Free Republic

There was a fire early this morning in Killeen at the shelter, and many of the animals were killed. They need any help you could offer. There is a link on their page for a contest to win $20,000 just by voting for them. Even if you can't donate, this would help. So sad to have them head into the holidays after this kind of tragedy. This is a no-kill shelter run by volunteers and donations. http://www.centexhumanesociety.com/

Dayton is being considered as a potential retail and residential development site by Hong Kong business mogul Zengbin Song, of Tian An China Investments Company. Working with local business owner Jack Gong, the Dayton Economic Development Corporation has now established a relationship with the Chinese investment community. Mr. Gong is the President of Overseas Operations for the Dayton office of Lucky Toys, a Six Flags distributor. Most recently, Gong developed, and leased, a shopping center in Willis, Texas. As part of a 60-member Chinese delegation to the Houston market, Song was attracted to Dayton as a high-growth submarket in the...

The city of Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world and it has a new defender: Texas Governor Rick Perry.

Democrats have held the Houston City Mayor's office and most of the City Council seats for a long time. However, in next Tuesday's election, Roy Morales, a Republican, is running against several well-funded democrats. I expect the democrats to split the liberal vote. Morales can win if all the conservatives get off their duff and VOTE. Turnout will be very light in this off-year election which means that conservative votes will be more important than ever. See Gary Polland's excellent website which rates the candidates based on their conservative value scores: http://www.texasconservativereview.com/

BP has been fined a record $87m (£53m) for failing to correct safety hazards at its Texas City refinery in the US. An explosion in 2005 at the Texas plant killed 15 people and injured 170 more. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited 270 violations at the oil refinery, a US Labor Department official said.

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) is brushing off former Vice President Dick Cheney's endorsement of Perry's primary challenger, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison -- saying he'd rather have his current support from Sarah Palin. Perry touted an upcoming endorsement from Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, as evidence of Republican support. Perry was then asked if he would rather have Cheney or Palin, who endorsed him back in February. Perry's response: "I think I'd stick with Sarah."

<p>Prominent Houston attorney John O'Quinn was one of two men who died this morning when their SUV slammed into a large tree on Allen Parkway after the driver apparently lost control, police said.</p> <p>"I'm stunned. The community lost one of its biggest assets," said Rick Laminack, who worked with O'Quinn from 1987 until 2006. "He was a great lawyer who shared a lot of his wealth with people who needed help."</p>

EL PASO, Texas -- Rain and snow fell in parts of the Borderland on Wednesday afternoon as a cold front moved in. Light snow was reported in West, Northeast and far East El Paso about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Snowfall was also spotted in the Franklin Mountains in El Paso and the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces. The National Weather Service has issued a freeze warning for southern New Mexico and west Texas from 3 to 10 a.m. Thursday. NWS officials said some areas may be just above freezing tonight but low temperatures for Friday will likely affect more areas.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – A Navy T-34 jet trainer with two people aboard has gone missing off the Texas gulf coast. U.S. Coast Guard officials said an air traffic controller at Corpus Christi's naval air station lost contact with the crew about 3:20 p.m. Wednesday. The single-engine T-34 was last reported near Port Lavaca. The Coast Guard has dispatched a helicopter, jet and boats to search for the jet. Port Lavaca is about 75 miles northeast of Corpus Christi.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - A judge on Wednesday dismissed murder charges against two men awaiting retrial in the 1991 slayings of four teens at an Austin yogurt shop, after prosecutors admitted they weren't ready to take the case to a jury. Robert Springsteen was sent to death row in 2001 after he was convicted in capital murder slaying of one of the girls. Michael Scott had been convicted in her death previously and sentenced to life in prison. Both convictions were overturned when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said Springsteen and Scott were unfairly denied the chance to cross-examine...

AUSTIN, Texas — Former Vice President Dick Cheney will throw his support behind U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s campaign for Texas governor. Hutchison’s campaign confirmed today that Cheney will endorse the Texas Republican’s March primary challenge of Gov. Rick Perry at a fundraiser next month.

