September 10, 2015

Texas State University is 3rd kinkiest college in U.S., dating app says

SAN MARCOS -- Texas State University ranked No. 3 on the list of the kinkiest schools in the country, according to a study done by a mobile dating app.

The app, Clover, analyzed its data to discover a few interesting tidbits and trends happening on various college and university campuses across the country.

The Texas school, located in San Marcos, is the only university in the Lone Star State to land on the kinky list. The University of Georgia and Penn State University were among the others.

The study determined how kinky or reserved a person was based on their answers to “20 Questions,” which are designed to present people with more compatible matches, a Clover spokeswoman said in a statement.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/lifestyle/article/Dating-app-Texas-university-ranks-third-kinkiest-6491318.php

[font color=330099]View the photos as evidence of their accomplishment at the link.[/font]

September 10, 2015

Messages warning of bomb and ISIS spray-painted on Dallas ISD school

Threatening messages spray painted on Quintanilla Middle School in Oak Cliff on Sept. 9, 2015. (Special contributor/DMN).

DALLAS -- Students were delayed from entering Quintanilla Middle School today after messages that included a bomb threat and “hail ISIS” were found spray-painted on the building.

Dallas ISD police were called in to inspect the Oak Cliff school before students could enter. District spokesman Andre Riley said a letter would be sent home with students.

The school’s principal assured students over the loud speaker that the school would not be distracted by the graffiti, Riley said.

One message on a set of doors said “bomb in school.” DISD police chief Miller said other messages made reference to the KKK and Satan. The district painted over the graffiti.

Read more: http://educationblog.dallasnews.com/2015/09/messages-warning-of-bomb-and-isis-spray-painted-on-dallas-isd-school.html/

September 10, 2015

Justice for hire? Giant insurer pays government lawyers to pursue fraud charges

If he had it to do over again, Odessa native Roy Kyees would have ignored what the doctor told him. He would have walked out of that office and never filed a work injury claim for his back pain. He would have just paid for it out of his own pocket.

Then he never would have tangled with the largest provider of workers’ compensation insurance in Texas. He never would have gotten indicted for insurance fraud. Never would have been arrested and put in leg chains in his hometown jail.

Then again, Kyees didn’t know in January 2006 what he knows now: that his insurance company not only hired the investigators who compiled the case against him; it also pays the salaries of the government prosecutors who got him indicted on felony fraud charges.

Unlike other insurance companies in the state, Texas Mutual Insurance Company enjoys an exclusive deal with the Travis County district attorney.

Read more: http://projects.statesman.com/news/paid-to-prosecute/main.html

Related articles:
A brash prosecutor: Chief fraud lawyer has an independent streak — and a public personality
Insuring success: Decades after reforms, exclusive funding deal lingers

September 10, 2015

Collin County seeks to cut fees for Ken Paxton prosecutors

Collin County commissioners have asked a state judge to dramatically cut the fees that can be paid to prosecutors in the criminal case against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

During a budget hearing Tuesday, all five commissioners approved a nonbinding resolution asking state District Judge George Gallagher to cap fees at $1,000 per lawyer for pretrial preparation and $1,000 for every day of trial — well below county estimates that the Paxton prosecution could cost $285,000.

Three of the five commissioners have previously donated to Paxton’s political campaigns.

Although commissioners said their goal was to control the county’s roughly $310 million budget, the move raised questions about their motivations, said Craig McDonald with Texans for Public Justice, which filed a criminal complaint about Paxton’s securities dealings last year.

Read more: http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/collin-county-seeks-to-cut-fees-for-ken-paxton-pro/nnbfK/

September 9, 2015

Wage theft, an issue that affects all of us

McALLEN — Just before midnight, three weeks ago, Jorge Rubio was at his home in Brownsville with his wife and three children when his ex-employer showed up at his door threatening to hire a “sicario” or hit man to kidnap him if he did not retract the lawsuits he filed against him.

Rubio filed two lawsuits in June against the owner of a chain of taquerias in Brownsville after they failed to pay him his last two days of work and a $200 severance hold. He also filed a police report after receiving multiple threats from his employer to drop the lawsuits, Rubio said.

Wage theft is a growing problem nationwide that costs workers as much as $50 billion each year, according to a 2014 report from the Economic Policy Institute. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ranks Texas as one of two states, along with Mississippi, with the highest percentage of workers making at, or below, the federal minimum.

In the Rio Grande Valley, wage theft is also on the rise and one of the contributing factors to the region’s high poverty levels, according to Hector Guzman Lopez, spokesman for the Fuerza del Valle Worker’s Center in Alamo.

