Texas

Doubt Surrounds Texas' Beloved 'Houston Bible'

Tome used to swear in governors may not have been Sam Houston's

(Newser) - George W. Bush called it Sam Houston's Bible. Rick Perry swore on its centuries-old sheepskin four times. And today, Texas Gov.-elect Greg Abbott will lay his hand on the historic tome to take the oath of office. But archivists now say it's possible that Texas governors have... More »

Boyfriend Charged 8 Months After Prom Date's Death

Suspect's mom allegedly provided drugs, booze for her son and Jacqueline Gomez

(Newser) - The boyfriend of 17-year-old Jacqueline Gomez, who was found dead in a Houston hotel room the morning after her May 16 prom, has been charged with aggravated assault in connection with her death, KHOU reports. Police say Eddie Herrera, 18, told them that he and Jacqueline drank alcohol together on... More »

10 Dead After Train Hits Prison Bus

Vehicle slid off embankment onto tracks

(Newser) - Police in west Texas say 10 people are dead after a prison bus slid off an embankment and onto railroad tracks, then got hit by a train, reports the AP . Details are still pretty thin, but NBC Dallas-Fort Worth says the bus was on Interstate 20 near Odessa this morning... More »

Feds: No Ebola in Texas Soldier's Mystery Death

Texas Soldier's Mystery Death Not Ebola

He was found dead week after return from Liberia

(Newser) - A Fort Hood soldier recently returned from fighting the Ebola outbreak in Liberia was found dead on his doorstep yesterday morning, but officials say conclusive tests have ruled the disease out as a cause. The 24-year-old returned to Texas with his unit last week and the tests were ordered as... More »

Cop Who Tasered Man, 76, Wants His Job Back

Lawyer says level of force 'reasonable'

(Newser) - The Texas police officer who Tasered a 76-year-old man twice during a routine traffic stop has been fired—but his lawyer says the decision was unfair and he plans to appeal it. Nathanial Robinson was canned by the Victoria Police Department last week after an internal investigation found he violated... More »

Camel Tramples, Kills 2 ... in Texas

Owner of camel farm had long raised the animals

(Newser) - A "large, aggressive camel" on a farm in Texas trampled the farm's owner and another person to death Saturday, Fox News reports. Officers in Wichita Falls say the bodies of owner Peggye McNair, 72, as well as Mark Mere, 53, were found near a male camel with blood... More »

4 Quakes Shake Dallas Area

Irving quakes centered near old Texas Stadium site

(Newser) - Nerves were jangled and items were jolted off shelves by four earthquakes in North Texas yesterday, but no major damage was reported. All four quakes were centered in the same location in Irving, Dallas County, where there have been 20 quakes reported since October 2014, NBC reports. The four quakes—... More »

Cops: Man Drove 1K Miles to Shoot Girlfriend's Family

Boyfriend shoots girlfriend's stepmom, dad on Christmas morning

(Newser) - Stephen Pollard still can't digest what happened: His 23-year-old son Preston drove more than 1,000 miles from Texas to Florida and allegedly shot his girlfriend's stepmother and her dad before killing himself in his car, WFAA reports. "I know my son," Stephen says of the... More »

After Boy's Call, 4 Found Dead in Texas Home

9-year-old apparently the only witness to what happened: police

(Newser) - Police found two women, a man, and a girl younger than 16 dead in a small-town Texas home yesterday. They were responding after a 9-year-old boy called a relative, saying that a man at the house had attempted suicide, the Dallas Morning News reports. The dead appeared to have suffered... More »

San Antonio May Annex the Land Around It

Move would make it America's 5th biggest metropolis

(Newser) - How does a city jump from being America's seventh-largest to its fifth? In the case of San Antonio, by grabbing the land around it. The Texas city is considering annexing as many as 66 square miles of land around it, a move that would boost its population by 200,... More »

