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The Department of Defense announced Thursday that it is investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Andrew Velez, a 22-year-old Army specialist from Lubbock. According to a statement issued by Fort Irwin in California, Velez died of a non-combat-related gunshot wound early Monday morning. Velez is the second of two brothers who have died while serving their country. Jose "Freddy" Velez, a 23-year-old Army corporal, was shot and killed in 2004 while fighting in Iraq. He received two Purple Hearts and a Silver and Bronze Star for his bravery. John Wagstaffe, a spokesman for Fort Irwin, said that it may...

Fallen brothers gave their all in war and in life BY JASON WOMACKAVALANCHE-JOURNAL The last time Sarah Harris saw Andrew Velez, he was dressed in uniform carrying the casket of his brother. They spoke briefly that day about the war that took Andrew's brother Freddy. "He told me he wanted to go back immediately and finish the job his brother had started," she said. The 22-year-old Army specialist left for Afghanistan in March. On Monday, he was shot and died there. Joe Don Buckner / Staff Velez displays stones that he carried to feel close to his two sons...

LUBBOCK -- Less than two years ago, Roy Velez got the worst news a father could get: His oldest son was dead, killed during combat in Iraq. This week, his pain only deepened with news that his youngest son had died in Afghanistan. Military officials notified the Velez family Tuesday of the death of Army Pfc. Andrew Velez, 22. His brother, Army Spc. Jose A. Velez, 23, died in November 2004 in Fallujah when his unit came under fire while clearing an enemy stronghold. "I can't be angry. I feel like my heart's been pulled out," Roy Velez said Tuesday....

LUBBOCK, Texas, July 24 (UPI) -- Public officials in Lubbock, Texas, are organizing a day to pray for rain. "Nobody is going to tell God what to do and what not to do, but we are in a serious drought in West Texas and since he is the man who controls the rain clouds, we're asking him for his mercy and his help," Mayor David Miller told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. The City Council and the Lubbock County commissioners are expected to adopt resolutions this week asking local residents to both pray and fast for rain this Sunday. So far this...

Gubernatorial candidate Bell pays visit to Hub City BY BETH AARON AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Texas schools focus too much on standardized testing, and teacher salaries should be increased, gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell said. Speaking before members of the Texas Sheriff's Association on Monday, Bell, D-Houston, said the state needs to focus on reforming public education and health care and discussed why he supports stem cell research. "We do live in a big state with big dreams, but right now we face big challenges, he said from a podium in the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center Theater. "It's about a new way versus an...

Candidate Kinky holds court at Bleacher's Cafe RUTH BRADLEY AVALANCHE-JOURNAL When Kinky Friedman walked into Bleacher's Sports Cafe Sunday afternoon, a cigar in his mouth, he stopped for a moment to take a picture with a constituent before taking his place on stage next to a sign reading "Keep Austin weird, make Lubbock Kinky." This is not your typical gubernatorial candidate. And that's the way Friedman wants it. "I think that most of us have come to the conclusion that we could use a non-politician to run the state of Texas," he said, a cigar in one hand and a...

Billy Briggs was uncertain how people would respond when he and his wife of 10 years, Katie, wrote "Trouble in the Henhouse," a song which suggests that the Dixie Chicks can find hypocrisy in a mirror. He calls it a response to the Dixie Chicks' "Lubbock or Leave It," a tune the trio described as a musical attack on the "hypocrisy of small towns" - most notably Lubbock. "I don't write novelty songs," said Briggs, 29, whose most recent compositions were for "29 Reasons to Run," an independent film on the festival circuit. "I didn't write 'Trouble in the Henhouse'...

6/13/06 Songwriter Responds to Dixie Chicks 'Lubbock or Leave It'   Get More on KCBD.com   It's no secret the Dixie Chicks have ruffled some tail feathers since their 2003 comment about President Bush. And their latest album 'Taking the Long Way' is targeting Lubbock. You'll recall some radio stations in Lubbock still aren't playing the chicks or their new song, 'Lubbock or Leave It.' Now one singer, songwriter is putting his reaction to the song to music.Billy Briggs is a Lubbock native who now lives in the Dallas area. After reading the lyrics to 'Lubbock or Leave It',...

An amber alert has been issued after a Lubbock police say a four-day old child was taken from her parents. Priscilla Nicole Maldonado was taken from her home around 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon in the 2200 block of 46th Street by a woman who claimed she was a nurse. Priscilla was born Wednesday at UMC. While at the hospital, a woman identifying herself as Lisa Stewart came by the room several times and checked on the baby and visited with the child`s mother, Erica Ysasaga. According to the mother, Stewart was wearing scrubs and gave the appearance of being either...

Appraisals draw ire of residents BY JAMES GALLAGHER AVALANCHE-JOURNAL The value of Ken Cowling's home jumped more than 34 percent this year, and he is starting to wonder if it will ever stop going up. The home is now valued at more than $241,000, compared to about $180,000 last year. It's value has increased each year since 2003. Cowling said he'd sell his house, "if I could find someone who would pay for it." Several of Cowling's other properties also saw similar appraisal increases, including some duplexes. Cowling said he can't understand the increase since the duplex market in Lubbock...

