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Thursday, July 17, 2008
Baylor lands 2 on preseason All-Big 12 football team
Two Baylor defensive standouts landed on the 2008 Preseason All-Big 12 Football team, the conference office announced today.
Bears junior linebacker Joe Pawelek and junior defensive back Jordan Lake were tabbed as preseason all-conference defensive players.
Pawelek posted 99 tackles, 40 solos, as a sophomore in 2007 on his way to second-team all-Big 12 honors by the Associated Press.
Lake led Baylor in total tackles with 110 and solos with 67 as he too earned second-team all-conference according to the AP last season.
Baylor had more preseason all-conference selections than Nebraska, Kansas State and Texas A&M, each of which had one representative on the team, and Iowa State and Oklahoma State, which landed no players on the squad.
Missouri led the conference with eight players on the preseason all-Big 12 team, including preseason Offensive Player of the Year Chase Daniel. Oklahoma was next with six representatives, including preseason Defensive Player of the Year Auston English.
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Chad Conine blogs on the British Open
Trib sports reporter Chad Conine was on the scene last year at Carnoustie, so he’s got a unique persepctive on the first round of the British Open today.
You can read his take on the blog, Teed Off, where he’s always got something to say about golf at the local and national level.
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Government: Go ahead and have a tomato
The U.S. government has declared it’s OK to eat tomatoes again, lifting its salmonella warning amid signs that the outbreak — while not over — may finally be slowing. Officials reiterated earlier warnings that the people most at risk of salmonella should avoid hot peppers — jalapenos and serranos.
The government still doesn’t know just what caused the salmonella outbreak, and Thursday’s move doesn’t mean tomatoes are cleared. Early on, there was good evidence linking them to the sick, but it’s unlikely that any field where tomatoes were harvested in April and May still is in production.
But among later illnesses, there seems to be more evidence against peppers. The FDA is sending inspectors to Mexico to investigate a packing house that receives peppers from a number of farms.
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Sen. Hutchison secures $149,000 for BU biofuel research
U.S Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-TX, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced that the committee has approved the Fiscal Year 2009 Agriculture Appropriations bill, which includes $149,000 for the next generation of advanced biofuel production research at Baylor University. The bill is now ready to be considered by the full Senate.
“Funding for alternative and renewable energy sources will keep Texas at the forefront of our nation’s energy independence efforts and ensure the long term strength of our economy,” Hutchison said.
Baylor and Texas A&M University researchers will use the funding to collaborate with industry leaders in alternative fuels to investigate and maximize the use of sorghum for the production of advanced cellulosic biofuel. Sorghum is an inexpensive, easy to grow alternative to corn, which is the primary source of ethanol production today. Increased production of corn-based ethanol has resulted in unintended impacts on both food and feed prices.
“We must transition into the next generation of biofuels which do not use food for fuel,” said Sen. Hutchison.
The project will examine the promising potential of sorghum to substantially increase fuel and chemical yields from agricultural resources, as well as construct and operate a biomass conversion facility to implement research results and demonstrate the ability to convert sorghum to fuels and chemicals.
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Wreck slows Highway 6 traffic
A rollover accident on eastbound State Highway 6 about a mile west of the Twin Bridges has the highway lanes shut down, but traffic is passing on the shoulder.
Texas Department of Public Safety Senior Cpl. Charlie Morgan said the driver of a westbound Ford Escape apparently overcorrected and the vehicle flipped, going into eastbound traffic. There are no apparent injuries, he said.
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Man found dead at Limestone County gas well identified
A man found dead in the back seat of a Chevrolet Suburban Wednesday at a gas well in Limestone County has been identified today as 51-year-old William David Luedke of Crockett, Texas.
Preliminary investigations by the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office reveal Luedke’s death was not a result of foul play.
The man’s body was found by sheriff’s office investigators at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, after officials had received a call of a suspicious vehicle parked at the gas well just east of the intersection of State Highway 164 and Highway 39.
A contract oil field worker told investigators that he first noticed the vehicle at the location on Monday.
Sheriff’s officials said today that the death is under investigation, and are waiting on results of an autopsy.
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Seizure or heart attack possible in fatal wreck
Texas Department of Public Safety officials today said a 77-year-old Navarro County man who died earlier this week had a heart attack or seizure while driving and lost control of his vehicle just miles from his Blooming Grove home.
A Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman said he had no information as to why the report was not available until today. The accident occurred at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Elmer Ledbetter, a retired Blooming Grove resident, was driving his 1999 Nissan Altima south on Farm-to-Market 55, the spokesman said, when the man had a heart attack or seizure.
