Again, he needs to be more specific.

Getting out of Iraq and focusing on the 'real killers' is ok, but why limit yourself to just one group of terrorists?

If it's Monday, it must be TPA blog roundup!

It's Monday, and that means it's time for the pre-Thanksgiving edition of the Texas Progressive Alliance's Weekly Blog Round-Up. This week's round-up is compiled by Vince from Capitol Annex.

The Texas Cloverleaf examines the ongoing feud between TxDOT and NTTA -- this time the funding for the Hwy 161 project Dallas County may face its wrath. To toll or not to toll? That is TxDOT's question.

Hal at Half Empty wants to ask John Cornyn just one question: "When are you going to stop flip flopping on a border wall?"

XicanoPwr reports on the noose found hanging from a scaffolding on separate occasions over at the Exxon Mobil facility in Baytown, TX.

NYTexan at Bluebloggin discovers that some things will just never go away. Tom DeLay Will Launch Activist Group. Two stellar citizens, Tom DeLay and former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell have teamed up to promote the Coalition for a Conservative Majority (CCM).

Kay Granger pretends to care about the environment by sponsoring an Energy Expo but TXsharon at Bluedaze points to her ZERO score on environmentally friendly votes and begs to differ.

Harris County election officials adjusted the vote at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, after Tuesday's final election results had been released to the media. The Democratic Party's observer, a long-time voting rights activist, was stunned to watch it happen. What does this mean for the integrity of electronic voting in all of Texas? PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has questions without answers.

John Coby at Bay Area Houston reminds us that Texas is #1 in sucking with tuition for Texas University up by 63% since deregulation in 2003. The high cost of college tuition deregulation. Tuition increases again.

CouldBeTrue at South Texas Chisme complains that Texas keeps money meant for hospitals in 'state funds'. You can hear the Republicans yammering for another tax cut.

Muse wonders why Tom DeLay can't seem to stay away from Fort Bend County when he is supposed to be a Virginia resident. His new Coalition for a Conservative Majority kicks off there and has Ken Blackwell as its chair. Yeah, that Ken Blackwell. SOS in Ohio during the 2004 elections.

Mayor McSleaze at McBlogger asks What part of "interfaith" was not clear? in his post detailing the actions of Hyde Park Baptist Church.

Why can't Rudy Giuliani talk about baseball any more without pandering? Off the Kuff takes a look at his latest shenanigans.

Vince at Capitol Annex explores Texas Congressman Ron Paul's "surge" in the polls and in online contributions and wonders why his Republican supporters haven't bothered to examine his terrible record on behalf of the middle class in Texas.

WhosPlayin brings back the Texas Dim Bulb Award for Cracker-Barrell Craddick.

On The TexasBlue, David Gurney explores the total absence of integrity displayed by the Religious Right's endorsements of Giuliani and Thompson.

Easter Lemming watched the Pasadena mayor's race candidate forum in some amazement: How often do you hear a Texas candidate say: "He's just told me the position pays $102,000. I had no idea. If I had known that, I would have put out more yard signs." And Easter Lemming gets the candidate reply in the comments.

Texas Toad of North Texas Liberal explains why the Chicken Pickens of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth owes Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., a sum of $1 million.

Absent Elsa Commissioner may get booted

Some members of the City Commission want to know what happened to Javier Guerrero.

Attendance records show their fellow commissioner has been absent from all 11 of the regular and special meetings the commission has convened since July 6.

...

[Commissioner Cain] Caceres said the city charter calls for the commission to declare Guerrero’s — or any other commission member’s — seat vacant when that member has missed three consecutive regular monthly meetings, or three out of any string of five.

Guerrero has missed the last four regular meetings, but the commission still has not officially declared his seat open.

20% of Galveston's children test positive for lead poisoning

Cleveland, Baltimore, Milwaukee and Chicago have been at the forefront of lead prevention efforts in the last 13 years.

In Baltimore, aggressive lead abatement efforts have reduced the numbers of lead poisoning cases from 28 percent of children tested to 5 percent.

In Cleveland, poisoning cases have dropped from 45 percent to 10 percent.

In Galveston, nothing has changed. On average, 20 percent of children tested still have lead poisoning, and local leaders still have no plan to address the problem.

Filemon Vela is just another way to say hypocrisy

Republicans only have one idea: do away with government. So, what to do when you're running against a good Democrat? Call him names. That's the current plan for Nueces County Republicans running against new state representative Juan Garcia.

Last week, the local Republican Party sent out a cardboard flier depicting a donkey in a sheep suit, with "Don't get fleeced by imitation conservatives" emblazoned on it.

Inside, it says it is time for Republicans to take back District 32, occupied by Rep. Juan Garcia, D-Corpus Christi.

"We must not allow ourselves to be fooled by wolves in sheep's clothing who claim to represent us while serving the special interests represented by liberal trial lawyers and others who would destroy our way of life."

It is signed by seven high-profile Republicans, including Nueces County Republican chair Mike Bertuzzi, Aransas County Republican chair Betty Stiles and San Patricio County Republican chair Jim Clancy. It also includes the signature of trial lawyer and longtime activist Democrat Filemon Vela, who recently turned Republican.

Pushing to weaken tenure at Del Mar College

[Interim President Travis Kirkland ] Kirkland already has passed two policy revisions that give the president more power in determining department chair assignments and evaluating faculty, and the board passed another policy that allows the college to charge public information requestors once one's requests exceed 36 labor hours in a year's time.

But at the center of the tenure issue, both sides say, is a lot of misunderstanding and a lack of perspective.

While Kirkland maintains tenure should be a more distinguished honor, faculty members against the changes say it is not easy under current policy to achieve it.

See previous posts.

Former Cameron County Judge is elected Cameron Democratic Party Chair

The only Democrat to lose election in 2006 will now lead the local party.

Democratic Party precinct chairs on Monday selected former Cameron County Judge Gilberto Hinojosa to serve as their chairman.

Hinojosa will succeed outgoing Chairman David Sanchez, who officially resigned from the post Monday evening to run for judge of the newly created 444th state District Court.

Hinojosa served as county judge for 12 years. He lost the seat last year to Republican candidate Carlos H. Cascos.

Craddick holds up railroad

Micromanaging by House Speaker Tom Craddick and his staff has put an important part of the state's historical heritage at risk -- the Texas State Railroad -- the mayor of Palestine said Friday.

As a result of funding delays from Austin, her small town's City Council and that of neighboring Rusk took the extraordinary steps this week of authorizing $1 million in loans for the 100-year-old rail line.

