The Standard’s news roundup gives you a quick hit of interesting, sometimes irreverent, and breaking news stories from all over the state.
The Dallas Mavericks’ longtime team photographer has been fired, The Dallas Morning News’ SportsDay reports.
Sources said that Danny Bollinger was fired on Friday, less than a day after the paper reported on sexual-harassment allegations made by multiple women against the photographer. Female employees told the paper that Bollinger had a history of propositioning female coworkers, as well as making inappropriate comments in the workplace. The Mavericks opened an investigation into Bollinger several weeks ago, on the heels of another investigation into sexual harassment within the organization’s business office. Bollinger was not named in that initial report, even though two women who spoke to the News said they had discussed Bollinger’s behavior with investigators.
The 50-year-old had worked for the team’s marketing department for nearly 20 years.
The federal government is launching an effort to bolster oil-and-gas infrastructure against cyberattacks. The initiative is being led by the Departments of Homeland Security and Energy.
Houston Public Media’s Travis Bubenik has more on the project:
“Top government officials met last week with industry leaders. The meeting spurred a new effort to use federal resources and expertise to quote, ‘better understand the threat landscape,’ and focus cybersecurity efforts in certain areas. Analyst Luis Luque with the firm Accenture says the risks for pipeline companies are widespread.
“‘You have one or two control rooms for a nationwide network. All throughout that network are these electronic components that are responsible for monitoring and controlling things like pumps, motors, valves, compressors and those are the electronic components that are susceptible to cyber threats.’
“It’s a big issue for Texas in particular – the state has more than 466,000 miles of oil-and-gas pipelines.”
Iconic west Texas artist Boyd Elder has died. Elder is known for his work designing album covers for bands, including the Eagles. His daughter Shaula Elder confirmed the 74-year-old’s death on Facebook Saturday night, saying, “It breaks my heart to say it is true. He is stardust.”
Elder was born in El Paso, but had deep roots in Valentine, Texas. In a 2010 interview, he told Marfa Public Radio that as a kid, he always looked forward to visiting the small town.
“Well I just didn’t have the outdoors, I didn’t have my horses and dogs. I just didn’t have the landscapes and vistas that you have here,” Elder said at the time.
The circumstances of Elder’s death are unclear at this time.
