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LIGHTNING DEATHS

2 Texas men killed when lightning strikes tree

HOUSTON (AP) Two men have been killed and a third injured after they were struck by lightning during a thunderstorm in Houston.

Harris County Sheriff's Office spokesman Thomas Gilliland says a men's league soccer club had been playing on a field Sunday when it began to rain around noon.

The men decided to seek shelter underneath some nearby trees.

Gilliland says lightning then struck one of the trees, killing one of the men. Two others were also hit and transported to a Houston hospital, where one of them was pronounced dead.

The third man remains in stable condition at Ben Taub General Hospital.

Authorities have not released the names of any of the men.

The Houston area has been drenched by rain the past week, flooding between 50 and 100 homes.

MISSING BOATER

Coast Guard ends search for missing Texas boater

HOUSTON (AP) The Coast Guard has called off its search for a boater who went missing after two boats collided near Baytown in Southeast Texas.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Andrew Kendrick said Sunday officials don't believe the boater is alive.

Kendrick says a Baytown Police dive team and Texas Parks and Wildlife boats remain on the scene in an effort to try and find the boater's body.

The man went missing Saturday after a 17-foot motor boat collided with a jon boat, sending two men aboard the jon boat into a waterway near a park in Baytown, located east of Houston.

Kendrick says a Coast Guard boat searched overnight while a helicopter searched until it got dark Saturday and then resumed looking on Sunday. Coast Guard crews spent about 17 hours searching.

DECK COLLAPSE

Deck collapse at Texas home injures 10

(Information in the following story is from: Austin American-Statesman, http://www.statesman.com)

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) Officials say 10 people were injured after a deck in an Austin home collapsed during a party.

Most of the people suffered minor injuries.

The deck collapsed during a Saturday evening party, sending 20 or so people 18 feet down to a canyon hillside below. After falling into a ravine, the individuals slid another 20 feet.

Austin Fire Department spokesman Palmer Buck told the Austin American-Statesman (http://bit.ly/LjfpS5 ) that four people were sent to hospitals for broken bones and other non-life threatening injuries. Six others were treated for minor injuries.

The deck surrounded an above-ground pool and was attached to the back of a house overlooking a ravine in a steeply hilled area in northwest Austin.

Buck says city building inspectors are investigating the cause of the collapse.

JAIL ESCAPE

Deputies recapture Texarkana jail escapee

(Information in the following story is from: Texarkana Gazette, http://www.texarkanagazette.com)

WAKE VILLAGE, Texas (AP) An escapee from a county jail in Texarkana has been recaptured in Wake Village, Texas.

Bowie County, Texas, Chief Deputy Larry Parker told the Texarkana Gazette (http://bit.ly/NqUIoW ) that Marquis Tervon Franklin of Texarkana, Texas, was arrested Saturday afternoon.

Parker said a tip led officers to a home in Wake Village where deputies spotted Franklin and arrested him after a short chase on foot.

Franklin escaped the Bowie County Correctional Center between 5:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. Saturday. Parker says investigators are still trying to determine how Franklin escaped.

Franklin was being held on charges of robbery, evading arrest, unauthorized use of a vehicle and failing to identify himself to authorities.

ROAD RAGE-TEXAS

Bexar County leads Texas in road rage crashes

(Information in the following story is from: San Antonio Express-News, http://www.mysanantonio.com)

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (AP) A newspaper report says Bexar County in Central Texas has the most reported road rage crashes in the state.

The San Antonio Express-News reports (http://bit.ly/MaFcjw) that from 2007 to 2011, police officers and sheriff's deputies in Bexar County cited road rage as a contributing factor in 680 wrecks that injured 280 people.

The figures are from a state database that tracks all vehicle accidents in Texas.

The numbers in Bexar County exceeded those in larger counties with more residents and traffic, including Harris and Dallas.

Throughout Texas from 2007 to 2011, police cited road rage as a contributing factor in more than 4,400 crashes that injured more than 1,950 people and killed 32.

The newspaper says road rage crashes have decreased in the state in the last four years.

LIMON FATAL

CSP: Teen was driving semi that struck, killed 2

LIMON, Colo. (AP) Authorities say a 16-year-old boy was driving a tractor-trailer that struck and killed two Texas women who were changing a tire on Interstate 70 near Limon.

The Colorado State Patrol says a 37-year-old man who was with the teen initially claimed to have been driving. The teen, of Sulphur, La., left before officers arrived and has been charged with two felony counts of leaving the scene of a deadly accident, as well as one misdemeanor count of careless driving causing death. The man, also from Sulphur, faces one misdemeanor count of false reporting.

The truck struck the women at about 6:30 a.m. Saturday.

Killed in the crash were 48-year-old Shun Jones, of Carrollton, Texas, and 38-year-old Amanda Omo-Iyamu, of Balch Springs, Texas.

CONTRACTING PROBLEMS-INVESTIGATION

Prosecutors probing Texas DPS contracting problems

(Information in the following story is from: Austin American-Statesman, http://www.statesman.com)

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) Prosecutors in Travis County say they are pursuing two separate criminal investigations into contracting irregularities at the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The Austin American-Statesman reports (http://bit.ly/OumAY5) the probes follow the departure of two high-level DPS employees in the past 18 months: Janice Bruno, director of the State Administrative Agency, which handled more than $1 billion in federal Homeland Security grants between 2006 and 2011, and Mark Doggett, the chief information technology officer for DPS.

Gregg Cox, chief of the Travis County District Attorney's public integrity unit, told the newspaper his office is looking at events involving Bruno and Doggett.

DPS fired Bruno in June 2011 for violating procurement rules. Doggett was suspended earlier this year by DPS over allegations of misconduct. He resigned in April.

TURBULENCE INJURY

Flight attendant recovering 1 month after shakeup

(Information in the following story is from: American Press, http://www.americanpress.com)

LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) A spokesman at a southwest Louisiana hospital says a flight attendant injured by turbulence during a flight from Houston to New York is in rehabilitation a month later.

The woman's name has not been released.

Matt Felder of Lake Charles Memorial hospital tells The American Press (http://bit.ly/M0J3gI) her condition has improved from serious to good, and she is making good progress in rehabilitation.

A preliminary accident report by the National Transportation Safety Board says two flight attendants were seriously injured when United Airlines Flight 1632 hit turbulence June 12 over Winnie, Texas. The flight was diverted to Lake Charles Regional Airport.

Airport director Heath Allen says two passengers also were taken to the hospital.

The NTSB said the plane carried five crew members and 76 passengers.