Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones Lawyers Up in Attempt to Oust NFL Commissioner: Your Texas Roundup

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“All I want is a Big Red to drink and I will be fine.”

—An unnamed elderly woman to first responders in Tyler on Tuesday, according to the Tyler Police Department. After the woman fell and couldn’t get up, first responders apparently tried to convince her to go to the hospital to get checked out. All she wanted was the popular soda, so a police officer told her he’d bring her a Big Red at the hospital if she agreed to go. She agreed, and he made good on his bargain.

BIG NEWS

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones talks before the start of the NFL game against the Arizona Cardinals at the University of Phoenix Stadium on September 25, 2017 in Glendale, Arizona.Jennifer Stewart/Getty

Gridiron Court
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is apparently looking into a way to get rid of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. According to a report in the New York Times on Wednesday, Jones hired high-powered attorney David Boies and has threatened to sue the NFL and some team-owners over negotiations to extend Goodell’s contract. Last Thursday, Jones, who is arguably the league’s most powerful owner, told the six owners who sit on the league’s compensation committee, including the Houston Texans’ Bob McNair, that he had hired Boies and planned to serve legal papers if the committee didn’t scrap or delay its plan to extend Goodell’s contract. The prominent attorney was recently hired to defend Hollywood’s Harvey Weinstein from sexual harassment allegations. According to ESPN’s Outside the Lines, Jones has become increasingly unhappy with Goodell this season, and has said in recent weeks that the league needs to hire a new commissioner. Apparently, Jones is not thrilled with how Goodell has handled league-wide protests during the national anthem, or with the league’s pending six-game suspension of Cowboys star running back Ezekiel Elliott for violating the NFL’s domestic violence policy. Other owners are unhappy with Goodell for similar reasons, and, in a twist, they are also angry with Goodell because they believe that he has given Jones too much power. Jones has been a non-voting member of the compensation committee, but after he levied his lawsuit threat to the owners on the committee last week, the six owners revoked his status as an ad hoc member. Goodell’s contract expires at the end of the 2018 season.

MEANWHILE, IN TEXAS

Somber Visit
Four days after a gunman killed 26 people in the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Vice President Mike Pence visited with survivors and spoke at a vigil for victims in South Texas on Wednesday, according to the Dallas Morning News. After landing in San Antonio, Pence went to Brooke Army Medical Center for private visits with survivors of the attack. Then he went to Floresville High School, where he spoke with relatives of those who died in the worst mass shooting attack in Texas history. “We mourn with those who mourn and we grieve with those who grieve,” Pence said during a vigil at the Floresville High School’s football field, according to the San Antonio Express-News. “The Bible tells us that the Lord is close to the heart of the broken-hearted. That will be our prayer for you from this day forward.” He also admitted that the Air Force failed to do its part to keep the shooter from legally buying a gun. “He lied on his application. He had a history of mental illness, and there were bureaucratic failures,” Pence said. “We will find out why this information was not properly reported in 2012 and we are working with leaders in Congress to ensure this never happens again.”

Homeless After Harvey
Harvey victims are facing a housing crisis, as many who lost their homes after the storm are still sleeping in tents and hotels two months after the rains stopped. Officials of coastal Texas counties and cities that got the worst of the storm in August expressed their frustration with the federal recovery effort at a Texas House subcommittee hearing in Corpus Christi on Wednesday, according to the Texas Tribune. They were especially critical of FEMA. “They rank high on promises and way low on promises kept,” Port Aransas Mayor Charles Bujan said. They highlighted temporary housing as the most important need that has remained unmet. “You can’t rebuild a community unless your citizens have a place to live, and our citizens don’t have a place to live,” said Nueces County Judge Loyd Neal. According to the Tribune, more than 886,000 Texas households applied for disaster aid. As of last week, more than 51,000 southeast Texans were still displaced and living in hotel rooms, while at least 26,000 are living in temporary housing of their own, which could mean living in damaged homes, staying with family, or paying for short-term housing without any federal assistance. Meanwhile, Houston might be ineligible for future federal housing grants, including disaster recovery funds for Harvey, because the city still hasn’t resolved a federal ruling that its housing practices violate civil rights law, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Bad Men
Women at the Texas Capitol have made a secret list naming men at the statehouse who have been accused of everything from pay discrimination to sexual assault, according to a report by the Daily Beast. The spreadsheet, called the “Burn Book of Bad Men,” lists 38 individuals. The report about the book comes after it was revealed that women in media had put together a similar list called “Shitty Media Men,” naming dozens of men who work in the media for their bad behavior toward women. Both lists are part of a larger story of endemic sexual assault in various industries that has come to light since recent reports exposed Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s repeated attacks on women. But apparently, the “Burn Book of Bad Men” existed at the Capitol for almost a year before the news about aggressors in other industries emerged. The men in the document include campaign workers, legislative staffers, and lawmakers, with allegations of incidents that took place as far as two decades ago. According to the Daily Beast, most of the contributors to the list were women who worked for Democrats, so most of the accused men are Democratic officials or staffers.