Home > Waco Breaking News > Archives > 2008 > August > 04
Monday, August 4, 2008
New public data available this week on WacoTrib.com
Looking for information on local issue of public interest? Then check out our public data page on WacoTrib.com. We’ve got the latest building permits, foreclosures, marriages, divorces, assumed names and other public filings.
One caveat: The McLennan County Public Health District hasn’t updated its Web site yet today, so we don’t have last week’s restaurant inspections. We’ll keep checking, though, and get that info as soon as it becomes available. Keep checking back at wacotrib.com/public.
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No arrests yet in Friday shooting that injured 2
Waco police said today that no arrests have been made in the Friday night East Waco shooting in which a 15-year-old girl and a 37-year-old man were injured.
Both were taken to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center, but conditions today were not available.
According to a release from Waco police officer Steve Anderson, just before midnight Friday, 37-year-old Corey Davis went to the house in the 1300 block of Hood Street and had an argument with a resident. Anderson said he was unaware of the nature of the argument.
At one point, Davis threw a chair at the resident, the release states. A 15-year-old girl attempted to stop the fight by pulling the man back, according to the release.
Davis then punched the girl in the face, the release states. The girl’s brother was upset at the punch, and started shooting at Davis, according to the release.
He was struck in the chest and right thigh, and the girl was hit in the chest.
Both were taken to Hillcrest by private vehicle, the release states.
A hospital spokeswoman said no information was available on Davis’ condition, and could not verify that he was a patient at Hillcrest. It is common in police investigations for detectives not to allow information to be released regarding victims.
Because the girl is a juvenile, police did not release her name.
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PUC sends out yellow conservation alert for week
TXU Energy sent out this release, noting that the Public Utility Commission of Texas has issued a yellow conservation alert for this week because of high temperatures that could cause record electricity demand.
On yellow days, extra conservation measures are urged because electricity shortages may occur during peak usage hours between 3 and 7 p.m.
With the release TXU Energy sent out these suggestions for helping Texans conserve their energy usage:
Set thermostats at 78 degrees. Use ceiling fans in the “down” mode at the highest speed to push cooler air back into the room.
By lowering the temperature of your water heater to 120 degrees, you’ll save electricity while providing comfortable hot water for most uses.
Turn off your computer and monitor when you’re not using them. Using a “sleep” mode can reduce your computer’s energy usage by half.
Always make sure you’re washing full loads of dishes or clothes. Each wash uses the same amount of electricity whether it’s a full load or not.
If you have a microwave oven, use it. Microwaves use about half the electricity of a stove or oven and cook food in significantly less time.
Refrigerators and freezers operate most efficiently when they’re full but not overloaded.
Allow at least one inch of space on each side of your refrigerator for circulation. Poor airflow can increase your refrigerator’s energy consumption by up to 10 percent.
Minimize the number of times you open and close doors to the outside. Be especially careful of sliding glass doors to your porch or balcony that might be left open.
More energy-saving tips are at www.txu.com/beattheheat.
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Vehicles stolen from McGregor dealership
Four days after six vehicles disappeared from the lot at Granite Ford in McGregor, police said today that no arrests have been made, nor have the vehicles been recovered.
McGregor Lt. Bubba Colyer said that between midnight and 6 a.m. last Thursday four F-250 pickup trucks, a Ford Mustang GT Bullet and a Ford Expedition were stolen. He said the value of the vehicles totals well more than $200,000.
Colyer is asking anyone with information to call the McGregor Police Department at 840-2855.
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Morgan Freeman hurt in car accident
Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman has been injured in car accident in Mississippi and is in a hospital in Memphis, Tenn.
Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Kathy Stringer says Freeman is in serious condition.
The hospital, commonly known as The Med, is an acute-care teaching facility that serves patients within 150 miles of Memphis.
Ashley Norris, manager of the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale that is owned by Freeman, confirmed the 71-year-old actor was in a wreck. Norris said she had no other details.
The accident apparently occurred in Tallahatchie County Mississippi, but the sheriff’s department referred calls to the Mississippi Highway Patrol. A highway patrol spokesman wasn’t immediately available for comment.
