By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX –
The father of a man accused of trying to blow up a Dallas skyscraper welcomed home his other son who was deported from the United States.
Husein Smadi, 18, was accused of drug charges in California and taken into custody Sept. 24, the same day his 19-year-old brother, Hosam, was arrested in Dallas.
Their father, Maher Hussein Smadi, said Monday that Husein returned home late Saturday on a U.S. military plane, was handed over to Jordanian authorities and released.
Husein Smadi earlier was arrested in Santa Clara County and pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance. He was in immigration custody for overstaying his visa.
Hosam Smadi awaits trial after pleading not guilty to one count of attempting to use of a weapon of mass destruction and one count of bombing a public place.
Texas inmate captured after week on the run
Armed prison escapee Arcade Joseph Comeaux Jr. has been caught in Houston after a week on the run. Alfredo Perez with the U.S. Marshal's Service says a tip led to Comeaux, who was captured Monday morning between two buildings in a residential and industrial area.
Perez says the convicted sex offender had two pistols. Perez says investigators "don't know if they were the same ones taken during the escape."
Comeaux was in a wheelchair Nov. 30 when he pulled a gun on two guards during a transfer from a unit in Huntsville to one in Beaumont. The guards were released after being forced to drive to the Baytown area. Comeaux took their weapons, handcuffed them together and ran away.
Comeaux was serving a life prison term for aggravated sexual assault in Brazos County.
Texas giving $6 million for Ike highway damage
Texas is providing more than $6 million to help repair a Hurricane Ike-damaged evacuation route. The funding announced Monday by Gov. Rick Perry will benefit the Bluewater Highway Shoreline Stabilization Project, on County Road 257.
The highway, damaged during the September 2008 hurricane, is an evacuation route for Galveston and Brazoria County, including Surfside, Freeport and Angleton.
Perry's office says damage to the roadway and adjoining sand dune system has placed more than 2,600 acres of marshland and tidal habitat at risk of erosion and overwash.
The General Land Office will oversee the project, including restoration of the nearby natural beach and sand dune system.
Deacon allegedly lied about Texas church robbery
A deacon who told investigators he slugged it out with robbers to protect the offering of the Dallas-area church allegedly lied.
Authorities are considering charges against 77-year-old Bill Hammett for filing a false report over what he reported as an attack at First Baptist Church in Sunnyvale.
Dallas County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Kim Leach originally said investigators believed that robbers fled Nov. 29 with Hammett's wallet and some cash.
KTVT-TV reports investigators say the evidence did not add up and Hammett allegedly confessed. He could not immediately be reached for further comment. Sunnyvale is about 15 miles east of Dallas.