Desert willow tree texas

UPDATE: Feb. 2, 8:40 a.m. CT More than 400,000 Texans are without power Wednesday afternoon, according to the website Poweroutage.us , as a winter storm continues to pummel North and Central Texas with ice. Austin Energy, the City of Austin's utility provider, accounts for more than 153,000 of the outages. The utility said it should have power back on by Friday, according to KXAN . Oncor, which provides power for a wide swath of North and Northeast Texas according to the company's service area map, accounts for another 149,000-plus outages. KXAN reported Thursday morning that Austin Energy has 85 crews in service working to restore power, with another 32 crews from other utility providers on the ground alongside them. --- End of Update --- UPDATE: Feb. 1, 3:30 p.m. CT More than 347,000 Texans are without power Wednesday afternoon, according to the website Poweroutage.us , as ice from the winter storm continues to take down power lines across North and Central … [Read more...] about Texas ice storm: More than 400,000 without power Thursday morning

HOUSTON (AP) — A judge has delayed next week’s scheduled execution of a man convicted of killing three teenagers while they slept in a Texas Panhandle home more than 25 years ago. John Balentine, 54, had been set to receive a lethal injection at the state prison in Huntsville on Feb. 8. He was condemned for the January 1998 shooting deaths of Edward Mark Caylor, 17, Kai Brooke Geyer, 15, and Steven Watson, also 15, at a home in Amarillo. Caylor was the brother of Balentine’s former girlfriend and prosecutors said the shootings were the result of a feud between Caylor and Balentine. Balentine was arrested in Houston six months after the slayings. Evidence at the trial showed all three victims were shot once in the head as they slept in a tiny house where Balentine also once lived. On Tuesday, state District Judge Steven Denny in Potter County withdrew Balentine’s execution date and warrant because the inmate’s attorneys had not been properly notified of the execution date and … [Read more...] about Execution of man convicted in killing of 3 in Texas delayed

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas woman accused of killing a close friend in 2019 who had just given birth and abducting the baby as part of an elaborate scheme to pass the infant off as her own pleaded guilty to murder charges Thursday, prosecutors said. Magen Fieramusca, 37, was sentenced to 55 years in prison for the death of Heidi Broussard, 33, Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza announced in a statement. Fieramusca waved her right to appeal. The conviction follows a crime in Austin, Texas, that began with the disappearance of a 3-week-old baby girl and was followed with widening interest as the investigation unfolded and police zeroed in on Fieramusca. Police say the child was later found alive at a home in the Houston area along with Broussard's body in the trunk of Fieramusca's car. According to an arrest affidavit at the time, Fieramusca abducted Broussard on Dec. 12, 2019, and packed her into a black duffel. Broussard had last been seen dropping off an older child … [Read more...] about Texas woman accused of killing friend, taking baby sentenced

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 9 HOUSTON (AP) — A teenager who was involved in a shooting on Thursday with Houston police fled into a nearby high school, resulting in a lockdown of the campus and his arrest, police said. No injuries inside the school were reported. The teenager was part of a group of individuals who had been under surveillance by a crime suppression unit late Thursday morning at an apartment complex on the city’s west side when one of the suspects exchanged gunfire with an officer, said Houston Police Chief Troy Finner. The 18-year-old suspect was shot in the knee and he along with a 17-year-old were arrested at the complex. But a third suspect, who was 17 or 18 years old, fled the scene and got a ride from a local resident to Wisdom High School, located about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) away, Finner said. Police did not release the names of the three suspects. … [Read more...] about Teen arrested after entering Texas school following shooting

