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DONNA - A suspect who was able to elude Donna police is behind bars tonight. Alejandro Corona Chavez is now facing a host of charges. The 20-year-old Mexican national will be arraigned Friday. While Donna police couldn't find him Wednesday, they didn't have to do much to apprehend him Thursday afternoon. Chavez led police on a lengthy manhunt Wednesday evening. Police say he fled the scene of an accident and then crashed into a home. Despite all their resources, including a DPS chopper, police were able to arrest one suspect, but they were not able to find Chavez. At about...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry says he supports an effort by Attorney General Greg Abbott to fight the proposed health care reform bill now in Congress as potentially unconstitutional, 1200 WOAI news reports. During a stop in San Antonio, Perry told 1200 WOAI's Berit Mason that Abbott is 'right on track.' "I hope the Attorney General is very successful working with his colleagues from across the country," Perry said. "Whether you are a Republican or a Democratic governor, you don't want Washington DC telling you how to run your state." 1200 WOAI news reported Thursday that Abbott has cited two provisions...

HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- A man convicted of gunning down a Texas police officer during an attempted bank robbery was put to death yesterday evening, the first execution of the year in the Texas. Kenneth Mosley, 51, was condemned for the February 1997 slaying of David Moore in Dallas. Texas accounted for nearly half of the 52 executions carried out in the U.S. last year.

Both Cannon, of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Drotleff, of Virginia Beach, Va., have said in recent interviews with the AP that they were justified when they opened fire on a threatening vehicle last year. Blackwater, now known as Xe, fired both men after the shooting for failing to comply with the terms of their contract.

Former SMU football star and ESPN Analyst Craig James has made news recently regarding his role with his son and former Texas Tech Football Coach Mike Leach. But James could be making news this year in politics, too. His name is being tossed around as a possible candidate to run for Kay Bailey Hutchison's seat when she resigns. News 8 talked to James who confirmed he is interested in getting involved in Republican Party politics, and he's not ruling out a run for office. James said in addition to his role as a college football analyst, he's also been in...

The upscale Montage apartment tower across from Hermann Park fell into foreclosure this week, just months after its twin — The Mosaic — suffered a similar fate. It's the latest turn of events for the high-end residential project built in the second half of the 2000s. With nearly 800 units in the twin towers combined, real estate observers expressed concern after the project was announced that there would be enough demand in a city where high-rise living isn't the norm.

A man convicted of gunning down a police officer during an attempted bank robbery was set to receive a lethal injection Thursday, the first execution of the year in the nation's busiest death penalty state. Kenneth Mosley, 51, was condemned to death for the February 1997 slaying of David Moore, a Garalnd police officer. Mosley was set for execution twice last year but technical issues and court appeals stalled the punishment. His attorneys said his appeals now were exhausted. "We just can't find anything," Bruce Anton said. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied a request for clemency for...

One of the first crimes committed in Dallas in 2010 was a particularly gruesome act of family violence, according to police. Kerri Lyn Smith About midnight on New Year's Eve, Kerri Lyn Smith, 41, was kissing her boyfriend of four years in Far North Dallas when Smith bit the man's bottom lip and tore it off his face, according to police documents. The man was able to push Smith away and call 911. He told officers Smith bit him suddenly and began yelling at him. It's unclear what would have prompted Smith to do such a thing

LA JOYA — Two men dropped caltrops along Highway 83 as they evaded police during a pursuit early Thursday morning. La Joya police attempted to pull over a Ford F-150 along Farm-to-Market Road 2221 about 7:40 a.m. Thursday. The truck's driver turned around and went south before heading west along Highway 83, said Officer Joe Cantu, a department spokesman. The truck veered south along Sam Fordyce Road, where the driver and passenger eventually bailed and swam across the Rio Grande to Mexico. Along the highway, police said several dozen caltrops — spiked devices with several metal points designed to always...

More than a decade ago, Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell started looking for 20 acres near his Windsor Village United Methodist Church to build a 24-hour prayer center. The center still hasn't been built, but it's not because Caldwell abandoned his plans. He simply took them in a different direction. Instead of buying 20 acres, Caldwell purchased 234 for $1.3 million and oversaw the development of more than 450 homes, a 200,000-square-foot community center, retail space, medical facilities, schools and a YMCA. A 124-unit senior housing project is under construction, and a new sanctuary and the prayer center are planned for 2010...

If you don't like gasoline taxes, here's an alternative: a tax on the number of miles you drive in a year. The Texas Transportation Commission has directed a fresh study of the idea, and it is not alone. There are pilot projects in other states and nationally to gauge how such a tax would work. Texas transportation officials say the study is meant to help give lawmakers information on options ahead of their next regular session in 2011, when they confront a funding squeeze that is expected to drain the highway fund of money for new construction contracts by 2012....

