March 3, 2018

Albuquerque mayor fears taxes will have to increase

Faced with an anticipated $40 million budget deficit, Mayor Tim Keller said on Thursday he may be forced to renege on his campaign promise to raise taxes only with voter approval.

“I remember my stance on that, and I want to try and keep that stance and I believe in that stance,” Keller said in a meeting with Journal editors and reporters. But, “it would be fiscally irresponsible for me to say we should wait three years to get funding for law enforcement.”

Keller had said during the mayoral race that he would raise taxes only as a last resort for public safety and only with voter approval.

City Council President Ken Sanchez and Councilor Trudy Jones introduced legislation last month to impose a three-eighths percent gross receipts tax increase to help patch the deficit and address the city’s public safety problem. Keller said Thursday that if the council voted for the increase in March, it would go into effect as early as July 1.

Read more: https://www.abqjournal.com/1140271/mayor-fears-taxes-will-have-to-increase.html

March 3, 2018

Martinez signs legislation for holiday tax break

SANTA FE — One of the busiest shopping days of the year will come with its own tax break under legislation signed by Gov. Susana Martinez.

Martinez estimated the bill — co-sponsored by House Majority Whip Doreen Gallegos, D-Las Cruces, and Sen. Steven Neville, R-Aztec — will result in about $3 million in tax relief.

The legislation, House Bill 79, creates a gross receipts tax deduction for retail sales at small, local businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Supporters call it “Small Business Saturday.”

The tax break means shoppers won’t have to pay gross receipts taxes on their purchases that day, though there are restrictions.

Read more: https://www.abqjournal.com/1140567/martinez-signs-legislation-for-holiday-tax-break.html

March 3, 2018

Stairway to Nowhere

As the Santa Fe University of Art and Design prepares to close, lawsuits try to recoup some of what students lost


The flames were visible clear across the 64-acre campus. City police suspect that somebody used an accelerant last May to feed the blaze at the World War II-era barracks on the edge of the Santa Fe University of Art and Design, and the arson case remains open.

If set by a student, as former faculty and students allege, the act would have fit the broader mood they describe as anger, fear and ennui that had gripped the school in the weeks since its interim president emailed students on April 12 announcing SFUAD would close after the following school year.

In the months to come, the school's corporate operator, the for-profit education company Laureate International, would bring collegiate representatives to SFUAD in what students say felt like a rushed attempt to connect them with other schools. That did little to alleviate the sense of loss permeating the campus—to say nothing of all the money and time students had sunk into a place that would soon not exist.

A few took their anger out on school property, stealing a projector and other items from classrooms. The school's president, Maria Puzziferro, eventually sent a campus-wide email on May 5 telling students the school would beef up its security to deter what she described as "inexcusable and destructive acts." Noting that students were enduring "an emotional time," Puzziferro added that counseling was available "to anybody who would like to seek it."

Read more: https://www.sfreporter.com/news/coverstories/2018/02/27/stairway-to-nowhere/

March 3, 2018

Payne campaign getting stronger in final days before primary

The following was sent to Dallas Voice by the Payne campaign. On his campaign website, Jeffrey Payne shows he’s campaigning in the Valley through the weekend. We’re expecting to hear from the Valdez campaign today and we’ll post her latest update when we do.

Running the long race

Sometimes labeled a “dark horse,” Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate, Jeffrey Payne is used to running a long race. Starting his campaign in July when he informally announced his run for Governor of Texas, he gained media notoriety because he was an openly gay man running for the top of the Democratic ticket.

“The Democratic Party was not delighted to hear our plans,” says Jeffrey. “They never said it directly, but they did everything in their power to discourage me from running.”

“That only gave me more resolve.”

Since then Jeffrey has worked to make his name better known in Texas. He has traveled over 29,000 miles so far, visiting Democratic groups from the largest cities to counties with only a handful of residents and Texans have responded well.

Read more: https://www.dallasvoice.com/payne-campaign-getting-stronger-final-days-primary-10249891.html

March 3, 2018

Dallas judge throws out anti-marriage equality lawsuit

U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay of Dallas has thrown out a lawsuit filed against Gov. Greg Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton and Democratic Dallas County Clerk John Warren that found the two Republicans in the odd position of defending marriage equality.

Chris Sevier sued Texas because a county clerk wouldn’t issue him a license to marry his computer. After the suit was dismissed, he promised he would re-file with additional anti-marriage equality plaintiffs.

Sevier argued that Texas was arbitrarily allowing same-sex couples to marry but not giving the same right to polygamists, “zoophiles” or “objectophiles,” which is how how he identifies himself.

“The right to marry one’s computer is not an interest, objectively, deeply rooted in the nation’s history and tradition such that it qualifies as a protected interest,” Paxton told the court. By inference, Paxton was implying same-sex marriage was deeply rooted in the nation’s history, since the purpose of the lawsuit was to challenge same-sex marriage.

Read more: https://www.dallasvoice.com/dallas-judge-throws-anti-marriage-equality-lawsuit-10249913.html

March 3, 2018

Texas 130 builders concealed road's flaws, new owners say in lawsuit

The original owners of the Texas 130 tollway south of Mustang Ridge knew before the road opened that both its pavement and its finances were doomed, a lawsuit filed Thursday by the new owners alleges, yet concealed that information from its investors and paid almost $330 million to a company they had created to build the road.

The 41-mile road’s current owners — made up primarily of those who lent the Ferrovial S.A. of Spain and Zachry Construction Corp. of San Antonio about $1.22 billion to design and build Texas 130 and then took over the bankrupt road in 2017 — are asking a federal bankruptcy court in Austin to award them all money paid for construction between February 2011 and December 2012.

That current ownership group, who took over the road as it emerged from bankruptcy still owing much of what it had borrowed, includes the U.S. Department of Transportation, which had lent the project almost $500 million. The current owners estimate that repairing cracks and heaving pavement at multiple locations, both work that has already occurred and still to come, will cost $130 million.

The 14 defendants, all of them affiliates of either Ferrovial or Zachry, or both, includes Central Texas Highway Constructors, which according to the lawsuit was owned half and half by the two parent company. That company, known as CTHC in the lawsuit, had a contract for about $924 million to build four-lane tollway between Mustang Ridge and Seguin.

Read more: https://www.statesman.com/news/texas-130-builders-concealed-road-flaws-new-owners-say-lawsuit/WsOyIytKbZouWGrdPEAYMK/

March 3, 2018

UIW football player arrested in connection to Alamo Heights bar fight that broke man's jaw

A University of Incarnate Word football player was arrested Thursday by Alamo Heights police after a bar fight that was caught on camera, officials said.

Police said Jamarkese Williams, 22, was seen on video punching a customer in the face up to 7 times on Saurday night at the 50/50 Bar. It's unclear what led up to the alleged fight.

According to the affidavit, another customer tried to intervene and "attempted to reason" with Williams.

Williams punched that man up to three times, police said.

Read more: https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/crime/article/UIW-football-player-arrested-in-connection-to-a-12722671.php

March 3, 2018

Born This Gay: Randy Rainbow Does Texas

Randy Rainbow performs at House of Blues Houston on March 23.


During the 2016 presidential campaign, a strange new face popped into our Facebook feeds. There was a 30-something man with crystal-blue eyes, a golden voice, and a flowered bonnet singing some new lyrics he had written to the “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” tune from the film Mary Poppins. This rendition about Donald Trump described the unlikely (and unlikable) candidate as “super-callous, fragile ego, extra-braggadocious” in an impeccable imitation of Julie Andrews’ beloved Disney character.

Many viewers became instant fans, and the four-minute viral video received 28 million views in the two days after it was posted.

Since then, 36-year-old Randy Rainbow (yes, that’s his real name) has become an online star, creating approximately one new video every two weeks with Donald Trump and his cast of clowns as the subject matter.

To express their gratitude to the artist for helping them laugh through the tears and fears of the Trump presidency, Rainbow’s fans launched a line of T-shirts featuring an image of him in a nun’s habit. The tagline says, “Thank you Randy Rainbow for saving me!”

Read more: http://www.outsmartmagazine.com/2018/03/born-this-gay-randy-rainbow-does-texas/

March 3, 2018

Anti-Gay Texas Official Caught Vandalizing Campaign Sign

Two years ago, Dallas County Justice of the Peace Bill Metzger made national news for his refusal to perform same-sex marriages.

Now, Metzger is making headlines again—for vandalizing a campaign sign—and he could soon face criminal charges.

Earlier this week, Metzger was caught on camera destroying a sign belonging to a Texas House candidate, Republican Jim Phaup. Coincidentally, Metzger’s wife supports Phaup’s opponent in the Distirct 113 GOP Primary, Jonathan Boos.

After Phaup’s signs were damaged nightly since mid-February, his campaign placed hidden security cameras nearby. The video below shows Metzger, cloaked in a hoodie, destroying one of Phaup’s signs in the early morning hours of Feb. 27.

Read more: http://www.outsmartmagazine.com/2018/03/anti-gay-texas-official-caught-on-camera-destroying-campaign-sign/

March 3, 2018

Texas colleges are bleeding cash on athletics programs and you're paying for it

The on-the-court product at the Super Pit featured staples of a competitive, back-and-forth big-time college basketball game.

Coaches paced the sidelines and barked orders, players crashed into one another under the basket and a video board over center court pumped up the crowd during timeouts. There was even a game-tying 3-pointer in the closing seconds of regulation that sent the game into overtime.

But the scene inside the 9,800-seat arena was anything but big time.

Fans could easily find parking spots right next to the arena minutes before tip-off. Lines for tickets and concessions were virtually nonexistent. Inside the building, the 20-person band often drowned out the crowd.

That's because just 2,300 fans turned out for the Mean Green's Feb. 15 overtime loss to Western Kentucky, one of the best teams in Conference USA.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/college/article202356619.html