K P F T news - April 9, 2003

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April 9, 2003

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HPD DNA testing policies 'defied logic'

BY JACKSON ALLERS

... Former DNA analyst for the Harris County medical examiner, Dr. Elizabeth Johnson, says the Houston Police Department DNA testing policies over the last eight years have "defied logic."
...In the latest case, it was the over-consumption of evidence, which prevented people accused of sexual assault from conducting their own tests. Not being able to refute state evidence when DNA evidence was used to convict, cost 21-year-old Josiah Sutton four and a half years of his life in prison. More.

Public documents make Enron nervous

BY ERIC THOMPSON

... After a yearlong investigation of Enron's involvement in the California Energy Crisis, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission announced in early March that documents pertaining to the investigation would be made public. However, when the Commission posted tens of thousands of documents on its Web site, including e-mail messages from ex-Enron employees, attorneys for Enron were sent scrambling. More.

'Operation Liberty Shield' violates law

BY SHANNON YOUNG

...Houston's immigrant community may get smaller following major restructuring by the INS since it has come under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security. Last month, the department announced the implementation of Operation Liberty Shield. More.

Polluters perched near schools could be fined

BY ERIKA MCDONALD

... Nearly 150,000 children in Texas attend school in the shadow of a chemical refinery ... most of the time never knowing which and how may toxins they were breathing. A bill before the House environmental regulation committee today seeks to change that. More.

Area TAAS scores released

BY JACKSON ALLERS

... The Texas Assessment of Academic Skills test scores have been graded and the schools with the best scores in the Houston area were not from the inner city. Based on last year's test results, the schools with the top average TAAS scores were from HISD magnet schools located in Houston's more affluent suburbs. More.

Houston shafted on federal 'anti-terror' aid

BY BRANDON MOELLER

... Houston received less than 10 percent of $100 million allocated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to seven urban U.S. cities. The money comes from the 2003 budget for the so-called Department of Homeland Security. More.

Bush regime should mind Shakespeare

BY LEN HART

... LEAD-IN BY HOST: And now KPFT News reporter Len Hart continues with a media critique, that will include a little bit of Shakespeare.
... CRITICISM: Throughout history a "media" has commented on current events. Arguably, it is only recently that media was expected to be objective.
... The precursors to modern newspapers were pamphleteers, best exemplified perhaps by Voltaire who literally papered Europe with his polemics following what he percieved to be Catholic attrocities and Toulouse.
...Media cannot be objective; it is a part of a greater whole that comprises both the oberserver and the observed. More

Activists charge neutered bill won't help air

BY ERIKA MCDONALD

... A bill to fund the state's plan to reduce toxic air emissions passed the Texas House Tuesday, but environmentalists and some legislators say the plan would not meet federal clean air standards.
...Representatives removed a key provision of House Bill 1365, which funded the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan. Axed from the bill was a requirement on low-emissions diesel. Executive director of the Galveston-Houston Association for Smog prevention John Wilson said removing the requirement destroyed the bill's integrity.
..."There is no plan without it. You go to the state legislature and you say 'what are we going to fill this with?' and you get into all this vague talk about that the companies will come up with alternatives. But I see no provision requiring them to come up with alternatives, I see no requirements being put in place of an existing rule that everybody agrees makes sense, everybody agrees is reasonable, except for the companies that find it inconvenient or maybe a little too expensive or uncertain for their tastes." More.

Congress questions Halliburton's contracts

BY RENEE FELTZ

...International debate about the reconstruction of post-war Iraq suggests the United States is using its position on the ground in Iraq to steer rebuilding contracts toward companies like Houston-based construction company Kellogg Brown and Root or KBR.
...Yesterday, the chairman of the U.S. House Committee of Governmental Reform, Henry Waxman, called into question the special treatment Brown and Root's parent company, Halliburton, has received in the awarding of Defense Department contracts.
...Investigative journalist Prathap Chattergy says Waxman's call is long overdue:
..."Finally some of the elected members of congress are shining a spotlight on the various activities of Dick Cheney and the people that supposed to be running this country, but in fact are just milking it for profits." More.

Non-citizens could get temp motor licenses

BY JACKSON ALLERS

... The Texas Senate Infrastructure and Security Committee approved a bill this week that would impose restrictions on the driver's licenses of non-citizens.
...Senate Bill 944 would require the words "temporary issuance" to be stamped on a non-citizen's license and would require applicants to present official documentation that they are in the United States legally.
...One of the two who voted against the bill, Democratic Senator from El Paso, Eliot Sharpleigh, says the author of the bill, Senator Steve Ogden, a republican from Bryan, is not grasping the full picture:
..."He's a good senator and a good friend of mine. I think his intent was if we had terrorists in this country, at least two of whom had fake licenses, what can we do to fix that? I think it's a noble intent. My point is that there's a lot of better ways to do it."More.

Bill may make schools less secular

BY RENEE FELTZ

... A bill that would require a moment of silence in public schools may tread on questionable constitutional ground, says Texas Senator Juan Hinojosa. The bill, passed yesterday in the state senate, would take away local discretion concerning this practice. Hinojosa says it would require school teachers to provide a moment of silence for students after they recite the pledge of allegiance each morning. "I don't think there's any problem or any objection to allowing the school children to have a one minute of silence for them to meditate. But that's not what the bill says. In addition to the one minute of silence to meditate, it says 'pray' p-r-a-y. And what you have is a teacher trying to keep discipline and control of her classroom" More.

Bill in lege' could clean up waste

BY JACKSON ALLERS

... LEAD-IN BY HOST: The Pasadena City Council voted yesterday to support House Bill 1765. The bill, sponsored by Texas State Representative from Baytown, Republican Wayne Smith, would force the waste hauler industry to become more responsive to illegal dumping - something Pasadena has become increasingly aware of after huge amounts of grease and oil have caused problems at area water treatment plants. Jackson Allers has more.
...STORY: According to Pasadena city engineer, Sarah Metzger, Pasadena city services have dealt with environmental difficulties created by illegal waste dumping since it first discovered problems at its Golden Acres wastewater plant last year. More.

Students dis' Baker III, war at Rice

BY RENEE FELTZ

... Earlier today at the Baker Institute of Public Policy at Rice University, some former and current students participated in political theater. The Institute is chaired by James A. Baker III.
... Former Secretary of State under George Bush during from 1989 to 1992, Baker is now Senior counsel for the Carlyle Group, a private global investment firm composed of political insiders with links to Osama Bin Laden. He's also a senior partner at Baker Botts, the Houston-based law firm negotiating oil and gas industries in the region between Afghanistan and Iraq. More.

Bills could limit woman's right to choose

BY RENEE FELTZ

... Abortion rights activists monitoring the Republican-led state legislature say a new bill headed to the house floor is only the beginning of restrictions on a woman's right to choose. Spokeswoman for Texas Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, Sarah Wheat:
... "The new leadership at the Texas Legislature has given every indication that they support the anti-choice agenda. And so I think this is just the first step in their long effort to chip away at a woman's right to choose." More.

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