Bar owners worry as virus surges in their workplaces

HOUSTON (AP) — The din of conversation and music that normally fills The Cottonmouth Club in downtown Houston fell silent last Friday when the owners shut it down for a second time during the coronavirus pandemic — a week before the Texas governor ordered all bars to follow suit amid a surge in infections.

Co-owner Michael Neff — questioning what he saw as a rush to reopen by the state and wondering if his industry was making things worse as some bars flouted rules on occupancy limits — said he felt he could no longer provide a safe environment for his staff or customers at the neighborhood bar with a rock ‘n’ roll vibe.

He and his staff had started hearing of workers at other bars getting sick.

“Texas was a terrible, terrible experiment because it experimented with people’s lives and this is where we are,” Neff said.

That ended Friday, with Gov. Greg Abbott’s announcement that bars would again be shuttered, a day after the state reported a record high of nearly 6,000 confirmed cases and on the day that Texas surpassed 5,000 hospitalizations for the first time.

Neff said while he faulted bars that ignored the rules, he also lays blame on local and state officials for what he says was a lack of guidance and support, a lack of a statewide mask order and, until recently, a lack of enforcement.





It’s a sentiment shared by other bar and restaurant owners across the state and beyond who have been deeply hurt financially by anti-virus measures and are also struggling with tough decisions, with some shutting down again after workers became infected or closing as a precaution because of rising cases in their areas.

In a nearly eight-minute video he posted online earlier this month, Neff vented his frustration, beginning with a message directed at Abbott: “You’re leading us to die.”

An email seeking comment from a spokesman for Abbott was not immediately returned Friday. During a news conference Monday, Abbott said the goal has always been to reduce cases and keep people out of hospitals.

“Texans have already shown that we don’t have to choose between jobs and health,” he added. “We can protect Texans’ lives while also restoring their livelihoods.”

From the time bars and clubs in Texas could reopen on May 22 with indoor service, social media has been filled with photos and videos showing packed businesses that were obviously not following rules on capacity and social distancing. But the first operation by the state to suspend the alcohol permits of establishments that ignored rules didn’t happen until a week ago.

In closing bars again on Friday, Abbott said the rise in confirmed cases was “largely driven by certain types of activities, including Texans congregating in bars.” Abbott also ordered restaurants to scale back to half capacity starting Monday.

He added that “every Texan has a responsibility to themselves and their loved ones to wear a mask” — but he has not mandated their use statewide. Last week, he did say cities and counties could order businesses to require that their customers wear masks.

A similar clampdown is happening in several states where confirmed infections are spiking. In some places, owners are doing it voluntarily, as Neff did. On Friday, Florida banned alcohol consumption at bars after confirmed coronavirus cases neared 9,000.

“What we realize is that despite exceeding the required protocols and with very little federal or state guidance, that more needs to be done,” Daniel Wright, the owner of five Cincinnati restaurants and bars that he shut down as a precaution, said in a Facebook post this week.

Houston’s Saint Arnold Brewing Company, which has a popular beer garden that remained mostly closed even before Friday’s order, has also had difficulty navigating what it sees as inconsistent messaging on how to operate, said company spokesman Lennie Ambrose.

“We’re going to follow the laws or the ordinances. But even if something is allowed, maybe that’s not the right thing for Saint Arnold to do from a public health standpoint,” Ambrose said.

That feeling of uncertainty is echoed elsewhere. Sean Kennedy, a spokesman for the National Restaurant Association, said his organization has told officials that the hospitality industry is “just looking for consistency, transparency and forward-looking rules.” The association has pressed local governments to increase efforts to educate customers on their responsibilities when going out, Kennedy said.

An ongoing survey by the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston of restaurants and bars in the Austin area found that many are frustrated that the governor has left it up to cities and counties to decide if they would mandate masks, said Mark Jones, one of the research fellows involved in the study.

Neff said he is worried about losing his bar and has worked to find other revenue streams, including selling cocktails to go, starting a podcast and holding a nightly virtual bar livestream. But he said he also feels a responsibility to let people know what went wrong and to help ensure that this doesn’t happen again.

“We are not going to be successful in reopening our economies if we do it the way we’ve been doing it,” he said. “And no one wants that kind of sacrifice both in business and in lives.”

___

Associated Press video journalist John Mone contributed to this report.

AP

Police Shooting of Black Texas Woman in Her Home Playing Video Games

Police in the Texas city of Fort Worth is investigating an incident in which a white police officer shot and killed a black woman as she sat in her home playing video games with her young nephew.

The shooting of 28-year-old Atatiana Jefferson came less than two weeks after a white police officer in another Texas city, Dallas, received a 10year prison sentence for the fatal 2018 shooting of a black man in his apartment, which the officer had mistaken for her own.

The Fort Worth incident sparked immediate protest in that city of nearly 900,000 and fueled fresh anger in black communities across the country after a series of police shootings of African-Americans.


Several hundred people took part in an emotional vigil Sunday in Fort Worth to honor Jefferson and to protest the police action, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

Some shed tears, while others cried out in anger.

The shooting took place in the early hours of Saturday after a neighbor called the police to report that a door in the Jeffersons’ house had been ajar for hours.

Perceiving a Threat

As seen on the body-camera video released by police, two officers with flashlights walked around the perimeter of the house before seeing “a person standing inside the residence near a window,” according to a news release from Fort Worth police.

“Perceiving a threat the officer drew his duty weapon and fired one shot striking the person.”

The officer, who has not been named but who was identified as a white man with the local police since 2018, “did not announce he was a police officer before shooting,” Lieutenant Brandon O’Neil, a police spokesman, acknowledged during a news conference.

In the body-cam video, the officer is heard saying — so rapidly that the words almost run together — “Put your hands up, show me your hands.”

The words are followed immediately by the sound of a gun firing.

The victim ‘s eight-year-old nephew was in the room with her playing a video game at the time of the shooting, said a family lawyer, Lee Merritt.

Jefferson, a college graduate who worked for a pharmaceutical company, died at the scene.

Merritt said Jefferson had heard sounds in the backyard and walked toward a window when she was shot.

A GoFundMe page organized to help the family with funeral expenses said Jefferson’s mother had been ill and Jefferson was “home taking care of the house and loving her life.”

“There was no reason for her to be murdered.
None.
We must have justice.”

Take it to the Streets

The Fort Worth police statement said the department “shares the deep concerns of the public and is committed to completing an extremely thorough investigation.”

It promised to provide the public with “transparent and relevant information.”

The police officer involved was immediately suspended and was to be questioned Monday.

Mayor Betsy Price told reporters she would be hiring an outside agency to launch a separate investigation, the Star-Telegram reported.

The newspaper said Fort Worth police had shot at least seven people — six of them fatally — since June 1.


It quoted one speaker at Saturday’s vigil, local pastor Michael Bell, as urging people to “Take it to the streets.