The state was supposed to have delivered that much and more three months ago, but it has been held up since Craddick's office began raising questions about how the Texas State Railroad Authority would use the money.

If TxDOT is short on money, why spend $$ on propaganda?

The Texas Department of Transportation, working to fend off a funding shortfall from the federal government, intends to cut hundreds of millions of dollars budgeted for everything from consulting engineers to right-of-way purchases.

The plan wouldn't affect existing road projects, and it's "difficult to say" what future projects would be delayed as a result, agency spokesman Randall Dillard said Friday.

Projections show that if existing plans for awarding contracts and expenditures were to go forward, the department would have at least a $1.8 billion deficit by 2012 and at least $3.6 billion by 2015, agency deputy executive director Steve Simmons said in remarks prepared for Thursday's commission meeting.

Oh, yeah. They want toll roads for their cronies. What a bunch of d*ckheads!

See previous posts.

John Kerry SHOULD get $1M from Swiftboater Pickens

Sen. John Kerry, whose 2004 presidential campaign was torpedoed by critics of his Vietnam War record, said Friday he has personally accepted Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens' offer of $1 million to anyone who can disprove even a single charge of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

Senator Gallegos may get $500K from Houston

City attorneys are negotiating a deal with state Sen. Mario Gallegos for as much as $500,000 in back retirement benefits to settle a legal dispute over his forced departure from the Houston Fire Department in the early 1990s, officials acknowledged Friday.

The deal, which still is being negotiated and had not yet been made public, could grant Gallegos, D-Houston, at least $200,000 in a lump sum, with remaining benefits going toward the retirement annuity he earned during 22 years with the department, the officials said.

The proposed settlement would end Gallegos' legal claim that the city improperly interpreted the state constitution to prohibit firefighters from serving in the Legislature.

We told you that that d*mn fence was all about the bigots!

For the first time, [Rice researcher Stephen] Klineberg expanded his survey to Galveston, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties. Only the responses of white residents were used in questions about immigrants, Klineberg said, because the non-Anglo percentages in the four counties varied widely.

The survey found 57 percent of Montgomery County respondents and 59 percent in mainland Galveston County believe the immigrant influx "mostly threatens American culture."

More on that d*mn fence!

What color would you like for that d*mn fence?

The new draft Environmental Statement for the 70-mile Rio Grande Valley border wall plan includes the option of two layers of fencing 130 feet apart.

Members of the general public will get their first chance to officially voice their opinion verbally at two “open house” meetings, to be held at the McAllen Convention Center on Dec. 11, and the Brownsville Events Center on Dec. 12.

“We want to hear from the public. The department has continually embraced public comment," Department of Homeland spokesman Barry Morrissey told the Guardian Friday

Nobody with an IQ bigger than their hat size believes the Bush government gives a rat's a** about what we think! Kay 'Bye Bye' Bailey Hutchison thinks we're that stupid.

Environmentalists and elected officials alike say they are pleased the public will get a chance to comment on the plan to build 70 miles of border fencing in the Rio Grande Valley.

“I am pleased that DHS is opening up this process so that Texans in border communities may provide input as this process moves forward,” said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.

And James 'Rick' Perry gets on the levees bandwagon.

Hidalgo County officials say they have a new advocate for strengthening the Rio Grande Valley’s suspect levee system - Gov. Rick Perry.

Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas III, Commissioner Hector “Tito” Palacios and Hidalgo County Drainage District Director Godfrey Garza met with say they met with Perry in Austin to pitch a proposal for a hydraulic structure that would protect citizens from flood waters while, at the same, helping Border Patrol protect the homeland.

They say the meeting went well and point to a letter Perry has subsequently sent Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. In it, Perry writes that he believes it “would be appropriate to examine very closely the proposal to combine levee remediation with the SBInet border fence.”

TYC crony contract under scrutiny

The embattled Texas Youth Commission awarded a no-bid contract following its legislative-ordered overhaul to a former state official targeted by earlier ethics inquiries, according to a newspaper report.

Gregg Phillips, a former top deputy with the state Health and Human Services Commission, has been investigated in Texas and Mississippi over allegations of cronyism in contract awards. The inquiries did not produce criminal charges or sanctions.

His company, AutoGov, received a $275,000 contract to overhaul the youth agency's inmate classification system. The contract bypassed standard procurement rules and the legislative funding contract, The Dallas Morning News reported in its Friday editions.

Jay Kimbrough, who was appointed conservator of the scandal-wracked agency by Gov. Rick Perry, insisted the deal wasn't rooted in favoritism.

The Houston Chronicle sounds like a Republican operative with this headline

"Big Democrat supporter indicted, charged with posing as lawyer". The preceding title is on the main webpage while the actual article's title is 'South Texas Democrat, businessman indicted'.

Did the online editor mean to imply that Mauricio Celis likes fat or tall Democrats? Is the online editor an idiot who doesn't know the difference between a noun and an adjective? What kind of editor is that? Is the online editor a Rush Limbaugh wannabe? Or, is it all of the above?

Please note that the original title is shorter than the Rush Limbaugh wannabe replacement.

Mauricio Celis indicted on four counts

A grand jury on Friday indicted Mauricio Celis on four felonies: perjury, falsely holding himself out as a lawyer, theft and impersonating a public servant.

Nueces County District Attorney Carlos Valdez said he has not ruled out the possibility of further investigation. Valdez also said he will ask for a $1 million bond and he expects Celis to turn himself in to authorities after an arrest warrant is issued, which won't be until next week.

Celis' attorney, Tony Canales, was out of the office and did not return phone calls Friday.

I'm sure Mikal Watts is still Mauricio's friend.

Here's some irony for ya'.

After indictments were returned Friday, the case was assigned randomly to District Judge Marisela Saldaña, who recused herself. In September, Saldaña signed a restraining order after-hours barring television commercials Thomas J. Henry aired against Celis.

Saldaña is on Watts' slate of candidates. Good call Marisela.

Maybe we will find out more. Like who was in the hot tub with Celis and the woman who ran away scared.

"This is just the beginning of the process and I think we'll learn a lot more about Mr. Celis," said Henry of Friday's indictments.

See previous posts.

Chris Bell sues Rick Perry

Democrat Chris Bell sued Gov. Rick Perry's campaign and the Republican Governors Association on Thursday claiming $1 million in contributions made to Perry days before his 2006 re-election were illegal.

Republicans think that following laws is for the little people.

