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ORLA, Texas (AP) —
A fire that burned for days at a West Texas natural gas processing plant is out as investigators try to determine what sparked the blaze.
An Anadarko (an-uh-DAR'-koh) Petroleum Corporation official had no timeline Tuesday on when the Ramsey unit near Orla will reopen.
Two people were slightly hurt when fire broke out last Thursday at the plant a few miles south of the Texas-New Mexico line.
Anadarko spokesman John Christiansen says the fire was extinguished Monday. He says the next step is to work with regulators to determine the cause and assess damage.
Christiansen says the priority will be to safely repair the plant, to resume service to customers, and to complete previously planned expansion projects.
The plant is owned by Western Gas Partners and operated by The Woodlands-based Anadarko.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) —
The state attorney general says Texas' often-controversial Board of Education can't tell local school districts what textbooks to adopt for their classrooms.
Republican Ken Paxton stated in an opinion Friday that the Legislature hasn't delegated such authority and "a rule doing so would likely exceed" the board's power.
Its 15 members sanction textbooks for use statewide in a process that's often marred by ideological fights over evolution and climate change. Texas has 5.2 million public school students, a textbook market so large that it can affect classroom materials published for other states.
But in 2011, the Legislature approved a law allowing school districts to adopt classroom materials that haven't won board approval.
Relatively few have taken advantage. Still, Republican board member Barbara Cargill asked Paxton for clarification— prompting the opinion.
HOUSTON (AP) —
A Houston man must serve 30 years in federal prison for running a prostitution ring involving underage girls wanting to be models.
Emanuel Dandre Wade was sentenced Friday in Houston. The 26-year-old Wade in March pleaded guilty to sex trafficking of minors.
Prosecutors say Wade forced girls into prostitution or coerced them into engaging in commercial sex acts.
Investigators say Wade co-owned a modeling agency that was a front for prostitution, he took pictures of the girls and advertised online for sex services.
Another man, 26-year-old Denzell Parrish of Houston, earlier pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors and was sentenced Friday to six years.
Prosecutors say three other people pleaded guilty earlier and were also sentenced to prison or home confinement.