September 9, 2015

British Airways plane catches fire at Las Vegas airport; 14 injured

Source: CNN

CNN)A fire broke out Tuesday on an outbound British Airways flight at the Las Vegas airport, leading 14 people to be transported for medical care for what a fire official called "minor injuries."

A majority of the injuries came as passengers slid down the inflatable chutes to evacuate the Boeing 777, Clark County Fire Department Deputy Chief Jon Klassen said.

The incident occurred shortly after 4 p.m. (7 p.m. ET) and involved British Airways Flight 2276, which was bound for London's Gatwick Airport, according to the McCarran International Airport's Twitter feed.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the aircraft's left engine caught fire, prompting the crew to abort the takeoff.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/08/us/las-vegas-british-airways-fire/

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September 9, 2015

Cedar Park car lot stole more than $1 million, police say

A Cedar Park car lot owner and a salesman have been accused of stealing about $1 million from more than 19 customers who put their cars up for sale at the business.

Donald Taylor, 56, of Austin, and David Parsons, 48, of Leander, were both charged Thursday with first-degree felony theft.

Taylor is the owner of Austin Auto Web, a car lot at 14301 Ronald Reagan Blvd. in Cedar Park, according to an arrest affidavit. Parsons is a salesman for Taylor, the document said.

The Williamson County sheriff’s office discovered the thefts, it said, after several customers complained to authorities in July that they hadn’t received any money when the cars, campers and even a bass boat that they had consigned to the car lot were sold.

Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/crime-law/cedar-park-car-lot-stole-more-than-1-million-polic/nnZ6C/

September 9, 2015

Chesapeake, Bass family reach settlement on gas royalties lawsuit

DALLAS -- Three weeks after a federal judge ruled Chesapeake Energy had underpaid mineral rights owners in North Texas’ Barnett Shale – including the billionaire Edward Bass – the owners’ group has agreed to drop its case in exchange for an undisclosed payment.

The settlement will end what could have been a lengthy and costly legal battle against Chesapeake, the Oklahoma City-based oil and gas company that took in $21 billion in revenue last year.

In 2013 Bass and about 20 other landowners sued Chesapeake, claiming the company was not paying the royalties agreed upon when it leased about 4,000 acres in Johnson and Tarrant Counties. In court papers, the land owners claimed they were owed up to $18.1 million.

At the heart of the suit was the question of whether Chesapeake had the right to charge for the processing and transportation costs associated with natural gas production and if the company had cheated royalty owners by selling the gas to its affiliate companies at a reduced rate.

Read more: http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2015/09/chesapeake-bass-family-reach-settlement-on-gas-royalties-lawsuit.html/

September 8, 2015

Next move in Rick Perry case belongs to upper court

The next move in the felony case against Rick Perry belongs to the state’s highest criminal court, which will decide as early as mid-September whether to accept or reject two appeals in the case.

The Court of Criminal Appeals’ decision could go a long way toward determining whether Perry, indicted by a Travis County grand jury in August 2014, will be tried on a charge of misusing his power as governor, which prosecutors classified as a felony with a maximum term of life in prison, though probation is common for similar white-collar crimes.

A second felony charge, coercion of a public official, was dismissed in July when a lower appeals court declared the coercion law unconstitutional because it violated free-speech rights.

Both charges arose from Perry’s 2013 threat to veto state money unless another elected official resigned, then following through on the threat when she remained in office.

Read more: http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/next-move-in-rick-perry-case-belongs-to-upper-cour/nnbBn/

September 8, 2015

Brothers guilty of assault against gay man got posts at UT

Ten months after he finished parole for violently assaulting a gay man in Austin, the University of Texas hired graduate student Darren Gay as a teaching assistant, putting him in charge of supervising undergraduates and helping to grade them.

Gay’s younger brother, Glen Gay, who took part in the attack in 2004, also worked with students for several years at UT, where he was apparently a volunteer research assistant.

UT officials say that federal laws protecting confidential student information forbid them from explaining publicly how two of the four people charged with taking part in a high-profile hate crime in Austin ended up working at the university and assisting students there.

But last February, shortly after UT officials were asked about his criminal background, an online directory listing that showed Darren Gay was a teacher’s assistant for a biochemistry class was removed.

Read more: http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/brothers-guilty-of-hate-crime-against-gay-man-get-/nnZ6S/

September 8, 2015

Locked out workers rally at Sherwin Alumina (Day 331)

MATT WOOLBRIGHT/CALLER-TIMES Alex Trevino (left), Rudy Garcia and Burt Williams attend a rally Monday outside the Sherwin Alumina plant. Monday marked the 331st day of the lock out.

GREGORY, TEXAS — Labor Day took on a different meaning this year for about a hundred locked out workers on the side of State Highway 361 near the entrance to the Sherwin Alumina plant.

It was the 331st day of their lockout that stems from contract disputes between the company and workers represented by the United Steelworkers, Local 235-A, and many of the workers wanted to spend it together.

So they had a barbecue, talked and laughed together. Everyone seemed hopeful the lockout would end soon. The two sides are set to negotiate next week in Pittsburgh, so some are feeling optimistic.

