pimblr.com

There’s no indication that the catastrophic blaze – which ravaged the elegant white mansion, cratered its roof and covered its signature columns with thick soot early Sunday – was intended to target Gov. Rick Perry or first lady Anita Perry.
The mansion was undergoing extensive renovations, including installation of a fire sprinkler system. The Perrys were living elsewhere, and the mansion’s valuable art and antiques were in storage.
State authorities say they found clear evidence that the fire was set, raising questions about the alertness of the mansion’s round-the-clock security detail.
So far, there have been no arrests, and the state fire marshal is asking the public for help identifying potential suspects.
While a national response unit from the U.S. Department of Justice hits the ground today, heartbroken state preservationists are gathering their own forces, fearful the Greek Revival home will be further damaged in the criminal investigation.
"This is something we couldn’t possibly afford to lose," said Larry Oaks, executive director of the Texas Historical Commission. "It is badly damaged, and we’ve lost a lot of original fabric. But unless there’s something I really can’t see, I would be very surprised if it’s not restorable."
The governor and Mrs. Perry, who have lived in an Austin-area rental home since the mansion’s renovations began, are traveling in Europe and return Tuesday to Texas.
Department of Public Safety security officers at the mansion were alerted to the fire just before 2 a.m. Sunday by a tripped smoke alarm.
By the time firetrucks arrived, the blaze that apparently started by the front door had swept the house and traveled all the way into the attic. The large trees surrounding the two-story mansion in downtown Austin made it difficult for firefighters to position their equipment. It took 100 firefighters and several hours to put the fire out, department spokeswoman Dawn Clopton said.

dallasnews.com

Tim Davis, rear pointing, gives instructions to local cyclists before they ride around the perimeter of the Village at Sandhills during a National Ride of Silence. Cyclists in Columbia and across the country rode in memory of cyclists killed by motorists. The cyclists wore signs on their back saying "To Honor those who have been injured or killed" and "Ride of Silence."
The only sounds in the parking lot Wednesday night were the clicking of dozens of cleats into bike pedals and the whir of spokes as cyclists filed out.
More than 70 riders — young and old — turned out at the Village at Sandhill for Columbia’s first Ride of Silence, an event that started in Texas in 2003 and serves the dual purpose of honoring riders who have been killed or injured and raising awareness of cyclists on the roads.
As they pedaled twice around the lot in Northeast Richland, many were thinking about their own personal run-ins with motorists or about fellow cyclists who had been killed.
They remembered people like Tom Hoskins, 49, who was killed in October during a ride in Lancaster County. Lee Anne Barry, 43, of Waxhaw, N.C., also was killed. A Greensboro, N.C., woman has been charged with two counts of reckless homicide in their deaths.
Kenny Supplee, 23, pulled down the neck of his jersey to show where his collarbone was broken when he was hit by a car in January in Myrtle Beach.
“He just kinda merged right into me. That’s the last thing I remember. I woke up in an ambulance,” he said.
He said it took two months to convince police the driver was at fault, and Supplee just received a check from the man’s insurance company to cover his medical bills, which included treatment for a concussion and a broken rib.

thestate.com

‘02. Hugh Grant. An irresponsible playboy becomes emotionally attached to a woman’s 12-year-old son. (PG-13) (2:00) E!: Wed. 1 P.M., Thu. 9 A.M.
‘97. Clint Eastwood. A veteran thief catches the president of the United States in adultery and a murder cover-up. (R) (2:30) TNT: Sun. 9 A.M., 2:30 A.M. (CC)
‘49. Spencer Tracy. Married lawyers clash in and out of court over a woman’s right to shoot her husband and his lover. (NR) (2:00) TCM: Mon. 1:30 P.M. (CC)
• Adventures of Kitty O’Day
‘44. Jean Parker. A telephone operator plays homicide detective with her boyfriend, making it harder for the police. (NR) (1:15) TCM: Fri. 6:45 A.M.
• The African Queen
‘51. Humphrey Bogart. An imperious woman makes a gin-soaked boat captain fight Germans in the World War I Congo. (NR) (2:00) TCM: Mon. 6 P.M. (CC)
• Agent Cody Banks
‘03. Frankie Muniz. Recruited by the CIA, a teen works under cover to befriend a girl whose father is a pawn for an evil organization. (PG) (2:00) ABCFAM: Sat. noon (CC)
• Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London
‘04. Frankie Muniz. A 16-year-old CIA agent poses as a clarinet prodigy while trying to recover stolen mind-control software. (PG) (2:00) ABCFAM: Sat. 2 P.M. (CC)
• Air Force One
‘97. Harrison Ford. Demanding the release of a political prisoner, a terrorist and his gang hijack the U.S. president’s plane. (R) (2:30) TNT: Sun. 2 P.M. (CC)
‘94. Brendan Fraser. Attention-hungry musicians decide to grab the media spotlight by taking staffers at a popular radio station hostage. (PG-13) (1:40) STZ: Fri. 8:30 A.M. (CC)
• Akeelah and the Bee
‘06. Laurence Fishburne. Akeelah, an 11-year-old girl living in South Los Angeles, discovers she has a talent for spelling, which she hopes will take her to the National Spelling Bee. (PG) (2:00) TMC: Sun. 8:45 A.M., 6 P.M., Thu. 7 A.M., 2:50 P.M. (CC)