This was broadcast as breaking news on WOAI at about 12:07 pm 10/28/2009. There's not yet a link to this story at their site.

FORT WORTH, Texas Smugglers with a Mexican drug cartel targeted last week by federal authorities used homes and business parking lots in Fort Worth and Cleburne, Texas, to stash and trade weapons bound for the border, according to federal court documents. Five acres surrounded by barbed wire in Cleburne and a south Fort Worth restaurant parking lot were among the locations where guns were exchanged, investigators said. Smugglers transporting weapons on Interstate 35W used two-way radios to watch for law enforcement tails. Those are among the details included in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court by the Bureau...

The vast right-wing conspiracy becomes more vast, and stronger, as those crazy Texans get involved and unite Tea Party and 912 and more, oh my! Liberals are stocking up on Ambien, booze and nooses to hang themselves. The conservatives in Texas are just getting started.

Note: The following text is a quote: Three Convicted in International Truck Theft Conspiracy Sentenced to Prison HOUSTON—Three men who conspired to steal and transport millions of dollars of truck tractors, trailers and other heavy equipment to Central America have been sentenced to prison, United States Attorney Tim Johnson announced today. Rito Jasso-Zorilla, 32, Victor Antonio Garcia, 27, and Orlando Gonzalez Huerta, 29, all citizens of Mexico, were sentenced by United States District Judge David Hittner this morning for their respective roles in assisting Yuri David Melendez, 42, of Houston, with the far-reaching scheme. Beginning in 2001, Melendez received requests...

One of the best ways to determine someone's true political philosophy is to observe the people who support him/her. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is planning to run against Governor Rick Perry in the Texas Republican Primary next March, putting the state GOP in a tough spot. They are being forced to take sides against two leaders of the party, each of whom claims to be the more conservative. As I outlined in a previous column, Hutchison is pro-choice (not a conservative position), while Perry is pro-life (a strong conservative position). Hence, although the Senator claims to be a staunch Republican,...

The son of one of the most powerful families within a polygamist Mormon sect goes to trial for sexual assault Monday, a case in which Texas prosecutors will provide their first public evidence that Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints men engaged in sex with underage girls. Raymond Merril Jessop, 38, is the first to face trial among 12 defendants who live at the sect's Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado and are accused of arranging or participating in underage marriages. His father, Frederick Merril Jessop is the senior leader of the FLDS because the group's prophet, Warren Jeffs,...

Group discusses the ‘rebirth’ of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Texas -- More exchanges of information are being planned as some Lutheran churches consider breaking away from the national group over differences of opinion, said organizers of a meeting held Thursday night . More than 120 people turned out for the program at Welcome Lutheran Church to discuss the “rebirth” of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Texas (ELST). “The people brought many questions,” said the Rev. David Klak, pastor of Welcome Lutheran Church and secretary of the ELST’s council. “I hope we were able to answer some of them.” Some...

A Houston city councilman running for city controller owes more than $100,000 in federal income taxes dating back seven years, public records show. Ronald C. Green, a lawyer who has served in the city’s At-Large Position 4 since 2004, owed $120,043.11 to the federal government earlier this year, according to federal tax liens filed with the Harris County clerk’s office this past summer. The delinquent taxes go back as far as 2002.

Hundreds of people have been arrested in Texas and around the country what officials say is the largest single strike at a Mexican drug cartel in the U.S WASHINGTON (October 22, 2009)—U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder calls the arrests of more than 300 people in a series of drug raids in Texas and across the country the largest single strike at a Mexican drug cartel operating here. Holder said at a news conference Thursday that the arrests over the past two days were aimed at the U.S. operations of the La Familia cartel. Click here to find out more! Holder...

