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Thursday, July 10, 2008
Drive-by shooting in East Waco sends local man to the hospital
A 28-year-old Waco man was taken to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center early this evening after being shot in the neck, reportedly by someone in a gold car passing through East Waco.
Just before the shooting victim was taken to the hospital, he told Waco police that he was confident the shooter in the car mistook him for someone else, Waco police Sgt. Randy Lanier told the Tribune-Herald.
The shooting erupted shortly after 6 p.m. at the intersection of Clifton Street and Chestnut Avenue, a few blocks northeast of G.L. Wiley Middle School, with gunfire reportedly coming from a gold car moving north on Clifton, Lanier said.
A witness in another car told police that between four and six shots were fired.
Police said one bullet hit the victim in the neck.
The Tribune-Herald and a television reporter found bullet casings nearby.
Other spectators at the scene said they neither saw nor heard anything.
As the shooting victim was being prepared for transport to Hillcrest, he was conscious, complaining of trouble breathing.
Waco police were continuing to investigate.
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Waco-area towns putting on some growth, census experts say
Residential interest in towns and cities contiguous to or near Waco is continuing, prompting some census experts to wonder aloud if their total population might some day eclipse that of Waco itself.
“Waco continues to grow, but the McLennan County hotspots are clearly outside the big city,” Dr. Robyn Driskell, a Baylor University sociologist and demographer, said of newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
“If current trends hold, in about 10 years, there will be more people in McLennan County living outside Waco than within the city limits,” Driskell said in a news release from Baylor.
Robinson, Hewitt, Lorena, Crawford and Mart have grown in double-digit percentage terms since the last census in 2000. These and other numbers were released today in Washington as the U.S. Census Bureau announced its annual set of sub-county population estimates.
The new data are estimates of city, town and village populations as of July 1, 2007. Sociologists and community specialists at Baylor’s Center for Community Research and Development have analyzed the new data, Baylor officials said.
Dr. Larry Lyon said one of the most impressive growth areas, according to the data, is the city of Robinson.
“Robinson has grown by more than 25 percent since 2000,” he said. “That’s more than 2,200 persons.”
Dr. Charles Tolbert, a rural sociologist and demographer, was particularly intrigued by population growth in Mart.
“This may be associated with the correctional facility there, but the modest growth will help sustain Mart and improve the overall quality of life,” Tolbert said.
The new Census numbers also show that Hewitt continues the growth it has exhibited since the 1990s. Hewitt has grown by 21 percent since 2000, adding nearly 2,500 persons.
The Census Bureau previously published estimates for counties, and McLennan County’s 2007 total population was estimated at 228,123. That is up about 7 percent since 2000.
The city of Waco has added about 8,000 persons since 2000, growing like the county at about 7 percent.
U.S. Census figures released this week also show Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Austin ranking among the top-10 fastest growing cities in terms of actual population gains.
Three Texas cities made top-10 ranking for population gains percentage-wise: Denton, McKinney and, in Central Texas, Killeen, the latter continuing to boom because of its proximity to nearby Fort Hood, the nation’s largest military installation.
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Senate working to pass mortgage-help bill
The Senate voted resoundingly today to push closer to passage a massive mortgage rescue to help hundreds of thousands of stressed homeowners, even as the bill faced new obstacles in the House.
By a vote of 84-12, the Senate cleared away the last procedural hurdle hindering the measure, putting the election-year aid package on track for approval as early as this afternoon. It is far from complete, however, with House leaders planning to rewrite key portions and the White House still threatening a veto.
The centerpiece of the plan would let the Federal Housing Administration back up to $300 billion in new loans to provide struggling homeowners with more affordable, fixed-rate mortgages. It allows lenders who agree to take a substantial loss on the mortgages to reclaim at least some money and avoid a costly foreclosure.
— The Associated Press
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Iran has Photoshop, not afraid to use it
“The Lede” blog on the New York Times has a great piece today about a photograph of Iran’s missile test-fires that ran prominently in a number of newspapers, but appears to have been digitally altered to avoid showing one missile that did not fire.
The photograph was sent out by the media arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and made available by Agence France-Presse. The apparent deception came to light when the Associated Press later sent out what appeared to be a nearly identical photo from the same source, but without the fourth missile.
This is a hoot.
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Rove ignores subpoena, refuses to testify
Former White House adviser Karl Rove defied a congressional subpoena to testify today about allegations of political pressure at the Justice Department, including whether he tried to influence the prosecution of a former Democratic governor of Alabama.
Rep. Linda Sanchez, chairman of the House subcommittee that called Rove, ruled with backing from fellow Democrats on the panel that Rove’s claim of immunity was invalid — perhaps the first step toward holding him in contempt for refusing to cooperate.
— The Associated Press
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French man pleads guilty in art thefts
A French man pleaded guilty today in Miami to attempting to sell four valuable paintings that were stolen last year from a French art museum in a brazen robbery by masked, armed thieves.
Bernard Jean Ternus, 56, admitted that he conspired to sell the paintings for about $4.7 million to buyers who turned out to be undercover FBI and French police agents. Four of their meetings were videotaped and dozens of conversations recorded, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Hunter.
“Why are you pleading guilty?” asked U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz.
“Because I am guilty,” said Ternus, speaking in French that was translated into English.
— The Associated Press
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Alleged Atlanta courthouse shooter pleads insanity
The man accused of a courthouse shooting rampage that left four people dead pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity as his trial began today, more than three years after prosecutors say Brian Nichols confessed in the killings.
Defense attorney Henderson Hill entered the plea for Nichols a day after filing a motion claiming that Nichols was insane and couldn’t tell “right from wrong” during the killings.
Even Nichols’ defense team has conceded he killed a judge, court reporter and sheriff’s deputy at the county courthouse in downtown Atlanta on March 11, 2005, and a federal agent later that day.
But the trial has faced a series of complications that have alternately astonished and outraged a community trying to close the books on the shootings that turned Fulton County’s seat of justice into a crime scene.
— The Associated Press
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La Nina fizzling out, could reduce hurricane risk
The climate phenomena known as La Nina is ending and neutral conditions are expected into the fall, government forecasters said today. The change can affect weather worldwide.
La Nina is a cooling of water in the tropical Pacific ocean, the opposite of the warm-water condition known as El Nino.
The federal Climate Prediction Center said a transition from La Nina to neutral conditions occurred during June as sea surface temperatures returned to near average conditions.
The transition to a neutral condition could be beneficial along the East and Gulf coasts with hurricane season under way, as the chances for the continental U.S. and the Caribbean Islands to experience a hurricane are higher during La Nina.
— The Associated Press
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Baylor hoop player named to academic squad
Baylor University basketball player Mark Shepherd was recognized for excellence in academics by being named to the 2007-08 Honors Court by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
Here’s the rest of the announcement:
Shepherd, a five-year veteran on head coach Scott Drew’s squad, was a two-time Academic All-Big 12 first team honoree (2006, 2008), while being named to the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll for six semesters (fall 2004, fall 2005, spring 2006, spring 2007, fall 2007, spring 2008).
The 6-foot-9 forward played in all 32 games for the Bears in 2007-08, making seven starts. Shepherd averaged 1.6 points and 2.4 rebounds in 12.4 minutes per game.
He graduated in May 2007 with a degree in business management and is currently enrolled in Baylor’s MBA program.
The NABC recognizes the talents and gifts that student-athletes possess off the court and the hard work they exhibit in the classroom. In order to be selected to the Honors Court, student-athletes must be a junior or senior academically, possess a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or higher at the conclusion of the 2007-08 academic year and have matriculated at least one full academic year at their current institution.
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Movie producers set August deadline for SAG contract
The major Hollywood studios have told the Screen Actors Guild that if the union does not accept its final contract offer by Aug. 15 any proposed wage increases would not be retroactive, the studios said.
The producers alliance threw down that gauntlet in its final offer, which it said included $250 million in additional compensation over three years.
If the deadline passes before the union ratifies a contract, that means the actors could lose more than $200,000 a day in increases dating to July 1, the day the new contract would take effect.
The announcement was made as the two sides appeared to be headed toward an impasse in their contract talks.
— The Associated Press
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Waco’s Compassion Ministries in president’s report
Compassion Ministries of Waco was featured in the White House report The President’s Faith-Based and Community Initiative in 50 States released last month.
The report details information on faith-based and community efforts in each state. Compassion Ministries is the featured “Honor of Hope Awardee” with a story focusing on its assistance to a woman and her three children.
Here’s the report in pdf form: fbci-states-0608.pdf. Texas and Compassion Ministries is on Page 44.
