The State of Texas: April 13, 2016

Quote of the Day

“Before long, I had a little bottle, then I got a bigger bottle and then I got the biggest bottle there is.”

-Micah Duncan to KSAT. The mother of a pre-mature baby had been stockpiling breast milk at an incredible rate, as doctors told her the baby would likely need to be bottle fed. Then, out of nowhere, the baby latched. With an amazing fifteen gallon surplus of breast milk stowed away, the mother decided to donate her cache to the Texas Breast Milk Bank in Austin. According to KSAT, Duncan’s donation is the largest of any mother at The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio, and is likely the be some sort of record.

Daily Roundup

Free Ride—His parents weren’t the only ones who spoiled Ethan Couch. Apparently, taxpayers largely funded the so-called “affluenza” teen’s rehab for more than a year after Couch was convicted of killing four people in a DWI crash in 2013. He returned the favor, of course, by violating his probation, jumping the border into Mexico, and leading authorities on a who-knows-how-expensive manhunt. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, in February 2014 Couch was ordered to rehabilitation at the North Texas State Hospital in Vernon, where the $20,000-per month price tag was apparently too much for Couch’s parents to pay, so Fred and Tonya were only ordered to pick up $1,170 of the bill. For those keeping score at home, that’s around $150,000 we dolled out for a kid who proceeded to literally take the money and run. The good news? It’ll be a lot tougher this time around for Couch, who was apprehended in December. Couch turned nineteen-years-old on Monday, and according to the Dallas Morning News, Couch is scheduled to appear in adult court Wednesday morning.

Divisive Vice—Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro is feeling the Bern, but it kinda stings. The former mayor of San Antonio is a popular pick to end up as Hillary Clinton’s running mate, and according to Politico, “the veepstakes oppo war has begun.” A coalition of pro-Bernie Sanders Democrats are apparently attempting to paint Castro as a faux-progressive. Writes Politico: “Tuesday morning, the group emailed petitions to several million people attacking Castro on the relatively obscure issue of his handling of mortgage sales and launching a website with an unsubtle address: DontSellOurHomesToWallStreet.org.” According to the San Antonio Express-News, the coalition claims Castro “allows banks to loot communities” through a HUD program that “pools seriously delinquent mortgages headed toward foreclosure to be bundled and sold… [and] encourages purchasers to work with borrowers… to bring the loan out of default.” The coalition claims that 98 percent of those mortgages are sold to Wall Street banks. The Texas Tribune says that if Castro lands on Clinton’s ticket, it could really help the Democratic party “make inroads in Texas,” so naturally, the chair of the Texas Democratic Party came to Castro’s defense, saying in a statement that the state party “would be honored to stand by Julian Castro as the next Vice President.”

UT Campus Homicide—Some gruesome details emerged Tuesday night shedding more light on the tragic murder at University of Texas. According to the Austin American-Statesman, which cited anonymous law enforcement officials, eighteen-year-old Haruka Weiser appeared to have been strangled to death and may have been sexually assaulted. Writes the Statesman: “The disclosure marks the first public release about how investigators think Weiser died.” Last week, police arrested a homeless seventeen-year-old, Meechaiel Criner, and charged him with Weiser’s murder. According to an affidavit, UT surveillance cameras appear to have recorded Weiser walking past Criner along a creekside path near the campus drama building last Sunday night. The affidavit reportedly said Criner “watched her and then put down the kick stand of his bike… reached into the back of his pants, pulled out a ‘shiny rigid object,’ and followed Weiser behind the alumni center.” Two hours later, according to the affidavit, Criner was spotted again on surveillance footage, walking nearby with a limp and carrying a duffel bag. Firefighters later found Criner burning a number of items, which the affidavit reportedly said were probably Weiser’s. From the Statesman: “They included a shoe and college coursework. At the shelter [Criner was taken to], police found a laptop affixed with a Portland, Ore., sticker, like the one Weiser’s parents said was on her laptop.”