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Gay youth may join the Boy Scouts
Starting Wednesday, openly gay youths will be allowed to join scouting.
Boy Scouts of America made the decision in May to accept them into their ranks. The resolution took effect when the new year rang in.
More than 60% of the group's 1,400-member national council voted back then at an annual meeting in Grapevine, Texas, for the change.
Tom DeLay's conviction tossed
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's conviction on money laundering charges was overturned Thursday by a court in Texas.
DeLay, who was once one of the most powerful men on Capitol Hill, was convicted in 2010 for allegedly trying to influence Texas elections by trying to channel nearly $200,000 in corporate donations to Republicans running for the state legislature, which is prohibited by Lone Star state law. Delay, who served more than two decades in the House before resigning in 2006, was sentenced to three years in prison.
FULL STORYTexas high school stabbings: 1 student killed, 3 injured, police say
A 17-year-old student was killed and three other students were injured in stabbings Wednesday morning at a Houston-area high school, Harris County authorities said.
The stabbings happened around 7:10 a.m. CT during a confrontation at Spring High School, about 20 miles north of downtown Houston, Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia said.
Three students were detained for questioning at the sheriff's office, Garcia said. The names of the students involved in the incident weren't immediately released.
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Police report: Zimmerman pulled over in Texas
George Zimmerman - who was acquitted earlier this month on murder charges tied to Trayvon Martin's death - was stopped this weekend for a traffic violation in North Texas, according to a report from the Forney, Texas, police department.
The incident happened shortly after noon Sunday, when an officer pulled over Zimmerman's 2008 gray Honda for what was described only as a traffic stop.
He was given a verbal warning, police said.
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2 dead in severe San Antonio flooding
Two women died Saturday - one of them swept away after being inches from her would-be rescuers - due to raging floodwaters in San Antonio, which braced for yet more drenching rains.
San Antonio International Airport received 9.57 inches of rain Saturday morning alone, CNN meteorologists said, and a number of rivers and creeks were well above flood stage.
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Texas storms: 'I thought that lady was gonna die'
[Updated at 3:31 p.m. ET] Tina and Billy Clark saw the funnel cloud approaching and did what many of their neighbors did.
"We just ran and hid in the closet," Tina Clark told CNN after one of a swarm of tornadoes descended Wednesday night into their neighborhood in Hood County, some 30 miles southwest of Fort Worth, Texas.
"I was holding the door shut," Billy Clark told CNN. "You could feel the pressure from inside the house. It was like pulling on the door a little bit. The whole house was shaking really bad. It felt like the house was getting ripped apart, but we couldn't see anything from inside the closet, so we didn't know what exactly was going on."
"You could just hear stuff hitting the house," his wife said.
FULL STORYHouston airport shooter killed self, police say
The gunman who fired shots into the ceiling of a Houston airport on Thursday left behind a suicide note saying he had a "monster within" and he wanted police to stop him before he hurt others, police said Friday.
The man, identified as Carnell Marcus Moore, 29, of Beaumont, Texas, shot himself fatally in the temple as he was confronted by a Homeland Security officer at Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport on Thursday afternoon.
Moore had gone to the airport with the intention of suicide and left a note inside a suitcase he carried into the terminal, police officials said at news conference Friday morning.
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May 29 court-martial for Hassan
A military judge on Wednesday set a May 29 court-martial for U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, who is charged in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, in November 2009 that left 13 people dead.
Hasan is charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder charges for the alleged shootings at the post's processing center, where soldiers were preparing to deploy to Afghanistan and Iraq.
Hasan's court-martial has been repeatedly delayed since it was initially set to begin in March 2012, most notably after an appeals court delayed the case over the question of whether the Army major's beard could be forcibly shaved.
FULL STORYRecords: Texas plant hadn't told feds about explosive fertilizer
(CNN) - The fertilizer plant that blew up in Texas last week warned state and local officials but not federal agencies that it had 270 tons of highly volatile ammonium nitrate on site, according to regulatory records.
The April 17 fire and explosion at West Fertilizer Co. killed 14 people and devastated the small town of West, Texas. Investigators have said they're not sure how much ammonium nitrate was actually on site at the time of the explosion, however, since plant records were destroyed in the blast.
The company sold ammonium nitrate and anhydrous ammonia, both commonly used as fertilizers. It had notified state and local emergency management officials of its stock of both in its most recent declaration of hazardous chemicals, filed in February.
Friday's live events
Watch CNN.com Live for continuing coverage of the investigation and fallout from Monday's fatal bombings at the Boston Marathon.
Today's programming highlights...
Continuing coverage - Texas fertilizer plant explosion
The Jodi Arias trial resumes on Tuesday, April 23
Thursday's live events
Watch CNN.com Live for continuing coverage of the investigation and fallout from Monday's fatal bombings at the Boston Marathon.
Today's programming highlights...
Continuing coverage - Texas fertilizer plant explosion
11:00 am ET - Boston interfaith service - President Obama joins officials, first responders and others for an interfaith service in honor of the victims of Monday's Boston Marathon bombings.
