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Tea Party Turned Down in Texas Primaries

Texas Primaries: Wins for Wendy, Kinky, a New George Bush

Tea Party largely sent home in 2014's 1st vote

(Newser) - Election season has kicked off with the nation's first statewide primary, in which 26 GOP candidates jostled for the nominations for six of Texas' top jobs—and another George Bush was among the winners. Some highlights from the Texas primaries:

Sen. John Cornyn and several House Republicans were able

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Texas May Have Executed Innocent Man

Informant lied to strike a deal, says advocacy group

(Newser) - Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in Texas in 2004 after being convicted of an especially heinous crime: murdering his three young daughters in a fire. But a decade later, the Innocence Project says newly discovered documents suggest something else heinous: The state killed an innocent man. As the New York ... More »

Man Escapes Fire, Dies After Going Back for Phone

It was 'terrible miscalculation,' firefighters say

(Newser) - A Texas man who escaped a burning building with his life but not his phone made the fatal mistake of going back for it, firefighters say. Rex Benson, 72, his adult daughter, and another man made it out of their Plano home when the fire started around 1am yesterday, but... More »

Judge Strikes Down Gay Marriage Ban in Texas

But it will stay in place while an appeals court considers case

(Newser) - Yet another big win for gay marriage: A federal judge declared Texas' ban unconstitutional today, but left it in place until an appeals court can rule on the case. Judge Orlando Garcia issued the preliminary injunction after two gay couples challenged a state constitutional amendment and a longstanding law. He... More »

Newborn Found in Trash Survives

CPS takes custody of Houston 16-year-old's baby

(Newser) - A baby boy is reportedly in good condition after he was found, cold, wet, and purple-faced in a Houston apartment building's trash. Maintenance worker Carlos Michel discovered the newborn after hearing sounds coming from a blue Dumpster yesterday morning, the Houston Chronicle reports. "I almost had a heart... More »

Texas Politician: Roadkill Makes for a Yummy Meal

Politician: Roadkill Collection Should Be Legal

Tink Nathan wants to legalize gathering of dead animals

(Newser) - Is your average roadkill a stomach-churning mess, or tonight's dinner? A Texas politician says it will become the latter if he wins a seat in the Texas House of Representatives and succeeds in pushing his agenda, NBC News reports. Tink Nathan, a 72-year-old Republican, wants to rescind the state'... More »

US Gets First Bitcoin ATM

Machine in Austin will exchange the currency for cash

(Newser) - In Austin today, organizers were set to launch the country's first Bitcoin ATM. Similar machines in Boston and Albuquerque allow cash to be exchanged for Bitcoins—but this one also allows the digital currency to be exchanged for cash (although withdrawing cash can take as long as 10 minutes,... More »

Docs: Mom Who Killed 5 Ready for Group Outings

Doctors: Andrea Yates Ready for Picnics, Outings

Mother who drowned her 5 kids has been institutionalized since 2006

(Newser) - A Texas mother who drowned her five children in a bathtub in 2001 is ready to leave the state psychiatric hospital for picnics and other outings with fellow patients, her doctors say. Andrea Yates, 49, has been institutionalized since 2006, when a second trial found her not guilty by reason... More »

Mystery Pest Eating Its Way Through $1B Texas Crop

'Sugarcane aphid' attacking state's sorghum

(Newser) - No one is quite sure what the bug is, but for now, entomologists are calling it the sugarcane aphid—but instead of sugarcane, the tiny pest is chomping its way through the $1 billion Texas sorghum crop, the Houston Chronicle finds. The bug was first spotted just a year ago,... More »

Cops Bust Banana Toting an AK-47

When PR stunts go wrong...

(Newser) - A Beaumont, Texas, gun shop got a little more attention that it had bargained for with a rather unusual promotional stunt—a teenager in a banana costume standing by the road with an AK-47 on Saturday morning. Police briefly detained the 18-year-old after fielding calls from concerned citizens who saw... More »

Since 2012, Executions Taking 10 Minutes Longer

Death-Penalty States Scramble to Find New Drug

Even though it takes 10 minutes longer to kill people

(Newser) - A new drug for fatal injections is not only hard to find, it takes twice as long to kill people. US death penalty states like Texas, Missouri, and Louisiana are struggling to find lethal drugs for capital punishment, thanks to a worldwide ethical embargo against pharmaceutical companies selling drugs to... More »

How a Cult-Like Church Changed a Texas Town

The Church of Wells digs in against frustrated locals

(Newser) - Andy and Patty Groves were dying to see their daughter again. Distraught over her grandfather's death, Catherine Groves joined a cult-like church in the tiny town of Wells, Texas. So her parents drove to Wells, where Catherine, now a docile believer, would only meet them in a shotgun shack... More »

Wendy Davis' Daughters Defend Their Mom

Amber and Dru write open letters after critics lash out at Davis

(Newser) - Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis has been taking flak of late from critics who say she was a lousy mom who has embellished her story of being a single parent, but two people very much in the know came to her defense today, reports the Washington Post . Her grown daughters.... More »

Deep South Braces for 'Paralyzing' Winter Storm

Schools closed; hundreds of flights canceled

(Newser) - The next big winter storm is reportedly on its way, and this time, it's the Deep South that will be feeling its effects. The Weather Channel sees 40 million people in the path of Winter Storm Leon, which an expert says could bring once-in-a-generation weather; another calls the storm... More »

Texas Husband Named Brain-Dead Wife's Fetus

Doctors think Nicole Munoz was a girl

(Newser) - Before a Texas hospital took his pregnant wife off life support Sunday, Erick Munoz asked doctors to do one last sonogram. "They think it was a female," Munoz tells the AP of the 23-week-old fetus, his second child with Marlise Munoz. He named the fetus Nicole, Marlise's... More »

Fetus in Texas Life Support Case 'Distinctly Abnormal'

Lawyers say they have medical records to that end

(Newser) - The 22-week-old fetus of the pregnant Texas woman being kept on life support against her wishes is "distinctly abnormal," lawyers for Marlise Munoz 's family say. The attorneys say they have medical records showing as much, and want to clear up any "misconceptions about the condition... More »

Texas Executes Mexican Despite 11th-Hour Outcry

Supreme Court rejects appeal in '94 murder

(Newser) - A Mexican national was executed last night in Texas for killing a Houston police officer, despite pleas and diplomatic pressure from the Mexican government and the US State Department to halt the punishment. Edgar Tamayo, 46, received a lethal injection for the January 1994 fatal shooting of Officer Guy Gaddis,... More »

Texas Bent on Executing Mexican It Arrested Illegally

Lone Star state shrugs over protests as man set to die tonight

(Newser) - Edgar Arias Tamayo is scheduled to be executed in Texas tonight —despite a number of high-level requests that the execution be halted because Tamayo's arrest violated international law. The Mexican citizen was initially arrested after a 1994 robbery; while in the patrol car, Tamayo, now 46, shot the... More »

Will Bio Fibs Hurt Wendy Davis?

Conservatives gleeful over reports

(Newser) - Wendy Davis finds herself at the center of a firestorm this week, after being forced to admit that she'd embellished or omitted some details of what's generally been depicted as an inspiring personal biography. If you've missed the fracas, here are the CliffsNotes: The Original Story:

Davis