Category Archives: Texas

Missing woman found alive in vehicle submerged in Texas lake

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Woman had been reported missing since 5 April but on 7 April a local fisher spotted a black Jeep almost completely underwater

In what authorities are regarding as a miracle, a Texas woman was found alive in a vehicle that was discovered submerged in a lake two days after she was reported missing.

The woman had been reported missing since 5 April by the police department of Longview, Texas, according to a statement from the local Marion county sheriff’s office that was posted to Facebook.

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US appeals Texas judge’s ruling to suspend abortion pill approval

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Justice department calls decision ‘especially unwarranted’ because it undermines the FDA’s scientific judgment

The US government on Monday appealed a Texas judge’s decision to suspend the Food and Drug Administration’s 23-year-old approval of a key abortion drug, saying the ruling endangered women’s health by blocking access to a pill long deemed safe.

In a filing with the 5th US circuit court of appeals, the Department of Justice (DoJ) called judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s decision on the drug mifepristone “especially unwarranted” because it would undermine the FDA’s scientific judgment and harm women for whom the drug is medically necessary.

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US army sergeant found guilty of murdering BLM protester in Austin

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Texas governor moves to pardon Daniel Perry, who was convicted of shooting Garrett Foster during rally in 2020

A US army sergeant and ride-share service driver has been found guilty of the murder of a protester during a Black Lives Matter rally in 2020 in Austin, Texas.

After an eight-day trial and two days of verdict deliberations, a jury in Travis county, Texas, found 33-year-old Daniel Perry guilty of murdering air force veteran Garrett Foster, 28. Perry is white, as was Foster.

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‘What next?’ Schumer lambasts Texas judge’s abortion pills ruling

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Democrats including Senate majority leader warn of ‘dangerous new precedent’ set by ruling and vow to fight it

Democratic lawmakers are doubling down on outrage against Friday’s ruling that threatens access to a widely used abortion medication, saying the ruling sets a “dangerous new precedent” that could harm future medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

“Make no mistake, the decision could throw our country into chaos,” said the Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer on a call with reporters on Saturday. “Republicans have completely eviscerated the FDA as we know it and threatened the ability of any drug on the market to avoid being prohibited.

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‘Unborn human’: the anti-abortion rhetoric of Texas judge’s ruling

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Matthew Kacsmaryk issued a ruling on Friday aiming to suspend the FDA’s approval of abortion drug mifepristone

Texas-based federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk on Friday issued a ruling aiming to suspend the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, a common abortion drug approved for use 23 years ago that has been consistently found to be safe and effective.

It is widely believed that the anti-abortion groups who brought the case challenging the FDA’s authorization of the drug did so in Amarillo, Texas, so that it would be certain to land on the desk of this particular judge. Kacsmaryk, who was appointed by Donald Trump, is known for disregarding precedent and for weighing in on the far-right side of culture war issues.

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Effort to repeal Texas sodomy law advances with bipartisan support

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Senator Ted Cruz among those backing repeal of law criminalising homosexual conduct was ruled unconstitutional in 2003

Texas lawmakers are edging closer to repealing the state’s sodomy ban, two decades after the law was ruled unconstitutional.

A state house committee voted unanimously on Wednesday to pass a bill that would repeal the 1973 law criminalising homosexual conduct, which been unenforceable since it was deemed unconstitutional by the US supreme court in 2003.

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Trump describes 2024 election as ‘the final battle’ from podium in Waco

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Former president honours January 6 rioters and delivers violent rhetoric in rally at Texas city during anniversary of Branch Davidian massacre

Donald Trump, the former US president, continued to invoke retribution and violence on Saturday when he used the first rally of his 2024 election campaign to rail against prosecutors weighing a criminal charge against him.

Efforts by Trump’s team to steer a more conventional, disciplined candidacy have wilted in recent days as the 76-year-old unleashed words and images that – even by his provocative standards – are unusually dehumanising, menacing and dangerous.

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Mississippi tornado: death toll of 25 highest in the state in 21st century

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Fatalities from tornado the worst in 50 years, with more severe storms expected in the region on Sunday

Devastating storms and at least one large tornado which ripped through rural Mississippi on Friday night left 25 people dead in the state, dozens injured and rescue workers hauling people from rubble throughout Saturday, as the state reeled from its highest tornado-related death toll in decades.

Severe weather pounded several southern states overnight as the centers of destruction emerged on Saturday morning as the small, majority Black towns of Rolling Fork and Silver City in the Mississippi delta.

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Three-year-old girl accidentally shoots sister, 4, dead in Texas

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Girl killed sibling in family home with semi-automatic pistol but unclear if any of five adults present will face charges

In a case that starkly illustrates the deadly consequences that the US’s permissive gun culture has on the country’s youth, a three-year-old girl accidentally shot her four-year-old sister to death in their Texas home late on Sunday, according to authorities.

First responders found the slain girl while responding to an emergency call at 7.30pm about an injured minor at an apartment in suburban Houston, the local sheriff’s office said in a statement. She was there with five adults – including her mother and stepfather – when her older sister grabbed a loaded semi-automatic pistol and shot her, first responders learned.

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‘Alligators don’t make good pets, y’all’: Texas zoo rescues reptile stolen as egg

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Woman who did not have a permit to keep alligator as a pet confessed to taking an egg from zoo near Austin 20 years ago

A Texas zoo said it had taken back an 8ft alligator which was stolen as an egg more than 20 years ago, then kept as a backyard pet.

