TEXAS ROUNDUP: Flight control center evacuated due to odor

Published 5:33 pm Thursday, May 16, 2019

 

FORT WORTH — At least 100 flights at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport have been delayed after the partial evacuation of a nearby government air traffic control center because of a rank odor.

The incident began late Thursday morning at the FAA flight control center near the airport, where controllers manage high-altitude flights.

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A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman says the stench was a sewer issue and that plumbers were working on the problem. Air purifiers and fans were set up in the building, and an FAA statement says air traffic was being managed at a slightly reduced rate as employees were rotated in and out of the building. No illnesses were reported.

The FAA website says flights arriving at DFW were being delayed an average of about 45 minutes.

 

Relative: Cop harassed
woman many times

A woman says a police officer harassed her cousin more than 10 times at their Houston-area apartment complex before he finally shot and killed her.

Antoinette Dorsey-James, a first cousin of Pamela Turner, told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday that Turner told relatives that every time she had an encounter with the manager of the complex, the officer would show up at her apartment and bother her.

Turner’s family says Turner and the officer lived at the same complex and that Turner knew him by name.

Harris County court records show Turner was accused of criminal mischief and assault on April 24 after a physical confrontation with the apartment complex manager over an eviction notice.

The complex’s management hasn’t returned a call seeking comment Thursday.

Baytown police have said an officer shot Turner Monday during an attempted arrest.

 

Texas company sued
over abandoned wells

PIERRE, S.D. — South Dakota has turned to the courts to settle an issue with a Texas company and the 40 natural gas wells it left behind after a drilling project fell idle several years ago.

The South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources sued Houston-based Spyglass Cedar Creek on Monday, the Argus Leader reported.

The lawsuit asks the court to order Spyglass and its partners to bring the Harding County wells into compliance. The state also seeks $15.5 million in penalties, the same amount regulators levied against the company in March for violations regarding the wells’ conditions.

Spyglass did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

It comes after the state’s multiple failed attempts to get Spyglass to resume production, plug the wells or request permission to abandon them.

 

Owner of tiger found in
abandoned house charged

HOUSTON — The ex-owner of a tiger rescued from a filthy cage in an abandoned house in Houston has been charged with animal cruelty.

Houston police Wednesday arrested 24-year-old Brittany Garza on the misdemeanor count involving a non-livestock animal. She’s free on $100 bond. An attorney for Garza, Jay Cohen, declined comment Thursday.

The Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch in Murchison has cared for the 350-pound tiger since it was found in February by people entering the house to smoke marijuana.

A judge in April ruled the sanctuary, located 70 miles southeast of Dallas, can keep the tiger and that Garza must pay nearly $12,000 for the animal’s care.

The shelter is doing an online poll to name the tiger. The choices are Ezekiel, George, Loki or Navi.

 

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