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AUSTIN (KXAN) — Travis County Sheriff’s Office deputies do not have rifle-resistance vests because Sheriff Sally Hernandez will not commit to hold all arrested undocumented immigrants for deportation. In January, Governor Abbott announced the state would fund $23 million in grants to purchase 33,000 vests for more than 450 law enforcement departments. Every agency that applied for vests received them. Travis County did not apply for the grant because one condition from the governor’s office required the agency to “sign a letter confirming compliance with ICE detainer requests both now and during the grant term of at least one year,”...

PRESIDIO – City of Presidio Administrator Joe Portillo informed Presidio County commissioners last week of the Mexican government’s decision to direct transmigrants – usually South American salvagers – to the Presidio-Ojinaga port of entry. If you live near the border, you may recognize the transmigrants and their cargo: salvaged vehicles (often from California) towing another vehicle and stuffed with used furniture, appliances, and other goods. The transmigrants, Portillo explained, are mostly from Guatemala, but come from other South American countries such as Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. According to Portillo, Mexican Customs at ports currently used by the transmigrants, such...

Top box.

Some coaches rule with an iron fist, but Texas Tech’s Tommy Tuberville preferred to deal with his assistant with an open hand.

HOUSTON—Hundreds of people gathered at Bush Intercontinental Airport on Friday to welcome more than 200 wounded veterans to Houston. The veterans, many of them in wheelchairs or on crutches, passed through a cordon of cheering civilians waving flags and yelling their thanks. Some people in the crowd stepped out to shake the veterans hands or hug them and welcome them to Texas. "Awesome," said one of the veterans. "God bless Texas." (snip) "In the morning they’re going to see 200 boats sitting on the water with volunteers that are opening their hearts to show these soldiers a really good time...

You've probably heard of having a corner on the market? The Motley County (TX) Attorney says agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have the corner on something else. ATF agents were blowing up old and unusable ordinance in Motley County Tuesday afternoon, when they ignited a blaze that consumed 100 to 150 acres. FOX34 asked County Attorney Tom Edwards if the exercise violated the county's burn ban. "I will say this and you can quote me on it. That bunch had a real corner on stupid. We had high winds. We're under a burn ban because of...

The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan has arrived in Japan. Fleet officials revealed on Saturday that more units belonging to the 7th Fleet are due to arrive over the weekend to provide assistance to areas that have been devastated by the tsunami that followed the magnitude-8.9 earthquake off the northeastern coast of Japan on Friday afternoon. In an update on their Facebook page, the 7th Fleet shared that the crews of two SH-60 Seahawk helicopters, along with Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron 14, delivered 1,500 pounds of rice and bread to Shiroishi City in the Miyagi prefecture in Japan. The donations came...

AUSTIN (KXAN) - With Texas facing a multi-billion dollar budget shortfall, every school district is facing tough decisions. Some districts are considering closing schools and laying off teachers. So, why are some districts giving their superintendent raises and super-sized benefits? And do parents really know what their superintendent earns? Apparently, not. (exerpt - continues at link below) http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/investigations/kxan-investigates-super-salaries

<p>CHANNING, Texas — A vehicle driven by Colorado state Sen. Suzanne Williams collided with another on a Texas highway, killing a pregnant woman from Amarillo, the Department of Public Safety said.</p> <p>Williams, of Aurora, Colo., was treated at Northwest Texas Hospital and has been released, Trooper Gabriel Medrano said Monday.</p>

...he enters the hospital today for surgery tomorrow morning to remove a brain tumor. It was diagnosed a week ago, and while he's been able to be at home he is now suffering severe headaches and vertigo. Eric just turned 37, and has a beautiful wife and daughter. Please pray for them, for his medical team, for a successful surgery, and that the tumor is not malignant or genetic in nature. And whatever you're giving or getting this Christmas, give thanks for the gifts that can't be bought ~ your life and your health. Thanks!

Texas Tech researcher Seshadri Ramkumar has his fingers crossed. Fibertect, his super-absorbent layered cotton product that recently gained national attention as a military decontamination wipe, could play a vital role in sopping up the oil blanketing miles of beaches along the Gulf Coast. The Environmental Protection Agency approved the technology last week as a viable, eco-friendly way to trap oil from the ocean's water. Every gram of the multi-layer cotton wipe, Ramukumar said, can absorb up to 20-grams of the sticky black crude choking the life out of the treasured wetlands. Fibertect can also catch the noxious fumes wafting from...

