Texas

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Town Pays Ted Nugent $16K Not to Perform

Apparently that 'mongrel' comment did not go over so well

(Newser) - A Texas town was so desperate to do away with a planned performance by Ted Nugent that it actually paid him $16,250 not to appear. The city of Longview was considering the outspoken rocker to headline its Independence Day celebration, but changed its mind after that incident in which...

How Cops Stumbled on 115 Hostages in Texas Home

A worried grandmother tipped them off

(Newser) - Houston police last Wednesday uncovered a grim building covered in human waste and packed with 115 people held hostage inside. Court papers filed in the case against five alleged human smugglers provide more insight into how the "stash house" came to be, and how police uncovered it. The Houston ...

Texas Rushes to Contain Oil Spill in Key Bird Habitat

Houston Ship Channel is closed for cleanup

(Newser) - A barge carrying nearly a million gallons of especially thick, sticky oil collided with a ship in Galveston Bay yesterday, leaking an unknown amount of the fuel into the popular bird habitat as the peak of the migratory shorebird season was approaching. Booms were brought in to try to contain...

Campus Cop Shot Sarcastic Student in the Back: Autopsy

Details on death of Cameron Redus leaves family shaken

(Newser) - A university officer in Texas killed a student by shooting him five times at close range—including a bullet to the back that may have done him in, an autopsy reveals. The location of the bullets that killed 23-year-old Cameron Redus last year is old news, but family members say...

Texas Scores New Batch of Execution Drug

State was down to last few doses of pentobarbital

(Newser) - The nation's most prolific executioner has a new drug dealer that officials in states including Oklahoma , Louisiana , and Missouri would probably like to meet. Texas says it has secured enough of the lethal-injection drug pentobarbital to continue executing people after the end of this month—but the state plans...

Border Agent Found Dead After Brutal Alleged Crime

Esteban Manzanares allegedly raped female immigrants, kidnapped one

(Newser) - Esteban Manzanares was patrolling near the Texas-Mexico border when he came across a woman and two girls— Honduran nationals suspected of entering the US illegally. What allegedly happened next is horrific: Officials say the border agent raped the woman and slashed her wrists, then assaulted her daughter, 14, and tried...

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
...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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'...

US Gets First Bitcoin ATM
 US Gets First Bitcoin ATM 
Feb 20, 2014 3:45 PM CST

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,...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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