Eau de Stampede: Perfume Panic Fells 34 at Texas Bank

Suspect a 'black market for body parts'

(NEWSER) - Police have seized a package of 40 to 60 human heads at the Little Rock airport. The heads were headed to a medical research company in Fort Worth, but they weren’t “labeled or packaged properly,” according to a spokesman for Southwest Airlines. An employee found them and called the police, who turned them over to the county coroner. They’re trying to determine where they came from. More»

Nate Silver does electoral math for 5 Lone Star States

(NEWSER) - An obscure provision of Texas statehood gives it the right to split into five smaller states, writes Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com. He outlines the potential new entities:

1. New Texas: Centered on Austin, as populous as Kentucky, and split down the middle politically—city vs. suburbs.

Galveston, Houston homes still lack power, gas, water

(NEWSER) - Houston- and Galveston-area communities continued to struggle post-Hurricane Ike today, the AP reports. Divers cleared debris from navigation routes into Houston and looked for bodies along the coastline; most of the city remains without power for a fifth day. On Galveston Island and the nearby Bolivar Peninsula—which still lack gas, power, and running water—officials struggled to keep residents from returning to their homes. More»

500 to 800 souls took refuge at a convention center in Galveston during Ike's assault

(NEWSER) - A motley crew rode out Hurricane Ike at Galveston’s San Luis Resort, Spa, & Conference Center, Joel Achenbach writes for the Washington Post. Up to 800 people were there, among them the mayor, cops and firefighters, along with storm chasers and drenched refugees holed up as the wind roared and TV newscasts forecast doom. “I am afraid we may be in danger. I am afraid for everyone here,” one mother wrote in her journal. More»

Thousands call for rescue; millions lose power

(AP) - Hurricane Ike battered the southeast Texas coast today with driving rain and ferocious wind gusts, the eye of the storm powering ashore at Galveston at 3:10am as a strong Category 2 storm. Thousands of homes and government buildings flooded, roads were washed out and several fires burned unabated as crews could not reach them. More than 2.9 million lost power, and suppliers warned it could be weeks before service was restored. More»