(CNSNews.com) – A coalition of pro-life advocates and religious leaders plan to gather in Houston on Jan. 18 to oppose what is expected to be the largest abortion clinic in the country. Planned Parenthood is renovating a former bank, turning it into a 78,000 square foot facility that will include a surgical wing equipped to provide late-term abortions. “It’s an abortion super center,” Lou Engle, founder of the pro-life group The Call to Conscience, which is organizing the rally, told CNSNews.com Joining Engle at the “prayer march” will be Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, and Samuel Rodriguez,...

The FBI needs your help to find a man they've dubbed the 'Rasta Robber,' who they say robbed a bank inside a grocery store in west Houston Tuesday It was right around noon when FBI officials say a man wearing a wig with dreadlocks stood in line at the Wells Fargo Bank inside the Randall's store at 14,610 Memorial. He was reportedly approached by a bank employee and walked off, returning shortly thereafter. He again stood in the teller line and was again approached by a bank employee, and again left the area, this time, say investigators, actually leaving the...

It happened Sunday afternoon near the intersection of Polk and Camp Wisdom. Police are still at the restaurant, keeping an eye on it since the glass windows were completely shattered during the incident. Police say two men went inside the store to rob it. But their attempts were unsuccessful as an employee shot both of them. One suspect ran and was eventually caught and taken to Methodist Hospital. The other suspect was caught at the restaurant and then transported. Witnesses heard several shots fired. Employees at a pizza parlor next door say one even went through a wall. "First it...

A temporary lockdown of Fort Sam Houston was lifted by noon Wednesday after officials determined that a man who tried to visit Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was not a threat to the base's security. The man, whose name was not released, asked for an escort to Hasan's Brooke Army Medical Center hospital room around 9 a.m. He first said he was Hasan's lawyer, and then claimed to be his doctor, said hospital spokesman Dewey Mitchell. “The man was asked by BAMC security to leave, and he complied,” Mitchell said in an e-mail. The man was not arrested. The base was...

A nearly three-year-old “hate crime,” that involved the breaking of a window and the spray painting of racial slurs has been resolved with the arrest of the man who made the original complaint. What was first thought to be a hate crime due to race, has turned out to be a husband trying to get his wife’s attention. Bowie Police Detective Guy Green said he was informed over the weekend of the arrest of Brent Austin on Dec. 31 in Vernon. The 29-year-old had gone to renew his driver’s license in Vernon when the arrest warrant for criminal mischief was...

The attempted bombing of Delta/Northwest 253 on Christmas Day was not the first from the Islamic terrorists nor will it be the last. Since I am a pilot, I have had people ask what can a passenger do onboard an airplane to help thwart a terrorist attack. Having personal experience with a few events myself, as well as reading articles and hearing stories from other crew members, I can give you some information which might assist you in dealing with a suspicious passenger or situation. The first thing to realize is that there are a few different scenarios which the...

More than a year after Arizona became the first state in the country to deploy dozens of speed cameras on highways statewide, threats to the groundbreaking program abound. Profits are far below expectations, a citizen effort to ban the cameras continues to gain steam, the governor has said she does not like the program, and more and more drivers getting tickets in the mail are ignoring them after hearing from fellow speeders that there are often no consequences to that choice. "I see all the cameras in Arizona completely coming down (in 2010)," said Shawn Dow, chairman of Arizona Citizens...

The political paths of three former student leaders from Texas’ two main public universities have crisscrossed for years. All three have been on the political radar since all were on the same statewide ballot in 1990. Now, two face off March 2 for the Republican nomination for governor: U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is trying to unseat Gov. Rick Perry. The third, Democratic former state Comptroller John Sharp, wants Hutchison’s Senate seat -- whenever it might be up for election. Her seat is scheduled election in 2012, but she could resign sooner, which would cause a special election. Two of...

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) will air out a long pass on Thursday when she drops more than $100K on a single ad during what will likely be one of the most-watched events in TX this year. Hutchison will spend the money on a 30-second spot when Texas meets Alabama for the College Football national championship. It will cost far more than an average TV spot -- in fact, in some districts, the amount Hutchison will spend on the single hit would be enough to run ads for a week. The ad will run during pregame festivities in Austin and...

