Earthquakes can’t be linked to XTO drilling activity, railroad commission finds

A wastewater disposal well operated by XTO Energy cannot be linked to the rash of earthquakes that rattled Reno and Azle residents more than a year ago, state officials reported.

Following hearings that were conducted in June, Texas Railroad Commission examiners concluded in a preliminary report issued Monday that “the evidence in the record does not support a finding” that the well “is likely contributing to seismic activity.”

In the report, the hearing examiners also discount a study released in the spring by Southern Methodist University researchers that linked the oil and gas process to the flurry of earthquakes that hit the Azle and Reno area from November 2013 to January 2014.

The findings of the SMU-led study were “not sufficient to reach a conclusion,” the report states, but rather “a start toward understanding the issue” of injection wells and seismic activity. The report also admits that there is nothing in the record to say that the earthquakes were caused naturally.

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/business/barnett-shale/article33224445.html

Updated: Deal struck to fund state’s horse and greyhound racing regulator

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced late Tuesday that he reached an agreement with House leaders to fund the briefly shuttered Texas Racing Commission, allowing track operators to resume racing — and betting — at Texas tracks.

Effective immediately, the authorization permits the commission to operate for the next 90 days, Patrick said. House Appropriations Chairman John Otto, R-Dayton, had held firm until Tuesday evening that the agency should be funded for two years, as is normal, to ensure that races can run in a properly regulated way.

The lack of consensus between the two chambers led to a one-day closure of the commission, which couldn’t operate without funding in the new fiscal year that began Tuesday. Also as a result, six horse and greyhound tracks ceased all betting operations, too.

For Patrick — along with Senate Finance Committee Chairwoman Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound — the move to block funding was a response to the commission’s recent refusal to bow to the Senate leadership’s wishes to repeal a rule to allow a new form of betting called historical racing.

Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/deal-struck-to-fund-states-horse-and-greyhound-rac/nnWnQ/

Earlier thread:
Texas Racing Commission Closed, Tracks Suspend Races

The Texas Racing Commission ceased operations Tuesday and directed racetracks to stop all live and broadcast racing, according to the agency.

The commission, which regulates dog and horse racing in the state, notified tracks Monday night that it had not received the money necessary to remain open. Texas House and Senate members of the Legislative Budget Board failed to reach an agreement Monday to avert a shutdown.

"I hope and think any shutdown will be brief and temporary," commission spokesman Robert Elrod wrote in an email to reporters late Monday. "In the event of a brief shutdown, the agency has the capability to resume operations very quickly and, if it does come to that, we’ll all be back on the job as soon as possible."

The commission’s $7.7 million annual budget comes from licensing and fees paid by the racetracks, but the budget board must appropriate that money.

Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/09/01/racing-commission-closed-tracks-suspend-races/

State Asks Supreme Court to Drop School Finance Lawsuit

“Money isn’t pixie dust” when it comes to improving public schools, lawyers for the state of Texas told the state Supreme Court on Tuesday, arguing an appeal in what has been described as the most far-reaching school finance case in state history. They urged the high court to either dismiss or remand the lawsuit brought four years ago by nearly two-thirds of the state's school districts.

Lawyers for those 600-plus districts meanwhile argued the state had not given them enough money to achieve higher goals state lawmakers have set for the state’s more than 5 million public school students, imposing them “without knowing the true cost” by relying on decades-old cost estimates that do not account for the growing population of disadvantaged students who are more expensive to educate.

Districts sued the state in 2011 after state lawmakers slashed $5.4 billion from public education to help balance a post-recession budget shortfall. During the long-running lawsuit, they have argued that the Legislature is violating its constitutional duty to provide an adequate and efficient public school system, enacting large cuts even as rigorous new testing and accountability systems raised the bar on expectations.

Since making those cutbacks, however, lawmakers have added back more than 90 percent of what they took away — albeit unevenly — while also enacting policy measures aimed at reducing the burden on student performance.

Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/09/01/one-year-later-school-finance-appeal-back-court/

Texas A&M locates unopened package with radioactive item

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M University has located a box containing radioactive research material after the FedEx package was missing since last month.

