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Hi - I was asleep all afternoon and evening - have been sleep-deprived for a few days - and missed the 10PM News, so hadn't seen any follow-ups on the story.

However, just now there was a rerun of local WB News, which I never watch - and get this:

They said there are rumors that the two guys belonged to a "small anarchist group that doesn't like the United States." There was no further detail than that.

On the other hand, before hearing that just a minute ago, the following was the last "explanation" I had found, from a local blog:

UPDATE: The Galveston County Daily News seems to be ahead of the "bigger boys" with this tidbit:
TATP is shorthand for triacetone triperoxide, which has been used by suicide bombers in Israel, and was chosen as a detonator in 2001 by the thwarted "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, according to website Global Security.org.
“It can be as or more powerful than military analogs. TATP is one of the most sensitive explosives known, being extremely sensitive to impact, temperature change and friction," the website that tracks military and terrorist issues reported.
Investigators said Rugo was possibly making explosives for a weekend "entertainment" activity where he and some friends liked to blow things up. ..."

Take your pick. I'll try to keep following it, as you can imagine.

More ... here are some excerpts from the HouChron's update of an hour ago:

~~~~
" ... Asked about a televised report that Rugo and Jetton may have been part of a four-member local anarchist group, Burby said late Thursday: "I have nothing to substantiate that and I don't know where that came from."

FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap said: "We have not confirmed that information at this time."

Texas City Mayor Matt Doyle said there were no hints of terroristic activity.

"If we thought that this was a terrorist act, the action would be a lot different than we've seen today," Doyle said after an afternoon news conference in a city that is home to one of the largest petrochemical complexes in the world. "Certainly, the FBI would have raised the level of security inside the city."

....

Rugo formerly lived in Bellville in Austin County, according to public records.

Texas Department of Public Safety records show he was arrested Feb. 2, 2004, in Austin County for carrying a switchblade. He was charged with carrying a prohibited weapon and pleaded guilty on April 1, 2004. He received six months probation.

Austin County District Attorney Travis Koehn said Rugo lived in Austin County at the time of the offense and he successfully completed the probation.

Koehn said Rugo also was charged in March 2005 with burglary of a habitation. Kohen said Rugo and co-defendant Christopher J. Distefano, 20, of Bellville, were accused of stealing rifles and other items from a home.

Koehn said Rugo had pleaded guilty in the case but had not yet been sentenced. Distefano also was facing sentencing.

Before they detonated their own explosives in Rugo's damaged apartment Thursday, bomb experts said they didn't expect a huge explosion but couldn't guarantee what would happen. When they triggered the blast, it produced a low rumble, a large puff of gray smoke and little debris.

"The apartment does have severe damage to it now," Texas City police Capt. Brian Goetschius said. "But we believe it was structurally severely damaged also by the original blast."

Federal and local officials said they believe the substance was peroxide-based and similar to TATP, organic peroxide and a primary high explosive. It takes the form of a white crystalline powder with a distinctive acrid smell and has been described as a weapon of choice for suicide bombers.

TATP can be easily prepared in a basement lab using starting materials obtained from hardware stores, pharmacies and stores selling cosmetics, according to the Global Security Web site.

Although the substance that killed Rugo was described by FBI Special Agent Kasey Salway as "extremely sensitive to heat, shock and friction," and very powerful in relatively small amounts, the two blasts left just one of Lakeview Apartments' 22 separate buildings temporarily uninhabitable Thursday.

....

Sean Davis, 17, a La Marque High School student who is taking classes at College of the Mainland, said he has lived all his life at Lakeview but didn't know Rugo.

"Nothing like this has ever happened here before," Davis said. "I'm shocked."

Rugo's attorney, Candelario "Candy" Elizondo of Houston, was traveling Thursday in Louisiana when he learned of Rugo's death.

"I am shocked, I'm shocked. I really am," Elizondo said.

He said Rugo was going to school and was doing well.

"He had turned himself around, he was a really good guy," Elizondo said. "He was doing real good." ..."