Results tagged “tsupresidentpriscillaslade”

Good morning, Houston. There's a new weapon in the battle to make Houston the most beautiful city in America: Beginning next week, commercial property owners will have to hide their Dumpsters behind a building, wall, fence, berm or shrub. Officials said they hope the rule — which City Council approved six months ago — will help increase property values and make properties safer (and, of course, prettier). Anyone who violates the ordinance can be...

Good morning, Houston. We've run into some, uh, active parents of student athletes in our day, but we can't remember remember hearing about one who was actually banned from his kid's sporting events — until now, that is. Meet Joe Dalton, who has been barred from his son's Stafford High home football games because school district officials allege he assaulted a student. It happened at the last home game Dalton attended, where he said...

Good morning, Houston. Are you registered to vote? Do you need to make changes to your registration? Better take care of it fast: Today is the last day to register or alter your registration if you want to vote in the Nov. 6 elections. Voters in 34 jurisdictions will elect candidates this year, and the state has 16 bond issues on the ballot — and, of course, there are big-ticket items like HISD's $805...

Good morning, Houston. If you've ever been to Rich's, the dance club in midtown, you probably won't be surprised to hear that the crowd there Saturday was sporting "feather boas, glittering hair accessories, sparkling dresses and tutus." But exactly who was in the crowd might take you by surprise: It was a bunch of kids there for Baby Loves Disco, part of a national series of dance events that benefit childhood cancer research. (In...

Good morning, Houston. Did you hear the one about the high school teacher who might have appeared in a bunch of gay sex videos? Well, now you have. He's a faculty member at Clements High in Sugar Land, and Fort Bend ISD officials got a tip last week that he has appeared in dozens of sexually explicit videos under an assumed name. The district has removed the teacher from the classroom while it investigates...

Good morning, Houston. At Houstonist world headquarters, our e-mail boxes are graced almost daily with offers from people who want to move millions of dollars to U.S. bank accounts and allow us to take a huge share of the money just for helping — eh, all in a day. But there's a new e-mail in the same vein floating around now: It comes from someone claiming to be Michelle Kristine Kraiser, the "the Confidential...

Good morning, Houston. Sure, you've heard a lot about Alamo defender Davy Crockett — but have you ever read his final letter? Soon you'll be able to see it in person: The Texas Historical Commission has bought the letter, which was discovered in a file folder last month, for $550,000. Crockett wrote the letter to his children Jan. 9, 1836, shortly after he arrived in Texas and less than two months before he died...

Good morning, Houston. Today's the last day of August, and you know what that means: Yes! Tomorrow, it'll be September! And why is that exciting, you ask? Well, as it happens, there are a few (relatively) interesting thing about the ninth month: For example, when the British Empire adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752, Sept. 2 was immediately followed by Sept. 14 — which, legend has it, led to riots by people who thought...

After four hours of deliberation, a jury yesterday sentenced former Texas Southern financial chief Quintin Wiggins to 10 years in prison for misspending nearly $300,000 in university funds on personal expenses for former TSU President Priscilla Slade. That doesn't mean the Wiggins story is over — his lawyer said he plans to appeal — but for now, we can't help but wonder how Wiggins' sentence will affect the outcome of Slade's trial this summer.

Opening statements began Tuesday in the trial of Quintin Wiggins, the former Texas Southern University CFO who is among those indicted on charges of misspending state money at the university — and, not surprisingly, Wiggins' attorney claims that what appeared to be the mishandling of funds was really just Wiggins carrying out orders from his bosses. Wiggins is accused of misdirecting more than $200,000 in public funds toward furniture, landscaping and a home security system...

More news from TSU: The AP is reporting that the 11-member panel charged with finding a way to fix the university's finances won't recommend putting a state-appointed conservator in place to manage the university's finances, but will recommend that some members of the Board of Regents resign immediately. The information comes from a draft report the panel prepared; its final report was due Thursday, but the panel asked for and received a 10-day extension.

Good morning, Houston. If you spend your days worried that an asteroid will slam into Earth, killing us all, this probably won't do much to ease your mind: NASA says it can identify all the asteroids that could hit the Earth, but it's not sure it has the money to do so. The agency estimates it would cost $1 billion to find at least 90 percent of the 20,000 potentially hazardous asteroids and comets...