“We’re not hugging them and giving them a Bible,” he said.

source: usa.inquirer.net

29 killed in 2 US shootings, and it could have been worse

It took just 30 seconds in Ohio and zero bullets in Texas for officers to stop two mass shooters this weekend, but not before 29 people were killed and about 50 injured in less than 24 hours.

Officers gunned down the Ohio shooter at the doorstep of a bar-turned-hiding place in the middle of Dayton’s nightclub district and arrested the El Paso shooter as hundreds fled a crowded shopping center. Though the two attacks staggered a nation accustomed to gun violence, the bigger shock may have been that the death toll wasn’t worse.


In the Texas border city of El Paso, a gunman opened fire Saturday morning in a shopping area packed with thousands of people during the busy back-to-school season. The attack killed 20 and wounded more than two dozen, many of them critically.

Hours later in Dayton, Ohio, a gunman wearing body armor and carrying extra magazines opened fire in a popular nightlife area, killing nine and injuring at least 26 people.

The attacks came less than a week after a 19-year-old gunman killed three people and injured 13 others at the popular Gilroy Garlic Festival in California before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The El Paso shooting was being investigated as a possible hate crime as authorities worked to confirm whether a racist, anti-immigrant screed posted online shortly beforehand was written by the man arrested. The border city is home to 680,000 people, many of them Latino.


El Paso authorities offered few details about the assault, but Police Chief Greg Allen described the scene as “horrific” and said many of the 26 people who were hurt had life-threatening injuries.


In Dayton, the bloodshed was likely limited by the swift police response. Officers patrolling the area took just 30 seconds to stop the shooting, which unfolded around 1 a.m. on the streets of the downtown Oregon District, Mayor Nan Whaley said.

Video released by police shows 24-year-old Connor Betts being shot down by officers, just steps away from entering a bar filled with hiding patrons.

Had police not responded so quickly, “hundreds of people in the Oregon District could be dead today,” Whaley said.

Betts’ 22-year-old sister, Megan Betts, was among those killed in Dayton.



Authorities identified the El Paso suspect as 21-year-old Patrick Crusius from Allen, a Dallas suburb which is a nearly 10-hour drive from El Paso.

El Paso Mayor Dee Margo said he knew the shooter was not from his city.

“It’s not what we’re about,” the mayor said at a news conference with Gov. Greg Abbott and the police chief.

President Donald Trump tweeted Monday that Washington “must come together” in the wake of the shootings “to get strong background checks” for gun users. But he provided no details on what sort of legislation he would support.

The Democrat-led House has passed a gun control bill that includes fixes to the nation’s firearm background check system, but it has languished in the GOP-controlled Senate.

Trump suggested Monday that a background check bill could be paired with his long-sought effort to toughen the nation’s immigration system. He didn’t say how.

Democratic presidential candidate and former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke, who is from El Paso and was at a candidate forum Saturday in Las Vegas, appeared shaken after receiving news of the shooting in his hometown.

He said he heard early reports that the shooter might have had a military-style weapon, saying we need to “keep that (expletive) on the battlefield. Do not bring it into our communities.”

The shootings were the 21st and 22nd mass killings of 2019 in the U.S., according to the AP/USA Today/Northeastern University mass murder database that tracks homicides where four or more people killed — not including the offender.

Including the two latest attacks, 125 people had been killed in the 2019 shootings. 

/atm

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Multiple people dead, 1 in custody in Texas shooting

EL PASO, Texas — Multiple people were killed and one person was in custody after a shooter went on a rampage Saturday at a shopping mall, police in the Texas border town of El Paso said.

Police responded in the early afternoon to an active shooter scene at the Cielo Vista Mall, which is near Interstate 10 on east side of the city, and were advising people to stay away from the area.


Shortly after, Sgt. Enrique Carrillo, a police spokesman, said a suspect was in custody and there was no longer danger to the public.

El Paso, which has about 680,000 residents, is in West Texas and sits across the border from Juarez, Mexico.

Presidential candidate and former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke appeared a bit shaken as he appeared at a candidate forum in Las Vegas on Saturday shortly after news of the shooting in his hometown was reported.

O’Rourke said he had called his wife before taking the stage and said the shooting shatters “any illusion that we have that progress is inevitable” on tackling gun violence.


The Democrat said he’d heard early reports that the shooter might have had a military-style weapon, saying we need to “keep that (expletive) on the battlefield and do not bring it into our communities.”


“We have to find some reason for optimism and hope or else we consign ourselves to a future where nearly 40,000 people are year will lose their lives to gun violence and I cannot accept that,” O’Rourke said.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

TIMELINE: Texas gunman didn’t shoot students he liked

Santa Fe, Texas — The latest on a shooting at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas (all times indicated are Texas local times):

May 18, 2018; 11:05 p.m.
Investigators say a 17-year-old admitted to authorities that he went on a shooting rampage at a Southeast Texas high school that left 10 dead, most of them students.

According to a probable cause affidavit, however, Dimitrios Pagourtzis told investigators that when he opened fire at Santa Fe High School on Friday morning, “he did not shoot students he did like so he could have his story told.”

Pagourtzis is being held without bond at the Galveston County Jail. He is charged with capital murder of multiple persons and aggravated assault against a public servant.

10:05 p.m.
A sophomore at Santa Fe High School says he was in his art class when he suddenly heard three louds booms.

Zachary Muehe tells The New York Times he then “saw the kid who’s in my football class … and I saw him with a shotgun.”

Muehe says that classmate, 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis, was wearing a trench coat and a T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan “Born to Kill.” The sophomore says Pagourtzis started shooting as soon as he entered the classroom.

Muehe says “it was crazy watching him shoot and then pump.” He was able to flee to another classroom through a shared ceramics closet.

Pagourtzis has been charged with capital murder.

9:20 p.m.
A student at a Houston-area high school where 10 people were killed says it was a “perfectly normal day” before shots rang out in her art classroom.

Breanna Quintanilla, a 17-year-old junior at Santa Fe High School, says that when Dimitrios Pagourtzis walked into the room, he pointed at one person and said, “I’m going to kill you.” She did not identify the student who was shot.



Quintanilla also says the suspect fired in her direction as she tried to run out of the room. She says the bullet ricocheted and hit her right leg. She was still wearing a hospital bracelet on her wrist as she spoke after a Friday night vigil.

Pagourtzis has been charged with capital murder in the school shooting. He was denied bond at a hearing earlier Friday.

8:20 p.m.
A leader at a program for foreign exchange students and the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, D.C., say a Pakistani girl is among those killed in the Texas high school shooting.

Megan Lysaght, manager of the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange & Study Abroad program, sent a letter to other students in the program confirming that Sabika Sheikh was killed in the shooting at Santa Fe High School.

The letter says the program is devastated by Sabika’s loss and would be holding a moment of silence for her.

Lysaght declined further comment when contacted by The Associated Press and referred calls to a State Department spokesman.

The Pakistan Embassy in Washington identified Sabika as a victim of the shooting on Twitter and wrote that “our thoughts and prayers are with Sabika’s family and friends.”

8:10 p.m.
The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee says he expects the Justice Department to pursue additional charges against the suspected gunman at a Texas high school.

Texas Rep. Michael McCaul told The Associated Press on Friday that federal prosecutors are looking into possible weapons of mass destruction charges against 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis.

The Santa Fe High School student was in custody on murder charges and made his initial court appearance Friday evening by video link from the Galveston County Jail. He’s accused of killing 10 people, most of them fellow students. Authorities say he also had explosive devices that were found in the school and nearby.

McCaul is a former federal prosecutor. He thinks the Justice Department “wants to ramp this up as much as they can to send a message of deterrence.”

7:20 p.m.
Family members say a substitute teacher whose passion was her children and grandchildren is among the victims of the shooting at a Texas high school.

Leia Olinde says authorities confirmed to her family that her aunt, Cynthia Tisdale, was killed in Friday morning’s shooting at Santa Fe High School.

She says Tisdale, who was in her 60s, was like a mother to her and helped her shop for wedding dresses last year.

Olinde says Tisdale was married to her husband for close to 40 years and had three children and eight grandchildren. She says she “never met a woman who loved her family so much.”

Olinde’s fiance, Eric Sanders, says “words don’t explain her lust for life and the joy she got from helping people.”

6:55 p.m.
Officials have canceled classes at schools in the Santa Fe Independent School District through at least Tuesday in the wake of a shooting at Santa Fe High School that left 10 dead, most of them students.

In a statement posted on the district website, officials indicated that no plan has been made for resuming classes.

Seventeen-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis is charged with capital murder in the shooting rampage. A judge denied him bond at a court hearing Friday evening.

6:30 p.m.
A judge has denied bond for the 17-year-old accused of killing 10 people and wounding 10 others at a Texas high school.

Dimitrios Pagourtzis made his initial court appearance Friday evening via closed circuit video from the Galveston County Jail. The judge also took Pagourtzis’ application for a court-appointed attorney.

Pagourtzis has been charged with capital murder in the Friday morning shooting at Santa Fe High School. He did not enter a plea at the hearing.

6:25 p.m.
Students at a Houston-area high school where a shooting left 10 people dead and 10 wounded are divided on the issue on gun control.

Seventeen-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis has been identified as the suspect in Friday’s shooting at Santa Fe High School.

Branden Auzston, also 17, is a junior at the school. He says he doesn’t like the idea of arming teachers or allowing open carry on school campuses.

Auzston says “that might help, but at the same time it would just leave room for more deaths.” He thinks security at his school could be improved if more police officers are stationed there “but in a smart manner.”

However, 17-year-old senior Daisy Sullivan, Auzston’s girlfriend, says she doesn’t think more gun control measures are needed.

She says “it’s not, like, the gun’s fault” whenever a school shooting happens. Sullivan adds, “No, it’s the kid who had the idea. Something is wrong with his head. He had the weird idea to shoot up a school.”

5:15 p.m.
President Donald Trump has “activated” his gun safety commission and is expected to meet with members next week in the wake of the deadly school shooting in Texas.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says the commission the president convened after the Parkland, Florida, shooting in February “has been activated today to start that conversation up again.” She says she believes it will be meeting again in “first part of next week.”

She declined to say whether Trump will revisit some gun control measures after another school shooting, but adds, “Certainly conversation’s ongoing about the best ways to protect kids across the country.”
Authorities say Friday’s shooting at Santa Fe High School left 10 dead and 10 wounded.

4:45 p.m.
Netflix has canceled the premiere of its second season of the teen drama “13 Reasons Why” because of a school shooting near Houston.

The streaming service announced the cancellation hours before the scheduled premiere and red carpet event, citing the Friday morning shooting at Santa Fe High School that left 10 people dead.

Despite the cancelled premiere, the entire Season 2 is available on Netflix.

The first season of “13 Reasons Why” drew criticism for its graphic depiction of a teenager’s suicide. The second season focuses on the aftermath of the girl’s death, and includes a storyline about a thwarted school shooting.

The show’s launch party was expected to feature appearances by show stars Katherine Langford, Dylan Minnette, Kate Walsh and others, and producer Selena Gomez.

4:40 p.m.
U.S. Senator John Cornyn says the 17-year-old student accused in a fatal shooting at a Texas high school used a semi-automatic pistol and a sawed-off shotgun to kill 10 people.

The Republican from Texas says investigators are still determining whether the shotgun’s shortened barrel is legal.

Dimitrios Pagourtzis has been charged with capital murder in the Friday shooting that also wounded 10 people at Santa Fe High School near Houston.

Cornyn says the suspect had a variety of homemade explosives in his car and at the school, including pipe bombs and “pressure-cooker-like bombs” similar to those used in the Boston Marathon attack.

Cornyn says the suspect “planned on doing this for some time, he advertised his intentions but somehow slipped through the cracks.”

4:15 p.m.
Vice President Mike Pence says President Donald Trump “has been taking action to make our schools and our communities safe,” hours after a mass shooting at a high school in Texas.

Pence on Friday called it a “heartbreaking day” after at least 10 people were killed at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas.

Speaking at political event in his home state of Indiana, Pence is highlighting the administration’s efforts on school safety, including signing legislation authorizing $2 billion for state and local governments to use to protect schools and a bill to strengthen the nation’s firearm background check system.

Pence says the administration is still calling on states “to follow the example of Indiana and allow qualified school personnel to carry concealed weapons.” A school police officer was among the 10 people who were shot and injured Friday in Santa Fe.

4:05 p.m.
Texas’ governor says the 17-year-old student believed to be behind a high school shooting that killed 10 people wrote in his journal of wanting to carry out such an attack.

Republican Greg Abbott said Friday that the suspect “has information contained in journals on his computer, in his cellphone that … said … not only did he want to commit the shooting but he wanted to commit suicide after the shooting.”

Abbott added that the suspect gave himself up to authorities, saying he “didn’t have the courage” to take his own life.

Dimitrios Pagourtzis (Puh-GORE-cheese) has been charged with capital murder in the Friday morning shooting that killed 10 people and wounded 10 others in Santa Fe, near Houston and Galveston.

3:45 p.m.
A hospital spokesman says a school resource officer who was shot in the arm when he engaged a gunman during a shooting at a Houston-area school is undergoing surgery.

David Marshall, the University of Texas Medical Branch’s chief nursing officer, says Santa Fe school resource officer John Barnes is in stable condition Friday afternoon.