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Clinton joins Obama as he courts women voters
Barack Obama stressed the need for equal pay and child care as he campaigned today with his half-sister and the pioneering former first lady he toppled during the Democratic presidential primary.
“As the son, grandson and husband of hardworking mothers, I don’t accept an America that makes women choose between their kids and their careers,” the likely Democratic nominee said at a “Women for Obama” breakfast fundraiser. “Let’s be clear. These issues — equal pay, work-family balance, child care — these are not simply women’s issues.”
— The Associated Press
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LT named to Sun Bowl’s 75th anniversary team
University High School product and NFL star LaDainian Tomlinson was one of 75 players named to the 75th Anniversary All-Sun Bowl Team.
The team was announced to commemorate the Sun Bowl Association’s diamond anniversary.
Tomlinson, interestingly, made the squad as a kick returner. He was a sophomore on the Texas Christian University team that beat USC, 28-19, in 1998 for the Horned Frogs’ first bowl win in 41 years.
The current San Diego Chargers star had 91 yards on kickoff returns, 30 rushing yards and a 25-yard reception in that game.
Check out of some of LT’s career highlights below in this YouTube video (warning: it is 7 minutes long; the man has lots of highlights).
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Iran test-fires more missiles in Persian Gulf
Iran test-fired more long-range missiles overnight in a second round of exercises meant to show that the country can defend itself against any attack by the U.S. or Israel, state television reported today.
The weapons have “special capabilities” and included missiles launched from naval ships in the Persian Gulf, along with torpedoes and surface-to-surface missiles, the broadcast said. It did not elaborate.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran that Washington will not back down in the face of threats against Israel.
— The Associated Press
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Police were driving car with cocaine hidden inside
Here’s a wild story out of Dallas: Police were surprised to discover cocaine worth $400,000 secretly hidden in a 2004 black Infiniti that they have been driving two months.
An officer cleaning the car seized at a drug house earlier this year discovered the nearly 50 pounds of cocaine carefully hidden in hydraulically controlled compartments at the northeast patrol station, officials said.
“These compartments have recently been more and more popular with drug operations,” Deputy Chief Julian Bernal, commander of the narcotics division, said in Wednesday’s online edition of The Dallas Morning News.
Undercover Dallas police put the two-door black Infiniti into police service on May 7 after seizing it at a drug house.
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Brinkley, Cook divorce trial has settlement
The New York Daily News says that the particularly nasty divorce trial between former supermodel Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook has reached a sudden settlement, with Cook getting $2.1 million while Brinkley receives custody of the kids and all the real estate.
What will the late-night shows do? The crazy stuff coming out of that trial was perfect fodder for that and entertainment shows.
Testimony focused on Cook’s appetite for interactive online pornography and his affair with an 18-year-old woman, a liaison that blew apart his and Brinkley’s decade-long marriage in 2006.
Maybe it’s a good thing to move away from this story and go on to the next People story out there: How Jessica Alba “never felt less sexy” than during her pregnancy.
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Obama accepts Jesse Jackson’s apology
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama shrugged off a crude comment aimed at him by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, accepting an apology for a remark Jackson made as he contended that Obama wasn’t speaking to issues important to the black community, the Associated Press reports.
Unaware that his microphone was on during a break for a Fox News program last Sunday, Jackson used a slang reference to wanting to cut off Obama’s testicles. When he learned Wednesday that the Fox News program “The O’Reilly Factor” would air his comments that night, Jackson apologized for “hurtful and wrong” remarks.
The Obama campaign took a measured response to the incident, contending in a statement that Obama has spoken for many years about parental responsibility as well as “jobs, justice and opportunity for all.”
In a <em>New York Times story, it notes the Rev. Jackson got a sharp response from his son, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., (D-Illinois), who also serves as a national co-chairman of Obama’s presidential campaign.
“Reverend Jackson is my dad, and I’ll always love him,” the congressman said in a statement. “I thoroughly reject and repudiate his ugly rhetoric. He should keep hope alive and any personal attacks and insults to himself.”
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Once again, a slight chance of rain
When forecasters say there’s a chance of rain, do they mean anything wet that falls from the sky? Because on my drive home yesterday, I had some large drops hit my car at an intersection and that was it. I saw a rain shower in the distance.
I guess that counts, but it would be nice if the rain was more substantial. Today there’s another 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. We’ll be partly cloudy, with a high near 97 degrees and heat-index values as high as 102. A south wind between 10 and 15 mph is forecast.
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