Texas

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US Health Ranking Puts Vermont First, Louisiana Last

Southern states plagued by high obesity, smoking rates

(Newser) - Move over, Mississippi: Louisiana is now America’s unhealthiest state, Reuters reports. An annual state-by-state report that measures factors like smoking, obesity, and health insurance coverage also put Vermont at the top for the second year in a row. The five healthiest states are:
  1. Vermont
  2. Hawaii
  3. New Hampshire
  4. Minnesota
  5. Utah
...

Judge Tosses Cheney, Gonzales Indictments

Case alleged responsibility for federal prison abuse

(Newser) - A judge has dismissed indictments against Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzales, telling the Texas prosecutor who brought the case to exercise caution as his term in office ends. Juan Angel Guerra had accused the political heads of responsibility for abuse in privately-held federal prisons—in which the Vanguard Group that...

Texas Grand Jury Indicts Cheney, Gonzales

Indictment, overseen by controversial DA, zaps pair over prison abuse

(Newser) - A grand jury in a small southern Texas county has handed down indictments against Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for "organized criminal activity" connected to abuse in federal prisons, Reuters reports. The indictments, overseen by controversial local District Attorney Juan Guerra, accuse Cheney of...

Dallas DA Makes Waves by Overturning Convictions

DA makes waves with quest to root out wrongful convictions

(Newser) - Craig Watkins is becoming famous for something rather unusual for a district attorney: getting people out of jail, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Dallas County prosecutor is painstakingly going through hundreds of convictions secured by his predecessors, using DNA evidence to overturn wrongful convictions. His Conviction Integrity Unit has...

Texas Energy Boom Goes Bust
Texas Energy Boom Goes Bust
Nov 5, 2008 10:28 AM CST

Texas Energy Boom Goes Bust

High oil, gas prices insulated state from economic turmoil, but no longer

(Newser) - Oil’s tumbling price is causing the Texas economy to slip, narrowing the economic gap between it and the rest of the US as unemployment flares and tax revenues and housing prices slide, reports the Wall Street Journal. “Until 30 days ago, there was no feeling at all that...

Space: The Final Voting Frontier

Two astronauts vote from space station

(Newser) - Two US astronauts on the International Space Station did their civic duty from afar yesterday, casting absentee ballots from space using laptops with secure connections. Commander E. Michael Fincke and flight engineer Greg Chamitoff  are the only voters who could actually see all those red and blue states, reports Bloomberg....

Texas Tech Upsets No. 1 Texas
Texas Tech Upsets No. 1 Texas 
Nov 1, 2008 11:27 PM CDT

Texas Tech Upsets No. 1 Texas

(Newser) - Graham Harrell fired a 28-yard touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree with one second left as No. 6 Texas Tech stunned No. 1 Texas 39-33 tonight in a wild shootout. Texas had stormed back from a 19-0 deficit to take a 33-32 lead when Vondrell McGee scored on a 4-yard run...

23% of Texans Say Obama Is Muslim

Fraction under mistaken impression much greater than 5-10% nationally: poll

(Newser) - Nearly a quarter of Texas voters still believe Barack Obama is a Muslim, the Houston Chronicle reports. Polling shows 23% of registered voters there buy internet-fueled rumors the Democrat is hiding his Islamic faith—compared to just 5-10% of voters nationwide. The same poll gives John McCain a comfortable lead...

Bush's Next Act: Try Congress
Bush's Next Act: Try Congress
OPINION
Oct 27, 2008 2:34 PM CDT

Bush's Next Act: Try Congress

With John Quincy Adams as model, Dubya could do plenty of good in House

(Newser) - President Bush can't have 4 more years, but he could try for 2, Steve Coronella writes in the Christian Science Monitor. Coronella urges Bush to follow John Quincy Adams, who served 17 years in the House. As a representative from Texas, he writes, “Bush could go on to make...

