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SH 130 Concession Company LLC finalized the legal details of a financial close with Texas DOT on a $1,360m toll concession to build SH130 segments 5&6 Thursday and Friday last week in bankers' offices in New York City - at Orrick, 666 Fifth Avenue. The actual money flows should occur on Thursday or Friday (Mar 13 or 14) this week, Jose Maria Lopez de Fuentes, president of Cintra North America, told us this morning. Hundreds of documents and over 20 lawyers were involved last week representing TxDOT, private equity people, banks, mostly European, the TIFIA loan group from FHWA, and...

A Mexican national wanted by United States Marshals in connection with the New Year’s day stabbing death of a 22-year-old Mexican man in Seguin, Texas has been arrested at a Bartlesville motel. According to Bartlesville Police Chief Tom Holland, the suspect, 28-year-old Juan Manuel Garcia, was apprehended around midnight last night at a motel in the 2300 block of Washington Boulevard. According to an affidavit filed by Bartlesville police, local authorities received a call from Tulsa Police on Thursday afternoon advising that they had information that a man wanted for first-degree murder in Texas had placed a phone call from...

Ever wish you weren't right? In 1997, the notion of selling off publicly owned infrastructure to private sector operators was coming into its own. After the city hired a consultant to determine the value of the publicly owned CPS Energy, it raised red flags. CPS consistently charges some of Texas' lowest utility rates while providing a significant chunk of the city's revenue, I argued. Profit motives can produce wondrous results. But uncontrolled, they can also produce costly disasters. Some things — especially those that efficiently deliver services that are essential — are best kept in the public sector to assure...

The DallasBlog reported over the weekend the story about the UT zoology professor, Eric Pianka, who reportedly advocated in a speech at a Texas Academy of Science meeting in early March -- the elimination of most of the world’s population by airborne Ebola -- What is even more disturbing than the professor’s bizarre remarks was the reaction of his audience, according for Forrest Mims III, who was in attendance at the event: "I watched in amazement as a few hundred members of the Texas Academy of Sciences rose to their feet and gave a standing ovation to a speech that...

AUSTIN - A University of Texas biology professor has been targeted by talk radio, bloggers and vitriolic e-mails - including a death threat - after a published report that he advocated death for most of the population as a means of saving the Earth. But Eric Pianka said Monday his remarks about what he believes is an impending pandemic were taken out of context. "What we really need to do is start thinking about controlling our population before it's too late," he said. "It's already too late, but we're not even thinking about it. We're just mindlessly rushing ahead breeding...

Meeting Doctor Doom Forrest M. Mims III Copyright 2006 by Forrest M. Mims III. There is always something special about science meetings. The 109th meeting of the Texas Academy of Science at Lamar University in Beaumont on 3-5 March 2006 was especially exciting for me, because a student and his professor presented the results of a DNA study I suggested to them last year. How fulfilling to see the baldcypress ( Taxodium distichum ) leaves we collected last summer and my tree ring photographs transformed into a first class scientific presentation that's nearly ready to submit to a scientific journal...

AUSTIN — A University of Texas professor says the Earth would be better off with 90 percent of the human population dead. “Every one of you who gets to survive has to bury nine,” Though his statements are admittedly bold, he’s not without abundant advocates. But what may set this revered biologist apart from other doomsday soothsayers is this: Humanity’s collapse is a notion he embraces. Indeed, his words deal, very literally, on a life-and-death scale, yet he smiles and jokes candidly throughout the lecture. Disseminating a message many would call morbid, Pianka’s warnings are centered upon awareness rather than...

This has to be the best news headline in years. San Antonio's WOAI has this to say about the excitement that happened last night near Seguin, Texas: Watson told News 4 WOAI, "We believe the gate of the cattle trailer came open, and the cow, for lack of a better phrase spilled out onto the Interstate. It was pretty chaotic for a while." Several cars hit some of the cows. One cow died. DPS troopers called for backup. That's when one officer was nearly run down by a speeding truck, carrying two illegal immigrants inside. Seguin Police were out looking...

I am not sure where or how to post this, but the local San Antonio news has advised that we have two Jordanian men in custody for identity theft. One was employed at a convenience store in Houston. They were apprehended 30 miles from here in Seguin with $85,000 cash and over 200 stolen and REPRODUCED credit cards. So much for going to my local "Habib." Be warned and be careful.

A Seguin mother home alone with her two young children was terrorized by a burglar for several hours until she fought back. Jennifer Cooper told News 4 WOAI the break-in happened shortly after she had finished watching a Spurs game and turned off the lights to go to bed. She heard her house alarm. “It wasn't my husband because there's no way he'd leave the Spurs game early,” Cooper said. She thought she heard an intruder. “I got up as quickly as I could, locked my door and then someone was pounding, trying to get in,” Cooper said. Cooper had...

Associated Press An apartment manager was arrested this week on theft charges for allegedly seizing electronics from a deploying soldier behind in his rent. Brenda Austin, assistant manager at the Summer's Bend Apartments, was arrested Wednesday on the misdemeanor charge. She was later released on bond, and her company's attorney says her action was perfectly legal. Austin is accused of taking a computer, a television and a stereo from the apartment of Spc. Carlos Hernandez, a member of the Texas Army National Guard scheduled to ship out to Iraq in January. The prospect of a legal fight to regain his...