The Republican Governors Association last fall sent a list of individual donors with two $500,000 checks to Gov. Rick Perry's re-election campaign.

The campaign cashed the checks but never filed the three-page list at the Texas Ethics Commission as required by state law.

For more see Off the Kuff, Half Empty, Jobsanger, and Pink Dome.

Texas tenatively approves error-filled textbooks

Proposed math books for elementary school children and their teachers have resulted in one computation that publishers would just as soon erase – 109,263.

That's the number of errors that were uncovered in proposed math textbooks that are under review by the State Board of Education for distribution to schools in the fall of 2008.

The total number of errors was nearly five times the total for last year, thanks to one publisher whose books contained more than 86,000 errors – 79 percent of the total.

Publishers will have until the spring to clean their books up. After that, they can be fined up to $5,000 for every error that makes it into the final editions of books shipped to Texas schools.

Texas jobless rate down

Texas' unemployment rate fell to 4.1 percent in October – its lowest point since 1976 – the Texas Workforce Commission reported Friday.

Carlos Uresti highlights Hispanic healthcare woes

Poor health conditions, high teenage pregnancy rates, Hispanic dropout rates and illiteracy rates are problems of epidemic proportions, a state lawmaker has told a healthcare summit.

State Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, was one of the panelists at a conference that focused in access to healthcare for the Hispanic community. Hosted by the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the daylong event attracted more than 300 people.

San Antonio Police Chief under increasing fire

A coalition of 27 local minority organizations filed a complaint Thursday with the U.S. Justice Department requesting it investigate the San Antonio Police Department for failing to discipline and prosecute its officers for alleged civil rights violations.

...

Mario Salas, a coalition member and former city councilman, said the Police Department's failure to hold officers accountable and District Attorney Susan Reed's refusal to prosecute them "has resulted in massive violations of our citizens' civil rights."

Laredo school district burns through bond money

LISD officials announced Thursday they are short nearly $126 million on two bond elections that voters approved in 2005 and 2006, causing one board member to ask, "Where does it stop?""Or does it?" Laredo Independent School District Trustee Daniel Rigal asked at a construction workshop. "Or does this board allow this to happen over and over and over again?"

At the moment, projects still waiting to be built with the 2005 and 2006 bond proceeds now have cost estimates 132 percent to 973 percent higher than preliminary estimates.

Also at the meeting, the Early College High School appeared to be in jeopardy, with Trustee Jose A. Valdez and Superintendent Veronica F. Guerra raising concerns about the district's ability to continue funding the two-year-old high school.

Their concerns revolved around costs for providing on-campus housing for future Early College High School juniors and seniors, which was part of the deal when LISD joined this Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation project.

Bend over coastal residents, windstorm insurance is going up

Premiums will jump 8.2 percent next year for more than 200,000 coastal residents insured by the state windstorm association.

Insurance Commissioner Mike Geeslin on Thursday approved the hike for residential policies, along with a 5.4 percent increase for commercial policies.

The rate increase takes effect Feb. 1. It will add $84 to the $1,023 average annual premium for homeowners in 14 coastal counties and a portion of Harris County, according to the Texas Department of Insurance.

Getting closer to Galveston to Houston rail

The commuter rail link to Houston that Galveston leaders have coveted for years is feasible, cost-effective and not as unlikely as people may think, according to a transportation study presented to the city council on Thursday.

Transportation consultant Barry Goodman, whose company has worked on the study for several years, estimated at least the first phase of the rail link could be up and running by 2012.

“This is just tremendously exciting news,” said councilmember Dianna Puccetti. “It’s a long overdue mode of transportation that has been needed in this area for some time. I think as you look at the benefits, especially air quality and cost savings, it’s just a phenomenal project.”

See previous post.

Galveston County finds being environmental friendly has benefits

That wasn’t always the case a few years ago, before the manager of the county’s oldest drainage district cut the herbicide budget by 91 percent. The wholesale policy change also scaled back ditch erosion that would otherwise dump silt into at least one impaired tidewater bayou.

When Carl Hallows took over Santa Fe-based Galveston County Drainage District No. 1 in 2002, he said the district’s yearly budget for herbicide was between $21,000 and $22,000. Hallows said he immediately began a mowing program to maintain ditches, and last year he budgeted only $1,895 in grass-killing chemicals.

“When I came to work here, they had a tank on a trailer and were spraying everything,” Hallows said. “They were killing it rather than mowing it. That much herbicide is bad for the environment and, if you keep spraying the same spot, residue will build up in the ground.”

The herbicide, a generic version of the brand name Roundup, killed the vegetation, leaving ditches barren.

“When you kill the vegetation off, you’ve got nothing to hold the soil in,” Hallows said. “Then the dirt goes down the flood ways.”

Bob Dunn gives us more background on the Fort Bend GOP follies

The day before Gary Gillen quit as Fort Bend County Republican Party chairman, he got a letter from the party’s auditor, who said his firm can’t issue an opinion on the local GOP’s 2006 financial statements until party leaders address allegations of election law violations.

See previous posts.

Corpus Christi protests Alberto Gonzales

Way to go! Alberto Gonzales is a disgrace and a disaster for our country.

Protesters gathered at the American Bank Center on the sidewalk at the intersection of Hughes Street and North Chaparral Street. Three women wore black head coverings similar to those seen in photographs of prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

Other protesters carried signs that said, "The America I believe in does not torture," "Habeas Corpus Christi," "Say no to waterboarding" and "Impeach Bush/Cheney."

Abel Cavada, a board member of the Coastal Bend American Civil Liberties Union, one of the groups involved in the protest, said Gonzales' record regarding torture and his connection to the Bush administration make him a bad choice for the chamber's award ceremony.

Workers hurt at La Gloria gas plant

Five workers at the DCP Midstream plant, a natural gas processing facility in La Gloria, were burned in a flash explosion about 11:30 a.m. Thursday, rescuers said.

About 25 firefighters from both Premont and Brooks County responded with brush, pump and tanker trucks, said Jerry La Rue, fire chief for the Premont department.

"There was no fire, it was a flash explosion already out," La Rue said. "So we set up a landing zone for helicopter rescuers in a pasture on the west side of the plant."

Of the five injured workers, three were contract employees with Flint Energy Services conducting routine maintenance work, said company spokesman Qui Cocquist. The other two were direct service providers with another company.

Nueces County Grand Jury is still hearing evidence against Mauricio Celis

Mauricio Celis is accused of flashing a Duval County Sheriff's Department badge to Corpus Christi police after a nude woman fled Celis' Kings Crossing home in September.

