Betting on UFC 152 is as easy as going to any sportsbook online, opening an account and making your wager. UFC 152 features as the main event Jon Jones against Vitor Belfort. Jones is listed as the huge favorite in this matchup to be held on Pay Per View. The event will be held in Toronto, Canada.

Jones is 16-1 in UFC fights and right now is listed as the heavy favorite at -750, while Belfort has a record of 21-9 in UFC and is listed as the huge underdog at +625. The early betting lines on this bout have Jones listed as one of the biggest favorites for betting in UFC 152 history. The line has gone up to -900 for Jones, but will be changed as more and more people opt to bet on the UFC 152 bout. One online site even had Jones listed as the favorite in four-digit figures at -1500

If the current line stays close to where it is and Belfort is able to upset Jones, then it would be considered the biggest upset in the history of the sport. However, it would not be the biggest upset in mixed martial arts history.

Like in all other UFC events or MMA events of any kind, there is a huge undercard to bet on as well. There will be 12 bouts on the card on September 22 in Toronto and five will be on the main card highlighted by the Jones vs. Belfort matchup and seven will be featured on the under card. All of them can be wagered on and betting on UFC152 can be done by picking the outright winner, the round in which the fight will be stopped, if there will be a knockout or a decision Not only is the action exciting and exhilarating but the betting on UFC152 can be as well.

Style

Motorcycle parts can be found in a wide variety of attractive styles.  The style of item that is chosen by the person will have a great deal to do with the physical properties of the items themselves.  If the items will be used frequently, then the best choices will be strong enough to withstand heavy usage without breaking.  A part that does not have the strength to perform the tasks that the person has purchased them for will not last long and will be ineffective at meeting the person’s needs, no matter how good they look..

Price

Motorcycle accessories can be found in a wide range of prices, with each type available in several different qualities and price ranges from different manufacturers.  Some types of accessories cost more than others because of the additional steps taken in the manufacturing process while others are priced higher because of the brand associated with them.  It is important to determine how much you will spend for the accessories before begin shopping so that you are not spending more than you intend.

Durability

The durability of the item is also very important when choosing motorcycle parts.  It is best to inspect everything carefully before use so that you know how strong it will be and whether it can be used effectively where you would like it to be.  Choosing substandard items for your motorcycle can result in a big headache – literally – so it is important to find the right balance between price and quality.

Shoppers who sign up with their local Wal-Mart store page will receive two notifications per week on special offers on average.  Shoppers planning bargain shopping trips on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, will be able to download maps of the store that mark the exact location of specific advertised specials to cut down on time and frustration at the store.

The executive vice president of Wal-Mart’s U.S. division, Stephen Quinn, said during a media conference call, “This allows us to make our stores relevant on a local level.  This addresses our `next-generation’ customers who are using a lot of social media. A national message is often not as relevant.”

Facebook fans of Wal-Mart made many requests to the company to see more localized messages, including information about new products, local produce, and special events such as cooking demonstrations.  The company would eventually like to be able to make offers for its Facebook fans more personalized by tailoring them to products they “like” on the website.

The partnership is the first of its kind for a large merchant with Facebook.  In 2010, Facebook began allowing retailers, manufacturers, and brands to place the “like” button on their websites, making it easier for Facebook members to display their preferences with their friends.

Nearly 50% of active adults on Facebook are followers of a brand, and there are 100 million “likes” on pages every day.  The average Facebook user has 130 to 150 friends who are connected to 8,000 more friends.

Many companies have begun using Facebook to develop a deeper relationship with their customers.  The ability to respond quickly to consumer demands is one of the biggest benefits of using the social networking site, often resulting in higher customer retention and increased sales.

Wal-Mart is currently trying to reverse nine straight quarters of declining revenue at its U.S. stores that have been open for at least a year.

Chris McKinney, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Houston, had this to say: ”It’s hard to think of 97 or 98 degrees being cool but at this point, we’ll take it.”

The high on Monday was 106 degrees. This was the hottest day on August 29th since 1998. The day before, August 28th, was 109 degrees. This broke a temperature record that stood for over 83 years.

The high today is forecasted at 105 degrees.

To add to our suffering, the rain fall totals have been at “drought level” this year. College Station has only had 10.83 inches of rain so far this year. The normal cumulative rain fall at this point of the year is normally 25 inches. This is according to the National Weather Service records.