12:30 pm ET - Jodi Arias trial - Trial resumes in Phoenix in the case of Jodi Arias, who's accused of killing her ex-boyfriend in 2008.
CNN.com Live is your home for breaking news as it happens.
Texas blast 'like nuclear bomb went off'
A massive blast at a fertilizer plant Wednesday night killed what authorities estimate to be at least five people, wounded more than 160, and damaged 50 to 60 homes in a five-block area, officials in West, Texas said Thursday.
The casualty count could spike to 60 or 70, said Dr. George Smith, the city's emergency management system director.
"We have two EMS personnel that are dead for sure, and there may be three firefighters that are dead," Smith said.
"There are a lot of people that will not be here tomorrow," Mayor Tommy Muska warned late Wednesday.
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Massive explosion at Texas fertilizer plant
An explosion ripped through a fertilizer plant Wednesday night in West, Texas, a witness told CNN.
A hospital in Waco, Texas, has been told to anticipate 100 injured people coming in from a fertilizer plant where there was a massive explosion, an official at the medical facility says. Glenn Robinson, CEO of Hillcrest Hospital, said a field triage station was set up at the plant some 18 miles north of Waco after the Wednesday night explosion.
Tommy Alford, who works in a convenience store about three miles from the plant, told CNN that several volunteer firefighters were at the store when they spotted smoke. Alford said the firefighters headed toward the scene and then between five and 10 minutes later, he heard a massive explosion.
CNN affiliate KWTX showed a photo of the explosion - which reportedly happened around 7:50 p.m. (8:50 p.m. ET) - showed a huge plume of smoke rising high into the air.
FULL STORYImmigration bill: Must secure border
The border with Mexico must be secure.
This requirement is the cornerstone of an immigration reform bill a bipartisan group of senators are to file on Capitol Hill Tuesday. There will be no path to legal residency for migrants without it.
Undocumented immigrants may also not reach the status of fully legal residents under the proposed legislation, until the Department of Homeland Security has implemented measures to prevent "unauthorized workers from obtaining employment in the United States."
FULL STORYPolice: Texas college attack was planned
Dylan Quick overcame a childhood disability and had big plans for the future.
But on Tuesday, the 20-year-old student went on a stabbing spree on his Texas college campus, authorities said.
By the time campus police took him into custody, 14 people had been injured at Lone Star College. It's unclear how many of the injured were stabbed and how many suffered other injuries.
The campus shut down Tuesday, but will reopen Wednesday.
Sheriff: 14 hurt in Texas college stabbings
Fourteen people were injured - two of them critically - in an attack Tuesday on the Cypress, Texas, campus of Lone Star College, a sheriff said.
Authorities first learned about the stabbings after receiving a 911 call at 11:12 a.m. (12:12 p.m. ET) Tuesday describing a "male on the loose stabbing people," Harris County, Texas, Sheriff Adrian Garcia said.
The alleged attacker - a student enrolled at the Texas school - was eventually taken into custody.
FULL STORYTexas county halts to honors slain DA, wife
It's been five days since Kaufman County's top prosecutor and his wife were found shot to death in their own home.
Five days of fear as the killer or killers remain at large.
Five days of wondering whether another criminal justice official might be the next target.
If authorities are any closer to solving the homicides of District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife Cynthia, or his chief felony prosecutor, Mark Hasse, they haven't said so publicly.
But county government offices will shut down Thursday to give the community a chance to honor the McLellands at a public memorial in Mesquite, Texas.
A funeral will follow on Friday, marking another solemn chapter in this harrowing saga.
FULL STORYMen sought in connection with Colorado killing
Colorado authorities are looking for two members of the white supremacist prison gang known as the 211 Crew in connection with the killing of state prisons chief Tom Clements.
El Paso County Sheriff's Office identified the two men as James Lohr, 47, and Thomas Guolee, 31. One or both could be headed toward Nevada, the office said.
"They are both known associates of the 211 Crew," said Sheriff's Lt. Jeff Kramer. "They are believed to be armed and dangerous."
Clements was widely recognized for cracking down on prison gangs, including the 211 Crew. He was shot at his home by former gang member Evan Ebel, who was out of prison on parole.
FULL STORYSkid marks among clues in prosecutor slaying
A set of large tire tracks.
It's one of the tenuous clues that could help authorities figure out who killed Kaufman County's top prosecutor and his wife.
The skid marks near Mike and Cynthia McLelland's home appear to be from two large vehicles.
But other than that, the case is still a giant mystery.
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Few clues in Texas prosecutor killings
The manhunt for whoever gunned down two local prosecutors faces a steep battle, even with a deluge of local, state and federal authorities scouring for clues.
Law enforcement sources say investigators are starting from scratch, with no leads in deaths of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, CNN affiliate WFAA reported.
Nor do officials have any further ideas on who killed McLelland's chief felony prosecutor, Mark Hasse, who was shot to death outside the county courthouse in January.
But justice officials across the state are on high alert, unsure if or when a similar strike might occur.
"This, I think, is a clear concern to individuals who are in public life, particularly those who deal with some very mean and vicious individuals - whether they're white supremacy groups or drug cartels that we have," Texas Gov. Rick Perry said.
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