The woman told investigators that she was in a hot tub with Celis and her boyfriend, who also is a friend of Celis, when she became uncomfortable and ran.

Rampant rumor has it that an unnamed, well-known, Nueces County figure was in that bathtub and caused the woman to 'feel uncomfortable. Is that true? Would we ever find out, if it were? I hope so.

Celis is accused of flashing a badge and asking police to turn the woman over. A subsequent investigation determined that Celis hadn't been authorized to act as a deputy since 2003.

...

Celis is accused in a separate incident of impersonating an attorney -- a felony in Texas.

See previous posts.

Brownsville mayor doesn't like new PUB

The first item on the agenda was to administer the oath of office to new members Arturo Farias and Emmanuel Vasquez who were installed, despite vigorous protests from the mayor.

Farias promised to do his best to serve the city and utility. Vasquez prayed for strength, health and courage to serve the board.

They joined Sanchez, Robert Guerra and Al Villarreal on the panel recently weighed down in power struggles and pending litigation.

...

“As mayor,” Ahumada wrote, “I do not recognize the present make up of the board as a legal board.”

Apparently, those in attendance laughed at Ahumada's letter. The citizens lose when those who represent them have personal agendas.

Texas is #1! In CO2 emmissions, that is.

North Texas power plants are among the nation's biggest man-made contributors to global warming, according to a new study that's billed as the first to compile detailed pollution data from the more than 50,000 power plants worldwide.

The study released Wednesday by the Center for Global Development reveals that Texas power plants by far emit the most carbon dioxide -- the chief man-made contributor to climate change. It also shows that some of state's biggest polluters are owned by Luminant Power of Dallas, formerly TXU Corp.

Coal-fired power plants are the world's largest source of man-made carbon dioxide, emitting 10 billion tons a year.

We should be sooooo proud.

Republican governors, including Perry, decide not to file campaign reports

Yup, what's a measly law to a Republican.

State law requires out-of-state political committees — and the candidates who take their money — to disclose information that will let voters determine who is behind the donations.

Neither the Republican Governors Association nor Perry did that.

The intent of the law is to ensure that political money from inside and outside of Texas are equally transparent.

Possible penalties include misdemeanor criminal charges for the candidate and civil damages that could be as much as three times the $1 million for both Perry and the association.

The Republican Governors Association and Perry, who is expected to be elected the group's chairman this month, deny any intentional wrongdoing.

Republicans have such contempt for citizens.

Republicans stab American farm workers in the back.

And, violate a federal law in the process. Republicans don't care about the US constitution, why should they care about a measly law.

The agency quietly proposed last week that employers no longer be required to place ads for available agricultural jobs with print and broadcast media outside of where they plan to use the workers.

Advocates for farm workers say the change violates a 1986 federal law that requires employers to look for U.S. workers in designated multistate regions before they resort to hiring foreign workers.

Such a move could hurt farm workers who are U.S. citizens or legal residents, said Bruce Goldstein, executive director of Farmworker Justice Fund Inc.

"The Department of Labor is now saying the employers need not recruit beyond the local area. It will deprive U.S. farmworkers of jobs that they want and that they need," Goldstein said.

How like a Republican to take the Department of Labor and use it to favor business over workers.

DA Hissy Fit dodges petition for removal

A judge has dismissed a petition that sought to have Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra removed from office.

State District Judge Manuel Bañales threw out the petition Tuesday, saying the allegations either did not have merit or did not warrant removal from office.

The petition was filed in August by Willacy County Sheriff Larry Spence, District Clerk Gilbert Lozano and County Clerk Terry Flores. The officials sought Guerra’s removal on 39 counts, alleging incompetence and misconduct.

Whaaa? DA Hissy Fit needs to go. Really.

See previous posts.

Hill Country residents say wind farms are ugly

But some Gillespie County residents are concerned that their Hill Country idyll is in jeopardy. Their worries focus on a movement that's usually viewed as highly desirable: the building of wind farms to produce electricity.

A new organization, Save Our Scenic Hill Country, says an energy company seeks to build wind turbines north of Fredericksburg. The group fears the Hill Country's serenity and scenic vistas — everything that makes it a beloved part of Texas — are in danger of being marred by 400-foot-high wind turbines.

Retaliation against pepper spray whisleblower at TYC

A senior Texas Youth Commission executive brought in to help reform the troubled agency has been accused of retaliating against subordinates who flagged some uses of pepper spray and solitary confinement as violations of inmates' rights.

Billy Humphrey, a top lieutenant of acting TYC executive director Dimitria Pope, is accused of bullying and punishing subordinates without cause in written grievances filed by two agency administrators in October. The Dallas Morning News obtained copies of the grievances under the Texas Public Information Act.

"Administrators want to avoid conflict and interaction with Mr. Humphrey for fear he will move them to a remote location and displace their entire family," Teresa Stroud, 41, superintendent of TYC's Brownwood juvenile prison, alleged Oct. 11.

Humphrey sounds like a perfect Republican - not interested in solving any problems, just pushing the PR. And, the only tool in his toolbox is intimidation.

Disgraced Laredo police chief gets costly city payday

Accumulated leave time during former Chief Agustin Dovalina III's nearly 30 years with the Laredo Police Department totals $86,895, a payment that is forcing the city to dip into its fund balance.Dovalina's cohorts in a bribery conspiracy involving illegal gambling operations, Lt. Eloy Rodriguez and Sgt. Alfonso Santos, will receive approximately $41,900 and $27,350, respectively, according to city documents.

Before pleading guilty to extortion, Dovalina submitted a letter of retirement, entitling him to full pension and payment for accrued leave time. Santos also retired from the police department but Rodriguez was not eligible. Both, however, will receive payment for accrued leave time.

That's just NOT right!

Call for a Galveston - Houston commuter line

A commuter rail line connecting Galveston to downtown Houston is economical, will reduce air pollution, ease traffic congestion and provide an evacuation route if a hurricane threatens, according to a 14-month study released Wednesday.

The Galveston-Houston Commuter Rail Study estimates it would cost between $380 million to $415 million to revive commuter service on the 140-year-old Galveston-Houston and Henderson rail corridor that parallels Interstate 45.

That's a bargain compared with the estimated $2.2 billion cost of a two-way bus lane carrying the same number of passengers, according to the study.

Trains just seem so much more inviting.

Most Texas school districts ignore merit pay

Less than half of Texas school districts agreed to participate in the state's new merit pay plan for teachers, according to a final count released by the Texas Education Agency.

The agency said 442 of the state's 1,033 districts, or 43 percent, opted to take part in the $148 million District Awards for Teacher Excellence program.

The participating school districts, which include most of the state's largest, will share the merit pay money beginning in the 2008-09 school year.

More here.

Fort Bend GOP will get a new party chair this month

A replacement for resigned Fort Bend County Republican Party chairman Gary Gillen will be chosen Nov. 27 at a special meeting called by Texas GOP Chairman Tina Benkiser.

In a memo to Fort Bend County GOP Executive Committee members, Benkiser said she intends to appoint Paul Davis, chairman of Precinct 1120, to serve as temporary chairman of the meeting.

Sounds like the replacement will have to deal with an on going feud.

See previous posts.

Everyone deserves clean water

Yet we still see that in places such as El Paso County's colonias. Organizations such as the El Paso Interreligious Sponsoring Organization have made heroic strides over the years toward eliminating this problem, but there remains work to do.

Part of that work is in the Schuman Estates, a Canutillo community. In uncertified tests of water in 46 homes, eight tested positive for the presence of coliform bacteria. It's suspected that wells from which the residents draw water were dug too shallow and that water from cesspools and septic tanks has entered that well water.

This is made all the more puzzling because the homes, although outside city limits and close to the New Mexico border, are close to city water lines, yet haven't been connected.

Some help is on the way in the form of $50,000 from the Border Environment Cooperation Commission to study the Canutillo water situation.

Gene Seaman lose's out on Corpus Christi port commission bid

A 3-2 vote by Nueces County Commissioners put businessman Kenneth Berry back on the Port of Corpus Christi commission Wednesday.

There were 11 others vying for Berry's slot on the seven-member board, which sets policy for the nation's sixth-largest port and is the Corpus Christi area's primary economic engine.

Those up for the position included former state Rep. Gene Seaman, former Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi President Robert Furgason, retired refinery manager Ralph Coker and Katherine Shamsie, the 13-year-old daughter of former County Judge Terry Shamsie and District Judge Nanette Hasette.

3-2 doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement for an incumbent.

UT wants to raise tuition by as much as 22%

Thereby fulling the Republican dream of killing public education for the middle class.

Tuition and fees at the University of Texas at Austin could increase at least 13 percent over the next two years, adding hundreds of dollars to students' bills, if a proposal submitted Tuesday is adopted.

Officials at Texas' biggest campus say that without enough money from the state, they must turn to families to make up the difference. But some students and lawmakers find the prospect of yet another round of tuition hikes troubling. They wonder when – or if – it will stop.

The increases would vary by major, sometimes significantly. But on average, in-state undergraduates would pay $636 more for the 2008-09 school year, and an additional $606 more for 2009-10. The published rates this school year run from $7,670 for liberal arts majors to $8,908 for business majors. The biggest increase – 22 percent – would be for nursing majors, whose tuition would increase from $8,254 this year to $10,072 in 2009-10.

UT-PA wants more, too.

University of Texas-Pan American students could pay more in tuition, parking and certain fees next school year if the state approves an administrative proposal.

UTPA leaders are considering raising prices to keep up with the university’s expenses, like hiring new faculty and improving buildings, a planning committee told students, faculty and staff during one of two forums Tuesday.

Former Cameron County Commissioner pleads out

Former Cameron County Commissioner Hector Peña of Harlingen pleaded no contest Tuesday to charges that he billed Texas State Technical College-Harlingen for police training courses that never took place.

Francisco Javier Torres, another TSTC instructor, also pleaded no contest to the charges Tuesday. Although Torres was never indicted, a criminal information, which is similar to an indictment, was filed against him, Assistant Attorney General Shane Attaway told the judge Tuesday.

More detention center guards charged in immigrant smuggling scheme

Two more Willacy County immigration detention center officers, both from Harlingen, are facing charges in connection with transporting illegal immigrants, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.

Two others from Raymondville were arrested last week.

See previous post.

Asarco mishandles military waste in El Paso and Corpus Christi

The Government Accountability Office released a report Tuesday that includes a less than flattering review of Asarco's handling of military hazardous waste at the company’s El Paso smelter and a Corpus Christi processing plant.

“Above all, the report confirms what many in El Paso and I have been saying, that Asarco has not been committed the health and well-being of the El Paso community and is not responsible enough to merit a renewal of its permit," said U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, who requested the GAO report.

Asarco has applied with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to renew its air permit, allowing the company to reopen the El Paso smelter, which has been closed since 1999. TCEQ’s decision is expected soon.

The GAO report references Asarco's violations of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, or RCRA, which occurred when Asarco failed to manage the military materials as hazardous waste. Asarco maintains that they were recycling the material for its metals content.

See previous posts.

Edcouch-Elsa school board member arrested. Again.

Edcouch-Elsa school board member Manuel “Manny” Hernandez Jr. has landed behind bars for the second time in three weeks, police said Wednesday.

Hernandez, 29, of Elsa, is expected to be arraigned today on charges of family violence and cocaine possession.

Elsa police arrested him Tuesday after he allegedly attacked his mother. But details on the circumstances surrounding his arrest remain sketchy.

Sounds like a real prince.

Harris County election results manually adjusted

Are you worried about electronic voting systems? So easy to change the results.

Johnnie German admitted he was nervous as he used high-security codes to tap into the Harris County elections computer system last week and change some of the results manually.

But German's late-night deed, said by officials to be a first-time event in the six years Harris County has used the eSlate voting system, has rekindled the debate about whether the newest electronic methods for counting votes should be trusted.

What German graphically demonstrated was that with the proper physical and informational access, one person can alter the results of an election in a county of 1.8 million registered voters.

Nueces County did the same during the last Democratic County chair election where a vote was accidentally lost during a manual adjustment. That vote did not change the election result.

PDiddie has more on this story:

Who needs to hack the vote when you can just bribe a county elections official?

Why do you think several states have decertified Hart InterCivic's e-Slates for use?

Judge Kent gets a reprieve from the House Judiciary Committee

Why does it have to take so long?

The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday said it would await the outcome of a criminal investigation of allegations against U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent before deciding whether to impeach the judge, who until September was the sole federal judge to sit in Galveston.

It said, however, that, if the allegations against Kent are proven, “there is no doubt the committee will take action.”

And, in an implicit rebuke of the 5th Judicial Circuit, the committee said the complaint against Kent was so serious it should have been referred to the Judicial Council of the United States, the judicial body that makes impeachment recommendations to Congress.

...

The judiciary committee wants to await the results of a criminal investigation, but so far, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Houston hasn’t confirmed the existence of one.

The Galveston County Daily News has done a terrific job exposing and covering the sorry story of this 'judge'. Their take on this story:

The federal judicial system has failed to do its duty in handling accusations against U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent. Now, what the courts have failed to do, Congress must do.

Based on everything now known about the judge’s conduct, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals should have seen to it that Kent resigned or faced an impeachment inquiry or perhaps even criminal prosecution.

The court took no such action, and thus it reinforces a disturbing notion: Federal judges are themselves above the law.

There may be an appeal to the Judicial Conference.

Rusty Hardin, McBroom's attorney said he intended to follow the lawmakers' recommendation to appeal to the Judicial Conference.

Hardin said he also is preparing a criminal complaint to give to the U.S. Department of Justice in the next week or so.

Shameful sacks of sh*t that they are. It was the judicial system that gave Kent a paid 4-month vacation and moved him to the same building with the victim.

See previous posts.

A gas plant and incentives for refineries for Corpus Christi

The port okayed a new gas plant.

Port of Corpus Christi commissioners Tuesday approved option agreements, giving Nueces Syngas and Chase Power Development more time to decide whether they want to build the plants. The land being studied previously was inaccessible and last month became accessible with the opening of the Joe Fulton International Trade Corridor.

...

Nueces Syngas, an affiliate of Tondu Corp., is interested in building a synthetic gas plant along the Inner Harbor. The plant would be fueled by petroleum coke, a sandy residue left over from the refining process, on about 80 acres on the harbor's north side. The 18-month option agreement will bring the port about $1.7 million, port staff said.

Corpus Christi city council hearts refineries .

Three refineries and a Corpus Christi-based convenience store operator were nominated by the City Council to receive state tax incentives.

Is there something wrong with this picture?

Corpus Christi council complains about port appointment

City Councilman Mike Hummell took the podium during Tuesday's council meeting to draw attention to an early Port of Corpus Christi board appointment made by the previous council -- the second time he has made such statements during public comment in three weeks.

His goal? To convince the council why Port of Corpus Christi Commissioner Mike Carrell's early reappointment to the port in March and subsequent swearing in on June 4 should be discussed.

Hummell unsuccessfully attempted to get the item on the council agenda a couple of weeks ago. He hasn't requested it again.

See previous posts.

Del Mar regents hold off on tenure changes

Some Del Mar College faculty members on Tuesday won what they say is needed before controversial policy changes go into effect: more time.

Regents at their Tuesday board meeting -- after several hours of public comment and discussion -- voted to table policy changes that would have changed how tenure was granted and given the president's office more authority over faculty groups.

Several board members said the board had received enough comments against the proposals to warrant further input. Board President Chris Adler and Trey McCampbell had the lone votes against tabling the items.

Of course, Chris Adler voted to go ahead.

See previous posts.

More medical services will be available for veterans in the Laredo area

Not exactly a Valley VA hospital, but an incremental improvement.

The 150-mile journey Laredo veterans have to travel to San Antonio for basic health care needs will soon be a thing of the past.At a news conference Monday with representatives from the South Texas Veterans Health Care System, Congressman Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, announced that veterans in Webb, Zapata, Jim Hogg and LaSalle counties will now be able to receive the majority of medical services they need locally.

"This is a transformation of how we provide health care," Cuellar said, adding that 70 to 80 percent of the trips veterans currently take will be eliminated if they choose to have the services performed locally.

In addition to the mental health and podiatry services currently available in Laredo, veterans now have the option of choosing local facilities to treat sleep disorders, undergo physical and occupational therapy, and have CAT scans and MRIs performed.

Other services now available include optometry, prosthetic and orthopedic work, as well as audiology and dental work.

Andrew Welch, the associate director of the South Texas Veterans Health Care System, said the veteran must be enrolled in the VA system in order to benefit from the program.

Alleged victim calls for Judge Kent's impeachment

Sounds like a very good idea to me.

In March, U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent didn’t just sexually harass Cathy McBroom — he physically assaulted her, her attorney and her mother said.

Now, they say, it’s time for Congress to impeach the judge, who for 17 years sat on the bench in Galveston, and for law enforcement to prosecute him. New revelations about the alleged incident may push Congress to move toward impeachment, some say.

Meanwhile, the president of the National Organization for Women had harsh words for the way the matter has been handled by the judiciary.

Well, yeah. The guy got a 4 month paid vacation!

Fort Bend GOP MAY get straightened out soon

The Fort Bend County Republican Party Executive Committee is planning a special meeting, possibly on Nov. 29, to take the action necessary to name an interim chairman in the wake of Gary Gillen’s surprise resignation announcement last week.

See previous posts.

Hispanics missing from Texas history lessons

State Board of Education member Mary Helen Berlanga on Monday called on the Texas Education Agency to include Hispanics, women and Native Americans in the state’s core public school curriculum known as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills.

The TEKS is being revised for the first time since 1997, and this time Berlanga isn’t taking any chances. At a news conference Monday on the UTB-TSC campus, she said that what the TEA told her during the last revision won’t fly this time around.

When Berlanga pointed out in 1997 that significant contributions by Hispanics were being left out of the TEKS, the TEA told her that publishers of the textbooks the state would use knew about those contributions and would include them.

Instead, the U.S. history segment of the TEKS that Texas students study in fourth and 11th grades includes scarcely a mention of Hispanics.

More reasons why that d*mn fence is a mistake!

In that part of Texas, the U.S. border with Mexico is generally considered to be the Rio Grande. But, according to a map obtained by the Associated Press, the U.S. government is tentatively planning to build a border fence as far as two miles on the U.S. side of the river.

This comes after Michael Chertoff, secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, told residents in South Texas that the government would listen to their concerns before deciding where the fence would be built.

Ranchers have concerns about watering their cattle, among other things. Environmental protection people have concerns about the natural migration of some wild animals.

Now Granjeno citizens are concerned there will be a fence between their kitchens and family rooms.

Government officials say a fence right at the river could interfere with water flow should there be a flood. That's a reason the fence is planned where it is.

What about that no-man's land being created by that d*mn fence?

What will happen to the land between the fence and the river is the biggest question for landowners in border towns such as Granjeno, a town of three streets and about 400 people situated less than 10 miles from McAllen in a mostly corn-growing region of the Rio Grande Valley.

Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas said he can't get an answer no matter how many times he asks.

If you actually think about that d*mn fence you realize it's all about the bigoted base and not about security.

But if the area immediately surrounding the inn and the border crossing at Blaine is one of the more secure along the U.S.-Canadian border, the other 4,000 or so miles are a security nightmare.

Given Canada's open immigration policies, terrorist organizations have established cells there seeking "safe havens, operational bases and attempting to gain access to the USA," according to a 1998 report from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. The report said that more than 50 terrorist groups might be present, including Hezbollah, Hamas and other radical Islamic groups from Iran and Algeria.

A 2006 report from the Nixon Center, a Washington, D.C., policy institute, quoted a senior FBI official as saying that Canada is the most worrisome terrorist point of entry and that al Qaida training manuals advise terrorists to enter the United States from Canada.

But, those Canadians look like nice Anglos.

Edcouch-Elsa ISD school board accused of using ISD-paid employees for campaigns

Is there anyone in state government who can do anything about dozens of school janitors, cafeteria workers, and security guards having two weeks paid leave during early voting to go trawl for votes for school board members?

If so, the two major political groups in the Rio Grande Valley’s Delta region would like to hear from you. They would like a state investigation into the way Edcouch-Elsa ISD is run, as well as other local governmental entities in one of the most impoverished areas of the country.

Leaders of the Better Edcouch-Elsa Club and the Delta Area Civic Organization announced last week that they had reached an “historic agreement’ to work together to stamp out public corruption in their community. They called the accord historic because for many years they were at each other’s throats.

“How can the school employees get out for a whole two weeks to be taking votes? Either they need them in school, or they don’t need them. Period. They are getting paid from school funds,” said Jesus Flores, a leader of the BEE Club.

Nancy Pelosi to visit Texas colonias

Congressman Henry Cuellar is bringing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Laredo to make her first ever visit to a colonia and to witness the impact federal government policies are having on wait times at international bridges.

The visit is scheduled for next Saturday, the same day Pelosi is slated to attend a fundraiser for Congressman Rep. Ciro Rodriguez at the home of San Antonio lawyer Frank Herrera.

“I wanted the Speaker to come to Laredo to learn about important border issues and they do not come more important than the living conditions of colonia residents and the increased congestion at border ports of entry,” Cuellar told the Guardian.

“Speaker Pelosi has never visited a colonia before. This will be a first. I think her visit will end up benefiting colonias up and down the border, including Hidalgo County, which has more colonias than any other county. She can help with our water and wastewater funding bills.”

A wish on veterans day

Every American owes a debt of gratitude to our veterans. From the ones who served in time of peace to the ones who sacrificed everything during a time of war. Thank you.

I wish that we elect politicians who treat veterans with the simple respect that they deserve. Respect to treat war as a last resort instead of creating new vanity wars. Respect to give those who served and suffered the medical care they need and deserve. Respect to treat veterans as heroes instead of disposable war units left to wander our streets homeless.

Lets start by recognizing the terrible costs of war.

So, what did TPA blogs say last week?

It’s Monday, and that means it is time once again for the Texas Progressive Alliance’s Texas Blog Round-Up. This week’s round-up is brought to you by Vince from Capitol Annex.

TXsharon at Bluedaze sounds an alert about an investigative report exposing The Most Toxic Substance on Earth and the Barnett Shale gas exploration.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is disgusted with UT Southwestern Medical Center’s policy of using state funds to give the ‘elite’ special treatment while the rest of us languish.

McBlogger wants to know why Barney Frank is loving on big banks with his Kill The Mortgage Market bill, HR 3915.

Xanthippas at Three Wise Men says be on the look out for how credit card and home mortgage lenders will screw you by making you pay debts you don’t actually owe.

Muse finds herself in the middle of a massive police presence and wonders if she has wandered into a manhunt. Nah, not an escaped convict, just W in town to get slobbered on by his lapdog, John Cornyn, at a fundraiser.

At Half Empty, Hal questions whether Congressmen Lantos’ and Smith’s excoriation of Yahoo! chiefs for releasing information to the ChiComs, is just the pot calling the kettle black.

Burnt Orange Report is all over the runoff for HD 97. Todd Hill gives an analysis of on the ground action and why Democrat Dan Barrett came in first place to secure a runoff spot in the HD 97 race this past week. Phillip Martin breaks down the numbers and price-per-vote, while also looking at some possibly illegal practices by the Republican in the runoff, Mark Shelton.

John Coby at Bay Area Houston writes about Bay Area Houston State Representative John Davis being slapped by the Ethics Watchdog. Again.

The Texas Cloverleaf’s hide is chapped by the abolishment of the hide inspectors and calls for a new Texas Constitutional Convention.

BossKitty at BlueBloggin points out how the Bush administration shows their support for veterans and the troops in US Tax Dollars NOT Spent on Homeless Veterans - Words Are Cheaper.

Texas Toad at North Texas Liberal fills us in on Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson’s announcement of the delay in the sale of the Christmas Mountains, as well as the reaction of Environment Texas.

Lightseeker at Texas Kaos tells that gigantic slurping sound from a few acres of scrub in north Texas was just T. Boone Pickens stealing water rights..

Vince at Capitol Annex has some reservations about the fact that the Bill White 2010 bandwagon is already rolling down the tracks.

WhosPlayin takes a look at an aspiring new “non-partisan” political party - the GOOOH party.

Gary at Easter Lemming Liberal News had one of his (in)famous what I did election day posts.

PDiddie is fed up with Democrats like Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Schumer, and intends to support only members of the Democratic Party such as Dennis Kucinich and John Edwards. He clarifies the distinction in “The Democrat Party vs. the Democratic Party”, at Brains and Eggs.

WCNews at Eye on Williamson has video of the TCRP’s Scott Medlock Discussing Williamson County, T. Don Hutto, & CCA.

Off the Kuff does a little after action review by examining his Election Day predictions to see how they turned out.

Texas breaks a promise. Again. Keeps money meant for hosiptals.

We said it soooo many times. Republicans do not believe in providing services to citizens. Republicans believe in growing their power and funneling money to their cronies. In that order. This story shows Republicans divirting money for services to tax cuts for their big donor cronies. How does that work? Keeping the money lets them 'balance' the budge anyway they want to.

Money raised by fining red-light runners is being withheld from its intended purpose of funding medical trauma centers because legislative budget writers didn't appropriate money for the program, officials said.

