Texas ed board set to take 1st vote since primary
AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas' state education board, rocked by primary elections that may push the influential panel's far-right leanings toward the center, is set to take its first vote on a new social studies curriculum that could reverberate in classroo ...

Hearing on Texas oil spill in progress
PORT ARTHUR -- The captain of an 800-foot tanker that collided with a tugboat in a Gulf of Mexico waterway, causing the worst Texas oil spill in 15 years, was apparently unaware until moments before the crash that his ship was too far off course to p ...

Man pleads guilty in death of son left in hot van
GEORGETOWN, Texas -- A central Texas man has pleaded guilty to two felonies in the death of his 18-month-old son left accidentally in the family minivan for more than six hours.Thirty-four-year old Kesen Hu pleaded guilty Wednesday to criminally negl ...

Judge rescinds execution ruling
HOUSTON -- A Texas judge who came under criticism for his ruling declaring the death penalty unconstitutional took back his controversial decision on Tuesday.However, Judge Kevin Fine said he still wants more information on whether the state's death ...

Austin suicide pilot's widow grieves for victim
AUSTIN, Texas -- The widow of the disgruntled taxpayer who flew his single-engine plane into a building housing Internal Revenue Service offices says she prays for the widow and family of the man killed in the crash.Joe Stack, 53, flew his plane into ...

Off-duty deputy hailed as hero after shootout
DALLAS -- An off-duty sheriff's deputy was hailed as a hero Monday for preventing further bloodshed by shooting at a gunman who was headed into a Walmart in east Texas following a shootout with police.Delta County Deputy Paul Robertson was shot in th ...

2 San Antonio officers injured in attack
SAN ANTONIO -- San Antonio police say two officers were attacked at a gas station, and one shot a suspect in the arm.Police say it happened Monday after a man complained to one of the officers that he was being harassed by three young men. They say t ...

Texas facing tight budget
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Legislature will face a budget shortfall of at least $11 billion when it meets to write the next state budget in 2011, a key state official said Monday.The shortfall is the projected difference between available revenue and ...

State trooper shot during east Texas warrant sweep
MINEOLA, Texas -- A trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety is hospitalized after a shooting during an east Texas warrant sweep.The DPS identifies the wounded officer as Trooper Larry Vaughn. Trooper Silvia Jennings in Tyler says a Vaughn ...

Airman with shotgun disarmed at Sheppard AFB
WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- An airman in training at Sheppard Air Force Base was in military custody Monday after toting a shotgun outside a dormitory. George Woodward, a spokesman for base, said no shots were fired and nobody was hurt during the inci ...

JFK condolence letters published for 1st time
CONCORD, N.H. -- Among the 1.5 million condolence letters sent to President John F. Kennedy's widow after his 1963 assassination in Dallas were more than two dozen from Jane Dryden, a dogged and dramatic 11-year-old who churned out a letter a week fo ...

Texas can save water with new toilets, other steps
DALLAS -- Environmental groups say there's a simple way to conserve water in Texas: Get a new toilet.That's among the recommendations Monday in a report evaluating water conservation in 19 cities around the state.The report from the National Wildlife ...

$11 billion budget shortfall projected for Texas
AUSTIN, Texas -- A key state official says the Texas Legislature will face a shortfall of at least $11 billion when they meet to write the next state budget in 2011.That's the projected difference between available revenue and the cost of maintaining ...

Gunman, 2 others wounded in Dallas shootout
DALLAS -- A father and son were wounded Monday after a gunman walked into a financial office in a Dallas high-rise and opened fire, police said. Scared employees and customers at a bank in 15-story office building hid in vaults after the first shots ...

2 died in La Salle County helicopter crash
COTULLA, Texas -- A helicopter crash during a hunting trip on a ranch in south Texas left the pilot and a passenger dead.The Texas Department of Public Safety identified the victims as Brian Faglie of Uvalde and Dale Jones of Houston.The cause of S ...

River Cities Daily Tribune goes online only
MARBLE FALLS, Texas -- Beginning March 15, the River Cities Daily Tribune will publish its Tuesday-Friday editions online only.Editor Thomas Edwards says, "It will be the same great, thorough news coverage our readers have come to expect, only delive ...

Man accused in deaths of children found competent
BROWNSVILLE, Texas -- A man accused of beheading three children has been found competent to stand trial.A jury on Friday found 29-year-old John Allen Rubio competent to stand trial in the 2003 deaths in Brownsville.The Brownsville Herald reports that ...

Offering an alternative fuel source
Fort Worth Star-TelegramFORT WORTH -- Randy Hill lives amid the fossil fuels of America, a place where natural gas and crude oil made millionaires and the landscape is dotted with pump jacks.But Hill, who lives outside Abilene in West Texas, is spend ...

Gang violence up in Austin
Associated PressAUSTIN -- Authorities have charged an eighth-grader and a 17-year-old with first-degree murder in the death of a 75-year-old woman, in what appears to be an escalation of random gang violence in the city, police said Friday.Jennie McC ...

Judge declares death penalty unconstitutional
HOUSTON -- A state district judge in Houston is answering a torrent of high-profile criticism after he declared the death penalty unconstitutional.Judge Kevin Fine said during a court hearing Friday he is not legislating from the bench and there is n ...

4 Texans accused of hacking high school computers
RICHMOND, Texas -- Four former students at three suburban Houston high schools have been indicted for allegedly hacking into their school computers.The four are accused of breaking into the Fort Bend Independent School District computers and changing ...

DPS: spring breakers avoid Mexican border cities
AUSTIN, Texas -- The Department of Public Safety is advising Texans on spring break to avoid Mexican border cities because of drug cartel violence.DPS Director Steven McCraw on Thursday, in a statement, cited an increase in Mexican drug cartel-rela ...

Anti-government voters factor in Texas race
AUSTIN, Texas -- Debra Medina was hardly the ideal candidate in Tuesday's Republican primary: She didn't raise much money and came under fire for suggesting the U.S. might have been involved in the Sept. 11 attacks. Still, she won nearly one out of e ...

UT regents elect first woman to lead board
AUSTIN, Texas -- Colleen McHugh, appointed a University of Texas System regent in 2005 by Gov. Rick Perry, has been elected as the board's first chairwoman.Regents on Wednesday unanimously chose the 63-year-old attorney and hospital executive from Co ...

AP IMPACT: Toyota secretive on 'black box' data
SOUTHLAKE, Texas -- Toyota has for years blocked access to data stored in devices similar to airline "black boxes" that could explain crashes blamed on sudden unintended acceleration, according to an Associated Press review of lawsuits nationwide and ...