Q: I have a paving stone patio behind the house. Behind the patio is a man-made stone wall that you can sit on. Behind the wall is a flower bed that has an ash tree in it. And finally, behind the flower bed is a downhill slope that is covered in grass. The slope is not steep, and it can be walked on and mowed with no problem. The ash tree has roots that are growing on top of the grass. They make it hard to walk or mow the grass. The tree’s roots are also starting to shift parts of the wall. I am afraid the wall will become unstable and fall over. I want to keep the ash tree as it is the only tree in my very small yard, and it provides all the shade for the patio. I am treating it for emerald ash borers, and it shows no signs of having any problems. I have started growing an oak tree in a better place in the grass that will eventually become a good shade tree, but it is only four feet tall and will not shade the patio in my lifetime. I want to cut some of the roots off the … [Read more...] about A Greener View: Get to the root of the problem with your trees

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 27 AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A mess of ice, sleet and snow lingered across much of the southern U.S. as thousands in Texas endured freezing temperatures with no power, including many in the state capital of Austin, but a warming trend was forecast to bring relief from the deadly storm Thursday. However, an Arctic cold front is expected to move from Canada into the northern Plains and Upper Midwest and sweep into the Northeast by Friday, bringing snow and bitter cold with windchills of more than minus 50 (minus 45 Celsius) in northern New England, according to the National Weather Service. More than 400,000 customers in Texas lacked power early Thursday as trees, heavy with ice, buckled onto power lines, according to PowerOutage, a website tracking … [Read more...] about Winter storm lingers in southern US, but relief is forecast

Following a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Houston Zoo is bringing back one of visitor's favorite events: Feast with the Beasts. During the unique 21 and older annual party, which will run between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on April 14, guests can get a taste of food selections from 30 of the Bayou City's top restaurants and sip on beer and wine while also being treated to live music performances and animal experiences throughout the zoo as the sun goes down. In a press release, Houston Zoo spokesperson Jackie Wallace said this year's event will be more exclusive than ever before. "Fewer tickets will be sold to ensure a more intimate and high-quality culinary experience," Wallace wrote. "This event is expected to sell out quickly—food and animal lovers should purchase tickets early." Some of the restaurants participating are Black Walnut Café, Blood Bros. BBQ , East Side King , Texas de Brazil, Dessert Gallery, Thai Kun and Soy Pinoy . Meanwhile, zoo … [Read more...] about Houston Zoo’s nocturnal dinner party lets you feast with the beasts

Frustrations over Connecticut’s roll out of a long-awaited expansion to the “Bottle Bill” that increases the number of beverages eligible for a deposit have spilled over into a public fight over the re-nomination of one of Gov. Ned Lamont’s cabinet secretaries, and sent top Democrats rushing to smooth over tensions with new legislation clarifying the nearly two-year-old law. The state’s commissioner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Katie Dykes, is facing an unusual delay in the typical formality of having lawmakers sign off on a governor’s cabinet appointments, particularly those who are already in the position of leading an agency. While House leaders said this week that they ultimately expect to confirm Dykes, they warned that Republican anger over what they describe as a broken agreement to exclude wine-and-spirit-based seltzers from a large expansion of the state’s container redemption return program — better known as the Bottle Bill — could spark … [Read more...] about How hard seltzers are holding up the long-awaited expansion of Connecticut’s bottle return program

Rian Johnson's 2019 mystery "Knives Out" features an unlikely but convenient fact: The protagonist vomits whenever she lies. This advisedly clunky emphasis on fibs and their detection is something of a Johnson trademark. One non-villainous character in his 2022 Netflix film "Glass Onion," for instance, indicts some others with a tellingly ornate accusation: "You would lie for a lie, but you won't lie for the truth." The point isn't honesty, exactly; Johnson's approach is a little more complex. "Poker Face," Johnson's new Peacock series, takes this preoccupation - and the director's longtime love of mysteries and detectives - to its logical conclusion. Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne), the amateur sleuth in this case-of-the-week procedural, is a human lie detector. The show, which debuted last week, is delightful, nostalgic, surprising and funny. Animated by quick and effective world-building, it uses Lyonne's particular star power to great effect. As detective fiction, however, … [Read more...] about Natasha Lyonne soars in ‘Poker Face.’ If only the mysteries did.