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University employee
sues for wrongful termination
HOUSTON (AP) — A former University
of Houston employee has sued the school, claiming she was wrongfully
terminated after refusing to participate in fraudulent financial
practices.
Susan
Butcher, former director of donor and alumni records, claims that
she noticed “many financial discrepancies, irregularities and
perceived illegal reporting.”
Those
activities, she said, included legal donors not being credited for
their gifts, money allocated to incorrect funds because proper documentation
had not been requested from donors and income revenue wrongly reported
as gift money.
As
part of her duties, she corrected many of the errors, Butcher said
in Wednesday’s editions of the Houston Chronicle.
When
Butcher refused to lie to a donor or falsify records at the supervisor’s
request, he issued a letter criticizing Butcher’s work and
sent a copy to the UH human resources department, according to the
lawsuit.
She
was terminated March 15, 2001
Hospital
officials say patients may be exposed to HIV
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A hospital south
of San Antonio is urging hundreds of patients to get a blood test
after it discovered that a former nurse, who is HIV-positive, had
illegally taken intravenous narcotics from the hospital’s drug
dispensary.
Officials
at the South Texas Regional Medical Center in Jourdanton say the
nurse, whose identity was not released, worked in the intensive
care and surgical units from June to January, and that she knew
her HIV status during her employment.
Allan
Smith, the hospital’s chief executive, said Wednesday that
fewer than 200 patients were treated in those units while the woman
worked there, but that the hospital has sent letters to all 1,100
patients who received the drug Demerol during those seven months
to ask them to get their blood tested.
Smith
said the wider notification was made because of worries that the
nurse may have refilled single-dose vials of Demerol with saline
to hide her tracks using the same syringe she used to inject herself
with the drug.
Those
vials of saline, containing a small amount of the nurse’s blood,
may have been inadvertently given to patients.
A
prominent Houston doctor said the chance of contracting HIV from
blood-tainted saline is very small, but that a blood test is still
warranted.
Smith
said the hospital detected a problem with missing Demerol around
the end of 2001, and that all nurses in the ICU were given blood
tests.
He
said the nurse in question admitted Jan. 4 that she took the drugs,
and also revealed her HIV status. She was fired the same day, he
said.
Smith said the case has been referred to the state Department of
Public Safety and other state and federal agencies. No charges have
yet been filed.
Condemned
killer has knowledge of other murders
LIVINGSTON (AP) — Condemned killer
Rodolfo Hernandez, who won a last-minute execution reprieve last
week after disclosing knowledge of long-unsolved slayings in his
native San Antonio, described himself Wednesday as a well-paid contract
killer who has other murder information he’s ready to share
with police.
“I
wouldn’t do (a killing) for less than $20,000,” Hernandez,
52, said, recalling a half-decade of murder-for-hire that ended
with his arrest in 1985 for a fatal shooting he said he didn’t
do.
Set
for execution March 21, Hernandez met earlier last week with San
Antonio detectives, who asked Gov. Rick Perry to consider a reprieve
for the former auto mechanic and music group manager when some of
the information about numerous slayings started checking out. Perry
agreed and issued a 30-day reprieve.
“I
thought I had said everything, but I didn’t,” Hernandez
told The Associated Press Wednesday. “There was a whole lot
more that I should have said but I didn’t. And I’ve been
thinking about it and I need to tell them that. There’s a whole
lot I didn’t say.”A&M honors women in “Prairie
View Co-Eds”
Prairie
View Co-Eds honored for keeping jazz alive
PRAIRIE View (AP) — When World War
II whisked away the men from Prairie View A&M University, it
was left to the women to keep the jazz flowing
from what once was the Texas school’s all-male dance band.
On
Wednesday, the historically black school honored those women who
filled in and became known as the “Prairie View Co-Eds”
for blazing a path and bringing recognition to the school during
a time when it was the only public college in Texas blacks could
attend.
“We
showed that women could play jazz and give good performances,”
said Margaret Grigsby, who went on to become a doctor. “We
set out to do what we could with the war effort by playing in place
of the men.”
The
call went out on campus in 1943 that the school needed women for
the band. Those who had applied previously were denied because playing
music wasn’t something a lady should be engaged in, according
to a book called “Swing Shift,” which features the Co-Eds.
Some
who tried out for the band had never played musical instruments.
But
before long, 16 female students, mostly from small segregated towns
in Texas, began defying society, which then typically relegated
black women to menial jobs. And in doing so, they earned money playing
for servicemen throughout the South and audiences at venues like
Harlem’s famous Apollo Theatre.
College
honors gay professors fired in sex scandal
NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (AP) — Four decades
after Smith College dismissed three gay professors who were caught
up in a sex scandal but later exonerated, the school is honoring
the men with a scholarship and a program on civil liberties.
Some
say the college owes them more, including an apology. But the two
surviving professors are not expecting it.
Smith
did not renew its contracts with Edward Spofford and Joel Dorius
after they were convicted in 1960 for possessing pornography. A
third professor — and the only one with tenure — Newton
Arvin, was allowed to retire after his conviction on the same charge.
All three were exonerated by the state’s highest court by 1963,
the year Arvin died.
Smith’s
board of trustees voted last month to create the Dorius/Spofford
Fund for the Study of Civil Liberties and Freedom of Expression,
a $100,000 fund that will pay for lectures, research and programs
on civil liberties.
OU
officials say asbestos is no danger to students
NORMAN, Okla. (U-WIRE) — Despite
fears asbestos posed a health hazard for Oklahoma University housing
residents, university officials said there is no danger.
On
March 18 a student drove his car into the living room wall of an
apartment at Yorkshire Apartments. When the car was removed, the
wall collapsed, leaving parts of the wall, possibly containing asbestos
material, in the living room.
“That
room looked like a tornado had struck,” said apartment resident
Fannie Bates, journalism graduate student. “I personally stood
in the doorway many times and gazed at the devastation in that room,
not realizing that I could be breathing in asbestos in the process.”
Thirty-nine
hours after the car crashed through her wall, Bates said Paul Box,
a Physical Plant supervisor, told her there was approximately 1
to 2 percent asbestos material in the damaged wall.
Bates
and her roommate are being housed temporarily in a hotel until housing
arrangements can be made, said Jeff Hickman, university press secretary.
Bates
said Box apologized twice for not notifying them about the asbestos.
Ragland
found guilty in Kentucky football slaying
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Jurors convicted
Shane Ragland of murder Wednesday in the 1994 sniper-style slaying
of a University of Kentucky football player, and recommended a sentence
of 30 years.
Ragland
was convicted of gunning down Trent DiGiuro as the walk-on offensive
lineman celebrated his 21st birthday with friends on the front porch
of his Lexington home on July 17, 1994. Prosecutors said Ragland
held a grudge against DiGiuro after being expelled from a fraternity.
Ragland,
28, who faced a sentence as stiff as life without parole for 25
years, but would be eligible for parole after serving 12 years.
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