Articles written by Jamie Stengle


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  • The fate of Nibi the beaver lands in court as rescuers try to stop her release into the wild

    JAMIE STENGLE|Oct 2, 2024

    Whether a 2-year-old beaver named Nibi gets to stay with the rescuers she has known since she was a baby or must be released into the wild as winter approaches in Massachusetts has ended up in court — and caused such an uproar that even the governor has weighed in. "To literally see people from around the world come together to protect this beaver is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my life," said Adam Teper, an attorney representing Nibi's rescuers. A judge on Tuesday said that for now, Nibi will allowed to stay in her h...

  • Border Patrol response to Uvalde school shooting marred by breakdowns and poor training, report says

    VALERIE GONZALEZ and JAMIE STENGLE|Sep 13, 2024

    U.S. Border Patrol agents who rushed to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas in 2022 failed to establish command and had inadequate training to confront what became one of the nation's deadliest classroom attacks, according to a federal report released Thursday. But investigators concluded the agents did not violate rules and no disciplinary action was recommended. The roughly 200-page report from the Department of Homeland Security does not assign overarching blame for the hesitant police response at Robb Elementary School, where a teenage...

  • Tropical Storm Francine strengthens off Mexico and is expected to hit Louisiana as a hurricane

    SARA CLINE and JAMIE STENGLE|Sep 6, 2024

    BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Tropical Storm Francine formed in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday and was expected to drench the Texas coast with rain before coming ashore in Louisiana as a hurricane on Wednesday night. "We're going to have a very dangerous situation developing by the time we get into Wednesday for portions of the north-central Gulf Coast, primarily along the coast of Louisiana, where we're going to see the potential for life-threatening storm surge inundation and hurricane force winds," said Michael Brennan, director of the U.S. N...

  • Tropical Storm Francine strengthens off Mexico and is expected to hit Louisiana as a hurricane

    SARA CLINE and JAMIE STENGLE|Sep 6, 2024

    BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Tropical Storm Francine was strengthening in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, drenching coastal Mexico and Texas on its way to hit Louisiana as a hurricane on Wednesday night. "We're going to have a very dangerous situation developing by the time we get into Wednesday for portions of the north-central Gulf Coast, primarily along the coast of Louisiana, where we're going to see the potential for life-threatening storm surge inundation and hurricane-force winds," said Michael Brennan, director of the U.S. National H...

  • Teacher pleads, 'Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry!' in 911 call from Uvalde school shooting

    JAMIE STENGLE|Aug 9, 2024

    DALLAS (AP) — As shots rang out in the hallways and classrooms of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, one of the terrified teachers who frantically dialed 911 described "a lot, a whole lot of gunshots," while another sobbed into the phone as a dispatcher urged her to stay quiet. "Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry!" the first teacher cried before hanging up. Those calls, along with bodycam footage and surveillance videos, were included in a massive collection of audio and video recordings released by officials of the city of Uvalde on Saturday a...

  • Heat-related Texas deaths climb after Beryl left millions without power for days or longer

    JAMIE STENGLE and LEKAN OYEKANMI|Jul 19, 2024

    SPRING, Texas (AP) — As the temperature soared in the Houston-area home Janet Jarrett shared with her sister after losing electricity in Hurricane Beryl, she did everything she could to keep her 64-year-old sibling cool. But on their fourth day without power, she awoke to hear Pamela Jarrett, who used a wheelchair and relied on a feeding tube, gasping for breath. Paramedics were called but she was pronounced dead at the hospital, with the medical examiner saying her death was caused by the heat. "It's so hard to know that she's gone right n...

  • Tropical Storm Alberto forms in southwest Gulf, 1st named storm of the hurricane season

    JAMIE STENGLE and MARIANA MARTINEZ BARBA|Jun 19, 2024

    MEXICO CITY (AP) — Tropical Storm Alberto formed on Wednesday in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, the first named storm of what is forecast to be a busy hurricane season. Alberto, which is bringing strong winds, heavy rainfall and some flooding along the coasts of Texas and Mexico, is expected to make landfall in northern Mexico on Thursday. "The heavy rainfall and the water, as usual, is the biggest story in tropical storms," said Michael Brennan, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Hurricane Center. The...

  • Boy Scouts of America changing name to more inclusive Scouting America after years of woes

    JAMIE STENGLE|May 8, 2024

    IRVING, Texas (AP) — The Boy Scouts of America is changing its name for the first time in its 114-year history and will become Scouting America. It's a significant shift as the organization emerges from bankruptcy following a flood of sexual abuse claims and seeks to focus on inclusion. The organization steeped in tradition has made seismic changes after decades of turmoil, from finally allowing gay youth to welcoming girls throughout its ranks. With an eye on increasing flagging membership numbers, the Irving, Texas-based organization a...

