When Darnell Hartsfield saw the inside of a Texas prison cell for the first time in 1984, it was for an aggravated robbery he committed the previous year. But prosecutors contend the Tyler man was involved in a far more heinous crime just three days before his arrest for that September 1983 robbery.Hartsfield, 47, goes on trial this week for his part in one of Texas' oldest unresolved mass murder cases - the slayings a quarter-century ago of five people abducted during a robbery at a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in East Texas. more >>
A robber rolled into a Dallas convenience store came armed with a bat and a knife. He left with a lot of condoms and an energy drink. Dallas police Cpl. Kevin Janse said Friday that a man in a wheelchair entered a Dallas 7-Eleven Wednesday afternoon, rolled straight toward the cash register and beat it with a baseball bat until it opened. more >>
A routine package delivery turned into a milestone for a UPS driver in East Texas. Brent Boyd on Thursday surpassed 1 million miles on his UPS delivery van, the same vehicle he's driven for 22 years with the company. more >>
A routine package delivery turned into a milestone for a UPS driver in East Texas. Brent Boyd, 51, on Thursday surpassed one million miles on his UPS delivery truck, the same vehicle he's driven for 22 years with the company. The odometer on Boyd's 1987 GMC truck rolled over to all zeros as he began his delivery route near Palestine. He said he's never had an accident with his company vehicle. more >>
When two gunmen smashed through the glass front door of her suburban Fort Worth home, Kellie Hoehn didn't think twice. The 34-year-old mother of two grabbed a shotgun that had been pointed at her face early Wednesday, starting a struggle that ended with one intruder killed with his own weapon and another in the hospital. more >>
Child by child, Texas authorities are acknowledging that many of the children seized during a raid on a polygamist sect's ranch can safely live with their parents or guardians. Since the April 3 raid on the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado, 235 children's custody cases have been dropped, meaning fewer than half of the 440 children seized remain bound by a court order to stay in Texas, attend parenting classes or be available for unannounced visits by Child Protective Services. more >>
PORT LAVACA – A Calhoun County grand jury indicted Janice L. Bonnell, 45, on Thursday with the death of her husband. She is accused of killing Brett A. Bonnell, 40, by hitting him with a wooden bat on April 24, according to the indictment. more >>
Opponents of a Dallas suburb's latest effort to force out illegal immigrants filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to stop a city ban on apartment and home rentals to tenants who can't prove they are legally in the country. The filing in federal court seeks to prevent Farmers Branch from requiring prospective renters to obtain a license from the city. Information from the license application would be forwarded to the federal government for verification of a tenant's legal immigration status. more >>
A campaign watchdog group in Texas is urging prosecutors to launch a criminal investigation of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst over his failure to disclose his vast wealth. Texans for Public Justice, a liberal think tank, filed a complaint Wednesday with Travis County alleging that the Republican violated state laws requiring politicians to disclose personal financial statements. more >>
A suburban Dallas judge who set an important hearing on a condemned inmate's case for two days after the prisoner is scheduled to die stepped aside Wednesday, leaving efforts to advance the hearing up in the air. State District Judge Robert Dry in Collin County cited a "previous business relationship" with the ex-husband of retired Judge Verla Sue Holland as reason for taking himself off the case of convicted killer Charles Dean Hood. Hood claims Holland had an unethical romantic relationship with the prosecutor in his trial, which Holland presided over. more >>
A couple who fled the New Orleans area in advance of Hurricane Gustav will have to return home without their 7-month-old daughter, who died of a rare genetic disorder after becoming stricken at an amusement park. Kaitlynn Foret suddenly stopped breathing at Six Flags Over Texas on Monday and was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was later pronounced dead. more >>
An intoxicated man with four previous drunken-driving arrests and an invalid license sped away from a sheriff's deputy before crashing into two sport-utility vehicles, killing a newlywed couple and injuring several other people, authorities said. Uriel Perez Palacios raced away with his lights off early Monday and drove through a red light, striking an SUV carrying five Southern Methodist University students, said Dallas County sheriff's officials. His vehicle then went airborne before landing on top of German and Erika Clouet's vehicle as the couple, married a little more than a month, drove home from a movie date, authorities said. more >>
President Bush said Tuesday that while it's too early to assess Hurricane Gustav's damage to U.S. oil infrastructure off the Gulf Coast, the storm should prompt Congress to OK more domestic oil production. "One thing is for certain, when Congress comes back, they've got to understand that we need more domestic energy, not less," Bush said in the Roosevelt Room. "One place to find it is offshore America - lands that have been taken off the books, so to speak, by congressional law - and now they need to give us a chance to find more oil and gas here at home. more >>
Fresh off his electoral victory in May, Mayor Vicente Garza Jr. has embarked on a quixotic project, betting against long odds that a casino could secure the future of this indebted town of 485 residents. Founded in 1767, but not incorporated until 1993, Granjeno clings to a sharp curve in the road a mile from the Rio Grande. It has a single city employee and a beer joint is its only business. more >>
President Bush set out Monday to show the nation that his administration has learned the haunting lessons of Katrina, planting himself near the danger zone soon after Hurricane Gustav hit the Gulf Coast. Bush had planned to address the Republican National Convention, but he headed instead to Austin and San Antonio in Texas, a staging ground for emergency response efforts and a shelter for some Gulf Coast evacuees that include an estimated 2 million people from Louisiana. more >>
The Veterans Service Office, 2805 N. Navarro St., Room 110 will be closed the week of Sept. 8 -12. The service officer, Gloria Picon-McDade, will be attending a conference and will return on Monday, Sept. 15, according to a news release from the Veterans Service Office. more >>
A ranch worker hired by a Texas lawmaker is a suspected illegal immigrant now wanted in the fatal beating of a young man, authorities said Monday. Froylen Casares, 24, is suspected of using a bat to beat another man to death on the ranch early Monday, said Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino. Casares remained at large Monday afternoon. more >>
Students in the Goliad school district are saying goodbye to paper, pencils and textbooks. Well, students grades seven through 12 at least. On their first week of school, students reconnected with old friends and their MacBook laptops from the previous school year. The students received their laptops through the Apple One-to-One Learning Solutions program approved by the Goliad School Board of trustees. The program was implemented in Fall 2007. more >>
HALLETTSVILLE – Lavaca County residents called for jury duty for Lavaca County District Court at 10 a.m. Tuesday need not appear. The jury has been canceled, according to a news release from District Clerk Calvin J. Albrecht. more >>
