UPDATE AT 11:35 p.m.

The group has arrived at Dallas Police headquarters and is dispersing.

The protesters are planning another night of demonstrations Friday night, starting at 8 p.m. at 1100 Commerce St. in downtown Dallas.

-snip-

UPDATE at 10:20 p.m.:

Police have begun to detain people who were seated in the middle of the road. At least two women were removed.

“We asked you to clear the streets,” officers said. “We asked you not to be in the streets.”

Read more: http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2014/12/peaceful-march-in-downtown-dallas-protests-lack-of-indictment-in-new-york-case.html/

http://www.mysanantonio.com/home/poll/previewpoll-974.php

It started out as 65% No and 35% Yes eight hours ago.

Now the poll shows 86% No and 14% Yes. Way to go Greg Abbott: not only do you lose in court, but you lose in the public polls also. Why will Texas have to put up with this clown for four years?

GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — Former NFL quarterback and West Texas A&M assistant coach Ryan Leaf has been released from a Montana prison.

Judy Beck, a spokeswoman for the Montana Department of Corrections, told the Great Falls Tribune that Leaf was released Wednesday and is now being supervised by probation and parole officers in Great Falls.

The former Washington State star has served more than two years in prison after breaking into a home near Great Falls in 2012 to steal prescription pills.

The Montana conviction violated his probation in Texas on 2008 charges of fraudulently obtaining a controlled substance. A Texas judge sentenced Leaf to five years, but gave him credit for time served. Texas authorities can still extradite Leaf if they choose.

Read more: http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2014-12-04/ex-nfl-qb-west-texas-am-coach-ryan-leaf-released-prison#.VIEQRBbuPoE

Usually, if Chick-fil-A is in the news, it's because its chief operating officer said something dumb, or because someone decided, wisely, to try to fill his bath with Polynesian Sauce. This time, though, the fried chicken chain is accused of something much weirder than a little draconian gay hate: giving a woman a heart attack by failing to properly inspect their pitted maraschino cherries.

From the jump, the story is pretty strange. According to a petition filed in the Dallas County district court this week, a woman named Cyndi Scruggs went to the Chick-fil-A restaurant in McKinney to enjoy an ice cream milkshake. Like most milkshakes, Scruggs' was topped with a maraschino cherry and whipped cream. Like every eager milkshake drinker, Scruggs popped her cherry-on-top directly into her mouth, only to find that it still contained a large fragment of cherry pit.

Biting into an intact cherry pit caused Scruggs to fracture two teeth below the gumline, which led to infection and eventual sepsis. Soon after, Scruggs had a heart attack, which is closely linked by medical research to sepsis, an infection of the blood. The plaintiff -- she survived -- also recently had the two teeth extracted, and will need to undergo painful tooth implantation procedures in the near future. At the time of the incident, Scruggs was living in Plano, but she has since relocated to Parker, Colorado.

Also named in the suit is the manufacturer of the offending cherry, Brooklyn-based Dell's Maraschino Cherries. Scruggs' complaint alleges that the company failed to "exercise reasonable care to reduce or eliminate the pit risk, or warn the plaintiff of same." She is seeking between $200,000 and $1 million from Chick-fil-A and Dell's Maraschino Cherries to cover medical expenses incurred after the incident, and for physical pain, disfigurement, impairment and mental anguish.

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/cityofate/2014/12/chick_fil_a_cherry_heart_attack.php

Source: Scripps News

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Every year in America some 4,000 babies die suddenly and unexpectedly in their sleep before their first birthday. Another 25,000 are stillborn. Now, after trying for seven years, Congress has passed a bill on Wednesday, the “Sudden Unexpected Death Data Enhancement and Awareness Act”, endorsing ongoing federal efforts to better understand why.

Sometimes baby deaths are ruled a result of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS; other times coroners and medical examiners conclude that the death was caused by suffocation and still others are simply unexplained. But as Scripps News has reported since 2007, thorough forensic investigations of the deaths almost always reveal babies who die had been sleeping in conditions likely to increase their risk for suffocation.

Over the past seven years, researchers and child safety advocates have found more evidence that putting infants in adult beds, or with another person, or in soft bedding, increases the risk they’ll stop breathing.

In June 2008, in a separate initiative, then-Illinois Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama introduced the Preventing Stillbirth and Sudden Unexpected Death Act that would have established a national registry to track both groups.