Last week the area received about a half an inch of rain fall. This was a band aid on a wound that requires stitches. Water supplies for towns are quickly drying up and need to be replenished. However, this small amount of rain did allow some cities to reform the daily water usage ordinances.

Jennifer Nations is the water resource coordinator for College Station. She told us that the water usage for the city was below 20 million gallons for the past few days.

Bryan has noticed a similar trend in their water usage, with it hovering around 16 million gallons a day.

Nations predicted that students coming back to college would have little affect on the water usage in College Station/Bryan area. So far, she seems to be right. She said her prediction would be true because only a quarter of water is used for in door purposes.

Texas A&M vet school has named the pit bull under their care ‘Vonn.’

“Vonn continues to amaze us with his positive outlook and fantastic personality,” wrote Dr. Brooke Smith, a veterinary resident instructor at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. She posted this via a web page that has been set up to notify people that are concerned about Vonn’s well being.

“While still a little groggy from his morning anesthesia, he decided to ‘leash walk me’ around the hallways of the small animal clinic,” she wrote at noon Thursday. “He made sure to stop and greet every person that walked by.”

The Brazos county community still trying to find the perpetrators that caused injuries to both Vonn and Esperanza. Esperanza was another pit bull found with Vonn, although her injures were not as extensive as Vonn’s.

Three animal rights advocacy groups have each offered a $1,000 dollar reward for information that would lead to the arrest of the people who committed this crime.

Vonn’s ears were sliced off and half his body was burned before he was found in rural Brazos County.

Vonn is expected to be released from the A&M vet center next week, although officials are not sure where he will go live. Many people have offered to adopt Vonn, but the veterinarians at A&M are unsure if he is adoptable.  This is because of the way his former owners treated him.

This was the Rangers first overtime game in their brief history. Steptoe actually returned the interception in overtime for a touchdown, but the return was wiped out due to a blocking penalty on the Rangers. However, this was irrelevant. The return was just merely for style points. The Rangers achieved their goal last night by beating Taylor.

Taylor had a 21-0 half time lead. This was because Taylor senior quarterback Jarvis Caldwell had 3 touchdown passes in an impeccable performance in the first half for Taylor. Two of his touchdown passes were thrown at Rangers corner back Will Martin.

Martin wasn’t discouraged, in fact he might be the reason why the Rudder Rangers ended up triumphing over Taylor. Martin also had an interception which changed the momentum of the game. The most significant play Martin had all night was an 88 yard touchdown reception from quarterback Jamarcus Davenport that tied the game 21-21, effectively sending the game in to over time. This reception happened when there was 9:09 in the game.

“I had to make up on something,” Martin said. “[Caldwell] beat me the first half, and I came out the second half ready to play. That play was great. I never slowed down. I can’t slow down.”

Davenport did not come in at quarterback until the second quarter. He rushed for 86 yards. The real star of the night was junior running back Tre Guyton, running for 123 yards and a touchdown.

These changes in the city ordinance will not become effective until the new meters are installed in the Northgate District. The City council was also suppose to discuss hiring a firm to replace all of the old meters, but this topic of discussion got moved back to a later meeting.

There is one stipulation, according to Bob Cowell who is the executive director of developmental services for the city. The meters will not be free on Texas A&M home game days. Requiring money for the parking spot assures business owners that the same cars are not always sitting outside their business. This allows for as steady flow of new customers to visit their business area because their is open parking spots available.

The city council discussed renovations to a parking garage within the district. They decided to defer the subject until more information could be obtained on the matter.

Another topic that was on the city council’s agenda was the lowering of property taxes. The rate now stands at 43.8 cents per 100 dollars value. This is a one percent decrease from last year’s rate. This is the lowest rate College Station has had since 2001, which is encouraging. The reason city council members were able to do this is because property value rose by 5.2% in the College Station area. They can collect the same amount, if not more tax revenue as last year while having lower rates, which is popular with the public.

Many meteorologists are accrediting the rain we had on Wednesday for our “cool wave” if you can call it that. The Bryan and College Station area received about a 1/3 inch of rain on Wednesday.

The 26 day streak we had going on was the second longest in Brazos County history. The longest happened in 1998 when Brazos County went 30 consecutive days with 100 degree weather.

