Faye Brown's Blog

Obama Leads In Texas Convention

2008-03-31T18:35:00.001-05:00

As the smoke cleared from this weekend's regional Democratic conventions, Barack Obama emerged with a majority of the state's at-large presidential nominating delegates and possibly a majority of all Texas delegates.

But Hillary Rodham Clinton's supporters vowed Sunday to continue the fight for Texas delegates all the way to this summer's state party convention, promising to cut his lead in delegates.

The actual number of delegates awarded to Obama and Clinton will not be official until the state party convention meets June 5-7 in Austin.

Hurricane Katrina's Aftermath

2008-03-30T17:34:00.004-05:00

This story just gets my goat:

The owner of RNR Enterprises of Boise, Idaho, Navert signed on in the chaotic weeks after Hurricane Katrina as a third-tier vendor on a City Hall contract to clear hundreds of miles of debris-clogged storm drains in New Orleans.

Motivated in part by a desire to help the ravaged city, Navert said he dispatched two vacuum trucks -- half his fleet -- and ultimately billed $189,000 for the work.

But 28 months after Navert and more than 30 other private contractors finished the job, many are only now on the verge of getting paid in full. This week, city officials secured from the Federal Emergency Management Agency the final installment of $10.3 million for the cost of cleaning the storm drains.

Was this just red tape or pure incompetence?

Former City Workers Accept Responsibility

2008-03-29T17:53:00.004-05:00

When I first heard about the four employees who illegally gave themselves bonuses, I said to myself - they have a lot of hootspau. Now it is nice to learn that they have accepted responsibility and cleared two other workers who were falsely accused.

More than two years after Mayor Bill White condemned four City Hall staffers for committing a "betrayal of trust" for taking unauthorized bonuses and raises, two of the workers agreed Friday to apologize, spend 10 years on probation and pay back their profits.

Rosita Hernandez and Florence Watkins were running the Office of Mayor Pro Tem in 2006 when authorities began questioning bonuses and raises worth more than $209,000 for themselves and two underlings. All four were fired in March 2006.

Hernandez must repay $77,000 as part of the plea agreement on a felony theft charge. Watkins agreed to pay back $67,000. Both took the stand briefly to clear the names of two lower-level Office of the Mayor Pro Tem employees indicted in the case.

After hearing from Hernandez and Watkins that co-workers Teresa Orta and Christopher Mays didn't know anything about the scam, prosecutors dismissed the charges against Orta and Mays.

'Road Home Program'

2008-03-28T17:50:00.003-05:00

Some Road Home stories can be truly heartbreaking:

It was one thing for Leatrice Roberts to find out that the government had sold her a townhome built on top of a waste dump. But it was mindboggling to learn, at age 74, that the Road Home can't buy her out because the land is contaminated.

On the other hand, there has not been any good news lately concerning the Road Home program.

Tejano Star Improving

2008-03-27T12:28:00.001-05:00

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Grammy-winning Tejano music star Emilio Navaira's chances of survival are improving, his doctor said on Wednesday, following a crash this week in which he was thrown through the windshield of his tour bus.

Key To New Orleans Recovery

2008-03-26T01:01:00.003-05:00

It is time for City leaders to take note:

Researchers for the Virginia-based Mercatus Center are reporting the neighborhoods that rebounded the fastest generally had the strongest community leaders -- not the most government help.

Mercatus proposes that New Orleans do more to encourage expansion of neighborhood associations, which it says are better equipped to oversee local redevelopment than centralized city planning departments.

Mercatus said the future of New Orleans is dependent on the city government giving more flexibility to local neighborhood organizations to develop recovery plans that suit their special circumstances.

What they have been doing has not been working so why not try and follow this approach.

Free Wireless Internet

2008-03-25T02:30:00.003-05:00

Houston is planning on building 10 free wireless network "bubbles" in low-income parts of the city to give residents access they otherwise might do without.

Monday's announcement launched the first bubble in the densely populated Gulfton area of Southwest Houston. The city is establishing a committee to determine where future networks will be located. Build-out is expected to happen over the next two years.

Rest In Peace, Al

2008-03-24T00:30:00.001-05:00

T-P:

Al Copeland, a hard-charging, high-living entrepreneur who built an empire on spicy fried chicken and fluffy white biscuits, died Sunday in Munich, Germany, of complications from cancer treatment. He was 64.

How Does New Orleans Justify Demolishing 47 Schools?

2008-03-21T03:56:00.004-05:00

The following argument is puzzling to me because the City seems concerned that the Census figure will reduce the amount of federal aid they receive. Well, shouldn't the City receive a drop in federal aid if they feel the need to demolish 47 public schools?

A population estimate of 240,000 released this week by the Census Bureau is off by about 60,000 according to City Hall officials, who noted that a discrepancy of that size can drastically reduce federal grant allocations that are critical to an array of social programs. Such grants affect everything from education to substance abuse treatment, they said.

