By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX –
The Texas Youth Commission says it will make use of findings from a new national study showing two Texas facilities having high rates of reported sex abuse. But TYC says it already takes sexual misconduct allegations seriously.
TYC spokesman Jim Hurley responded Thursday to a new Justice Department study that found nationwide about 12 percent of youths held in state-run, privately run or local facilities reported some type of sexual victimization. One of the six sites with a reported victimization of 30 percent or higher was in Corsicana.
Hurley said TYC has a "zero tolerance" on sexual misconduct.
He pointed out that at the time the study was done, mid-2008, TYC was embarking on many of the reforms that came about after a widely publicized abuse scandal within the Texas youth prison system.
Perry urges budget mandate in U.S. Constitution
Gov. Rick Perry continues his criticism of Washington, proposing an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to require Congress to balance the federal budget. Perry said Thursday in Houston that federal spending is out of control and unless it's reined in, it will ruin the country.
In a Wednesday appearance in Lubbock, Perry issued proposals that would make it difficult for the Legislature to raise taxes and would limit the amount state spending could grow.
While Perry didn't mention his March Republican primary opponent, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, he continually faulted Congress for its fiscal practices. Perry has previously accused Hutchison of being a Washington insider.
Hutchison's campaign called Perry's criticism "election-year rhetoric" and accused him of not being fiscally responsible during his time as governor.
New EPA smog limits proposed
New stricter federal health standards for smog mean more counties in Texas will be in violation of the Clean Air Act.
The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed the standards to replace a Bush-era limit that ran counter to scientific recommendations. The new limits will likely put hundreds more counties nationwide in violation of the Clean Air Act, a designation that will require them to find additional ways to clamp down on pollution or face government sanctions.
The Houston and Dallas areas have never met Clean Air Act requirements for ozone pollution. And other areas will also find themselves out of compliance, too, including those around San Antonio, Austin, El Paso and Tyler.
Texas AG says Perry can pardon dead DNA exoneree
The Texas attorney general says Gov. Rick Perry can pardon a wrongly convicted man who was cleared of rape after he died in prison.
Attorney General Greg Abbott issued his opinion about posthumous pardons Thursday. It clears the way for Perry to pardon Tim Cole, an Army veteran who died in prison in 1999 at age 39.
Cole had been wrongly convicted of the 1985 rape of a Texas Tech University student. A 2008 DNA test proved his innocence, 13 years after another man confessed in a series of letters to Lubbock County prosecutors and judges.
Cole's family sought the pardon. Perry, though expressing sympathy, maintained he didn't believe he was legally permitted to issue one.
Cole's brother tells The Associated Press that a Perry aide says the governor will pardon Cole.