By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX – Texas is appealing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's overturning of a 16-year-old Texas air permitting program.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said Monday he filed the state's petition for reconsideration with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans.
The EPA had said the state's so-called flexible permit program violated the Clean Air Act. The state's program set a general limit on how much air pollutants an entire facility can release. The federal Clean Air Act requires state-issued permits to set limits on each of the dozens of individual production units inside a plant.
Gov. Rick Perry praised the appeal in a statement Monday, saying "the EPA's overreach is as potentially devastating as it is unnecessary.
Bank Robber Nabbed In The Act
A would-be bank robber was caught in the act this afternoon by Dallas Police.
Senior Corporal Janice Crowther says the hold up alarm was activated at the Wells Fargo Bank on Lemmon at Wycliff at 12:43. One minute later, Dallas Police arrested the suspect.
Corporal Crowther says the two officers apparently entered the bank right after the would-be robber.
Wardrobe Malfunction for Would-be Robber
A Mineral Wells man is under arrest for "unlawful carrying of a weapon" after a failed attempt to rob a Walgreen's in Weatherford.
Police say store employees called 9-1-1 to report a suspicious man wearing a black hooded sweatshirt in the store was attempting to pull a toboggan mask over his face. Employees told police when the man had trouble getting the mask on, he yanked it off and left the store.
Police were waiting in the parking lot. Detectives say the man admitted he intended to rob the pharmacy. They also believe he had an accomplice in the botched robbery, and expect to make another arrest.
Fort Worth Gas Leak
Atmos Energy crews Monday afternoon worked to shut off a gas leak in southeast Fort Worth, near Highway 287 and Village Creek Road.
One nearby business, Alliance Loose Leaf on Martin St., was evacuated.
Fort Worth Fire Department officials say a construction crew working in the neighborhood cut the three inch line.
Traffic was being re-routed around the site. No injuries were reported.