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Texas

Texas mayor called target of alleged murder-for-hire plot

Mitch Mitchell, Patrick M. Walker Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Last updated Wednesday, April 11, 2012 - 12:12pm

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Mayor Robert Cluck and a Dallas attorney hired to represent the city were the targets in an alleged murder-for-hire plot that led to the arrest of a co-owner of Flashdancer Cabaret, the city said Tuesday night.

FBI agents arrested Ryan Walker Grant on Monday at his home in Kennedale, Texas. The Drug Enforcement Administration was also involved in the investigation.

The second official was Tom Brandt, who represents the city on matters regarding sexually oriented businesses.

Crime, Drug enforcement, FBI, Murder-for-hire plot, Ryan Walker Grant, Texas Read more Comments

A motorist makes her way to the service road after she was stranded in the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. City roads were flooded and thousands of Houston residents, including at least five schools, were without electricity Monday after powerful thunderstorms ploughed through the area prompting a tornado warning and dumping several inches of rain and hail on the drought-stricken region. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Cody Duty)

Rains cause flooding in Texas

The Associated Press

Last updated Monday, January 9, 2012 - 5:36pm

Severe weather, Slideshow, Texas, Utah, Weather, Featured Read more Comments

REMEMBER THE ALAMO ... and the many other great places in San Antonio, Texas

Patricia Sheridan Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Last updated Monday, December 19, 2011 - 10:25am

"You can go to hell ... I'm going to Texas," Davy Crockett said.

It's a sentiment shared by anyone fleeing rut and routine for the romance and myth of the Lone Star State. The legendary frontiersman made that statement after he decided to give up politics and its problems.

For him, that decision meant going from the frying pan into the fire. He ended up losing his life while defending the Alamo, a former Catholic mission built to convert local American Indians in the 1700s, in what is now San Antonio.

Features, Texas, Travel Read more Comments

Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Courtney Cook, of Layton, performs during a game at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, recently. (BRANDON WADE/The Associated Press)

Layton woman living dream as Cowboys cheerleader

JaNae Francis Standard-Examiner

Last updated Wednesday, November 2, 2011 - 9:43am

A 2010 Davis High School graduate and a former Layton High School student, Courtney Cook, 19, is living her dream of being a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.

The youngest member of the squad, she also appears to be the most popular.

Cheerleading, Pro Football, Cheerleaders, Competition, Davis High School, Layton High School, NFL Football, Sports, television, Texas, Utah, Featured, Football Read more Comments

(The Associated Press) This image provided by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles shows the design of a proposed Sons of Confederate Veterans license plate. Eleven years ago, when the NAACP stepped up a campaign to remove the Confederate battle flag from statehouses and other government buildings across the South, it found an opponent in then Lt. Gov. Rick Perry. Perry argued that states should honor their history and decide on appropriate displays. A related issue may rise this fall when Texas decides whether to allow specialty license plates featuring the Confederate flag.

Perry once defended Confederate symbols

Will Weissert The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, October 4, 2011 - 8:12am

AUSTIN, Texas — Eleven years ago, when the NAACP stepped up a campaign to remove the Confederate battle flag from statehouses and other government buildings across the South, it found an opponent in Rick Perry.

Civil War, Racism, Republican Party, Rick Perry, Texas, National Read more Comments

This undated handout photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Duane Buck. Defense attorneys are calling on Texas Gov. Rick Perry to halt the execution of Buck who is scheduled to be put to death Thursday because jurors heard testimony during sentencing in his 1997 trial that blacks are more likely to pose future dangers to the public. (AP Photo/Texas Department of Criminal Justice)

Texas execution halted

Michael Graczyk The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, September 16, 2011 - 9:31am

HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- A black man convicted of a double murder in Texas 16 years ago was at least temporarily spared from lethal injection when the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review his lawyers' claims that race played an improper role in his sentencing.

Execution, Prison, Texas, U.S. Supreme Court, National Read more Comments

(Sarah A. Miller/The Associated Press) A fire burns in the wooded lots west of Hawk Road Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011 near Diana, Texas. Texas is in the midst of one of its worst wildfire outbreaks in state history. A perilous mix of hot temperatures, strong winds and a historic drought spawned the Bastrop-area fire, the largest of the nearly 190 wildfires the state forest service says erupted this week, killing four people, destroying more than 1,700 homes and forcing thousands to evacuate.

Texas fire destroys 1,554 homes, 17 people missing

Ramit Plushnick-Masti, Will Weissert The Associated Press

Last updated Sunday, September 11, 2011 - 6:46pm

BASTROP, Texas — Drawn to the quaint Central Texas town of Bastrop by the promise of life in a quiet, wooded area, Frank Davis moved into his new home two Saturdays ago. The next day, he and his wife evacuated when a monster wildfire moved in.

Drought, Texas, Wildfires, National Read more Comments

Courtney Hughes sits in the family car as they decide where they will be spending night as residents along Kickapoo Rd. are under a mandatory evacuation in Waller County, Texas on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2011. Firefighters gained ground Wednesday against one of the most destructive wildfires in Texas history even as the number of homes lost reached almost 800, and an elite search team set out to find any victims in the smoking ruins. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Mayra Beltran)

Texas residents quickly fled as wildfire closed in

Christopher Sherman The Associated Press

Last updated Thursday, September 8, 2011 - 9:35am

BASTROP, Texas -- Dennis Silman was in line at the store when his wife's urgent call came through: They needed to get out. Smoke was drifting up through the woods and the wildfire that just 30 minutes earlier wasn't near enough to pose a problem was visible over the treetops by the time he got home.

