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New and updated digest:

OIL PIPELINE

WASHINGTON In a politically explosive decision, President Barack Obama on Wednesday rejected plans for a massive oil pipeline through the heart of the United States, ruling there was not enough time for a fair review before a looming deadline forced on him by Republicans. His move did not kill the project but could again delay a tough choice for him until after the November elections. Right away, the implications rippled across the political spectrum, stirred up the presidential campaign and even hardened feelings with Canada, a trusted U.S. ally and neighbor. For a U.S. electorate eager for work, the pipeline has become the very symbol of job creation for Republicans, but Obama says the environment and public safety must still be weighed too. The plan by Calgary-based TransCanada Corp. would carry tar sands oil from western Canada across a 1,700-mile pipeline across six U.S. states to Texas refineries. By Ben Feller and Matthew Daly.

AP Photos, Video. Interactive.

OIL PIPELINE-TEXAS

HOUSTON Texas lawmakers denounced President Barack Obama's decision Wednesday to reject a proposed Canada-to-Texas pipeline, while environmental groups praised the move as a step toward creating clean energy jobs and decreasing U.S. dependence on oil. The proposed 1,700-mile pipeline was designed to carry tar sands oil from Canada's Alberta region through the center of the country to refineries in the Gulf Coast, and many Texas lawmakers have said the project would create hundreds, and possibly thousands, of jobs in the Lone Star State. Environmental groups have disputed the job numbers, and said the risks of spills along the pipeline's proposed route were too great. By Ramit Plushnick-Masti.

TEXAS REDISTRICTING

WASHINGTON U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson said Wednesday she's long been concerned that the redistricting process in Texas is done in a way that doesn't ensure both blacks and Latinos have representation in Congress. The Dallas-area Democrat testified on the second day of a two-week hearing on whether political maps drawn earlier this year by Texas lawmakers to reflect new census data violated the federal Voting Rights Act. A three-judge panel will decide whether to throw out Texas' political maps. Bernice Johnson, who was first elected to Congress in 1992, said she's been in a constant fight to hold on to her district and ensure proper minority representation in Congress. She said she is also concerned by attempts to put Latino and black citizens together when each group could have its own congressional seat. By Henry C. Jackson.

TEXAS-ICE-TRAVEL FRAUD

EL PASO, Texas A former Intelligence analyst for Immigration and Customs Enforcement was sentenced to prison Wednesday for his role in an alleged embezzlement scheme, and federal prosecutors announced another former analyst and a former agency contractor have pleaded guilty to related charges. Ahmed Adil Abdallat, 64, was sentenced to 12 months in prison for illegal use of a diplomatic passport and submitting fake travel receipts to collect about $50,000. Most of the money was allegedly sent to former ICE intelligence chief James Woosley. Former Intelligence Research Specialist William Korn and former ICE contractor Stephen Henderson await sentencing after previously pleading guilty to fraudulently collecting about $50,000 each in travel expenses. Henderson worked as lead intelligence analyst for a private company under contract with ICE. By Juan Carlos Llorca.

CONVICTION AFTER EXONERATION

DALLAS A North Texas jury convicted a man Wednesday of assaulting a 7-year-old girl more than two decades ago, in a case jumpstarted when another man was exonerated of a separate crime. Robert Warterfield faces up to life in prison. He's expected to be sentenced Thursday. Warterfield had been implicated in the 1989 assaults of a 7-year-old girl and 9-year-old girl after authorities exonerated Stephen Brodie in a separate sexual assault case involving a third girl. Brodie served 10 years in prison before DNA testing exonerated him of the crime and linked Warterfield to the two assaults. In both, an unknown man entered the bedrooms of the girls, placed pillowcases over their heads, led them outside and sexually assaulted them, authorities said. By Nomaan Merchant.

DRUG WAR-CARTEL TRIAL

LAREDO, Texas A man accused of being the muscle behind a Mexican cartel went to trial Wednesday on federal racketeering, drug conspiracy and weapons charges, one of nearly three dozen defendants indicted in connection with an alleged drug-trafficking conspiracy on the southwest Texas border. Prosecutors say that over several months, starting in 2005, teams of gunmen moved between Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, with a list of targets. Top commanders for the Zetas, the muscle of the Gulf cartel, ordered hits that left at least seven people dead, according to testimony and documents filed as part of the trial that began Wednesday. By Christopher Sherman.

