Supporters of Gus Ruiz have dismissed criticism that accepting large campaign contributions from Houston builder Bob Perry means Ruiz is a closet Republican.Bob Perry is the Rick Perry buddy and the ultimate Texas crony capitalist.
Ruiz, a Harlingen attorney and former Marine, is a Democratic Party candidate for the new-look Texas House District 35. Perry is one of the biggest campaign contributors in Texas. He gives mostly to Republicans but has also given to Democrats over the years.
Secondly, Sadler himself only got 35% of the vote in a 4-way race, so his runoff opponent Grady Yarbrough should be included if Sadler gets in. That by itself is a travesty, as the Austin Statesman notes...Yarbrough is a perennial candidate who has run as a Democrat and a Republican in previous elections.
U. S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes was ousted from office Tuesday in what by all accounts was one of the hardest fought and acrimonious primaries in recent Texas history. Reyes, an eight-term incumbent Democrat, fell to Beto O’Rourke, a 39-year-old former city council member who benefitted from anti-Reyes ads from the Campaign for Primary Accountability, a conservative Super PAC based in Houston.
O’Rourke ended with 50.47 percent of the vote to Reyes’ 44.35 in the five-candidate race.
A visiting judge this morning denied to begin proceedings to remove embattled Cameron County District Attorney Armando R. Villalobos from office, but not before he suggested that the DA should temporarily step down from office.
Senior Judge J. Manuel Banales said a petition filed by Harlingen resident Trinidad Salinas did contain an adequate affidavit that warranted the removal of Villalobos.
"It does not meet the requirements of the law," Banales told attorney Juan Angel Guerra, who represented Salinas.
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Subscribe to John Laughon: Jacksonville, Fl. Inmate Brutally Beaten; His Family Wants Answers
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Subscribe to John Laughon: Jacksonville, Fl. Inmate Brutally Beaten; His Family Wants Answers
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Subscribe to John Laughon: Jacksonville, Fl. Inmate Brutally Beaten; His Family Wants Answers
The U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Texas cannot take part in the federal case against Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos — with one exception, public records state.
This, following United States Associate Deputy Attorney General David Margolis’ approval of an office-wide recusal of the southern district from the Villalobos case, “based upon the appearance of a conflict of interest,” court records state.
A letter issued Monday by a district judge could push proponents of the $3 billion Las Brisas Energy Center back to the drawing board.
The letter, issued by 345th District Court Judge Stephen Yelenosky of Travis County, details his intent to send back a state-issued air quality permit to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for review.
The letter could mean the energy plant's permit will be reversed or remanded to the state.
Senior Judge J. Manuel Bañales will hold an evidentiary hearing Friday to determine if the petition in the 444th state District Court for the removal of Cameron County District Attorney Armando R. Villalobos should proceed.Villalobos is charged with racketeering in Abel Limas bribery scandal.
Harlingen attorney Juan Angel Guerra filed the petition on behalf of Trinidad Salinas.
Bañales, of Corpus Christi and appointed to hear the case, found Monday that after reviewing and considering the petition, it is in the “interest of justice” that a hearing be held.
Some property owners in Texas' coastal areas will see a 5 percent increase on their insurance bills next year.I think homeowner's insurance should be a government responsibility. Think about it. Disaster funds flow from the government after a disaster. FEMA aids people during disasters. Fire and police departments are government run. Zoning and the general idea of urban development are government functions. Home owners' insurance is a powerful zoning tool. Why not increase homeowner accountability and then share the risk?
The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association's board of directors approved the increase Tuesday. The board also delayed a decision on whether to enact an additional increase that would depend on how far a property is from the shore. That decision will be discussed at an Aug. 7 meeting in Galveston.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received more complaints of workplace discrimination from workers in Texas than from any other state last year, with 10 percent of all complaints filed there, according to a report made public by the agency on Monday.republicans like workers to be subservient, compliant and without recourse.
During the 2011 fiscal year, nearly 10,000 of the record 99,947 federal charges of workplace discrimination received by the EEOC were filed in Texas, according to the report. The most common complaints within the state were "retaliatory charges," or those alleging that the employer fired, demoted or otherwise retaliated against an employee because he or she fought against discrimination in some way, such as going to the EEOC.
One in five people who cast early ballots in Hidalgo’s City Council election brought someone else into the voting booth for help, Hidalgo County Elections Administrator Yvonne Ramon said Thursday.By the way, voter id laws won't help in this situation. A good DOJ, good local and state law enforcement would.
While Texas law allows voters to seek assistance in special circumstances, unusually high assistance rates often indicate political machines — and, critics say, voter coercion — at work. Of the 2,144 people who voted early in the Hidalgo election, 483 had help, Ramon said, about 22.5 percent of voters.
“I think a majority of the people who are being assisted are school employees at Hidalgo ISD and Valley View ISD,” said Mayor John David Franz, who said he’d heard disturbing reports of able-bodied teachers asking for assistance.
Many of you may remember the story of Johnny Appleseed from when you were young. His manner of operation was simple. He went into the wilderness with a bag of apple seeds on his back until he found a likely spot for planting. There he would clear the land by chopping out weeds and brush by hand. Then he planted his apple seeds in neat rows and built a brush fence around the area to keep out straying animals. His nurseries varied in size.
Appleseed, Johnny (1774-1845), was the name given to John Chapman, an American pioneer who planted large numbers of apple trees along the early frontier. He became a folk hero as the result of many novels, short stories, and poems about his deeds. However, most of these deeds were probably imaginary.
Now, wouldn't it be great if there was a Johnny Potseed? Johnny Potseed could simply throw the seeds from his or her bag of pot out along the roadside, in parks, in neighborhoods, by fields and streams or other public places. The pot seeds would grow wild and uncontrollable everywhere they had thrown and little plants would pop up where the seeds had been thrown. How funny it would be to pull into a shopping center where you see the beautifully groomed plantings with automatic sprinklers with pot growing in them. All those ugly drainage ditches could be pretty and green if discarded seeds found their way in them. This shouldn't be done on your personal property where you may end up butting heads with law enforcement.
Wouldn't it be ironic to start a campaign such as Johnny Potseed to push the legalization of Marijuana? We would love someone start a Johnny Potseed campaign in our brother, John Gregory Laughon's honor.
If you have just stumbled upon this Blogspot you should read past posts and you will learn how my brother's 6 month sentence in the Duval County Jail for Marijuana POSSESSION has turned into life sentence in a vegetative state at the hands of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Jail Guards. My brother was not a drug dealer he used marijuana to help control seizures at night while he slept. My brother was not the first to be struck down at the hands of the JSO, there are many details I have added to this blog, some details I found in media archives. You be the judge! Does anyone deserve a life sentence over medicinal use of Marijuana?
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Subscribe to John Laughon: Jacksonville, Fl. Inmate Brutally Beaten; His Family Wants Answers
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John Laughon 
