03/08/2010

Man killed in Commerce shootout had prior arrests for drugs
Authorities Monday identified the shooter as 29-year-old Artenio Rodriguez of Commerce.

Texas attorney general warns parents about video chat site Chatroulette
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has issued a consumer alert warning parents to keep their children away from video chat Web site Chatroulette.

Airman with shotgun disarmed at Sheppard Air Force Base
An airman in training at Sheppard Air Force Base was in military custody Monday after toting a shotgun outside a dormitory.

Federal officials shut down LA bus firm involved in crash that killed six
PHOENIX – Federal officials said Sunday that they have shut down the Los Angeles bus company involved in a crash that killed six people in Arizona as records revealed that the company had skirted government regulation, amassed a poor safety record and was operating off the books.

Veterans raise funds for monument to military dogs
FULTON, Texas – A former Air Force sentry dog handler in Vietnam has one last mission.

03/07/2010

Off-duty deputy hailed as hero after Walmart shootout in Commerce
An off-duty sheriff's deputy was lauded as a hero Sunday for shooting a man who burst into a Walmart during a gunfight with police near the campus of Texas A&M-Commerce.

03/08/2010

Texas & Southwest briefs
Footage shows missing exec at club

03/05/2010

Baylor gets $200 million for research
WACO – Baylor University officials say they've received the largest donation in school history: an anonymous gift worth $200 million.

03/07/2010

Voter ID among GOP resolutions
AUSTIN – Texas Republicans rallied behind resolutions on voter identification, spending and other issues in their primary last week.

03/06/2010

Online hotel bookers ask Congress to restrict how Texas and its cities collect room taxes
AUSTIN – Online hotel bookers have asked Congress to restrict how Texas cities and the state collect room taxes, a move that already strapped governments call a sneak attack on their wallets.

03/05/2010

Texans shocked by high electric bills blame Oncor's smart meters

TOM FOX/DMN

Hundreds have questioned the devices that carry data wirelessly to Oncor and instantly inform the utility of outages.
PUC orders tests of smart meters
Full coverage: Oncor
Link: Info on Oncor’s smart meters
Blog: Energy and environment

Texas child abuse, neglect deaths soar 31 percent
SAN ANTONIO – Deaths from child abuse and neglect in Texas soared 31 percent to 280 last fiscal year, according to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

03/04/2010

Texas wind project's stimulus funds may stall over Chinese parts, jobs
A group of Democratic senators may seek to halt stimulus funding for wind-energy projects over concerns that the program is subsidizing jobs overseas.

03/05/2010

Despite warning, Dallas students won't cancel spring break trips to Mexico
The warning notes that drug violence has been running rampant in northern cities, including Ciudad Juárez, Tijuana, Nogales and Matamoros.

03/04/2010

Perry urges Hutchison to finish Senate term
Gov. Rick Perry, who spent the past year bashing Kay Bailey Hutchison’s record in the U.S. Senate, said Thursday that he hopes she does not resign and serves out the rest of her term.

Texas unemployment rate holds at 8.2%

DAVID WOO/DMN

Job seekers waited in line at a recent job fair in Richardson.

The Texas unemployment rate stood at 8.2 percent in January, the Texas Workforce Commission said Thursday.
Texas lost an extra 50,000 jobs, Dallas Fed finds
U.S. jobless claims drop
Dallas job news
Search for jobs
Best places to work in Dallas-Fort Worth

Primary election results not likely to shift leadership in Texas Legislature
AUSTIN – While voters rejected five House incumbents in Tuesday's primaries, every senator who filed to run for re-election was renominated – even one in Waco who stopped campaigning.

Regents approve tuition increases for University of Texas
AUSTIN – University of Texas System regents Wednesday voted to increase tuition at their flagship Austin campus by 5.4 percent next fall.

Old-fashioned cattle thief looks to ride out term on house arrest because of health
QUANAH, Texas – Born 100 years too late, Roddy Dean Pippin rode his horse down the main drag, doing his best John Wayne.He still fit the part of the cowboy in this spit of Texas near the Red River, with its church-steepled skyline and landscape of mesquite trees and tumbleweeds. The town of 2,500 is the kind of place where time moves at a stutter step and parts of the Old West never faded away.

03/03/2010

Primaries are over for Perry, White: Let the barbs begin
The campaign between Bill White and Rick Perry began even before the barbecue hit the plate at the Tuesday night primary parties.

03/04/2010

Texas primary turnout is highest in 20 years
The high-profile Republican race for governor helped draw the most voters to a Texas primary election in 20 years – and perhaps set a record for a GOP primary.

Texas & Southwest Briefs
Officials look for cause of N.M. oil tank blast

Ron Kirk is not amused by secession talk
WASHINGTON – U.S. Trade Representative and former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk tore into the Texas GOP fringe's flirtation with secession Wednesday, comparing such comments to a return to "the Jim Crow South."

San Antonio hand transplant is first for Texas
SAN ANTONIO – In a first for Texas, a team of surgeons transplanted a new hand onto a retired Air Force master sergeant who lost hers nine years ago when a package bomb exploded at Lackland AFB.

Incumbent Texas Railroad Commission chair blames loss on voter bias
The chairman of the state Railroad Commission is blaming his overwhelming loss to an unknown challenger in Tuesday's Republican primary on GOP voters' bias against his Hispanic surname.

McLeroy loses education post, but his term's not over yet
AUSTIN – Social conservatives on the State Board of Education suffered a setback with the primary loss of former board chairman Don McLeroy, but the group still aims to have its say on setting new curriculum standards.

