Mcallen

Groups bidding for PES refinery due to tour fire-damaged site: sources

Groups vying for the idled Philadelphia Energy Solutions oil refinery have entered the second phase of the bidding process and are gearing up for visits to the plant, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The effort began after PES closed its refinery and filed for bankruptcy on July 21, following a colossal blaze at one of its most dangerous fuel-producing units. Whoever wins the auction to purchase the 1,300-acre site will hold the keys to reopen the largest and oldest East Coast oil refinery or repurpose all or part of it for another use.

Fort Worth officer charged with murder, jailed on $200K bond

A white former Fort Worth police officer was being held in jail on a murder charge after shooting a black woman through a window of her home, and the department told a grieving community that investigators would ensure "no stone is left unturned" in the search for answers. Aaron Dean, 34, was jailed Monday night on $200,000 bond after being charged with murder in an incident that began with a call about an open front door. Earlier in the day he resigned from the force, and the police chief said he would have been fired if he hadn't.

Exxon Mobil, India's ONGC sign expertise-sharing deal

Global energy giant Exxon Mobil Corp will offer its expertise and technology to India's biggest state-owned explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd to help develop its resources in offshore blocks, according to two sources directly privy to the development. The memorandum of understanding (MoU), signed late Monday, will be later signed as a definitive deal after Exxon studies the blocks of the company, one of the sources told Reuters. Lately, India is generating a lot of interest worldwide in its oil and gas operations, as growing demand amid a global slowdown and government policies have made investments and returns attractive.

Woman killed by Texas officer was devoted to family

Atatiana Jefferson was devoted to her family and had moved into her mother's Fort Worth home earlier this year to help as her mom's health declined, relatives said. The 28-year-old Jefferson, who family members sometimes called "Tay," and her nephew had devoted their night to Call of Duty and were still up playing the video game when the officer shot. "They did that all night — from sunset until the time that they lost track of time ... when they heard someone prowling around in the bushes," Merritt said during news conference with her family Monday.

Texas officer who fatally shot woman in her home arrested on murder charges

The police officer who fatally shot a Fort Worth, Texas, woman in her home while answering a call for a welfare check has been arrested on murder charges. The officer, identified earlier Monday as Aaron Dean, was released on bond from Tarrant County Jail late Monday, according to court records. "I certainly have not been able to make sense of why she had to lose her life," Fort Worth Police Chief Ed Kraus said at a news conference prior to the arrest, in reference to the early Saturday morning killing of Atatiana "Tay" Jefferson.

Owl killings spur moral questions about human intervention

As he stood amid the thick old-growth forests in the coastal range of Oregon, Dave Wiens was nervous. Then he squeezed the trigger and the owl fell to the forest floor, its carcass adding to a running tally of more than 2,400 barred owls killed so far in a controversial experiment by the U.S. government to test whether the northern spotted owl's rapid decline in the Pacific Northwest can be stopped by killing its aggressive East Coast cousin. Wiens is the son of a well-known ornithologist and grew up fascinated by birds, and his graduate research in owl interactions helped lay the groundwork for this tense moment.

Los Angeles fire began under power lines, cause not known

A destructive fire that exploded on the edge of Los Angeles began beneath a high-voltage transmission tower owned by Southern California Edison, fire officials said Monday. Los Angeles Fire Department arson investigators determined the origin of the Saddle Ridge Fire was beneath power lines on a dry, steep hillside above the city's Sylmar neighborhood, Capt. Erik Scott told The Associated Press. One man died of a heart attack during the fire in the Porter Ranch neighborhood, officials said.

What titles are set to appear on Disney+

In a brief, but information-packed social media post, Disney teased just a sampling of the content that will be available on its soon-to-launch Disney+ service. The doors of the vaunted "Disney Vaults" will swing wide, the post notes. From Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to The Mandalorian, check out basically everything coming to #DisneyPlus in the U.S. on November 12," reads the post, while a dizzying slideshow of titles spins by.

Exclusive: Trump lawyer Giuliani was paid $500,000 to consult on indicted associate's firm

President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, was paid $500,000 for work he did for a company co-founded by the Ukrainian-American businessman arrested last week on campaign finance charges, Giuliani told Reuters on Monday. The businessman, Lev Parnas, is a close associate of Giuliani and was involved in his effort to investigate Trump's political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, who is a leading contender for the 2020 Democratic Party nomination. Giuliani said Parnas' company, Boca Raton-based Fraud Guarantee, whose website says it aims to help clients "reduce and mitigate fraud", engaged Giuliani Partners, a management and security consulting firm, around August 2018.

Texas officer charged with murder, resigns after shooting

A white Fort Worth police officer who shot and killed a black woman through a back window of her home while responding to a call about an open front door was charged with murder on Monday evening after resigning from the force. Aaron Dean, 34, was jailed on $200,000 bond after the police chief said he acted without justification and would have been fired if he hadn't quit. Police bodycam video showed Dean approaching the door of the home where Atatiana Jefferson, 28, was caring for her 8-year-old nephew early Saturday.