On Monday, former President George W. Bush will be the "special guest speaker" at the "Get Motivated! Business Seminar" in Fort Worth, Texas, according to the event's Web site. "Attend This Dynamic Seminar to INCREASE Your Productivity and Income!" the Web site says. Other listed speakers include Gen. Colin Powell, who will discuss leadership, former football player Terry Bradshaw (speaking on competitiveness), former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani (perseverance), and a trio of motivational speakers – Zig Ziglar, Dr. Robert Schuller, and Tamara Lowe. Lowe, the Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of Get Motivated! Seminars, told Hotsheet that Mr....

EL PASO, Texas — An alleged Mexican gang leader named to the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list may have surgically altered his face and changed his finger prints to hide his identity, federal investigators said Wednesday. Eduardo "Tablas" Ravelo was added earlier this week to the wanted list that includes the likes of Osama Bin Laden and Boston crime lord James "Whitey" Bulger. "From what I've heard, it's my understanding he may have had ... plastic surgery and manipulated his finger prints," said Samantha Mikeska, the FBI's lead investigator in a 5-year-old probe of Ravelo's Barrio Azteca gang. If Ravelo...

University Park Nixes Kids' Tree House Front-yard structure that violates city code to be torn down By SUSY SOLIS and ELLEN GOLDBERG Updated 8:42 AM CDT, Wed, Oct 21, 2009 Print Email Share Buzz up! TWITTER FACEBOOK NBCDFW.com A labor of love between a father and his two sons will have to be torn down after the University Park City Council declined to amend a city ordinance that prohibits the structure. Brenk Johnson built a tree house in a large oak tree in his front yard because there wasn't a tree big enough to support one in his backyard. But...

The fracture of the Tea Party and 9/12 protest groups has begun, with some protesters following Republican Dick Armey into partisan activism and others chasing jet trails after anyone from Glenn Beck to John Birch. In North Texas alone, three different political factions are selling "Tea Party Training" or "Tea Party Boot Camp," where for $25 wannabe activists can learn everything from Armey economics to conspiracy theories taught by a "birther." So far, it’s been tough to tell who’s on which Republican or Libertarian team in the Tea Party protests. Actor Stephen Baldwin, a speaker at Armey’s Sept. 12 Washington...

Watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6heXIdSpDdE

El Paso unemployment rate rises to 9.8 percent in September Link to story above

I think there was a time when Chris Matthews wasn't stark, raving mad, but it's hard to remember for sure. Here, he invites the head of the Texas Tea Parties on to his show, and then attacks him with a series of bizarre questions involving birtherism, etc. It turns out that what Matthews really wants to do is argue about New Deal history, of which he is evidently ignorant (he doesn't seem to understand that Hoover raised taxes). The Tea Party guy, Phllip Dennis, does an admirable job of not only maintaining his dignity but talking sense to craziness: CLICK...

McALLEN — With the forecast calling for another freezing cold night, Richard and Vickie Burton packed the car and fled south for the blistering heat of the Rio Grande Valley. After a chilly summer in Missouri and with fall quickly covering the Midwest in cold, the Burton family drove more than 16 hours last Saturday, joining hundreds of other Winter Texans who returned early to their winter homes. "(The snow) was coming down and they took flight just like we did," he said. "It’s probably ahead of time. They don’t get this kind of weather until sometime in November and...

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- Somerset Police arrested a 16-year-old girl on charges of online harassment. She was arrested under a new law that took effect September 1. The new Texas law criminalizes online harassment on social networking sites and through e-mail or text messaging. H.B. 2003 states a person commits a third degree felony if the person posts one or more messages on a social networking site with the intent to harm, defraud, intimidate or threaten another person. (Emphasis added)

Billions of your tax dollars spent on a federal stimulus program and it all comes down to one question -- "Where's the money going?" $47 million of that money is now in use through various companies. The federal government says that money has created or saved 11-hundred jobs. Where has the money gone in North Texas? You might be surprised to learn your tax payer dollars have gone into things like creamy peanut butter. Officials with that company and five others would not talk about their stimulus dollars. But, according to the government's stimulus website, Clements Foods of Lewisville received...

Jarrette Schule was cutting down trees on his rural property Tuesday in Comal County when he noticed a green metallic tube on the muddy ground. “I had never seen it before,” said Schule, a 34-year-old Web developer. “I looked at it, and it kind of looked like a missile launcher.” Schule took a closer look. It was a long, forest-green metal tube. A decal on it read: “Guided Missile and Launcher, Surface Attack.” The discovery was the start of a surreal journey for Schule. Somehow, an unarmed anti-tank weapon — or a very good fake — wound up on his...

So says this article in the Dallas Observer. After its last meeting, in late August, the board announced decisions on four sex-related cases. Two involved doctors whom judges had already sentenced for crimes against children. Two involved psychiatrists found to have had affairs with adult patients – potentially sexual assault under Texas law, but they've not been charged. The child abusers were allowed to go on practicing medicine, though not with kids. The other two are working without restrictions. It's all part of a broader pattern of tolerance for misconduct, a News analysis shows. Others who kept their licenses after...

Proposition 2 (HJR 36 - #1) The proposed amendment would appear on the ballot as follows: "The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to provide for the ad valorem taxation of a residence homestead solely on the basis of the property’s value as a residence homestead." Proposition 3 (HJR 36 - #3) The proposed amendment would appear on the ballot as follows: "The constitutional amendment providing for uniform standards and procedures for the appraisal of property for ad valorem tax purposes." Proposition 11 (HJR 14 - #1) The proposed amendment would appear on the ballot as follows: "The constitutional amendment to...

Seven years ago, after a scathing series of stories in The Dallas Morning News, the Texas Medical Board promised to crack down on bad doctors. Patient endangerment would be dealt with severely. And sexual misconduct, one official said, would become "intolerable." It hasn't turned out that way.

Forget what you've heard about a glut of new houses on the market. For three years, Dallas-Fort Worth builders have sold more homes than they have constructed. So the inventory of finished new houses has fallen so low that homebuyers may encounter a shortage when next year's market kicks off.

This is on Fox for hours now, the truck being chased (slowly - a`la OJ) in TX for not paying at a gas station. Can't believe there's no article/discussion about it.

BATON ROUGE -- Gov. Bobby Jindal traveled to a Houston suburb Thursday night to raise money for his 2011 re-election campaign, according to his staff. The event in Katy, Texas, continued a string of out-of-state fundraisers for Jindal, who has traveled from coast to coast collecting money despite having no announced opponents. Jindal also has raised money for Republican political candidates.

DALLAS – A 19-year-old Italy resident was arrested by federal authorities after he attempted to blow up a prominent downtown Dallas skyscraper last Thursday. Italy, a town of 2,000 located south of Waxahachie, was home to the Jordanian born Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, who worked at a Shell gas station on Interstate Highway 35 and lived in a Monolithic dome house in town. Smadi was arrested in a sting operation when the phony bombs the Federal Bureau of Investigations provided to him to detonate failed to go off. FBI agents, in widely reported news accounts, monitored Smadi for several months...

Stock-market champion Warren Buffett was identified this afternoon as a $2,400 donor to Houston Mayor Bill White’s U.S. Senate campaign in a note from White’s campaign otherwise touting his successes raising money online. White spokeswoman Katy Bacon said Buffett also is poised to give again to White if there’s a special-election runoff. Buffett, who hails from Nebraska, doesn’t show up on the Texas Ethics Commission Web site as a past donor to Texas candidates for state office, though he ponied up to Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama last year and to Democratic Senate candidates including Al Franken...

A cowboy from Texas attends a social function where Barack Obama is trying to gather more support for his Health Plan. Once he discovers the cowboy is from President Bush's home area, he starts to belittle him by talking in a southern drawl and single syllable words. As he was doing that, he kept swatting at some flies that were buzzing around his head. The cowboy says, "Y'all havin' some problem with them circle flies?" Obama stopped talking and said, "Well, yes, if that's what they're called, but I've never heard of circle flies." "Well Sir," the cowboy replies, "circle...