Meteorologist Matt Moreland from the National Weather Service in Houston still believes that Brazos county will break its current record of 100 degree days in a year. We have had 52 days of 100 degree heat so far this year. The record for 100 degree days in a year was set in 1917. That year had 58 100 degree days.

“College Station will be back over 100 [Friday] and every day until at least Tuesday,” Moreland said. “You could tie the record by next week.”

The rain that fell, for the first time in August, gave the locals a much needed break from the 100 degree weather. It also helped replenish some dwindling reservoirs.

There was a total of three rounds of thunderstorms that went through the area a few days. The first ones were at 6:30 PM on Wednesday. It did not storm again till the following morning when it started raining at 5 A.M. stopped around 5:30, then started raining at 7 again.

A meteorologists from the National Weather Service in Houston said we were extremely lucky to receive the amount of rainfall we got. It’s unlikely you’ll get any showers the rest of the week, but [Wednesday night] y’all kind of hit the jackpot,” said the meteorologist.

Meteorologists have estimated that any where from a half inch to an inch hit the Bryan and College Station area last night. In Northern Brazos County, they believe it was more likely some where in between a quarter of an inch to a half an inch.

Surprising, the rains brought flash floods to some streets in College Station and Bryan. The winds were strong enough to knock down some trees and power lines.

Bob Wheeler, an official for Bryan Texas Utilities, said that there some quarantined power outages on Texas 159 in the middle of Texas 6 and F.M. 2154.

“A number of trees also fell down onto power lines and some poles are also broken,” he said. “All of the on-duty and off-duty crews have been called in to help.”

Officer Jon Agnew, a high ranking police officer in the Bryan Police Department, said they had to dispatch officers to intersections where the traffic lights were out. He said so many intersections did not have power that they could not direct traffic at everyone because not enough officers were available.

There were six minor traffic accidents and two major ones during the hours of the storm. A sinkhole also developed on a roadway in the north gate area compounding city official’s problems.

This time is different. Bryan is now thinking about purchasing the financially troubled Briarcrest Country Club. They would turn Briarcrest in to a public golf course instead of a private one. A Bryan city official has already confirmed that the city has made two offers to the owners of the Country Club. The two offers were rejected by the owners. Bryan is looking for public opinion on whether to purchase the country club or not. They may turn to the polls to survey citizens.

In November, the Bryan city council will have two different referendums on the card. One is vote to see whether the city wants to sell the Municipal Golf Course. It is apart of the public park system and cannot be sold unless the voters approve the sale. The second issue on the ballot would just be fore public opinion. The issue would ask if residents want the city to buy the Briarcrest Country Club.

Membership has been falling at Briarcrest. This is because of the major competition in the area including three other privately owned Golf Courses. Certain amenities are included with the Briarcrest course, including tennis courts, a swimming pool, and clubhouse.

The value of the property, according to the Brazos County Appraisal District, lists the value of the real estate at approximately 2 million dollars. Bryan city officials have not said how much they offered for the land and buildings.

A man who fled from police after a shooting in Bryan last summer and totaled his car during a high speed pursuit was among the people indicted by the Brazos County grand jury. Quincy Deshan Butler, 32, of Houston, was charged with a second degree felony count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

An indictment does not mean that the prosecutors are sure they defendant is guilty. However, the grand jury believes they have enough evidence to continue with a trial.

The court documents say that Quincy Butler shot several times at the 900 block of Suncrest last May. One woman went to the hospital as a result of these bullets.

Butler fled the scene, but was later caught by the Waller County Sheriff’s department following a chase.

The maximum sentence he can receive is 20 years in prison.

Casey James Lindley, 22, is charged with a felony count of indecency to a child. Police detained Lindley in June after three young girls reported that he exposed himself at the local community pool.

The police report said three girls that were 11, 12 and 13 saw him expose himself to them. He was masturbating while they were playing the pool. They identified Lindley by a photo lineup.

Texas A&M athletic director Bille Byrne received mass quantities of angry emails over the summer of 2010. At the time, the Aggies were flirting with the idea of joining the SEC for the first time. They decided it would be best for the school to stick with the Big 12. Now there is rumors swirling around A&M leaving again.

