At this point, it would seem that not even death itself will be able to prevent Larry Macon from running marathons. The 68-year-old Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld partner just broke his own record in the Guinness Book of World Records by completing 238 marathons in a calendar year on Nov. 30. Macon broke the record by completing the Gobble Gobble Dozen in San Antonio. “It just sort of happened. You get to where you have a goal out there, and you think, ‘You know, I bet I can beat it one more time,’” Macon says. “And then you go crazy.” In 2012, Macon ran 157 marathons, breaking his own Guinness world record set on Dec. 30, 2011. To travel all over the country and run 5,528.2 miles in 2013 and still practice law, Macon says he often ran two marathons in one day. But one race that doesn’t count in his 238 total was the April 15 Boston Marathon. Macon was 1.2 miles from the finish line when police holding weapons told him to stop. “And they said ‘The race is over,” Macon recalls after two explosions disrupted the race. However Macon notes that race officials will count his entry towards another streak: He’s now run the Boston Marathon 10 times, he said.
Texas scores an “F”
The Center for Public Integrity released a report on Dec. 3 that grades states’ judicial-finance disclosures. Texas ranked 32nd, tied with Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina. California topped the list, and Utah landed at the bottom. The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, reports that it developed the rankings by reviewing financial-disclosure rules for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It based the rankings on how comprehensive the requirements are for judges’ disclosures about their finances and the public availability of that information. Texas, like 41 other states, scored an F. As the Lone Star State’s strengths: “Texas asks its Supreme Court justices to disclose at least some information in each category the Center analyzed. Unlike most states, Texas judges must report investment income, transactions and the number of shares they own in an individual company’s stock. Justices must also disclose their real estate interests.” And as for its weaknesses: “Texas’ financial disclosures are notable for a couple of key loopholes. While judges are required to disclose their family members’ financial interests, the reporting instructions advise judges to report information about their spouse and dependent children only if the filer has ‘actual control over that financial activity.’ That ‘actual control’ language has been the subject of controversy. … If ‘actual control’ was not included as a caveat in the state reporting requirements, Texas’ score would have been 18 points higher, according to the Center’s calculations.”
