Texas News: July 16-31, 1996

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Texas News Archives (searchable)

• 7/31 - Sharp Not Satisfied with Auditor's School Savings Report
• 7/31 - Perry Points to Disaster Fund Delays: State Agriculture Commissioner Rick Perry thinks it's taking too long for some drought-damaged Texas counties to be declared federal disaster areas.
  
  ....About 75 counties still are waiting for the U.S. Agriculture Department to issue the declarations due to drought. The declarations make farmers and ranchers eligible for low-interest loans. Forty of the 75 counties applied for the declarations in April or May, Perry said Tuesday.
• 7/31 - Bomb Hoax Plagues Parole Offices: Parole offices around the state were placed on alert Tuesday after someone mailed a fake bomb to the district office in Waco, officials said.
  
  ....A bomb squad blew up the electronic device outside the parole office after about 30 people were evacuated from the building. No one was injured.
  ...."There was an explosion, but it was from the explosive device used to detonate what was thought to be a bomb," said Stennett Posey, spokesman for the parole division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Austin.
  ...."But the suspicious device itself had no explosive capability," he said.
• 7/30 - State Lowers Benchmark for Homeowners Insurance3
• 7/30 - Bone-dry Town Gets Relief from Pipeline
• 7/30 - Funeral for Dr. Hector Garcia Today
• 7/30 (early) - Dry Weather Increasing Grasshopper Population: The drought has hurt crops, livestock and even caused a lawmaker to quit the Legislature. But it's proving good for one thing - grasshoppers.
  
  ....The Texas Agricultural Extension Service reports that grasshopper populations are exploding in many parts of the state.
  ....John Jackman, an entomologist with the service, said grasshoppers usually lay eggs in the soil during the fall. Under normal circumstances and rainfall, the grasshoppers are controlled by a natural fungus that is in the soil. This year, that didn't happen, he said.
  ....There could be as many as 200 species of grasshoppers in Texas, but they don't all feed on grass. Some are predators and may eat other grasshoppers, Jackman said.
• 7/30 (early) - Texas Would Be Hard Hit by Regulations: Texas would be the state hit hardest by new regulations if the Senate ratifies the Chemical Weapons Convention, according to an analysis released Monday by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
  
  ....Some 212 industrial sites in Texas likely would be affected by Senate ratification of the weapons treaty, which would impose new reporting requirements and regulatory burdens, the committee said. Additionally, another 460 sites in Texas potentially could be affected.
  ....The automotive, biotech, pharmaceutical, textile, food processing and cosmetics industries would be among those most affected by passage of the convention, the analysis found.
• 7/29 - Predicted Demographic Future for Texas Includes More Poor, Unskilled
• 7/29 - Water Cops Patrol the Streets of Corpus
• 7/28 - Speed Limit Increases Eases Some Road Expansion Plans
• 7/28 - UT to Offer Sensitivity Training to Top Officials
• 7/27 - Dr. Hector Garcia Mourned by Texans Everywhere
• 7/27 - Candidates will be Reform Party Finalists, Firm Says
• 7/27 (early) - Permits Now Over 85,000: More than 85,000 Texans now have permits to carry concealed handguns, according to the Department of Public Safety.
  
  ....The DPS on Friday released statistical information about 76,093 concealed gun licensees approved through July 3. Information also was released on 398 Texans denied permits through the same time period.
  ....As of Thursday, the latest information available, 85,562 permits had been issued, 510 denied and 8,385 applications remained pending.
  ....Nearly 270,000 Texans have requested paperwork to begin the application process, the department reported.
• 7/27 (early) - First Amendment Ruling Pending: A federal judge considered Friday whether to award damages to two families who claim the Santa Fe school district's religious activity policies violated their First Amendment rights.
  
  ....The families say First Amendment violations, including an incident in which a teacher called a seventh-grade girl's Mormon religion a cult during class, have occurred since 1993.
  ....U.S. District Judge Sam Kent, has affirmed the families' objections and has banned Christian-oriented prayers at commencements and athletic events.
  ....The two families sued the district in May 1995, complaining it promoted religion through prayers, religious songs and the distribution of Bibles in school.
• 7/27 (early) - Dirk West Dies: Dirk West, who chronicled more than 30 years of Southwest Conference football history with hilarious and sometimes scathing newspaper cartoons, died at his home in Lubbock Friday. He was 67.
  