The spokesman said Ledbetter had a medical history of seizures and heart problems. The Altima spun clockwise off the west side of the roadway and struck a tree. The impact sent the vehicle spinning in the other direction until it struck another tree.
Ledbetter was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the car, the spokesman said. Authorities are still investigating whether the man died before the impact, the spokesman said.
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U.S. judge OKs first Gitmo detainee trial
A federal judge says the first Guantanamo Bay war crimes trial can begin Monday.
U.S. District Judge James Robertson rejected an effort by Osama bin Laden’s former driver, Salim Hamdan, to postpone his trial. Hamdan argued he would suffer irreparable harm if he was tried before he could challenge the legality of the process.
Robertson’s ruling today is a victory for the Bush administration, which suffered a setback last month when the Supreme Court ruled that detainees can challenge their detention in federal court. Hamdan’s attorneys hoped to use that ruling to delay his trial.
Robertson’s decision came shortly after a military judge at Guantanamo Bay also denied Hamdan’s request for a postponement.
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You think you’ve got inflation bad …
I don’t think any country can lay claim to beating Zimbabwe’s inflation rate — it’s officially 2.2 million percent — and has shot as high as 70 million percent in the past year for some basic goods sold on the black market, the state central bank said today.
Worsening shortages of basic goods, and the deadly political and economic turmoil surrounding the national elections March 29 and a disputed presidential runoff vote June 27, helped spur the spike in inflation in recent months, according to the Associated Press.
The last announcement of official annual inflation, in February, put the rate at 165,000 percent.
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Texas approves big wind power project
Texas is moving forward on the nation’s largest wind-power project, a plan to build billions of dollars worth of new transmission lines to bring wind energy from gusty West Texas to urban areas.
Texas is already the national leader in wind power, and supporters say Thursday’s preliminary approval by the Public Utility Commission, will make the Lone Star State a leader in being able to move all that energy to the urban areas that need it.
— The Associated Press
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Richfield High grad in NY Times
Chris Travis, a Richfield High School graduate, and his work in “emotional architecture” is featured in a story today in the New York Times.
Travis is an architectural designer in Round Top, Texas, population 77, not far from Brenham. He has created a Truehome (a registered trademark) method for would-be home builders that melds home design with the personality of the client, hence the “emotional architecture” aspect.
Sounds like an interesting concept.
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President hails Snow’s accomplishments at funeral
President Bush fondly remembered Tony Snow today, telling mourners at Snow’s funeral that the conservative commentator-turned-White House press secretary “amassed a rare record of accomplishment.”
“He knew the job of a reporter was vigorous. He understood the profession and always treated it with respect,” said Bush, who traveled to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to pay respects to his former lead spokesman, who died of colon cancer Saturday.
His was a life that was “far too brief,” the president said of Snow.
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Dean’s voter registration bus now heads to Austin
Former Gov. Howard Dean’s red, white and blue bus pulled out from the Crawford Community Center parking lot around 9:45 a.m., headed to Austin as the Democratic National Committee chairman begins his tour of the South promoting voter registration.
Dean spoke for about 15 minutes in Crawford, hitting on Democratic themes such as opposition to the war in Iraq, the economy and healthcare.
Dean noted that his appearance in Crawford was designed to make a statement in the shadow of the Republican leader’s ranch, joking that he was looking forward to seeing the ranch become “a retirement home.”
The Democratic chairman called on Texas Democrats to help others register to vote and to talk to them about voting for Sen. Barack Obama.
“One of the things we’ve discovered is you can run all the television you want and have all the robo calls you want, but if you want to make a real difference you’ve got to knock on your neighbor’s doors,” he said.
Dean also equated Obama’s opponent, Sen. John McCain, to George W. Bush, calling it a third term for the current president.
“The last eight years have been very decisive,” Dean said. “The Republicans have reached out and tried to make Americans mad at each other. We need to heal America here at home, and we need to restore American moral authority in the world.”
Dean arrived at the Crawford Community Center to a crowd of about 70, mostly members of the media and local residents. Democrats and Republicans alike turned out to see the one-time presidential candidate stump for Obama. Several people quickly approached him to ask about Hillary Clinton’s role in the race, the energy crisis and the high cost of healthcare.
“Better get a President Obama, then we can solve that,” he responded as he mixed among the crowd, smiling and shaking hands.
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Methodists expected to debate Bush Library
Fireworks were expected today at a Methodist conference in Dallas shaping up as a debate among clergy and others over whether George W. Bush’s presidential library should be built at Southern Methodist University.
