Texas court hears case that could dent gay marriage right

The Texas Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a Houston case that top Republicans hope will provide an opening to chip away at the landmark 2015 ruling legalizing gay marriage nationwide. A coalition of religious and social conservatives sued America’s fourth-largest city in 2013, challenging its decision to offer same-sex spousal benefits to municipal employees.

Around D.C., Sheila Jackson Lee’s image belies her persistence

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, speaks during the news conference at the Capitol with other members of the Heroin Task Force on combating heroin abuse on April 21, 2016. That’s at least the way her critics in the past have dismissed her annual ritual of setting up camp on the House floor hours ahead of the president’s State of the Union address to Congress, all to secure an aisle seat so that the president can’t avoid her as he walks by.

2 Guardsmen dead after Apache crash in Texas

Two Army National Guardsmen were killed Wednesday afternoon when the AH-64 Apache helicopter that they were flying crashed into Galveston Bay in Texas, the state’s National Guard said. The soldiers were conducting a “routine training flight” when the helicopter crashed into the water just off the shore of the Bayport Cruise Terminal, about 25 miles southeast of Houston, about 4 p.m. local time, according to a Texas Military Department statement.

2 Guardsmen dead after Apache crash in Texas

Two Army National Guardsmen were killed Wednesday afternoon when the AH-64 Apache helicopter that they were flying crashed into Galveston Bay in Texas, the state’s National Guard said. The soldiers were conducting a “routine training flight” when the helicopter crashed into the water just off the shore of the Bayport Cruise Terminal, about 25 miles southeast of Houston, about 4 p.m. local time, according to a Texas Military Department statement.