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05/12/2008
Texas stopped from moving newborn, mother taken from YFZ ranch
Child Protective Services tried to whisk a newborn and his mother, in state custody as a minor after being removed from a polygamist sect's ranch, to a different city within hours of childbirth on Monday.
05/13/2008
Man who evaded state trooper in Sherman still at large
A state trooper fired on a 29-year-old man wanted on drug charges as he drove toward the officer Monday afternoon along Highway 75 in Sherman, police said. Bobby Lynn Haliburton and his female passenger were apparently uninjured.
EPA testing air in toxic Oklahoma mining town
Scientists were preparing tests Monday to find out how much lead-contaminated dust remains in the air after a deadly tornado blew through mountains of mining waste in a town that is already an environmental nightmare.
05/12/2008
Allstate Insurance to refund Texas customers $51.6 million
Allstate Insurance agreed Monday to refund $51.6 million to its Texas customers for overcharges in homeowners insurance, but the company will not have to return another $19.2 million in overcharges under a settlement with state regulators.
Video: Skimpy prom dress lands Houston teen in cuffs
Marche Taylor (left) was escorted out of her high school prom because school officials said her revealing gold dress was inappropriate.
 Tell Us: Your thoughts on the dress
Houston lawyer Joe Jamail gives University of Texas $15M
Houston attorney Joe Jamail, whose name already appears on several University of Texas buildings, is donating another $15 million to the school.
05/11/2008
Texas polygamist sect seeks Bush's help
A member of an embattled polygamous church likened a raid by Texas authorities to an act of terrorism in a letter to President Bush.
Mental health workers criticize state's care of sect children
Mental health workers sent to help care for the women and children removed from a polygamist sect's West Texas ranch are criticizing Child Protective Services, saying the state's decision to seek custody of the children was unnecessary and traumatizing.
Wildfire in central New Mexico fully contained
A wildfire that burned 59 homes and more than 21 square miles in central New Mexico's Manzano Mountains was fully contained Sunday.
05/12/2008
Texas and Southwest briefs
A company that sits near the edge of a massive sinkhole in southeast Texas has been accused of violating permits for saltwater disposal, which some geologists say may have caused the crater.
05/11/2008
House of Yahweh sect case may test Texas' anti-polygamy laws
Yisrayl "Buffalo Bill" Hawkins, the sect's 73-year-old prophet, was arrested and indicted in February – less than two months before raids on the Eldorado compound – charged with four counts of promoting bigamy, made a felony in 2005 after the unrelated FLDS group arrived from Utah.
05/10/2008
Immigration raids catch citizens and legal residents
Two U.S. citizens and one legal permanent resident were among those arrested last month in Mount Pleasant, Texas, during a federal immigration crackdown targeting identity fraud at poultry giant Pilgrim's Pride.
05/11/2008
Texas' early currency offers look at young republic's shaky financial roots
The birth of Texas as a republic is often told in stirring tales of heroic battles for independence. Often lost in history, however, are the hard lessons those long-ago heroes learned:
Texas state historical markers disappearing
A steel bridge nearly the length of a football field has weathered floods, the South Texas heat and a century's worth of traffic to survive as a rare engineering marvel of its era and to earn recognition as a Texas and national historic landmark.
Louisiana sales-tax holiday on storm supplies set
An upcoming state sales-tax holiday on flashlights, portable generators and other supplies aims to help Louisiana shoppers prepare for the hurricane season.
05/09/2008
Children had to be removed from polygamist ranch, CPS tells court
Child Protective Services didn't overstep its bounds by yanking hundreds of children – even toddlers – from parents who belong to a polygamist sect, the state told an appeals court Friday.
Wedding excitement builds near Bush ranch
While man residents of Crawford share a genuine hope for the future happiness of presidential daughter Jenna Bush, who’s being married tonight, many love the idea that, for them, it signifies an ending.
4th-grader rallies fellow students, hometown to help the Alamo
Amanda Dale didn't forget the Alamo. When the 10-year-old fourth-grader from Elgin, Texas, saw a news report on the damage that time and a leaky roof had done to the Shrine of Texas Liberty, she decided to do something about it.
05/10/2008
State auditor says dams' safety in doubt
The state's dam safety program does not have enough money and employees or adequate policies to ensure the safety of 7,600 Texas dams, a new report reveals.
05/09/2008
Texas Syndicate gang members reach plea deals
Three Texas Syndicate gang members will go on trial Monday on federal racketeering charges involving murder and drug dealing. The case marks the first time that federal RICO statutes, designed to bring down mafioso, will be used in a North Texas federal court against a gang.
Texas Tech regents vote to freeze tuition
Texas Tech University's Board of Regents on Friday bucked a statewide trend and voted to freeze tuition for next school year. Student and parking fees, as well as room and board charges, also will not go up for 2008-2009.
05/10/2008
Texas and Southwest briefs
Mayor Lynn Wells said Friday that he and Liberty County officials have agreed to seek a state disaster declaration over a massive sinkhole threatening this small town in southeast Texas.
18th child on the way for Arkansas family
It's a Happy Mother's Day, indeed, for Michelle Duggar – she's pregnant with her 18th child, and says she has no plans to stop any time soon.
