| THE NEUROSCIENCE OF DECISION-MAKING PRESENTED BY KIMBERLY PAPILLON |
This unique CLE offering is available to all TTLA members and qualifying non-members. You can participate in person or online. Just $50 earns you 3 hours of MCLE credit from one of the most sought after presenters in the country. Wed, October 4, 2017, 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM in Austin. Click on the headline and register today!
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| Check Out the TTLA Hurricane Harvey Support Page |
TTLA Hurricane Harvey Support Page has information on our relief efforts, Harvey-Related Emergency Orders from the Texas Supreme Court and from the Texas Department of Insurance-Division of Workers' Compensation Commissioner. Click on the headline to learn more.
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Texas Tribune Daily Brief
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Editorials/Columns/Letters
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| Mystery Sand Looks Attractive, But Don't Touch |
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As we look out at the citywide sandbox that Harvey's floodwaters deposited throughout Houston, everyone should be wondering what dangerous materials now lurk under Buffalo Bayou Park's newfound swirling dunes and the neighborhood yards transformed to sandy beaches. The floodwaters were undeniably toxic, according to experts, and limited testing of sediment located in inundated properties along Buffalo Bayou found elevated levels of E. coli, arsenic, chromium, cadmium and lead. E. coli can make people seriously ill. Exposure to lead and heavy metals can cause long-term neurological damage and other health problems. A Kingwood woman died Monday after being infected with flesh-eating bacteria from floodwaters. Texans deserve to know what, exactly, is in the sand that's blanketed our city. Responsibility is supposed to fall on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the state agency in charge of protecting the public from contaminants in the environment, to sample the sediment in flooded areas and to provide guidance. So far, the TCEQ has punted. The commission is only testing the sediment near known hazardous sites or industrial facilities, Andrew Keese, a media spokesperson told Chronicle reporter Allyn West. For the time being, we're left in the dark about our homes and parks.
Editors, Houston Chronicle 09/27/2017   
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| Read Article: Houston Chronicle |
| Many Homeowners Unaware They Lived in Reservoir 'Flood Pools' |
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31,000 property owners in Harris and Fort Bend counties learned during Harvey's mass evacuations that their homes lie in what the federal government considers emergency lake beds behind the Barker and Addicks dams. Engineers call them "flood pools." Harris and Fort Bend counties and the city of Houston approved construction of thousands of homes near the reservoirs, even though county leaders and engineers have known since the 1990s that the properties could be inundated by flood pools in a major storm, according to public documents and interviews.
Lise Olsen, Houston Chronicle 09/27/2017 |
| Read Article: Houston Chronicle |
| Post-Harvey Rental Disputes Mount |
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Peg Sauter grew up in a military family and is used to moving around a lot, sometimes with relatively short notice. But she's never had to do it in five days, which is what the note said that was tacked on her door earlier last week. Similar scenarios are playing out elsewhere in Houston, where tenants of flooded apartment buildings have had to find other living arrangements, even if their units did not flood. In some cases, the matters are going to court.
Nancy Sarnoff, Houston Chronicle 09/27/2017 |
| Read Article: Houston Chronicle |
| Breach Affects Credit and Debit Cards at Sonic Drive-In |
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Fast food chain Sonic Drive-in was reportedly the target of a data breach affecting millions of customers' credit and debit cards. The Krebs on Security website reported the Oklahoma City-based company acknowledge the breach affecting an unknown number of store payment systems. According to the report, multiple financial institutions began noticing a pattern fraudulent transactions that had all been used at Sonic. As many as 5 million customers may have had their credit card information stolen, the website said.
Wire Reports, KTRK-TV 09/27/2017 |
| Read Article: KTRK-TV |
| Harris County to Sue Arkema Over Crosby Explosions |
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Harris County Commissioners Court on Tuesday authorized the county attorney to file a lawsuit against Arkema over its struggles to manage stores of hazardous chemicals during Hurricane Harvey. The county's Pollution Control Services Department found serious violations of the Texas Clean Air Act by Arkema, County attorney Vince Ryan said in a statement. The county will try to recover the costs from responding to the crisis at the company's Crosby plant. It will ask the court to review Arkema's emergency preparedness plan and its environmental practices. The commissioners made the decision to approve the suit as part of its agenda wide unanimous vote.
