By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX –
Condemned murderer Reginald Blanton has been executed for a robbery-slaying in San Antonio more than nine years ago.
The 28-year-old Blanton received lethal injection for the April 2000 shooting death of Carlos Garza at the 22-year-old man's apartment.
Blanton maintained his innocence but a security video submitted at his capital murder trial showed him pawning two gold necklaces and a religious medal belonging to Garza about 20 minutes after the shooting. When he was arrested four days later, he was wearing more of Garza's jewelry.
The execution Tuesday evening came less than two hours after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected last-day appeals.
NTSB probe: Tire failed due to puncture
The National Transportation Safety Board has determined that a punctured tire caused the bus crash that killed 17 members of Houston's Vietnamese Catholic community last year.
The finding was adopted by the three-member board after hearing from investigators at a meeting in Washington Tuesday. The accident happened in August 2008 when a charter bus carrying 55 passengers to a retreat in Missouri plunged over a highway bridge in Sherman, about 60 miles north of Dallas.
The NTSB found that a retreaded tire on the vehicle's right front axle became underinflated and failed. Federal regulations prohibit retreads from being affixed to the front of buses. However, the fact that the tire was a retread wasn't cited as a cause of the blowout.
The board also found that the failure of the bridge's railing and a lack of seatbelts contributed to the wreck and its casualties.
State may drop phone numbers from accident reports
Texas law enforcement and transportation agencies have agreed to drop telephone numbers from traffic crash reports.
The Texas Transportation Commission is scheduled to consider the new reporting form at a Thursday meeting in Fort Worth. The move would be a blow to businesses that contact drivers after car wrecks. However, the inclusion of phone numbers on the reports has prompted several transportation commissioners to express concerns about privacy.
If adopted by the commission, the new form would be used starting Jan. 1.
The Texas Department of Public Safety, which also has a say on the forms, in 2008 agreed to drop the numbers after concerns were raised about insurance fraud.
The numbers were reinstated, however, after a lawsuit by a chiropractor and a business that gathers crash-report information for clients. They successfully argued the state had to follow a formal rule-making process to make the change.
This year, DPS officials changed course and said they wanted to keep the numbers on the forms for law enforcement purposes, but transportation commissioners balked.
Pregnant covergirl of Teen Vogue raises eyebrows
A model on the November cover of Teen Vogue is a 19-year-old who reveals in the magazine that she's pregnant.
Jourdan Dunn isn't visibly pregnant on the cover, and Teen Vogue Editor-in-Chief Amy Astley says the magazine didn't know about Dunn's pregnancy until after the photo shoot. But Astley says editors didn't consider pulling the cover Dunn shares with fellow model Chanel Iman.
Astley calls teen pregnancy "a difficult, real-life issue that Teen Vogue readers are mature enough to be exposed to." Those readers have an average age of 18.
The cover has raised eyebrows among some parents, teens and advocates against teen pregnancy. Many advocates said parents should use the cover as a way to talk to their kids about sex and the importance of planning pregnancies for the right moment in their lives.
Bush urges listeners to stick to their principles
Former President George W. Bush used a paid motivational speech in Fort Worth to urge listeners to stand by their beliefs.
Bush spoke to about 11,000 people at a "Get Motivated" business seminar.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports a spokesperson for the group declined to say how much the 43rd president was paid for Monday's appearance. Tickets sold for $225 at the door.
Bush, who lives in Dallas, said he was honored to be president by "bringing honor and dignity to the office." He told the crowd that popularity is "fleeting" and that they should stick to their principles, living each day to the fullest.
Bush was joined on the program by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar.