By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX –
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott says the push in Washington to force most Americans to buy health insurance may violate the U.S. Constitution and eventually trigger a lawsuit.
Abbott and 13 other state attorneys general have already threatened to sue over a provision in the legislation, dubbed the "Nebraska Compromise." The provision would shield Nebraska from Medicaid expansion costs.
Now, Abbott warns Texas and possibly other states could sue the federal government over the measure requiring nearly all Americans to buy insurance.
The warning from Abbott, a Republican, comes as Congress enters the final stages of negotiations over the health care legislation.
Judge gives Arlington custody of exotic animals
A judge has granted custody of more than 27,000 animals to the city of Arlington after they were seized last month from an exotic animal dealer.
Municipal Judge Michael Smith ruled Tuesday that U.S. Global Exotics owners Jasen and Vanessa Shaw cruelly treated hundreds of species of exotic animals at their Internet-based wholesale business.
Arlington officials have said the December raid turned up starving snakes, reptiles packed in shipping crates and rodents that killed and ate each other.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that animal welfare groups have been caring for the animals since their removal.
The Shaws' attorney, Lance Evans of Fort Worth, said he believes that neither the facts of the case nor the law support Smith's seizure order. He expects his clients will appeal. In the meantime, he says U.S. Global Exotics remains closed until the couple decides on an appeal.
Former Perot employee surrenders stock profits
The Securities and Exchange Commission says a former employee of a Perot Systems Corp. affiliate has agreed to return more than $8.6 million from a stock sale related to its proposed acquisition by Dell Inc.
The SEC says in a statement that Reza Saleh admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement filed Tuesday in federal court in Dallas. The agency accused Saleh of insider trading, saying he bought a large number of shares with knowledge of the proposed deal before it was announced in September. The SEC said Saleh profited from the sale of those shares when Perot stock soared on news of the deal.
Saleh worked for Parkcentral Capital Management LP, the Plano-based investment firm of former presidential candidate and Perot Systems Chairman Emeritus Ross Perot.
Board approves Tejano monument design
The State Preservation Board has approved the design of a monument on the Texas Capitol grounds to honor Tejanos who first settled what would become Texas.
The monument was approved by the Legislature in 2009 to commemorate the Spanish-Mexican legacy in Texas but was nearly nine years in the making. The preservation board, led by Gov. Rick Perry, unanimously approved the site and design Tuesday.
Bronze plaques in front of the monument will describe Tejano history. The monument will sit on a granite base. One part of the monument will be a bronze sculpture of a Tejano on horseback. The monument will be located on the south grounds of the Texas Capitol.
Longtime advocates for the Tejano monument responded with applause when the preservation board took its vote.