Texas

The FBI is reportedly widening its investigation into Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton after new details in claims by former staffers that he helped a real estate developer in return for renovations to his million-dollar home and a job for his alleged mistress. Last fall, a number of senior staffers accused Texas's highest-ranking attorney of committing crimes to assist Nate Paul, later alleging that the developer or companies owned by him had a hand in work done on Paxton's home. All of those making accusations quit or were fired; four later sued the attorney general under the state's whistleblower law. The latest details have emerged in an updated court complaint filed Thursday. The lawsuit accuses Paxton of abusing his position to help Paul and claims the former deputies have information to suggest Paul "was involved in" the remodelling of a house in an affluent area of Austin, owned by Paxton. It also claims Paul employed the attorney general's alleged mistress as a … [Read more...] about Texas AG Paxton Faces Deeper FBI Scrutiny After Details From Ex-Aides

EAGLE PASS, Texas — Police and family members are engaged in a desperate search for a missing 24-year-old correctional officer in the border community of Eagle Pass. Evelyn Guardado, 24, went missing shortly after 2:00 pm on Tuesday, January 31, after leaving the GEO Group Incorporated Correctional Facility where she is employed. Guardado’s family reported her disappearance to local authorities who initiated an investigation into her disappearance. Guardado is a certified police officer who formerly worked as a deputy constable in Maverick County. Family members attempted to call the missing woman’s telephone but found it had been turned off shortly after her disappearance. Missing person poster — Eagle Pass Police Department Police located Guardado’s gray Dodge Charger at an apartment complex in the city on Thursday. According to Eagle Pass Chief of Police Federico Garza, the vehicle was impounded as evidence. Police released a poster to the public asking for residents of … [Read more...] about Texas Police, Family in Desperate Search for Missing Corrections Officer

Two aircraft, a FedEx cargo carrier and a Southwest Airlines airplane, were cleared to use a runway at the same time at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, forcing the FedEx plane to change course. The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) initial assessment was that an air traffic controller had cleared the Southwest aircraft to use the runway just before the FedEx plane was scheduled to arrive, KVUN reported . FedEx cargo plane. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) “The pilot of the FedEx airplane discontinued the landing and initiated a climb out,” the FAA said in a statement via the Associated Press (AP). The National Transportation Safety Board initially tweeted Saturday afternoon about a "possible runway incursion and overflight" earlier that day involving a Southwest Airlines plane and a FedEx cargo plane. https://t.co/kcjVtlouFx — KXAN News (@KXAN_News) February 5, 2023 KXAN noted the incident occurred at about … [Read more...] about Two Aircraft Narrowly Avoid Collision on Runway at Texas Airport

Texas Governor Greg Abbott once more faces tough questions after the recent power grid failure led to many in the state once again being left without electricity. Some 400,000 homes out of 13 million in Texas had no power last week as a deadly ice storm hit the southern U.S. Temperatures plummeted to as low as 29 degrees in south central Texas and reached lows of 27 degrees in the areas around Austin and San Antonio. According to PowerOutage.us, a website that tracks electric customers without power, 66,788 people in Texas were without power as of Sunday morning. Arkansas and California suffered smaller power outages with 24,114 and 14,561 in each state respective being left without electricity. Abbott issued a disaster declaration in Texas following the storm, acknowledging the power outages. Abbott's declaration includes Denton, Hays, Henderson, Milam, Smith, Travis, and Willamson counties. The governor said: "The State of Texas has provided all assistance … [Read more...] about Texas power grid failure raises questions for Greg Abbott

For the 26th time in two years, the Texas attorney general Ken Paxton recently filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging a Biden administration policy. The suit, which seeks to wipe out a new Labor Department rule about the investment of pension trust assets, wasn’t filed in Austin, the state capital, or in Dallas, where the Labor Department’s regional offices are, or anywhere else with a logical connection to the dispute. It was filed in Amarillo. Why Amarillo? By filing there, Mr. Paxton had a 100 percent chance of having the case assigned to Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk — appointed to the bench by President Donald Trump in 2019 and a former deputy general counsel to the First Liberty Institute, which frequently litigates religious liberty cases before the Supreme Court. “Forum shopping” has long been a problem in civil litigation. Clever lawyers use procedural rules to file in courts deemed most likely to be sympathetic to their claims. But what Mr. Paxton and other plaintiffs are … [Read more...] about Don’t Let Republican ‘Judge Shoppers’ Thwart the Will of Voters

