December 1, 2018

Lawsuit that alleges Wall Street duped Kentucky pension plan will proceed

FRANKFORT — The high-profile lawsuit alleging that Wall Street money managers and others caused Kentucky Retirement Systems to gamble as much as $1.5 billion on risky hedge fund investments will proceed.

Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd on Friday rejected motions of three big hedge fund firms and most other defendants to dismiss the lawsuit filed 11 months ago.

Shepherd ordered the parties in the case to confer and submit a schedule for taking depositions and other actions needed for preparing for trial.

The lawsuit was filed by eight current or former Kentucky public employees, and it charges that international hedge fund sellers — KKR/Prisma Capital Partners, Blackstone Group, and Pacific Alternative Asset Management — breached their fiduciary duty by luring the Kentucky systems in 2011 into making investments without fully disclosing the risk, high fees and lack of transparency.

Read more: https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2018/11/30/kentucky-pension-lawsuit-involving-wall-street-proceed/2165330002/

December 1, 2018

Vermont Law School under investigation over stripped tenures

The American Association of University Professors is launching an investigation into Vermont Law School.

The probe was launched after 14 of 19 professors lost tenure this summer as part of the schools’ financial restructuring.

Vermont Law School could end up on the association’s sanction list, the American Association of University Professors announced Friday.

If violations are discovered, the law school’s ability to attract talented students and faculty could be impacted, according to Anita Levy, a senior program officer with the association.

Read more: https://vtdigger.org/2018/11/30/vermont-law-school-investigation/

December 1, 2018

Kentucky man ordered to pay $34.8 million, go to prison over huge military munition dump, blast

A federal judge on Thursday ordered $34.8 million in restitution from the owner of a company that committed what a prosecutor calls the nation’s worst-ever dumping of military explosives — a case stemming from a huge 2012 munitions blast. U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Foote also ordered David Alan Smith to spend 4 years and 7 months in prison.

Smith and four officials of his Explo Systems Inc. were sentenced in Shreveport. The four others drew sentences ranging from 2 to 5 years in prison and were ordered to repay the federal government a total of $598,000.

Explo Systems, which went bankrupt in 2013, had an $8.7 million Army contract to “demilitarize” artillery charges at a Louisiana National Guard facility called Camp Minden.

“The defendants sentenced today used Camp Minden here in northwest Louisiana as the largest illegal dumping ground of military explosives in the history of the United States - at over 15.6 million pounds of explosives,” U.S. Attorney David C. Joseph said in a statement.

Read more: https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/clark-county/article222423230.html

Cross-posted in the Louisiana Group.

December 1, 2018

Kentucky man ordered to pay $34.8 million, go to prison over huge military munition dump, blast

A federal judge on Thursday ordered $34.8 million in restitution from the owner of a company that committed what a prosecutor calls the nation’s worst-ever dumping of military explosives — a case stemming from a huge 2012 munitions blast. U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Foote also ordered David Alan Smith to spend 4 years and 7 months in prison.

Smith and four officials of his Explo Systems Inc. were sentenced in Shreveport. The four others drew sentences ranging from 2 to 5 years in prison and were ordered to repay the federal government a total of $598,000.

Explo Systems, which went bankrupt in 2013, had an $8.7 million Army contract to “demilitarize” artillery charges at a Louisiana National Guard facility called Camp Minden.

“The defendants sentenced today used Camp Minden here in northwest Louisiana as the largest illegal dumping ground of military explosives in the history of the United States - at over 15.6 million pounds of explosives,” U.S. Attorney David C. Joseph said in a statement.

Read more: https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/clark-county/article222423230.html

Cross-posted in the Kentucky Group.

December 1, 2018

Staffer who filed whistleblower suit fired after House Republicans elect new leaders

The Kentucky House Republican Leadership has fired a staffer who claims she was punished for reporting sexual harassment complaints against Republican members of the General Assembly.

Daisy Olivo, communications director for House Republicans, was escorted out of the Capitol by security near the end of the workday Friday. Her attorney, Shane Sidebottom, said Olivo was not given a reason for her dismissal.

Olivo has an ongoing whistleblower lawsuit against the Legislative Research Commission.

“I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the lady who filed the sexual harassment complaint and the two employees who did the right thing and reported it are no longer employed by the (Legislative Research Commission),” Sidebottom said.

Read more: https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article222450455.html

December 1, 2018

Tea party leaders tell Matt Bevin to keep Jenean Hampton or lose votes

FRANKFORT — The conservative tea party movement that backed Matt Bevin when he was a struggling long-shot Republican wants Bevin to keep Jenean Hampton as his running mate when he seeks re-election as governor in 2019.

