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Delta and TPG Capital Considering Purchase Of American Airlines

Andrew Morrell
/
flickr

Delta and Fort Worth-based TPG Capital are reportedly making separate bids for American Airlines' parent AMR Corporation.

 The Wall Street Journal reports that Delta and TPG Capital are separately looking at AMR, which is in the early stages of reorganizing through the bankruptcy process.

The paper reports TPG Capital is considering a purchase through a strategic partner, and Delta has hired Blackstone Group for advice on its potential bid.

AMR and Delta both declined to comment.

Justin Martin, KERA News

Texas Republican candidates hold first debate

The top candidates in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate are holding their first formal debate.

The conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation is hosting the event on Thursday night in Austin.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz, former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert and former ESPN commentator Craig James have said they will attend along with Glenn Addison, a small businessman from Magnolia.

The debate will focus on federal fiscal policy and other national issues that could come before the U.S. Senate. Three Texas journalists will moderate.

The race for the Republican nomination is crowded and the competition fierce. A legal challenge to the state's political maps has delayed the primary elections and a final date has not been set yet.

AP

Retail gasoline prices jump 7 cents across Texas

Retail gasoline prices across Texas have jumped an average 7 cents this week.

AAA Texas on Thursday reported its survey found the average price per gallon has reached $3.22. The association's survey found that nationwide gasoline prices rose 6 cents in the past week, to hit $3.38 per gallon.

Texarkana, Dallas and Fort Worth have the most expensive gasoline, at $3.27 a gallon. The cheapest gasoline in Texas was found in El Paso, reporting $3.04 per gallon.

AAA says analysts believe gasoline prices have gone up due to strained relations by the U.S. and Europe with Iran.

AP

Thousands in Dallas area lose electricity

Mostly all of the nearly 9,500 North Texas homes and businesses that lost power due to utility trouble have had their electricity restored.

Oncor says a transmission line supplying the Dallas area was down Thursday, but customers were being rerouted to another line.

The number of customers without power had declined to about 4,900 by dawn Thursday. Oncor spokeswoman Alison Cox says most of the outages affected Grand Prairie.

The National Weather Service says the Dallas area had freezing temperatures Thursday.

AP

Lovett inducted into Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame

Grammy Award-winner Lyle Lovett is getting another feather in his cowboy hat.

He's being inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame on Thursday night in Fort Worth.

The hall of fame honors excellence in competition, business and the support of rodeo and the western lifestyle in Texas.

Lovett is a native Texan who is involved in breeding, riding and showing horses.

The four others being honored are former rodeo star Vernon "Dude" Smith; Buddy Jeffers and Jim Odle, who founded Superior Livestock, one of the nation's busiest livestock auction houses; and the late George Paul, the 1968 world champion bull rider.

Past inductees include Grammy winner George Strait, bull-riding champion Ty Murray, Oscar winner Tommy Lee Jones, and Texas Rangers owner and Baseball Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan.

AP

TSU in San Marcos now emerging research school

Texas State University has been added to the list of schools classified as emerging research universities in the state.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board on Thursday notified the school in San Marcos about the designation.

Texas State since 2004 had been classified as a doctoral university, as part of an expanded accountability system for public higher education. The school has since increased its doctoral programs and upped its research capabilities.

Texas State currently has more than 400 doctoral students, along with more than $33 million in research expenditures in the past fiscal year.

The state's other emerging research universities are Texas Tech, the University of Texas at Arlington, UT-Dallas, UT-El Paso, UT-San Antonio, the University of Houston and the University of North Texas.

AP

Woman's body found along I-20 near Longview

An autopsy has been ordered on the body of a woman found along Interstate 20 in East Texas.

The Gregg County Sheriff's Department says a hitchhiker reported finding the woman, who was dead at the scene Wednesday afternoon near Longview.

Chief Deputy Chuck Willeford says the woman was fully clothed and the body did not appear to have been concealed. She did not carry any identification.

AP