In just 90 minutes, Silman was able to make four trips loading clothes and a few important possessions into his Mustang. He could feel the blaze's heat and hear the crackling roar as he packed his car. Less than two hours after they drove away for the last time Sunday, the Bastrop Complex fire consumed his home and six other houses of relatives who all lived within about four square miles of each other.

Drought, Texas, Weather, Wildfires, National Read more Comments

Tammy Heath spreads dirt on the smoldering ground in an attempt to keep a fire from jumping a fire break in Linden, Texas. More than 1,000 homes have been destroyed in at least 57 wildfires across rain-starved Texas, most of them in one devastating blaze near Austin that is still raging out of control, officials said Tuesday. (AP Photo/ The Texarkana Gazette,Evan Lewis)

Wildfires in Bastrop area 30 percent contained

Jim Vertuno, Michael Graczyk The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, September 7, 2011 - 10:18am

BASTROP, Texas — The Texas Forest Service says massive wildfires near Austin are 30 percent contained.

Drought, Forests, Texas, Wildfire, National Read more Comments

Firefighters from around the state battle a large wildfire on Highway 71 near Smithville, Texas, Monday, Sep. 5, 2011. A roaring wildfire raced unchecked Monday through rain-starved farm and ranchland in Texas, destroying nearly 500 homes during a rapid advance fanned in part by howling winds from the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee. (AP Photo/Erich Schlegel)

Wildfire destroys nearly 500 homes in Texas

Michael Graczyk, Will Weissert The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - 7:11am

BASTROP, Texas — Calmer winds Tuesday should help firefighters battling a wildfire that has destroyed nearly 500 homes in Central Texas and forced thousands of residents to evacuate to shelters to avoid the blaze, officials said.

Texas, Wildfire, National Read more Comments

'Pork choppers' take to the skies for wild hog hunt

Larry Zelisko Abilene Reporter-News

Last updated Thursday, September 1, 2011 - 2:28pm

ABILENE, Texas -- A new Texas state law went into effect Thursday that allows people to pay to hunt feral hogs from helicopters, or what some have nicknamed "pork choppers."

Helicopter, Sports, Texas, Hunting Read more Comments

(Chris Landsberger/The Associated Press) A wildfire burns near 63rd and Sooner Road on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011, in Edmond, Okla.

Fires burn dozens of homes in Texas, Oklahoma

Sean Murphy The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, August 31, 2011 - 9:49am

OKLAHOMA CITY — Wildfires fueled by extremely dry conditions and strong winds destroyed dozens of homes in Oklahoma City and North Texas on Tuesday and forced hundreds of residents to evacuate.

Fires, Oklahoma, Texas, Wildfire, National Read more Comments

Texas Gov. Rick Perry gives a closing address at The Response, a call to prayer for a nation in crisis, an event at Reliant Stadium that drew roughly 30,000 people, on Aug. 6, 2011 in Houston. Texas Perry attended the daylong prayer rally despite criticism that the event inappropriately mixes religion and politics. (AP Photo/The Daily Texan, Erika Rich)

Rick Perry's views on Constitution get closer scrutiny

David G. Savage McClatchy Newspapers

Last updated Wednesday, August 24, 2011 - 7:30am

WASHINGTON — Texas Gov. Rick Perry, faulting much of what the federal government did in the 20th century, has called Social Security a “failure” and “an illegal Ponzi scheme” and also cast doubt on the constitutionality of federal laws on food safety, minimum wages, bans on child labor, environmental protection and Medicare.

Election, Politics, Rick Perry, Texas, U.S. Constitution, National Read more Comments

Ashes of a Texas life: At 106, cowboy lost childhood home in wildfires

David Tarrant, The Dallas Morning News

Last updated Thursday, June 2, 2011 - 9:46am

ASPERMONT, Texas -- When Boss Winter's childhood home was built in 1910, Teddy Roosevelt had just finished his second term as president and the Ford Model T was only two years old.

Texas was still horse country. Farmers plowed their fields with horses, and ranchers worked cattle on horseback. Boss was 5 and already riding a pony when his Pa, uncle and grandfather built the family home with field stones for the foundation and 1-by-12-inch planks to frame the three-room house. Boss can't remember a time when he wasn't on a horse.

Now at the age of 106, Boss doesn't have much left but memories.

April's wildfires that raced through this sparsely populated community 70 miles north of Abilene destroyed his childhood home, along with two others owned by his family for decades.

Features, Cowboys, Texas Read more Comments

David J. Phillip/The Associated Press
Dr. Gerard Francisco (left) listens as Dr. Dong Kim speaks while giving a medical update on U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., during a news conference Friday, March 11, 2011, in Houston.

Giffords was told by husband she was shot

Ramit Plushnick-Masti, The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, March 11, 2011 - 12:59pm

HOUSTON — Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has been told that she was shot. Her ability to walk and talk is improving. And doctors say there’s a good chance she’ll be able to attend her husband’s space shuttle launch next month.

Doctors provided the new details about Giffords’ condition Friday, their first official updates she began intensive rehabilitation in Houston on Jan. 26.

They described several milestones in her recovery. The developments include the removal of her breathing tube last week and her improving ability to walk with assistance and talk in complete sentences such as “I’m tired. I want to go to bed.”

Dr. Imoigele Aisiku, her neurosurgeon, called the breathing tube removal a “fist-pump” moment.

Congresswoman shot, Gabrielle Giffords, Texas, National Read more Comments