May 3, 2013

Champion 4×100 relay team disqualified for pointing to sky in celebration? Could it be that simple?

Once I started hearing about the high school relay team that won regionals and then was disqualified for excessive celebration, I thought, I need to see video of this.

So far, I haven’t found video of the Columbus 4×100 relay team. I’ve only seen the 4×100 anchor’s celebration described as pointing to the sky as a religious gesture. If that’s the case, then I’ve seen high school athletes do something similar many times. Even some track athletes, and I don’t remember any disqualifications. I’ve definitely seen it at the state meet, which is next week in Austin.

If the relay team’s anchor was taunting, then a disqualification is probably justified. But that’s why I hope there is video that will surface. We’re only getting one side of the story right now, but it’s hard to ask any athlete to push himself or herself to the limit and then not allow some form of exuberance when the race is complete.

I know sometimes there can be a fine a line between celebration and taunting, but the punishment is pretty harsh.

More at http://highschoolsportsblog.dallasnews.com/2013/05/state-bound-4x100-relay-team-disqualified-for-pointing-to-sky-in-celebration-could-it-be-that-simple.html/ .


The UIL responded:

At the Region IV Conference 3A Track & Field regional meet held on Saturday, April 27 at Texas A&M Kingsville, a relay team from Columbus High School was disqualified by local meet officials for an unsporting act at the conclusion of the boys 4 x100 meter relay.

The meet official indicated the athlete crossed the finish line and gestured upward with his arm and finger and behaved disrespectfully toward meet officials, in their opinion. In the judgment of the official, this was a violation of NFHS track & field rule 4-6-1. The regional meet referee concurred with this decision and the student was subsequently disqualified. There is no indication that the decision was made because of any religious expression. This was a judgment call, as are many decisions of meet officials in all activities.

According to NFHS rules, once the meet is concluded, the results become final. Neither the UIL nor NFHS have rules that prohibit religious expression.

The UIL takes situations such as these very seriously, and is continuing to investigate the matter fully.

May 3, 2013

President Obama coming to Austin Thursday

Austin —

President Barack Obama will travel to Austin Thursday for events on the economy, according to a White House official.

The president and First Lady Michelle Obama were in Dallas last week for the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Library, a fundraiser and the memorial service at Baylor University in Waco for those who perished in the fertilizer plant explosion in West.

The president last visited Austin in May of 2011 for a pair of fund-raising events – one at Austin City Limits Live at the Moody Theater, and another more intimate affair at a private home west of Austin.

Obama will be traveling into the wheelhouse of the “Texas miracle,” which Republican officials from Gov. Rick Perry on down credit to the state’s low-tax, low-regulatory, pro-business regime, a stark contrast, they say, to the way the federal government, particularly under a Democratic president, operates.

More at http://www.statesman.com/news/news/state-regional/president-obama-coming-to-austin-thursday/nXgHc/ .

May 2, 2013

Austin Proposed project: 3 downtown towers, one up to 65 stories

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Two Austin developers are proposing a $500 million mixed-use project downtown that — if it happens — would change the skyline with three new towers, including a high-rise with condominiums and hotel rooms that could become Austin’s tallest building.

Mac Pike and Wally Scott, principals in the Sutton Co., a real estate investment and development company, told the American-Statesman they want to build their project — tentatively called Waller Center — on 3 acres near East Cesar Chavez and Red River streets, along the banks of Waller Creek.

In addition to residential, hotel and office uses, the developers envision shops and restaurants along Waller Creek like those lining San Antonio’s Riverwalk.

The project would be the most significant to date for Sutton, which ushered in a new wave of housing in downtown Austin in the late 1990s when it converted older buildings into lofts and later co-developed the Plaza Lofts across from Republic Square.

More at http://www.mystatesman.com/news/business/proposed-project-3-downtown-towers-one-up-to-65-st/nXdk3/?icmp=statesman_internallink_textlink_apr2013_statesmanstubtomystatesman_launch .

May 2, 2013

Ted Nugent prepares for NRA speech in Houston

Infinitely quotable rocker, hunter, and political activist Ted Nugent will be in Houston Sunday speaking on the closing day of the NRA’s convention at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Ted Nugent joins other big names such as Governor Rick Perry, Senator Ted Cruz, pundit Sarah Palin and radio host Glenn Beck in town to hold court in front of thousands of NRA members this weekend.

Nugent, who has been a Texas resident for about a decade, has plenty to say about the NRA (he’s a board member) and the freedom that drew him and his family to move to the Lone Star State.

http://www.chron.com/news/gallery/Ted-Nugent-prepares-for-NRA-speech-in-Houston-61448.php?cmpid=houtexhcat

[font color=green]Wow Ted! You didn't remember this card until after the musical benefit for the people in West? BTW, where are the sh#t stains?[/font]

May 2, 2013

Former Nueces County District Attorney indicted on aggravated perjury charges

Anna Jimenez faces felony charges related to an Edna man's capital murder case.