— The Associated Press
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Funerals begin for dead in India temple stampede
Mukesh Chabba lit the funeral pyre on which seven of his relatives — including his wife and daughter — were cremated today in India, the day after a stampede at a remote mountaintop Hindu temple killed 145 people.
Chabba and 11 other family members had been visiting the temple to celebrate the recent birth of his son. Only five of them survived.
The 31-year-old farmer laid to rest his parents, his wife, his 2-year-old daughter, his brother and sister-in-law and their 17-year-old daughter as hundreds of weeping villagers and relatives looked on.
Chabba was able to save his infant son by passing him to a young man who was on a ledge above the main path, he said.
“There was a lot of shouting and pushing. People fell down and could not get up. They just suffocated,” he said.
Families, many of whom lost several members, began mass funerals today. By midday most of the bodies had been claimed and taken away for funerals and only 15 remained unidentified, said C.P. Verma, a senior local police official.
An estimated 25,000 people were at the remote temple in the foothills of the Himalayas to celebrate Shravan Navratras, a nine-day festival that honors the Hindu goddess Shakti, or divine mother.
Rumors of a landslide apparently started the panic, Verma said.
— The Associated Press
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Apartment fire sends 2 to hospital
Two women injured in a Sunday afternoon apartment fire have been released from the hospital, said a spokeswoman today with the River Park Apartment Homes.
At around noon Sunday, Waco fire crews responded to the unit in which the women had accidentally left a burner on the stove lighted, said Waco fire investigator Lt. Gary Lee.
Lee said the flames were contained to the oven and microwave, but in the process of attempting to extinguish the fire, one of the women burned her fingers on the stove and went to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center. The other woman, Lee said, went to the hospital as a precaution because of possible smoke inhalation.
Lee did not have the names of the two women, he said.
The rest of the apartment suffered smoke damage and the apartment spokeswoman said the unit would likely be unlivable.
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Bush Legacy Tour Bus coming to Crawford
It’s called the Bush Legacy Tour Bus, but it definitely doesn’t paint a positive portrait of the president’s eight years in office, and it’s stopping Wednesday afternoon at the Crawford Texas Peace House.
The Peace House sent out an e-mail this morning announcing the noon to 2 p.m. stop Wednesday at the house, 9142 E. Fifth St., as the bus makes its way through Texas. It has stops in San Antonio and Austin on Tuesday.
According to the e-mail: The bus interior is a rolling exhibit with visual displays of the tragic effects of the Bush Administration. Iraq War - Economy - Health Care - Environment - Workers - Katrina - Education. A legacy is not what has happened in the past. It is what is handed down to the future.
The bus will be in Texas for five days, with stops in Fort Worth and Odessa later this week, and return in October to stop in Dallas and Houston. You can find out more at the Bush Legacy Tour homepage.
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Lightning hits 91 spectators at Norway racetrack
A lightning bolt struck 91 auto racing fans at a racetrack in Norway Sunday, and 45 people were taken to hospital with minor burns, police said.
“No one was seriously injured,” police officer Hans Eng told the Associated Press. “But some of them will stay in the hospital for observation.”
The lightning hit a hill where spectators at the rallycross were sitting. Rallycross is a form of sprint-style automobile racing on a closed circuit.
The race, a national championship, was called off after the incident.
Eng said 16 ambulances and three medical helicopters were brought to the scene at Flisa, about eight kilometers from the Swedish border.
The injured fans were taken to four different hospitals.
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U.S.: New sanctions planned against Iran
Six major world powers agreed today to seek new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program after the country failed to meet a weekend deadline to respond to an offer intended to defuse the dispute, the United States said.
Representatives of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany decided in a high-level conference call that Iran’s lack of response to an incentives package aimed at getting it to halt sensitive atomic activity left them no option other than to pursue new punitive measures, the Bush administration said.
— The Associated Press
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School near sinkhole to reopen; questions remain
People near a monstrous sinkhole that formed nearly three months ago in Daisetta, Texas, still don’t know if more ground beneath their homes, businesses and schools could collapse.