post-gazette.com

Thursday morning’s storm left 175,000 homes and businesses without power in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Some won’t get their power restored until Saturday, power company officials said. 
Fast-moving storms that blew through the area early Thursday morning also left North Texas residents to cope with water shortages, closed schools and a massive mess.
The northbound and southbound lanes of U.S. Highway 75, as well as their accompanying frontage roads, will be closed from 3 to 3:30 p.m. today just north of Stacy Road on the Allen-Fairview border. Oncor must repair a utility pole damaged by last night’s storms and reattach an aerial electric line to a new pole next to the highway.  The Texas Department of Transportation and local police departments are in charge of the closure.
Eastbound Interstate 30 in Fort Worth at Forest Park Boulevard was expected to be closed until 5 p.m. to remove a sign bridge damaged by the storm.
The city of Carrollton has asked residents to restrict water use to “essential needs” because the storm knocked out power to two pumping stations.
At Lewisville ISD — Hebron Valley, Coyote Ridge and Indian Creek elementaries and Arbor Creek and Creek Valley Middle schools — had no power and school district officials said “parents are strongly encouraged to pick up their children from these campuses at their earliest convenience.”
Classes were canceled today at Allen High School because of power outages. Several other Allen elementary schools are also without power, but district officials said students there will be moved to parts of the building where there is enough light until power can be restored.
Fort Worth schools reported several campuses without power. As of 11:30 a.m. Thursday, the district reported 15 schools were still without power. Power had been restored at 13 other campuses

khou.com

For 16 months, radio giant Clear Channel Communications Inc.’s future has hung in limbo as the company battled to push through its proposed sale to Thomas H. Lee Partners LP and Bain Capital Partners LLC. With that deal now facing collapse, Clear Channel potentially faces another epic struggle: going it alone in a faltering radio industry.
The Clear Channel sale for the moment has fallen into a legal tangle over the failure to complete the transaction. Clear Channel and its private-equity buyers, Bain Capital and THL, have filed lawsuits claiming that a syndicate of Wall Street securities firms and banks has illegally balked at their obligation to fund the deal.
At issue is the credit agreement that the company would need to draw on; Clear Channel and the private-equity firms say that because of worsening credit-market conditions, the banks are trying to wiggle out of terms they agreed to when the deal was first agreed.
On Thursday, a district court judge in Texas issued a restraining order forbidding the banks from refusing to fund the merger. Later in the day, the banks filed a notice to try to move the suit to federal court.
If the deal isn’t completed, Clear Channel will be back to square one in a business that has declined sharply during the months it has chased the sale. Since it agreed on a final sale price of $39.20 a share in May 2007, the economy has taken a hit, sending advertising into a tailspin. Over-the-airwaves radio advertising, Clear Channel’s trademark business, is shrinking. Outdoor advertising, which now represents almost half of the company’s revenue, is still growing but at a much slower pace than expected even a year ago.
Boosting performance won’t be easy, particularly since the company would be relying on — and trying to retain — any disappointed stockholding employees. Under an employee stock-purchase plan that ran until last year, employees purchased millions of shares, ranging in recent years from 144,444 shares in 2006 to 319,817 shares in 2002. Millions more shares over the years were given out in the form of options.

online.wsj.com

LOCKHART, Texas (KXAN) - A Lockhart family got more than they bargained for when they purchased a rump roast from a Sam's Club in San Marcos.
The couple said they were shocked to see the piece of meat contained more than a healthy dose of iron; it also contained a bullet full of lead.
“I noticed this little brown mark that's right in here, OK, and at first I just thought it was dye,” said Angie Caruso Hernandez. “I wanted to see what it was underneath, so I had taken a knife, and I hit something hard. At that point I flipped it over, and the bullet was right in here, and I stuck it in there, and it popped right out onto the counter.”
The mother of a boy with a weakened immune system, Hernandez said she immediately had lead-poisoning concerns.
“Oh my God, I said that could have been dangerous, especially for my son,” she said. “I could have killed him. He is already on medication, and if I had given this to him with his immune system so low, I could have … it might have killed him.”
The Hernandez family said they have spoken to the Food and Drug Administration U.S. Department of Agriculture, and no one had an answer for them, at least not a satisfactory one.
“The lady that answered the phone at the USDA just said, ‘Well, you know kids could be having fun out in the field and shooting the cows,'” Hernandez said.
Hernandez said Sam's Club told her to just bring the meat back for a refund. “They weren't concerned about anything else,” she said.
When KXAN Austin News contacted the USDA and Sam's Club, representatives said they take food safety issues very seriously and will be investigating.
The Hernandez family said they feel someone should have taken a better look at the meat before selling it.