If one was truly interested in the population returning to pre-Katrina levels, they would ensure that the returning families have schools for their children. Those schools that are set for demolition were not just sitting idle before Hurricane Katrina. If everyone returned to New Orleans, wouldn't there be a school shortage?

Does Forced Admission Decrease Diversity?

2008-03-20T00:44:00.001-05:00

The University of Texas at Austin has been forced to offer admission to a record number of Texas high school students using just a single criteria — class ranking — and that has hurt the university's ability to increase its racial and ethnic diversity, the school's president said Wednesday.

Eighty-one percent of the students being offered admission to UT's 2008 fall freshman class got in because they graduated in the top 10 percent of their high schools. That number is up 10 percent over 2007 figures and likely will rise to include all students in the not-too-distant future, William Powers Jr. warned.

On Wednesday and in testimony before a House panel a day earlier, Powers said the university could attract a more diverse student body if it was not forced by the state, under a decade-old law, to accept every student with a high class rank.

New Orleans Political Figures Sees Message In Obama's Speech

2008-03-19T04:00:00.004-05:00

New Orleans area political figures gave a mix of positive and guarded responses Tuesday to Barack Obama's attempt to quiet an uproar about racial rhetoric in the presidential campaign.

In some circles nationally, critics dismissed the speech by the senator from Illinois as a self-serving effort to distance himself from his longtime pastor's comments about white people, Israel and America's role in bringing terrorism upon itself. But a smattering of local leaders saw healing potential in Obama's remarks.
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Judge for yourself.

Texas In Good Shape

2008-03-18T00:17:00.002-05:00

As other states confront deficits with plans to trim government health care to children, disabled and the elderly, lawmakers in Texas so far expect to have enough money when they convene in January to write a state budget without such cuts.

The amount of money projected to be available for the next budget was estimated with the assumption that an economic slowdown would be in play. Still budget officials expect the state to have money to spare while writing the 2010-2011 state spending plan.

A healthy oil industry in Texas means stout employment rates. It also helps the state because proceeds from oil and gas production taxes are divvied up among public education and the state's so-called Rainy Day Fund. Several billion dollars are expected to be sitting in the fund by the time lawmakers meet next January.

Further padding the next two-year budget, lawmakers expect to have more than $8 billion left over from the last spending cycle.

Bill Clinton & Brad Pitt Meet In 9th. Ward

2008-03-17T00:35:00.002-05:00

Former President Bill Clinton met with actor Brad Pitt and hundreds of volunteers in the Lower 9th Ward on Sunday at the site where a foundation headed by Pitt plans to begin building affordable homes for Hurricane Katrina victims.

Pitt and Clinton walked a street as hundreds of volunteers on either side, wielding shovels and rakes, prepared the land for homes. For hours, they cleared overgrown grass and weeds that were covering street drains and sidewalks.

The Lower 9th Ward was one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods in New Orleans when Katrina struck on Aug. 29, 2005, causing the city's levee system to fail with devastating flooding.

Employers Can Have Access To Employees Health Records

2008-03-16T02:28:00.003-05:00

Medical privacy has been protected for years by the most unlikely guardians: insurance companies. Now, the Texas Legislature has become the first in the nation to force insurance companies to pass along sensitive employee health records to their companies, a practice permitted under federal law.

Starting Jan. 1, companies became entitled to receive a list of their employees and family members — identified by number or some other code, but not by name — whose health bills exceeded $15,000 during the previous year. Employers also can obtain the diagnoses, dates of service, amounts paid, prognoses, future costs and treatment plans for each.

The law's supporters say they need the information to get a clear snapshot of health expenses, while critics fear it's an erosion of patient privacy.

Companies can also obtain the detailed health information on those who have been precertified for hospital stays of five or more days, according to the bill that sailed through the Texas House and Senate and was signed into law by Gov. Rick Perry last summer.

Blanco- - On Road Home Raises

2008-03-15T14:16:00.002-05:00

T-P:

"It was my understanding and belief that any contract change would be publicly noticed,"

"I encourage Steve Theriot, the legislative auditor, whose office was consulted during negotiations, to continue to audit ICF and to hold them accountable for every dollar of their contract."

New Harris County DA Chosen

2008-03-14T05:05:00.002-05:00

Gov. Rick Perry plans to name Kenneth Magidson, an assistant U.S. attorney in Houston, as the new Harris County district attorney, the Houston Chronicle reported Thursday.
Magidson is awaiting assurance from the Justice Department that he won't lose his job as a federal prosecutor once a district attorney is elected in November, the newspaper said.

He would replace Chuck Rosenthal, who resigned last month after pornographic, racist and political material from his county e-mail account surfaced, until his term expires in January. The e-mails also included love notes from the married prosecutor to his secretary.

Kanye West, Chris Rock to Play at 2008 Essence Festival

2008-03-13T04:22:00.002-05:00

Organizers of the annual Essence Music Festival have announced some of the acts that will take part in the 2008 festival, July 4-6.