Marshall says a bullet hit Barnes’ arm, damaging the bone and a major blood vessel around his elbow. He says the blood vessel has been repaired, and that Barnes is expected to emerge from surgery within a few hours.

Marshall says Barnes was the first person to engage a student armed with two guns who opened fire at Santa Fe High School Friday morning. The shooter killed at least 10 people and injured 10 more.

3:30 p.m.
President Donald Trump has ordered that U.S. flags fly at half-staff as a mark of “solemn respect” for those affected by the school shooting in Texas.

Flags are to be flown at half-staff until sunset on May 22. The order applies to the White House and all public buildings and grounds, military posts and naval stations and vessels, as well as at U.S. embassies, consular offices and other facilities abroad. The flag atop the White House was immediately lowered on Friday.

Texas authorities say 10 people, mostly students, were killed Friday when a 17-year-old student carrying a shotgun and a revolver opened fire at a Houston-area high school.

Ten other people were wounded at the school in Santa Fe.

3:15 p.m.
A sophomore baseball player was one of at least 10 people injured in a shooting at a Houston-area high school.

Rome Shubert tells the Houston Chronicle that he was hit in the back of his head with what he says was a bullet, but that it “missed everything vital.”

Shubert posted on Twitter that he was “completely okay (sic) and stable.”

Authorities say 17-year-old student Dimitrios Pagourtzis fatally shot 10 people and wounded 10 others at Santa Fe High School on Friday. He is being held on a capital murder charge.

Shubert says the gunman walked into the classroom and tossed something. He said there were “three loud pops” before the attacker fled into the hall.

Shubert says he realized he’d been struck and injured as he was running out the back door.

2:55 p.m.
Gov. Greg Abbott says there were few prior warnings about the suspected gunman who opened fire inside a Texas high school, unlike in other recent mass shootings.

Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset says 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis has been charged with capital murder in the Friday morning shooting that killed 10 people and wounded 10 others in the community of Santa Fe.

Abbott said that “unlike Parkland, unlike Sutherland Springs, there were not those types of warning signs.” He was referring to the Feb. 14 school shooting in Florida and one in November inside a church in a town near San Antonio.

Abbott says “the red-flag warnings were either non-existent, or very imperceptible” in the case of the suspected Santa Fe shooter.

2:40 p.m.
A sheriff says the 17-year-old suspect in the fatal shooting of at least 10 people at his Houston-area high school is being held on a capital murder charge.

Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset says in a statement that the student, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, is being held without bond in the Galveston County jail.

At least 10 other people were wounded in the shooting Friday morning at the Santa Fe High School.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says investigators also found explosive devices, including a Molotov cocktail, in the school and nearby.

Abbott says the suspect told authorities after his arrest that he had intended to kill himself too, but that he lacked the courage.

2:30 p.m.
At least one student isn’t at all surprised that a deadly shooting happened at her high school in Texas.
Paige Curry, who is 17, says “it’s been happening everywhere” and that she “always … felt like that eventually it was going to happen here too.”

Gov. Greg Abbott says 10 people were killed and 10 more were injured Friday morning when a gunman opened fire at Santa Fe High School.

Curry says she was sitting in a classroom when she “heard the loud booms.” It took a second for her to realize what was going on. She and her classmates ran onto the stage and hid together backstage, trying to keep each other calm until SWAT officers found them.

2:20 p.m.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says the school shooting suspect used a shotgun and .38-revolver he obtained from his father.

At a news conference on Friday, Abbott said both weapons were owned legally by the suspect’s father. But it’s not clear whether the father knew his son had taken them.

Abbott says 10 people were killed and 10 more wounded in the shooting Friday morning at Santa Fe High School.

Abbott said “we look to God to give the first responders, as well as the victims and the families, the guidance they need in the coming days and weeks.”

Abbott says he will organize roundtables around the state to discuss preventing further shootings.

2:10 p.m.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says 10 people are dead and 10 more wounded after a shooting at a high school in the town of Santa Fe.

Abbott called Friday’s shooting “one of the most heinous attacks that we’ve ever seen in the history of Texas schools.”

He says explosive devices including a molotov cocktail that had been found in the suspected shooter’s home and a vehicle as well as around the school and nearby.

The governor says the suspect said he originally intended to commit suicide but gave himself up and told authorities that he didn’t have the courage to take his own life.

Abbott said there are “one or two” other people of interest being interviewed about the shooting.

1:45 p.m.
A 16-year-old boy who says he considers Dimitrios Pagourtzis a friend says the Texas high school shooting suspect is interested in guns and war simulation video games, but that he has never about talked about killing people.

Tristen Patterson is a junior at Sante Fe high School, where at least eight people were killed in the shooting Friday morning.

Patterson says Pagourtzis didn’t show signs of being bullied, but that he rarely talked about himself.

He says Pagourtzis would sometimes enter the classroom “acting a little bit down or sad. A little bit sluggish. … But he never talked about why.”

1:25 p.m.
A sophomore says it was “chaos” when the fire alarm sounded at Santa Fe High School and people realized it was an active shooter situation.

Sixteen-year-old John Robinson says he was in first period English class when the fire alarm went off.

Robinson says: “Everybody was just trying to get away from the school. They kept saying there was a shooter, people were shot.”

He says he felt scared and simply wanted to get as far away from the school as possible. He and other students ran to a nearby Shell station.

Robinson says he thinks two of his friends might have been injured in the shooting but that he hasn’t been able to speak with them.

1:05 p.m.
A law enforcement official has identified a person in custody in the Houston-area school shooting as 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis.

The official was not authorized to discuss the shooting by name and spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press.

Authorities say eight to 10 people, mostly students, were killed in the nation’s deadliest such attack since the massacre in Florida that gave rise to a campaign by teens for gun control.

A woman who answered the phone at a number associated with the Pagourtzis family declined to speak with the AP.

She said: “Give us our time right now, thank you.”

Pagourtzis plays on the Santa Fe High School junior varsity football team, and is a member of a dance squad with a local Greek Orthodox church.

1 p.m.
The emergency room medical director at a Texas hospital says the facility has treated eight patients injured in a shooting at a Houston-area school.

Dr. Safi Madain at Clear Lake Regional Medical Center says six of the eight patients have been treated and released. Madain says one patient remains in critical condition and the other is in fair condition.

Madain says all appeared to be high school students with gunshot wounds.

Other victims have been treated at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Dr. David Marshall, chief nursing officer, says one adult male is in critical condition at the hospital. He says that man was shot in the upper arm and is undergoing surgery.

Officials have said eight to 10 people were killed in the Friday morning shooting at Santa Fe High School.

12:50 p.m.
A student inside the Houston-area high school where several people were fatally shot says he was near the art classroom where the shooting took place.

Eighteen-year-old Logan Roberds says he heard a fire alarm at Santa Fe High School and went outside.

