By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX – A fire sparked as workers mixed chemicals at a plant in Waxahachie Monday. Massive plumes of black smoke and bright orange flames shot into the sky, forcing schoolchildren and residents to evacuate or take cover indoors to avoid possible exposure to dangerous gases.
Flames engulfed a large complex at a Magnablend, Inc., facility. The fast-moving blaze overwhelmed a sprinkler system and consumed a fire truck, but no injuries were reported from the fire or resulting smoke.
Waxahachie Fire Chief David Hudgins said it wasn't immediately clear what chemicals were involved in sparking the fire, but crews expected to quell the flames by late afternoon and allow about 1,000 evacuated residents to return to their homes in the city 30 miles south of Dallas.
Nicolas Brescia of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said air quality readings in the city of about 25,000 did not require further action but that officials would continue monitoring to ensure hazardous materials did not spread outside the plant.
Magnablend spokesman Donald Golden told WFAA-TV that 25 to 30 employees who were inside the plant's 100,000-square-foot warehouse evacuated safely when the fire broke out before 11 a.m. Golden said the company manufactures about 200 products, including some that are hazardous when ignited.
Authorities had ordered residents closest to the plant to evacuate, while others were advised to stay inside with doors and windows shut.
Ellis County emergency management officials issued a mandatory evacuation order for an apartment complex, an elementary school and a junior college. Sheriff's officials urged residents not to drive toward the area of the fire.
Magnablend, Inc., manufactures, blends and packages chemicals. Much of its business revolves around energy production, including chemicals used to stimulate oil and gas wells and hydraulic fracturing. The company was launched in Waxahachie in 1979 and now employs about 250 people, with operations in Pennsylvania, Wyoming and North Dakota as well as Texas.
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality spokeswoman Lisa Wheeler said Magnablend has been in compliance with its state permits. A search of public documents revealed no significant violations for the company.
Nobel winner in medicine to lead Dallas project
One of the scientists sharing the Nobel Prize in medicine has started a research enterprise at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Bruce Beutler was one of three scientists tabbed Monday to share the prize for discoveries about the immune system. The 53-year-old became director of the new Center for the Genetics of Host Defense at UT Southwestern on Sept. 1.
He holds dual appointments at UT Southwestern and as professor of genetics and immunology at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif. He will become a full-time faculty member at UT Southwestern on Dec. 1.
Beutler becomes the fifth Nobel laureate on the faculty at UT Southwestern.
Beutler started his scientific career at the school and served on the faculty from 1986 to 2000.
AMR stock plunges on renewed bankruptcy fears
The stock price of American Airlines parent company AMR Corp. is down 35 percent on concerns that the company could be headed for bankruptcy protection.
The stock was off $1.04, to $1.92 per share. Shares have not closed below $2 since 2003. A major airline trade group says the industry may be headed for a downturn. Many analysts say that American Airlines is in the most vulnerable financial position of major U.S. carriers.
American is paying higher labor and financing costs than other major carriers. It's also the only major airline to lose money this year. American Airlines is the only major airline that has not filed for bankruptcy protection in the last decade.
Climate experts meet to discuss epic Texas drought
Federal and state weather forecasters and climate experts are getting together to brainstorm about the epic 2011 Texas drought and what weather trends might signal for the future.
This year's drought already has cost the Texas agriculture and cattle industries more than $5 billion. Intensifying La Nina conditions in the equatorial waters of the Pacific Ocean signal the approach of another dry winter. That means little to no relief from the drought conditions.
State climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon already has told the Austin American-Statesman that the drought could be the beginning of a decade-long dry spell. He will join National Weather Service forecasters and climatologists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Monday's discussion in Fort Worth.
Court throws out judgment against voting machines
The Supreme Court has thrown out a ruling that could have halted the use of a certain electronic voting machine in Texas.
The high court without comment vacated a ruling against Dallas County, Texas. That county was sued by the Texas Democratic Party over the use of iVotronic machines.
They allow people to vote straight-party tickets, but if the voter subsequently touches any of the candidates in that party on the screen, their vote for that person is rescinded.
Officials say the Justice Department approved the machines, but federal courts in Texas say the straight-line voting change was not explicitly approved.
Before machines, Dallas County used paper ballots. If a voter selected a straight ticket, and that party's candidate, their vote for that candidate would count.
Big 12 presidents approve revenue sharing
The Big 12 Conference says school leaders have agreed to equally share first- and second-tier television money if its members agree to give the league their TV rights for at least six years.
Interim commissioner Chuck Neinas says the vote should be seen as a positive sign for Missouri, which is reportedly considering whether to stay in the conference or join Texas A&M in the Southeastern Conference.
Neinas says he plans to visit with Missouri officials this week to state the league's case for staying put, but not before the school's curators meet Tuesday.
The revenue-sharing model had been proposed by Texas several weeks ago, but was waiting for a vote by league presidents. School leaders, who make up the Big 12 Board of Directors, voted Sunday and said each school must still approve the granting of TV rights.