  ....Relatives say West, who still drew regularly and had a political cartoon appear in Friday's Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, suffered an apparent heart attack.
  ....West was a local children's television pioneer in the 1950s as "Uncle Dirk" on what is now KLBK-TV, and he served one term as mayor from 1978-80 after four years as a city councilman.
• 7/26 - MTV Bus Stops in Dallas to Interview Perot
• 7/26 - Embattled Head of Texas Rangers to Retire Next Month
• 7/26 - Lottery tax would benefit schools, not bingo: Would the Texas Legislature pass a tax on lottery winnings that, among other things, might pay for advertising to promote bingo?
  ....That was the suggestion earlier this week of an aide to State Senator Eddie Lucio of Brownsville.
  ....But Lucio said Wednesday the aide, Joe Garcia, was in error. Lucio says it's true he's looking at placing a 5 percent tax on lottery winners. But he says the money would be used for teacher salaries and school construction and maintenance.
  ....Not bingo. Lucio says he opposes the use of any state money to pay for bingo.
• 7/26 (early) - State Cut 3,000 Jobs: The state cut nearly 3,000 jobs in the first half of the current fiscal year, Comptroller John Sharp has reported.
  
  ....The cut of 2,919 jobs represents a 1.1 percent decline. The cuts came under a budget requirement that forced spending cuts with half coming from salary and personnel expenses.
  ...."State agencies are responding to our call to put themselves on a fat-free diet," Sharp said in a report Wednesday. "They're doing more with less, saving taxpayers millions and maintaining the high level of customer service Texans demand and deserve."
  ....Sharp said the cuts amounted to $40 million in savings during the six months from Sept. 1 to Feb. 29.
  ....Overall, the state had 258,000 full-time employees as of Feb. 29, the latest information available.
• 7/26 (early) - Canadian Wins Scrabble Title: Mathematics - not language - was most important for a Harvard graduate student who outspelled hundreds of word experts Thursday in Dallas to win the National Scrabble Championships and a $25,000 first prize.
  
  ....Balanced: that's one word Adam Logan, a 21-year-old math student from Ottawa, used to win the 27th and final round, surpassing 415 players from 35 states and six other foreign countries at the end of a five-day match.
• 7/25 - No Lotto Winner: No tickets correctly matched all six numbers drawn Wednesday night for the twice-weekly Lotto Texas game, state lottery officials said.
  
  
  ....The ticket was worth an estimated $8 million.
  ....The numbers drawn Wednesday night from a field of 50 were: 3, 12, 16, 26, 43 and 45.
  Saturday night's drawing will be worth an estimated $12 million.
• 7/25 (early) - Teachers to Receive High-Tech Training: A program that provides training in high-tech, online communications to teachers in the nation's neediest schools has made its way to the Rio Grande Valley.
  
  ....The CyberEd program aims to encourage teachers to integrate the Internet and other online communications activities into their classroom instruction.
  ....The program was created in support of a White House initiative to foster public-private partnerships to improve educational resources in economically disadvantaged areas.
  ....A key element to the program is a mobile technology laboratory that is housed in an 18-wheeler and equipped with personal computers, Internet connectivity, CD-ROMs and videoconferencing capabilities.
• 7/25 (early) - Commission to Examine Services: A legislative committee is recommending creation of a special citizens' commission to examine services provided by all levels of government in Texas and look for ways to cut waste and duplication of services.
  
  ....The Senate Intergovernmental Relations Committee on Tuesday recommended that the special commission try to determine if consolidation of some governmental units is a good alternative for Texas.
• 7/24 - West Texas: What Water Shortage?
• 7./24 - Texas Senators Considering Tax on Lottery Winnings
• 7/24 (early) - More Affordable Housing Needed: Texas needs to do more to help provide affordable housing for low- and moderate-income families, a state Senate committee recommended Tuesday.
  
  ....The committee's chairman, Sen. Rodney Ellis, described the current shortage of housing as a crisis.
  ...."Texas cities rank among the worst in the nation in terms of housing for low- and moderate-income families," Ellis said.
  ....Ellis, D-Houston, said that by making affordable housing accessible to more people, "We will provide security to thousands of working Texans who struggle every day to make ends meet."
• 7/24 (early) - Usefulness of Alamodome Questioned: Three years after the opening of the Alamodome, debate lingers over the usefulness of the giant stadium.
  