Exclusive, subscription required: http://www.caller.com/news/2013/may/01/former-nueces-county-district-attorney-indicted-ag/

[font color=green]Jimenez, is the first woman and first Hispanic Republican to hold the post. She was appointed by Governor Rick Perry to the DA position in March 2010 will fill the spot vacated by longtime District Attorney Carlos Valdez (D) who assumed the role of city attorney for Corpus Christi.

It certainly gives pause for those concerned about the Rosemary Lehmberg incident in Travis County.
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May 1, 2013

A&M will sport biggest football stadium in state

The Texas A&M System Board of Regents voted Wednesday to approve a $450 million refurbishment project of Kyle Field that will make the stadium the largest in the state and third biggest college venue in the country.

The stadium capacity will be 102,500 after the project is completed. That’s an increase of about 20,000. Kyle will be the largest in the Southeastern Conference and nationally, behind only Michigan and Penn State.

There will be the ability to seat an additional 3,000 as standing room only tickets.

The University of Texas currently is the largest in the state, with a seating capacity of 100,119. There are only six college venues in the country that can seat at least 100,000.

More at http://www.mystatesman.com/news/sports/am-will-sport-biggest-football-stadium-in-state/nXdgq/?icmp=statesman_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_statesmanstubtomystatesman_launch .

May 1, 2013

Three Legislature Bills Would Loosen Texas' Extraordinarily Loose Pollution Guidelines

Texas law has always been a little loose -- and yes, in this phraseology "loose" is code for kind of slutty -- about environmental regulation, but now the state legislature has a few bills bouncing around during the 83rd legislative session that may make it looser than Lindsey Lohan after some booze and a Xanax.

StateImpact Texas reported that these bills are part of a move toward making Texas more business friendly -- the assumption being that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the misnamed Railroad Commission (they're over oil and gas, not railroads), and legislators in general aren't besties with business yet. (None of the bills' sponsors would talk to us, by the way.)

If that's the case, then Gov. Rick Perry needs to rethink his whole advertising thing. He's been hitting up the people of Illinois and California in recent weeks, encouraging them to head to Texas, according to Time.

Right now, if, say a company wants to mine uranium from the water or put in an injection well, they have to go through a permitting process with the TCEQ, the state regulatory agency for all things environmental.

More at http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2013/05/legislature_pollution_regs.php

May 1, 2013

Gun Barrel City Is Officially Urging its Residents to Buy Guns

The official logo of Gun Barrel City, a small town on the banks of the Cedar Creek Reservoir, is a pair of crossed revolvers. Its slogan is "We Shoot Straight With You." One of its main drags is Gun Barrel Lane, where you'll find the Carry Right Gun Shop. Its mayor's business attire is an American flag shirt.

But city leaders fear that their position on firearms might not be quite clear. And so they spelled it out.

According to WFAA, the Gun Barrel City City Council voted unanimously last night to pass a resolution urging every head of household -- felons, the mentally ill and conscientious objectors excluded -- to buy a gun and bullets "[i[n order to provide for and protect the safety, security and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants."


City officials don't actually seem to think that firearms enthusiasts who choose to live in a place called Gun Barrel City need the government's encouragement to arm themselves. It's a marketing move more than anything, something the town is familiar with.

More at http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2013/05/gun_barrel_city_is_telling_its.php .

May 1, 2013

State officials tell legislators that educating West residents about plant was local responsibility

AUSTIN — Texas Department of Public Safety officials this morning told state lawmakers that educating residents in West – and in other Texas towns – about possible dangers of chemicals stored in nearby facilities falls to local officials.

“It’s a local up,” DPS Director Steve McCraw said during a legislative hearing in Austin. “It’s not a state down.”

Those and other assessments of various state agencies’ oversight and enforcement roles came during a Texas House committee hearing about the April 17 fertilizer plant explosion that killed 15 people, injured more than 200 others and damaged scores of houses in the small Central Texas town.

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Shortly after the hearing ended, Democratic-leaning advocacy group Progress Texas blasted state leaders for what they say is a dangerous lack of regulation. The group’s political director said in a prepared statement that Texans’ health and safety should be a priority.

More at http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2013/05/state-house-members-begin-questioning-experts-on-west-explosion.html/

May 1, 2013

Three gay rights activists arrested in Capitol protest

Three members of a gay-rights group were arrested Wednesday morning at the Capitol after they staged a sit-in at the offices of two senators, authorities said.

Names of the people arrested and the charges they face were not immediately available.

Troopers said the group identified themselves as members of GetEqualTX, an activist group that supports Senate Bill 237 that would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Texas Department of Public Safety officers were reported to be questioning the three after the 9:15 a.m. arrests outside the offices of state Sens. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, and Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury.

More at http://www.statesman.com/news/news/three-arrested-in-state-capitol-protest/nXdG7/ .