Home > Waco Breaking News > Archives > 2008 > March > 14
Friday, March 14, 2008
Man struck by vehicle in Waco
Tribune-Herald staff writer Emily Ingram reports:
A Waco man was injured tonight when he stepped in front of a moving car on Waco Drive.
The man was rushed to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center with unknown injuries, Waco police officer Jeremy Pina said. The man was alert and told paramedics he couldn’t feel anything.
He was injured when he stepped in front of a white westbound 1991 Fiesta near the intersection of West Waco Drive and North 20th Street, Pina said.
The man was wearing all black, and the Fiesta’s driver didn’t have time to react before hitting him, Pina said.
A Waco police officer headed into work at the police station drove up on the wreck and was able to confirm the driver’s and witness’ stories.
The Fiesta’s driver was cited for having no insurance, but was not ticketed in the wreck.
Permalink | | Categories: Headlines, Police & crime
Texas wildfires include 2 at Fort Hood
As a large swath of Texas — including Waco and most of its surrounding counties — remains under a red flag warning, firefighters were battling wildfires statewide, the Associated Press reports. 5,200 acres were reported consumed statewide by evening.
Closest to home in the AP story were two brush fires totaling 150 acres at Fort Hood. The fires have been contained, according to post spokeswoman Col. Diane Battaglia, though one came close to a military housing unit.
The red flag warning for the Waco area continues until 4 am.
Permalink | | Categories: Headlines, Around Central Texas, Around the state, Weather
Stocks drop nearly 200 points to end week
The big bailout for Bear Stearns Cos. by the Federal Reserve ended a week that saw one of the best trading days in five years wiped out by the biggest scare yet in the ongoing credit crisis.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average nosedived more than 300 points before moving back up, although it still lost 194.65 points today to close at 11,951.09.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Headlines, Business, National news
Officials release names of Fort Hood soldiers slain in Iraq
FORT HOOD, Texas - Fort Hood officials have released the name of soldiers who died in Balad Ruz, Iraq, on Monday, when the vehicle they were riding in hit an improvised explosive device.
Cpt. Torre Ramoine Mallard, 27, of Oklahoma, an armor officer, entered the Army in June 2002. He was assigned to 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment since September 2006.
Sgt. Phillip Reid Anderson, 28, of Everett, Wash., entered the Army in October 1999. He was assigned to 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment since August 2006, as an armor crewman.
Spc. Donald Allen Burkett, 24, of Comanche, Texas, entered the Army in April 2006 as an armor crewman. He was assigned to 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment since August 2006.
Mallard’s awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon and Combat Action Badge.
Anderson’s awards and decorations include the Purple Heart, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Service Unit Award, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, Combat Action Badge and Driver/Mechanic Badge.
Burkett’s awards and decorations include the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Medal, and Army Service Ribbon.
The soldiers deployed to Iraq in November 2007.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Headlines, Around Central Texas, Military, Police & crime
Care for some pi today?
If you are a math enthusiast (aren’t we all?), you might know that today is Pi Day, the day that celebrates that number we learned in school that is so helpful with geometry, you know 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209 749445923078164062862…
There’s even this Web site, about Pi Day. The site also presents the first 1 million digits (you might recall that pi is an infinite number and the digits don’t repeat).
Why is Pi Day on March 14? Think about it.
3/14
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Weird & wacky
U.S. stocks tumbling again
U.S. markets took a pounding this week after Bear Stearns Cos. required a bailout from the Federal Reserve and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to avoid collapse.
Bear Stearns, the second-largest underwriter of U.S. mortgage bonds, tumbled the most ever after the brokerage said its liquidity deteriorated in the past day. The announcement overwhelmed economic reports that showed inflation ground to a halt and consumer confidence unexpectedly rose, Bloomberg.com reports.
Permalink | | Categories: Business
Astronauts assemble Japanese room, attach robot arms
Two spacewalking astronauts worked through the night high to install Japan’s first orbital room and attach hands to a two-armed robot named Dextre, according to this story on space.com.
International Space Station flight engineer Garrett Reisman and mission specialist Rick Linnehan, a member of the space shuttle Endeavour crew, spent more than seven hours outside of the space station to complete their on-orbit construction work. With astronaut Takao Doi at the controls of the shuttle’s robotic arm, their efforts left the Japanese Logistics Pressurized module securely latched onto the station.
Permalink | | Categories: National news, Technology
HOT Fair & Rodeo scholarship applications available
The Heart of Texas Fair and Rodeo has made scholarship applications available to area high school seniors. More information can be found in this pdf.
Applications also can be downloaded at hotfair.com, picked up at the HOT Fair & Rodeo Complex or from high school counselors or ag teachers.
Permalink | | Categories: Headlines, Education
A Britney Spears post … and it’s good news
We haven’t had a Britney Spears post here in a while, and for her sake that’s a good thing. It sounds like the 26-year-old has been staying out of trouble or at least the spotlight during this past week while filming scenes for CBS’ How I Met Your Mother.
Maybe she needs steady work to stay out of trouble?