Former TSU President Priscilla Slade's grand jury testimony won't be unsealed so Slade's ex-assistant can search it for inconsistencies, State District Judge Brock Thomas ruled Wednesday — though a grand jury will be able to review the testimony to see if Slade committed perjury. It's not clear just what inconsistencies prosecutors believe might be in the testimony, but prosecutor Donna Goode said last week that "there's enough concern on my part to go through the gyrations of filing the motion." Slade, of course, is accused of spending nearly $2 million in university funds on unauthorized personal expenses during her term as president.

Harris County prosecutor Donna Goode asked yesterday to have ex-TSU President Priscilla Slade's grand jury testimony unsealed so Slade's former assistant can review it for inconsistencies — though it's not clear just what the DA's office thinks Slade might have lied about. "I think there's enough concern on my part to go through the gyrations of filing the motion," Goode said.

A man who caused a Gulf Freeway traffic accident that killed three will face charges of intoxication manslaughter Ex-TSU President Priscilla Slade appeared in court this morning, but her case was reset for Sept. 14 Autopsies were performed this morning on the bodies of two men found on the west end of Galveston Island yesterday morning City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs will seek Tom DeLay's seat in Congress, she announced today Capital murder charges have been...

Had you been hanging around ex-TSU President Priscilla Slade's ex-house yesterday, you would have had the chance to see just what a $9,000 couch and a $17,000 bed look like: Moving crews began removing Slade's infamous furniture from the house, clearing out for new owners who are expected to move in today.

A flood watch for southeast Texas has been extended until 4 a.m. Thursday, but county officials say our bayous can handle the water Jose Javier Cruz, the 34-year-old son of Astros first-base coach Jose Cruz, has been missing since May 19 — but is he missing or hiding? Suspended TSU President Priscilla Slade met with investigators from the Harris County DA's office today A woman found dead in a burning apartment last week had been...

Harris County DA investigators searched TSU President Priscilla Slade's house today, looking for documents related to the home's landscaping and security system An Aldine high school teacher has resigned in the midst of allegations that she had an inappropriate relationship with a 16-year-old male student Gas prices in Texas were back up this week, closing at an average of $2.85 a gallon, up 3 cents over last week's average A traffic stop in Slidell, La.,...

In the market for a new house? Has Houstonist got a deal for you: a 6,000-square-foot on a prominent Memorial Park-area lot, complete with four bedrooms, a media room, travertine floors, a pool and spa and a high-tech security and entertainment system. It has killer landscaping and is spacious enough to hold all the $9,000 beds and $17,000 couches you could ever want. That's right: TSU President Priscilla Slade has put her pad up for sale.

Ex-TSU President Priscilla Slade may be out, but she's not down — or so she hopes. According to KTRK, Slade has filed suit against the university claiming she wasn't given a fair shake. According to the suit, the TSU Board of Regents scheduled a retreat for this weekend where regents planned to talk about how to begin a search for a new president, but the retreat was to take place before the regents granted Slade a hearing she's guaranteed under her contract.

The Texas Southern University regents will hold an emergency meeting this afternoon to decide the fate of TSU President Priscilla Slade, who's under fire for hundreds of thousands of dollars in unauthorized expenditures she made while in office. The meeting was originally set for May 5, but regents decided to move it up — perhaps as a reaction to the bizarre, carefully orchestrated "media campaign" Slade began last week. It's been interesting — not unexpected,...

Turns out TSU President Priscilla Slade actually did follow university policy on one of her personal expenditures: a vehicle registration fee of $64.30. That's great and all, but it doesn't quite compare to Slade's expenses that weren't allowed under her contract: a whopping $647,949. The numbers come from a report prepared by TSU's internal auditor which shows Slade spent university funds on things like donations to her church, auto repairs, a personal maid and maintentance...

More on TSU President Priscilla Slade's spendy ways: It turns out she spent even more of the university's money than we had heard. Receipts and invoices obtained by the Chronicle show that in 2005, Slade spent more than twice the $50,000 allotted her for travel, entertainment and other expenses, including more than $20,000 on club memberships and nearly $9,500 in moving expenses. Among her expenditures last year: