Dewhurst moves quickly to repeal Robin Hood
BY ROBERT CARDENAS
.....Much has been made about the school finance mess, but little has been said about the friction it has caused among the State's top officeholders. On one hand, Lt. Governor David Dewhusrt announced on April 30 that he had the support of all 31 State Senators for changes in Texas education funding. Dewhurst wants to enact his education plan quickly as it eliminates the sharing of local property tax money, known as Robin Hood, and replaces property taxes money with different state taxes. At the same time, House Speaker Tom Craddick and Governor Perry are working on their own budget plan containing different education priorities, and the Governor has just called for a special session to address the issue of school finance.
.....Dewhurst's aggressive approach to the problem has baffled many observers who expected him, as a political newcomer, to faithfully carry out the Governor's wishes. Instead, Dewhurst has forged ahead with an alternative plan. More.
Rich Enronites indicted, all plead innocent
BY POKEY ANDERSON
.....Yesterday, Houston had a flurry of activity at the federal courthouse, as new indictments were unveiled in the Enron case. Among those indicted was former Enron Broadband chief Kenneth Rice, who was the second highest paid executive in the entire city of Houston in the year 2000, outstripping even Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay. Kenneth Rice is known for his penchant for fast cars, and his property forfeiture list includes two Ferraris and three other vehicles. Rice is accused of reaping over forty million dollars in unlawful stock profits.
.....Other former Enron Broadband executives indicted were Joseph Hirko, Kevin Hannon, Scott Yeager and Rex Shelby.
.....In a separate action, former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow was hit with additional charges which now total 109 counts. Ben Glisan and Dan Boyle were added as co-defendants.
.....Fastow's wife, Lea, was charged for the first time. More.
Bonnen pushes for Bush's 'clean air' laws
BY ERIKA MCDONALD
.....State Representative Dennis Bonnen of Anglton made national waves this week when he sponsored a Resolution calling on state agencies to adopt controversial Bush administration clean air policies.
.....The administration changes would affect the EPA's new source review program by allowing plants to make factory design changes without applying for permits. Bonnen wants the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to fall in step with the policy environmentalists say weakens the Clean Air Act.
.....Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention John Wilson said, "The new source review program is the fundamental engine of clean air law in this country. There1s many other pieces of clean air law on top of it. If it is removed, it sets in place the moment to remove every other safe guard that's in place." More.
Dems filibuster to keep Owen off higher bench
BY CHARLES SNIDER
.....U.S. Senate Democrats yesterday achieved their goal of continuing debate on the Bush nomination of Priscilla Owen to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the highest federal court covering Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. By denying Republican led effort to conclude debate on Owen's nomination and send it to the full Senate for a vote, the Democrats filibustered Owen's nomination and blocked it for a second time.
.....The Democrats successfully opposed Owen's nomination in 2001 amid criticism to her avowed opposition to abortion, and preference of big business over the worker. More.
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Redistricting Texas in Republicans' favor
BY JACKSON ALLERS
.....U.S. House Majority Leader, Tom DeLay, a Republican from Sugarland, is quarterbacking a GOP effort in the Texas House of Representative to redraw US Congressional Districts he says should be Republican.
.....Currently there are 17 democrats to 15 republicans in the US House of Representatives, but Delay and Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick say there should be at least 20 Republicans in Congress. This despite a federal court ruling in 2001 that found the current district map compliant with Census data from 2000.
.....Countering this Republican effort is US Representative from Houston, Democrat, Sheila Jackson Lee.
.....Jackson-Lee is meeting with other US Congressional members in Austin this weekend to pressure The Texas House Redistricting Committee to kill the new plan. U.S. Representative, Sheila Jackson Lee:
....."This is happening after the attorney general of the state of Texas indicated that there is no mandatory requirement to redraw these districts. That means disrupting Montrose, disrupting Bellaire, our certain districts. Austin may be divided into three different districts. In the 18th Congressional District, the birthplace of Barbara Jordan may be taken out of the 18th congressional district." More.
