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HOUSTON (AP) — A Black high school student in Texas who was punished for nearly all of his junior year over his hairstyle has left his school district rather than spend another year of in-school suspension, according to his attorney.

But Darryl George, 18, would like to return to his Houston-area high school in the Barbers Hill school district for his senior year and has asked a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order that would prevent district officials from further punishing him for not cutting his hair. It would allow him to return to school while a federal lawsuit he filed proceeds.

George’s request comes after U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown in August dismissed most of the claims the student and his mother had filed in the federal lawsuit alleging school district officials committed racial and gender discrimination when they punished him.

The judge only let the gender discrimination claim stand and questioned whether the school district’s hair length rule causes more harm than good.

“Judge Brown please help us so that I can attend school like a normal teenage student during the pendency of this litigation,” George said in an affidavit filed last month.

Brown has scheduled an Oct. 3 court hearing in Galveston on George’s request.

In court documents filed last week, attorneys for the school district said the judge does not have jurisdiction to issue the restraining order because George is no longer a student in the district.

“And George’s withdrawal from the district does not deprive him of standing to seek past damages, although the district maintains that George has not suffered a constitutional injury and is not entitled to recover damages,” attorneys for the school district said.

The district defends its dress code, which says its policies for students are meant to “teach grooming and hygiene, instill discipline, prevent disruption, avoid safety hazards and teach respect for authority.”

In court documents filed last week, Allie Booker, one of George’s attorneys, said the student was “forced to unenroll” from Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu and transfer to another high school in a different Houston area district because Barbers Hill officials placed him on in-school suspension on the first and second day of the new school year, which began last month.

This “caused him significant emotional distress, ultimately leading to a nervous breakdown. As a result, we had no choice but to remove him from the school environment,” Booker said.

George’s departure “was not a matter of choice but of survival” but he wishes to return, as his mother moved to the area because of the quality of the district’s schools, Booker said.

George was kept out of his regular high school classes for most of the 2023-24 school year, when he was a junior, because the school district said his hair length violated its dress code. George was forced to either serve in-school suspension or spend time at an off-site disciplinary program.

The district has argued that George’s long hair, which he wears to school in tied and twisted locs on top of his head, violates its policy because if let down, it would fall below his shirt collar, eyebrows or earlobes. The district has said other students with locs comply with the length policy.

George’s federal lawsuit also alleged that his punishment violates the CROWN Act, a recent state law prohibiting race-based discrimination of hair. The CROWN Act, which was being discussed before the dispute over George’s hair and which took effect in September 2023, bars employers and schools from penalizing people because of hair texture or protective hairstyles including Afros, braids, locs, twists or Bantu knots.

In February, a state judge ruled in a lawsuit filed by the school district that its punishment does not violate the CROWN Act.

Barbers Hill’s hair policy was also challenged in a May 2020 federal lawsuit filed by two other students. Both withdrew from the high school, but one returned after a federal judge granted a temporary injunction, saying there was “a substantial likelihood” that his rights to free speech and to be free from racial discrimination would be violated if he was barred. That lawsuit is still pending.

HOUSTON (AP) — A former Houston police officer was convicted Wednesday of murder in the deaths of a couple during a 2019 drug raid that revealed systemic corruption problems within the police department’s narcotics unit.

A jury found Gerald Goines guilty of two counts of murder in the January 2019 deaths of Dennis Tuttle, 59, and his 58-year-old wife Rhogena Nicholas. The couple, along with their dog, were fatally shot after officers burst into their home using a “no-knock” warrant that didn’t require them to announce themselves before entering.

Goines faces up to life in prison. The same jury that convicted him will also decide his sentence after hearing additional testimony and evidence during the trial’s punishment phase.

During the trial — which began on Sept. 9 — prosecutors presented testimony and evidence they said showed Goines lied to get a search warrant that falsely portrayed the couple as dangerous drug dealers.

