By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX – Investigators say a broken drive shaft likely caused a Mexico-bound bus to veer off a south Texas highway before flipping -- killing two passengers. The other 40 people on board also were hurt in yesterday's accident near Campbellton, about 45 miles south of San Antonio.
The Americanos USA bus went off Interstate 37.
A company official says the 15-year-old bus underwent its regularly scheduled maintenance the day before the crash. Details came from Bonnie Bastian with FirstGroup America, the parent company of Dallas-based Greyhound Lines. Americanos USA is operated by Greyhound.
Bastian says the regular inspection covered the engine, tires, brakes and wheels.
A neighbor of a Dallas-area woman killed in the wreck of a tour bus says she was traveling to Mexico to visit her sick mother.
The Department of Public Safety on Wednesday identified the two passengers who died as 62-year-old Christina Lozano Campos of Lewisville and 27-year-old Efrain Dominguez-Valenzuela of Brownsville.
Melvin Goforth says he spoke to Campos last weekend. Goforth says Campos worked for a school, was on spring break and wanted to get her yard in order before the trip. He did not know her destination in Mexico.
Goforth says her husband, Daniel, knocked on his door around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday and seemed "pretty well upset" because he thought his wife was on the bus that wrecked.
Former state senator wants Texas seat back
Former state Sen. David Sibley wants to retake the Texas Senate seat he held for 11 years.
The Waco Republican said Wednesday he will run in a special election for the seat now held by Sen. Kip Averitt, who is resigning.
Averitt won re-election earlier this month, even after the Republican's January announcement that he was dropping out of the race. It was too late to get his name off the ballot.
Averitt is expected to formally resign Wednesday, which would trigger a May special election.
The central Texas seat includes 10 counties stretching from Waco to the outskirts of Fort Worth. Sibley held the seat from 1991 to 2002, when he didn't seek re-election and became a lobbyist.
Texas AP Broadcasters giving 3 scholarships
Three students pursuing journalism careers will share $4,000 in scholarships awarded by the Texas Associated Press Broadcasters Association.
TAPB on Wednesday announced scholarships for Timothy Ray Honeycutt of Texas Tech, Randall Blake Williams of the University of Texas at Tyler and Hayley Nelson of Southern Methodist University.
Honeycutt and Williams will each receive $1,500 scholarships. The TAPB board is awarding $1,000 to Nelson. The TAPB convention and awards banquet will be Saturday, April 24, at the Headliners Club in Austin.