HOUSTON (AP) - State prison officials have begun transferring some inmates from two Texas Panhandle units to other penitentiaries due to a lack of corrections officers.

McALLEN, Texas (AP) - A 14-year-old driver whose high-speed flight from authorities near the Texas-Mexico border ended with two Guatemalan immigrants being shot to death has been recaptured after he failed to appear in court.

DALLAS (AP) - The Dallas Cowboys are standing behind Josh Brent after the defensive tackle was accused of driving drunk and causing a wreck that killed practice squad linebacker Jerry Brown.

FRUITVALE, Texas (AP) - An East Texas mobile home fire blamed on a space heater has killed a woman and left two of her children and a firefighter hurt.

SHERMAN,TX - Convicted quadruple murderer Lester Bower is one step closer to knowing whether or not he'll receive the death penalty.

HOUSTON (AP) - A 10-story former downtown Houston hotel has been demolished to make way for new apartments.

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - A North Texas man with a history of assault faces up to life in prison after being convicted of killing a woman who had let him stay with her.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The former leader of a tea party group says the Republican Party and stupid statements by some candidates are to blame for GOP losses in last month's congressional elections.

HOUSTON (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review the case of a San Antonio rapper sent to death row for slitting the throat of a recording engineer during a session 14 years ago.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - An expert is denying that Texas made its latest standardized test too difficult, saying such exams have always gotten harder but students still tend to improve their scores over time.

HOUSTON (AP) - The agency that oversees most of the Texas power grid says future power projections have improved but the state could still struggle with peak demand - possibly even next summer.

RICHMOND, Texas (AP) - A Houston-area man, his daughter and his son have been indicted over a credit union robbery by armed thieves in disguises.

EL PASO, Texas (AP) - An ex-official at a West Texas school district where the state has taken more control amid a testing scandal is being fired after an audit showed possible cheating attempts at his new job.

MCALLEN, Texas (AP) - A South Texas man has been convicted in a human smuggling case in which more than 30 suspected illegal immigrants were found in an apartment.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) - A South Texas jury has convicted a former police officer in the 2011 fatal shooting of his estranged common-law wife.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The Texas Department of Public Safety has reassigned about 15 crime lab workers to blood testing to help trim a backlog in drunken driving cases.

ST. LOUIS (AP) - A new report shows that the nation's worst drought in decades has leveled off last week after worsening during the two previous weeks

NEW BOSTON, Texas (AP) - A Texas judge says a teenager's alleged confession in the 2011 slaying of a woman and her two children can be used at trial.

BLUE RIDGE, Texas (AP) - The slain girlfriend of Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher will be laid to rest five days after Belcher killed her, then shot himself in the head.

BEAUMONT, Texas (AP) - A public service will be held Sunday at Lamar University for former Texas Congressman Jack Brooks.

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) - A federal judge has begun hearing testimony on sentencing for a South Texas attorney convicted of bribing a lower court judge in exchange for legal favors.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The state of Texas is set to call its first witness in the sweeping school finance trial.

LEAGUE CITY, Texas (AP) - Police say a 79-year-old Houston-area man used a karate chop to disable an intruder and disarmed him until officers could get to his house.

SOUTHLAKE, Texas (AP) - A North Texas man who in 2011 became the nation's first full face transplant recipient has thanked a service group for helping him get a guide dog.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Seven school districts will split $25 million in education funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.