Video: Watch An Amazing 103-Year-Old Throw The First Pitch At A Rangers Game

Five stories that have North Texas talking: Ken Paxton appears in court; the SPCA removes scores of animals from an area home; Fifty Shades of Grey has a North Texas connection; and more.

Lucille Fleming is 103 years old -- and she threw out the first pitch at Wednesday’s Texas Rangers game. And she did a great job! She says she spent some time practicing. Watch the video of the pitch -- we all could learn a thing or two from "Firecracker Lucille."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiH0uOKUtxA

• Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has pleaded not guilty to charges of defrauding investors before he became the state's top lawyer. Paxton appeared in court this morning in Fort Worth. The Republican is charged with two counts of securities fraud over allegations that he deceived investors in a tech startup that was compensating Paxton for bringing in business. His attorney said he had submitted written requests to plead not guilty. Paxton is one of two sitting state attorneys general in the U.S. who are fighting criminal charges. Pennsylvania Democrat Kathleen Kane is accused of leaking grand jury information. Paxton turned himself in earlier this month and was released after a booking photo. Paxton took office in January. Top Texas Republicans haven't publicly rallied behind the attorney general. [Associated Press]

• The SPCA has removed more than 150 animals from a Balch Springs house. The Dallas Morning News reports: “After the SPCA and city received several complaints of suspected animal cruelty at the property, the SPCA tried to work with the owner to get the animals’ conditions into compliance with the Texas Health and Safety Code. The owner refused to allow investigators into the property and then began calling Balch Springs Animal Control to pick up dead animals, SPCA spokeswoman Maura Davies said in a statement. When necropsies determined the animals died of neglect, the SPCA got a search warrant for the home in the 2600 block of Tamara Drive, she said.” [The Dallas Morning News]

• Friends of Dallas County District Attorney Susan Hawk said they tried for months to get her help. WFAA-TV reports: “That failed effort came after allegations of paranoid, bizarre behavior first surfaced publicly. Hawk had fired her second-in-command, Bill Wirskye, shocking many in the legal community. She had reportedly accused him of breaking into her home and stealing a compromising photo. In the fallout, Hawk — a former district judge — admitted that she had secretly checked in at a rehabilitation facility for abusing prescription painkillers while campaigning for the job in 2013. ‘She did have a break with reality — a complete break,’ said Bob Hinton, a friend, neighbor and Dallas attorney who was among the people who attempted to stage an intervention with Hawk this past March.” [WFAA-TV]

• A jury has ruled that a North Texas woman was cheated out of Fifty Shades of Grey royalties. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports: “An Arlington woman’s interest in the e-publishing business that originally released the steamy international blockbuster Fifty Shades of Grey is worth at least $10.7 million. Earlier this year a Tarrant County jury agreed that Jennifer Pedroza of Arlington was cheated out of millions of dollars in royalties by Amanda Hayward of Australia, her partner in an online company that released what would later become a New York Times bestseller. The jury did not set a dollar amount, but attorneys representing Pedroza and Hayward said during a court hearing Wednesday that forensic accountants they both hired determined that Pedroza’s 25 percent interest stake in the $41 million the book earned was worth roughly $10.7 million.” [Fort Worth Star-Telegram]