Texas

HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston police and fire departments were deeply involved in safety measures for the music festival where a surging crowd killed eight people, playing key roles in crowd control measures, on-site security staffing and the emergency response. The police chief even says he met with the headlining performer before the show.

Now the city’s police department is leading the criminal investigation into how the deadly chaos erupted during Friday night’s performance by rapper Travis Scott.

HOUSTON (AP) — Authorities said they would watch video, interview witnesses and review concert protocols to determine how eight people died at a Houston music festival when fans suddenly surged toward the stage to watch rapper Travis Scott.

City officials said Saturday they were in the early stages of investigating the pandemonium that unfolded Friday evening at Astroworld, a sold-out, two-day event in NRG Park with an estimated 50,000 people in attendance. One attendee said that as a timer clicked down to the start of Scott’s performance, the crowd pushed forward.

HOUSTON, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- At least eight people died and scores of others were injured at the Astroworld music festival in the U.S. city of Houston on Friday night, officials said.

"The crowd began to compress towards the front of the stage and that caused some panic and it started causing some injuries," Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena told a press briefing outside NRG Park early Saturday morning.

"We had at least eight confirmed fatalities tonight and scores of individuals that were injured," Pena said.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Republicans approved redrawn U.S. House maps that favor incumbents and decrease political representation for growing minority communities, even as Latinos drive much of the growth in the nation’s largest red state.

HOUSTON, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- A deputy constable was killed and two others injured in an "ambush shooting" on Saturday outside of a bar in Houston, the largest city in southern central U.S. state Texas, authorities said.

Houston Police Executive Assistant Chief James Jones said the deputies were working an extra shift at the bar when they heard a disturbance outside around 2:15 a.m. local time on Saturday.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Republicans on Saturday were set to approve redrawn U.S. House maps that would shore up their eroding dominance as voters peel away from the GOP in the state’s booming suburbs.

After passage in the Texas House, the maps will go to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who is expected to sign them into law.

DALLAS (AP) — A former Boeing pilot was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on charges of deceiving safety regulators about the 737 Max jetliner, which was later involved in two deadly crashes.

The indictment charges Mark A. Forkner with giving the Federal Aviation Administration false and incomplete information about an automated flight-control system that played a role in the crashes, which killed 346 people.

DALLAS (AP) — When Southwest Airlines canceled more than 2,000 flights over the weekend, citing bad weather and air traffic control issues, unsupported claims blaming vaccine mandates began taking off.

Conservative politicians and pundits, including Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, alleged the flight disruptions resulted from pilots and air traffic controllers walking off their jobs or calling in sick to protest federal vaccination requirements.

The airline, its pilots’ union and the Federal Aviation Administration denied that.

(AP) --- Tesla will relocate its headquarters from Palo Alto, California, to Austin, Texas, though the electric car maker will keep expanding its manufacturing capacity in the Golden State, CEO Elon Musk said Thursday.

Musk, who last year said he was moving to Texas from California, gave no timeline for the move when he addressed shareholders at Tesla’s annual meeting.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A man seen on surveillance video wearing an American flag bandanna when he threw a Molotov cocktail into the headquarters of the county Democratic Party in Austin was arrested in Texas, a fire official said.

Ryan Faircloth, 30, was booked Friday in the Travis County jail. He was charged with arson and possessing a prohibited weapon — the Molotov cocktail — according to Austin Fire arson investigator Capt. Jeffrey Deane.