Byrne released this quote to the media via aggieathletics.com, ”It is my sincere belief that staying in the Big 12, where we compete in the same time zone, get our athletes home at a decent hour, and where they can play in front of their families and friends is best for our athletes. Our athletes and coaches have skin in the realignment game, and all our coaches and the vast majority of our student-athletes want to stay where we are. That was a key decision point to me.”

Remember, this was in 2010. Now that rumors have sprung up again regarding the same issue, Byrne has been silent. He has declined almost every request to speak with media outlets regarding these rumors. Byrne has kept a relatively low profile also.

When the rumors first surfaced, Byrne was in Europe. He flew back to College Station to attend a meeting with the Board of Regents. During this meeting the Board gave Bowen Loftin the power to “take any action” related to Texas A&M realigning conferences.

Conference realignment has been a serious issue the past two years. University Presidents are usually at the helm of the realignments. The biggest meetings regarding this matter have been attended by university presidents, not athletic directors.

Byrne estimated that if Texas A&M moved to SEC they would incur approximately 1 million dollars in traveling expenses during the whole year. Byrne also mentioned the established rivalries they already have in the Big 12. In the state of Texas, these are huge TV draws.

Ranchers are currently driving around in pickup trucks trying to suck up puddles of street water. The reason there are puddles of street water around town is because of the underground pipes cracking. They are using this dirty water to water trees. They are using bath tubs to haul this water around.

A storm that hit Texas in April perfectly describes Texans luck this year. The storm appeared to be bringing substantial amounts of much needed rain. The storm only brought a small amount of rain, but started a 169,000 acre wild fire from a lightning strike. It appears Texans just can’t catch a break.

This is the worst drought in Texas since the 1950s. This causing people that live in small ranching towns to ask this question: Are we going to run out of water? A city outside of Dallas named Kemp has already experience this in a small degree. They had their water shut off for two days due to pipes breaking in the ground. The broke because of the soil hardening and shifting.

Due to the drought, many lakes and resovoirs across the state of Texas are at dangerously low levels. This is due to the unbearably hot weather and less than an inch of rain this past month. A small town called Robert Lee has water provided by a nearby lake. This lake is drying up alarmingly fast.

Some communities are so bad they are trying to lay pipe to bigger bodies to supply them with water. Some are also trying to drill for water. Most towns have enacted water conservation laws.

Some cities are pumping water away from other cities to essentially save it exclusively for themselves. Robert Lee is pumping water away from Lake Spence to an exclusive reservoir.

Barbara Hannes has been a veterinarian for 16 years. In her entire career she has never seen a dog burned and battered as badly as the two dogs that recently came in to her clinic. Hannes says the Pitbull that was abused is one of the sweetest dogs she has met in her entire life. Over half of the dog’s body was burned, and the possibility of infection is creeping in fast. The dog also had its ears cut off.

Another female Pitbull was also brought in with similar injuries as the first. She also has a broken pelvis, her whiskers are singed off, and bite marks all over her body.

These dogs were found this week by a women in southern Brazos county. The dogs were close to her home. The police have no suspects or leads in the case.

Hannes owns Aggieland Animal Health Center, where the dogs are currently receiving care. She said she feels terrible inside for what’s been done to these dogs. “I just want to apologize on the behalf of humanity,” said Hannes.

Despite being in brutal condition the younger dog still jumps up and starts wagging its tail when humans were present.

Hannes believes these dogs were what dog fighting rings called “bait dogs.” Bait dogs are dogs used to train other dogs to be more vicious when fighting. She determined this because of their temperament.

The female dog, which they named Esperanza, could have her injuries treated at Hannes animal clinic. The other dog, which they named Vici, was in worse shape the Esperanza. He could not be treated at Hannes animal clinic, he needed medical attention that would cost thousands of dollars.

Just when they thought that all hope was lost for Vici, they received astounding news. Texas A&M veterinarian school agreed to take in Vici and pay for his medical expenses.

Woodridge Capital Partners have not told the public what they plan to do with the building formerly known as The Plaza. The building has been empty for over a year now. The last time the utilities were turned on in the building was June of 2010. The last owner failed to pay utilities 2 months in a row. This building has also been used as a dorm for Texas A&M university.

