TX New Home Financing in Texas

After pleading guilty to conspiring to harbor illegal immigrants on behalf of the company his grandfather founded, Lawrence Shipley III promised Friday that his family doughnut company will continue to evolve.

Associated Press - September 5, 2008 2:13 AM ET HOUSTON - Lawyers for a Texas death row inmate will get the chance to argue that his conviction was unfair -- before he's scheduled to be executed.

When Darnell Hartsfield saw the inside of a Texas prison cell for the first time in 1984, it was for an aggravated robbery he committed the previous year. But prosecutors contend the Tyler man was involved in a far more heinous crime just three days before his arrest for that September 1983 robbery.

Hartsfield, 47, goes on trial this week for his part in one of Texas' oldest unresolved mass murder cases _ the slayings a quarter-century ago of five people abducted during a robbery at a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in East Texas.

More than one dozen buses hit the road for Louisiana today hauling hundreds of Hurricane Gustav evacuees away from North Texas.

Hurricane Ike with winds near 125 miles per hour will likely reach the Bahamas early next week and South Florida by mid-week, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in its 5 a.m. EDT report Friday.

A routine package delivery turned into a milestone for a UPS driver in East Texas.

Child by child, Texas authorities are acknowledging that many of the children seized during a raid on a polygamist sect's ranch can safely live with their parents or guardians.

A car driven by a drunk driving suspect with four previous DWI arrests raced away from a sheriff's deputy, ran a red light then went airborne after a wreck and landed on top of an SUV, killing a newlywed couple inside, authorities said.

Second-grade teacher Erika Clouet, 24, and her husband of a little over a month, construction worker and aspiring musician German Clouet, 23, of Irving, were killed in the accident early Monday.

The driver, Uriel Perez Palacios, 22, of Dallas, remained in the hospital Tuesday. His passenger had to be cut from the vehicle and was also hospitalized.

Officials on Tuesday charged Palacios with two counts of murder and three counts of intoxication assault. A phone listing for Palacios could not be found. Palacios was arrested as recently as June for driving while intoxicated and was released after paying a $500 fine. He was also involved in two police chases and had four outstanding drug and DWI warrants, officials said.

A Dallas County sheriff's deputy pulled over Palacios around 2 a.m. Monday after spotting him weaving through traffic, authorities said. As the deputy approached the car on foot, Palacios sped off with his lights off and drove through a red light, striking a sport utility vehicle carrying five Southern Methodist University students.

Palacios' car went airborne and crashed into the Clouets' SUV, crushing it and killing them at the scene, authorities said. The couple was returning from a date at the movies.

"She was a wonderful teacher and will be greatly missed," said Irma Vega-Zadeh, the principal at the elementary school where Clouet taught.

At least three others were injured, including two SMU students who were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.

"Many deputies said it was one of the worst accidents that they ever saw," Dallas County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Kimberlee Leach said in a story on The Dallas Morning News' Web site. "You couldn't make out what kinds of vehicles were involved."

Thousands of Southeast Texans who fled from Hurricane Gustav are returning home today.

Fresh off his electoral victory in May, Mayor Vicente Garza Jr. has embarked on a quixotic project, betting against long odds that a casino could secure the future of this indebted town of 485 residents.

Founded in 1767, but not incorporated until 1993, Granjeno clings to a sharp curve in the road a mile from the Rio Grande. It has a single city employee and a beer joint is its only business.

But things are happening. The border fence that put Granjeno in the spotlight last year when initial plans had it running through yards and homes is taking shape instead just behind property lines on the south side of town. A new international bridge to Reynosa, Mexico, is under way to the west.

Hundreds of Hurricane Gustav evacuees today left Texas shelters and headed home.

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Texas elections shaping up as high-stakes battle The career of the first Republican Texas House speaker in modern times is on the line.

The Beaumont EOC has received a number of complaints from Southeast Texas citizens in reference to traffic situations in the Chambers County area.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office said Sunday that evidence strongly suggests that there was a dead body in the back of Casey Anthony's car.

As city officials detailed plans for an evacuation that could be called over the weekend, some residents weren't waiting to be told to leave.