Category Archives: Texas

NetJets aircraft crashes on Texas highway, killing one and injuring five

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The jet, owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, lost contact with air traffic control and crashed in Laredo

A private jet carrying six people crashed on a highway in Laredo, Texas on Tuesday night, killing one person, local police said.

Videos shared online by the Laredo police department showed the wreckage of the aircraft and firefighters working at the scene. Other footage, shared by the Associated Press, captured the immediate aftermath of the crash, with flames rising from the plane as police and others worked to pull people from it.

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Gee, whiz: elephant relieves itself on floor of Texas Republican convention

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Four-ton Paige, brought in as surprise for attenders, made gushing debut after governor finished keynote speech

An African elephant weighing roughly 4 tons that was brought to the Texas Republican party’s annual convention to excite attenders ended up drawing widespread attention for the wrong reasons after she urinated on the convention floor and became the focus of animal welfare concerns.

Inside the George R Brown convention center in Houston on Friday, attenders had been told to prepare for a “larger-than-life surprise” after governor Greg Abbott finished his keynote speech. Organizers also displayed a message asking people to keep the aisles clear.

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Trump administration land gift to SpaceX would hurt Texas habitat, lawsuit says

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Environmental groups say exchange between US government and SpaceX would worsen ecological risks

Environmental groups on Wednesday sued in an attempt to stop the Trump administration from giving SpaceX more than 700 acres (280 hectares) of wildlife refuge in Texas, claiming it would worsen ecological risks to a Gulf coast region already transformed by billionaire Elon Musk’s rocket operations.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service this month approved moving forward with the deal with SpaceX, which would surrender 683 acres (276 hectares) the company owns in exchange for federal land in the Lower Rio Grande Valley national wildlife refuge. The 103,000-acre (41,700-hectare) refuge spans four counties along the Texas border and is home to animal habitats and historical landmarks.

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All-white jury selected in murder trial over killing at 2025 Texas high school

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Karmelo Anthony, who is Black, is accused of stabbing Austin Metcalf, who was white, at track meet in an affluent Dallas suburb

After a 2025 high school track meet in Frisco, Texas, ended with one student dead and another accused of murder, Karmelo Anthony, then 17, was indicted on first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of Austin Metcalf, 17. Social media posts about the death divided the case into racial lines, sparking national outrage. Anthony, who is being tried as an adult, is Black; Metcalf was white.

This week marked the beginning of Anthony’s murder trial.

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Texas murder trial under way with 19-year-old accused of stabbing fellow high schooler

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Case draws nationwide attention amid debate over racial tensions, as defendant is Black and slain student was white

Testimony has been unfolding in the murder trial of a 19-year-old accused of fatally stabbing a fellow high schooler during a track meet in Texas more than a year ago.

The case has drawn nationwide attention amid debate over racial tensions, as defendant Karmelo Anthony is Black and slain 17-year-old Austin Metcalf was white. Prosecutors allege Anthony stabbed Metcalf during a Frisco independent school district track meet at Kuykendall Stadium on 2 April 2025.

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Trump-backed Ken Paxton ousts John Cornyn in heated Texas primary after scandal-plagued campaign

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Race had wide implications for Trump’s strength heading into midterms, where Paxton will face Democratic candidate James Talarico

Ken Paxton, the Donald Trump-backed Texas attorney general, triumphed over incumbent John Cornyn in the Republican primary runoff for senator. His victory signals that even a scandal-plagued candidate can win over the deep red state with the support of the president.

“After a public service career lasting more than four decades and 18 consecutive campaign wins, tonight we’ve come up short in this primary runoff,” Cornyn said shortly after the race was called. “I’ve always supported the GOP ticket. I intend to do so again this general election.”

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Texas officers rescue infant from car trapped in floodwaters

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Video shows officers and firefighters surrounding a white car partially submerged in fast-moving water

Authorities in Texas rescued an infant on Saturday after a vehicle became trapped in flood waters in Beeville, south of San Antonio.

Video released on Sunday by the Beeville police department showed officers and firefighters surrounding a white car that was partially submerged in fast-moving water. As one first responder approached the car, a distressed man in the vehicle asked: “Can you get my kid?”

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SpaceX launches its biggest rocket yet in test flight from Texas

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The launch is the 12th test flight of the mega-rocket that CEO Elon Musk is building to get people to Mars one day

SpaceX launched its biggest, most powerful Starship yet on a test flight Friday, an upgraded version that Nasa is counting on to land astronauts on the moon.

The redesigned mega-rocket made its debut two days after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced he’s taking the company public. It blasted off from the southern tip of Texas, carrying 20 mock Starlink satellites for release halfway around the world.

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Six people found dead inside train car at rail yard near Texas-Mexico border

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Discovery was made by Union Pacific employee inspecting stopped train at the yard in Laredo before it continued its journey north

Rail workers in Texas found six people dead inside a boxcar at a yard close to the Mexican border on Sunday afternoon, officials said.

The discovery was made by a Union Pacific employee inspecting the stopped train at the yard in Laredo before it continued its journey north, a spokesperson for the Laredo police department said, citing the railroad freight company.

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Teen mariachi trio detained by ICE to open for Kacey Musgraves in Texas

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Gámez-Cuéllar brothers were arrested alongside parents in February and later released after bipartisan backlash

Three teenage mariachi musicians who were temporarily detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in February have been tapped to open for country singer Kacey Musgraves at several upcoming shows in Texas.