Intruder was wearing ski mask, rubber gloves, police say CORPUS CHRISTI — A 24-year-old homeowner awakened by intruders kicking in his door shot and killed one of the men, police said. Two to three men forced their way into the home in the 3200 block of Crestwater Drive about 4:40 a.m., police said. The homeowner and the men exchanged gunfire, police said. One of the men was shot multiple times and taken to Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial where he died, authorities said. At least one other man fled before police arrived, authorities said. Police identified the dead man as Rudy...

AUSTIN – When he first took office as governor, Rick Perry acknowledged, "I'm not George Bush." And in the decade that followed, he has sought to prove it. As the 10-year incumbent, Perry is the dominant force in the campaign that formally began Monday, and in Texas politics in general. And one way he got there was by studiously separating himself from George W. Bush. If Bush reflects the rise of the Republican Party in Texas, Perry represents its political dominance and recent populist shift. "There's no doubt that psychologically, Perry has tried to step away from the shadow of...

What is a norther? J. Frank Dobie wrote that weather forecasters never use the term, preferring cold wave or cold spell, but it is a term familiar to all Texans. Northers, said Dobie, blow the world inside out and freeze the lining; they are cold enough to freeze the horns off a brass billy goat. Another Texas writer from the 19th century, Alex Sweet, said the thermometer falls rapidly during a norther, sometimes 40 degrees in an hour. A man in Austin, wrote Sweet, “saw the thermometer fall three feet in two seconds — off a nail.” Whether they are...

A Houston, TX homeowner reportedly used his shotgun to save himself and his wife from a violent burglar. Police say that the husband and wife, who own a home on Cloverleaf Street in Houston, were awakened by the sound of breaking glass and their home security system siren. The wife reportedly noticed an intruder, and yelled for her husband to grab his shotgun. Shotgun in hand, the husband is said to have seen a burglar dressed in black, who was brandishing a fire extinguisher. The husband reportedly fired one shot in self defense, hitting the burglar in the hip and...

As a teen pumping gas on a highway north of New York City, Jim Tour dreamed of becoming a state trooper. It beat filling tanks. The notion of Tour as a highway cop is almost laughably discordant with present-day reality. Three decades later, the trim, intense, 50-year-old Tour has established himself as one of the leading, if not premier, scientists at Rice University. And he's learned to dream big. Four years after Nobel laureate Rick Smalley's untimely death, it is the prolific Tour who as much as anyone has carried on Smalley's groundbreaking legacy in the science of nanotechnology. Confirmation...

Our Freeper Friend Jeff Head was diagnosed with a serious (they all are to me) form of cancer just before Christmas Please help me approach the prayer throne for our friend Jeff Head who is in Houston currently from his home in Idaho to have surgery & treatment at MD Anderson for his cancer. He will be able to respond on occasion. You can follow his story & the particulars of the cancer at his blog/HERE You might know him for many reasons.. His great mind & posts on this forum .. at which he was Freeper of the...

...In interviews late Thursday night with the NY Times and ESPN and Friday with the AP, Leach denied mistreatment of sophmore receiver Adam James... Multiple statements from Tech athletic staff members - which came to light Thursday and were obtained by the Dallas Morning News from a Leach representative Friday - have surfaced that contradict James' version of events. ... Leach told the Times he only ordered James to be taken "out of the light" and said "he was never locked anywhere." ... Leach said Craig James called Lincoln Riley, Adam's position coach often to lobby playing time & also...

The attorney for accused Ft. Hood gunman Maj. Nadal Hasan says the Army is putting up so many roadblocks to his effective representation of his client that Hasan's rights to not only a fair trial, but to a fair pre-trial process are in jeopardy, 1200 WOAI news reports. Temple Attorney John Galligan says the Army has restricted his ability to meet with Hasan in his hospital room at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio with a member of Hasan’s family in attendance, something Galligan says is critical to prepare Hasan's defense, and that request has repeatedly been denied. "When...

They huddled over Christmas cookies in a cozy conference room on a dreary December afternoon, a few Houston environmentalists chatting about policy with the Environmental Protection Agency's new regional chief. While the two-hour meet-and-greet with Al Armendariz didn't amount to headlines, it says a great deal about the change in power at the EPA, particularly in Texas. After nearly a decade of feeling unheard by federal regulators, the activists say they now have one of their own as the top environmental official in the nation's oil, gas and chemical capital. And they wasted no time telling Armendariz, who was appointed...

More than half of state’s students disadvantaged, report finds Almost six out of 10 Texas public schoolchildren hail from low-income families, marking a troubling spike in poverty over the last decade, a new state report finds. The increase coincides with a significant jump in the number of Hispanic students, while fewer Anglo students were enrolled last year than 10 years ago, according to the study by the Texas Education Agency. Schools also are educating many more children whose primary language is not English. The rapidly changing makeup of the Texas public school classroom poses growing challenges for the state. Impoverished...