In an Instagram post accompanying footage of three agents gingerly lifting the alligator into a truck and releasing it into a zoo enclosure, the state parks and wildlife department said: “Alligators don’t make good pets, y’all.”

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Two Americans kidnapped in Mexico found dead, officials say

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Two killed, third person injured and fourth unharmed after quartet traveling for cosmetic surgery were seized in Tamaulipas

Two of four Americans kidnapped in northern Mexico have been found dead, authorities said on Tuesday, while their two compatriots were found alive, bringing to an end the frantic search that had captivated media attention on both sides of the border.

The governor for Mexico’s northern Tamaulipas state, Américo Villarreal, confirmed the news at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, adding that one person who had been found watching over the victims was in custody.

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Texas inmates say ‘decade after decade’ of solitary confinement is torture

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Prisoners who joined hunger strike to protest extreme conditions describe the damage isolation inflicts on mental health

Texas prisoners who joined a hunger strike in protest against the state’s widespread use of prolonged solitary confinement have described the damage to inmates’ mental and physical health inflicted by a system they equate with torture.

Guadalupe III Constante said that despite having a clean disciplinary record, he has been held in isolation every day since he was convicted of robbery 17 years ago. “I went on hunger strike to bring attention to this torture – I haven’t had contact with my wife, kids, brothers and sisters, parents and grandparents in 17 years.”

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Texas students raise $250,000 for 80-year-old school janitor forced out of retirement

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After Mr James’s rent increased by $400, he had to go back to work, but students raised enough funds for him to retire again

After an 80-year-old janitor had to return to work after his rent was increased, Texas high school students raised more than $250,000 to help him retire.

The janitor, known to students as Mr James, returned to work in January after his rent shot up by $400 a month, according to KDFW. The students at Callisburg high school, about 80 miles (130km) north of Dallas, started their campaign last week and shared it on TikTok, hoping to raise $10,000. As of Friday afternoon, it had received nearly $270,000 from more than 8,000 donors.

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Loud booms heard in Texas were due to 1,000-lb meteroid exploding, Nasa says

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Local 911 dispatches received multiple calls from residents about loud noises and a possible ‘explosion’ that shook their homes

A 1,000 pound meteoroid likely exploded in the skies above Texas scattering fragments over the ground on Wednesday afternoon, confirmed Nasa.

The meteorite had a diameter of 2ft and its destruction was felt near McAllen, Texas, in the state’s southern area, as residents reported loud noises in the area.

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One killed and three hurt in shooting at Texas mall near site of 2019 mass killing

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One person in custody after shooting in Cielo Vista shopping center, near Walmart where 23 people were killed in racist attack

Police in El Paso, Texas, say one person was killed and three other people were wounded in a shooting on Wednesday in a shopping mall.

One person has been taken into custody, El Paso police spokesperson Sgt Robert Gomez said. No immediate information was given about that person.

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Ken Paxton to pay $3.3m to ex-staffers who accused Texas AG of corruption

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State attorney general must also apologize to four former aides whose claims initiated ongoing FBI investigation

The attorney general for the state of Texas, Ken Paxton, has agreed to apologize and pay $3.3m in taxpayer money to four former staffers who accused him of corruption in 2020, igniting an ongoing FBI investigation of the three-term Republican.

Under terms of a preliminary lawsuit settlement filed on Friday, Paxton made no admission of wrongdoing to accusations of bribery and abuse of office, which he has denied for years and called politically motivated.

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Ted Cruz wants two-term limit for senators – and a third term for himself

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Texas senator says he ‘never said I’m going to unilaterally comply’ with his own proposed restriction

Ted Cruz has introduced a bill to limit US senators to two terms in office, thereby removing from Washington “permanently entrenched politicians … totally unaccountable to the American people”.

On Sunday, however, he said he saw no problem with running for a third term himself.

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‘Can you spell lynching?’: lawyer’s shocking note in Texas execution case

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Appeals court submission exposes racial toxicity in case of Black man John Balentine, sentenced to death for 1999 triple murder

In April 1999, John Balentine, a Black man on trial for murder in Amarillo, Texas, sat before an all-white jury as they deliberated whether he should live or die.

Should he be given a life sentence, in which case he would likely end his days behind prison bars? Or should they send him to death row to await execution?

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Advocates say 22 Texas inmates still on hunger strike but state disputes figure

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Solitary confinement inmates protest against brutal form of incarceration but state says it’s only aware of six striking men

Prisoners in Texas who have been kept in solitary confinement in some cases for more than 20 years are sustaining a hunger strike in protest against their brutal form of incarceration in the face of threatened retaliation from state authorities.

Outside advocates working with the protesting inmates say that in their latest count 22 men continue to refuse food, with two of them having been on hunger strike since the start of the action on 10 January.

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Exonerated US man buys his mom a home after she sold hers for legal bills

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Greg Kelley, who was exonerated in 2019, uses money from settlement to buy 1.3-acre Texas property for his mother

Years before Greg Kelley was freed from a wrongful conviction, the Texas man’s mother – Rosa Kelley – sold her home to help pay his legal bills.

But she once again has a home of her own after her son recently bought her one as a gesture of his gratitude for her support, which helped set the stage for his exoneration in 2019, his state’s capital’s daily newspaper, the Austin American-Statesman, reported this week.

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