Read more: http://www.themonitor.com/news/local/wage-theft-an-issue-that-affects-all-of-us/article_8b8edd2c-54ff-11e5-8044-e3af10506fff.html

September 9, 2015

Iran's Supreme Leader: No US Negotiations Outside Nuke Deal

Source: AP

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that his country will not enter into talks with the United States outside of the nuclear deal with world powers as Washington could use other negotiations to "penetrate" the Islamic Republic.

Khamenei's comments, published on his website, come as enough U.S. lawmakers now support the nuclear deal to block passage of a resolution of disapproval and hand President Barack Obama a major foreign policy victory.

"We approved talks with the United States about nuclear issue specifically. We have not allowed talks with the U.S. in other fields and we not negotiate with them," Khamenei said.

Speaking to a group of people in Tehran, Khamenei reiterated that America remains the "Great Satan."

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/irans-supreme-leader-us-negotiations-nuke-deal-33620886

September 9, 2015

Huge gunpowder explosion rocks Czech ammunition plant

Source: AP

PRAGUE (AP) — An official says a huge explosion of gunpowder in an ammunition factory in the Czech Republic injured two workers.

Firefighter spokeswoman Vendula Horakova firefighters got control of a blaze that broke after the explosion of 320 metric tons (353 tons) at 7.30 a.m. (0530 GMT) Wednesday morning in the Policske Strojirny factory located 150 kilometers (95 miles) east of Prague.

Horakova says some parts of a factory building where the gunpowder was stored were found as far as 200 meters away in a nearby forest that also caught fire. Two workers suffered burns.

Authorities are investigating the cause.

Read more: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=151&sid=36435413&s_cid=rss-151

September 9, 2015

Rep. Louie Gohmert pledges not to run again if Congress treats Iran deal as treaty

WASHINGTON D.C. (KLTV) - Representative Louie Gohmert of Texas wants to see President Obama's nuclear agreement with Iran treated as a treaty, and is willing to give up his seat in Congress to make it happen.

Gohmert, who represents Tyler, and other parts of East Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives, told KLTV 7 Tuesday night that President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran is a treaty, and therefore, should be treated as such in the way it is approved in Congress. He pledged that if Republican leaders in Congress agree to his proposal, he will not run for re-election.

"I'll give them the only thing I have that they want," Gohmert said in a phone interview with KLTV 7. "And that's me not to run for Congress again."

Gohmert, who ran unsuccessfully for Speaker of the House earlier this year, said that he believes the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives want him to be gone, and he's happy to oblige if the Iran agreement is considered as a treaty. But he also issued a threat to the leadership of his party if they stay the current course.

Read more: http://www.kltv.com/story/29985840/rep-louie-gohmert-pledges-not-to-run-again-if-congress-treats-iran-deal-as-treaty

September 9, 2015

Texas woman arrested with pistol in vagina, 29.5 grams of meth in purse, police say

WACO, Texas — Police recovered a loaded .22-caliber pistol with a bullet chambered from the vagina of woman following a traffic stop in Waco on Monday.

Ashley Cecilia Castaneda, 31, alerted Waco Police to the contraband as she was being driven to jail Monday night after police allegedly turned up 29.5 grams of methamphetamine inside her purse, according to WFAA in Dallas.

Castaneda had been a passenger in a car pulled over for a traffic violation in west Waco. The driver of the vehicle, Gabriel Garcia, 30, was allegedly found with 2.7 grams of meth under his seat, according to WFAA.

Both subjects were charged with possession of methamphetamine in a drug-free zone; Castaneda was also charged with unlawfully carrying a weapon.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Texas-woman-arrested-with-pistol-in-vagina-29-5-6491261.php

[font color=330099]Texas woman gets around. I could include a few other comment, but at the risk of a jury hide I'll defer to[/font]

September 9, 2015

House lawyer urges 1 expulsion, 1 censure in affair cover-up

LANSING, Mich. -- The top lawyer for the Michigan House recommended Tuesday that one state lawmaker be expelled and another censured for misconduct stemming from an attempt to hide their extramarital affair.

Brock Swartzle, general counsel for the Republican-led chamber and chief of staff to the speaker, said GOP Rep. Todd Courser of Lapeer should be kicked out in part because he has shown "little true remorse," instead writing "mini-manifestos" on social media to deflect blame.

He said a censure would be appropriate for Republican Rep. Cindy Gamrat of Plainwell, whom he described as contrite and more of an accomplice in the "bizarre" cover-up attempt.

"Under any standard of appropriate behavior, Rep. Courser has failed in miserable and spectacular fashion," Swartzle told a special six-member House committee considering discipline.

Read more: http://www.macon.com/news/nation-world/article34327512.html