<p>Police in a small Texan town north-west of Fort Worth have raided an illegal cockfight, arresting 169 viewers and cock owners and seizing more than 100 roosters who were being pitted against each other to the death.</p> <p>As a police helicopter swooped on the fighting pit that had been erected near Poolville in northern Texas, many more spectators scattered and managed to get away. Among those arrested were up to 15 children, some as young as seven, who had been watching with their parents.</p>

..... In 58 days GOP voters will select either Kay Bailey Hutchison or Rick Perry, two political veterans, popular with their party, undefeated in decades of elections. In all probability, the price of admission is too steep for political newcomer Debra Medina as the two leaders stage an air-war of political ads likely to tally a combined $30 million over two months. "It is politics at full-throttle," said Bill Miller, who advises corporate and political clients. "This will be a race where there will be a lot of gut shots, low blows. They'll be punches thrown meant to incapacitate...

The Transportation Security Administration has launched an internal investigation after a security checkpoint at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport was left unattended and unsecured for 90 minutes earlier this month. Three agents have been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation. The agency said the agents left the checkpoint at Gate E8 from 8:30pm to 10pm on Dec. 16. Personnel from the airport's Department of Public Safety discovered the gate was not secure during a routine patrol, the TSA said.

AUSTIN — Tanning, tobacco and taxes are three of the areas that will fall under new state laws or new enforcement today. • • Teen tanning: Tanning salons are a popular teen stopping point before spring break or the prom, but a new law will limit their access to tanning beds. The legislation became law in September, but enforcement begins today. The new law bars anyone under 16½ from using a tanning device. Those between 16½ and 18 must have a parent or guardian's permission in writing at the salon before they can use a tanning bed. • •...

FORT WORTH, Texas — For more than two decades, Maria Refugia Camarillo played matchmaker for her family members. Camarillo, known as Cuca, found spouses for her children, her nieces, a nephew and even her three teenage grandchildren, all of whom lived within two blocks of each other. The marriages were not only arranged, they were also lucrative. Since 1980, Camarillo arranged some 170 matches between more than a dozen of her relatives and foreigners willing to pay cash to marry Americans and get green cards. With fees of up to $12,000 per marriage, the scheme garnered more than $1 million,...

The morning broadcasters, Jack Bishop and Rich Hancock, announced this morning that their organization,"Rational Radio" would be off the air as of Jan 1, 2010. Rational Radio leased this station 24/7 from the Multicultural Broadcast Corp. The rest of the local talkers on this station were discussing their plans thruout the day. Most of them trashing broadcast radio and corporations in general. They are claiming that broadcast radio is dead and Internet Radio is where it is at.

AUSTIN — Tanning, tobacco and taxes are three of the areas that will fall under new state laws or new enforcement today. Also taking effect is a law that stirred a controversy over whether it would protect one legislator's ability to rebuild his hurricane-damaged Bolivar Peninsula house. Most of the laws passed by the Legislature last year took effect in September, but about three dozen did not become effective until today. Some that had already become law will start being enforced.

SAN ANGELO, Texas — The political paths of three former student leaders from Texas’ two main public universities have crisscrossed for years. All three have been on the political radar since all were on the same statewide ballot in 1990. Now, two face off March 2 for the Republican nomination for governor: U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is trying to unseat Gov. Rick Perry. The third, Democratic former state Comptroller John Sharp, wants Hutchison’s Senate seat — whenever it might be up for election. Her seat is scheduled election in 2012, but she could resign sooner, which would cause...

On Tuesday evening, 16-year-old Andrew Kane nonchalantly asked his mother and father if they would drive him from their Barrie, Ont., home to a hotel in nearby Midland, where he planned to meet a 42-year-old woman with whom he had been having a secret relationship over the Internet. His stunned parents refused and the teen calmly returned to the computer, telling them he would let the woman know he wasn't coming. At 2 a.m., Marlene Kane heard her front door open, and found her son gone, leaving behind a troubling trail of web chats that led to Houston, Tex., and...

DFW Security Checkpoint Left Unattended for 90 Minutes Agency suspends 3 agents, calls incident "serious and unacceptable" By GRANT STINCHFIELD Updated 8:05 PM CST, Thu, Dec 31, 2009 The Transportation Security Administration has launched an internal investigation after a security checkpoint at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport was left unattended and unsecured for 90 minutes earlier this month. Three agents have been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation. The agency said the agents left the checkpoint at Gate E8 from 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Dec. 16. Personnel from the airport's Department of Public Safety discovered the gate was...