Former US national security expert on Russia sits for deposition in impeachment inquiry

Congress continues closed-door depositions this week regarding the growing impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, and on Monday Fiona Hill, a former top national security adviser on Russia who left the administration just before the president's July phone call with the president of Ukraine, met with lawmakers behind closed doors for roughly 10 hours. Democrats have accused Trump of abusing his office and potentially violating campaign finance laws.

Cases in which police officers were charged in shootings

A white Fort Worth, Texas, police officer who fatally shot a black woman while she was inside her home was arrested Monday and charged with murder. Tarrant County court records say Dean was arrested and charged with murder Monday night for the shooting death of 28-year-old Atatiana Jefferson. Fort Worth, Texas, authorities say Jefferson was killed early Saturday after a neighbor called police to report that her front door had been open for hours.

The Latest: $200,000 bond set for ex-cop charged with murder

A $200,000 bond has been set for a white former police officer jailed in the fatal shooting of a black woman inside the woman's Fort Worth home. Aaron Dean was booked Monday evening into the Tarrant County Jail on the murder charge in the death of Atatiana Jefferson. Jail records do not list an attorney for Dean.

Pacific Northwest tribes: Remove Columbia River dams

Two Pacific Northwest tribes on Monday demanded the removal of three major hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River to save migrating salmon and starving orcas and restore fishing sites that were guaranteed to the tribes in a treaty more than 150 years ago. The Yakama and Lummi nations made the demand of the U.S. government on Indigenous Peoples Day, a designation that's part of a trend to move away from a holiday honoring Christopher Columbus. For decades, people have debated whether to remove four big dams on the Lower Snake River, a tributary of the Columbia, but breaching the Columbia dams, which are a much more significant source of power, has never been seriously discussed.

Barneys nears bankruptcy deal with Authentic Brands, Saks owner: sources

U.S. luxury department-store chain Barneys New York Inc is nearing a roughly $270 million deal with brand developer Authentic Brands Group that could lead to Barneys shops opening in Saks Fifth Avenue stores, people familiar with the matter said on Monday. Without an offer from Authentic Brands, Barneys faced winding down its business entirely. Authentic Brands' offer for Barneys calls for a handful of its storied brick-and-mortar outposts to remain open, potentially including its flagship Madison Avenue store in Manhattan and its Beverly Hills, California, location, the sources said.

California is first state to mandate school start times

The bell doesn't ring until 8 a.m. at Lincoln High School, but by then freshman Briana Lopez has been awake for hours. The 14-year-old leaves her house in Northern California at 6:30 each morning so she can get to school for a 7 a.m. marching band practice. Worried about the ill effects of sleep deprivation for students, California on Sunday became the first state to mandate a school start time under a new law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Woman gets 60 years in boyfriend's burning death

Saying it represents as horrific an offense as he's ever dealt with, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Michael Wolverton on Monday sentenced Gina Virgilio to 99 years with 39 years suspended. Virgilio, 32, sat with her face buried in her hands as Wolverton announced the sentence. Before sentencing Virgilio indicated to the judge that mental illness drove her to this act.

Officer who shot naked man found not guilty of murder

A former Georgia police officer who fatally shot an unarmed, naked man was found not guilty of murder Monday but was convicted of aggravated assault and other charges that could send him to prison for more than 30 years. Olsen, now 57, was a DeKalb County police officer in March 2015 when he responded to a call of a naked man behaving erratically outside an Atlanta-area apartment complex. Shortly after arriving, he fatally shot 26-year-old Anthony Hill, a U.S. Air Force veteran who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Latest deadly police shooting raises questions about tactics

On any given day in the U.S., police respond to thousands of non-emergency calls asking them to check on someone's home. A few, like one over the weekend in Fort Worth, Texas, end up with someone getting killed by police. Experts in law enforcement training and tactics say there is a multitude of questions raised by the shooting of 28-year-old Atatiana Jefferson, who was cut down at her home by a bullet fired through a window by an officer responding to a call in the middle of the night about her front door being open.

Parents of crash victim urge diplomat's wife to return to UK

The parents of a motorcyclist killed in a traffic crash that involved an American diplomat's wife took their case directly to U.S. audiences Monday, holding a New York news conference at which they urged the woman to return to Britain. The parents of Harry Dunn have reached out to American politicians and plan to be in Washington on Wednesday and Thursday in their quest to get the woman back to the U.K. "to present herself to police," family spokesman Radd Seiger said. Charlotte Charles, Dunn's mother, tearfully urged the diplomat's wife, Anne Sacoolas, to "do the right thing" and to "face us as a broken family," along with the U.K. legal system.