But officials believe the situation is safe enough to allow a high school near the sinkhole to open when classes resume later this month.
Preliminary test results to measure the pull of gravity on the ground along a one-quarter mile strip in front of the high school needs a closer look.
— The Associated Press
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Refinery fire forces some Houstonians indoors
The Houston Chronicle is reporting that residents in the Manchester area of east Houston are being urged to remain indoors after a fire erupted at the Valero Houston Refinery this morning.
The fire on a sulphur tank sent vapor through the area, prompting the shelter-in-place order, said Leon McClure, a human resources representative for Valero.
No outside assistance was requested in fighting the fire, which erupted shortly after 7 a.m. and was being handled by Valero personnel.
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Ready for those Brangelina twins pics?
The New York Daily News is giving readers a first look at the cover of the latest People magazine that presents the twins born to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
Supposedly, People paid $14 million for the right to take the photos. The magazine has a 19-page photo album in its double-sized issue, so I guess People is getting its money’s worth.
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11 feared dead on K-2 mountain
A helicopter plucked two frostbitten Dutch climbers from K-2 today after an avalanche and exposure left at least 11 people missing and believed dead on the world’s second-highest mountain.
One of the rescued men, Wilco Van Rooijen, blamed mistakes in preparation for the final ascent — not just the avalanche — for one of mountaineering’s worst disasters as a stranded Italian climber struggled to descend low enough to reach rescuers.
“Everything was going well to Camp Four and on summit attempt everything went wrong,” Van Rooijen told The Associated Press by phone from a military hospital, where he was being treated for frostbitten toes.
K-2, which lies near Pakistan’s northern border with China, is regarded by mountaineers as more challenging to conquer than Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak. K-2 is steeper, rockier and more prone to sudden, severe weather.
— The Associated Press
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Texas bracing for possible hit by Edouard
Tropical Storm Edouard is expected to pick up strength over the warm Gulf of Mexico waters before its projected landfall along the upper Texas coast or southwest Louisiana Tuesday morning, the Associated Press reports.
The storm’s projected path can be seen at our storm center link.
It could reach near-hurricane speeds over the next 24 hours.
Emergency teams were activated as Gulf residents prepared for a second strong storm in less than a month, although Edouard is forecast to hit a different stretch of the Texas coast or Louisiana than Hurricane Dolly did last month.
Rudy Guidry of Grand Isle, on the Louisiana coast south of New Orleans, was on his father’s houseboat this morning making it a bit more secure than usual. “We’re on the water right now. Just putting on extra lines in case it comes up,” he said.
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Chinese border patrol police killed in surprise attack
Sixteen Chinese police officers were killed today in a brazen attack as two men rammed a truck into a group of jogging policemen and tossed explosives in the restive province of western China just days before the Beijing Olympics, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.
Though it happened on the far side of the country — near the Afghan-Pakistan border — the attack came as security forces were on alert for protests or any disruptions during the Games, which open Friday. It was among the deadliest attacks in years in Xinjiang province, site of a sporadically violent rebellion by local Muslims against Chinese rule.
This Xinhua update provides more information on the attack.
About 20 people upset at having been evicted from their homes staged a brief demonstration near Tiananmen Square, Beijing’s heavily guarded political center. Uniformed police quickly surrounded the group until members of a neighborhood committee came and pulled the protesters away, scuffling with some.
In the Xinjiang attack, the two men drove a dump truck into the group of border patrol police officers as they passed the Yiquan Hotel during a routine 8 a.m. jog in the city of Kashgar, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
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Another day of heat, maybe some rain
Today’s forecast should be a lot like Sunday, really hot with a chance of rain. Some places to our east got a healthy amount of rain, at least based on why I saw on the radar. There was plenty of lighting, thunder and some wind, but just a few raindrops at my home.
There’s a chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Otherwise, it’ll be mostly sunny and hot, with a high near 103 degrees.
Stay indoors if you can. Seems like it’s only gotten hotter since I’ve returned from vacation.
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