Teen charged with trying to poison dad BY BETH AARON AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Lubbock police arrested and charged a 13-year-old girl with aggravated assault after she admitted trying to poison her father. Officers responded to a domestic disturbance in the 4800 block of 55th Street on Friday. The girl's father, 42, told police he had instructed his daughter to complete chores the night before. He said she refused and went to bed, Sgt. Scott Farmer said. The next morning, the father reported he woke his daughter up before he left for work and told her to complete the chores she had avoided...

BY BETH AARON AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Lubbock police have raised the number of sexual assaults possibly committed by the same suspect to three within the past two weeks. The details and the description of the suspect and the assaults are similar. Each victim was threatened with a weapon and their heads were covered with a hood, police said. Police on Wednesday released information about a third sexual assault that occurred on May 24. A 45-year-old woman told police she was sexually assaulted at 1:30 a.m. after she accepted a ride from a man in a white pickup truck near a convenience store...

Associated PressLUBBOCK, Texas - The trail to finding soldiers still missing from the Vietnam War is beginning more and more at Texas Tech University. An Internet archive of decades-old documents from the school's Vietnam Center has provided Defense Department researchers dozens of leads in the cases of 1,805 American soldiers who never returned from Southeast Asia. The growing online collection, launched in 2004, led Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Robert Newberry to send a recent letter informing the center that POW-MIA analysts have uncovered 41 leads from the archive. And many more new clues are likely on the way: of the...

Picture perfect cowboy BY JOE GULICK AVALANCHE-JOURNAL A photograph taken of a Lubbock cowboy and his horse in front of a spectacular West Texas sunset has gained fame both inside and outside the Lubbock city limits and was honored in Austin last week by both houses of the Texas Legislature. Employees of Visit Lubbock, the city's convention and visitors bureau, titled the photograph "The Legend Lives On" and used it as the cover of its current Lubbock Visitor Guide. The picture also has been used in several advertisements for Lubbock, including ones in People Magazine, Texas Monthly and Continental Airlines....

Austin City Manager Toby Futrell opened her Tuesday newspaper and saw that economic development glad-handers from Lubbock were in her town, flooding one of the world's most prestigious tech conferences with tote bags stamped with their logo. Futrell declared a marketing emergency. The city has no strategic reserve for a tote bag crisis, so Futrell whipped her staff into a frenzy Wednesday to quickly order 2,000 high-quality tote bags that say "Austin: Live Music Capital of the World." The order, which will cost the city about $2,000, was set to be filled by noon today, when city officials will begin...

PBS ranch series receives some local advice Cowboy life BY RAY WESTBROOK AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Cowboys riding hard after cattle in the heat of a Big Bend summer in 1867 could find relief from their work only by falling exhausted at night onto their crudely fashioned camp site. It was life hanging by a thread, with neighbors perhaps 25 miles away and no way to reduce the distance by speed. Today, the scene has been repeated south of Alpine, except a TV camera followed the cowboys wherever they rode. Producers of a reality show about 19th century ranching, which will air nationally...

A 26-year-old man with connections to a prison gang was arrested early Tuesday morning after Lubbock police found a live bomb in his vehicle. Patrol officers observed Jeremy Lynn Womack of Lubbock acting suspiciously and pulled him over near the 7300 block of University Avenue about 12:30 a.m., Sgt. John Gomez said. Felix Garcia, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives resident agent in charge, said intelligence information and tattoos visible on Womack's body indicate he is a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, a white supremacist prison gang. A narcotics-sniffing dog indicated to police there were drugs in the silver...

WESTWOOD ONE LAUNCHES THE MONICA CROWLEY SHOW --New Program to Air Saturdays, Noon - 3 p.m. ET-- Beginning Saturday, April 1, 2006 New York, NY Monday, Mar 20, 2006 - Westwood One (NYSE: WON) is proud to announce the national launch of The Monica Crowley Show, the three-hour talk program hosted by author and news personality Monica Crowley. The show begins Saturday, April 1, 2006, and will air from noon to 3 p.m. ET. The Monica Crowley Show will debut on major market stations across the country including: WABC-AM New York, WTKK-FM Boston and WTNT-AM Washington DC. The show will...

A Lubbock grandfather is credited with holding a suspected online predator at gunpoint until police could arrive. Twenty-two year-old Brandon Ray Lewis is charged with aggravated sexual assault. The victim's grandfather says he found Lewis having sex with his 13-year-old granddaughter in front of their Northwest Lubbock home around 2:30 Monday morning. Police executed a search warrant Monday afternoon, police can't say specifically what they collected as evidence from Lewis' house, but they can confirm that they've found electronic evidence which will help with their ongoing investigation. Here's what happened, a Lubbock man noticed a suspicious car parked in...