NEAR COLLISION-CONTROLLER

WASHINGTON An air traffic controller with a history of disciplinary problems nearly caused a midair collision between a regional airliner and a small plane last year, the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday. A regional jet operated by ExpressJet and a single-engine Cessna came within 300 feet of colliding after they were cleared to take off on intersecting runways at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport in Mississippi on June 19, according to NTSB officials and documents released by the board. There were 53 passengers and crew aboard the regional jet, an Embraer ER145 headed for Houston. A student pilot, accompanied by a flight instructor, was flying the Cessna 172. By Joan Lowy.

ZAPPOS CUSTOMER DATA-LAWSUIT

LAS VEGAS Online retailers Amazon.com and Zappos.com are being sued in Kentucky by a Texas woman alleging that she and millions of other customers were harmed by the release of personal account information. Officials representing Zappos in Nevada and parent company Amazon in Seattle declined comment Wednesday on the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Louisville. The lawsuit was filed Monday after Zappos chief executive Tony Hsieh alerted employees and customers by email Sunday that names, phone numbers and email addresses of the shoe retailer's customers may have been accessed in a hacker attack. The company said customers' credit card and payment information weren't stolen. By Ken Ritter.

MISSING BUSINESSWOMAN-IOWA

IOWA CITY, Iowa An Iowa businesswoman who was the subject of a nationwide search after vanishing two weeks ago was found Wednesday in a confused state at a Texas truck stop and is safe with relatives, authorities said. Sharon Hopf, 45, of Crawfordsville called a relative in Missouri at about 8 a.m. Wednesday from a Pilot truck stop off Interstate 35 in Fort Worth and "seemed to be disoriented," said agent Jeff Uhlmeyer of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. Hopf's brother, who lives in Dallas, picked her up. She was released by the Fort Worth Police Department after authorities confirmed she did not need medical attention, Uhlmeyer said. By Ryan J. Foley.

LAWYER-MISSING MILLIONS

MIAMI A federal jury decided Wednesday that Toronto-based TD Bank owes an investment group $67 million for its role in a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme that was operated by a now disbarred attorney, Scott Rothstein. The verdict came in a lawsuit filed by Coquina Investments, based in Corpus Christi, Texas. It was the first to go to trial of several pending lawsuits filed by wronged investors against the bank and others. Coquina attorney David S. Mandel said the jury "sent exactly the right message to TD Bank." By Legal Affairs Writer Curt Anderson.

MICHAEL JACKSON-DOCTOR

LOS ANGELES Prosecutors will not seek restitution against the Houston doctor convicted of killing Michael Jackson after conferring with the singer's parents and attorneys for his estate and children. The request for payments from Conrad Murray was withdrawn Wednesday during a brief court hearing, just days before a judge was scheduled to consider how much the former cardiologist should pay to members of Jackson's family or his estate. By Entertainment Writer Anthony McCartney.

AP Photo.

Also:

TEXAS-ABORTION RULES The Center for Reproductive Rights says it will appeal a federal court opinion that says Texas may require a sonogram before an abortion pending resolution of a court challenge.

SCHOOL BUS CRASH One child and an adult remain hospitalized in critical condition after a Central Texas collision between a school bus and a delivery truck.

MARINE DEATH-CHARGES A Marine has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the battlefield death of a fellow soldier who was the son of the San Antonio Spurs' team physician.

AGRICULTURE-DISASTER FUNDS-TEXAS Texas will receive almost $13 million in emergency assistance funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

TEXAS EARTHQUAKE A minor earthquake has been detected in North Texas.

From previous digest:

AP EXCLUSIVE: TERROR OPERATIVE-FAMILY

Moeed Abdul Salam didn't descend into radical Islam for lack of other options. He grew up in a well-off Texas household, attended boarding school and graduated from one of the state's most respected universities. But the most unlikely thing about his recruitment was his family: Two generations had spent years promoting interfaith harmony and combatting Muslim stereotypes in their hometown and even on national television. Salam rejected his relatives' moderate faith and comfortable life, choosing instead a path that led him to work for al-Qaida. His odyssey ended late last year in a middle-of-the-night explosion in Pakistan. The 37-year-old father of four killed himself with a grenade during a paramilitary raid on his apartment. By Gene Johnson and Chris Brummitt.

