Free Republic

A historic C-47 twin-engine prop plane crashed at the Burnet Municipal Airport in Texas on Saturday; all 13 passengers onboard survived, officials said. The Burnet County Sheriff's Office said the C-47 "Bluebonnet Belle" was trying to takeoff when it crashed. All 13 passengers onboard were able to exit the aircraft with one person suffering significant burn injuries and had to be airlifted to the hospital. Seven others had minor injuries.

A Cottonwood Shores man whose family was targeted by a gunman driving along RM 1431 in Burnet County on Thursday night said he disarmed and beat unconscious the man aiming at his wife and son. In an interview with the American-Statesman on Saturday, Johnny Henderson said he and his family are shaken but unhurt after the attack, which ended after an off-duty police officer shot and wounded the gunman and Henderson jumped him. Henderson broke his hand in the ordeal. Henderson said the family has no idea what provoked the attack, which seemed to be tied to road rage. Authorities...

“We could tell there were some horrific assaults going on in that house,” said Chief Paul Nelson. An arrest warrant provided new details about the alleged torture of two women that included waterboarding, two-hour long beatings, and forced sex. One of the women, 29-year-old Rebecca Schaller, was found dead inside the home on January 28. When officers responded to the home at 715 Pierce, they said none of the eight adults or six children at the home seemed concerned Rebecca was lying dead on a bedroom couch.

Burnet police say after a two-month investigation they've arrested three people involved in the year-long kidnapping of an adult woman. Police say Charlotte Elaine Arms (pictured left), 45, Thomas Allon Simon (pictured right), 31, and Walker Wayne Shapland, 24, have been arrested and charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on a family member, both first degree felonies, and aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury on a family member, a second degree felony. And more sick gory details at http://kxan.com/2014/03/12/affidavit-women-were-waterboarded-sexually-assaulted-in-home/ - According to the sister’s statement to police, Arms and Shapland would abuse the two sisters, using...

BURNET COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) - In a gated community on the outskirts of Marble Falls, visitors need another gate code to get into Sandy and Bobby Doyal's home. A long gravel driveway leads to the top of a hill where the couple built their dream home. It was a place they felt was quiet and secure -- until April 14, 2009. "I had told Bobby that day that I felt safe here," said Sandy, a local nurse. After the two went to bed, their dog started barking. Sandy, 49, woke and heard a noise inside the dark house that was...

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - It's called a white-crested laughing thrush and it's bringing smiles to zookeepers in Syracuse. The Rosamond Gifford Zoo greeted a new bird March 7. The chick is named Zephyr.