The Texas Department of Transportation is pulling the last plug on the Trans-Texas Corridor, Gov. Rick Perry's embattled plan to build a toll-road network across the state. The agency said earlier this year it was scaling down the project and dropping the name "Trans-Texas Corridor." Now, transportation officials say it's fully dead. Transportation Commissioner Bill Meadows told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram of the decision in a report posted online Tuesday. The news comes a day after Perry's Republican primary opponent, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, secured the coveted endorsement of the powerful Texas Farm Bureau — a vocal opponent of the...

Bozo came too close to the kids and got shot; not the famous clown, but a dog named "Bozo." Students at Bebensee Elementary School in Arlington were outside on a bus drill, when two dogs ran onto school grounds. Arlington police were chasing the two dogs when Bozo the boxer started getting aggressive. "They told us to get in line so we can get in the building," said Kayla Kilgore, a second-grader at the school. But when Bozo started nipping at police, an officer was forced to pull his gun and shoot Bozo, police said. "I just heard a gunshot,...

Note: The following text is a quote: Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, October 2, 2009 Three Gang Members Plead Guilty to Murder and Drug Conspiracy Charges; Two Others Sentenced on Drug Charges Three members of the violent gang known as the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation (ALKQN) pleaded guilty today to charges related to their participation in a drive-by shooting and a drug conspiracy, and two other members were sentenced for their roles in a drug conspiracy. Robert Allen Ramirez, aka "Nesyo," 27, of Big Spring, Texas; Eduardo Daniel Mares, aka "Pitt," 21,...

A Dallas judge ruled Thursday that Texas' ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional as she cleared the way for two gay men to divorce, the Dallas Morning News reported. State District Judge Tena Callahan said the state’s bans on same-sex marriage violates the constitutional guarantee to equal protection under the law. While the Texas attorney general had stepped into the case to say that because a gay marriage isn’t recognized in Texas, a Texas court can’t dissolve one through divorce, Tena denied the intervention. The two Dallas men in the case married three years ago in Massachusetts, the first state...

A University of Texas at Austin staff member who checked into the hospital over the weekend has died of the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu. Linda Duran, 42, worked at UT for 15-years as a service worker. The university says she had underlying health problems but they would not say what. Funeral serves were set for Friday October 2 at Weed-Corley-Fish Chapel at 10 a.m. This is the first known H1N1 death at UT. Last week, more than 1,000 students came into the student health center -- 92 of those were confirmed flu cases. Since the beginning of...

In an age when smoking has been outlawed in most public places – government buildings, bars and pool halls – a person's home is one of the few places you can puff in peace. Until now. A Dallas woman has filed a lawsuit seeking six figures from a former neighbor and landlord for damage she says was caused by cigarette smoke wafting through adjoining walls of her high-end townhome.

by Debra Medina - Conservative Republican Candidate for Governor of Texas “What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms." -- Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith,1787. ME 6:373, Papers 12:356 In a world moving more and more rapidly towards globalization, perhaps we’d do well to review exactly what insures freedom. What is it that makes one free? What sets a free man apart from one enslaved? The founders would argue insuring a well-armed people was the surest way to defend...

By RICK CASEY Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle Sept. 29, 2009, 7:45PMYou know those ads that promise to show you how to make thousands of dollars working at home on your personal computer? They're mainly bogus, of course. But Gov. Rick Perry, ever dedicated to helping the Texas economy, has come up with a program to allow Texans to do just that. It's sort of a campaign version of Facebook meets Amway. The Dallas Morning News called attention Tuesday to the program, which is described at hq.rickperry.org/about, a Perry campaign Web site. ..........“Our goal is to field the biggest grass-roots...

Kay Bailey Hutchison is running for governor here in Texas. Face it, she has not been a part of the solution in Washington, she has been a part of the problem. She has done nothing to control run away spending. She has supported and even offered bills that added to the deficit. Hutchison is no conservative. She is part of the problem here in America.