Candidates for certification to teach in public schools in Texas are being told that they will be held accountable for any "heterosexist" leanings and must become agents working to change society, according to one candidate who was alarmed by the demands. The applicant, who requested anonymity for fear of repercussions, told WND part of the teachings on multiculturalism required him to read several online postings about the issue inside the education industry. One warns that "teachers and administrators must be held accountable for practices deemed to be racist, sexist, heterosexist, classist, or in any other way discriminatory." And a second...

A woman called police on Monday and said a man was forcing his way into her apartment in the 5300 block of Elm Street. When officers went inside, they found something that made them concerned enough to call the bomb squad. They found an AT-4 shoulder-mounted rocket launcher. It can shoot a missile nearly 1,000 feet through buildings and tanks. "It gives infantrymen the advantage with an ultra-light weapon that can stop vehicles, armored vehicles as well as main battle tanks and fortifications," said Oscar Saldivar of Top Brass Military and Tactical on the North Freeway. That type of rocket...

NORTH RICHLAND HILLS – Authorities tell News 8 a suspicious device found in a North Texas neighborhood did contain explosives. It was found near a copy of the Koran. Investigators don’t know whether they were left by the same person. A resident found what appeared to be a coke can on the street just before noon Thursday. What he saw inside, however, caused him to call 9-1-1. “It’s some type of metal in a coke can,” said Sean Hughes, Northeast Explosives Response Team. Firefighters at the scene called in the Northeast Explosives Response Team. “They zip tied the can in...

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison says her race with Gov. Rick Perry is “dead even.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said Wednesday she's in a "dead even" Republican primary race against Gov. Rick Perry. Appearing at an Austin news conference about transportation issues Wednesday, Hutchison discounted widely leaked poll results from Perry pollster Mike Baselice. The results, which were contained in an internal Perry campaign memo circulating on blogs and among political operatives, show Perry winning 49-36 against Hutchison, with 10 percent undecided and 5 percent going for another GOP contender, libertarian-leaning Debra Medina. Hutchison said the campaign is a...

WASHINGTON — With the health care battle still unfinished, the Obama administration has been laying plans to take up an issue that could prove even more divisive — a major overhaul of the nation's immigration system. Rep. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., in a meeting with Journal editors in Albuquerque, said last week that House Democrats have also been discussing action on the issue in 2010, even though Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said the House might defer to the Senate on taking the lead. Senior White House aides have privately assured Latino activists that the president will back legislation next year to...

A homeowner shot and killed a man and then wounded a woman who were reportedly trying to steal tools from his pickup early this morning at a home in northwest Houston, police said. [...] The man and woman, whose names have not been released, were rushed to Ben Taub General Hospital, where the man died. The woman's condition is unknown. The homeowner, whose name has not been released, also was taken to Ben Taub because he shot himself in the foot during the confrontation. [...]

A few weeks ago, Houston immigration attorney Jay Aiyer started to see sure signs that the economy is rebounding: More of his clients requested work visas for professional foreigners and the government finally ran out of H-1B visas. “If we're seeing business visas start to be used up, it means that the overall economy is in a growth pattern,” Aiyer said. “They're not going to be bringing folks in from abroad during a recession.” For the last few years, it would have been futile for employers or their attorneys to submit H-1B applications past April, when U.S. Citizenship and Immigration...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas — Prosecutors have accused a high school assistant principal of soliciting sex from students using text messages. James Camden McKinney was arrested last month on a charge of online solicitation of a minor involving a 15-year-old student. His attorney says the Porter High School assistant principal turned himself in on Tuesday after learning he was wanted on four more charges of having improper relationships with a student.

A Dallas County jail guard has resigned while under investigation for allowing a 20-year-old male inmate to perform a sexually suggestive dance for her to music earlier this month, according to Sheriff’s Department reports. The “lap dance” occurred in the county’s new direct supervision jail, where guards supervise inmates from inside the housing pods — a growing trend in corrections. Witnesses said Officer Kytrina Lewis was close to the inmate, Gregory Miller, and gave him her personal cell phone, which contained photos of her...

...Mayor Bill White on Tuesday announced a 21-member commission to study Houston's term limits and make recommendations by July 1. Any changes to the current limit of three, two-year terms for Houston's mayor, controller and 14 City Council members would be subject to approval by the council and by voters... In November 1991, after Kathy Whitmire had completed 10 years as mayor and some council members had served continuously for decades, 56.9 percent of Houston voters approved term limits that took effect in 1993. The panel appointed by White represents the first serious effort to change this system. “Houston has...