Texas

DALLAS (AP) — Freezing rain and drizzle is disrupting travel from Central Texas to the Great Lakes, with ice-glazed roads leading to hundreds of traffic accidents, including one in Kentucky that killed a toddler.

Hundreds of flights were canceled Wednesday at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport as Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas braced for an ice storm.

HOUSTON, Feb 18 (NNN-Xinhua) — A grand jury in Austin, Texas, had indicted multiple police officers for using excessive force during racial justice protests in 2020, local authorities said.

Speaking at a press conference, Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza said that “multiple indictments will be forthcoming in the days ahead” for police officers suspected of criminal conduct during the May 2020 protests, spurred by the murder of African American George Floyd by a white police officer.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas grand jury indicted 19 Austin police officers on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for their actions during 2020 protests over racial injustice that spread nationwide following the killing of George Floyd, according to people familiar with the matter.

Multiple people spoke to The Associated Press Thursday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly. Austin Police Association President Ken Casaday confirmed 19 officers are facing charges but did not have details.

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — American Airlines said Wednesday that it plans to exercise options to buy 30 more Boeing 737 Max jets while delaying delivery of Boeing 787s, larger jets that are being plagued by production flaws.

The airline expects to receive half the 737 Max 8 jets next year and the other half in 2024, as it seeks to rebuild from the pandemic.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

For Boeing, the orders from a major customer builds on a huge order for passenger and cargo planes that Qatar Airways announced earlier this week.

HOUSTON, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- A 4.5-magnitude earthquake hit the U.S. state of Oklahoma on Monday, local media reported.

The U.S. Geological Survey said it recorded the earthquake around 11:10 a.m. local time (1910 GMT). The epicenter is about 4.5 miles (7.2 km) northwest of Medford, a city with a population of about 1,000 in northern Oklahoma.

Following the earthquake, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission shut down three oil and gas wastewater disposal wells within 6 miles (9.6 km) of the epicenter.

CONROE, Texas (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is dangling the prospect of pardons for supporters who participated in the deadly Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol if he returns to the White House.

“If I run and if I win, we will treat those people from January 6th fairly,” Trump said Saturday night during a rally in Conroe, Texas. “And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly.”

CONROE, Texas (AP) — As he prepared to tee off at one of his Florida golf courses, a fellow player introduced Donald Trump as the “45th president of the United States.”

“45th and 47th,” Trump responded matter-of-factly, before hitting his drive.

The quip — a moment of levity on the links captured on shaky cellphone video — was a reminder that the former president often has another presidential run on his mind. But the declaration belied the growing challenges he’s confronting as a series of complex legal investigations ensnare Trump, his family and many associates.

(AP) --- On the eve of her 100th birthday Saturday, Ruth Salton told her daughter she was going one way or another to Friday night Shabbat services at Congregation Beth Israel, just days after a gunman voicing antisemitic conspiracy theories held four worshippers hostage for 10 hours at the Fort Worth-area synagogue.

“I want to support my people,” said Salton, a Holocaust survivor. She said she told her daughter “if she doesn’t take me, I’ll go by myself, because I feel I belong there. I am Jewish, and this is my faith, and I am supporting it.”

She’s far from alone.

DALLAS (AP) — American Airlines lost $931 million in the fourth quarter and the incoming CEO said Thursday that the surge in COVID-19 will delay the airline’s recovery by two or three months.

First-quarter revenue is expected to be down about 20% to 22% compared with the first quarter of 2019, and it will fly slightly less than it did two years ago, the airline said.

That outlook roughly matches what other airlines are saying. The rise in virus cases fueled by the omicron variant is hurting bookings, but airlines remain upbeat about spring and summer travel.

(AP) --- Although the FBI initially said the man who held four people hostage at a Texas synagogue was focused on an issue “not specifically related to the Jewish community,” the captor voiced beliefs that Jews controlled the world and had the power to arrange the release of a prisoner, survivors said after their escape.

The gunman’s words were all too familiar to Jewish leaders and terror experts, who saw the attack on Congregation Beth Israel as yet another in the rising number of antisemitic hate crimes, a sign of the continued need of vigilance and interfaith solidarity.