Senator Ted Cruz , a Texas Republican, was confronted on Sunday for seeking a third term in the Senate , even though he previously pushed for limiting terms to two six-year terms in office. During an appearance on CBS News' Face the Nation , host Margaret Brennan asked the senator: "Why aren't you holding yourself to that standard? You said you're running for a third term." "I'm a passionate defender of term limits. I think that Congress would work much better if every senator were limited to two terms, if every House member were limited to three terms. I've introduced a constitutional amendment to put that into the Constitution," Cruz responded. This past November, the Texas Republican confirmed that he plans to run again for Senate in 2024, even though he reintroduced a bill last month that would limit senators from serving over two terms. The constitutional amendment would also prevent House representatives from serving more than three two-year terms. Those who … [Read more...] about Ted Cruz confronted on seeking 3rd term despite pushing for 2 term limit

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 2 OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A federal judge in Oklahoma has ruled that a federal law prohibiting people who use marijuana from owning firearms is unconstitutional, the latest challenge to firearms regulations after the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority set new standards for reviewing the nation’s gun laws. Lawyers for Jared Michael Harrison had argued that their client's Second Amendment right to bear arms was being violated by a federal law that makes it illegal for “unlawful users or addicts of controlled substances” to possess firearms. Harrison had been charged after being arrested by police in Lawton, Oklahoma, in May 2022 following a traffic stop. During a search of his car, police found a loaded revolver as well as marijuana. Harrison told police he had been on his way to work at a medical marijuana dispensary, but that he did not have a state-issued medical-marijuana card. His … [Read more...] about Judge: Banning guns for marijuana users unconstitutional

AUSTIN, Texas — Warmer weather has returned to Austin, Texas, after the winter storm that began to hit the state last Monday. It was a balmy 73 degrees in the city on Sunday. But to many residents in and around the capital who were still dealing with the storm’s fallout, progress in the recovery seemed frozen. More than 30,000 customers in Austin remained without power on Sunday night, according to Austin Energy, down from more than 100,000 last week but still a puzzling total to many residents who lost electricity on Wednesday. Adding to the misery was the continued presence of fallen trees and downed utility poles throughout the area. Life without lights, heat and electricity — and, in many cases, water — was a dominant theme of conversations over breakfast and before and after church services. All of it has tested residents’ patience. “We should have been prepared for something like this,” said Lory Ponce, 58, a South Austin resident whose property was battered by … [Read more...] about In Austin, Recovery From Winter Storm Is Slow and Piecemeal

In 1976, Gary Frank Sotherden’s appetite for adventure and the outdoors led him to the Arctic Circle, where he and a friend planned to walk on opposite sides of the Porcupine River in northeastern Alaska, reuniting when the cold set in and the river froze, his brother said. The friend made it out, but Mr. Sotherden was never heard from again. Planes flew above the remote, winding river in search of Mr. Sotherden, who was from Clay, N.Y., which is about a dozen miles northwest of Syracuse. The police and mountain guides also searched on land, but their efforts were unsuccessful. What happened to Mr. Sotherden was a mystery that endured for nearly 50 years — until Thursday. Relying on genetic testing and genealogy research, state troopers in Alaska confirmed that a skull found by the Porcupine River in 1997 was that of Mr. Sotherden. Troopers said in a news release that the suspected cause of death was a bear mauling, but they did not elaborate. Troopers contacted Mr. … [Read more...] about Skull Found in Alaska Is Linked to New York Man Missing Since 1976

HOUSTON — The United States is winding up a particularly devastating week, one of the very worst since the coronavirus pandemic began nine months ago. On Friday, a national single-day record was set, with more than 226,000 new cases. It was one of many data points that illustrated the depth and spread of a virus that has killed more than 278,000 people in this country, more than the entire population of Lubbock, Texas, or Modesto, Calif., or Jersey City, N.J. “It’s just an astonishing number,” said Caitlin Rivers, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “We’re in the middle of this really severe wave and I think as we go through the day to day of this pandemic, it can be easy to lose sight of how massive and deep the tragedy is.” In California, where daily case reports have tripled in the last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a new round of regional stay-at-home orders to address a mounting crisis over intensive-care beds. Some counties in the Bay … [Read more...] about The Virus Is Devastating the U.S., and Leaving an Uneven Toll