Turtles in texas

Justin Broomhall took a Sunday fishing trip to Lake Cherokee with his father and his son. Little did he know they would make the catch of a lifetime. The Longview, Texas resident hooked a massive alligator snapping turtle on Father's Day, the biggest he's ever seen. "My dad was like 'Holy smokes, look at the size of that!'" Broomhall said. "My three-year-old son started panicking. He thought it was a dinosaur and kept saying, 'Let it go. Let it go. Put it back!'" Broomhall was using dough bait in hopes of reeling in a catfish, he said. However, "from [the turtle] being so old and going blind, he's using his smell to find bait," he said. "I guess he felt it, thinking it was some other dead fish and he ate it." The enormous creature weighed in around 200 lbs and was likely between 100 to 150 years old, estimated Broomhall, who works at Whitaker Plumbing in Carthage, Texas. "I do a lot of lifting. I was a bodybuilder in high school and 200 lbs to me is pretty easy to pick up," he … [Read more...] about Texas man catches massive alligator snapping turtle, then releases it back into the wild

They say don't run right after eating. Apparently, that applies to flying too. Two independent researchers recently shared their findings that bird regurgitation is likely what caused fish to rain from the sky over Texarkana in late December. Residents in the East Texas town encountered the fishy phenomenon after strong thunderstorms moved through the area. While some experts theorized that the fish may have gotten swept up by waterspouts, National Weather Service meteorologists told the Dallas Morning News that data shows there was no such activity in the area at the time. Sharon Hill, a geologist and independent researcher based in Pennsylvania, and Paul Cropper, an author in Australia, found evidence indicating that a flock of birds, specifically cormorants, may have regurgitated the fish while flying over Texarkana. "We're both interested in finding out what, if anything, happened in a strange situation," Hill told the Dallas Morning News. "We're not going to be … [Read more...] about Bird vomit may have caused raining fish in Texas, scientists say

Doctors worried about getting sued under Texas’ restrictive abortion law have delayed treating pregnancy complications until patients’ lives were in danger, according to a paper from the Texas Policy Evaluation Project. The law, which empowers private citizens to file suit against anyone who “aids or abets” in an abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy, has caused confusion among providers and complicated treatment for patients facing pregnancy complications, the study found. The impact of Texas’ law, which went into effect in September, is a harbinger of things to come as the nation braces for the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. Texas, along with more than two dozen other states, is expected to ban all abortion, with only a narrow exception to save the life of the pregnant patient. The Texas Policy Evaluation Project, a research institute at the University of Texas that focuses on “evidence-based, equitable reproductive and sexual health care,” has been studying … [Read more...] about Doctors report compromising care out of fear of Texas abortion law

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Friday morning that prosecutors in Texas are "immediately" empowered to pursue criminal charges against individuals for actions breaching Texas state abortion bans passed in the mid-1920s, stating that abortions still run afoul of never repealed Texas laws. The attorney general’s advisory cites five different Texas state laws from 1925 that criminalize anyone who knowingly receives an abortion or provides an abortion. They also target anyone who attempts but fails to obtain an abortion. If someone were to die during an abortion, the abortion provider could be tried for murder. Following the advisory, clinics and abortion funds began ceasing services, according to Texas Tribune . The announcement regarding Texas abortion laws followed the Supreme Court's Friday overturning of Roe v. Wade, and came within minutes of news that the high court had struck down the 49-year legal precedent via a 5-4 vote, eliminating the constitutional … [Read more...] about Ken Paxton wants to exploit century-old Texas abortion laws in court. It won’t be easy, an expert says.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas woman suspected in the fatal shooting of professional cyclist Anna Moriah Wilson at an Austin home has been arrested in Costa Rica, the U.S. Marshals Service said Thursday. Kaitlin Marie Armstrong, 34, was arrested Wednesday at a hostel on Santa Teresa Beach in Provincia de Puntarenas, the Marshals Service said in a statement. Armstrong was expected to be returned to the United States, where she faces a murder charge, the agency said. “The Marshals Service elevated the Kaitlin Armstrong investigation to major case status early in this investigation, which likely played a key role in her capture after a 43-day run,” said U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Texas Susan Pamerleau. Wilson, 25, was found dead May 11, and Austin police later issued a murder warrant for Armstrong. Wilson, a competitive gravel and mountain bike racer and Vermont native known as “Mo,” had been in Austin for a cycling event. According to an affidavit, Wilson had … [Read more...] about Texas woman accused in cyclist death captured in Costa Rica

WASHINGTON (AP) — Florida Sen. Rick Scott, chair of the GOP’s Senate elections committee, on Wednesday criticized the Texas Republican Party’s new platform for not being “inclusive” when it described homosexuality as “an abnormal lifestyle choice.” Scott spoke to reporters at a breakfast just days after GOP delegates in the country’s largest red state approved the new platform, which also falsely labels President Joe Biden an “acting” commander-in-chief and says that Texas “retains the right to secede from the United States.” “My experience is, you know, the Republican Party is inclusive. And so I don’t — I wouldn’t have supported that, what they did," Scott said when pressed on the homophobic language, which he said was not inclusive. He also reiterated that he accepts Biden's election. The platform, which falsely claims that Biden "was not legitimately elected,” underscores how far Texas Republicans have moved to the right and how deeply former President Donald Trump's lies … [Read more...] about Sen. Rick Scott says he ‘wouldn’t have supported’ Texas GOP platform on homosexuality