  ....Critics note that the San Antonio Spurs reluctantly make it their home and say landing a National Football League team appears to be an impossible dream. They also point to the city's expensive litigation over lead-contaminated Alamodome soil.
  ....Dome backers say conventions and trade shows are beginning to book events at the building. They contend the Alamodome has made good progress in the convention field since its opening.
• 7/24 (early) - Pecan Crop to Be Down: The Texas pecan crop is expected to be well below the projected numbers this year due to a heavy crop last year, the recent drought and the pecan nut casebearer, reports the Texas Agricultural Extension Service.
  
  ....The projected Texas pecan crop for this year was 45 to 50 million pounds, which is normal for a light crop year. However, Dr. George McEachern, Extension horticulturalist from College Station, said that three main things are causing this year's crop to fall short of the projected numbers.
  ...."The three things that are causing such a poor pecan crop are a heavy crop in 1995, the pecan nut casebearer and the drought," said McEachern.
• 7/23 (early) - Nolan Ryan Can Cast, Too: Here's one fish story with video proof.
  
  
  ....Former Texas Rangers ace Nolan Ryan had a run of luck when he was fishing during the taping of his cable television show.
  ....During last month's two-hour taping, Ryan and guide Cliff Webb caught 47 trout, each measuring 28 to 30 inches long. Their hot spot was in Baffin Bay, near Corpus Christi.
  ....Most of the fish were thrown back. No fishing regulations were violated.
  ...."They were hitting as fast as we could get the lines in the water," said Ryan, who lives in Alvin.
  ....You can "catch" the show, "Nolan Ryan Outdoors," on Prime Sports on Tuesday, Saturday, July 31, Aug. 13, Aug. 18 and Aug. 19.
• 7/23 (early) - Flash in Sky Probably Meteor: A brilliant flash of light in the sky, seen at least 70 miles south and east of Austin, likely was a meteor, authorities say.
  
  ....The light, which witnesses said hit the earth, was reported to Travis County sheriff's deputies at 10:05 p.m. Saturday by several callers. That triggered an air and ground search by lawmen that lasted nearly until early Sunday.
  ....Authorities in Caldwell and Hays counties and in La Grange and Gonzales, 70 miles southeast of Austin, also fielded calls about the light.
• 7/23 (early) - TV Evangelist Ordered to Jail: A federal judge Monday ordered a television evangelist to jail after the defendant tried to withdraw his guilty plea in a tax fraud case the evening before his sentencing.
  
  ....The Rev. W.V. Grant's wife, Brenda - who also filed a motion to withdraw her plea - will face trial later.
  ....U.S. District Judge Joe Kendall sentenced Grant to 16 months in prison followed by one year's probation along with a $30,000 fine and 100 hours of community service. The judge also ordered Grant to repay back income taxes.
  ....Kendall criticized the minister and his wife for trying to withdraw their April guilty pleas. He instead accepted Grant's plea agreement after questioning him about his earlier plea and an undercover videotape.
• 7/22 - Lawmakers Threaten Council of Governments with Money Cutoff
• 7/22 - Youth Minister, Girl, 15, Missing Together
• 7/22 - Texas Poll: Safety-Conscious Texans Opt for Cheap Measures
• 7/21 - Veterans Upset about Latest Texas Lottery Ads
• 7/21 - 13-Year-old Texan's 1st Album Debuts No. 1 on Country Charts
• 7/21 - Texas Poll: Texans Concerned about TV Programming
• 7/21 - San Antonio Students Communicate with the Shuttle
• 7/20 - Elderly Woman Released After "Deadly Stranding"
• 7/20 - Dime Box Fire Finally Out: Firefighters extinguished a 40-foot fireball on Friday that had burned for nearly a week following a natural gas well explosion that killed two men.
  
  ...."They flooded it with lots of water," said Lee County Sheriff Joe Goodson. "It took awhile, but they got it out."
  ....Goodson said the fire was snuffed around noon.
• 7/20 - Texas Poll Shows Texans to Travel: More than half of Texans planning to take a vacation this summer will venture outside the Lone Star State, according to a Harte-Hanks Texas Poll released Saturday.
  
