Feds try to get local cops to help track aliens
BY ROBERT CARDENAS
..... According to the Bureau of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, the Immigration and Naturalization Service removed more than 70,000 criminal aliens from the United States in fiscal year 2002. This fiscal year, the bureau is on pace to meet or surpass those numbers.
..... In order to search for the most dangerous aliens, it's created a "most wanted list" of criminal aliens. In order to make it on to the list, a foreign national must have been convicted of committing a serious crime in the United States, been ordered to be deported, but still remain at large.
..... The list is part of the National Fugitive Operations Initiative and Congress has set aside an extra $10 million to implement the plan.
..... One controversial part of the plan is the proposed use of federal and state law enforcement authorities to remove the aliens. More.
Strayhorn may be sued over rejecting unbalanced budget
BY POKEY ANDERSON
.....Yesterday, Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn rejected the two-year state budget presented by lawmakers. Today she received notice of a potential lawsuit that could be used to force her to certify the plan.
..... The case would be filed before the Texas Supreme Court.
..... The Associated Press reports that Texas State Attorney General Greg Abbott wrote Strayhorn a letter today saying he believed that "additional" steps had been taken to ensure that the budget is balanced. The letter did not provide details.
..... Strayhorn argues the budget is unbalanced, and over $180 million short. She became the first comptroller to exercise her right under the state constitution to reject a budget before it is signed by the governor. More.
Activists, family remember Gary Graham
BY RENEE FELTZ
.....This weekend family and friends will hold a memorial service marking commemorating the life of former Texas death row prisoner Shaka Sankofa.
.....Sankofa was executed by the state of Texas date of June 22, 2000.
.....A high school dropout with a mother troubled by mental illness, then 17-year-old Sankofa was charged with killing a Bobby Lambert during an attempted robbery in 1981. Prosecutors had no physical evidence, and a single eye witness linked him to the crime.
.....Over half his life spent on Texas Death Row, Gary Graham grew into the man known as Shaka Sankofa. He was described as a man deeply conscious of his individual and collective self and of his place in history. More.
Bush names new press secretary
BY RENEE FELTZ
.....The Stayhorn family has been busy this week... Today, George W. Bush named Texan Scott McClellan to be his new press secretary.
.....Son of state comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, McClellan worked under then Governor Bush. He says he is now honored to serve a "results oriented" presidency, noting "I look forward to doing my small part." More.
Houstonians protest French arrests of Mujaheddin
BY PHARA CHARMCHI
.....For the past four consecutive days, around a 100 protesters have stood outside the French Consulate in Houston shouting "Shame, shame, shame on France!" Waving the national flags of Iran and of the People's Mujaheddin, the group is seeking to voice opposition to the French government's arrest last week of 159 members of the Mujaheddin, or the MKO, in France.
..... All but 26 of those arrested have been released, but among those detained is significantly Maryam Rajavi, who with her husband leads the Mujaheddin organization. Protesters in Paris, Bern and London have been protesting the arrests for several days now, with at least six having set themselves on fire. More.
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Juneteenth: A holiday of diverse meanings
BY RICHARD HANNA
.....The 19th of June marks a day of celebration for African-Americans in the Southwestern United States. They remember it as the day they learned of their freedom from slavery, over two years after President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. In Houston, several events like yesterday's Juneteenth Freedom Festival at Miller Outdoor Theater, highlight the holiday with entertainment and free barbecue. KPFT's Richard Hanna examines other members of Houston's African-American community approached the holiday.
.....This year's celebrations of Juneteenth are taking place alongside a new type of commemoration that focuses on reparations for the descendants of this country's freed slaves:
.....Texas Southern University Student Nakeesha Sanders calls for a deeper look at the holiday:
....."I think in all events, all celebrations in the United States of America, as time tends to go on, the true meaning of what the celebration is about tends to get lost in time, in space. And I think that has happened with Juneteenth. Because I feel that as African people, African people in America, we tend to forget or choose to forget slavery and forget what we went through and where we came from because it's just a hard pill to swallow. And I think Juneteenth is used as a celebration to escape your reality. But there's a few people who realize what Juneteenth is about, it's about the physical emancipation of our people in the United States." More.
To redistrict, Republicans offer 'sham' hearings
BY POKEY ANDERSON
.....Today, in the aftermath of Governor Rick Perry's call for a special session of the legislature, reactions continued to swirl around the state.
..... "How can the leadership justify spending $1.7 million for a special session on redistricting when the comptroller says that the budget they produced doesn't even contain enough revenue to cover the state's current expenses?" asked Representative Garnet Coleman of Houston. One state legislator, Richard Raymond of Laredo, charged that the whole process is illegal and violates the Voting Rights Act. Typically, redistricting is done every ten years - after the U.S. Census - which happened in 2001.
..... The Dallas Morning News reported that two days before the special session was called by the Governor, Tom DeLay met privately with the Governor, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Speaker Tom Craddick to talk about redistricting.
..... Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political strategist, was said to have called at least one state legislator this week about redistricting. Rove "thought it could be important to the president," the legislator, Bill Ratliffe, recalled. More.
Energy deregulation beefs competition, vernacular
BY SHANNON YOUNG
.....As summertime temperatures soar in Houston, so do electric bills. When the retail electricity market opened up in January of 2002, consumers were told that competition would bring better and cheaper service. Instead, deregulation brought with it unfamiliar practices and a new vocabulary.
.....Yesterday, KPFT news was contacted by a tenant in an apartment complex claiming to be the victim of a practice known as "slamming." Carol Biedrzycki, the executive director of the Texas Ratepayers Organization to Save Energy gives us this definition.
....."Slamming is when your service provider is changed without your permission. It's when one company steals your business away from another company. It can be done in a number of ways. Number one, it can be done through electronic transactions where the customer does not need to have any role in making the change. An example would be, let's say that a customer serviced representative make as a mistake in entering computer data. And what happens is that a customer that had no intention of switching has their service switched without their knowledge because of operator error."
.....The tenant says that this is partly what happened to her when she tried to re-instate her account at Reliant after some billing confusion. More.
Police chief in hot water over crime lab
BY RENEE FELTZ
.....And today, Houston Police chief Clarence Bradford today fought accusations that he failed to address problems with the crime lab's DNA section.
..... Bradford released records of his efforts to fix problems at the lab, including a memo documenting a 1997 meeting with top police officials following an audit that showed problems with oversight and handling of DNA evidence. The memo noted the crime lab had instituted new procedures and installed a new supervisor.
..... "When you look at the correspondence, you can see that I approved a plan of action," Bradford said. "Those things were not done ...relied on my division managers. I relied on my assistant chief that these things were taken care of." More.
Burdine's life spared as he accepts state's plea
BY KAREM SAID
.....Former death row inmate Calvin Burdine accepted a plea bargain yesterday that grants him three life sentences instead of the death penalty. Because Burdine has already spent 18 years in prison, the sentence amounts to 40 more years. Burdine is currently 50 years old. Burdine is famous for his lawyer's tendency to sleep through the trial. He was originally charged with killing his gay lover. One of Burdine's new lawyers, Danalynn Recer, helped secure the deal:
..... "We were trying from the very beginning to have the state sit down and talk to us about whether or not they thought that death was appropriate in this case. And ultimately they did sit down with us and we're just grateful that they were able to recognize that death was not appropriate and we're relieved that Calvin is no longer facing execution."
..... But not everyone is pleased with the plea bargain. KPFT's Prison Radio show host Ray Hill has known Calvin Burdine since he was a teenager. Hill is a jailhouse lawyer, meaning that he taught himself law from a jail cell, and continued to educated himself after getting out of prison. More.
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