By BJ Austin, KERA News & Wire Services
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-936672.mp3
Dallas, TX – A Plano East High School student is charged with making a terrorist threat after a bomb threat was found on a bathroom wall at the school last Friday.
McDonald: It's a very serious charge. It's a very serious incident that took place when you threaten the lives of people like was done in this case. It carries a penalty up to a year in jail or a four thousand dollar fine, or both.
Plano Police Officer Rick McDonald says 17 year old Chase Clemmons has posted bail. He says police are following leads in a second threat found Monday. They do not believe they are related. Monday's threat prompted officials to cancel school Tuesday and bring in bomb sniffing dogs. Officer McDonald says nothing was found.
Classes resume after the Thanksgiving holiday.
Two Dallas Schools Close At End Of School Year
Dallas School District officials plan three town hall meetings to update parents on plans to close two schools after this year, and change one to a magnet school.
Maynard Jackson Middle School and Erasmo Sequin Learning Center will close at the end of this school year. And A Maceo Smith will become a magnet high school focusing on technology and project-based learning.
The Maynard Jackson meeting is Tuesday at the school. A. Maceo Smith parents and students will get an update Thursday December 2nd. The meeting for Sequin Learning Center has not been scheduled yet.
Texas judge says DeLay jury veering off track
Jurors in former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's money laundering trial seem to be struggling with their work.
They asked for legal definitions Tuesday that had the judge in the case shaking his head and saying they aren't on the right track.
But just before jurors went home for the day, they sent Senior Judge Pat Priest a note saying they were making progress. Deliberations resume Wednesday.
After one question from jurors, Priest shook his head, and after another, he told attorneys "they are clearly off on a track that has nothing to do with our" trial.
Delay is charged with money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He has denied wrongdoing.
The jury has deliberated about 11 hours since Monday.
Texas House committee won't act on alleged threats
A House investigative committee has declined to take action in an inquiry into allegations that allies of Republican Texas House Speaker Joe Straus threatened to use redistricting to punish his political adversaries.
Rep. Chuck Hopson, chairman of the House General Investigating and Ethics Committee, said Tuesday the committee did not have sufficient evidence of misconduct.
The committee spent more than three hours behind closed door questioning lawmakers involved. Rep. Larry Phillips, a high ranking member of the committee, was identified as the source of the threats. Phillips said he would step aside from his official duties during the proceedings.
The probe is getting under way as Straus, considered too moderate by some, faces a challenge from two conservative Republicans who want his job when the Legislature reconvenes in January.