November 16, 2014

3 Best-Ever Discipline Tactics that Parents of Teenagers Need to Know

If you’re reading this, you’re probably a parent who’s looking for a little help figuring out how to effectively discipline your teenager.

-snip-

1. Curfew Clown

2. The Uncool T-shirt

3. The “Dance-off Countdown” text

To see the description of these tactical strategies go to http://www.lifetreefamily.com/best-discipline-teenagers/ . I believe that the second and third choices will be very effective.

November 15, 2014

Ex-candidate for governor Chris Bell ordered to pay GOP group $300,000 (Texas)

Source: Austin American-Statesman

Unsuccessful 2006 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell, once awarded $2 million in his lawsuit against the Republican Governors Association, has instead been ordered to pay the organization $300,000 in legal fees after losing on appeal.

The case dates to the closing days of the 2006 campaign, when the national association wrote two $500,000 checks to the campaign of Gov. Rick Perry, Bell’s Republican opponent.

After losing to Perry by 9 percentage points, Bell filed suit, arguing that the association violated state law by making political donations without appointing a Texas campaign treasurer or supplying a complete donor list. In 2010, Travis County District Judge John Dietz agreed, awarding Bell $2 million, or double the amount of the disputed contribution, as allowed by state law.

Last year, however, the 3rd Court of Appeals overturned Dietz’s ruling, saying out-of-state organizations cannot be penalized for disclosure violations and are not required to designate a state treasurer. Bell appealed, but the Texas Supreme Court declined to accept the case, leaving the appeals court ruling intact.

Read more: http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/ex-candidate-for-governor-chris-bell-ordered-to-pa/nh7XM/?icmp=statesman_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_statesmanstubtomystatesmanpremium

November 15, 2014

New York strippers win $10 million in back wages

NEW YORK — Dancers at a strip club are due more than $10 million in back wages and tips, a federal judge ruled Friday after the dancers sued to be paid at least a minimum wage.

And additional claims are headed for trial in the class action case, meaning there ultimately could be further awards to roughly 1,900 women who worked at Rick’s Cabaret in Manhattan between 2005 and 2012.

“We are very happy with the court’s ruling,” said the dancers’ Minneapolis-based lawyer, E. Michelle Drake.

The club’s owner, Houston-based RCI Hospitality Holdings Inc., said it planned to appeal and continue “vigorously defending the allegations.” RCI's subsidiaries operate clubs nationwide, including in Dallas and Fort Worth.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20141114-new-york-strippers-win-10-million-in-back-wages.ece

November 15, 2014

Beaumont ISD: Race to the Bottom

When Carrol Thomas arrived in 1996, Beaumont was struggling and divided.

The Spindletop oilfield, which had made the city rich, had dried up decades earlier. The oil crash of the 1980s stalled business at Beaumont’s port and prompted mass layoffs at its refineries. By the mid-1990s, years of white flight to exurbs along the interstate or north into the Piney Woods had shrunk Beaumont’s population to its lowest levels in 40 years. The civil rights movement, which seemed to take hold in Beaumont long after it did in the rest of the South, had an uneasy effect on the schools, with students riding dutifully each morning on buses from one segregated neighborhood to another, an imperfect but hard-fought alternative to segregation. Racial unease on the school board—largely about whether to continue busing—led to such dysfunction that two state monitors were dispatched from Austin to oversee the district. And then Carrol Thomas came to town promising to rescue the schools.

By 1995 the black community had gained a large share of the city’s population and a slim majority on the school board. After more than a century on the sidelines, African-American Beaumonters finally had a meaningful say in how their schools were run. Thomas was the man they picked to be Beaumont’s first black superintendent. He was a young school-turnaround artist who’d just saved Houston’s North Forest ISD from school board infighting and financial questions that prompted a federal investigation. As a sign of trust in the district’s new leader, the state recalled its monitors from Beaumont a few months before Thomas took office.

After just a few years, city leaders agreed that Thomas had delivered on his promise. The district was upgrading run-down schools in black neighborhoods, and had ended crosstown busing in a fashion that appeased both white and black community groups. With his firm but personable manner, Thomas built cooperation in a city that seemed doomed to wallow in distrust. As one white trustee told The Dallas Morning News early in Thomas’ tenure, “He enabled us to step back and see what was important.” Test scores rose, the district gained a sunny reputation and, perhaps most incredibly, the city itself seemed to be reversing its slow decline. “What he has done to improve the Beaumont school district has probably been the single biggest change for economic redevelopment,” the president of Beaumont’s chamber of commerce told the Morning News. “There’s a lot of movement back into the city.”

Little of that goodwill remains today. The district’s growth, test performance and financial stability once so celebrated now appear to have been, to varying degrees, illusions. Texas is growing, but neither Beaumont nor its schools are getting much bigger. Carrol Thomas spent 16 years as the city’s school superintendent—an almost unheard-of tenure for urban school leaders—and the multimillion-dollar surplus estimated when he left the district in 2012 has evaporated. Gone, too, are a $389 million bond package, much of it spent on projects that ran over budget, and millions in hurricane recovery funds. In their place, auditors discovered a $40 million budget shortfall, and federal investigators have found millions in embezzled public funds. The state has returned, this time to take over the district to save it from financial collapse. To remain solvent, Beaumont ISD has cut treasured school services like buses from after-school sports, tutoring and dozens of jobs.

Read more: http://www.texasobserver.org/beaumont-isd-race-to-the-bottom/

November 14, 2014

Another top Ohio Republican speaks on gay marriage

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A Republican justice on the Ohio Supreme Court says the legal obstacles facing his lesbian daughter, her partner and their two children have made him view the state's protections for same-sex couples and their families as inadequate.

The comments by Justice Paul Pfeifer come as the state's ban on same-sex marriage is appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in a case that could settle the issue across the nation once and for all.

He said his daughter, Lisa, has a partner and two children, ages 9 and 5, whom he and his wife consider grandchildren. But under Ohio law, his daughter has no parental rights.

"Gay and lesbian couples who sit down, plan to take on the awesome responsibility of having or adopting children, go see a lawyer and draft up all the documents you can think of, they still don't establish parenthood, and they can't because of the constitutional prohibition," he told The Associated Press. "And that's just not right."

Read more: http://www.themonitor.com/news/us_news/another-top-ohio-republican-speaks-on-gay-marriage/article_d5af6bfc-db59-5f9d-bd27-81ce0a797b1a.html

November 14, 2014

37 people with ties to white supremacist groups arrested for running No. TX meth-distribution ring

Thirty-seven people — most from Dallas and surrounding cities, all affiliated with various white supremacist groups — have been arrested on drug-trafficking conspiracy charges, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The federal grand jury’s indictment, filed in October but unsealed today following the arrests, alleges that each defendant has been part of a meth-distribution operating from Tulsa to Mesquite. And, says the indictment, they’re all have ties to the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, the Irish Mob (which, the feds say, operates out of Tulsa), the Aryan Circle or the Dirty White Boys, which takes its name from a prison softball team formed in Texas in the mid-1980s.

“Despite their differences, the ABT, Aryan Circle, Irish Mob, and Dirty White Boys often collaborate for purposes of drug distribution of other illegal ventures.”

In this instance, the feds allege, people nicknamed “Pacman,” “Taco Chris,” “Bam Bam,” “Phreek,” “Peppermint Patty,” “Charlie Brown” and 31 others teamed up between at least January 2013 to October 2014 to distribute meth in North Texas. Three other Dallas residents have also been arrested and charged in a separate federal complaint for having taken part in the same ring.

Read more: http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2014/11/thirty-seven-people-with-ties-to-white-supremacist-groups-arrested-for-running-north-texas-meth-distribution-ring.html/

November 14, 2014

Fried ramen noodles combined with donuts create latest food hybrid

The madness of bizarre culinary combinations has hit a new high (low?) with the development of the so-called 'ramnut.'

The ramnut is curious combination of ramen noodles crafted with a donut to create a cream-covered and cream-filled treat.

The Daily Mail has more:

Josh Scherer's 'ramnut' follows in the footsteps of pastry chef Dominique Ansel's infamous Cronut - and Keizo Shimamoto's world-renowned Ramen Burger, taking the trend one step further in order to combine sweet and savory in one calorific treat.

