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Texas/Regional News from the Bryan College Station Eagle

Mom gets 50 years after child was beaten to death
VERNON, Texas -- A north Texas woman whose 5-year-old daughter was beaten to death has been sentenced to 50 years in prison. Kristina Earnest was sentenced Thursday in Vernon after pleading guilty to injury to a child by omission. She had been cha ...

Texas youths could face new charge after man dies
DALLAS -- Officials say a suburban Dallas man critically wounded in a shooting last month in which two children are charged has died. The man's wife, 46-year-old Darlene Nevil, was killed in the shooting two weeks ago. The Dallas County Medical E ...

White pledges to hire more officers for border
HOUSTON -- Democratic candidate for governor Bill White laid out his plan to secure the U.S.-Mexico border Thursday, a job he said his opponent, Gov. Rick Perry, has failed to do in 10 years in office. White said he would use federal grants, state ...

11 indicted in corruption case
EL PASO -- Federal prosecutors have charged 11 people, including the El Paso County district clerk and the mayor of a small West Texas town, as part of a years-old public corruption case. Nine of the defendants, including El Paso County District C ...

Dallas-area man blames shooting range for wound
ROWLETT, Texas -- A Dallas-area man with a bullet in his back is suing a mile-away shooting range.Michael Domin of Rowlett lives 1.2 miles from the Garland Public Shooting Range. Domin on Thursday sued for damages, alleging a stray .22 caliber bullet ...

Ex-Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Phillips sued
AUSTIN, Texas -- A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Phillips and his wife, accusing the couple of allowing minors to drink alcohol at their home before the 2009 death of a teenager. The law ...

'Birth tourism' a tiny portion of immigrant babies
SAN JUAN, Texas -- When Ruth Garcia's twins are born in two months, they'll have all the rights of U.S. citizens. They and their six brothers and sisters will be able to vote, apply for federal student loans and even run for president. Garcia is a ...

Dell concedes 3Par deal to HP
SEATTLE -- Dell Inc. is walking away from a bidding contest with rival Hewlett-Packard Co. for data-storage maker 3Par Inc. Dell said Thursday it won't match HP's offer to pay $33 per share for 3Par, or about $2.07 billion. Dell's decision came bare ...

Pallbearer for slain Galveston man charged in death
GALVESTON, Texas -- A slain Galveston man's best friend who was a pallbearer at his funeral has been charged in the 2007 apparent drug-related killing. Eric Calvert Kirby was in the Galveston County Jail on Thursday on a murder charge. Bond was $2 ...

Dad drunk in Lake Georgetown death, son also dies
GEORGETOWN, Texas -- Toxicology results show a Georgetown man was legally drunk when he accidentally drove off a boat ramp into Lake Georgetown, killing himself and his 5-year-old son. Witnesses the night of June 19 saw a vehicle driven by 31-year ...

2nd appliance rebate program for Texas
AUSTIN, Texas -- Texans frustrated by not being able to get through by phone or online to take part in an April energy-efficient appliance rebate program will have another chance. State officials have announced a winter 2010 offering using unclaim ...

Ellis County authorities seize $10M worth of pot
WAXAHACHIE, Texas -- Law enforcement authorities south of Dallas say they've seized nearly 20,000 marijuana plants with a street value of nearly $10 million.Ellis County Sheriff's Lt. James Saulter said Wednesday that the plants were found across fou ...

ATF agent shot during warrant sweep
DALLAS -- A Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spokesman says an agent who was shot during a warrant sweep on suspected gang members has injuries that aren't life-threatening.Tom Crowley says the agent was taken to Parkland Memorial ...

Texas Enterprise Fund loses another participant
AUSTIN -- A plastics compounding company operating in eastern Texas has canceled its state job creation contract, joining other businesses that have quit or changed their pacts under the Texas Enterprise Fund. Alloy Polymers ended its enterprise f ...

New test speeds up TB diagnoses
Scientists are reporting a major advance in diagnosing tuberculosis: A new test can reveal in less than two hours, with very high accuracy, whether someone has the disease and if it's resistant to the main drug for treating it.The test could revoluti ...

Judge won't toss drilling ban suit
NEW ORLEANS -- A federal judge who overturned the Obama administration's initial six-month moratorium on deepwater oil drilling refused Wednesday to throw out the court challenge, rejecting the government's claim that the case is moot. Government ...

Bastrop chief resigns after DWI arrest
BASTROP, Texas --The police chief in Bastrop has resigned after been charged with DWI following his arrest last month in Austin. Chief David Board was pulled over Aug. 16, charged with misdemeanor driving while intoxicated, then released on a pers ...

Inmate dies after escape attempt at Texarkana jail
TEXARKANA, Ark. -- Authorities say a federal inmate has died after falling five stories while trying to escape from a jail in Texarkana, Ark.The U.S. Marshals Service says 30-year-old Anthony Lewis of Springhill, La., escaped from a fenced recreation ...

Video: Captured Mexican drug lord knew top capos
MEXICO CITY -- A former Texas high school football player and petty street dealer who allegedly rose to become one of Mexico's most savage assassins says he personally knew the country's top drug lords and shipped cocaine from Colombia through Pana ...

Obama: Iraq war is over for U.S.
WASHINGTON -- Claiming no victory, President Barack Obama formally ended the U.S. combat role in Iraq after seven long years of bloodshed, declaring firmly Tuesday night: "It is time to turn the page." Now, he said, the nation's most urgent priority ...

Mexico captures reported drug lord 'The Barbie'
MEXICO CITY -- A former Texas high school football player and petty street dealer who allegedly rose to become one of Mexico's most savage assassins became the third major drug lord brought down by Mexico in less than a year, and could provide intell ...

Electric companies seek Texas help with non-payers
AUSTIN, Texas -- Switching electric providers in Texas has left some utilities with losses from customers who make a habit of paying a deposit, racking up bills and then opting for a new company and leaving the old debt behind.The Texas Public Utilit ...

Some states haven't changed coke-crack disparity
By DENISE LAVOIE and BILL DRAPERAssociated PressKANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Police found such a small amount of crack cocaine in James V. Taylor's car that investigators described it as unweighable. It was enough for a 15-year prison sentence in Missouri, wh ...

Warden leaving with no regrets
HUNTSVILLE -- For about 140 people over the past six years, the soft Texas drawl of Charles Thomas O'Reilly was the last voice they heard before they died.O'Reilly -- who retired Monday from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Huntsville Unit, ...

Court says gay couples can't divorce in Texas
DALLAS -- A Texas court of appeals has ruled that gay couples legally married in other states cannot get a divorce in Texas, where same-sex marriages are banned. The 5th Texas Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that a Dallas judge did not have jurisd ...