During closing arguments in the trial, prosecutor Keaton Forcht said Goines’ actions wrongly led officers to the couple’s home, resulting in a violent confrontation in which the couple was killed and four officers were shot and wounded and a fifth was injured.

Goines’ lawyers had acknowledged the ex-officer lied to get the search warrant but minimized the impact of his false statements. They said his actions did not merit a murder conviction and he had been overcharged. Nicole DeBorde, one of Goines’ attorneys, portrayed the couple as armed drug users and said they were responsible for their own deaths because they fired at officers who entered their home.

The couple, along with their dog, were killed after officers burst into their home using a “no-knock” warrant that didn’t require them to announce themselves before entering.

Prosecutors said Goines falsely claimed that an informant had bought heroin at the couple’s home from a man with a gun. Goines would later change his story to claim he had bought the drugs himself but authorities said that also was a lie. After the raid, investigators said they only found small amounts of marijuana and cocaine in the house.

During the trial, Jeff Wolf, a Texas ranger who investigated the shooting, testified officers fired first when they entered the home and shot the couple’s dog. Wolf said the gunfire and Nicholas screaming at officers likely resulted in Tuttle coming from his bedroom and opening fire at the officers. Goines’ attorneys have said that officers had identified themselves before entering the home but Wolf testified the couple might never have heard this before gunfire erupted.

Goines’ attorneys argued during the trial that the first to fire at another person was Tuttle and not police officers. Prosecutors placed the blame for the shootout between Tuttle and officers on Goines’ actions.

An officer who took part in the raid and the judge who had approved the search warrant testified the raid would never have happened had they known that Goines had lied to get the warrant.

The probe into the drug raid also uncovered allegations of systemic corruption.

A dozen officers tied to the narcotics squad that carried out the raid, including Goines, were later indicted on other charges following a corruption probe. A judge in June dismissed charges against some of them.

Since the raid, prosecutors have reviewed thousands of cases handled by the narcotics unit.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has overturned at least 22 convictions linked to Goines, who also faces federal charges.

One of the other cases tied to Goines that remains under scrutiny is his 2004 drug arrest in Houston of George Floyd, whose 2020 death at the hands of a Minnesota police officer sparked a nationwide reckoning on racism in policing. A Texas board in 2022 declined a request that Floyd be granted a posthumous pardon for his drug conviction stemming from his arrest by Goines.

Federal civil rights lawsuits the families of Tuttle and Nicholas have filed against Goines and 12 other officers involved in the raid and the city of Houston are set to be tried in November.

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DALLAS – The Dallas Morning News reports U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and his Democratic challenger, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas, agree that Texas can expect new jobs and economic development from a bill easing permitting requirements on new semiconductor manufacturing facilities. The two sparred sharply this week, however, over which of them deserves credit for getting the legislation to President Joe Biden’s desk. Allred’s camp noted that he co-sponsored the original House bill. Cruz said he rewrote it in the Senate and convinced House GOP leaders to push his version over the finish line. The dispute comes as the two candidates are locked in a competitive race, with each pitching himself as the best option to deliver on job creation.

“A win for Texas! The House passed our bill, the Building Chips in America Act, to streamline permitting and advance CHIPS Act projects,” Allred said on X. “Thanks to a team from both sides of the aisle, we got this done.” Repeating his criticism that Cruz is more interested in self-promotion than finding solutions, Allred added: “Ted Cruz is trying to claim credit. Classic Ted acting like a ‘me guy.’ ” A prime example, Allred says, was Cruz’s vote against the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act that was intended to boost domestic production of microchips and is helping bring billions of dollars to new Texas facilities. Cruz says he enthusiastically supported the 2022 bill’s tax and regulatory incentives for new manufacturing facilities but strongly objected to its direct corporate subsidies. “I am not a fan of giving taxpayer money directly to private corporations, and I think history has shown that it can lead to bad results,” Cruz said. “Once the bill passed, I have actively urged as many of those dollars as possible to go to Texas.” Cruz said he was particularly interested in speeding those new manufacturing facilities through a federal environmental review process that can delay projects for years. He recounted seeing an Allred news release announcing the original proposal to ease those requirements.

