AUSTIN -- House Speaker Tom Craddick, the first Republican speaker in the Texas Legislature in modern times, is dropping his bid for a fourth term, four GOP House members said Sunday."I talked to the speaker. He has dropped his candidacy and released ... full story
AUSTIN -- If anyone wondered whether Texas toll-road rage had subsided or lawmakers' irritation at the Texas Department of Transportation had eased, those questions got answered a few days before Christmas: Not so much.Denouncing the massive transpor ... full story
AUSTIN -- Republican dissidents selected Rep. Joe Straus of San Antonio on Friday night as their candidate to overthrow long-serving House Speaker Tom Craddick, one of the most powerful leaders in state government.Emerging from a meeting in tony West ... full story
AUSTIN -- A polarized state appeals court has ruled that Republican Justice Alan Waldrop did not have to excuse himself from a case against two associates of former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.The ruling from the 3rd Court of Appeals does no ... full story
DALLAS -- Seventy new large school buses equipped with lap-shoulder seat belts similar to those in passenger cars are headed to Dallas County schools more than a year before a Texas law involving school buses and seat belts goes into effect, school o ... full story
McALLEN -- Fort Worth attorney Lynn Barber started last year with a common loon on the Texas Gulf Coast and ended with a rufous-capped warbler in Arizona.In between, Barber identified 721 other bird species in the United States and Canada as part of ... full story
FORT WORTH -- Three weeks after an FBI raid, a North Texas jail has been closed and its nearly 60 inmates transferred as authorities investigate what they call dangerous conditions for jailers and those behind bars.Montague County Sheriff Paul Cunnin ... full story
RIESEL -- A single smokestack 30 stories high looms on the horizon of this rural town 15 miles east of Waco.Some 275 people are working there to build the Sandy Creek coal-fired power plant. As many as 1,000 more could join them before the plant open ... full story
FORT WORTH -- All cigarettes sold in Texas must be slow-burning and fire-safe, according to a state law that went into effect New Year's Day.The law gives distributors and retailers until 2010 to sell off their old inventory.Smokers won't notice a di ... full story
DALLAS -- Police in Dallas, where numerous convictions based on eyewitness testimony have been overturned, are taking part in a study to determine the best way to prevent witnesses from picking the wrong suspects in photo lineups.Typically a detectiv ... full story
GALVESTON -- An unnamed 25-foot boat displaced by Hurricane Ike is now pinned under a World War II-era destroyer on Pelican Island, complicating efforts to return the popular tourist attraction to its berth.The USS Stewart, one of only three remainin ... full story
EDEN -- A man sought on a murder warrant in the death of a San Angelo woman has died in a shootout with a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper.The DPS said Manuel Alcantar, 20, shot the trooper with a 12-gauge shotgun while the officer was tryin ... full story
EL PASO -- With the death toll in the Mexican city of Juarez mounting, the increasingly bloody struggle for control of the city across the Rio Grande from El Paso can now count one more victim: charity from its American neighbor.At least two church ... full story
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- An Army veteran who fabricated a dazzling military career of African rescue missions and awards for heroism has been sentenced to three years probation for his deception.Brian Culp, 38, had faced six months in prison on charges of ... full story
HOUSTON (AP) -- A topless club in Houston must close permanently in what's seen as a victory for city officials who for years have tried to padlock strip clubs and sexually oriented businesses.State District Judge Caroline Baker made the ruling Wedne ... full story
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexico sent 10 alleged drug smugglers to the United States on Wednesday, capping an already record year for extraditions between the two countries.Several were high-ranking members of Mexico's most powerful drug gangs, including t ... full story
DALLAS (AP) -- The federal official in charge of bus safety said Wednesday that closer government scrutiny may have stopped more than 30 companies from returning to the road under a new name despite past safety violations -- a tactic used by the comp ... full story
LEWISVILLE, Texas (AP) -- An 81-year-old man has been taken to the hospital with minor injuries after authorities say the van he was driving crashed into a Lewisville retirement center. No other injuries were reported.Lewisville police Sgt. Steve Dic ... full story
HOUSTON -- A man recently freed from prison after being wrongly convicted of the sexual assault of an 8-year-old boy will receive facial reconstructive surgery at no charge from a renowned Houston surgeon.Ricardo Rachell spent five years in prison an ... full story
AUSTIN -- House Speaker Tom Craddick, the longest- serving Republican in Texas elective office, rings in the new year with a shaky hold on power and a growing flock of former allies vowing to take him out.Craddick supporters admit they're short of th ... full story
AUSTIN -- Texas Lottery ticket revenues plummeted by $45.1 million since last fiscal year, a sales plunge that state officials attribute to Hurricane Ike and the recession.The 4 percent decline affects education dollars the lottery provides to the st ... full story
WASHINGTON -- Seat restraints, pressure suits and helmets of the doomed crew of the space shuttle Columbia didn't work well, leading to "lethal trauma" as the out-of-control ship lost pressure and broke apart, killing all seven astronauts, a new NASA ... full story
HOUSTON -- A California musician is fighting in federal court for the right to dig for treasure he believes is buried along the Texas Gulf Coast.Nathan Smith relied on a lost treasure book, the satellite imagery of Google Earth and a metal detector t ... full story
DALLAS -- Two letters written by first-class Titanic passengers -- one who survived and one who perished with the ship -- are going up for auction next month.The letters, both written on White Star Lines stationary that states "On board R.M.S. 'Titan ... full story
ODESSA, Texas (AP) -- The unknown owner of 45 cockfighting birds found dead or dying on a West Texas property could face animal cruelty charges, officials said.The surviving birds, which had no food or water when found earlier this month, probably wi ... full story
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