While some might not be too convinced by the bizarre blend flavors and textures, ramnut creator Josh, who runs foodie blog Culinary Bro-Down, insists that the custard- and jelly-stuffed delights 'tastes really good'.

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/fried-ramen-noodles-combined-donuts-create-latest-/nh7Nd/

November 14, 2014

‘Affluenza’ teen moved to another facility, a victim’s brother says

A 17-year-old who received a 10-year probationary sentence after he drove drunk and killed four people has been moved from the psychiatric hospital where he spent more than eight months, a relative of a victim said Thursday.

Ethan Couch had been at North Texas State Hospital in Vernon since Feb. 19.

Alexander Lemus, the brother of Sergio Molina, whose injuries left him paralyzed, said victims’ families were informed of Couch’s transfer, but they were not told where or to what kind of facility he was moved.

Multiple sources confirmed what Lemus said, but they did not want to be identified because they were not authorized to speak for publication.

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/11/13/6287267/ethan-couch-has-been-moved-to.html

November 14, 2014

Associate of Dallas-area hospital slumlord owner Tariq Mahmood pleads guilty to lying

TYLER — The ex-chief financial officer for a Texas hospital chain has pleaded guilty to making false statements to federal investigators investigating fraud allegations against the chain.

Joe White entered the plea Wednesday before a federal magistrate in Tyler. He could receive up to five years in prison.

The 67-year-old Cameron man also had faced an aggravated identity theft charge. Davilyn Walston, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Tyler, says that count will be dropped.

White worked for Dallas-area physician Tariq Mahmood. Mahmood previously pleaded not guilty to health care billing fraud and aggravated identity theft counts.

More at http://www.dallasnews.com/news/state/headlines/20141113-associate-of-dallas-area-hospital-chain-owner-tariq-mahmood-pleads-guilty-to-lying.ece .

Related threads (in reverse chronological order)
Hospital Slumlord Update: Jurors find Texas hospital chain owner guilty on all 15 counts
http://www.democraticunderground.com/107819747

Hospital Slumlord Update: Workers testify that hospitals’ owner interfered in billing
http://www.democraticunderground.com/107819685

Hospital slumlord: Owner of failed Texas hospital chain rescinds deal
http://www.democraticunderground.com/107818030

Indicted owner of Texas hospital chain to plead guilty to fraud conspiracy
http://www.democraticunderground.com/107817949

Loss of East Texas town’s hospital (due to Medicare billing fraud) hits home after toddler chokes
http://www.democraticunderground.com/107812403

FBI investigating recent document destruction at Cameron hospital
http://www.democraticunderground.com/107810860

In rare move, sheriff takes control of Central Texas Hospital; effort aimed at protecting community
http://www.democraticunderground.com/107810599

Other links are available at this newspaper article:
http://watchdogblog.dallasnews.com/2013/08/18-million-to-reward-unsafe-hospitals-alarm-in-congress.html/

The most critical article is this:
http://www.dallasnews.com/investigations/headlines/20130713-patients-died-amid-federal-state-regulatory-inaction.ec

November 13, 2014

Why an 0-10 Texas high school with a 57-game losing streak is in the playoffs

Houston Scarborough coach Ajani Sanders understands there are people who don’t think his 0-10 team with a 57-game losing streak should be in the Texas high school football playoffs.

And he isn’t worried about what the score might be against perennial postseason contender West Orange-Stark on Thursday night.

Sanders talked to his players about winning this week. Just like he does every week.

“They’ve asked me … ‘Coach, you just got beat 66-6. Why are you so excited?“’ Sanders said. “All I want in life is an opportunity. Hey, this week is opportunity No. 11.”

The possibility of Texas having what is believed to be its first winless playoff team was set in motion earlier this year when Scarborough was placed in a five-team district by the state’s governing body of public high school sports. Not long after, one of the schools was almost shut down before being spared — but without athletics.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/high-schools/headlines/20141113-why-an-0-10-texas-high-school-with-a-57-game-losing-streak-is-in-the-playoffs.ece