By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX – Testing confirms that tar balls found over the weekend on Texas beaches are from the Gulf oil spill.
U.S. Coast Guard Petty officer Richard Brahm said test results came back Tuesday that showed about two gallons of tar balls discovered Sunday on Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston Island came from the spill following the April 20 rig explosion.
Officials on Monday confirmed five gallons of tar balls recovered Saturday on the peninsula, northeast of Galveston, was the first evidence that gushing crude from the Deepwater Horizon well had reached Texas.
Authorities say the consistency of the tar balls indicates the oil might have hitched a ride on a ship and was not carried naturally by currents to the barrier islands of the eastern Texas coast, but there is no way to know for sure.
Democrats file complaints against Gov. Rick Perry
Texas Democrats have filed formal complaints against Republican Gov. Rick Perry, saying he failed to dislose debts and income on his home in College Station.
The party announced Tuesday it had filed two complaints at the Texas Ethics Commission. The Democrats say Perry failed to disclose rental income of about $11,000 and two loans he took out for the property between 2007 and 2009.
Perry spokesman Mark Miner did not respond directly to the substance of the complaints but called them a "desperate attempt" by Democrats to cover up failures of their own nominee, former Houston Mayor Bill White.
Perry's daughter has lived in the house while attending Texas A&M and had roommates who paid rent to the family.
Dallas cabbie charged with stabbing client
A Dallas cab driver is in jail on aggravated assault and drunken driving charges after witnesses say he pulled his taxi off the road and stabbed a passenger in the throat. Police arrested 56-year-old Larry Darnell Miles early Sunday.
The driver was held Tuesday on bonds totaling $25,500.
Police say 24-year-old Eason Price Maykus was treated at the scene and admitted himself to a hospital.
Witnesses told police that the cabbie was eating a cheeseburger and driving erratically. When the six passengers tried to give him directions, he became confrontational.
Police found an empty bottle of gin, an empty 24-ounce beer can and a full bottle of gin in the cab.
A message left with Miles was not immediately returned Tuesday.
Hackers breach part of Bush library website
The George Bush Presidential Library and Museum had some unwelcome online holiday visitors.
Texas A&M administrators are trying to track down who hacked into the website on July Fourth.
Pierce Cantrell, who is vice president of A&M's technology department, says the hackers only gained access to a site that showed library events.
KBTX-TV reports hackers posted a message that read, "Say hi for George Bush. LOL. Saudi hackers."
Cantrell says just because hackers were able to get into the Bush site does not mean they automatically had access to other sites at the university. The Bush website operates on one of hundreds of servers on the campus in College Station, with none being linked.
Bush, who was the nation's 41st president, lives in Houston.