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Texas Education Board Adopts New Standards & Nightly Roundup

By KERA News & Wire Services

Dallas, TX – The Texas State Board of Education agreed to new social studies standards on Friday after the far-right faction wielded its power to shape the lessons that will be taught to millions of students on American history, the U.S. free enterprise system, religion and other topics.

In a vote of 10-5, the board preliminarily adopted the new curriculum after days of charged debate marked by race and politics. In dozens of smaller votes passed over the three days, the ultra-conservatives who dominate the board nixed all but a few efforts to recognize the diversity of race and religion in Texas.

Decisions by the board - long led by the social conservatives who have advocated ideas such as teaching more about the weaknesses of evolutionary theory - affects textbook content nationwide because Texas is one of publishers' biggest clients.

Ex-Texas secretary of state named to cancer group

Gov. Rick Perry has appointed former Texas Secretary of State Phil Wilson to the committee that oversees the state's $3 billion cancer research fund.

Wilson was named Friday to the oversight committee of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. The fund was established by Texas voters in 2007 and is the nation's second largest pot of cancer research funding behind the National Cancer Institute.

The fund for cancer research, prevention and treatment is to be awarded over a span of 10 years.

Wilson is senior vice president of public affairs for Luminant, a Texas energy company. He also once played a role in Perry's Texas Enterprise Fund, designed to attract businesses to Texas.

Wilson's term expires Jan. 31, 2015.

Texas agency says gas drilling oversight improving

The state's environmental agency is taking steps to hold gas drilling companies more accountable in Texas.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality says it is hiring six new inspectors for the Dallas-Fort Worth area. It's part of the two-dozen-county area atop the Barnett Shale, one of the nation's biggest natural gas fields.

The agency has implemented new standardized protocols for inspection and enforcement, instead of relying on gas companies to voluntarily repair problems. The agency says it's received about 150 complaints or inspection requests from residents since December.

State Sen. Wendy Davis announced the measures Friday. She says the agency doesn't know the locations of all gas drilling equipment in Texas -- but is starting to compile an inventory.

Texas boy dies in fall from car driven by teen

Arlington police say a 6-year-old boy has died after falling from a car when his unlicensed teenage sister was driving away after arguing with a family member. Police said Friday it was unclear if the 14-year-old girl knew her brother was trying to get into the vehicle.

Police say the girl has been charged with injury to a child and failure to stop and render aid. Her name isn't being released because she is a juvenile. The boy died of a head injury at a hospital Thursday, a day after the incident.

Police said the girl had been arguing with a family member at her Arlington home.

Perry says state looking into border incursion

Gov. Rick Perry says state and federal authorities are trying to get answers regarding a Mexican military helicopter that crossed the Texas-Mexico border late Wednesday afternoon.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection had confirmed that a Mexican military helicopter crossed the border near Falcon Dam in Zapata County before returning to Mexico without landing.

Calls for comment to the Mexican Navy were not returned. The Mexican army and navy are both involved in anti-drug trafficking operations in Mexican border cities.

In a prepared statement Friday, Perry called for better communication between U.S. and Mexican authorities along the border.