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New state senator will be back up at bat again soon Thursday, February 19, 2004 Democrat Paul Sadler made up a lot of distance in Tuesday's runoff election in Senate District 1 in Northeast Texas, but he couldn't overcome former Tyler Mayor Kevin Eltife's huge lead in Tyler and Longview. With about 51.9 percent of the votes, Eltife won the remaining three years of the four-year term of former Sen. Bill Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant. He quit in January. In the West Texas runoff, former Amarillo Mayor Kel Seliger's lead in the northern end of Senate District 31 more than offset...

Runoffs to replace state Senate icons Associated Press Accusations have been flying and the money has been flowing in East and West Texas as state Senate candidates engage in runoff elections today to replace Republicans Bill Ratliff and Teel Bivins. The two longtime senators resigned, and an election in January to replace them did not produce a winner. The top two candidates in each race advanced to a runoff. In West Texas, Kel Seliger, who served four terms as mayor of Amarillo, faces fellow Republican and Odessa businessman Kirk Edwards in District 31 to replace Bivins. District 31 includes Dallam,...

Seliger, Edwards face runoff to fill Bivins' District 31 seat AUSTIN (AP) — Former Amarillo Mayor Kel Seliger and Odessa businessman Kirk Edwards, both Republicans, are headed for a runoff election for the state Senate District 31 seat. The special election was called to re place Sen. Teel Bivins, who resigned after he was nominated by President Bush to serve as ambassador to Sweden. Seliger received 36 percent of the vote with 100 percent of the precincts re porting. Ed wards, 44, pulled in 21 percent of the vote. "I'm just very excited and energized by it and ready to...

Thursday, January 15, 2004 Millionaire Teel Bivins' replacement in the Texas Senate most likely will be another man capable of putting a lot of his own money into the contest. The Panhandle-to-Midland/Odessa district Bivins represented for 15 years, including stints chairing the Nominations, Education, and Finance committees, came vacant when he resigned Monday to become President Bush's nominee for United States ambassador to Sweden. The probable front-runner to be his replacement in Tuesday's special election is the former Amarillo mayor, Kel Seliger, 50, who left that office in 2001. Of the six other candidates, the three chief competitors, based on...

TIRASPOL, Moldova -- In the ethnic conflicts that surrounded the collapse of the Soviet Union, fighters in several countries seized upon an unlikely new weapon: a small, thin rocket known as the Alazan. Originally built for weather experiments, the Alazan was transformed into a terror weapon, packed with explosives and lobbed into cities. Military records show that at least 38 Alazan warheads were modified to carry radioactive material, effectively creating the world's first surface-to-surface dirty bomb. The warheads are not known to have been used. But now, according to experts and officials, they have disappeared.

Redistricting foes bash move GOP-fueled bid sparks outcry at Lubbock hearing By JOHN FUQUAY AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Some of the harshest remarks at a congressional redistricting hearing Thursday in Lubbock were an attack on the process rather than the boundaries. Speakers at the daylong hearing, one of six across the state, accused Republicans of gerrymandering and wasting tax dollars. Gov. Rick Perry has called a special session on redistricting that will convene Monday. The issue has been hotly contested and led 51 Democratic House members to walk out of the regular session in May, busting a quorum and blocking a vote on...

Getting to bottom of crater mystery 06/22/2003By ALEXANDRA WITZE / The Dallas Morning News ODESSA – It took two hours for Vance Holliday to travel back thousands of years. For a time machine, he drilled into the dirt of the meteor crater just west of Odessa. The deeper he went, the closer Dr. Holliday got to his goal – discovering the crater's age. When the Odessa meteorite hit, some tens of thousands of years ago, it would have been a fearsome sight. An iron rock nearly 50 feet across fell screaming from the sky, hitting with energy roughly equivalent to...

Attorney subpoenas 57 sex offenders June 17, 2003 08:43 AM CDT Associated Press ODESSA, Texas - A defense attorney has subpoenaed 57 sex offenders in the trial of a man accused of an attack on a child. Attorney Michael McLeaish is defending David Means of Odessa in a trial scheduled to begin Tuesday afternoon in Judge Tryon Lewis' 161st District Court. Means is accused of aggravated sexual assault of a child in December 2002. "Hopefully, it can be demonstrated to the jury that there are successful probationers out there," McLeaish said. McLeaish said the names of those serving probation after...