He says he then heard two loud bangs, which he didn’t initially think were gunshots. He says he thought someone loudly hit a trash can.

But he later heard three loud bangs. He says, “that’s when the teachers told us to run.” He says he ran with other students to a nearby gas station. His mother says she quickly drove to meet her son.

The local sheriff says eight to 10 people were killed after a gunman opened fire inside the school Friday morning. Two people are in custody.

12:30 p.m.
The police chief at a Houston-area school district says a police officer was shot and wounded during a shooting that killed multiple people at a local high school.

Walter Braun is the police chief of Santa Fe Independent School District. He says the fatal shooting Friday morning at Santa Fe High School also left at least six people wounded, including a police officer.

Dr. David Marshall is the chief nursing officer at the University of Texas Medical Branch in nearby Galveston. He says one man is in critical condition and undergoing surgery at the hospital after suffering a gunshot wound to the upper arm. It wasn’t immediately clear if the man is the wounded officer.

Two other victims are being treated for gunshot wounds to their legs. Hospital spokesman Raul Reyes says one of those is believed to be a student. The other is a middle-aged woman.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez says eight to 10 people were killed after a gunman opened fire inside the school. Two people are in custody.

12 p.m.
Survivors of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, took to social media to express outrage and heartbreak after the latest school shooting in Texas where authorities say a gunman opened fire killing eight to 10 people.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas students Jaclyn Corin said in a tweet Friday that her “heart is so heavy” for the students at Santa Fe High School, telling them Parkland will stand with them.

She also directed her frustration at President Donald Trump, urging him to “DO SOMETHING” because children are being killed.

Classmate David Hogg warned the city that politicians would soon descend on the school acting like they care but are only looking to boost approval ratings.

Corin and Hogg were part of a grassroots movement that rallied hundreds of thousands for gun reform.

11:50 a.m.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is headed to the scene of a school shooting outside Houston where officials say as many as 10 people were killed.

Abbott tweeted Friday that he was on his way to Santa Fe High School, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Houston. The Republican said an afternoon press conference was planned.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez says most of the victims were students. He says authorities have also detained two people believed to be students.

Gonzalez says authorities didn’t yet have information on the weapon or weapons used.

The White House says President Donald Trump spoke with Abbott to offer his condolences and pledged to work with the governor to provide all appropriate federal assistance

11:35 a.m.
Authorities say possible explosive devices have been found at and adjacent to the Texas high school where a shooting left as many as 10 people dead.

The Santa Fe Independent School District said in a statement Friday that authorities are in the process of rendering the devices safe.

There’s no indication how many devices have been found. Police asked the public to “remain vigilant” and to call 911 if they see any suspicious items in the area.

The school outside Houston went on lockdown around 8 a.m. after an active shooting was reported.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez says there “could be 8 to 10 fatalities” from the shooting. Gonzalez says the majority of the dead are students.

The sheriff says one person is in custody and a second person has been detained.

Santa Fe is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Houston.

11:15 a.m.
President Donald Trump is sending condolences for the “absolutely horrific attack” at a Texas high school.

Trump is telling those affected that “we’re with you in this tragic hour and we will be with you forever.”

He says his administration is working to protect students, secure schools and keep weapons out of the hands of those who want to do harm.

He called this a “very very sad day.” Trump says “everyone must work together” to keep children safe.

The local sheriff says the shooting Friday morning at Santa Fe High school left as many as 10 people dead, most of them students. The school is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Houston.

10:50 a.m.
The local sheriff says as many as 10 people may have been killed during a shooting at a high school near Houston, most of them students.

Harris County Sherriff Ed Gonzalez Harris County said there “could be 8 to 10 fatalities” from the shooting Friday morning at Santa Fe High School, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Houston.
Gonzalez says the majority of the dead are students.

The sheriff says one person is in custody and a second person has been detained.

Gonzalez says a police officer is among the injured but the extent of the officer’s injuries is unknown.

10:45 a.m.
Vice President Mike Pence says he and President Donald Trump have been briefed on the school shooting at Santa Fe High School near Houston.

Pence said the students, families, teachers and all those affected should know: “‘We’re with you. You’re in our prayers and I know you are in the prayers of the American people.”

Trump adds in a tweet that, “Early reports not looking good. God bless all!”

First lady Melania Trump is also weighing on Twitter. She says, “My heart goes out to Santa Fe and all of Texas today.”

Houston-area media citing unnamed law enforcement officials are reporting that there are fatalities following the Friday morning shooting. The Associated Press has not been able to confirm the reports.
___
10:30 a.m.
Officials say at least three people are being treated for gunshot wounds and two people have been detained following a shooting at a high school near Houston.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez tweeted Friday that one person is in custody and a second person has been detained following the Friday morning shooting at Santa Fe High School.

Gonzalez says a police officer was injured but the extent of the officer’s injuries is unknown.

Gonzalez says there are “multiple casualties” but didn’t elaborate. Houston-area media have cited unnamed law enforcement officials saying there were fatalities. The Associated Press has not been able to confirm the reports.

Dr. David Marshall is chief nursing officer at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. He says one man was undergoing surgery at the hospital Friday morning following the shooting. He says a juvenile has been admitted and a second adult is being treated in the emergency room.

9:45 a.m.
Houston-area media citing unnamed law enforcement officials are reporting that there are fatalities following a shooting at a high school.

Television station KHOU and the Houston Chronicle are citing unnamed federal, county and police officials following the shooting early Friday at Santa Fe High School, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Houston.

The Associated Press has not been able to confirm the reports.

The school district has confirmed an unspecified number of injuries but is not immediately releasing further details. Assistant Principal Cris Richardson says a suspect “has been arrested and secured.”

9:30 a.m.
School officials say people have been injured in a shooting at a Houston-area high school and the suspected shooter is in custody.

Assistant Principal Cris Richardson says the suspect in the shooting Friday at Santa Fe High School “has been arrested and secured.”

The school district also confirmed an unspecified number of people are injured but provided no other details.

School officials say law enforcement officers are working to secure the building “and initiate all emergency management protocols to release and move students to another location.”

Students are being transported to another location to reunite with their parents.

One student told Houston television station KTRK that a gunman came into her first-period class and started shooting. The student says she saw one girl with a bloody leg as the class evacuated.

8:37 a.m.
Law enforcement officers are responding to a high school near Houston after an active shooter was reported on campus.

The Santa Fe school district issued an alert Friday morning saying Santa Fe High School has been placed on lockdown.

Galveston County sheriff’s Maj. Douglas Hudson says units are responding to reports of shots fired. He had no immediate details on whether anyone has been hurt.

Santa Fe is a city of about 13,000 residents, located 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Houston.

One student told Houston television station KTRK in a telephone interview that a gunman came into her first-period art class and started shooting. The student says she saw one girl with blood on her leg as the class evacuated the room.

