By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX – The first Atlantic hurricane of the year has strengthened to a Category 2 storm with sustained winds of near 100 mph as it plows ahead toward a collision with the Mexican Gulf coast and south Texas.
The National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Alex will make landfall in northeastern Mexico sometime Wednesday night.
The storm is far from the Gulf oil spill, but cleanup vessels were sidelined by the hurricane's ripple effects. Six-foot waves churned up by the hurricane splattered beaches in Louisiana, Alabama and Florida with oil and tar balls.
Hurricane Alex flooded roads and forced thousands of people to evacuate fishing villages.
The eye was about 55 miles northeast of La Pesca, Mexico, and about 105 miles south of Brownsville, Texas.
Dallas Fire Rescue Accused Of Bilking Govt
A federal lawsuit, recently unsealed, alleges that Dallas Fire Rescue routinely over charged Medicaid and Medicare for ambulance services.
Former city of Dallas assistant auditor Douglas Moore filed the lawsuit. He also alleges he was fired for blowing the whistle on the over-billing.
The city attorney says Dallas Fire Rescue believed it could bill for the most expensive "advanced life support" level because of the department's equipment and training - not the level of care provided.
The city of Dallas says it will repay any overbilling, and says it's nowhere near the 100 thousand dollars a month alleged in the lawsuit. The city also notes that Moore stands to get a large reward for reporting the problem.
Moore demands a jury trial to determine damages above any reimbursement. And he wants his old job back.
David Brown Jr. had pot, PCP in blood
An autopsy shows the Dallas police chief's son had marijuana and PCP in his blood when he shot and killed a suburban police officer and a neighbor before he was cut down by police bullets himself.
The autopsy report by the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office shows 27-year-old David Brown Jr. also nine gunshot wounds and multiple superficial injuries caused by bullet fragments.
Investigators have said the son of newly chosen Dallas Police Chief David Brown shot and killed 23-year-old neighbor Jeremy McMillian and 37-year-old Lancaster police Officer Craig Shaw the afternoon of June 21 before other officers shot him.
After a domestic altercation, the younger Brown's girlfriend, Misti Conaway, told police hours before the fatal shootings that her boyfriend was having a "psychotic breakdown" and was bipolar.
Summer Peak Time For Car Theft
July is "Watch Your Car" month. The Texas Auto Burglary and Theft Prevention Authority says the highest numbers of stolen cars are in July and August.
This year, the statewide group is focusing on what it calls the KEY law. Each year nearly one thousand vehicle are stolen because the owner left the keys inside.
That's actually illegal. The fines range from $100.00 for leaving the keys in the ignition; $200.00 for leaving the engine running.