wlfi.com

NEW ORLEANS - The Celtics’ locker room was extremely quiet. No NCAA Tournament games were on the television. Disappointment could be read on each player’s face. You would have thought Boston finished its eight-day, five-game trip winless.
NEW ORLEANS - The Celtics’ locker room was extremely quiet. No NCAA Tournament games were on the television. Disappointment could be read on each player’s face. You would have thought Boston finished its eight-day, five-game trip winless.
But in striving for perfection, the Celtics went home disappointed after completing its trip 4-1 following a 113-106 setback to the hot Hornets last night in front of a boisterous, sellout crowd of 18,280 at New Orleans Arena.
“We don’t like it. We don’t like to lose,” coach Doc Rivers said. “I told the guys, ‘Good trip, but we lost a game that we gave away on turnovers.’ I don’t know why we would feel good about that.
“Having said that, in the whole picture, it was a terrific trip. Going 4-1 on this trip was terrific. But it stings a little bit when you know tonight if you just take care of the ball and stay solid, there is a good chance you could have had a 5-0 trip.”
The Celtics opened the trip with an expected victory at Milwaukee. Next was a rare sweep of the Texas Triangle as Boston overcame a 22-point deficit to win at San Antonio last Monday, snapped Houston’s remarkable 22-game winning streak Tuesday, and staged a late rally to beat Dallas Thursday. The Celtics became the first team since the Kings in 2001 to accomplish a sweep in Texas.
But last night, Boston fell apart in the final quarter, getting outscored, 32-17. Stingy New Orleans (47-21) has allowed only 40 points in its last three fourth quarters. Hornets All-Star forward David West scored 37 points by nailing 15 of 25 shots and sinking all seven free throw attempts. Boston allowed 32 points off turnovers overall.

boston.com

DALLAS — Hillary Rodham Clinton’s only campaign swing through North Texas was cut short Friday after a police officer in her motorcade died in a crash on the way to a rally.
The Democratic presidential candidate spoke to supporters for less than 20 minutes in near-freezing temperatures about three miles from the crash site before delivering a somber statement to reporters after the event.
“We are just heartsick at this loss of life in the line of duty,” Clinton said.
Dallas police said 49-year-old Sr. Cpl. Victor Lozada-Tirado was thrown from his motorcycle when it clipped a curb on a viaduct near downtown. He was in the rear of the motorcade, police said, following it as it took a turn not far from Dealey Plaza, where John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.
Clinton canceled an appearance in neighboring Fort Worth, telling about 2,000 people gathered outside the Tarrant County courthouse that it would be inappropriate to campaign in the wake of the accident. Instead, the New York senator visited Lozada-Tirado’s family at the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
“It is important that we respect and appreciate their service,” Clinton said after her rally. “I certainly am grateful for all they do for me.”
The Dallas-Fort Worth swing, one day after a debate with Sen. Barack Obama in Austin, came after Clinton spent most of the week on the Texas-Mexico border. She was headed to Ohio later Friday.
Clinton didn’t mention the crash to about 1,000 supporters and appeared upbeat at the first stop in Dallas. She struck familiar themes of universal health care, ending the war in Iraq and bringing relief to homeowners facing foreclosure.
During a pause, one supporter got her attention long enough to point out that he has a $3,000 copay for prescription drugs, which Clinton announced to the crowd.
“It is morally wrong and it’s economically dumb for us not to cover everybody,” she said. “And we are going to do that.”
Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle, accompanied by Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert at the hospital, said the motorcades involve intricate driving.
“The motorcycle escorts we do are very dangerous,” Kunkle said. “They require officers to speed up and ride ahead of the motorcade and set up, and do that over and over again. So there’s always an element of danger to these motorcades, but the accident is still under investigation.”
Asked if police had enough lead time to plan a safe route, spokesman Lt. Vernon Hale said, “It doesn’t matter with our guys. Of course, we’ve already had one tragedy in Dallas, so we’ve been doing this a long time. The know exactly how to do it.”
Obama asked for a moment of silence in memory of Lozada-Tirado at a rally in Corpus Christi later Friday. He said the officer had been in his own detail two days ago in Dallas. The wreck happened right next to Reunion Arena, where Obama drew about 17,000 for a rally.
“It’s a reminder of the outstanding work that law enforcement does for us each and every day,” Obama said.
In August, an Albuquerque, N.M., police officer in President Bush’s motorcade died in a motorcycle crash. Germaine Casey, 40, died on Aug. 27 when he crashed as Bush returned to the airport after a fundraiser for Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M.
In November 2006, a Honolulu officer died when he and two other motorcycle officers crashed while part of a presidential motorcade.
Associated Press Writers Anabelle Garay and Terry Wallace contributed to this report.

chron.com

BIG SPRING, Texas (AP) — The mayor of Big Spring, Texas, says four people are hurt after the explosion that rocked an oil refinery this morning. It shook buildings miles away.
A spokesman for the refinery’s owner, Alon USA, says all of the workers have been accounted for. He said one worker was hurt, but Mayor Russ McEwen put that number at four, and said one of the workers was sent to a burn unit.
The company says the fire that was sparked by the blast is under control. It sent black smoke billowing into the sky, and shut down area schools and an interstate highway.
There’s no word yet on what caused the explosion.

kgan.com