Nation briefs
BY Wire reports
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
1/30/13 at 2:39 AM
Grandson of oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens dies
FORT WORTH - A 21-year-old grandson of Texas oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens died Tuesday after being rushed to a hospital in Fort Worth, according to police and a family spokesman.
Thomas Boone Pickens IV, who went by the name of Ty, was a junior at Texas Christian University. Pickens' spokesman, Jay Rosser, called the death an "unspeakable family tragedy" and asked that the family be allowed to grieve in private.
Neither Rosser nor Fort Worth police have said what may have caused the death.
Officers were dispatched after getting a report of a dead person at an off-campus location Tuesday morning, police spokeswoman Cpl. Tracey Knight said. Police said Ty Pickens was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Knight said the Tarrant County medical examiner would determine the cause of death. She declined further comment.
T. Boone Pickens, 84, has donated millions of dollars to his alma mater, Oklahoma State University, and various other causes.
Texas woman's execution halted; DA won't appeal
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - A Texas woman won a reprieve from the death chamber Tuesday, mere hours before she was scheduled to be the first woman executed in the U.S. since 2010.
State District Judge Larry Mitchell, in Dallas, rescheduled Kimberly McCarthy's punishment for April 3, so lawyers for the former nursing home therapist could have more time to pursue an appeal focused on whether her predominantly white jury was improperly selected on the basis of race. McCarthy is black.
District Attorney Craig Watkins said the delay was "appropriate." If no irregularities are discovered, he said he'd move forward with the execution.
McCarthy, 51, was convicted and sent to death row for the 1997 stabbing, beating and robbery of a 71-year-old neighbor. She learned of the reprieve less than five hours before she was scheduled for lethal injection at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Huntsville Unit.
A jury convicted her of killing neighbor Dorothy Booth at the retired college psychology professor's home in Lancaster, about 15 miles south of Dallas.
Obama signs $50.5B superstorm Sandy aid bill
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama has signed into law a $50.5 billion emergency measure for superstorm Sandy victims.
Congress gave the measure final approval Monday. Obama signed it Tuesday night, minutes after returning to the White House from a visit to Nevada.
It took Congress three months after Sandy devastated areas along the East Coast to approve the emergency funding. Obama scolded lawmakers for delaying recovery efforts even as he commended them for providing the long-awaited aid.
Conservatives concerned about billions in debt opposed the measure. Earlier this month, House Republicans removed unrelated spending from the bill.
The Oct. 29 storm is blamed for more than 130 deaths and tens of billions of dollars in property damage in the Northeast.
New Mexico girl found locked in wooden cage
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A New Mexico woman and her boyfriend locked up an 8-year-old girl with developmental disabilities in a wooden cage, then left her alone while they went to watch a movie, police said Tuesday.
Cindy Patriarchias and Edmond Gonzales took her three children to an elementary school Friday before going to the movie, a police report said. Patriarchias' estranged husband called police when he learned that the 8-year-old girl was unattended at the mobile home.
Police waited an hour for Patriarchias and Gonzales to return before they could enter. Officers discovered a homemade wooden cage in the bedroom with the girl inside. The cage had two latches on the door, a baby crib's mattress inside and was about 2 1/2 feet wide and 4 feet tall, police said.
The girl didn't appear to have any physical injuries, police said. She was placed under the care of New Mexico's child-protection agency.