SAN ANTONIO – The Texas Tribune reports that second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff raised more than $1 million at a San Antonio fundraiser for Kamala Harris presidential campaign Monday night, the largest presidential fundraiser in the city’s history.

San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg made the announcement at a reception hosted by Frank and Cecilia Herrera that was attended by prominent area Democrats like Henry Cisneros, a former San Antonio mayor and former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Development, State Sen. José Menéndez, and U.S. Rep. Greg Casar.

“We have to work, even here in Texas,” Emhoff told the guests at the fundraiser. “We can’t take any state off the map. We gotta make sure we’re doing the work here. And even if we can’t turn Texas blue this time around you have a good chance of sending [U.S. Rep.] Colin Allred to the Senate.”

Emhoff also said that voters could also make “serious changes” to the state by flipping some statehouse races and their statewide leaders.

He acknowledged that the presidential election was very close and urged the guests to knock on doors, register to vote and help raise more money for the campaign to continue its fight all over the electoral map.

Earlier in the day, Emhoff attended a rally organized by Texas Democrats in San Antonio. He stumped with down-ballot Texas Democrats and railed against Republican efforts that he said were “attacking the right to vote.”

“Under the guise of election integrity, they have made it harder to vote,” Emhoff said. “They know the only way they can win is if fewer people vote. … Texas, unfortunately, has been ground zero for unchecked MAGA power grab.”

Emhoff, who was making his first visit to Texas since his wife, Vice President Kamala Harris, became the Democratic presidential nominee, said if Trump returned to the White House it would usher a national abortion ban, more inaction on mass shootings and policies that benefited only the wealthy.

But he sounded a note of confidence even as a New York Times/Siena Poll Monday morning showed Trump leading Harris in Arizona by five percentage points and also ahead in the battleground states of North Carolina and Georgia.

“I am really excited about Texas. Are you?” he said to applause from about 1,200 people in the gymnasium at the Candler Physical Education Center at San Antonio College. “Are we going to send my wife Kamala Harris to the White House?”

The rally included brothers Julián Castro, a former San Antonio mayor and U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio.

The effort was part of the Texas Democratic Party’s “Texas Offense,” an effort to coordinate voter contact efforts and political resources from the top to the bottom of the ticket. Comedian and actress Cristela Alonzo and social media influencer and political activist Olivia Julianna also attended the event.

The Democratic speakers attacked Republican state officials for what they said were efforts to suppress the votes of people who do not align with their political views. They pointed to recent investigations by Attorney General Ken Paxton on Latino groups who work to register people to vote. The speakers urged the crowd to make their voice heard in November by casting ballots for Democrats.

Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa told the crowd that Republican officials like Attorney General Ken Paxton were “attacking the vote” because of the tight races for president and U.S. Senate.

“He knows they’re in trouble,” Hinojosa said.

Emhoff’s visit is a boost for Texas Democrats. National politicos may not see the state as a battleground — despite the state party’s best efforts — but any boost to down-ballot candidates could help the minority party make up ground in state elections. It also gets those candidates in front of new potential voters.

Texas political leaders tried to energize the crowd through Emhoff’s visit.

“Texas is in play and if you need proof of that, we’ve got second gentleman Douglas Emhoff here,” Casar said.

The event also included Kristian Carranza and Laurel Jordan Swift, two San Antonio Democrats vying to unseat Republican incumbents in crucial statehouse races.

Republicans hold a majority in the Texas House and are likely to push for legislation that would allow for the use of public money to pay for private education at least in some way. The issue is a top priority for Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. Democrats are trying to make dents in the majority to hold the line against that type of legislation.

