Women and Children removed from religious compound in Texas

How widespread is this problem?

Child welfare officials have removed nearly 200 women and children from a secretive West Texas religious retreat built by polygamist leader Warren Jeffs.

A search warrant authorized state troopers to enter the retreat run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and look for evidence of a marriage between a 16 year old girl and a 50-year-old man.

The search warrant said the girl had a baby eight months ago, when she was 15.

On Friday, Child Protective Services removed 52 girls from the compound. Marleigh Meisner, a spokeswoman for the agency, said another 131 residents were removed overnight. By Saturday afternoon, 137 children and 46 women were being housed and interviewed at local community centers.

Mose Jefferson Indicted

The feds indicted Mose Jefferson yesterday. He is charged with bribery, money laundering and obstruction of justice.

This indictment was to be expected. He is just another corrupt member of the Jefferson clan.

Wow!!! - What Nice Raises

What's new Bobby Jindal?


Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret, who Jindal tapped as his top business recruiter earlier this year, would be paid $320,000 per year starting July 1 -- a bump of almost $75,000 over what his predecessor received. The department's deputy director, Steven Grissom, would be paid $237,500, up from the $130,000 per year that the same job fetched in Gov. Kathleen Blanco's administration.

The top economic development director in Tennessee, by contrast, makes $180,000 a year, which in turn is more than those positions pay in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina, according to salary information provided by the House Fiscal Division.

Obama Leads In Texas Convention

As the smoke cleared from this weekend's regional Democratic conventions, Barack Obama emerged with a majority of the state's at-large presidential nominating delegates and possibly a majority of all Texas delegates.

But Hillary Rodham Clinton's supporters vowed Sunday to continue the fight for Texas delegates all the way to this summer's state party convention, promising to cut his lead in delegates.

The actual number of delegates awarded to Obama and Clinton will not be official until the state party convention meets June 5-7 in Austin.

Hurricane Katrina's Aftermath

This story just gets my goat:

The owner of RNR Enterprises of Boise, Idaho, Navert signed on in the chaotic weeks after Hurricane Katrina as a third-tier vendor on a City Hall contract to clear hundreds of miles of debris-clogged storm drains in New Orleans.

Motivated in part by a desire to help the ravaged city, Navert said he dispatched two vacuum trucks -- half his fleet -- and ultimately billed $189,000 for the work.

But 28 months after Navert and more than 30 other private contractors finished the job, many are only now on the verge of getting paid in full. This week, city officials secured from the Federal Emergency Management Agency the final installment of $10.3 million for the cost of cleaning the storm drains.

Was this just red tape or pure incompetence?