Texas

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas jury on Friday sentenced a woman to 90 years in prison for the May 2022 shooting death of rising professional cyclist Anna Moriah “Mo” Wilson in a case that sent investigators on a 43-day international search for the killer.

Jurors deliberated for just over three hours before delivering the sentence for Kaitlin Armstrong, who investigators say tracked Wilson to the apartment where she was staying and shot her three times. They took only two hours on Thursday to convict her of murder.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas jury on Thursday convicted a woman of murder in the May 2022 shooting death of rising professional cyclist Anna Moriah Wilson in a case that led investigators on a 43-day international search for the killer.

Kaitlin Armstrong, 35, faces a penalty of up to life in prison. The sentencing phase of her trial will continue Friday.

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — The Biden administration’s plan to build new barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border in South Texas calls for a “movable” design that frustrates both environmentalists and advocates of stronger border enforcement.

The plans for the nearly 20 miles (32 kilometers) of new barrier in Starr County were made public in September when the federal government sought public input. The following month, the administration waived 26 federal laws protecting the environment and certain species to speed up the construction process.

HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas judge has denied a Republican effort to overturn election results in the nation’s third-most populous county, a Democratic stronghold that’s been beset by GOP efforts to dictate how ballots are cast.

A losing GOP candidate in a November judicial race had filed a lawsuit calling for a new election in her contest in Harris County, where Houston is located. Republican Erin Lunceford blamed her defeat on ballot shortages and allegations that illegal votes were cast.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The white Honda Civic sped down Highway 57, a rural two-lane corridor that reaches the U.S.-Mexico border, after a Texas sheriff’s deputy tried pulling over the car and gave chase when it didn’t stop.

High-speed pursuits of migrants and suspected smugglers have become routine in Texas. But Wednesday’s chase came to one of the deadliest endings in recent years: a head-on crash that killed eight people, including Honduran citizens and two residents of Georgia.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Eight people died Wednesday when the driver of a car suspected of carrying smuggled migrants fled police and smashed into an oncoming vehicle on a South Texas highway.

The crash happened around 6:30 a.m. when the driver of a 2009 Honda Civic tried to outrun deputies from the Zavala County Sheriff’s Office and attempted to pass a semi truck, the state Department of Public Safety said. The Civic collided with a 2015 Chevrolet Equinox, which caught fire.

SHEPHERD, TEXAS (AP) — Authorities issued a shelter-in-place order for Texas residents within a one-mile radius of a chemical plant fire Wednesday.

A large plume of smoke could be seen in video captured by residents as the plant caught fire in Shepherd, Texas.

San Jacinto County Office of Emergency Management said in a statement that a private school in the area had been evacuated and that Highway 59 was closed due to the fire.

Shepherd is a mainly rural area about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northeast of Houston.

HOUSTON, Nov 1 (NNN-XINHUA) – A 20-year-old gunman was taken into custody, after killing two people and injuring three others at a house party, over the weekend, in San Antonio, in the U.S. state of Texas, authorities said.

Raul Trevino III was charged with capital murder-multiple persons, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, jail records show.

A 13-year-old girl was among the injured, according to San Antonio police. Her parents were both killed at the scene.

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — U.S. Rep. Kay Granger of Texas, the Republican chairwoman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, said Wednesday she will not seek reelection in 2024 after nearly three decades in Congress.

Granger, 80, is the nation’s longest-serving GOP congresswoman and was first elected in 1996. Her district, which includes Fort Worth, is heavily Republican and is likely to remain out of reach for Democrats next yea r.

HOUSTON (AP) — The challenges facing Houston’s next mayor are familiar to many big cities: crime, crumbling infrastructure, budget shortfalls and a lack of affordable housing.

But in November’s marquee mayoral election in the U.S., the top candidates promising to turn Houston around are two Democrats who have held power in the city longer than almost anyone, leaving outsiders scrambling to get a foothold as early voting is set to begin Monday.