By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX – Texas Gov. Rick Perry has told former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf that he hopes the strained ties between the U.S. and Pakistan will improve.
They met Tuesday at a hotel in the Texas capital, Austin. During the meeting, the Republican governor lamented the two countries' poor relationship but did not directly criticize current U.S. policy toward Pakistan including the White House's recent suspension of $800 million in U.S. aid to the Pakistani military.
During a speech Monday at Rice University, Musharraf said the decision to cut the aid could hamper anti-terror efforts.
Musharraf requested the meeting with Perry, who is considering running for president in 2012. Musharraf said he wanted to talk about "the Texas success story" and to get tips on how to make an economy thrive.
EPA says all Texas plants will get new air permits
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says all 136 Texas plants and refineries operating with permits that violated the Clean Air Act have applied for new paperwork.
The EPA ruled last year the so-called "flexible permits" violated federal law. The EPA had said it was impossible to accurately measure air emissions at those facilities, which include some of the nation's largest refineries.
Texas has challenged the ruling in court. Gov. Rick Perry has often used it as an example of the federal government meddling in state affairs.
But the companies have worked with the EPA and the Texas environmental agency to resolve the issue and get new, acceptable permits.
EPA regional administrator Al Armendariz praised the companies for working to get the new permits.
Texas chief takes leave amid Atlanta test scandal
A newly named Texas school district superintendent will take a paid leave of absence as trustees re-examine her previous post in Atlanta, where officials are investigating allegations of widespread cheating on standardized tests.
Trustees of the DeSoto Independent School District held a lengthy closed-door meeting Monday night before Superintendent Kathy Augustine read a statement announcing she was taking the leave of absence through a mutual agreement with the board. The district has some 9,000 students in the Dallas area.
Georgia investigators say 178 educators had cheated on standardized tests used to meet federal benchmarks. Augustine denied having any knowledge of test cheating as Atlanta's deputy superintendent but said Monday the district could have put tighter controls on test security.
DeSoto schools hired Augustine in April to the $188,000-a-year job.
Texas girl found dead in SUV; heat feared as cause
North Texas authorities suspect that heat may have played a role in the death of a 4-year-old girl found in her family's vehicle.
But Johnson County Sheriff Bob Alford says he's waiting on autopsy results expected Tuesday before discussing more about the case.
Johnson County deputies responded to a missing child report Monday night at a home near Cleburne, about 50 miles southwest of Dallas.
The child's body was found two hours later in the back of the family's SUV parked in the driveway.
It is unclear how long she had been missing before deputies were called.
The sheriff tells the Cleburne Times-Review that her death is considered an accident.
The Dallas area has had triple-digit temperatures for the past 10 days.
Triple-digit temps blamed in Texas woman's death
Triple-digit temperatures in Texas are being blamed in one woman's death.
Authorities say a 56-year-old woman went riding on an all-terrain vehicle near Graham, a rural community 75 miles northwest of Fort Worth. They say she crashed and became disoriented, then started walking in the woods and became dehydrated before she died.
Her husband reported her missing nearly four hours after she went riding Friday on the couple's property, the Wichita Falls Times Record News reported.
Texas Department of Safety officials say the body of Angela Rogers was found Saturday after an overnight search.
As a brutal heat wave grips the South and Midwest, Dallas has had 100-degree temperatures for at least 10 days in a row -- including 108 degrees Saturday in parts of North Texas.
Facebook use lands Dallas workers in trouble
Constantly checking Facebook at work may get you in trouble.
Two dozen Dallas City Hall workers received reprimands or counseling after a recent probe showed they spent too much time on the social networking site.
Officials are working on new employee guidelines for social media use. Dallas City Manager Mary Suhm says said employees aren't allowed to do personal business when they're being paid by taxpayers.
Cesar Baptista, an assistant director in the water department, had Facebook open for 68 hours during a three-month period. But Baptista said he often opened his Facebook page in the morning and didn't close it while he did other things. He says he no longer opens the site at work.
The Dallas Morning News reports that the inquiry started with a TV station's request.