Authorities have not yet confirmed that report.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Shock grips family of Austin bombing suspect

The family of the man suspected of planting the bombs that killed two people and injured four others in the Texas capital this month expressed shock over his involvement, saying they do not know what could have motivated him.

“I mean this is coming from nowhere. We just don’t know what. I don’t know how many ways to say it but everyone is caught off guard by this so, yeah I don’t know. I don’t know. I mean I don’t know,” Mike Courtney, the uncle of 23-year-old Mark Anthony Conditt, said on Wednesday.

Authorities said Conditt blew himself up in a motel parking lot overnight as a SWAT team approached his SUV.

Conditt grew up in Pflugerville, a suburb just northeast of Austin where he was still living after moving out of his parents’ home. It is not far from the site of the first of the four package bombings — a March 2 explosion that killed a 39-year-old man, Anthony House — though it is still unknown if Conditt knew any of the victims. Authorities said the motive for the attacks remained unclear.

Conditt’s family said in a statement that they were “devastated and broken” at the news of his involvement. In the statement, the family expressed shock and grief, and offered “prayers for those families who have lost loved ones … and for the soul of our Mark.”

Courtney, who said Conditt had visited his Lakewood, Colorado, home over Christmas, told The Associated Press he does not “know that anybody saw this coming.” He described his nephew as a smart, intelligent and kind “computer geek.”

“I don’t know what happened, what snapped. I have no idea. Everybody wants and we want answers,” Courtney said.

The family’s statement said they had “no idea of the darkness that Mark must have been in.”

Conditt was the oldest of four children and all of them were home-schooled. Courtney said Conditt’s parents are both electrical engineers.

Authorities released few details about the suspect, aside from his age, that he was white and that he was apparently unemployed. He attended Austin Community College from 2010 to 2012 and was a business administration major, but he did not graduate, according to a college spokeswoman. He worked for a time at an area manufacturing company and Gov. Greg Abbott told KXAN-TV in Austin that Conditt had no criminal record.

Conditt left little discernable trace on social media. Aside from a few photos of him on his family’s Facebook pages, he apparently made six entries on a personal blog in 2012 in which he addressed a range of topics. In those posts, a blogger identifying himself as Mark Conditt of Pflugerville wrote that gay marriage should be illegal. He also called for the elimination of sex offender registries and argued in favor of the death penalty. He described his interests as cycling, tennis, and listening to music.

Of gay marriage, Conditt wrote: “Homosexuality is not natural. Just look at the male and female bodies. They are obviously designed to couple.”

A friend of Conditt described him as smart, opinionated and often intimidating.

Jeremiah Jensen, 24, told the Austin American-Statesman that he was close to Conditt in 2012 and 2013. Jensen said they were both home-schooled in the same Pflugerville community and he would often go to the Conditt home for lunch after church on Sundays. He also said they attended Bible study and other activities together.

“I have no idea what caused him to make those bombs,” Jensen told the newspaper .

He said Conditt came from a good family, was athletic, and was a “deep thinker.”

“When I met Mark, he was really rough around the edges,” Jensen said. “He was a very assertive person and would end up being kind of dominant and intimidating in conversation. A lot of people didn’t understand him and where he was coming from. He really just wanted to tell the truth. What I remember about him he would push back on you if you said something without thinking about it. He loved to think and argue and turn things over and figure out what was really going on.”

Jeff Reeb, a neighbor of Conditt’s parents in Pflugerville for about 17 years, said he watched Conditt grow up and that he always seemed “smart” and “polite.”

Reeb, 75, said Conditt and his grandson played together into middle school and that Conditt regularly visited his parents, whom Reeb described as good neighbors.

Conditt was living with roommates a few miles from his parents’ home and was in the process of gutting his home, Reeb said. Conditt’s father, whom Reeb referred to as Pat, worked as an Amway distributor and also bought electronics on the side to resell, Reeb said.

Michael McCaul, a Republican congressman, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the suspect matched the FBI’s initial profile suspicion that the bomber was likely a white male. But he said a psychological profile probably would not be known until investigators go through Conditt’s writings and social media postings.        /kga

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

So far, cellphone networks have weathered Harvey

NEW YORK —Roads, refineries and other infrastructure have taken a beating in the Texas and Louisiana regions hit by Harvey — but cellphone networks so far remain largely functional.

One reason: Big carriers brought in supplemental equipment and backup power and turned to drones to diagnose problems.

Four Gulf Coast counties northeast of Corpus Christi, Texas, had more than half of their cell towers knocked out earlier in the week, but crews have been able to restore many of them. As of Thursday, one of the most heavily hit areas, Aransas County, reported 32 percent of its 28 towers out.

That’s down from 95 percent right after the weekend’s storm, according to data from the Federal Communications Commission.

Throughout the affected region, slightly less than 4 percent of cell towers were out.

While cellphone services fared well, hundreds of thousands of people lost landline or other wired phone services, according to the FCC. Some 911 centers had to transfer calls to neighboring centers, while some television stations lost broadcast capabilities.

Here’s a look at communications in the affected regions.

Cellphone Services

All told, the devastating storm knocked out fewer than 400 of the 7,804 cell towers in the affected counties; just 296 were down as of Thursday. By contrast, Hurricane Katrina disabled more than 1,000 cell towers in 2005.

Cell towers typically have backup batteries and generators so they can keep operating in a power outage. The problem comes when generators run out of fuel. Verizon spokeswoman Karen Schulz said crews prepared by topping off all generators ahead of the storm. The company also bought spare fuel and had refueling trucks on standby at key locations.

In a few cases, there’s been damage to the fiber lines that connect cell towers to communications centers. In such cases, it might be possible to get a signal, but the data isn’t going anywhere. Schulz said Verizon has microwave technology to temporarily bridge those gaps.

Verizon and AT&T have both sent out drones to assess damage at cell towers. Crews are still necessary for repairs, but the drone inspections allow companies to determine whether a tower simply needs refueling or requires extensive repair. Cellphone companies also sent truck-based mobile cell towers to areas needing greater capacity.

Emergency Services

As of Thursday, only 7 of the region’s 911 centers were out of service, all in Texas, although all were able to reroute calls to neighboring call centers. That’s down from 11 on Wednesday.

Four of those centers still aren’t able to get callers’ location information automatically, which can be a problem if the caller is unable to speak. Earlier in the week, two centers were down completely, but both have since been restored.

The bigger problem is call volume. Many callers in the Houston area were placed on hold until a dispatcher was free, said Trey Forgety of the nonprofit National Emergency Number Association. In a few cases, callers got busy signals.

“We’re part of the telephone era, so if you want to move calls around (to neighboring centers), you have to go physically rewire things,” he said.

