Page 2 - Texas

Flash floods kill 80 in Texas as questions mount over ignored warnings

With 28 children dead, scrutiny has intensified over delayed evacuations in Texas floods and whether early warnings were adequate, especially at vulnerable sites like children's camps

Texas floods: Toll rises to 82 as sheriff says 10 campers still missing

Families sifted through waterlogged debris Sunday and stepped inside empty cabins at Camp Mystic, an all-girls summer camp ripped apart by flash floods that washed homes off their foundations and killed at least 82 people in central Texas. Rescuers maneuvering through challenging terrain, high waters and snakes including water moccasins continued their desperate search for the missing, including 10 girls and a counselor from the camp. For the first time since the storms began pounding Texas, Governor Greg Abbott said there were 41 people confirmed to be unaccounted for across the state and more could be missing. In Kerr County, home to Camp Mystic and other youth camps in the Texas Hill Country, searchers have found the bodies of 68 people, including 28 children, Sheriff Larry Leitha said in the afternoon. He pledged to keep searching until everybody is found from Friday's flash floods. Ten other deaths were reported in Travis, Burnet, Kendall, Tom Green and Williamson counties, ...

Texas officials face scrutiny over response to catastrophic flooding

Before heading to bed before the Fourth of July holiday, Christopher Flowers checked the weather while staying at a friend's house along the Guadalupe River. Nothing in the forecast alarmed him. Hours later, he was rushing to safety: He woke up in darkness to electrical sockets popping and ankle-deep water. Quickly, his family scrambled nine people into the attic. Phones buzzed with alerts, Flowers recalled Saturday, but he did not remember when in the chaos they started. What they need is some kind of external system, like a tornado warning that tells people to get out now, Flowers, 44, said. The destructive fast-moving waters that began before sunrise Friday in the Texas Hill Country killed at least 43 people in Kerr County, authorities said Saturday, and an unknown number of people remained missing. Those still unaccounted for included 27 girls from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along a river in Kerr County where most of the dead were recovered. But as authorities launch

Texas floods leave 51 dead, 27 girls missing as rescue efforts continue

Rescuers scoured flooded riverbanks littered with mangled trees Saturday and turned over rocks in the search for more than two dozen children from a girls' camp and many others missing after a wall of water blasted down a river in the Texas Hill Country. The storm killed at least 32 people, including 14 children. Some 36 hours after the floods, authorities have still not given a number of how many people in total are still missing beyond the 27 children from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the river. The destructive fast-moving waters rose 26 feet in just 45 minutes before daybreak Friday, washing away homes and vehicles. The danger was not over as torrential rains continued pounding communities outside San Antonio on Saturday and flash flood warnings and watches remained in effect. Searchers used helicopters, boats and drones to look for victims and to rescue stranded people in trees and from camps isolated by washed-out roads. We will not stop until we find everyone wh

At least 27 dead in Texas floods, over 20 children missing from summer camp

Months worth of heavy rain fell in a matter of hours on Texas Hill Country, killing at least 13 people and leaving more than 20 girls attending a summer camp unaccounted for Friday as search teams conducted boat and helicopter rescues in the fast-moving flood water. Desperate pleas peppered social media as loved ones sought any information available about people caught in the flood zone. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said somewhere between 6 and 10 bodies had been found so far in the frantic search for victims. Meanwhile, during a news conference conducted at the same time as Patrick's update, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha reported that there were 13 deaths from the flooding. At least 10 inches of rain poured down overnight in central Kerr County, causing flash flooding of the Guadalupe River and leading to desperate pleas for information about the missing. Some are adults, some are children, Patrick said during a news conference. Again, we don't know where those bodies came from. Teams