Since the tower was abandoned, it was been vandalized and the home to vagrants. Many windows have been shattered, and now covered up with plywood. The new owners just recently met with fire marshals to discuss getting the building to meet the fire code. They also talked about their vagrancy problem and how to secure the building from them.

Fortunately for the new owners, the College Station fire department has been monitoring the building since it was abandoned. They told them large leaks were found in the fire protection system installed in the building. This was caused by last years winter freeze since the building was not heated.

The property itself is 4 acres. It has been appraised at over 4 million dollars when it was neatly maintained. The building is over 200,000 square feet. Since maintenance was lacking, the Brazos County Appraisal District valued the property at 3.2 million dollars, still a hefty amount of money.

College Station revoked the occupancy permits from the previous owners because they did not keep their building up to fire code.

“I think the frustration level is as high as it’s ever been,” stated Glen Davis, Commerce National Bank regional VP. “I think people are getting impatient with the political maneuvering going on. We need some consistency from our elected officials at all levels.”

The most recent economic index figures for College Station-Bryan reflect this sentiment. The index climbed from 118.3 in June to a current figure of 118.7, yet is down nearly 1 percent from a year ago, according to figures gathered by Karr Ingham.

The Amarillo economist puts the report together each month for a collaboration of Commerce National Bank and The Eagle.

No local economic sector was immune to the second quarter hit. Retail spending declined nearly 3 percent, and is down .2 percent on the year.

The trend isn’t exactly new, and Davis has been saying for months that economic recovery would require consumer confidence to grow, which doesn’t seem likely to occur very soon.

“For this economy to move forward, we’ve got to start building confidence and seeing consistency,” he stated. “We need to let the latest economic and political turmoil play out.”

The report also indicates that construction and home sales took a sharp downturn in June.  Home sales dropped in the second quarter by 11.6 percent, and value-all construction dropped 33.8 percent.

Consumer wariness is influenced by factors that go beyond politicians who can’t seem to agree on a solution, according to Davis. He says that the constant scrutiny the economy in under in the media likely leads to a general lack of confidence.

“I’ve never seen this level of polarization in the media,” he stated.

As lawmakers continue to search for ways to reduce the national debt, and the market continually fluctuates, Davis urges residents to use common sense and avoid panic.

“People need to step back and see what’s best for their situation,” he stated. “The biggest emotion right now is fear.”

Aggie president R. Bowen Loftin said that Texas A&M is looking for stability and visibility in its athletic conference. However, he did not elude to if Aggies were openly trying to leave the Big 12.

“It’s not so much what’s wrong with the Big 12, it’s what’s right with Texas A&M and where we want to go in time,” he said. “We have, for quite some time, evaluated the effect of our visibility on our brand value and on our athletes as well. Clearly these are difficult times for all universities … and we certainly owe it to the taxpayers of Texas to make sure that whatever we do here at Texas A&M helps to benefit the university financially.”

Loftin made these comments after he got done with a meeting with the Board of Regents. The board officially granted Loftin the power to, ”take all actions related to Texas A&M University’s athletic conference alignment.” This was unanimously approved by the board of 9 members.

This was the first time Loftin had spoken with the media since rumors recently started relating to Texas A&M moving to the SEC. Loftin said he had talked to the SEC commissioner, Mike Slive, in January. It wasn’t until July 21 that talks of Texas A&M moving to the SEC. This was caused by the University of Texas making their own TV network.

Many people thought that Texas A&M would officially leave the Big 12 on Monday, but it appears the SEC has decided not to expand. The SEC presidents met on Sunday and decided not to extend an invitation to anyone.

The next step is unclear for Texas A&M. Loftin was planning on visiting Texas on Tuesday to attend a meeting that is discussing realignment. If Texas A&M some how did leave the Big 12 they would have to follow the same process Nebraska went through when they left for the Big 10.

It appears that a former Aggie student will take over as Chancellor at Texas A&M. The Board of Regents named Sharp as the last finalist for the position. He was serving as a state comptroller with the Texas railroad commission. The last person to hold the position of chancellor was Mike Mckinney. He retired on June 30.

Jon Sharp is 61 years old. Although he hasn’t officially been awarded the Chancellor position, it is fairly obvious he is going to get the job. The Board of Regents is required to wait 21 days due to state legislation to finalize the hiring. Sharp has served in the Texas house and senate. He was voted in to the house in 1978. 4 years later he ran for senator, which he won also. In 1986 he has elected to the Texas Railroad Commission and then four years later as a state comptroller.

