The Standard’s news roundup gives you a quick hit of interesting, sometimes irreverent, and breaking news stories from all over the state.
A 17-year-old teenager from a north Dallas suburb was arrested this week for making ISIS-inspired terroristic threats.
From KERA News in Dallas, Bill Zeeble reports the high school student also tried recruiting others to kill people at a local mall.
Police say Matin Azizi-Yarand planned a mass shooting at Stonebriar Mall in Frisco, north of Dallas. The district attorney in Collin County says the high schooler sent more than $1,400 to others to buy weapons and other gear. He also planned to release a ”message to America” to explain the attack. Officials say they learned of the plot after Azizi-Yarand communicated with an FBI informant. They also credit several police departments and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force for the arrest. The teen faces up to life in prison for criminal solicitation and 10 years for making a terroristic threat.
The climatologist for the State of Texas says a lack of rain and cooler temperatures have complicated spring planting for Texas farmers.
As Mose Buchele with KUT News in Austin reports, those factors could also affect summer temperatures.
May and June are typically the rainiest months in Texas. When spring rainfall saturates the soil, that’s good for crops. And also for people. It postpones the worst of the summer heat, because the sun’s energy is busy evaporating moisture instead of warming up the ground. If we get average rainfall the next couple months, crops and Texans should fare better in the summer. If rain doesn’t materialize, we can expect a hotter year.
Filling up your car with gas is a little more expensive this week, and quite a bit pricier than it was this time last year.
“Well, when we look at the statewide average in Texas, it’s up 2 cents, at $2.60 for a gallon of regular unleaded, but that’s up 2 cents on the week. When you at the price a year ago, though, it’s up 39 cents a gallon,” says Daniel Armbruster with AAA Texas.
He points out that gas is most expensive in West Texas right now.
“The highest price is in Midland and in El Paso, both of them are paying $2.84 on average for a gallon of regular unleaded. The cheapest price in Texas is in San Antonio – that’s going to be $2.51 this week. Texarkana also has $2.51 this week,” he says.
Armbruster says there are three main reasons gas prices in the state are higher: record demand in March and April, higher oil prices, and we recently switched from the winter blend of gasoline to summer blend, which is a little more expensive.
Former Texas Congressman Blake Farenthold told Gov. Greg Abbott Wednesday won’t pay for the special election that has been called to replace him. Abbott asked the Corpus Christi Republican to foot the bill after Farenthold resigned abruptly last month. He stepped down months after it was revealed that $84,000 in taxpayer money was used to settle a sexual harassment claim from a former staffer.
Farenthold had promised to repay that sum, but hasn’t done so.