KBTX-TV (http://bit.ly/1KpozjP ) school officials Tuesday announced the package was located in an A&M secure hazardous material storage facility.

An A&M statement says the package was unopened, undamaged and in its original shipping container. School officials say the package is safe for transportation and storage and that the community was never in any danger.

KBTX reported Monday that records show someone signed for the package Aug. 21, but it never reached A&M's Radiation Safety Office in College Station.

Read more: http://www.statesman.com/ap/ap/texas/texas-am-on-lookout-for-package-with-radioactive-i/nnWQM/

Gays Are Trying to Ruin the Boy Scouts for U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, But He Won’t Leave

Texas Republican Congressman Pete Sessions, an Eagle Scout, says he disagrees with the Boy Scouts of America’s recent decision to lift its ban on gay adult leaders, but plans to remain part of the organization anyway.

Presumably referring to LGBT advocates, Sessions says the policy change was the result of “outside factors trying to literally ruin the Boy Scouts of America.” He also blamed the decision on nondiscrimination laws designed to allow people to file lawsuits against the Scouts and “take us to our knees.”

Sessions, who represents a Dallas-area district, told NBCDFW.com:

“Let’s put it this way: I disagree with it, but I’m sticking with Scouting. … Scouting is there for the young man and the boy, and there are outside factors trying to literally ruin the Boy Scouts of America over something they don’t understand. We are an organization that is about taking young boys and getting them prepared for their future. … I disagree with it. I would not have done it, and I think if we keep dwelling on this inside the organization, we do ourselves harm. We now need to move forward. It was done because of a series of laws across the United States that were designed to sue the Boy Scouts of America and take us to our knees. I think we’ve better alive even if I disagree with exactly what that policy is.”

Squee Alert: Alabama Fishermen Go Catfishing, End Up Rescuing Two Swimming Kittens

This wins the cutest video of the day award hands down.

“You are not going to believe what is swimming towards our boat,” said Jason Frost to the camera while on Warrior River in Alabama with his fishing bud Brandon Key.

Enter two kittens making a beeline for the boat a la the infamous Jimmy Carter rabbit.

“Never in my life,” said Brandon incredulously.

http://www.towleroad.com/2015/08/alabama-catfishing/

Texas Church Refuses to Back Down After Gay Pride Flag Stolen 4 Times

Following Waco, Cossacks finally make debut in DPS gang report

The Cossacks Motorcycle Club has roots going back to the 1960s, but it took a recent deadly clash at the Twin Peaks in Waco for the group to make its debut in the Department of Public Safety’s annual Texas Gang Threat Assessment.

The new report, which was released Monday, hits the streets a bit late this year, but includes a few lines about the Cossacks, and the melee with the Bandidos Motorcycle Club. The Bandidos have for years been considered by law enforcement to be among the largest “Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs” in the United States.

In the motorcycle world, the Bandidos are considered to be on par with the Hell’s Angels. In the DPS report, they are listed in the same classification as the Bloods, Crips and the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas.

While the Bandidos have been in the report for years, this appears to be the first mention of the Cossacks. It is unclear if the report was re-worked after the Waco clash, and prior to public release, to note the Cossacks.

Read more: http://blog.mysanantonio.com/atlarge/2015/08/following-waco-cossacks-finally-make-debut-in-dps-gang-report/

Suspect in Harris deputy’s death was once committed to state mental hospital

HOUSTON -- The man accused of ambushing a Harris County sheriff’s deputy Friday evening, shooting him 15 times while the deputy was stopped to put gas in his patrol car, has history of mental illness and once lived in an Austin homeless shelter, authorities said Monday.

Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson appeared at a court hearing Monday for the suspect, Shannon J. Miles, 30, who has been charged with capital murder in the slaying of Deputy Darren Goforth, 47.

Goforth, a sheriff’s deputy for 10 years, was shot at a convenience store-gas station in the Houston suburb of Cypress.

Miles is being held without bail.

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/state/texas/article33039066.html

Update on Lubbock's Mr. Conservative -- Judge denies petition to depose in sexual harassment case