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Local News
Bryan and College Station Landfill Lawsuit Closer to Resolution

According to an article in the Bryan-College Station Eagle, a lawsuit between Bryan and College Station is one step closer to being dropped after both cities agreed to form a new agency to operate their landfills. College Station City Councilman Dennis Maloney was the only person to vote against the plan at this week’s meeting. Bryan sued College Station in 2008, arguing that it had been left out of the process surrounding the construction of the Brazos Valley Solid Waste Management Agency's new 610-acre landfill in Grimes County, which is scheduled to open this summer. Bryan and College Station are partners in BVSWMA, which operates the cities' solid waste operations, but College Station has the lead administrative role in the partnership. Bryan spent nearly $200,000 on legal fees related to the lawsuit, and College Station spent more than $425,000 to counter the suit. The Bryan City Council signed off this week on the agreement to create a new landfill partnership.

Local Politics
Brazos County Precinct 4 Holds Candidate Forum

This week several Democratic primary candidates in Brazos County Precinct 4 participated in a forum at West Side Barbeque. About twenty-five community members crowded into the local restaurant and listened to the candidates present their platforms and answer questions. Both candidates for County Commissioner for Precinct 4 participated in the forum. Current Commissioner Irma Cauley touted her experience as a commissioner, and challenger Bryan City Council Member Paul Madison agued for his experience on many committees and as a City Council member. Several candidates presented their case for Justice of the Peace, including Rose Jones, Marth Garcia Opersteny, Manuel Aguilar, and Richard Cortez.

Texas A&M News
Texas A&M Looking for Funds to Cut After State Mandate

According to an article in the Bryan-College Station Eagle, Texas A&M may have to cut $28 million out of its budget over two years. University officials had expected budget instructions from state officials for several weeks. They came this week, as state leaders directed all agencies and higher-education institutions to plan for a 5 percent reduction in spending. The reduction averages $14 million a year over the two years -- or biennium -- that began Sept. 1. The university has flexibility in deciding how much to reduce each year. Since more than four months have passed in fiscal year 2010, one option would be a smaller cut this year and having fiscal year 2011 shoulder the rest.

Texas News
Chevron Kicks Out Activists From Its Marathon Expo

A group of marathon runners were kicked out and banned from the Chevron Marathon Expo for displaying material that was critical of the oil company, but one of the runners reported to the alternative newspaper Houston Press that the group is continuing as planned. The runners from Rainforest Action Network -- the main office is in San Francisco -- are participating in the marathon on behalf of Emergildo Crillo, an Ecuadorean man who they believe is dying, along with his family, from the billions of gallons of toxic sludge that has been allegedly dumped in the rainforest during the last three decades. Chevron is involved in a court battle in Ecuador because of the sludge.

Texas Politics
Vote on Social Studies Curriculum Delayed Until March

According to an article in the Houston Chronicle, the conservative rallying points like the Heritage Foundation, Moral Majority and National Rifle Association made it into a preliminary set of new curriculum standards for Texas public school students, but an effort to include other groups in the political arena — like ones that fight discrimination — failed this week, causing some to question the effect of the partisan balance on the State Board of Education. After two days of wrestling over what to teach lower grades, the board postponed a first-round vote until March because it could not finish a review of proposed social studies standards for high school students. The March vote will produce curriculum standards for a public hearing in May, when final action is expected. Postponement will mean controversial votes on the standards covering history, government, geography and economics will occur after the March primaries. Four of the board members, who are elected, are fighting challenges in their own parties. So far, conservative groups are generally pleased with the early look at the new standards that will influence a decade of school textbooks for more than 4.7 million Texas public school children.

War and Peace
20 Killed in US Drone Attack in Waziristan

A US drone strike targeting a militant compound killed at least 20 today in the tribal belt in North Waziristan, a Taliban stronghold. The Times of India reports that the drone fired two missiles during the strike in Shaktoi region that straddles North and South Waziristan, officials were quoted as saying by TV news channels. Twenty bodies were pulled out of the rubble of the compound, which was destroyed, and the toll could rise further, officials said. The US stepped up drone attacks in North Waziristan after a suicide bomber linked to the Pakistani Taliban killed seven CIA operatives at a forward base in neighbouring Khost province of Afghanistan.

Economy
Foreclosure Filings Rose 21 Percent in 2009

According to an article in the Washington Post, the number of households that received a foreclosure filing -- from a delinquency notice to an auction date -- rose 21 percent last year compared with 2008, according to RealtyTrac, which tracks foreclosure activity throughout the country. The pace of foreclosure filings fell during the last months of the year, as lenders implemented a government foreclosure prevention program to modify the mortgages of delinquent borrowers. But as more borrowers become unemployed and fail to qualify for the federal program, foreclosures are expected to peak this year, economists said. Foreclosures remain concentrated in a few states, including Nevada, Arizona and Florida, but also worsened in the Washington region last year. Bank repossessions of homes in the District were stable in 2008, but they increased in Maryland and Virginia.

Health Care
Death Exposes Holes in Texas' Mental Health Care System

The Texas Observer reports that a woman suffering from postpartum psychosis, a rare but severe form of postpartum depression, brutally murdered her infant. The woman, who had history of depression and had been institutionalized a year earlier with paranoid schizophrenia, was not admitted for inpatient care after a mental breakdown only days after giving birth to the child. Texas may have the most beleaguered public mental-health system in the country. The state ranks 49th nationally in per-capita spending on mental health; only New Mexico is worse, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. State lawmakers have shorted the system for years. The result of this miserly approach is that hundreds of thousands of Texans with severe mental illnesses must fend for themselves.

GLBT Issues
Judge Rules D.C. Gay-Marriage Vote Would Violate Human Rights Act

According to an article in the Christian Science Monitor, thirty-one states have held referendums on whether or not to ban gay marriage, but a Washington, D.C., judge ruled this week that such a vote would violate the District’s Human Rights Act. The ruling upholds a decision by the city's board of elections, which has twice rejected plans by an anti-gay marriage group to hold a referendum on the subject. City council passed an ordinance in December that allowed gay marriage in the District. Opponents of gay marriage say they will appeal the decision to the D.C. Court of Appeals. The decision fits a pattern of judicial activism, which has interfered with the people’s will to ban gay marriage, they say. For gay-marriage advocates, however, the decision is a significant victory. In all 31 states where gay marriage has been put before voters in a referendum, it has lost. If the judge’s decision stands, it removes this hurdle for the District.

Race and Racism
Judge Cites Discrimination in N.Y. Fire Department

A federal judge ruled this week that New York City intentionally discriminated against black applicants to the Fire Department by continuing to use an exam that it had been told put them at a disadvantage. The New York Times reports that in his decision, the judge highlighted how “black and other minority firefighters have been severely underrepresented,” characterizing that as a “persistent stain on the Fire Department’s record.” City officials said that they intended to appeal the decision, but could not do so until the judge had determined what damages the city might face. Legal experts, as well as lawyers for the plaintiffs and city officials, said the decision was the first in recent memory in which a court had found that the city had intentionally discriminated against a large group of people — racial minorities or women, for instance — in the workplace.

Support the Earthquake Recovery Efforts in Haiti

On January 12, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti just outside the capital city of Port-au-Prince. The devastation – in lives lost, property destroyed, and families displaced – is immense. At the request of President Obama, Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush are partnering to help the Haitian people reclaim their country and rebuild their lives. The immediate priority is to save lives. The critical needs in Haiti are great, but they are also simple: food, water, shelter, and first-aid supplies. The best way concerned citizens can help is to donate funds that will go directly to supplying these material needs.

To donate to the American Red Cross, text HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross Haiti relief fund.