Wired Services

The FCC said that at the peak of the outage, at least 283,000 households lost wired phone services — both traditional landlines and internet phones such as cable. That was down to about 270,000 by Thursday, a slight uptick from Wednesday. In comparison, Katrina knocked out more than 3 million phone lines.

People are far less dependent on wired phone services these days. U.S. households with only cellphone service hit a majority for the first time in the second half of 2016, according to a government survey.

Broadcast Services

The FCC said two Texas television stations — KFDM and KBTV in Beaumont — were out of service as of Thursday, one less than the day before. The outages appeared to affect only over-the-air broadcasts, as the stations streamed their channels online.
Several radio stations also lost service — nine as of Thursday, all in Texas. Five stations were down on Wednesday.

source: technology.inquirer.net

WATCH: Texas prisoners save jail guard from heart attack

When facing a threatening life-and-death situation, sometimes help comes from the people you least expect.

Eight inmates of the Parker County jail in Weatherford, Texas, broke away from their holding cell to help save the life of a guard suffering from a suspected heart attack.

As seen in a CCTV footage, the prisoners immediately rushed toward the fallen guard’s aide, despite having their wrists locked in handcuffs.

One of the men attempted to radio for help when they realized he was not breathing, while the others shouted and banged on doors to try and get the attention of officers upstairs.

“He just fell over. Looked like an act,” one of the rescuers, Nick Kelton, said, according to a Telegraph report.  “[He] could have died right there. We were worried they [were] going to come with guns drawn on us.”

The good samaritan added,  “I watched him die twice. It never crossed my mind not to help whether he’s got a gun or a badge. If he falls down, I’m gonna help him. He’s a good man.”

Another inmate, Floyd Smith, said they feared the police, who might think they were trying to cause a ruckus and escape.

“They thought it was a fight. They thought we were taking over,” he said.

Captain Mark Arnett of the Parker County Sheriff’s Office, meanwhile, praised the inmates’ heroism, which saved the prison guard’s life.

“They grabbed his radio and tried to radio for help,” Arnett narrated in the report.“He was just talking to them, and he just kind of collapsed. As soon as the jailer went down, they started to yell.”

According to the report, the watchman had been joking with the inmates—who were locked in a small room in the basement of the District Courts Building—when he suddenly slumped over.

“All the inmates, they’re in handcuffs. We just stick them in there so they’re not wandering around and so they don’t grab somebody’s gun,” Arnett said. “They definitely saved his life. There’s no doubt about it.”

After being alerted, deputies performed CPR and used a defibrillator to shock his heart.

The guard, who was not identified, regained a pulse after receiving medical aid from the deputies and additional care from paramedics.

As expected, the entire Parker County jail expressed gratitude for the inmates’ valiant efforts.  Khristian Ibarrola

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Killer robot used by Dallas police opens ethical debate

When Dallas police used a bomb-carrying robot to kill a sniper, they also kicked off an ethical debate about technology’s use as a crime-fighting weapon.

In what appears to be an unprecedented tactic, police rigged a bomb-disposal robot to kill an armed suspect in the fatal shootings of five officers in Dallas. While there doesn’t appear to be any hard data on the subject, security experts and law enforcement officials said they couldn’t recall another time when U.S. police have deployed a robot with lethal intent.

The strategy opens a new chapter in the escalating use of remote and semi-autonomous devices to fight crime and protect lives. It also raises new questions over when it’s appropriate to dispatch a robot to kill dangerous suspects instead of continuing to negotiate their surrender.

“If lethally equipped robots can be used in this situation, when else can they be used?” says Elizabeth Joh, a University of California at Davis law professor who has followed U.S. law enforcement’s use of technology. “Extreme emergencies shouldn’t define the scope of more ordinary situations where police may want to use robots that are capable of harm.”

Dallas Police Chief David Brown defended his department’s decision. “Other options would have exposed our officers to great danger,” he said.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings applauded Brown for making “the right call” and said he would have no qualms about resorting to the same strategy in the future. “When there’s no other way, I think this is a good example,” he said. “The key thing is to keep our police out of harm’s way.”

ROBOTS, SOLDIERS AND POLICE

Police have been using such robots for decades to dispose of suspected bombs and in hostage standoffs and fires. Meanwhile, militaries around the world have come to rely on their robotic friends to disable improvised explosive devices — a need that only increased with the U.S. occupation of Iraq following its 2003 invasion.

Many of the robots joining police forces are coming from a U.S. Department of Defense program transferring surplus equipment from the military. These exchanges have provided law enforcement agencies with robots such as Packbot made by Endeavor Robotics, the Talon from QinetiQ and the MARCbot made by Exponent.

But military experts said ground-level robots are rarely used to kill the enemy. Their main purpose is to detect and defuse bombs to save lives. Military robots are “fairly clunky and used best for reconnaissance rather than the offensive,” said Tom Gorup, an infantry veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan who’s now an official at the IT-security firm Rook Security.

Airborne robots are another matter. The U.S. military has sent remotely piloted drones to kill hundreds of people, including civilians, in counterterror attacks launched overseas since 2009, based on estimates released last week by the Obama administration.

HOW IT (PROBABLY) WORKED

The robots working for police departments across the country range in size from devices as small as a dog bone to others as large as a truck. Some are little more than a mechanical arm mounted onto a vehicle and equipped with a video camera and two-way audio communications, according to William Flanagan, a retired deputy police chief from New York’s Nassau County who now does law enforcement and technology consulting. The most versatile robots can climb stairs and navigate other tight spots, such as this one made by Icor Technology.

Many models used by police are about the size of a backpack.

Flanagan speculated that police in Dallas probably equipped their robot with a low-powered explosive — possibly one similar to what bomb squads use to blow up suspicious packages — that would only disable what’s closest to it.

Dallas police didn’t respond to a request for further information about their use of the robot.

MACHINE VS. HUMAN

Robotics expert Peter W. Singer, of the New America Foundation, said the killing marked the first instance he’s aware of in which police have used a robot to lethal effect. But when he was researching his 2009 book “Wired for War,” a U.S. soldier told him troops in Iraq sometimes used surveillance robots against insurgents, he added in an email Friday.

William Cohen, a former Exponent employee who helped design the MARCbot, said that robot was built to save lives instead of ending them. Although he was relieved the killing of the armed suspect in Dallas assured that no other police officers or bystanders would be harmed, Cohen says he’s worried about what might happen next.

“It opens a whole new set of questions of how to deal with these kinds of situations,” Cohen said. “Where are the police going to draw the line when trying to decide between continuing to negotiate and doing something like this?”

source: technology.inquirer.net

Getting Your Auto Insurance Quote

If you felt like the car insurance business number was on the rise recently, you would be absolutely right. baseball games and football are simply overwhelmed during commercial breaks with messages from sponsors that happen to hold drivers in Texas and all other states of the Union. If you believe the claims of different companies large discounts are waiting on the other end phone? What’s the solution? As a smart consumer, you have to look at all of Texas self insurance quote to find out.

to start, you should be a little worried when a company says there is a great opportunity on the waiting premiums down at the end of your way. How can they offer the same coverage at a price that is noticeably inferior? Probably, they can not. What they can do is provide a certain level of coverage for the lowest price. It can lead to you paying a little more if you have to resort to your insurance company and make a claim, but you have to calculate this risk. If you are confident that you will never need them (which may already be?), It does not matter one bit.

