NPR for North Texas
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Roundup: Judge Denies DNA Tests Before Texas Execution

Hank Skinner's mugshot
Hank Skinner's mugshot

By KERA News & Wire Services

Dallas, TX – A judge has denied a Texas death row inmate's request to test DNA evidence that his attorneys say could prove his innocence.

Hank Skinner is set to be executed next Wednesday for the 1993 deaths of his girlfriend and her two sons.

Skinner's attorneys had asked for testing of DNA evidence that had not been tested before his 1995 trial.

But Judge Steven R. Emmert in the Texas panhandle on Wednesday denied Skinner's request in a brief order that did not explain the judge's decision. Emmert's order was made public on Thursday.

Skinner's attorneys say they plan to appeal the decision to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Prosecutors have called the request merely an attempt to delay the 49-year-old's execution.

Fatal sewer line accident in North Texas

Emergency officials say a North Texas sewer line accident has left one worker dead and a second man missing.

Fairview fire Chief Dick Price says one victim was located Thursday morning. Emergency personnel, using oxygen and wearing protective gear, went down through a manhole to try to find the second worker.

Fairview spokesman John Godwin says a third worker had called for help after the first worker went into the sewer line, was apparently overcome by fumes and the second worker went in to try to save the first man.

Price says the workers apparently were not wearing respiratory devices.

The North Texas Municipal Water District says the accident involves two contract workers. Their names haven't been released. Fairview is a town of about 6,400, located 25 miles northeast of Dallas.

Retail gasoline prices slip 4 cents across Texas

Retail gasoline prices across Texas have slipped 4 cents a gallon this week.

AAA Texas on Thursday reported the average price per gallon settled at $3.29. The national average is down a penny, to $3.43 a gallon.

The association says Amarillo has the most expensive gasoline, at $3.31 per gallon. Corpus Christi reported the least expensive gasoline this week, at $3.12 per gallon.

AAA says economic uncertainty in Europe continues to put downward pressure on crude oil prices.

EPA to probe gas drilling's toll on drinking water

The Environmental Protection Agency is set to start a federal probe into whether the controversial drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing is spoiling and diminishing drinking water supplies.

The agency's final study plan was released Thursday. The research will look at where companies performing hydraulic fracturing get their water and how much they use. It will also try to pinpoint the cause of alleged water contamination - looking at above ground spills, well design and the fracturing process itself.

The first results will be available in 2012.

Meanwhile, the agency has taken steps to boost regulation of so-called fracking, which is the injection of water and chemicals underground to extract natural gas trapped in rock.

The EPA will examine drilling sites in Pennsylvania, North Dakota, Louisiana, Texas and Colorado.

BP to pay Texas $50 million for refinery pollution

Oil giant BP Products North America has agreed to pay Texas $50 million for air pollution violations at a Gulf Coast refinery where a 2005 explosion killed 15 workers.

Attorney General Greg Abbott calls the agreement a record judgment under the state's clean air act. He says the settlement resolves 72 emissions violations between 2005 and now. Some of those violations led to the massive explosion six years ago at the Texas City refinery.

Abbott says the settlement is a strong and clear message and that the state will fine air quality violators.

Perry adviser denies harassment talk with Cain

An adviser to Rick Perry's presidential campaign says he never had a conversation with Herman Cain about sexual harassment, contrary to Cain's assertion.

Curt Anderson tells CNN "it's just not true." Asked in an interview whether he believed Cain was lying in his statement to Forbes magazine, Anderson said, "I'm not here to add any more name-calling" in the controversy over sexual harassment allegations currently clouding the Cain campaign.

Anderson, who advised Cain in a Senate campaign earlier, said: "I didn't know anything about this so it's hard to leak something you don't know anything about."

Anderson adds in the interview that if one "blabs" to other people about something said in confidence, "that's unethical. And that's not the way I live my life." He repeated that he admires Cain.

New Hampshire GOP leaders to defend Perry

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry says he hadn't been drinking alcohol or taking medication when he delivered an animated speech last week in New Hampshire. Now New Hampshire Republicans are coming to the Texas governor's defense.

Jennifer Horn is a former Republican congressional candidate who was among a handful of local partisans who attended the speech but have not endorsed a presidential candidate. She says there is no reason to suspect Perry was under the influence of anything. She and the other speech goers are planning to praise Perry's performance at a Thursday afternoon news conference - and blame the media for the hype.

A YouTube video of the address has gone viral online, and political observers have questioned whether Perry was under the influence of a substance.

Texas early voting ends Friday, election Tuesday

Early voting runs through Friday for next week's constitutional amendments election in Texas.

Secretary of State Hope Andrade says early voting started Oct. 24. Election day is Tuesday.

Texas voters will consider 10 proposed constitutional amendments, including how property taxes are calculated on land set aside for water conservation.