"We're ready to go to work any day," said Terry Howard, president of the local union. "We were locked out against our will, so when you see these brothers and sisters out here, they're out here fighting for their jobs — jobs that were stripped away from them."

Read more: http://www.caller.com/business/local/locked-out-workers-rally-at-sherwin-alumina-1eeec767-a706-32a3-e053-0100007fa9ea-325489941.html

Cross-posted in the Texas Group.

September 8, 2015

Locked out workers rally at Sherwin Alumina (Day 331)

MATT WOOLBRIGHT/CALLER-TIMES Alex Trevino (left), Rudy Garcia and Burt Williams attend a rally Monday outside the Sherwin Alumina plant. Monday marked the 331st day of the lock out.

GREGORY, TEXAS — Labor Day took on a different meaning this year for about a hundred locked out workers on the side of State Highway 361 near the entrance to the Sherwin Alumina plant.

It was the 331st day of their lockout that stems from contract disputes between the company and workers represented by the United Steelworkers, Local 235-A, and many of the workers wanted to spend it together.

So they had a barbecue, talked and laughed together. Everyone seemed hopeful the lockout would end soon. The two sides are set to negotiate next week in Pittsburgh, so some are feeling optimistic.

"We're ready to go to work any day," said Terry Howard, president of the local union. "We were locked out against our will, so when you see these brothers and sisters out here, they're out here fighting for their jobs — jobs that were stripped away from them."

Read more: http://www.caller.com/business/local/locked-out-workers-rally-at-sherwin-alumina-1eeec767-a706-32a3-e053-0100007fa9ea-325489941.html

Cross-posted in Omaha Steve's Labor Group.

September 8, 2015

New climate studies depict 'Day After Tomorrow' scenario: Gulf Stream shifts, sending chill through

WASHINGTON — Two new studies are adding to concerns about one of the most troubling scenarios for future climate change: the possibility that global warming could slow or shut down the Atlantic’s great ocean circulation systems, with dramatic implications for North America and Europe.

The research, by separate teams of scientists, including a team from Texas, bolsters predictions of disruptions to global ocean currents — such as the Gulf Stream — that transfer tropical warmth from the equator to northern latitudes, as well as a larger conveyor system that cycles colder water into the ocean’s depths. Both systems help ensure relatively mild conditions in parts of Northern Europe that would otherwise be much colder.

The papers offer insight into how rapidly melting Arctic ice could slow or even temporarily halt the ocean’s normal circulation, with possible effects ranging from plunging temperatures in northern latitudes to centuries-long droughts in Southeast Asia.

A fictional version of this scenario was depicted in the 2004 disaster film Day After Tomorrow, although most scientists believe the movie’s vision of ice sheets over New York and Europe are highly unlikely.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20150907-new-climate-studies-depict-day-after-tomorrow-scenario-gulf-stream-shifts-sending-chill-through-europe.ece

September 8, 2015

Four U.S. peacekeepers, possibly from Bryan-based Texas Army National Guard unit, injured in Egypt

Four U.S. peacekeepers with possible ties to Bryan were recovering Monday from injuries sustained five days earlier when their convoy was hit by two improvised explosive devices a few miles from the Egypt-Israeli border.

It wasn't confirmed late Monday whether the four soldiers were part of the Bryan-based Texas Army National Guard's 1st Squadron, 112th Cavalry Regiment. Reports from the Associated Press and three military publications, including Stars and Stripes, name only the infantry battalion based in Bryan, but fell short of specifying that the injured were part of the unit.

The soldiers were evacuated by air to medical facility and were being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, according to the published reports. Officials with the Department of Defense, the Texas Army National Guard's Austin headquarters and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's office could not be reached by The Eagle for comment Monday.

Documents on the Department of Defense website state an estimated 700 or so active duty U.S. soldiers and guardsmen are deployed to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula as part of a 12-nation Multinational Force and Observers group serving on the peacekeeping mission. Most of the troops - 425 to 450 - are part of the Bryan-based infantry squad, about 225 are from a support battalion and 40 are assigned from headquarters.

Read more: http://www.theeagle.com/news/local/four-u-s-peacekeepers-possibly-from-bryan-based-texas-army/article_dc9ab6a7-2ea5-5159-8c52-58ea29e3a610.html

September 8, 2015

LSU student arrested, accused of punching female student at frat house, breaking her nose

An 18-year-old LSU student who allegedly punched a female fellow student repeatedly in the face at an on-campus fraternity house has been arrested on one count of second-degree battery.

The attack on Aug. 29 at the Kappa Alpha house on LSU’s campus left the victim with a broken nose and a gash on her forehead after Michael Long, of Monroe, allegedly punched her in the face.

The victim gave a description of the assailant but did not know him by name, the police report says.

University police later identified Long as the attacker and questioned him Friday. According to police documents, Long admitted to the assault before being arrested and booked into Parish Prison. He was released later Friday on a $5,000 bond.

Read more: http://theadvocate.com/news/13379582-123/lsu-student-arrested-accused-of

[font color=330099]The article does note that the suspect is not a member of the fraternity or a pledge.[/font]