By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX – The Dallas County Medical Examiners Office says the second of two children who police believe were strangled by their mother has died.
The office says Faryaal Akhter of Irving died Tuesday night at a children's hospital where she had been on life support since the Monday night attack.
Police say 30-year-old Saiqa Akhter called 911 and said she had done "something terrible" to her children. Police responding to the call found Faryaal and her 5-year-old brother Zain in distress.
Zain was pronounced dead soon after. The medical examiners office ruled his death a homicide by strangulation and will conduct an autopsy on Faryaal Wednesday.
Irving police spokesman David Tull says Saiqa Akhter is expected to be arraigned Wednesday on capital murder charges.
New study finds Texas math standards inferior
Texas standards for what students are expected to learn in math are "clearly inferior" to a new set of national standards that Texas leaders have rejected.
The analysis released Wednesday by the Washington, D.C.-based think tank Thomas B. Fordham Institute gave higher marks to Texas' English and language arts standards, but said the math standards lack specificity and coherence.
Texas received a grade of C for math and an A-minus in English language arts.
The national standards, called Common Core State Standards, have been adopted by 25 states. The state-led initiative aims to establish a uniform set of expectations on what students should know by the time they graduate high school.
Farmers Branch sued over electoral system
Ten Hispanic residents have filed a federal civil rights suit in Dallas against Farmers Branch, alleging its at-large system for electing the five-member city council denies Hispanic residents representation.
It calls for adoption of a single-member voting plan.
The lawsuit cites census figures that Hispanic residents comprise 48 percent of the estimated 2008 population of more than 28,000, 25 percent of which were Hispanic residents eligible to vote.
Census studies show Hispanic residents are concentrated in one section of the city, but the lawsuit contends citywide voting denies them a council seat.
All five council members and the mayor are white. A previous lawsuit on the issue was dismissed.