US expands militarised zones to 1/3 of southern border, stirs controversy

Orange no-entry signs posted by the US military in English and Spanish dot the New Mexico desert, where a border wall cuts past onion fields and parched ranches with tufts of tall grass growing amidst wiry brush and yucca trees. The Army has posted thousands of the warnings in New Mexico and western Texas, declaring a restricted area by authority of the commander. It's part of a major shift that has thrust the military into border enforcement with Mexico like never before. The move places long stretches of the border under the supervision of nearby military bases, empowering US troops to detain people who enter the country illegally and sidestep a law prohibiting military involvement in civilian law enforcement. It is done under the authority of the national emergency on the border declared by President Donald Trump on his first day in office. US authorities say the zones are needed to close gaps in border enforcement and help in the wider fight against human smuggling networks an

US Supreme Court upholds Texas law to shield kids from online pornography

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Texas law aimed at blocking children from seeing online pornography. Nearly half of the states have passed similar laws requiring adult websites users verify users' ages to access pornographic material. The laws come as smartphones and other devices make it easier to access online porn, including hardcore obscene material. The court split along ideological lines in the 6-3 ruling. It's a loss for an adult-entertainment industry trade group called the Free Speech Coalition, which challenged the Texas law. Th majority opinion, authored by Justice Clarence Thomas, found the measure didn't seriously restrict adults' free-speech rights. Adults have the right to access speech obscene only to minors ... but adults have no First Amendment right to avoid age verification, he wrote. In a dissent, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the court should have used a higher legal standard in weighing whether the law creates free-speech problems. Pornhub, one of the

Trump admin expands military's role at border to the southern tip of Texas

The Department of Defense is expanding a militarised zone along the southern US border where troops are authorised to detain people who enter illegally for possible federal prosecution on charges of trespassing in a national defence area. The Air Force announced Monday the annexation of a serpentine 250-mile (400-kilometre) stretch of the border in Texas amid a buildup of military forces under President Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the border. A Defense Department official said the Navy also has been instructed to establish a new national defence area at the border. The official didn't provide further details. The newly designated national defence area on land and water along the Rio Grande spans two Texas counties and runs alongside cities including Brownsville and McAllen. It will be treated as an extension of Joint Base San Antonio. The Air Force said it's prepared to install warning signs immediately against entry to the area. The military strategy was pioneere

Teen indicted for murder in fatal stabbing at Texas school track meet

A teen accused of fatally stabbing another student at a high school track meet in suburban Dallas was indicted Tuesday on a murder charge, a prosecutor said. A grand jury indicted Karmelo Anthony in the death of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis said. Willis said the April 2 stabbing at the school stadium in Frisco struck a deep nerve here in Collin County and beyond. Anthony was 17 at the time of the stabbing and has since turned 18. When something like this happens at a school event, it shakes people to the core, Willis said. Students from several high schools in the Frisco Independent School District were competing when the stabbing occurred. According to an arrest report, a witness said that when Anthony sat under the tent belonging to Metcalf's team, Metcalf told Anthony to move, and Anthony replied: Touch me and see what happens." Metcalf then touched Anthony, and Anthony said to punch him and see what happens, the arrest report said. A

Texas Instruments to invest $60 billion in US chip plants expansion

funds will be used to build or expand seven chip-making facilities in Texas as well as Utah, and will create 60,000 jobs, TI said on Wednesday

Two Indian-Americans secure significant city council seats in Texas

In a significant political stride for the Indian diaspora in the United States, Sanjay Singhal and Sukh Kaur, both Indian Americans, have won city council runoff elections in Texas, while Carol McCutcheon has been elected as Mayor of Sugar Land, a Houston suburb with a large Indian-origin population. In Sugar Land's District 2, Sanjay Singhal, a retired energy executive and graduate of IIT Delhi, secured a decisive victory over his nearest rival Nasir Hussain. According to unofficial results from Fort Bend County, Singhal received 2,346 votes to Hussain's 777. "This victory belongs to the residents of District 2," Singhal told supporters. "I am deeply grateful for the community's support and ready to serve with transparency and dedication." Singhal, who has lived in Sugar Land for over 30 years with his wife, their two sons and daughters-in-law, ran on a platform focused on public safety, infrastructure improvements, and accountable governance. In San Antonio, Sukh Kaur, a Sikh ...

Texas set to join GOP states tightening grip on university curriculum

The gubernatorially appointed boards that oversee Texas universities soon could have new powers to control the curriculum required of students and eliminate degree programs. The legislation sent Monday to Texas Governor Greg Abbott marks the latest effort among Republican-led states to reshape higher education institutions that they assert have been promoting liberal ideology. It follows similar moves in Florida and Ohio. The state actions come as President Donald Trump's administration also has injected itself into higher education, leveraging federal funding and its student visa authority to clamp down on campus activism and stamp out diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Some professors contend the moves violate the principles of academic freedom that many universities have followed for decades. "Political operatives have basically used their positions of power political power, economic power to demand that the institutions conform to their ideas," said Isaac Kamola, ..

Indian-origin professor Ganesh Thakur to lead Texas' top science academy

Indian-origin professor Ganesh Thakur has been named president of the Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science and Technology (TAMEST), becoming the first University of Houston (UH) faculty member to hold the position. Thakur, a professor of petroleum engineering at UH's Cullen College of Engineering, began his term in February, the university said in a release. He aims to raise the visibility of UH's research and promote collaboration across top institutions in Texas. TAMEST brings together top minds from UH, UT Austin, Texas A&M, and others to tackle real-world challenges, Thakur said. TAMEST includes 350 members of the US National Academies and eight Nobel laureates. Its next annual conference, focused on climate change, will be held in San Antonio in February 2026. Thakur's term runs through 2027, during which he plans to position Houston as a national hub for science and innovation. Ganesh's leadership will bring well-deserved attention to UH's faculty, said Cullen ...

Indian-origin entrepreneur killed by homeless fellow Indian on Texas bus

An Indian man fatally stabbed 30-year-old Akshay Gupta on a bus in Austin, Texas. The attack was unprovoked, and Kandel later admitted to the crime, citing a resemblance to his uncle

Voters approve Musk's plan to establish Starbase as his own city in Texas

By a margin of 173 to 4, residents of the far-flung community surrounding SpaceX's rocket-launch site and headquarters voted resoundingly in favour of the incorporation effort

Elon Musk plans to build a city near SpaceX site. But locals aren't happy

Voters in south Texas will decide whether to officially turn the home of Elon Musk's SpaceX launch site into a city called Starbase, despite growing public concern

Indian student killed in Texas hit-and-run just weeks before graduation

Vangavolu Deepthi, who was pursuing her MS in Computer and Information Science at the University of North Texas, had graduated from Narasaraopet Engineering College in Guntur in 2023

Trump threatens sanctions, tariffs on Mexico over Texas water dispute

Under the 1944 treaty, Mexico must send 1.75 million acre-feet of water to the US from the Rio Grande through a network of interconnected dams and reservoirs every five years

Texas passes first-ever Holi resolution, 3rd US state to recognise festival

The Texas Senate has passed its first-ever resolution recognising Holi, officially acknowledging the Hindu festival of colours as a significant cultural celebration. With this move, Texas becomes the third US state after Georgia and New York to formally recognise Holi. The resolution was introduced by Senator Sarah Eckhardt and passed just ahead of Holi celebrations on March 14. It highlights Holi's cultural and spiritual significance, celebrating spring, renewal, unity, and the triumph of good over evil. "The origins of this jubilant festival can be traced back many millennia, and the holiday is recognised and celebrated throughout the world by people of all backgrounds who relate to the festival's themes of love, renewal, and progress," the resolution states. The Senate also emphasised Holi's role in strengthening community bonds and enriching Texas's cultural diversity. Consul General of India in Houston, DC Manjunath, told PTI, This is a proud and historic moment for Texas.

Greenpeace ordered to pay $660 mn to Texas oil company for defamation

A jury in North Dakota found Greenpeace and its US entities liable for defamation, conspiracy, and other claims for its involvement in protests at the Dakota Access pipeline