Texas Plumber's Truck Ends Up With Syria Fighters

Business phone number is still on the side

(Newser) - Texas plumber Jeff Oberholtzer has some important advice for business owners: Take company logos off your vehicles before they're traded in. He didn't, and now a Ford F-250 pickup truck he traded in at a dealership in Houston last year has ended up in the hands of Islamic... More »

Mom Convicted of Poisoning 4-Year-Old Foster Son Freed

Texas' Hannah Overton, convicted for 2006 death of Andrew Burd, out on $50K bond

(Newser) - For the first time in seven years, Hannah Overton will be able to hug her five kids instead of waving to them through plexiglass. The Corpus Christi mother, who has been in prison since 2007, was released on $50,000 bond yesterday, more than two months after a Texas appellate... More »

New Immigrant Detention Center: Huge, Has TVs

Dilley, Texas, facility is largest such center for families in US

(Newser) - A one-time camp for oilfield workers is now the largest facility in America designed to house those grabbed entering the country illegally. The family-focused South Texas Family Residential Center, unveiled yesterday in Dilley, is located 100 miles north of the Mexico border and about 70 miles southwest of San Antonio.... More »

Texas Man, 76, Tasered During Traffic Stop

He was stopped for driving with expired inspection sticker

(Newser) - A police officer in Victoria, Texas, is being investigated over a routine traffic stop where he slammed a 76-year-old man onto his cruiser then Tasered him twice when he was on the ground. Dashboard camera video shows Pete Vasquez being pulled over on the way to the auto dealership where... More »

Texas Mom Puts 'Miracle' Daughter Before Chemo

Julie Prater, 32, diagnosed with malignant brain tumor

(Newser) - In the face of a grim brain cancer diagnosis, Julie Prater decided to delay the treatment that would save her life—to protect her unborn child. At 32, Prater had a full-body seizure as she got up from bed to tend to her year-old son, reports Dallas News . Not long... More »

'Extraordinary Shot' Stopped Austin Gunman

Police Sgt. Adam Johnson hit him dead-on from 312 feet away

(Newser) - Police Sgt. Adam Johnson was gripping the reins of two horses when he fired and hit a gunman dead-center in the chest—from 312 feet away, Fox News reports. General reaction from those in the know: Wow. "At a minimum, it was [an] extraordinary shot," says a retired... More »

Case of Missing Brains Takes Another Twist

Now school says they were destroyed

(Newser) - First came yesterday's reports that about 100 human brains had gone missing from the University of Texas at Austin . Then followed the news that they had been located, with psych professor Tim Schallert telling the LA Times that UT San Antonio called him to say, "We got those... More »

Run 1 Mile While Chugging 4 Beers—Just Don't Vomit

If you throw up during beer-mile race, you have to run more laps

(Newser) - If you've already conquered mud runs and you're able to guzzle down a Heineken in eight seconds or less, there's an adventure-racing category you might want to look into: the "beer mile." This quirky quaff-and-run doesn't sound terribly demanding at first: Run 1 mile.... More »

'Delusional' Texas Inmate Gets 11th-Hour Stay of Execution

Attorneys had sought reprieve for 'delusional' Scott Panetti, who killed his in-laws

(Newser) - No one disputes that Texas death row inmate Scott Panetti shot his second wife's parents to death in 1992 to rid them of demons. Or that during his trial, he represented himself dressed in a purple cowboy costume and tried to get 200 witness subpoenas, including ones for JFK... More »

Texas Community Mourns 5 Kids Killed in House Fire

Five of Couple's 6 Kids Perish in Texas House Fire

Firefighters think blaze may have started in kitchen of Edna trailer home

(Newser) - A tight Texas community grieved last night during a vigil for five children who perished in a house fire yesterday morning. Officials confirmed to ABC-13 that they found a trailer home blazing around 5am in Edna, located about 90 minutes outside of Houston, with a 32-year-old mother and 30-year-old father... More »