Although a church council last year approved leasing land for the project, opponents were expected to challenge that decision at a conference of the church’s South Central Jurisdiction, which owns the land.
SMU and the College of Bishops believe the mission council’s decision in March 2007 was final. Since then the Dallas university — named the site of the library complex in February — has proceeded in planning the project with the Bush Foundation.
Some Methodist ministers and SMU faculty say the decision should have been made by the full jurisdiction, which has 290 delegates — ministers and members of churches in eight states.
— The Associated Press
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Basic-cable shows earn Emmy nominations
“Mad Men,” AMC’s sleek drama set in the advertising world circa 1960, and FX’s legal thriller “Damages” made Emmy nominations history today as the first basic cable programs to gain best-series nods.
The HBO historical drama “John Adams” was the overall frontrunner with 23 bids, including a lead-actor nomination for Paul Giamatti’s turn as one of America’s founding fathers.
“30 Rock,” last year’s best comedy Emmy winner, was the top nominee among sitcoms with 17 bids. “Mad Men” (shown below) was the leading drama series contender with 16 nominations, including one for star Jon Hamm.
“The Wire,” the just-ended, critically acclaimed HBO drama about police and drug dealers in Baltimore, lost its last shot at a best-drama nod after years of Emmy snubs. It received one nomination today, for writing.
— The Associated Press
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Man sentenced in killing of ‘Curious George’ writer
A man convicted of killing “Curious George” collaborator Alan Shalleck in South Florida has been spared the death penalty.
A judge sentenced Vincent Puglisi to life in prison on Wednesday in West Palm Beach, Fla., after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and robbery with a deadly weapon.
His co-defendant Rex Ditto was given a life sentence in 2007.
Authorities said the pair went to Shalleck’s home in February 2006 intending to rob him.
Shalleck suffered 83 blunt-force injuries and more than three dozen stab wounds.
Shalleck wrote and directed episodes of “Curious George” and co-wrote books with Margret Rey, who created the mischievous monkey with her husband more than 60 years ago.
— The Associated Press
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Check out freshly roasted Mulkey
The zingers were flying last night as Baylor University women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey was the guest of honor at the ESPN 1660/Texas Sports Hall of Fame Celebrity Roast. Sportswriter Brice Cherry details the fun in his story, we have photographs (like the one with Mulkey and radio announcer Tom Barfield at right) galore in this slideshow and there’s video coverage when you click below.
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Gore sets big challenge for U.S. electric production
Al Gore is challenging the nation to produce every kilowatt of electricity through wind, sun and other Earth-friendly energy sources within 10 years, an audacious goal he hopes the next president will embrace.
The Nobel Prize-winning former vice president said fellow Democrat Barack Obama and Republican rival John McCain are “way ahead” of most politicians in the fight against global climate change.
Rising fuel costs, climate change and the national security threats posed by U.S. dependence on foreign oil are conspiring to create “a new political environment” that Gore said will sustain bold and expensive steps to wean the nation off fossil fuels.
“I have never seen an opportunity for the country like the one that’s emerging now,” Gore told The Associated Press in an interview previewing a speech on global warming he was to deliver today in Washington.
— The Associated Press
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2 boys killed in Houston when stairwell collapses
Two young boys, who had been playing a game of Hide and Seek on a sultry summer night, were killed and a third was injured when a balcony and a second-story stairwell collapsed on them at their southwest Houston apartment complex, authorities said.
“It appeared the children were either on top or underneath (the stairwell), we’re not sure,” Houston Police Department spokesman John Cannon told The Associated Press this morning from the scene. He said the Harris County Medical Examiner’s office would try to determine the positioning of where the kids were at the time.
Houston fire officials said a 4-year-old and a 10-year-old died in the accident that occurred about 7:40 p.m. Wednesday at the Westwood Fountains apartment complex. Assistant Fire Chief Omero Longoria said a 9-year-old was taken to the hospital with a broken leg.
“The 10-year-old and the 4-year-old are not related. We are dealing with three separate families,” Longoria said on Wednesday.
— The Associated Press
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Slight chance of any rain
Good morning. Looks like we’re back to the usual hot and dry pattern for summer with only a 10 percent chance of isolated thundershowers in the afternoon.
We’ll probably flirt with a high of 100 degrees and the heat index figures to be above that. There will be a little bit of south-southeast wind between 5 and 10 mph.
If you’re working outdoors, keep yourself hydrated.
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