DISD teacher's victory surprised longtime education board member
AUSTIN – After 26 years of representing her State Board of Education district in the Dallas area, Geraldine Miller was expecting to cruise to another Republican nomination.

Cornyn calls Perry's label for Hutchison 'unfair'
Texas Sen. John Cornyn issued a tough critique Wednesday of Gov. Rick Perry's effort to tar Kay Bailey Hutchison as a creature of Washington, calling that "unfair."

03/03/2010

Cornyn: Perry 'unfair' in painting Hutchison as representing Washington

TOM FOX/DMN

Texas Sen. John Cornyn says Gov. Rick Perry unfairly attacked Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison during their race for the GOP governor nomination.

Cornyn also voiced hope that Hutchison stays in the Senate until her term expires in about 20 months.
High turnout clogs Collin polls
Politics blog: GOP incumbent: Hispanic surname caused loss
Photos: Election Day
Videos: Perry wins | Hutchison concedes

Trusty slips out of Sugar Land prison, makes cigarette run to Walmart
A convicted burglar slipped out of his prison unit to buy cigarettes, then returned unnoticed a short time later, authorities said, eventually leading to a contraband search and further criticism of Texas prison security.

Hatred toward IRS nothing new
AUSTIN – Michelle Lowry knows first-hand how much people hate the Internal Revenue Service.

Arkansas girl shot in getaway car dies of injuries
ROLAND, Okla. – A 1-year-old Fort Smith, Ark., girl who was shot while riding in a getaway car after a robbery has died, authorities said Tuesday.

Analysis: Hutchison failed to make compelling case for change

TOM FOX/DMN

Kay Bailey Hutchison concedes at Eddie Deen's Ranch in Dallas Tuesday night.

The senator had many reasons to believe she'd beat Rick Perry for governor. But the anti-Washington wave swept them all away. Late Tuesday, she lost her bid to force Perry into a runoff amid the whipsaw politics of the Tea Party movement.
For Hutchison, an 'abrupt end to dream'
Bill White, Rick Perry win Texas governor nominations
Editorial: Perry, White must hone messages for November

Texas, southwest briefs
Death row inmate loses appeal in '96 case

For Hutchison, an 'abrupt end to dream'
Right to the end, virtually until the polls closed, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison kept a game face as her yearlong quest to oust a sitting governor came to a head.

Chavez-Thompson wins Democratic lieutenant governor nomination over Earle
Former labor leader Linda Chavez-Thompson, buoyed by support from labor and Hispanic groups, defeated her two opponents Tuesday in the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor.

03/02/2010

Ratliff tops McLeroy in tight Texas ed board race
Mount Pleasant Republican Thomas Ratliff narrowly beat veteran State Board of Education member Don McLeroy in the GOP primary for the board seat that represents Collin County and much of Northeast Texas.

Rick Perry swears in military recruits, goes for a run as primary votes are cast
Perry capped a long slog for his party's blessing to stay put, to remain in the office he's been in for nine years, with quintessential Perry events Tuesday.

Mansfield couple gains ground after latest ruling on defective house
When a jury ruled against Houston homebuilder Bob Perry this week in the long legal battle with a retirement-age Mansfield couple with a defective house, it was more than a judgment.

Texas' U.S. House members win in primary election
The anti-incumbent sentiment presumably aimed at Congress isn't costing any Texas congressional members their jobs -- for now.

Conservative Christian wins GOP nomination for District 5 State Board of Education seat
Ken Mercer defeated Austin attorney Tim Tuggey on Tuesday night and will face one of four Democrats vying for his District 5 seat in November.

Starving longhorns placed in care of SPCA
More than 60 starving longhorns were formally placed with the SPCA Tuesday afternoon by a Van Zandt County Justice of the Peace who said the animals had been cruelly treated.

GOP governor's race tops Texas primary

KYE R. LEE/DMN

North Texas voters hit the polls today to choose their parties' nominees in several local primaries. But the main event remains the hotly contested GOP primary for governor.
Photos: Light turnout | Twitter: Election chatter

Mad emu attacks deputies in El Paso
A mad emu gave deputies a Texas-sized hard time. El Paso authorities say the big bird was running loose Tuesday, snarling rush-hour traffic near Interstate 10 and attacking deputies trying to restrain it.

Slater: Verdict in Bob Perry case was a message about court system
AUSTIN — When a jury ruled against Houston homebuilder Bob Perry this week in the long legal battle with a retirement-age Mansfield couple with a defective house, it was more than a judgment.

Gov. Rick Perry surprises military recruits at Dallas enlistment ceremony
Texas Gov. Rick Perry surprised two dozen military recruits in Dallas this morning as he showed up to administer their oaths of enlistment.

Museum to open at Austin home of Alamo survivor Susanna Dickinson
The legacy of Susanna Dickinson, "The Messenger of the Alamo," who survived the battle that killed her husband and then carried news of the mission's fall to Sam Houston, will be marked today, Texas Independence Day, with the opening of a museum in Austin.

Disaster money will help Galveston repair Hurricane Ike damage
GALVESTON – Galveston will rebuild its main wastewater treatment plant and repair other infrastructure damaged by Hurricane Ike with help from $107 million in federal disaster money.

Food banks to handle assistance applications
AUSTIN – A federal waiver that took effect Monday will allow food banks in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Fort Worth to handle food stamp applications directly.

Perry signs posthumous pardon for Fort Worth man
Gov. Rick Perry signed a posthumous pardon Monday for a Fort Worth native who was wrongly convicted of rape and died in state prison in 1999.

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