On Monday, Musgraves announced that the Gámez-Cuéllar brothers Antonio, 18; Caleb, 14; and Joshua, 12, would join her for performances at Gruene Hall from 3 to 5 May as part of her Middle of Nowhere tour.

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Texas court overturns sentence for man on death row for nearly 50 years

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Clarence Curtis Jordan was convicted in 1978 but hadn’t had a lawyer for over 30 years

The Texas court of criminal appeals has overturned the death sentence of Clarence Curtis Jordan, a 70-year-old man with intellectual disabilities, who spent nearly 50 years on death row – much of that time without a lawyer.

Jordan was convicted in 1978 for the murder of Joe L Williams, a 40-year-old grocer in Houston, and was sentenced to death. In the years that followed, courts determined that Jordan, who has intellectual disabilities, was “incompetent”, making him ineligible for execution under constitutional standards.

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A day in the life of a 19-year-old in ICE detention: ‘I feel that this nightmare is not going to end’

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Olivia has been detained for months at the sprawling Dilley center in Texas. She has lost 20lb, and wakes up every day with a headache

Each day in detention feels like 48 hours for Olivia.

The 19-year-old asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been at the Dilley Immigration processing center in Texas for more than four months.

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Second ex-staffer accuses Texas lawmaker of sending sexually explicit messages

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Republican Tony Gonzales ended re-election bid in March after admitting to having affair with a different aide

A second former female staffer for Tony Gonzales, a Republican congressman from Texas, has come forward claiming Gonzales sent her sexually explicit messages.

The San Antonio Express-News first reported the text messages on Monday and NBC News later confirmed the report.

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Canadian woman held with daughter by ICE warns all immigrants to ‘lie low’

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Tania Warner says she has documents showing she is in the US legally, but immigration agents were not swayed

A Canadian woman who has been imprisoned with her seven-year-old daughter by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has cautioned other immigrants that they are at risk of detention, even if they follow the correct legal process – and warned them to keep out of sight for as long as Donald Trump is president.

“Don’t go anywhere near a checkpoint, and if your papers are in processing, just lay low. Trump meant what he said – he is trying to get rid of everyone, whether they are good or bad,” said Tania Warner, 47, who is currently held with her autistic daughter, Ayla, at the Dilley immigration processing center in south Texas.

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Texas residents feel homes shake miles away from oil refinery explosion

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Images and videos online showed large plume of smoke and flames billowing out from refinery, but no one was injured

An oil refinery fire near the Texas coast was put out on Tuesday and a temporary shelter-in-place order was lifted, hours after a large explosion at the complex shot plumes of smoke into the air, officials said.

No one was injured in Monday’s explosion at the Valero refinery in Port Arthur, about 90 miles (145km) east of Houston, said Charlotte M Moses. The Port Arthur mayor had urged residents in parts of the west side of the city to stay put.

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US high school student Cooper Lutkenhaus wins 800m to become youngest ever indoor world champion

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  • 17-year-old took time off high school to win gold

  • Beats Belgium’s Eliott Crestan by 0.14 seconds

US teenager Cooper Lutkenhaus made history on Sunday when he won gold in the 800m to becomes the youngest ever champion at the world indoor athletics championship.

The 17-year-old, who took time off from his classes at Northwest High School in Texas to compete at the championships, won gold with a time of 1min, 44.24sec, 0.14 seconds ahead of Belgium’s Eliott Crestan. Mohamed Attaoui of Spain won bronze.

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Canadian mother and daughter ‘traumatized’ by ICE detainment, husband says

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Tania Warner and Ayla, her seven-year-old with autism, sent to notorious Texas detention center and told to ‘self-deport’

A Canadian woman and her seven-year-old daughter with autism who have been held by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for nearly a week have been transferred to a notorious detention center and asked to “self-deport”, according to her husband, who said the pair had been “traumatized” by the experience.

Tania Warner and her daughter Ayla Luca, originally from British Columbia, moved to the US five years ago, when Warner married Edward Warner, a US citizen.

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Seven-year-old Canadian girl with autism and mother detained by ICE in Texas

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Mother and child held in notorious Rio Grande Valley detention centre despite presenting visa, family says

A Canadian mother and her seven-year-old daughter, who has autism, have been detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Texas since Saturday, family members have said.

Relatives of Tania Warner and her daughter Ayla Lucas say they were detained unlawfully. They are uncertain about what problem ICE found with their immigration paperwork.

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Cheese from largest US raw milk distributor linked to E coli outbreak

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Cheddar cheese from California-based Raw Farm identified as ‘likely source’ of infections across multiple states

Cheese from the country’s largest raw milk distributor have been linked to a multistate E coli outbreak.

Raw cheddar cheese from the California-based company Raw Farm has been identified as the “likely source” of several E coli O157:H7 infections in California, Florida and Texas, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), PBS News reported, though no Raw Farm products have tested positive for E coli.

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Judge orders ICE to release Minneapolis man after 50 days of unlawful detention

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Arrest of asylum seeker Elvis Joel TE and his two-year-old, without a warrant, had sparked widespread outrage

A federal judge ruled on Friday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) must release a Minneapolis man and asylum seeker who has been unlawfully detained for 50 days.

The man, identified as Elvis Joel TE in court filings, was arrested on 22 January at the height of ICE’s aggressive raids in Minneapolis. The case sparked widespread outrage as Elvis TE was detained with his two-year-old daughter while they were returning home from the store, and ICE quickly flew both of them to Texas despite a court order barring their transfer out of Minnesota.

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