Texan drug busts becomes major issue in lege'
BY RENEE FELTZ & BRANDON MOELLER
.....In December of 2001, drug busts in Dallas were first called into question when some seized cocaine turned out to be the white chalk found in billiard saloons. Since then, more than 85 cases have been dropped against mainly Mexican defendants who had spent months in jail or were deported. A federal investigation has been ongoing and last month an undercover narcotics officer was indicted.
.....In 1999, 46 people, mainly African-Americans, were arrested in the small agrarian community of Tulia based on the undercover work of Tom Coleman. Coleman was recently indicted by a Texas Grand Jury, but 13 people still remain in prison based on his testimony.
.....The two cases are similar because they would never have happened if Texas law had provisions that bills currently in the Texas Legislature would require.
.....The bills, House Bill 2625 and its companion, Senate Bill 515, would outlaw the conviction of defendants based solely on the testimony of covert law enforcement agents. The bill, which, gained steam yesterday when it was approved in committee, would require the collaboration of testimony with other evidence. Texas ACLU director Will Harrell explains the bill and its minority opposition:
....."What it does, is it says a police officer working undercover simply must collaborate his or her statements as to the guilt of the person accused. That can be anything: it can be a finger print on a baggie that supposedly the defendant sold to the undercover agent, it could be a back-up agent, it could be a confidential informant, it could be a co-defendant, it could be a number of things. It's a pretty much no-brainer. Ironically, the only people who testified in that Committee against this bill was a representative for the Harris County District Attorney's office and three undercover officers who work narcotics in Harris County. And in their testimony, the officers basically said, 'Well we frankly never produce cases that don't have collaboration, but still - don't make us, don't require us to do that.' It's ridiculous. ... More.
Harris County racial profiling study questioned
BY RENEE FELTZ
.....Under a law passed in 2001, law enforcement agencies across the state are now required to collect data on the race of people subjected to traffic stops and vehicle searches. Statistics from 2002 became available earlier this year.
.....In a recently released report, the Houston Police department's raw numbers were examined by Sam Houston State University. Analysts there looked for evidence of racial profiling.
.....Among the findings, overall blacks comprised 35 percent of the police stops, while making up 24 percent of the over-age-18 population.
.....Sam Houston State' study acknowledged that, overall, blacks were stopped at a greater rate than their population would suggest, but noted that mostly minority residents of low-income, high-crime areas were at greater risk of being stopped.
.....Civil rights groups say this indicates a problem with racism in the department. Director of the Texas ACLU, Will Harrell:
....."They're saying oh yeah, the reason we're stopping all these black people, is because they use the drugs. That's not true. The drug czar, the federal government has made it eminently clear for years that people are not more likely or less likely to use drugs on the basis of their race. They use drugs differently, or in different places, or different drugs. But there's no race that has a monopoly on drug usage. But here you have the police using that logic, which is old-school-Jim-Crowe-racist thought." More.
Anarchists descend on downtown for May Day
BY RENEE FELTZ & ERIKA MCDONALD
.....About 50 anarchists gathered in downtown Houston yesterday to celebrate May Day. Though the international workers' holiday is still celebrated around the world, in the United States, May 1 has become Loyalty Day. Members of Houston's May Day Tribe worked to make sure downtown workers were aware of the holiday:
..... [Protestor marching and beating a drum:] "Fire your boss! Abolish hierarchy! Abolish capitalism! Hooray for workers' self-management! Cut out the wage-slave system! Take your earnings!"
..... The demonstrators marched from Market Square Park... stopping for protests at notable landmarks like One Shell Tower:
..... "Shell is an energy oil company that is responsible for egregious [sic] human rights abuses. Specifically in Nigeria, there's been an ongoing battle for about 20 years. And a leading Nigerian poet, Kim Simarweyeh [sic] was hung by the Abache [sic] government with Shell's full approval. Plus their environmental standards. And I think it's crucial that we try to hit all the oil companies that are here because they have a vested interest in the war and everything else." More.
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