Texas Steps Up Executions to Clear Logjam

State empties death row of 12 inmates over 6 weeks

(Newser) - A dozen condemned inmates in Texas's "death watch" cells are being executed at a scheduled rate of two a week through November. The executions relieve a logjam created when the US Supreme Court effectively halted lethal injections while deciding whether the method was unconstitutionally inhumane. It ruled the method...

Obama Gets Nod From Houston, Austin Papers

His 105 endorsements to McCain's 33 include 24 Bush backers

(Newser) - Barack Obama has clinched endorsements from the Austin American Statesman and the Houston Chronicle, two Texas papers that once backed George W. Bush—while John McCain gained the Columbus Dispatch in crucial Ohio along with the San Diego Union Tribune. Obama now leads 105-33 in the endorsements race, according to...

Down Syndrome Teen Voted Homecoming Queen

'Her smile was as big as Texas,' aunt says

(Newser) - There wasn't a dry eye in the house when a Texas football stadium erupted into wild cheers last weekend to honor their homecoming queen, a pretty 18-year-old high school senior with Down syndrome. "Her smile was as big as the state of Texas," queen Kristin Pass' aunt told...

Ex-Presidents Call for More Ike Funds

Bush and Clinton, having raised $1.5M, see more need in devastated Texas

(Newser) - Former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton called today for more money to aid Texas communities devastated by Hurricane Ike, the Houston Chronicle reports. The pair, who toured the Galveston area, has raised $1.5 million for their Bush-Clinton Coastal Recovery Fund. The money will be used to...

Daughter Finds Long-Lost Dad Too Late

Man who died saving dogs during Hurricane Ike hailed as hero

(Newser) - An email from a stranger brought an entirely unexpected end to Alaina Emery’s 13-year hunt for her father. “Is your father’s name Robert Emery?” the emailer asked. “The whole city of Houston is looking for any relatives.” Emery, Alaina soon learned, was being hailed as...

Texas Team Is Tops, Thanks to Pacific Isle

Tongans bring heft to championship high school squad

(Newser) - "Freaks of nature," as one player put it, have helped propel a Texas football team to the nation's highest ranks. He was referring to the Trinity Trojans' high strain of Tonga blood. Three thousand of the Pacific Islanders reside in small-town Euless, and boost the high school team...

Twirlers Benched Over Sapphic Tune

Perry's 'I Kissed a Girl' at heart of Texas high school flap

(Newser) - A trio of Texas high schoolers have had their baton-twirling privileges suspended after performing a routine to Katy Perry’s hit “I Kissed a Girl,” ABC News reports. The school says it is simply disciplining the girls for disobeying their coach, who told them to “choose a...

Recruit Drops and Gives the Army 100 ... Pounds

263-pound woman lost weight to enlist

(Newser) - A Texas woman shed 113 pounds to join the Army, saying she was startled into action after being told she was too heavy to qualify. “I’ll never see her again,” a recruiter says he thought on meeting 263-pound Ashley Barrett-Carter, the Dallas Morning News reports. Now in...

Ike Evacuees Sneak Back Into Galveston

(Newser) - Rats, raw sewage, and a no-excuses curfew await exiled residents who try to return to Texas' storm-wrecked Galveston Island when it reopens next week, officials warned today. But that didn't keep some of the 45,000 evacuated islanders from trying to get home. Some ignored orders to turn around outside...

Texas May Take Homes Now Sitting on Post-Ike Beaches

(Newser) - News is going from bad to worse for some Texas homeowners. Hundreds of beachfront homes damaged by Hurricane Ike—and even some left spared—might be condemned thanks to a state law making it illegal to build on public beaches, the AP reports. The homes didn't move, but as Ike...

IRS Loosens Deadlines For Taxpayers Pummeled by Ike

Fall dates for filing and tax payments pushed back to Jan. in Texas, La.

(Newser) - Taxpayers in Texas counties and Louisiana parishes hit by Hurricane Ike will get until Jan. 5 to take care of tax filings and payments due this fall, the Internal Revenue Service said today. The IRS said the deadline extensions apply to 29 Texas counties and 14 Louisiana parishes declared presidential...

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