  ....Fifty-six percent of the state's residents are planning to vacation, and 36 percent of those will travel within Texas. Forty-three percent of vacationing Texans will head to another state, while 7 percent are planning trips abroad.
  ....The state's top tourism official said those responses probably do not include weekend getaways and short, four- or five-day trips that pump millions of dollars into the Texas economy. People often don't mention extended-weekend trips when discussing vacation plans, said Darren Rudloff, tourism director at the Texas Department of Commerce.
• 7/20 - KayBay New Chairwoman: Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas is the new chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine, Sen. Larry Pressler of South Dakota announced Friday.
  
  ....The position is Hutchison's first subcommittee chairmanship since she came to Congress in 1993.
  ....Hutchison moved into the post after Majority Leader Trent Lott relinquished the chairmanship earlier in the week. Lott remains on the subcommittee.
  ....Pressler, chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, said he looks forward to working with Hutchison.
• 7/20 (early) - Bush Troubled by "Insinuations:" Gov. George W. Bush says he may prohibit his top aides from leaving their jobs to become lobbyists.
  
  ...."I am troubled by ... allegations or insinuations or influence-peddling-type rumors," Bush said.
  ....Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock, a longtime state official with many ex-aides in the lobby corps, said he would bar his aides from lobbying for a year after leaving his staff. He also said he might ask the Texas Legislature to put it into state law.
  ....House Speaker Pete Laney's policy is for a legislative session to pass before aides may lobby, according to spokeswoman Janet Warren. "I didn't want the appearance of anyone on my staff working at creating a job for themselves," Laney said.
  ....About 35 states, including Texas, have some kind of "revolving door" law blocking former state agency officials from lobbying. Only a handful of those laws cover former gubernatorial aides, said Craig Holman of the Los Angeles-based Council of Government Ethics Laws.
• 7/20 (early) - Board Determined to Ensure Education to All: The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, while abiding by a ban on considering race in awarding student financial aid, says it's determined to ensure a college education is available to all Texans.
  
  ...."The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board remains committed to ensuring that all aspects of higher education are available to and representative of all the people of Texas," said a resolution adopted unanimously by the board.
  ...."The board is committed to developing and supporting programs and policies that will help achieve that goal," it said.
  ....The resolution was approved Friday. The same day, the board voted 11-3 to specify that financial aid programs worth $3.7 million to college students in the coming school year can no longer include race in determining who gets money.
• 7/20 (early) - Border Patrol Opening Own Doors: With immigration agencies facing heightened scrutiny, one South Texas Border Patrol office opened its doors to the public Friday in an effort to polish a tarnished image.
  
  ...."This is something that I'm doing to reach out to my community," said Joe Garza, chief of the McAllen sector of the Border Patrol. "We always strive to improve our image."
  ....All day Friday, the McAllen headquarters held an open house, providing tours of the facility as well as displaying immigration-fighting tools such as a helicopter, patrol boat and night-vision equipment.
  ....Individuals interested in jobs with the agency also were given the opportunity to speak with officers about how to apply, Garza said.
• 7/19 - Lawmakers Hope to Set Standards for Controlling COG Spending
• 7/19 - More Arrests in Greenville Fires: Three people were arraigned Thursday on arson charges in connection with several suspicious fires at vacant houses in Greenville last month.
  
  ....Felicia Rena Alex, 20, Mark Anthony Young, 18, and Marquis Laquane Jones, 17, were arraigned and held at the Hunt County Jail. Bond for Ms. Alex was set at $100,000, while bond for Young and Jones was $125,000.
  ....A fourth person, 18-year-old Mariah Dawn Bailey, was arrested Wednesday on an arson charge and was expected to be arraigned on Friday, also in connection with a fire at a vacant structure.
  .....Authorities said Young, arrested Wednesday, has been linked to a June 10 fire at a vacant house. Ms. Alex and Jones, both arrested late Tuesday, were involved in a June 17 blaze at another structure, officials allege.
  ....A spate of apparent arson fires, including two blazes at predominantly black churches, heightened racial tensions in Greenville. No arrests have been made in the church fires.
• 7/19 (early) - Amtrak Looking at New West Texas Route: Amtrak executives will attend a statewide conference in Odessa next week to discuss a possible passenger train route along the Interstate 20 corridor between Dallas and El Paso.
  