  • Firefighters investigate cause of suspected gas explosion at historic Texas hotel that injured 21

    JAMIE STENGLE|Jan 10, 2024

    FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Firefighters scoured the wreckage of a historic Fort Worth hotel on Tuesday as they investigated the cause of a massive explosion that shattered windows, littered the streets with debris and injured 21 people, including one critically. The Monday blast blew doors and sections of wall into the road in front of the 20-story downtown Sandman Signature Hotel, where authorities said rescuers found several people trapped in the basement. By evening, officials said everyone seemed to have been accounted for, but f...

  • Texas woman who sought court permission for abortion leaves state for the procedure, attorneys say

    PAUL J. WEBER and JAMIE STENGLE|Dec 10, 2023

    AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A pregnant Texas woman who was seeking court permission for an abortion in an unprecedented challenge to one of the most restrictive bans in the U.S. could not wait any longer and went to another state, her attorneys said Monday. The announcement came as Kate Cox, whose fetus has a fatal condition, awaited a Texas Supreme Court ruling on whether she could legally receive an abortion. Her baby's diagnosis has low survival rates and her attorneys said continuing the pregnancy jeopardized both her health and ability to have m...

  • Climate change is hurting coral worldwide. But these reefs off the Texas coast are thriving

    JAMIE STENGLE and LM OTERO|Nov 19, 2023

    OFF THE COAST OF GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — Divers descending into azure waters far off the Texas coast dip below a horizon dotted with oil and gas platforms into an otherworldly landscape of undersea mountains crusted with yellow, orange and pink coral as far as the eye can see. Some of the world's healthiest coral reefs can be found in the Gulf of Mexico, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) off the Texas coast. Sheltered in a deep, cool habitat far from shore, the reefs in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary boast a stunning amount o...

  • Couple killed at Texas mall shooting along with 3-year-old son had 'perfect synergy'

    JAMIE STENGLE|May 31, 2023

    DALLAS (AP) — Kyu Cho had a generous spirit and joyous belly laugh that delighted his friends. His wife, Cindy Cho, was quieter, described by those who knew her as sweet and kind. Together, the parents of two young sons complemented each other perfectly, strong in their faith and devoted to family and friends. "That's what I keep hearing in my head when I think of them: Just Kyu laughing so deeply and Cindy just kind of shaking her head and laughing along," said their friend, Phyllis Myung. "Every interaction I ever had with them, we were a...

  • 'The damage is unbelievable:' Tornadoes kill 3 in Oklahoma

    KEN MILLER and JAMIE STENGLE|Apr 21, 2023

    DALLAS (AP) — Crews scrambled Thursday to restore power to thousands of residents after tornadoes plowed through Oklahoma during another deadly spring storm in the U.S., killing at least three people and damaging dozens of homes. A day after at least eight tornadoes spun through Oklahoma, Gov. Kevin Stitt said authorities were still assessing the scale of destruction. He toured the aftermath in Shawnee, where nearly every building at Oklahoma Baptist University showed damage. A home improvement store was destroyed, but several people s... Full story

  • Police: Monkey thief charged with other crimes at Dallas Zoo

    JAMIE STENGLE|Feb 3, 2023

    DALLAS (AP) — The man charged in the taking of two emperor tamarin monkeys from the Dallas Zoo has also been charged in two other recent incidents there involving holes that were cut in animal enclosure fences, authorities said Friday. Davion Irvin, 24, has been charged with two counts of burglary to a building in connection with the cutting of the enclosure fences for a clouded leopard and langur monkeys, police spokeswoman Kristin Lowman said during a news conference. The langur monkeys didn't escape and weren't harmed. The leopard did but wa...

  • A real zoodunit: Missing monkeys deepen mystery in Dallas

    JAMIE STENGLE|Feb 1, 2023

    DALLAS (AP) — When police said two small monkeys were taken from the Dallas Zoo this week and a cut was found in their enclosure, it deepened a growing mystery that has included other cut fences, the escape of a small leopard and the suspicious death of an endangered vulture. Police said Tuesday that they're still working to determine whether or not the incidents over the last few weeks are related. Police, who haven't made any arrests in any of the incidents, released a photo and video Tuesday of a man they want to talk to about the missing m...

  • Texas officer convicted in killing of Atatiana Jefferson

    JAMIE STENGLE and JAKE BLEIBERG|Dec 16, 2022

    A former Texas police officer was convicted of manslaughter Thursday for fatally shooting Atatiana Jefferson through a rear window of her home in 2019, a rare conviction of an officer for killing someone who was also armed with a gun. Jurors also considered a murder charge against Aaron Dean but instead convicted him of manslaughter. The conviction comes more than three years after the white Fort Worth officer shot the 28-year-old Black woman while responding to a call about an open front door. Dean, 38, faces up to 20 years in prison, with...