AP Photos.

APNEWSBREAK: CRAIGSLIST-JOBSEEKERS KILLED

COLUMBUS, Ohio A new report says ambiguity over rules governing prisoner transfers helps explain why a Texas parolee now suspected in a deadly Craigslist robbery scheme was mistakenly released from Ohio custody twice. The report by Ohio's Adult Offender Supervision council says Texas was clear that its warrants for Richard Beasley did not allow bonds. By Andrew Welsh-Huggins.

AIRLINE PASSENGER-GUN

FORT WORTH, Texas A 65-year-old woman was taken into custody Wednesday after carrying a gun on to an American Airlines plane at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, authorities said. An airline spokesman said Wednesday that the plane was headed for the runway when it returned to the gate and was met by airport police. A Transportation Security Administration spokesman says the gun was detected by screeners, but the woman left the checkpoint before the screening process was complete. By David Koenig.

PAUL-GOLD STANDARD

AUSTIN, Texas Facing double-digit inflation in 1981, Congress created a commission to consider a role for gold in U.S. monetary policy. The 17-member panel rejected the idea of returning America to the gold standard except for two dissenting members. One was a little-known congressman from Texas named Ron Paul. Today, Paul's surprisingly strong race for the Republican presidential nomination is drawing new attention to a notion that long has been a cherished cause for a small group of conservatives but is considered a relic of history by mainstream economists and politicians. By Will Weissert.

CAMPAIGN-RACE

WASHINGTON Newt Gingrich got a standing ovation during the last presidential debate when he called Obama a "food stamp" president and said people should want paychecks, not handouts. Gingrich's rhetoric in South Carolina is stoking concerns that the political discourse is turning back toward the days of a race-baiting, "Southern strategy" style of campaigning, with blacks being used as scapegoats to attract white votes. By Jesse Holland.

AP photos.

REPUBLICANS-ELECTABILITY

COLUMBIA, S.C. Romney's Republican rivals are intensifying efforts to destroy his claim that he's the one who can defeat Obama, the underpinning of the front-runner's first place finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire and a valuable asset leading into this weekend's potentially decisive South Carolina primary. By AP Special Correspondent David Espo.

AP photos.

CAMPAIGN-MILITARY PITCH

BLYTHEWOOD, S.C. While Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Rep. Ron Paul are the only GOP candidates to have worn a military uniform, all of the Republican presidential contenders are emphasizing their military ties these days in a state home to 413,000 veterans and eight military bases with thousands more people on active duty. By Brian Bakst.

TEXAS BURRO PROTEST

AUSTIN, Texas Protesters rode burros to the Texas Capitol and delivered a petition with 100,000 signatures asking an end to shooting the animals in the wild. The Wild Burro Protection League's petition asks Gov. Rick Perry to stop Texas Parks and Wildlife officials from hunting wild burros in Big Bend Ranch State Park in West Texas. By Chris Tomlinson.

AP photos.

STANFORD TRIAL

HOUSTON A federal judge on Wednesday declined a last-ditch attempt by attorneys for jailed Texas financier R. Allen Stanford to postpone his trial set to begin next week. U.S. District Judge David Hittner had previously denied several other attempts within the last month to postpone the trial. Jury selection is set for Monday. By Juan A. Lozano.

AGRICULTURE-DISASTER FUNDS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. The nation's top agriculture official on Wednesday announced more than $300 million in emergency assistance to 33 states, including Texas, and Puerto Rico to help them recover from an unusually intense year for natural disasters across the U.S. By Bill Draper.

Also:

DART STATION-SLAYING Authorities say a man at a Dallas Area Rapid Transit station has died after being shot during an argument with three other people.

CITRUS GREENING DISEASE State agriculture officials say a destructive citrus plant disease that has wiped out crops in Florida has been confirmed in Texas.

SPORTS REFER:

BBA--RANGERS-DARVISH For Yu Darvish and the Texas Rangers, it's deadline day. The AL champion Rangers are at the end of their 30-day negotiating window to agree to a contract with Japan's top pitcher that they bid a record $51.7 million just to talk to. They have until 4 p.m. CST Wednesday to complete a deal, or Darvish stays in Japan. By Stephen Hawkins.