Read more: http://www.caller.com/decodedc/congress-passes-bill-to-better-understand-sudden-infant-deaths

[font size=4]Flush with new wealth, Clint Murchison Sr. and Sid Richardson impressed a president and cued the rise of Eisenhower and LBJ[/font]

Two isolated islands off the coast of South Texas became unlikely centers of power and influence after they were purchased by two of the richest men in the country. This first installment of a three-part series examines President Franklin Roosevelt’s 1937 visit that would affect the lives of future island guests Dwight Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson.


When the big tankers leave Corpus Christi bound for open water, they thread the jetties of Aransas Pass, where dolphins breach ahead of their bows. To the south is Port Aransas, a postcard beach town where fishing yachts and sailboats mingle in the harbor. To the north is the nearly empty barrier island of San Jose, which rolls out for more than 20 miles to a brackish bayou. On the opposite bank, under the deep salt grass, Matagorda begins.

Of Texas’ five major barrier islands, San Jose and Matagorda are the last true islands. No causeways extend from the mainland. No power lines connect them to the grid. Ancient dunes are unmarred by condos, and spring break is a distant thunder.

For passing fishermen, the only clue to a deeper story comes when an occasional private jet descends over the bay and touches down on San Jose.

Before the jets, there were yachts. On one of the yachts was President Franklin Roosevelt.

Read more: http://res.dallasnews.com/interactives/oilkings/part1/

WASHINGTON — A day after Texas Governor-elect Greg Abbott unveiled a 17-state lawsuit challenging President Obama’s immigration policies — and one day before Abbott meets with Obama — the White House forcefully rejected claims the president overreached his authority.

“I don’t know if they’ll have an opportunity to discuss that,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said at his daily briefing. But he added, “I wouldn’t be surprised if Governor-elect Abbott chose to raise that himself in the meeting.”

Abbott, the state’s attorney general, has boasted to voters that he views his job as an ongoing effort to use the courts to roll back regulations and federal power. This is his 31st lawsuit against the president.

But Earnest predicted it will fail because the immigration actions Obama announced Nov. 20 fit well within executive authority. Obama announced that he’ll shield about 5 million people in the country illegally from deportation.

Read more: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2014/12/white-house-pushes-back-on-abbott-led-17-state-immigration-lawsuit.html/

Equality Florida has just announced that the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has denied the state of Florida’s request to extend the stay placed on a lower court’s ruling overturning the Sunshine State’s ban on marriage equality.

This clears the way for same-sex couples to begin applying for marriage licenses late on Jan. 5 when the current stay expires.

Nadine Smith, Equality Florida CEO, said, “We are thrilled … . Every day of delay is another day of harm experienced by thousands of loving and committed same-sex couples in Florida. Now it’s time to break out the wedding bells. Florida is ready for the freedom to marry.”

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Hinkle issued his ruling declaring Florida’s same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional on Aug. 21 in two federal marriage cases that had been consolidated — Brenner v. Scott and Grimsley and Albu v. Scott. The state, represented by Gov. Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi, had asked the 11th Circuit Court to extend the stay until the appeals process is complete. Today, the 11th Circuit said no to that request.

Read more: http://www.dallasvoice.com/breaking-11th-circuit-refuses-extend-stay-marriage-equality-florida-10185638.html

WASHINGTON (AP) — Supporters of legislation that would allow Americans with disabilities to open tax-free savings accounts to pay for long-term expenses are urging a swift vote in the Senate after the House overwhelmingly passed the bill.

The Republican-led House voted 404-17 Wednesday to approve the most sweeping legislation to help the disabled in a quarter-century, paving the way for creation of the savings accounts next year. It was an unusual moment of bipartisanship in a Congress sharply divided over immigration, taxes and spending.

"Today is a tremendous day for people with disabilities," said William Daroff of the Jewish Federations of North America, which co-chairs the Jewish Disability Network. "We look forward to working with President Obama and the 74 senators co-sponsoring the ABLE Act, and we urge lawmakers to move forward with this bill."

With more than 85 percent of Congress listed as co-sponsors, the measure was expected to get final approval in the Senate. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., the bill's main Senate sponsor, cheered the House passage as a significant step toward providing people with disabilities "the added security they need."

Read more: http://www.themonitor.com/news/apnews/advocates-urge-swift-senate-vote-on-disability-aid/article_68375c9d-20d4-5bb0-afe3-337f215ef209.html