A dozen tea party leaders from across the state met with Bevin at the Capitol about a month ago, and the first item on their agenda was a unanimous request that Hampton remain on Bevin’s ticket.

“We said we’d really like to see him keep Jenean…” said Scott Hofstra, of Elizabethtown, spokesman for the United Kentucky Tea Party. “Jenean is very conservative. I think she’s been a bright spot for Matt’s administration.”

But Hofstra and two others at the meeting said Bevin told them he had not yet made a decision on a 2019 running mate. They also said he mentioned no names of others he may be considering for lieutenant governor.

Read more: http://www.kentuckynewera.com/news/ap/article_93bdfa46-f411-11e8-ba7c-a3961ed99459.html

December 1, 2018

Kentucky Lawmaker Will Challenge Election He Lost by 1 Vote

FRANKFORT, KY. (AP) — A Republican state lawmaker in Kentucky says he will challenge the results of an election he lost by one vote.

Kentucky state Rep. DJ Johnson lost to Democrat Jim Glenn by a single vote on Election Day. County officials reviewed the totals one week later and made no changes. The state Board of Elections certified the results last week.

Still, state law allows Johnson to contest the election. The House of Representatives would appoint a commission of between five and nine members in such cases; the commission would then report to the full House of Representatives, which would decide.

Johnson said it is his responsibility to make sure the vote totals are 100 percent accurate. Glenn said he is confident the election results will stand.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/kentucky/articles/2018-11-30/kentucky-lawmaker-will-challenge-election-he-lost-by-1-vote
(no more at link)

December 1, 2018

Gay UT-Austin Student: Officials Told Me No Dorm Visitors Because I'm Gay and People are Uncomfortab

Gay UT-Austin Student: Officials Told Me No Dorm Visitors Because I’m Gay and People are Uncomfortable


A University of Texas-Austin freshman says she was forbid from having visitors at her private all-female dorm because she’s gay and that makes people uncomfortable.

John Wright at Outsmart reported that Kaj Baker was told that people at Scottish Rite Dormitory, a private, off-campus facility that provides all-female housing to UT students, were “uncomfortable” that she and her girlfriend were studying together, brushing their teeth together in the bathroom, and wearing pajamas.

When Baker asked dorm director Mary Mazurek, “Why are people uncomfortable?”, Mazurek replied: “Because some people are not comfortable with your sexual orientation.”

https://twitter.com/TexasNewsTSTV/status/1064770227098054661

Said Baker: “That’s when I realized that it wasn’t about the rules; we were being targeted for being gay…I guess it hurts that they’re saying that other people don’t feel comfortable in the dorm because of us, but honestly it’s the reverse.”

Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/2018/11/gay-ut/

December 1, 2018

Former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry Hopes Her 'Worst Day' Inspires Others

Former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry, who was forced to resign earlier this year, is quietly re-emerging in the public eye.

At a public appearance in Nashville last week, where she said she's trying to use her "worst day" as an inspiration for others. And that worst day was not March 6 when she had to resign.

"It wasn't the day I had to plead guilty to a felony. It wasn't the day I had to confess to an affair. It was the day that Max died."

Police arrived at her door in the middle of the night last year to deliver the terrible news. Her only child, on a cross-country trek home after graduating college, died of a suspected overdose.

Read more: http://www.nashvillepublicradio.org/post/former-nashville-mayor-megan-barry-hopes-her-worst-day-inspires-others

December 1, 2018

DNC Rips Mike Pence for Lying, Failing to Mention LGBTQ People in World AIDS Day Speech for Second

DNC Rips Mike Pence for Lying, Failing to Mention LGBTQ People in World AIDS Day Speech for Second Year in a Row


Vice President Mike Pence, who said in 2000 that he was in favor of sending money allocated to care for people with HIV/AIDS to organizations that provide gay conversion therapy, failed to mention the LGBTQ community in his World AIDS Day speech for the second year in a row.



The Democratic National Committee blasted Pence in an email, listing some of the lies he told, and some of the truths he forgot to mention:

THE LIES HE TOLD

Pence boasted about the success of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program, despite the fact the Trump administration diverted funds from the program to offset the costs of its family separation policy.

Pence celebrated the 15th anniversary of PEPFAR, calling it “one of the most successful investments in health care and humanitarian aid in American history,” while Trump’s budget proposal slashed the initiative’s funding.