The Legislature this year gave cities permission to use red-light cameras, largely because supporters said half of the fine money would be dedicated to emergency rooms and trauma care centers.

But the money in the red-light fund was not appropriated, meaning it can't be spent. The fund wasn't expected to build up substantially until next summer.

...

It's the second time money targeted for emergency rooms has been kept by the state.

In 2003, lawmakers set aside some traffic fines for emergency rooms, but initially kept the fees to supplement the state budget. The state reversed that decision in 2005 and began sending some of the money collected to hospitals.

Laredo Morning Times hearts former Sheriff Agustin Dovalina III

The LMT gives a Valentine to the man who admitted taking bribes. He's soooo sensitive. He likes music. He couldn't help it. His house burned down. He was so good. The department has radios now.

Oh, cry me a river.

Craddick pushed more hate and division

That's worked so well for Republicans.

As he seeks to retain his leadership post, House Speaker Tom Craddick is pounding home a partisan message in his public appearances that portrays Republican legislators who oppose him as aiding and abetting the Democrats.

In speeches to Republican gatherings and civic groups, Craddick characterizes himself as the keeper of GOP ideals in Austin and warns that efforts to prevent him from winning a fourth term are being driven by trial lawyers who want to undo lawsuit restrictions.

Craddick allies have sought primary election opponents for some Republicans who tried to oust him as speaker in this year's legislative session. And telephone surveys have tried to turn voter sentiment against them in their districts. Craddick denies participating in these efforts.

Aiding and abetting the Democrats? Nice rhetoric for a putative Texas House leader. To oppose Craddick is to oppose Republican ideals? Maybe so.

Will Judge Kent be prosecuted

If so, that 4 month vacation his fellow judges handed him as a 'punishment' sure will come in handy. As will his move to Houston where his accuser works. Also, a gift from his fellow judges.

District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk has conferred with U.S. Attorney Donald DeGabrielle about who would have jurisdiction if U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent committed a crime in the courthouse at Church and 25th streets. Meanwhile, DeGabrielle’s office wouldn’t confirm or deny rumors that it had opened a criminal investigation into the suspended judge’s conduct. The FBI also wouldn’t say whether it had begun a probe.

Kent was reprimanded in September by his colleagues in the 5th Judicial Circuit after a court employee, Cathy McBroom, in May accused him of sexually harassing her by touching her in ways she didn’t want.

The Houston Chronicle gives us some details from McBroom.

The federal court employee at the center of a sexual misconduct complaint against U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent first went to her boss about the judge allegedly touching her inappropriately in 2003 — four years before the March incident that led to his reprimand by the 5th Circuit judicial council.

In mid-2003, case manager Cathy McBroom told her supervisor that the judge lured her into an office used as an exercise room and groped her, according to interviews with McBroom's friends, her mother and other sources.

But her female supervisor advised that McBroom could lose her job if she made a formal complaint, and no further action apparently was taken.

SHE COULD LOSE HER JOB? Sorry for the shouting. Is there a big fat lawsuit waiting to happen?

See previous posts.

Hutchison tries to rev up support for any GOP presidential candidate

Tough sledding in El Paso for Kay 'Bye Bye' Bailey.

Greater political involvement and renewed faith in the Republican Party are necessary in the 2008 presidential election, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said Saturday in a speech to the Texas Federation of Republican Women convention in El Paso.

After being greeted with a standing ovation from men and women from throughout Texas, Hutchison focused on the setbacks faced by the party since it lost a majority in Congress. The senator criticized steps taken by the Democratic Party on issues including immigration reform, taxes and the war in Iraq.

"I have heard some Republicans say, 'I am not going to vote if X candidate is nominated by the Republican Party.' What they are saying is that they are going to help the Democrats take over," Hutchison said.

Snicker.

Flack over El Paso rep's alleged forgery

City Rep. Rachel Quintana should come clean if she's guilty of forging a document to receive an employee discount on airline tickets to California for her and her daughter, some El Pasoans said the day after her Friday arrest.

Quintana is charged with forgery for allegedly altering a document that indicated she worked for FedEx to receive a special discount fare even though she quit in September. She was arrested and released Friday after posting a $5,000 bond.

Top Latina judge: Gina M. Benavides

Well done!

After more than 17 years as a litigator, the 44-year-old McAllen resident was elected to the state’s 13th Court of Appeals in January.

Last month, she was named Latina Judge of the Year by the Hispanic National Bar Association at its annual conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

“It’s a great honor to be recognized by your peers for your work,” she said. “But as a whole, women are still so far behind in representation on the bench.”

Nationally, 9 percent of judges and 10 percent of lawyers are members of minority groups, compared to a minority rate of 1 in 4 among all U.S. workers, according to the American Bar Association. Drill down to the level of Hispanic judges, and then to female Hispanic judges, and the rates dwindle even more

But the Rio Grande Valley’s judicial demographics may be the exception that proves the rule.

Benavides is one of at least 10 Latinas to hold elected judicial office in the Valley.

What do you get when GOP women meet?

Republican men addressing the state convention of the Texas Federation of Republican Women in El Paso spewed soft PR.

The state's highest elected officials advocated a humanitarian approach to securing the nation's borders Friday at the state convention of the Texas Federation of Republican Women in El Paso.

About 500 women from across the state heard Republicans Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst lay out policy initiatives they plan to support.

"I would argue that under Republican leadership, Texas is the most pro-faith, pro-life, pro-family state in the nation. And we didn't get there by accident," Perry said in a statement prepared for the convention. "Conservative values hold sway in Texas because people like you get involved, spread the word, and stand up for what's right."

Did the men think that the women were all about the 'humanitarian approach? What did the women actually say?

Kathy Smith of San Antonio said speakers at this weekend's convention echoed her sentiments, especially when they sounded strong on national security.

And, keep them Mexicans out!

Will the House stand up to Chertoff over that d*mn fence?

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is being quizzed by Democratic leaders on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce over his actions on a border wall project in Arizona.

Chertoff controversially decided to waive 20 federal laws and overturn a judge’s order to resume construction of a border wall through the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area.

“What specific facts and/or circumstances on the ground caused you to determine that the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act were preventing the expeditious construction of roads and barriers?” asked U.S. Rep. John D. Dingell, D-Michigan, chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, in a Nov. 7, letter to Chertoff.

Perry's purging paper trail

Advocates of open government were aghast to learn that Gov. Rick Perry requires his staff to destroy e-mail records after seven days. This