  • Massive US storm brings tornadoes to South, blizzard threat

    JAMIE STENGLE and STEPHEN GROVES|Dec 14, 2022

    DALLAS (AP) — A massive storm blowing across the country spawned tornadoes that wrecked homes and injured a handful of people in parts of Oklahoma and Texas, including the Dallas-Fort Worth area, as much of the central United States from the Rocky Mountains to the Midwest braced Tuesday for blizzard-like conditions. An area stretching from Montana into western Nebraska and Colorado was under blizzard warnings, and the National Weather Service said that as much as 2 feet (61 centimeters) of snow was possible in some areas of western South Dakota...

  • Families face man charged in killings of 22 elderly Texans

    JAMIE STENGLE|Oct 14, 2022

    DALLAS (AP) — A week after the second conviction of a man charged in the deaths of 22 elderly women, family members of those he is accused of killing gathered at a Dallas courthouse Friday to face him. In Ellen French House's victim impact statement, she told Billy Chemirmir, who was wearing a striped jail uniform, that she wanted him to see two photos of her mother: one of Norma French alive, the other after the 85-year-old was killed. "This is my beautiful mother," House said as she displayed the first photo. "This is my mother after you p...

  • TIMELINE: Texas elementary school shooting, minute by minute

    JAMIE STENGLE and JAKE BLEIBERG|Jul 20, 2022

    On May 24, a gunman fatally shot 19 children and two teachers in two adjoining classrooms at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Over an hour passed from the time officers followed the 18-year-old gunman into the school and when they finally entered the fourth-grade classroom where he was holed up and killed him. Meanwhile, students trapped inside repeatedly called 911 and parents outside the school begged officers to go in. Questions continue to swirl about why police armed with rifles and bulletproof shields waited so long. Authorities...

  • School police chief a no-show at Uvalde City Council meeting

    JAKE BLEIBERG and JAMIE STENGLE|Jun 8, 2022

    UVALDE, Texas (AP) — The school district police chief criticized for waiting too long before ordering law enforcement to confront and kill the gunman during a mass shooting at a Texas elementary school did not appear at a City Council meeting in Uvalde on Tuesday, despite being newly elected to the panel. Mayor Don McLaughlin said he was unable to explain why the district police Chief Pete Arredondo wasn't at the brief meeting. Two weeks ago, 19 students and two teachers were killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. Law enforcement and s...

  • Repaired Texas synagogue reopens months after hostage crisis

    JAMIE STENGLE|Apr 8, 2022

    COLLEYVILLE, Texas (AP) — In the three months since Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and three of his congregants were held at gunpoint in their Texas synagogue, new carpet has been laid in the sanctuary, the walls have been repainted, the entry retiled and new doors installed. He said it has been healing to watch. "Each time I came back in, I got to see us moving forward," Cytron-Walker said. Congregation Beth Israel in the Fort Worth suburb of Colleyville will be rededicated on Friday, and members will celebrate Shabbat in their own building f...

  • Texas clinics' lawsuit over abortion ban 'effectively over'

    PAUL J. WEBER and JAMIE STENGLE|Mar 11, 2022

    AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas Supreme Court on Friday dealt essentially a final blow to abortion clinics' best hopes of stopping a restrictive law that has sharply curtailed the number of abortions in the state since September and will now fully stay in place for the foreseeable future. The ruling by the all-Republican court was not unexpected, but it slammed the door on what little path forward the U.S. Supreme Court had allowed Texas clinics after having twice declined to stop a ban on abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy. It spell...

  • 'A mass loss of control:' Answers sought in Houston concert

    JUAN A. LOZANO and JAMIE STENGLE|Nov 7, 2021

    HOUSTON (AP) — When rapper Travis Scott's sold-out concert in Houston became a deadly scene of panic and danger in the surging crowd, Edgar Acosta began worrying about his son, who wasn't answering his phone. He called hospitals and police, who told him his son was not on the list of victims from the Astroworld festival. They were wrong: Axel Acosta Avila, 21, was among the eight people who died Friday night at the outdoor festival that was attended by some 50,000 people and is now the focus of a criminal investigation. On Monday, authorities r...

  • Student taken into custody hours after Texas school shooting

    JAMIE STENGLE and JILL BLEED|Oct 7, 2021

    ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — An 18-year-old student opened fire during a fight at his Dallas-area high school on Wednesday, injuring four people and then fleeing before being taken into custody hours later, authorities said. Timothy George Simpkins was taken into custody without incident, the Arlington Police Department tweeted. He was booked in the Arlington jail on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and was being held on $75,000 bail. One person was in critical condition, another was in good condition and a third person was t...

  • EXPLAINER: What's happening with Afghanistan evacuations?

    BEN FOX and JAMIE STENGLE|Aug 26, 2021

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Since the Taliban seized the Afghan capital on Aug. 14, more than 82,000 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan in one of the largest U.S. airlifts in history. While the pace has picked up in recent days, it's still a chaotic scramble as people seek to escape. Afghans trying to reach the Kabul airport face a gauntlet of danger, and there are far more who want to leave than will be able to do so. Those who do make it out will face the many challenges of resettlement, either in the U.S. or somewhere else. And time is r...

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