Matt Dempsey, Houston Chronicle 09/27/2017 |
| Read Article: Houston Chronicle |
| Lawsuit: Fire Alarms, Extinguisher Failed in Fire that Killed Toddler |
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A two-year-old girl identified in the lawsuit as Gisselle died in the Sept. 18 fire after her mother, Betzahida Vivero, was unable to save her. Vivero is suing The Lodge Apartments and management company JAW Equity Management, LLC, over the fire. According to the lawsuit, Vivero's apartment did not have all of the required smoke detectors, and the one it did have was not working on the day of the fire. One fire extinguisher at the apartment was empty.
Dana Guthrie, Houston Chronicle 09/27/2017 |
| Read Article: Houston Chronicle |
| Cabot Oil & Gas Reaches Settlement with Families Over Fracking |
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Cabot Oil & Gas has settled a fracking lawsuit filed by a group of Pennsylvania residents. The families alleged in the lawsuit that the drinking water at their homes became contaminated with methane not long after the company began drilling in the area for natural gas in 2007. Initially, the plaintiffs were awarded $4.2 million in damages in a federal jury trial in Scranton, Pennsylvania last year. However, Magistrate Judge Martin Carlson threw out the verdict and ordered the two parties into settlement talks. The terms of the new settlement have not been released to the public.
David Dekok, Reuters 09/26/2017 |
| Read Article: Reuters |
| Equifax Faces First Lawsuit by U.S. City |
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San Francisco on Tuesday became the first U.S. city to sue sue Equifax over a massive data breach that exposed the personal information of about 143 million Americans. The city filed a lawsuit against the credit reporting company in a California court. It accuses Equifax of violating state law by failing to implement reasonable security measures and not providing timely notice of the breach.
CBS/AP, CBSNews.com 09/27/2017 |
| Read Article: CBSNews.com |
| Judge Urged by Homeowners to Nix $45 Million BofA Penalty |
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A California couple who were dragged through a Bank of America Corp. foreclosure called =E2=80=9Cbrazen=E2=80=9D and =E2=80=9Cheartless=E2=80=9D by a bankruptcy judge have joined the lender=E2=80=99s request to be spared from a $45 million punishment. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein in Sacramento, hailed as a =E2=80=9Chero judge=E2=80=9D by Money magazine for coming down so hard on the bank, must now decide whether to approve a settlement that would rescind both the penalty and the scathing 107-page decision that accompanied it in March. While Klein said the size of the punitive damages award against Bank of America was meant to =E2=80=9Cnot be laughed off in the boardroom,=E2=80=9D the couple who endured what the judge described as a =E2=80=9CKafkaesque nightmare=E2=80=9D say the deal they=E2=80=99ve struck will leave them better off and avoid years more litigation and appeals.
Edvard Pettersson, Bloomberg 09/27/2017 |
| Read Article: Bloomberg |
| Texas Police Officer Ordered to pay $6.3M to Family of Man Who Died in his Custody |
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A federal judge has ordered a former Texas police officer to pay $6.3 million to the family of an Iowa man who died in his custody. William Livezey Jr., 70, died from a heart attack he suffered after being handcuffed by Malakoff Police officer Ernesto Fierro on the side of Texas State Highway 31 in Malakoff on Dec. 11, 2013, according to federal court documents obtained by Chron.com. Livezey was delivering reclaimed lumber from his business in Taintor, Iowa, to someone in Houston when Fierro stopped him, according to court documents. Fierro claimed Livezey had driven aggressively and repeatedly tried to run him off the road, however witnesses made the same claim about Fierro.
Fernando Alfonso III, Houston Chronicle 09/27/2017 |
| Read Article: Houston Chronicle |
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