The acts will include Kanye West, Chris Rock, Chris Brown, Mary J. Blige, Jill Scott, Morris Day and The Time, and Maze featuring Frankie Beverly.

Essence is billed as "the nation's largest annual African-American event celebrating black music and culture." An estimated 200,000 people attended the festival last year when it returned to New Orleans.

Officers Indicted For Fake Katrina Camp

2008-03-12T01:18:00.003-05:00

Another Hurricane Katrina Scam Here In Houston:

A grand jury indicted two Houston police officers Tuesday on charges alleging they billed the Red Cross $160,000 to operate a two-week basketball camp for Hurricane Katrina evacuees that only lasted two days.

Patrol officer Tracie Denise Bell and Kirshondra Richardson, a probationary officer in her first year with the department, allegedly claimed the June camp had 310 attendees when only 10 actually participated.

Both are charged with theft of more than $100,000, a second-degree felony with punishment ranging from probation to 20 years in prison if convicted.

This is just another example of corrupt individuals using a painful experience for their own person gain.

Will New Orleans Receive The Help?

2008-03-11T01:03:00.003-05:00

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and all seven City Council members will lead a delegation to the nation's capital Wednesday and Thursday to lobby federal officials for more help with the city's recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

Nagin and the council members will be joined by officials from the Regional Transit Authority, Sewerage & Water Board, Chamber of Commerce and other groups.

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Let's hope everything works out.

Energy Group To Launch McDermott's Houston Office

2008-03-10T04:32:00.003-05:00

McDermott Will & Emery will be opening its newest office in Houston, Texas. The office will be spear-headed by three leading Houston energy lawyers. Effective immediately, Robert Stephens, David W. Locascio and Jose Luis Vittor, all formerly with Bracewell & Giuliani, will join the Firm as partners, launching the Firm's Houston office and expanding McDermott's leading international energy practice.

The group of lawyers joining McDermott are leading practitioners in the Houston energy market. They have extensive experience successfully representing clients in energy and project transactions, acquisitions and financings in U.S. and international markets. The addition of a Houston office, staffed by tremendously talented lawyers, significantly adds to the Firm's existing international energy practice, and also lays the foundation for the growth of other important McDermott practice areas such as corporate/M&A and intellectual property.

Election Results - Gilda Reed Wins

2008-03-09T01:24:00.000-06:00

U.S. House - District 1 - Dem Special Primary
Louisiana - 505 of 505 Precincts Reporting - 100%
Max Runoff Cands=2
Name Party Votes Vote %
Reed , Gilda Dem 11,721 70%
Mendoza , M. V. Dem 5,083 30%

HUD Wants Houston To Return Money

2008-03-08T00:59:00.004-06:00

HUD wants the city of Houston to return about $15.5 million in federal funds because the city improperly used the money. Some of the reasons cited were as follows:

•The city failed to conduct required inspections for more than 1,000 homes whose buyers received down payment assistance.

•The city paid more than $1 million to the Houston Housing Finance Corp. to advance funds for homebuyer closings.

•The city provided federal funds to the owners of several apartment developments on condition that rents must not exceed specified levels and tenants must be screened to ensure they didn't exceed income requirements. These developments were taken by lenders in foreclosure, and the rent and income requirements no longer applied, making the projects ineligible for federal funding.

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Houston...we have a problem.

Survey: Most Don't Want To Return To New Orleans Public Housing

2008-03-07T00:33:00.003-06:00

Seven out of 10 public housing residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina want to return to the city, but only a third want to go back to subsidized homes, according to a study released Thursday.

Researchers at the University of Texas in Arlington interviewed 2,109 displaced public housing residents for the report. The study was commissioned and paid for by the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO), which has been under the control of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for several years.

The study showed that 72% of respondents wanted to return to New Orleans, but only 35% of all displaced residents were willing to accept government-subsidized housing.

Rape Victim Pushes For Public Trial

2008-03-06T00:48:00.004-06:00

Lawyers for Jamie Leigh Jones told a federal judge in Houston Wednesday they believe her case should be settled by a public trial and not a private arbitration process. Attorneys, however, for Halliburton and its former subsidiary, KBR Inc., argued that she signed a contract that binds her to settle all claims — including sexual assault allegations — against her former employer through arbitration.

Ms. Jones filed a federal lawsuit in May saying she was raped by co-workers while working for a Halliburton subsidiary at Camp Hope, Baghdad. Jones' lawsuit claims she lived in a coed barracks and, after enduring harassment from some of the men in the quarters, was drugged and raped on July 28, 2005. The suit alleges that her attackers were Halliburton and KBR firefighters.

Jeff Parish Car Chase Ends in Shoot out in N.O.

2008-03-05T17:59:00.003-06:00

This incident could have resulted in a child's death. It should have been worth it to the fleeing suspects to stop.