Carranza’s race against Republican John Lujan is seen as one of the top targets for Democrats and Swift is running for a seat that is vacant because moderate Republican incumbent, Steve Allison, was defeated in the primaries by Marc LaHood, a Republican challenger who is further to the right.

John Harrison, 72, of Kerrville who drove about an hour to attend the event with his wife Jo, said Emhoff’s visit showed that national Democrats were still throwing some support behind the state.

“It means they haven’t given up in Texas and that they can turn some races blue,” Harrison said. “I hope we can beat Cruz and Trump. It’ll be tough but still possible.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — An executive at the Austin-based cybersecurity company CrowdStrike apologized in testimony to Congress for sparking a global technology outage over the summer.

“We let our customers down,” said Adam Meyers, who leads CrowdStrike’s threat intelligence division, in a hearing before a U.S. House cybersecurity subcommittee Tuesday.

Austin, Texas-based CrowdStrike has blamed a bug in an update that allowed its cybersecurity systems to push bad data out to millions of customer computers, setting off a global tech outage in July that grounded flights, took TV broadcasts off air and disrupted banks, hospitals and retailers.

“We’re deeply sorry and we are determined to prevent this from ever happening again,” Meyers told lawmakers.

CrowdStrike’s faulty software update crashed about 8.5 million computers running Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

Meyers said he wanted to “underscore that this was not a cyberattack” but was, instead, caused by a faulty “rapid-response content update” focused on addressing new threats. The company has since bolstered its content update procedures, he said.

SHELBY COUNTY – Our news partners at KETK report a man was found dead from a gunshot wound and another person injured Monday afternoon, according to the the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.

According to the sheriff’s office, at around 5:45 p.m. deputies were called to County Road 1459 in Center.

When authorities arrived, a 26-year-old man, identified as James Ray Daniels, of Center, was found dead from a gunshot wound, the SCSO said. According to deputies another person, whose identity has not been released, was also found injured.

“This case is under investigation and no further information will be released at this time,” Shelby County Sheriff Kevin W. Windham said.

AUSTIN (AP) – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Monday that his office is suing the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Biden administration officials for declaring a rare lizard endangered earlier this year.

The dunes sagebrush lizard burrows in the sand dunes in the Mescalero-Monahans ecosystem 30 miles west of Odessa — the same West Texas land that supports the state’s biggest oil and gas fields.

For four decades, biologists warned federal regulators about the existential threat that oil and gas exploration and development poses for the reptile’s habitat, while industry representatives fought against the designation, saying it would scare off companies interested in drilling in the nation’s most lucrative oil and natural gas basin.

In May, federal regulators ruled that the industry’s expansion posed a grave threat to the lizard’s survival when listing it as endangered.

Now, the state’s top lawyer is suing.

“The Biden-Harris Administration’s unlawful misuse of environmental law is a backdoor attempt to undermine Texas’s oil and gas industries which help keep the lights on for America,” Paxton said. “I warned that we would sue over this illegal move, and now we will see them in court.”

Paxton’s statement said the listing of the lizard was a violation of the Endangered Species Act, adding that the Fish and Wildlife Service “failed to rely on the best scientific and commercial data” when declaring the lizard endangered and did not take into account conservation efforts already in place to protect the lizard.

The 2.5-inch-long lizard only lives in about 4% of the 86,000-square-mile Permian Basin, which spans Texas and New Mexico, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. In Texas, the lizard has been found in Andrews, Crane, Gaines, Ward and Winkler counties.

According to a 2023 analysis by the Fish and Wildlife Service, the lizard is “functionally extinct” across 47% of its range.

The listing requires oil and gas companies to avoid operating in areas the lizard inhabits, but the Fish and Wildlife Service has yet to determine where those areas are because it is still gathering information. Oil and gas companies could incur fines up to $50,000 and prison time, depending on the violation, if they operate in those areas.

Paxton’s office said that because the Fish and Wildlife Service has not specified those areas, it has left operators and landowners uncertain about what they can do with their own land.