Principal who was at work Friday died Sunday after COVID diagnosis, Texas school says

BURNET -- A Texas principal who tested positive for the coronavirus died two days after he was at school, officials say.

Burnet Middle School Principal Jeremy LeJeune went to work Friday and didn’t feel sick, officials say. But that changed over the weekend when he was hospitalized.

LeJeune suffered from a rare blood vessel disorder that had previously required hospital admissions, Superintendent Keith McBurnett said in a letter to students and families. Though he was asymptomatic, the hospital discovered LeJeune was positive for COVID-19 during the admission process, McBurnett said. By Sunday evening, LeJeune had died.

“It is likely that the virus exacerbated his condition,” McBurnett said.

Read more: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/nation-world/national/article247677790.html

Two Princeton grads are turning this Texas resort into a COVID-19 bubble college campus

It's no secret that college has looked a lot different in the past few months.

Two Princeton grads believe they have solved the problem of a bad college experience during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and they're bringing the idea to Tanglewood Resort north of Dallas for the spring semester. Texas, meet The U Experience.

It's supposed to work like this: 150 students taking online-only college courses will be invited to join a COVID-19 "bubble community" with the other students in the program. With that, founders Lane Russell and Adam Bragg believe the resort they bought out will be able to look like a pre-pandemic college campus.

"Simply put, if COVID-19 can’t make its way into the bubble, there’s no way to catch it," The U Experience FAQ page says. "Our students will be free to behave as they did before the pandemic while they're on campus, without taking on any more risk than if they'd quarantined at home. No masks, social distancing, or other cautionary measures will be required of our students when interacting with each other. Feel free to take a sigh of relief."

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/education/article/the-u-experience-texas-university-covid19-bubble-15782013.php

Texas teen blasts high school for 'double standard' after fingernail polish lands him in ISS

A Texas teenager is calling out his high school for actions he's deemed homophobic and sexist.

Clyde High School senior Trevor Wilkinson, 17, returned from Thanksgiving break with his finger nails painted, and he instantly received in-school suspension for violating the school's dress code.

"Imagine your school not allowing boys to paint their nails and giving boys ISS [in-school suspension] for it," he said in a Nov. 30 tweet. "And the whole administration being okay with it, homophobic and sexist? Welcome to West Texas."

Wilkinson launched a Change.org petition that same day, garnering more than 71,000 signatures and counting, saying he feels his school's actions are a complete double standard because girls are allowed to paint their nails.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Trevor-Wilkinson-Texas-High-School-nail-polish-ISS-15781504.php


Trevor Wilkinson, 17, said he does not plan on removing his nail polish.
Photo courtesy of Trevor Wilkinson via NBC News

UT professor files new libel suits against students who accuse him of promoting pedophilia

A University of Texas professor, after he filed a libel lawsuit in July against a student and others who accused him of promoting pedophilia, has filed two additional libel lawsuits against a UT student and a UT assistant instructor for similar accusations.

Classics professor Thomas Hubbard in November sued UT senior Hollie Green and this month sued UT graduate student and assistant instructor Zoe Thomas. Green and Thomas criticized Hubbard on Twitter as several UT students in 2019 called for the removal of Hubbard, who taught a class called "Mythologies of Rape" and penned an academic journal article that questioned whether a gender‐neutral age‐of‐consent law is a wise policy.

Thomas declined to comment on the lawsuit, and Green did not respond to an email seeking comment.

"I have many other emotions," Thomas tweeted a year ago, according to Hubbard's lawsuit. "Disgust, rage, fear, anxiety. It is a lot to parse, and Twitter is not the place to do it. Suffice to say: I am 100% behind these extremely brave undergraduates who are risking themselves in a system stacked against them to put an end to this BS." About two weeks later, she tweeted, "Welcome to the field of Classics, where it’s controversial to say that someone who promotes pedophilic relationships, asked undergrads to talk about their rapes for a class assignment, and claims women are too biased to think critically about rape law should be afraid."

Read more: https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2020/12/07/ut-professor-files-new-libel-lawsuits-against-students/3860642001/

Travis County ICU beds near maximum occupancy as coronavirus hospitalizations climb

Austin-Travis County hospitals are nearing capacity for those needing intensive care treatment, which local health officials say can be attributed to residents ignoring coronavirus recommendations, with some gathering with loved ones for Thanksgiving amid the pandemic.

The latest hospital capacity report released Friday says of the 483 ICU beds available in Austin-Travis County’s three health networks — Ascension Seton, Baylor Scott & White Health and St. David’s HealthCare — 87% are occupied.

And of the 2,473 total staffed beds within the hospitals of all three health care systems, 75% were occupied.

Austin-Travis County health officials on Monday night reported 246 coronavirus patients in area hospitals, with 75 in ICU beds and 44 on ventilators.

Read more:: https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2020/12/07/travis-county-icu-beds-near-maximum-occupancy-amid-coronavirus-surge/3857501001/

Former Texas football coach Fred Akers dies at 82

Fred Akers, who succeeded Darrell Royal as Texas head football coach and twice came within a bowl victory of a national championship, died of complications from dementia on Monday, his wife, Diane, said.

He was 82.

The Blytheville, Ark., native relied on great defense and special teams to carve out an impressive 86-31-2 record with the Longhorns but could never rally a fickle fan base that had wanted Royal’s defensive coordinator Mike Campbell to replace him after 1976.

After getting fired by Texas after the 1986 season following a 5-6 for the school’s first losing season in 30 years, Akers took the Purdue job for four seasons before retiring. He posted a record of 108-75-3 in 16 seasons, including two years at Wyoming.

Akers, who lived in Horseshoe Bay and is survived by his wife Diane, was a star player at Arkansas as a halfback, punter and kicker. He became one of the youngest high school football head coaches in Texas when he took a job in Edinburgh at age 24. When he was interviewed for the job, school officials asked him about his youth, and he replied, “Are you wanting a head coach or to fill out an age requirement?”

Read more: https://www.statesman.com/story/sports/2020/12/07/former-texas-head-football-coach-fred-akers-died/6484004002/

Jimmy Kimmel Live: Giuliani Has COVID & Trump Has Pity Party

Abbott's Little Shop of Horrors is coming for his job

Republicans have flirted with fake news super spreaders like Alex Jones for years but lately the alternative news crews just don’t seem that into the Grand Old Party. This weekend critical conservative voices held a rally attacking Governor Greg Abbott personally, including jokes about his disability and his integrity.

One of the rally’s speakers, “InfoWars” host Owen Shroyer, who was recently banned by Twitter for breaking their terms of service, encouraged Texans to disobey Gov. Abbott’s “unconstitutional” orders. Adding insult to injury he perversely joked that he, “heard a rumor he [Abbott] doesn’t stand for the national anthem.” Abbott has been in a wheelchair since before serving in public office.

Shelley Luther, a candidate in the runoff for Senate District 30 also spoke at the event. “We’re looking for people to primary these fools in 2022,” she told the crowd. “We have a governor that we need to primary out.” Before Abbott endorsed her opponent State Representative Drew Springer he appeared at a press conference with Luther as she became a symbol of the movement to unmask Texas and reopen businesses without restrictions.

Luther is the infamous salon owner who opened her business in violation of Abbott’s executive order. Abbott rewarded her law-breaking protest by rescinding his health safety protocols and hamstringing local officials trying to combat the spread of COVID-19. Other statewide elected officials also tried to jump on the bandwagon. Indicted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a press release supporting her release from jail and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick paid her legal fines. Luther leveraged her new fame into a $500,000 GoFundMe campaign and her run for the State Senate is largely based on her crusade against the governor’s mask mandates and shutdowns of non-essential businesses.

Read more: https://texassignal.com/abbotts-little-shop-of-horrors-is-coming-for-his-job/

Company offering pandemic stock tips accused of $137M fraud

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — The founders of a company called Raging Bull tout themselves as expert stock traders who teach customers how they, too, can become millionaires. Marketing emails said they found a "hidden bull market" in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Federal regulators say the company operators have defrauded consumers out of more than $137 million over the past three years. And the coronavirus-fueled economic crisis hasn't tempered their "reckless" efforts to dupe vulnerable investors, government lawyers wrote in a court filing Monday.

The Federal Trade Commission sued RagingBull.com LLC and the company's co-founders, Jeffrey Bishop and Jason Bond, in Maryland. FTC attorneys are seeking federal court orders freezing company assets, halting the alleged fraud scheme and awarding relief to consumers, including refunds and restitution.

A purported disclaimer buried on the company's websites acknowledges that there is nothing to substantiate its claims that consumers are likely to make the "market-beating returns" that Raging Bull advertises, Monday's lawsuit says.

Read more: https://www.startribune.com/company-offering-pandemic-stock-tips-accused-of-137m-fraud/573320961/

Landlords go to court to fight Gov. Walz's eviction moratorium

A lawyer for two property owners asked a federal judge Monday to end Gov. Tim Walz's nine-month moratorium on evictions.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel heard arguments by telephone in a case filed in September that seeks to end the eviction moratorium so landlords can remove nonpaying or unruly tenants through housing courts. State officials argue that doing so could hamper efforts to curb COVID-19 and keep people housed.

Michael Kemp, an attorney with Hansen Dordell, represents the two Twin Cities property owners, Heights Apartments and Walnut Trails, who filed for the injunction to stop the moratorium. Kemp said that the executive order's "temporary moratorium has been an indefinite moratorium" that does not pass "constitutional muster."

"We have no idea when the end is in sight. My clients and other property owners across the state have no ability to plan about when they're going to start receiving rents again," Kemp said. "They have no idea how long they may have to put up with nuisance or in fact illegal conduct from their tenants, so the denial here is a fundamental right ... the right to the only remedy that is available for request for possession of the property."

Read more: https://www.startribune.com/landlords-go-to-court-to-fight-walz-s-eviction-moratorium/573324851/