Anyway, there are many resources on the internet when you want to compare the rates. You may have to deliver a lot of information or you may be able to get in and out of a website, depending on the company involved. Of course, it would not be in the best interest of a company to offer everyone a quote without allowing a representative to sweeten the deal in person or by phone with you. This is something that you have to remember throughout the process of finding an insurance provider. They are not called insurance ‘sellers’ for nothing. If there is an agreement that will make money, they will push you.

There will be a series of standard requirements that must meet, no matter what situation you are driving in Texas. You have to have a minimum amount of liability coverage for at least two people behind the wheel when an accident occurs. Also, you need to cover the damage if it is involved. Your driving record will be closely examined during this process as well. If you have a number of accidents you caused on your record, it is unlikely that you will find waiting for discounts. Drivers with an impeccable record, on the other hand, should expect good things.

Source by James Hyder

source: autoinsurancequotes2.info

When Is Bankruptcy Right?

When should a person in Texas file for personal bankruptcy? Is $10,000 enough debt? What about $100,000? The law says that you can declare bankruptcy in the state of Texas if you are in debt for a dollar or for a million dollars. In other words, the bankruptcy law sets no minimum amount. And like almost everything else in the law, the answer to when should you declare bankruptcy is, “It depends.” You can obtain a more precise answer – and have all of your bankruptcy concerns addressed – by speaking as soon as possible with an experienced Dallas bankruptcy lawyer and letting that attorney review your current financial circumstances.

If you are earning only a minimum wage income or a part-time income, $10,000 worth of debt might be enough of a reason to file for bankruptcy. On the other hand, if you have some resources and more than one stream of income, $100,000 worth of debt might not be enough to make bankruptcy right for you. Debts, assets, and income all have to be carefully evaluated, and you’ll also need to consider all of the consequences of a personal bankruptcy. There are no absolute rules, however, so an attorney’s advice is imperative. Everyone’s circumstances are of course different, so you really must consult personally with an experienced Illinois bankruptcy attorney before reaching any final conclusion or taking any kind of irrevocable action.

If bankruptcy is genuinely your best alternative, let a Dallas bankruptcy lawyer help you determine if a Chapter 7 or a Chapter 13 bankruptcy is your best choice. Your attorney can work alongside you and will fully explain all of the requirements and consequences of a bankruptcy. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the first thing you must do if you’re considering a bankruptcy is to seek advice from an experienced Dallas bankruptcy lawyer – as quickly as possible.

source: bankruptcyplanning.com

US library offers glimpse of bookless future

SAN ANTONIO — The future of the public library looks a lot like an Apple Store. Rows of glossy iMacs and iPads beckon. Hundreds of other tablets stand ready for checkout to anyone with a borrowing card.

This $2.3-million library in Texas has no actual books. That makes BibiloTech the US' only bookless public library, a distinction that has attracted people from as far away as Hong Kong who want to learn about the idea and possibly take it home.

All-digital libraries have been on college campuses for years. But Bexar County, which runs no other libraries, made history when it decided to open BiblioTech. It is the first bookless public library system in the country, according to information gathered by the American Library Association.

San Antonio is the nation's seventh-largest city but ranks 60th in literacy, according to census figures. In the early 2000s, community leaders in BiblioTech's neighborhood of low-income apartments and thrift stores complained about not even having a nearby bookstore, said Laura Cole, BiblioTech's project coordinator. A decade later, Cole said, most families in the area still don't have wi-fi.

"How do you advance literacy with so few resources available?" she said.

Residents are taking advantage now. The library is on pace to surpass 100,000 visitors in its first year. Finding an open iMac among the four dozen at BiblioTech is often difficult after school lets out, and about half of the facility's e-readers are checked out at any given time, each loaded with up to five books.

Head librarian Ashley Elkholf came from a traditional library and recalled the troubles of her old job: misshelved items hopelessly lost in the stacks, pages thoughtlessly ripped out of books and items that went unreturned by patrons who were not intimidated by measly fines and lax enforcement.

But in the nearly four months since BiblioTech opened, Elkholf has yet to lend out one of her pricey tablets and never see it again. The space is also more economical than traditional libraries despite the technology: BiblioTech purchases its 10,000-title digital collection for the same price as physical copies, but the county saved millions on architecture because the building's design didn't need to accommodate printed books.

"If you have bookshelves, you have to structure the building so it can hold all of that weight," Elkholf said.

Up the road in Austin, for example, the city is building a downtown library to open in 2016 at a cost of $120 million. Even a smaller traditional public library that recently opened in nearby Kyle cost that city about $1 million more than BiblioTech.

On her first visit, 19-year-old Abigail Reyes got a quick tutorial from a librarian on how to search for digital books and check out tablets.

"I kind of miss the books," Reyes said. "I don't like being on the tablets and stuff like that. It hurts my eyes." — AP

source: gmanetwork.com

'The Jeffersons' actor Sherman Hemsley dies at 74

El PASO, Texas - Sherman Hemsley, the actor who played George Jefferson on "The Jeffersons," a 1970s sitcom that was one of the first to focus on a black family's move up the social ladder, has died at age 74 in El Paso, Texas, officials said on Tuesday.

He was found dead on Tuesday, El Paso police said in a statement. An autopsy will reveal the exact cause of death, but foul play is not suspected, police said.

Todd Frank, the actor's agent, said in a statement: "He was not only a great client and actor and good friend ... he was a very loyal human being."

Hemsley's best-known role was as George Jefferson, the affluent and sometimes scheming owner of a dry cleaning business who lived in a New York luxury apartment with his wife, Louise, and a son named Lionel.

"Movin' On Up," the gospel-flavored theme song of the show, that celebrated the Jeffersons' economic rise and their claiming a "deluxe apartment in the sky," became a pop culture classic.

"The Jeffersons" was a spinoff of creator Norman Lear's show "All in the Family." In that program, the Jeffersons were introduced as the neighbors of Archie and Edith Bunker.

"With the passing of Sherman Hemsley, the world loses one of its most unique comic talents and a lovely man," Lear said in a statement.

"The Jeffersons" ran on television from 1975 to 1985. After that, the Philadelphia-born Hemsley went on to guest star in shows, including "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," and had a role in the animated series "Family Guy."

Hemsley was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1984 for outstanding actor in a comedy series for "The Jeffersons." He was also a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com