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Entertainment
Willie Nelson concert photos
We’ve got a slew of photographs from Willie Nelson’s concert last night in this slideshow. Check them out.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Headlines
Fog and fire
Joe Weather reporting, in my new online quarters. Just looked outside again, and the fog seems to have largely burned off — unlike earlier this morning, you can actually see the ALICO building now.
Unfortunately, the fog doesn’t help with the problem that starts this afternoon. Joe Harris with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth says the moisture from the fog will dry out in three to four hours and thus not ameliorate the ripe wildfire conditions that sparked a red flag warning. Relative humidity is expected to be less than 30 percent, with wind speeds of 20 to 30 mph. Compounding the problem is a cold front coming through tonight that will reverse the wind direction. And, oh, yes: all of the Waco forecasts this morning expect the high to hit at least 88, and four of the seven say it’ll be 90 or 91.
So even though McLennan County has lifted its burn ban for unincorporated parts of the county, there’s still reason to be very, very careful…
Permalink | | Categories: Headlines, Weather
Voters few at Iranian elections
Only a handful of voters showed up at many polling stations in Tehran today in Iran’s parliament elections, a sign of frustration with a vote that hard-liners allied with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are expected to dominate.
Where lines formed in the capital, it was at a few major mosques, where most voters backed pro-Ahmadinejad candidates.
Permalink | | Categories: Politics, World news
That’s just great … new gas price record
Texas retail gasoline prices continued to climb higher into record territory this week. If you’ve gone to the pump this week, you feel the pain.
Regular self-serve averaged $3.16 per gallon across the state in the weekly AAA Texas gasoline price survey today, 6 cents more than last week. Nationally, the average was $3.27 per gallon, 8 cents more than last week.
Permalink | | Categories: Headlines, Business
3 killed in head-on collision in Killeen
Three men died in a fiery head-on, two-vehicle crash on U.S. Business Route 190 near Skylark Field in Killeen.
Killeen police this morning have identified the victims as Michael Eugene Davis, 44, of Harker Heights; Samuel Herrera, 23, of Harker Heights, and Aaron Joseph Hinojos, 20, of Killeen.
Investigators say the crash happened at 2:30 a.m. when a Volkswagen Beetle, driven by Herrera, crossed into oncoming traffic and slammed head-on into a Honda.
Davis and Hinojos, who was a passenger in the VW, died at the scene, police said. Herrera was thrown from the vehicle. He died a short time later at Darnall Army Medical Center at nearby Fort Hood.
The accident happened around 2:15 a.m. today in the 5300 block of East Veterans Memorial Boulevard.
Permalink | | Categories: Headlines, Police & crime, Traffic
Call girl’s music getting hits on the Web
You can be an Internet star pretty quickly in today’s world, and that’s proving true for Ashley Alexandra Dupré, better known as the call girl for former N.Y. Gov. Eliot Spitzer. She’s all over the Web.
She has recorded some songs, and her music publicist has notified the media about her music site. The titles of the songs you can download for 98 cents each? “What We Want” and “Move Ya Body.” I’m trying not to read anything into that, but it’s difficult not to.
People.com meanwhile, reports that she appeared in a music video by the rapper Mysterious. Mysteriously, that video clip has been pulled from the Web. There’s also a story about schoolmates remembering her as a “pretty cheerleader.”
Permalink | | Categories: Entertainment, Politics
Baylor fans understandably nervous
Baylor’s double-overtime loss to Colorado seems to have a lot of folks second-guessing whether the Bears will receive an invitation to the NCAA tournament. It probably is safe to say that the Bears are “back on the bubble” after Thursday’s loss, the first time a No. 5 seed has lost to a No. 12 in the history of the Big 12 tournament.
Of course, that Big 12 history only goes back 12 years, but those upsets aren’t supposed to happen. One wonders how much the NCAA Tournament selection committee will consider that loss when it chooses the field for the Big Dance. It certainly didn’t help the Bears’ chances but some writers don’t think it should hurt them.
Then again, it’s not their call to make. It comes down to that selection committee. The nation will get the chance to see whether Baylor makes the field because CBS is sending one of its satellite trucks to Waco for its selection show. In the meantime, we’ll all be on pins and needles.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Headlines, Baylor sports
Airline flights unaffected
Seems surprising to me with the fog the way it is, but reporter Erin Quinn checked with Waco Regional Airport this morning and was told that no flights from the airport to Houston or Dallas have been affected.
Permalink | | Categories: Headlines, Traffic
Boy, it’s foggy out there
That fog is as thick as I’ve ever seen it. I couldn’t even see the next house past my next-door neighbor. My daughter has an 8 a.m. soccer match tomorrow at the HOT Soccer fields. If it’s like this tomorrow morning our goalkeeper won’t even be able to see her counterpart on the opposite end of the field.
But I’m guessing the fog will burn off quickly since we’re supposed to be mostly sunny and hit — get this — a high near 90. Ninety? Break out the swimsuits. The wind also is forecast to end up blowing between 20 and 25 mph. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph and it’ll stay breezy into the night.
If you haven’t left the house yet, be extra cautious on the roads with this fog.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Headlines, Weather
