By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX –
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport is getting a $2.3 million federal grant to fix one of its runways. The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday that construction is expected to start in early January and will include repairing concrete slabs and joints on the 13,400-foot runway.
The work will improve safety by making it less likely that debris can develop on the runway surface, the agency said.
Money for the project came from the stimulus package that Congress approved in February.
The FAA said it received $1.1 billion from the stimulus program to spend at airports nationwide, and has committed funding to 360 projects.
SMU building evacuated after acid leak
More than a dozen people were evacuated from the Southern Methodist University engineering building for about three hours after a student noticed a package of hydrochloric acid that was leaking.
Authorities evacuated the building Tuesday morning as a safety precaution and said there was no immediate threat to the campus.
Hazardous materials experts were called in and the package was removed.
The package was intended for use in a campus laboratory.
Texas jewelry store robbers make off with $6M
Authorities are searching for two men who got away with $6 million worth of jewelry and coins in a suburban Dallas jewelry store robbery.
Lewisville Police Capt. Jay Powell said Harold's Jewelers was just about to open Monday morning when a man came to the door indicating he needed a battery for his watch.
When a store employee opened the door, the man brandished a weapon and, accompanied by another suspect, forced the employee to empty the contents of the safe into two black duffel bags, Powell said.
The store employee was not injured. The employee says the men took the store's video recorder.
PETA: Worker can't be blamed for animal neglect
An animal rights group says its undercover investigator did all he could to help animals while working for an exotic animal dealer in Texas. The group says the worker can't be blamed for "a litany of horrors" exposed in a Dec. 15 raid.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals was responding to allegations from an attorney for the owners of U.S. Global Exotics.
Attorney Lance Evans says worker Howard Goldman let snakes go for weeks without food or water or clean cages. Goldman has testified he cared for 1,500 to 3,000 snakes at once and the company's owners wouldn't pay for food, medical and other supplies.
A judge is expected to decide this week who will get custody of the more than 26,000 animals seized in the raid.