A Texas police officer who shot and wounded a teenager who had been sitting in his car eating a hamburger has been fired, police said. San Antonio Officer James Brennand was fired after shooting Erik Cantu, 17, on Oct. 2 in a fast food restaurant parking lot, police training commander Alyssa Campos said in a video statement released Wednesday. Brennand had responded to an unrelated disturbance at the fast-food restaurant when he saw Cantu inside the car, which had evaded him a day earlier, Campos said. A Texas prosecutor said in a statement Friday that he has not seen enough evidence to file charges against the teenager. “While Sunday’s shooting of an unarmed teenager by a then-San Antonio Police officer remains under investigation, the facts and evidence we have received so far led us to reject the charges against Erik Cantu for further investigation,” Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales said. Brennand, who had been on the force for less than one year, violated his training and police procedures after approaching the car, Campos said. “The officer abruptly opened the driver’s door and ordered the driver out of the car” before the arrival of backup officers that Brennand had requested, Campos…

The survivors who were able to walk out of Sandy Hook Elementary School nearly a decade ago want to share a message of hope with the children of Uvalde, Texas: You will learn how to live with your trauma, pain and grief. And it will get better. They know what’s ahead. There’s shock, followed by numbness. There are struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder. Anxiety. Survivor’s guilt. Anger that these shootings continue to happen in America. Reliving their trauma every time there’s another mass shooting. They know it will be hard to say they are from Uvalde. That well-meaning adults will sometimes make the wrong decisions to protect you. That grief can be unpredictable, and different for everyone. “It’s been nine years since Sandy Hook,” said Ashley Hubner, 17, who was a second grader at the Newtown school when 20 children and six educators were killed on Dec. 14, 2012. “We had nine years for this to not happen again. And yet it did. And now these kids are going to have to go through the same exact thing. That’s just, like, heartbreaking.” On May 24, a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. It was…

After reports last month that a popular Central Texas swimming hole was drying up, Hays County parks say they’re closing Jacob’s Well to swimming for the remainder of the year. The Hays County Parks Department said the watering hole was suffering from significant drought and that significant rainfall was needed to recharge the Trinity Aquifer, which supplies Jacob’s Well with water. All existing reservations will be canceled and refunded automatically in the coming weeks. The swimming hole, the second-largest fully submerged cave in Texas, was shut down in July after running dry for the fifth time in recorded history. The rest of the park remains open for hiking and viewing the spring.
This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. Courtesy of Texas News – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth …

The ERCOT Board of Directors announced during a meeting in Austin on Tuesday that Pablo Vegas will be the council’s new CEO. Vegas currently serves as the Executive Vice President at NiSource Utilities in Columbus, Ohio. He also previously served in leadership positions with American Electric Power, including as President and Chief Operating Officer for AEP Texas, ERCOT said in a news release on Tuesday. “I’m excited to return to Texas both personally and professionally. Texas is the fastest growing electric grid in the nation with peak demand larger than any other state, and leads the nation in advancing reliable resources,” said Vegas. “Texas leaders have faced the challenges in the ongoing energy transition head-on and are committed to driving improvements in the energy economy for the benefit of generations to come. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lead an exceptional organization of people and make a positive impact on millions of Texans.” As the new ERCOT CEO, Vegas will make an annual salary of $990,000 with opportunity for bonuses based on performance, according his employment agreement. Approval from the Public Utility Commission of Texas came immediately following the ERCOT Board of Director’s vote to hire Vegas as CEO as is…

A Texas man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for attacking an Asian family in 2020 because he thought they were Chinese and therefore responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, according to federal court records Jose Gomez III, 21, of Midland, was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to three counts of committing a hate crime. When pleading guilty in March, Gomez admitted that he used a knife to slash Bawi Cung and his 6 and 2-year-old sons inside Sam’s Club in Midland because he believed they were Chinese and spreading the coronavirus. Bawi Cung is from the southeast Asian nation of Myanmar. The March 2020 attack occurred as Asians faced verbal harassment and physical assaults across the United States after the virus began spreading nationwide. Gomez did not know the family when he followed them inside the store, federal authorities said in a statement. He followed them for several minutes because he perceived them to be a “threat” because they were “from the country who started spreading that disease around,” according to the statement. Gomez then purchased a serrated steak knife and slashed the three before a Sam’s Club employee intervened, stopping the attack as Gomez yelled “Get out…

The principal of the Texas elementary school where a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers says the principal was placed on administrative leave Monday, her attorney said. Robb Elementary School Principal Mandy Gutierrez was placed on paid administrative leave by Uvalde school Superintendent Hal Harrell, said attorney Ricardo Cedillo of San Antonio in a terse statement to The Associated Press. Cedillo did not provide any further information on the reason for the move or any other comment. A message to a spokeswoman for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District was not immediately returned. A legislative committee blamed Gutierrez and an assistant for knowing a lock to the classroom where the killings happened on May 24 wasn’t working and not having it repaired. Also Monday, the district school board approved a three-week postponement of the start of the district school year until Sept. 6 so district officials can replace Robb Elementary’s classrooms and other educational resources. Courtesy of Texas News – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth …