Federal prosecutors have dropped the two remaining obscenity charges against alleged animal crush video producers Ashley Richards and Brent Justice and filed a notice of appeal on five counts previously tossed out by a federal judge.
Richards and Justice might be charged with animal cruelty....again.
Photo by DonkeyHotey
Last week, Gladys House had every reason to think she was about to see her property auctioned off for failure to pay her taxes, before someone swooped in to loan her the money.
"I always felt like it was going to be all right. I just didn't know how it would happen," House said.
Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP, a law firm specializing in tax collection for government entities, had presented House with a tax bill for more than $28,000 on the property at 3619 Hurley Street.
More »
Updated with statements from Governor Rick Perry and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
The power of Christ compels you....
In a high-profile battle based on small-town football, the cheerleaders in the little East Texas burg of Kuntze have won a court battle to praise Jesus during football games.
The Kountze case drew national attention as media-savvy groups for both sides took control of the lawsuit, which involved banners carrying such messages as "If God is for us, who can be against us" (Maybe the Hull-Daisetta Bobcats?) and "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me." (Replace "Christ" with "PEDs" if you're moving on to some college football teams --cough, cough SEC cough.)
The Freedom From Religion Foundation of (The People's Republic of) Madison, Wisconsin, went to court with an amicus brief to stop the displaying of the banners, arguing the signs were an intrusion of religion into public schools.
The Liberty Institute of (God's Country) Plano fought on behalf of the school district.
Today Hardin County District Court Judge Steven Thomas issued a summary judgment saying the cheerleaders' signs were constitutionally permissible.
More »
Still fighting his lonely battle seven years after his fraud conviction, former Enron honcho Jeffrey Skilling has reached an agreement with the feds on his sentence and will drop all his appeals, the two sides announced today.
Enron & The Rocket: Two slightly tarnished icons.
Skilling, who has been in federal custody since December 2006, has agreed to let U.S. District Judge Sim Lake sentence him in June to between 14 and 17 and a half years in federal prison, including time served. Skilling has agreed not to appeal whatever sentence is given as long as it does not exceed that maximum of 17 and a half. That could lop as much as a decade off his original sentence of 24 years.
More »
There's nothing like a Gran City Pop to the balls, we're guessing.
Was Paulina Rubio wearing these boots at the time?
There's one man who says he knows: Houstonian Hector Vela says Latina singing sensation Paulina Rubio delivered a knee right to his babymakers last month at Bush Intercontinental Airport.
Rubio and Vela were on the same flight from Miami April 26, which landed here a little before 10 p.m.
The two got into a dispute over Vela taking a photo of Rubio, who, according to the lawsuit, then approached Vela with her two bodyguards (becoming "irritated, abusive and violent," the suit says), grabbed his camera and then said hello to his little friends.
More »
Poor KBR just can't get a break -- a federal judge in Oregon has affirmed an $81 million judgment against the Houston-based firm for exposing National Guard soldiers to a deadly chemical at an Iraqi water injection plant in 2003. The judgment was awarded to the first 12 veterans, out of hundreds still waiting, to bring their claims to trial.
is this the first of many similar judgments?
Twin suits were filed in Portland and Houston against KBR on behalf of hundreds of military personnel who provided security for KBR staff at the Qarmat Ali plant, and who had become sick after breathing in sodium dichromate, which contains a carcinogenic called hexavalent chromium. Internal memos showed that higher-ups at KBR knew the chemical was onsite but did not inform the soldiers of the risks.
More »
McLennan County Jail Ashley Nicole Richards.....we're fucking speechless.
Update: To find out more about this story, read our cover feature: Open Season: Do Laws Against Animal Crushing Videos Violate Free Speech?
A federal judge has dismissed charges against a Houston couple who sold videos of them torturing animals -- including beating a dog with a meat cleaver and stepping on a cat's eye with a shoe heel -- on free speech grounds.
Ashley Nicole Richards and Brent Justice still face charges of producing, selling, or transferring obscene matters for sale or distribution. The two had originally been charged in Harris County District Court, but those charges were dismissed in December when the two were indicted on federal charges.
More »
Prisoner Genovevo Salinas's silence during an early interrogation for a double-murder at a Houston apartment complex back in 1992 will be the subject of arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday. 
Photo by Duncan Lock via Wikipedia.
Salinas is serving out a 20-year sentence for the shooting deaths of brothers Juan and Hector Garza after a night of partying at the Garzas' apartment complex.
Salinas drove a car similar to one seen at the crime, and bullet casings matched a rifle provided to Houston police by Salinas's father. The point in question was a moment of silence during Salinas's initial interrogation, which a Houston Police Department sergeant equated with an admission of guilt.
More »
Hair Balls was crestfallen to learn that unsolicited faxes and e-mails from travel agencies offering luxury vacations at bargain prices might not always be 100 percent legit: Lawsuits filed by attorneys general in Texas and Indiana are accusing at least four Houstonians of defrauding folks with bogus travel offers. 
"I got your discount travel package right here, buddy."
The suits accuse Joseph Daniel Chavez Jr., Elisama Gonzalez, Lizbeth P. Villasenor and Casey Jennings of selling nonexistent packages, sometimes for between $49 and $149, followed by a bunch of unexpected add-ons. The defendants allegedly took in tens of thousands of dollars a month, operating under names like Encore Travel, N-Travel and Adventures, Nations Travel and Luxury Vacation Promotions, among others.
More »
The horny ways of a Brazoria County judge keep coming back to bite that governmental entity in the ass.
It's definitely not what you think. Unless your mind's in the gutter.
James Blackstock, the chairman of the county's juvenile probation board, has long been the subject of rumors -- and eventually court cases -- about his sexual-predator ways.
Now the county has agreed to pay been hit with a judgment of $850,000 to settle in suits filed by two former employees, who were fired in 2009 as retaliation for reporting on Blackstock, according to their attorney, Jacqueline Armstrong.
Among the behaviors Blackstock was accused of over the years, according to Armstrong and court records:
More »
Find everything you're looking for in your city
Find the best happy hour deals in your city
Get today's exclusive deals at savings of anywhere from 50-90%
Check out the hottest list of places and things to do around your city
Email to Friend
Write to Editor
Print Article
