Title: TTU vs SMU
Location: Jones AT&T Stadium, Lubbock
Link out: Click here
Description: TTU vs SMU
Game televised on ESPN
Start Time: 14:30
Date: 2010-09-05

BP says the Helix Q4000 latched onto the blowout preventer a mile beneath the sea on Friday morning.

The plan is to replace the failed blowout preventer first to deal with any pressure that is caused when a relief well BP has been drilling intersects the blown-out well.

Once that intersection occurs, BP is expected to use mud and cement to plug the blown-out well for good from the bottom.

On Thursday, a temporary cap that stopped oil from gushing into the Gulf in mid-July was removed. No more oil is expected to leak into the sea.

An April 20 rig explosion killed 11 workers and led to 206 million gallons of oil spewing from BP’s well.

Thomas C. Butler

The NBC TV-affiliate in Miami is reporting online that the man responsible for last night’s shut-down of the Miami International Airport is Thomas C. Butler.

A suspicious item in Butler’s luggage triggered an evacuation of MIA, which  shut-down four of the airport’s six terminals and the airport hotel for nearly seven hours last night.

Butler, now 70, was a former plague researcher at Texas Tech University.  In early 2003, he reported several vials of plague were missing from his laboratory and a subsequent investigation learned that he had been transporting samples of plague illegally in his luggage from other countries.  He was later convicted in December of 2003 for improper shipment of plague samples and other charges.

Butler was dismissed from Texas Tech and served 2 years in prison.

According to NBC Miami, Butler is currently listed as a faculty member at Alfaisal University in Saudi Arabia.

More Online:

NBC Miami:  Convicted Disease Doc Questioned in MIA Scare

CV-22 Osprey

CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AP) – The Air Force is proposing a low-altitude training area over northern New Mexico and southern Colorado.

The Air Force is seeking public comments about its intent to do an environmental assessment to evaluate potential environmental consequences.

The Clovis News Journal says the training area, called a low-altitude tactical navigation area, would provide airspace for training operations involving C-130 and CV-22 aircraft.

The airspace would be used by Air Force Special Operation Forces at Cannon Air Force Base near Clovis in eastern New Mexico.

The Air Force says training would consist of about three sorties in a 24-hour period, or about 688 flights annually.

It says aircraft would fly 200 to 3,000 feet above ground level, and most flights would be after dusk and on weekdays.
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Information from: Clovis News Journal, http://www.cnjonline.com

New Mexico State Police Investigations Bureau agents arrested 59-year-old Danny Surratt of Hobbs on Wednesday.

Authorities say Surratt was arrested and charged with criminal sexual penetration and criminal sexual contact involving a minor, as well as charges of intimidating a witness.

Lea County Sheriff Rod Coffman told the Hobbs News-Sun that Surratt resigned from the department at his arraignment Wednesday.

Surratt was booked into the Lea County jail on a $500,000 bond.

State police say the victims were 9 and 15 years old at the time of the May 15 crimes.
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Information from: Hobbs News-Sun, http://www.hobbsnews.com

IRVING, Texas (AP) – The cost of gasoline dropped 3 cents this week in Texas as motorists prepare to hit the road for the Labor Day holiday weekend.

The weekly AAA Texas gasoline price survey released Thursday showed that a gallon of unleaded regular fuel was at $2.52. That’s 6 cents more than it was on the same date a year ago on Sept. 2, 2009.

Nationally, the average also decreased 1 cent from last week to $2.68.

Houston and Texas tied for the cheapest gas in Texas at $2.46, down 4 cents in Fort Worth and 3 cents in Houston from a week ago. The highest price remains in El Paso at $2.71, that’s 2 cents cheaper than it was last week.

The auto club statement says holiday travel is expected to increase 9 percent in the state as the year’s summer travel season ends.

Socorro Mayor Willie Gandara Sr. and District Clerk Gilbert Sanchez were among those who turned themselves in at the El Paso FBI office today.

Former El Paso County Judge Luther Jones has also been indicted, although prosecutors have not made public the details of the case.

Jones and Sanchez were previously indicted on charges related to a scheme to award a contract in exchange for kickbacks. Several charges in that original indictment have been dismissed, but both still face allegations of conspiracy. Both men have denied wrongdoing.

Federal investigators first made public a far-reaching public corruption investigation in 2006 when FBI agents raided the offices of a local charity. In 2007, agents also searched the offices of El Paso County Judge Anthony Cobos and a pair of county commissioners.

Several people have pleaded guilty to various crimes as part of the case, including soliciting or taking bribes.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported that 42-year-old David Chambless Worters will step down Nov. 15 as president and CEO of the symphony and head to Fort Worth, Texas.

Worters is a former pianist and says the Van Cliburn job was too good to pass up.

He leaves as the symphony continues to reduce its debt, although the symphony remains almost $3 million in the red. The symphony did break even this past season by cutting costs and increasing fundraising.

Symphony chairman William Cavanaugh III says the orchestra’s executive committee will meet Tuesday to discuss the process for finding a successor to Worters.
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Information from: The News & Observer, http://www.newsobserver.com

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Texans frustrated by not being able to get through by phone or online to take part in an April energy-efficient appliance rebate program will have another chance.

State officials have announced a winter 2010 offering using unclaimed rebate funds. The initial offer involved more than $20 million in federal stimulus funds.

Comptroller’s spokesman Allen Spelce (spels) says about $10 million was left over from the original program after all rebates were paid.

A listing Thursday on a website affiliated with the state comptroller’s office, which administers the program, says additional details will be announced later.