05/09/2008
Texas Gov. Rick Perry reiterates plan to run in 2010
Republican Gov. Rick Perry said Friday he's definitely running for re-election in 2010 and compared himself to the chief executive of a prosperous corporation that is in no need of a change at the top.
Texas gas prices set another record high
Retail gasoline prices continued to climb to new record heights this week, according to a weekly survey released Friday.
05/08/2008
Few left at polygamist ranch try to make sense of it all
The classrooms, like the ranch, of the Yearning for Zion community in Eldorado, Texas, that were once full of children have been empty since the April raid at the polygamist compound. Since state authorities moved more than 400 children into foster care, the prospect of life returning to this community looks bleak.
 Photos: The ranch
 If sect fades away, Eldorado won't mind
3 Texas teens accused of using skull removed from coffin to smoke marijuana
Three Kingwood teens have been arrested and accused of digging up a secluded grave and removing a skull in Humble, a city north of Houston.
05/09/2008
University of North Texas conference deals with how schools can help children following immigration raids
The morning that immigration enforcement agents raided a meatpacking plant in Cactus, Texas, a carpool of teachers called their superintendent to say they'd be late to school. A convoy of black Suburbans with flashing yellow lights was blocking their path.
Dedicated funds leave $2B Texas budget surplus
A $10.7 billion budget surplus predicted this week by Comptroller Susan Combs set Capitol-tongues awagging with plans for tax rebates and self congratulations for cultivating such a robust economy.
05/08/2008
Wrongly convicted urge policy change during Capitol visit
One by one, nine wrongly convicted men stood up on the floor of the Texas Senate on Thursday to explain how innocent men ended up in prison and how to prevent it from happening again.
If polygamist sect fades away, Eldorado won't mind
ELDORADO – The satellite trucks and talk show hosts have packed up and gone. But this West Texas town, notorious for its now nearly deserted polygamist ranch, knows no normal.
President steps into father-of-bride role for Jenna Bush's wedding
President Bush stuck out his right elbow Thursday, jokingly demonstrating how he'll escort his daughter down the aisle at her wedding this weekend.
Texas man gets 14 life terms for abusing his 3 children
A Hays County jury gave Cesar Mojica Carmona, 24, the maximum penalty and fined him $140,000. The prison sentences will run concurrently. He was convicted of 14 felony counts of injury to a child for the injuries inflicted on his 4-year-old daughter and 3-year-old twins, a boy and a girl.
Applications spike for Texas concealed handgun permits
Texans are applying for concealed handgun licenses at a rate nearly 40 percent higher than a year ago, causing a backlog in new applications and permit renewals.
Officials monitoring huge sinkhole in southeast Texas 
Television news footage showed a tractor, some oil field equipment and some telephone poles falling into the sinkhole as it grew near Daisetta, which has a population of around 1,000 and is located about 60 miles northeast of Houston.
05/07/2008
Court: Plea violated rights of Houston BP blast victims
HOUSTON — Federal prosecutors violated the rights of victims of a deadly 2005 explosion at a BP PLC plant when they didn't consult them about a plea agreement to settle criminal conduct in connection with the blast, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
05/08/2008
Texas crackdown on uninsured drivers set to begin in June
AUSTIN – Three years after the Legislature passed a law to crack down on uninsured motorists, the number of drivers caught without insurance coverage under the 2005 statute is exactly – zero.
Judge OKs settlement on safety for Edinburg, Texas, juvenile center
AUSTIN – A federal judge has approved a settlement between the Texas Youth Commission and the Justice Department over inmate safety at the state's juvenile prison in Edinburg.
Texas Briefs
Fire damages historic building at university
Texas attorney general upholds ban on shipping horse meat across state
AUSTIN – Attorney General Greg Abbott said Wednesday that it's illegal to ship horse meat across Texas.
DEATH SENTENCE
HUNTSVILLE, Texas – One of the infamous "Texas Seven" convicts who escaped from a state prison more than seven years ago and killed a Dallas-area police officer now has an execution date.
05/07/2008
Giant sinkhole opens near Houston in small town of Daisetta, Texas
Overhead footage Wednesday afternoon by KHOU-TV showed a zigzagging hole believed to be as long as two football fields. There were no immediate reports of injuries. Officials are trying to determine what prompted the sinkhole near the Liberty County community.
Craddick foes see politics in probe of lawmakers’ employees
A skirmish over House members allegedly offering full-time benefits to part-time employees has become the latest partisan political battle in Rep. Tom Craddick’s efforts to remain speaker.
Arbitrator upholds vote to establish nurses' union at Tenet hospital in Houston
Texas affiliate of the National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association voted March 27 to organize nurses at Tenet Healthcare Corp.'s Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center in Houston.
AG to assist in polygamist ranch criminal cases
The judge who last month ordered 463 children from a polygamist sect into state custody says the state attorney general should help with any criminal cases.
Texas boosting attempts to rout feral pigs
Texas is increasing efforts to get rid of hundreds of thousands of feral hogs that are mangling the state's pastures, crops and waterways.
No division as segregation law Texas town forgot is abolished
A South Texas town this week abolished a segregation law seven decades after it was enacted.
Texas and Southwest briefs
More than 70 inmates at a Texas juvenile prison ran from their dorms and climbed into trees or on top of buildings before staff got them all back inside about seven hours later.
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