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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) —
A much-troubled Southeast Texas school district will disband at the end of the school year.
In a letter Thursday, Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams advised La Marque Independent School District administrators and its board of trustees that the Texas Education Agency is shutting it down effective July 1 and assigning a conservator.
The letter didn't reveal what district will absorb the 2,300-student La Marque district.
In February, the TEA revoked the district's accreditation, citing unacceptable academic ratings and poor finances. In September, Williams said he'd replace the La Marque school board with a board of managers. Last month, Superintendent Terri Watkins announced she'd resign Dec. 18.
The bay-front district is bounded on the mainland by the Texas City, Dickinson and Hitchcock districts. The Galveston school district lies across West Bay.
McALLEN, Texas (AP) —
Two South Texas school board members and another man have been indicted in a public corruption case linked to educational services.
An indictment unsealed Friday in McAllen names 53-year-old Eloy Infante and 45-year-old Elpidio Yanez Jr., plus 50-year-old Adrian Guerrero.
Federal prosecutors say the men from Donna are charged with conspiracy, attempted extortion and federal programs bribery.
The suspects, who surrendered Friday, allegedly attempted to extort bribes from another person whose company provided services to the Donna Independent School District.
The Oct. 27 indictment says the businessman was told he must pay $10,000 each to Infante and Yanez to retain district contracts. Guerrero allegedly served as middleman.
Prosecutors didn't immediately provide information on attorneys for the men. Messages left for Infante and Yanez weren't immediately returned Friday.
MEXICO CITY (AP) —
A wild running gun battle between Mexican soldiers and gunmen in the border city of Reynosa resulted in the deaths of four bystanders after a military vehicle took a spray of gunfire and crashed into a taco stand.
The dead were apparently customers at the taco stand in Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas. They included a 20-year-old mother and her 4-month-old baby.
Four other bystanders were wounded, as were an unspecified number of army personnel.
The government of the northern state of Tamaulipas said Thursday in a press statement that it regretted the deaths, and blamed the gunmen for the attack.
The army patrol was pursuing a five-vehicle convoy of armed suspects late Wednesday when a sport utility vehicle unexpectedly joined the confrontation.
Occupants of the SUV shot out the windshield of a military patrol truck and crashed into it. The force of the impact and the loss of visibility from the shot-out windshield led the military vehicle to crash into the stand and two nearby vehicles.
Photos showed the metal stand with a tin roof was nearly collapsed by the force of the crash.
The gunmen in the SUV fled, but police found eight rifles in the vehicle.
Reynosa is dominated by factions of the Gulf drug cartel, which has been known for mounting large-scale, sophisticated attacks on law enforcement and military personnel.