The same Texas Tech-created nonwoven cotton technology that keeps soldiers safe from chemical and biological warfare agents may also serve as the perfect sponge for sopping up oil that has polluted the Gulf of Mexico. As oil continues to gush from the exploded Deepwater Horizon oil rig, a Texas Tech expert in nonwoven cotton technology says the “fabric of our lives” may do a better job to absorb the oil spill than the booms made of synthetic material. “Already, several million feet of the oil-containment booms have been used to capture the oil spilling into the Gulf,” said Seshadri Ramkumar,...

Odessa, TX - A 22-year-old man claiming to be 16 years old is busted after enrolling as a student in ECISD for more than a year. For more than a year, he successfully convinced school officials, students - even law enforcement that he was 16-year-old Jerry Joseph, an immigrant from Haiti. He flew under the radar in plain sight as a basketball star; even being featured in a news story after the devastating Haiti earthquake. His coach, Danny Wright had sympathy and took him into his own home. Two weeks ago rumors begin to circulate that Joseph may be older...

Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers, rapper Chamillionaire top USO show. FORT HOOD — Elena Mendez felt better just being at Hood Stadium on Friday, surrounded by her husband and three young daughters, waiting for the celebrity-studded Community Strong concert to begin. "This means we can come together and start healing," said Mendez, who lives on Fort Hood and whose husband returned from Iraq just a day before a shooting rampage left 13 dead on the Army post on Nov. 5. "For me it was just a big scare," she said. "To have this going on today means a lot...

Express-News OJINAGA, Mexico — A day after being caught in Arizona by the U.S. Border Patrol, a weary and disoriented Federico Vélez Vargas found himself a free man in Texas, hundreds of miles from his last point of reference. “I don't have any idea where I am. I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't have any money to go home,” Vargas, 37, said as he collected his thoughts in the Mexican immigration office at the international bridge. Around him, dozens of other Mexicans who also had just arrived from Arizona were eating sandwiches, pulling their belongings from...

PASADENA, Texas -- A huge explosion rocked a plant in Pasadena Wednesday. It happened before 9 a.m. at American Acryl, located in the 12100 block of Port Road at Highway 146. A thick, black cloud of smoke was visible for miles over the area, and reports from the scene indicated the plant was still burning at 9:20 a.m. A shelter-in-place was issued for Seabrook via an automated message from city officials.

SEOUL -- President Barack Obama will not announce his decision on sending more troops to Afghanistan before the Thanksgiving holiday, senior aides said on Thursday. (snip) "You guys make a pretty good photo op," the president said. (snip) He got a huge cheer when he told them he was increasing military pay. "That's what you call an applause line," he said...

* Russia's powerful PM Putin meets local rappers * Rappers chant: "Respect, Vladimir Vladimirovich" MOSCOW(Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rubbed shoulders with rappers and was hailed with "respect" in a television show on Friday that could help boost his flagging ratings. Putin, wearing a turtleneck sweater and jacket, went on stage to present awards to participants in "Battle for Respect", a hip-hop music contest run by Muz TV, a Russian rival to MTV. "It would have been cool to record a joint track with Vladimir Putin because he is a legendary man and our idol," sang rapper Zhigan...

In honor of Veterans Day, here's a look at a mostly forgotten story from the early days of military aviation in our country. Every NPS area, even if it wasn't created specifically to commemorate a historical event, includes some interesting tales from the past. At Big Bend National Park, one of those stories involves Pancho Villa and the Army Air Corps.

Daytime Diva Giving Up Syndicated Talk Show & Moving To Her Cable Network In 2011 (exerpt) The industry has been betting that the daytime diva would extend The Oprah Winfrey Show for at least another year or two because of the huge cash license fees which stations have long paid her. But people around Oprah are telling me that won't happen. They say that Discovery Communications chief David Zaslav has demanded that Oprah "move it or lose it" -- move her talk show to OWN, or risk losing the Oprah Winfrey Network altogether. I've learned that in coming days Winfrey...