  ....The only current east-west Amtrak route through Texas is the "Sunset Limited" running between El Paso through San Antonio and on to Houston along Interstate 10. It's been almost 40 years since passenger train service was available along an El Paso-to-Dallas route.
  ....Amtrak corporate officials will give a presentation to city and county officials representing the I-20 corridor during the annual Texas Association of Mayors, Council members and Commissioners meeting next Thursday and Friday.
• 7/19 (early) - Last Blast Victim Found: Firefighters have recovered the second of two victims killed in a natural gas explosion near Dime Box and began efforts to cap the burning well on Thursday.
  ....Lee County Sheriff Joe Goodson said the body of J.E. Traweek Jr. was pulled out of the exploded well's fiery wreckage on Wednesday as crews removed debris from the area.
• 7/18 - Lefors Giving Away Free Land for "Settlers"
• 7/18 - One Ticket Wins $18 Mil: One ticket sold in Baytown correctly matched all six numbers drawn Wednesday night for the twice-weekly Lotto Texas game, state lottery officials said.
  
  ....The ticket was worth an estimated $18 million.
  ....The numbers drawn Wednesday night from a field of 50 were: 2, 25, 36, 41, 47 and 48.
  ....Saturday night's drawing will be worth an estimated $4 million.
• 7/18 (early) - Montford May Be Tech Chancellor: State Sen. John Montford appears to be the front-runner for the newly created chancellor's post at Texas Tech University, creating a potential election-year void in the Legislature.
  
  ....The job is Montford's if he and the school can agree on compensation, sources told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
  ....Montford, chairman of the powerful Finance Committee, interviewed for the position with the regents' search advisory committee in Lubbock on Monday.
  ....He said he's been offered nothing so far.
• 7/18 (early) - Fires Break Out in Kerens: Fire erupted Wednesday afternoon in several buildings downtown at the East Texas city of Kerens, but no injuries were immediately reported.
  
  ....A city spokeswoman who declined to be identified said some buildings ablaze were used for storage and flames threated three businesses.
  ...."It's a major fire in downtown Kerens," she said, "in a block of buildings in the middle of downtown."
  ....Some telephone service was apparently interrupted by the fire, which broke out after 3 p.m.
• 7/18 (early) - No Redistricting Compromise Reached: Parties in the Texas redistricting case failed to reach a compromise Wednesday, forcing a three-judge panel to step in and redraw the three unlawful congressional districts.
  
  ...."I am greatly disappointed that we were unable to strike a deal," said Paul Hurd, attorney for seven voters who argued successfully that the three districts - two in Houston and another in Dallas - improperly were racially gerrymandered.
  ....Now the fate of the mostly Democratic 18th, 29th and 30th districts falls into the hands of three Republican-appointed federal judges, who could order a new election for those districts and adjoining ones.
• 7/17 - Supporters Claim Stats Show Concealed Gun Law Working
• 7/17 (early) - Showers Just Drop in the Bucket: Scattered showers fell across the state's surviving pasture forage, but the Texas Agricultural Extension Service reports that with record-breaking temperatures, these showers are only a drop in a bucket.
  
  ...."The showers are a wonderful blessing, but we need to continue to get some in order to help things," said Bill Botard of Fredericksburg, Gillespie County Extension agent.
  ....The Texas Hill Country received an average of 1.6 inches, said Botard. Some people received nothing and some received two inches. He said it was just a matter of location.
  ....West Texas also welcomed showers and thunderstorms, but is still in a drought condition.
• 7/17 (early) - Hispanic Civil Rights Organization Troubled: High-level resignations, a lack of new civil rights cases and a financially troublesome real estate purchase are raising questions about the effectiveness of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
  
  ....Suffering most is the San Antonio office of the venerable Hispanic civil rights organization, the San Antonio Express-News reported Tuesday.
  ....No new legal cases have been initiated by MALDEF in San Antonio in three years. Three of the office's four attorneys have left or will leave in the coming months. One of the departing lawyers is Luis Wilmot, regional counsel based in San Antonio.
  ....Similar problems have beset MALDEF nationwide.
  ....All five regional counsels have resigned from the organization in the last four years. Adding to the organization's critical financial situation is a nearly $10 million real-estate investment by MALDEF in Los Angeles.
• 7/17 (early) - Quintuplets Born in Houston: Quintuplets believed to be the first set born in Houston are expected to remain hospitalized for at least a month.
  
  ....The three boys and two girls were born eight weeks early on Sunday at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital. They were in stable condition Tuesday at Texas Children's Hospital, said St. Luke's spokeswoman Karin Thornton.
  ....Two of the boys were put on respirators and the third boy was receiving supplemental oxygen. The two girls did not have breathing problems.
  ....Their father is Jorge Diaz, manager of a tortilla factory in Houston. Their mother is Enna Diaz, who once represented Mexico in track and field.
  ....She was taking fertility treatments when she conceived, but said it wasn't until she moved from Sacramento to Houston in January that doctors told her how many babies were on the way.
  ....The babies' names, in order of birth, are Enna Michelle, George Albany, John Andrew, Emilio Alessandro and Maria Fernanda. They range in size from 2.7 to 3.12 pounds.
  ....The couple will be shopping for a larger vehicle.
• 7/16 - Hearing Set for Possible Change in Wichita Falls' Area Code
• 7/16 - Prosecutors To Seek Death Penalty In Deaths of Two Boys: Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a Rowlett woman who's accused of killing two of her young sons.
  
  ....A state district judge today set a Sept. 12 hearing on a motion to move Darlie Routier's capital murder trial out of Dallas County. No trial date has yet been set before Judge Mark Tolle.
  ....Defense attorneys for Routier, 26, moved for change of venue earlier this month, citing media attention in the case.
  .....Routier remained jailed at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center on $1 million bond. She has been told that the state is seeking the death penalty.
  ....In a two-day hearing earlier this month, Routier and family members sought unsuccessfully to have her bail reduced to about $100,000.
  ....Prosecutors accuse the woman of fatally stabbing her sons Damon, 5, and Devon, 6, in the family room of their upscale home June 6 in the suburb east of Dallas. She has said they were killed by an intruder who also wounded her.
• 7/16 - Gramm Still Has Monetary Lead: David's still David and Goliath is still Goliath in the U.S. Senate race.
  
  ....Campaign finance reports filed Monday showed a big gap between the bank accounts of incumbent Sen. Phil Gramm and Democratic challenger Victor Morales.
  ....Gramm, the two-term Republican seeking re-election this fall, reported having $3.58 million cash on hand at the June 30 end of the reporting period.
  ....Morales, the pickup-driving school teacher who got national attention with his upset primary win, reported having $122,248, a bank account about 29 times smaller.
  ...."As I said from the very beginning ... I could run this campaign without the millions and millions of dollars that Mr. Gramm seems to find necessary," said Morales, who launched his bid with $8,000 in family savings.
• 7/16 (early) - Dime Box Fire Still Raging: Firefighters and blowout specialists continued to battle the flaming wreckage of a natural gas well explosion on Monday while searching for the second of two victims killed in the blast.
  
  ....A raging fireball remained in the sky above otherwise tranquil Central Texas prairie as members of Joe Bowden's Wild Well Control, Inc., used high-powered hoses to cool down areas broiling at more than 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit where the second victim might be found.
  ....Workers were able to recover one body Sunday night. No other injuries were reported.
• 7/16 (early) - Cisneros Urges Cooperation: Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros urged county leaders Monday to work with the federal government to battle problems like drugs and crime that have seeped across city-county boundaries.
  
  ...."The line separating the ills of the city from the imagined and mythical tranquility of the suburbs has blurred," Cisneros told the National Association of Counties (NACo) at a convention in Houston.
  ...."Counties today, for a variety of reasons, confront issues and problems that are indistinguishable from those we generally think of as purely urban," he said.
  ....Cisneros attributed the change to tremendous population growth in metropolitan areas.
  7/16 (early) - Man Confesses Torching Church: A man confessed to torching a Baptist Church because a pastor there counseled him to forget his romantic obsession with a fellow church member, authorities said Monday.
  ....Eric Henry Crowson, 32, is named in a federal complaint alleging he spread gasoline and lit a fire near the pulpit at Audubon Park Baptist Church in suburban Garland, where he lived. The blaze last Thursday caused about $500,000 in damage. ....The complaint, divulged Monday, was filed late Friday, said U.S. Attorney Paul Coggins.
• 7/16 (early) - Used Tire Plan Draws Mixed Reaction: Used tires causing environmental hazards in West Texas could be cleaned up by regional contractors under a state plan to temporarily fix West Texas' tire disposal problems, state officials say.
  
  
  ....But local disposal companies say they can't afford to pick up tires from small companies in remote areas and those companies are still watching the piles grow outside their businesses.
  ....The state will offer contracts for six West Texas regions, including Abilene and San Angelo.
  ....Transporters will be paid 40 cents per tire to move them to state storage facilities, which is half the 80 cents transporters earn for moving tires to recycling and processing facilities.