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American Airlines Ground Workers Split On Contract

American Airlines ground workers split over the company's final contract offer that would spare some jobs targeted for elimination.

The Transport Workers Union said Tuesday that five work groups accepted the company's offer but the biggest, aircraft mechanics, rejected it.

Pilots, flight attendants and the TWU have already thrown their support to a bid by US Airways to take over American and create a bigger combined airline.

AMR Corp.'s American Airlines is trying to throw out other union contracts to cut costs as it goes through bankruptcy protection. A hearing on that move continued Tuesday in federal district court in New York.

AP

Dallas Council To Hear Gas Drilling Recommendations

The full Dallas City Council gets a look at recommendations of the Gas Drilling Task Force Wednesday.

Council member Scott Griggs predicts the hot button issue will be the recommendation to allow drilling on park land and in the Trinity River floodplain.

Griggs: Drilling in and around the levees, in between the levees, out on soccer fields, too. It really goes against the whole vision for the Trinity. There’s never been any imagery of drilling going on.

David Biegler, CEO of Southcross Energy, is a member of the Gas Drilling Task Force. He says nothing in the report is a done-deal.

Biegler: This is nothing other than a recommendation. It’s a recommendation. It’s the Council’s job to decide the balance of the interests. It’s not the Task Force. All the Task Force can do is research the science and the facts.

A vote on a final drilling ordinance is not expected for some time.

BJ Austin, KERA News

Van Cliburn Auction Set In New York

More than 150 items belonging to legendary classical pianist Van Cliburn go on the auction block tomorrow in New York.

Cliburn says he’s contemplated the sale for years since moving belongings out of two homes in other states to his Fort Worth mansion.

Items include a silver soup tureen from the collection of a daughter of Russian Czar Nicholas I.

Cliburn began collecting furniture, paintings and jewelry after winning the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958 at age 23.

BJ Austin, KERA News

Irving Police Look For Would-Be Kidnapper

Irving Police are asking for the public’s help to find a suspect in an attempted kidnapping.

Officers say a woman driving on 183 near Valley View was signaled by another driver that her car had a mechanical problem and she should pull over. She did. As she was trying to help the suspect, he pushed her into his car and tried to shoot her with a stun gun. She managed to fight-off her attacker and escape. The suspect drove away.

Police say he’s described as Hispanic driving a white Isuzu Rodeo.

Officers add that motorists should never pull over if flagged down by an unknown person.

BJ Austin, KERA News

Perry: UT tuition freeze sent 'good message'

Gov. Rick Perry isn't saying whether he approves of the University of Texas at Austin president whose job was reported to be in jeopardy.

Perry said Tuesday that UT regents will decide the performance of Bill Powers, who recently criticized the board for freezing tuition at the state's flagship campus for most students the next two years.

Asked whether he was satisfied with Powers, Perry said "I got a state to run" and added that he isn't focused on one campus.

Perry did say the tuition freeze sent a "good message" about not raising college costs. He made the remarks while praising a $10,000 bachelor's degree offered at Texas A&M University-San Antonio.

The UT system chancellor has denied that regents told him to fire Powers.

AP

Injured driver located in Tyler run-over fight

Police say a driver sought after three people were run over during an East Texas fight has been located after seeking medical help.

Tyler police spokesman Officer Don Martin said Tuesday said no one has been arrested and the investigation continues. Police did not disclose how the female driver was hurt during the parking lot brawl.

Investigators say two men and a different woman were seriously injured early Monday in a fight involving nearly a dozen people. Police say a woman driving an SUV ran over the victims before speeding away.

The vehicle was located hours later and the suspect showed up at a Tyler hospital.

Police are trying to determine what led to the fight that started in a building owned by a motorcycle club.

AP

US Rep. Johnson puts chief of staff on leave

U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson has placed her longtime chief of staff on administrative leave.

The Texas Democrat put Murat Gokcigdem on leave Monday after a Washington newspaper reported Gokcigdem had questioned the qualifications of a legislative staffer who applied for another job. The Washington Blade printed an email it said Gokcigdem had sent about the staffer, Chris Crowe. Gokcigdem allegedly said Crowe was unqualified for the new job.

Crowe, who died last year, was gay. The email doesn't mention Crowe's sexual orientation but suggests Crowe is benefiting from a "group watching and supporting each other."

Spokesman Eddie Reeves says Johnson hasn't confirmed if the email is real but wants to find out "what the facts really are."

Gokcigdem did not return an email seeking comment.

AP