A PhD is not required to be Chancellor, but most former Chancellors had one. Sharp, however, does not have a doctorate. He graduated from Texas A&M in 1972, earning his bachelors degree.

Sharp, a democrat narrowly lost a 1998 election to Rick Perry, a republican. The office was lieutenant governor. However, Perry and Sharp share a mutual respect for one another. They actually worked together in 2006. The project was a business tax overhaul. Sharp was the chairman of the committee, to which he was appointed by Perry.

“I think I have a record of pretty decent public service,” Sharp said. “I have very good relations with the Legislature, and I’m going to be very active in making sure that A&M is going to be funded better than it has been. … Give me a chance.”

It appears that Sharp is some one we can count on at the Chancellor position in A&M.

Texas has withstood nearly a year of drought. Withered crops, dried up waterbeds, and earth that is parched is now normal in Texas. However, this drought is not the most prolific drought in Texas history.

Everyone who lived during the 1950s drought remembers the dry spell. Water was so sparse that they had to import it from small towns and farms in Oklahoma. Farms and ranches went bankrupt because of the dwindling water supplies. The landscape of Texas was changed forever because of this drought. People were forced to move to places were there was large bodies of water, and still haven’t moved back to the areas that were settled heavily before.

Now forecasters are predicting the return of La Nina, a rare weather occurrence that brings drought to the affected area. Older Texans remember that decade as the mini dust bowl in Texas. The area was drought stricken for nearly the whole decade. From 1949 to 1957 Texas received half the of the rain they averaged.

During the drought of the 1950s, Texas ranchers moved their cattle to Kansas to find grazing lands with water. Crops turned eerily brown in the field, dying from lack of water. They eventually stopped growing all together.

The single driest year in the state history was in 1917. The total amount of rainfall that year was 15 inches. It lasted until 1918 and many believe it to be the third most severe drought as a whole in Texas history.

In the 1950s, they had the second, third, and eight driest years in recorded history. The years were 1956, 1954, and 1951.

The current ongoing drought has already been deemed the second most severe in Texas history. The sparse rainfall isn’t the only reason for this declaration. The constant triple digit temperatures have aided in declaring this the second most severe drought in Texas history.

In western Texas, many people and businesses find it easier to discover new oil wells than to find  new water wells. Water has been diminishing for years out in western Texas. This year this problem has been compounded due to our record breaking drought. Some communities are so desperate they are considering doing the un-thinkable: Turning sewage water in to drinking water.

Construction has just begun on a 13 million dollar plant dedicated to water reclamation. It will be the first of its kind in the state of Texas. Officials are still reassuring the soon to be consumers of the plants water that this is a proven method. All the water that is processed by the plant will meet all FDA regulations. However, other consumers are excited about this plant, as it will cut down on water restrictions currently enacted.

Similar plants to the one being built have operated in Tucson Arizona and in parts of California for years. Many government officials believe this technology is going to expand exponentially in the next ten years are we start to confront our growing population problems.

Officials are expecting one of the reservoirs in western Texas to dry up if this drought persists. What this means is that districts water supply could go from 65 million gallons a day down to 45 million gallons a day, obviously a significant drop. The Colorado Municipal Water System is now building a water recycling plant approximately 100 miles southeast of Lubbock. The just started construction. When it is finished this should purify over 2 million gallons of water a day.

The actual process for purifying water is very in depth. First you have to remove all salt and impurities such as viruses and medicines. Next it is mixed in with fresh water, which is then taken to a treatment facility. In the treatment facility the water undergoes more sterilization and cleaning processes.

Snakes are generally do not thrive in hot weather like we have experienced this summer. Normally active snakes  burrow up in small snake holes and even houses to help them find refuge from heat. Snake sightings have been down, however, local doctors are saying snake bites have been up at hospitals around the area.

Hospital officials at St. Joseph’s Medical Center say they have noticed more patients with ‘fang markings.’ Unfortunately, we were unable to get exact numbers from the hospital.

Teresa Shisk-Saling, a herpetologist and veterinary technician at the A&M College of Medicine, said that at the beginning of summer animals with signs they had been bitten by a snake were more common than usual. Now she says the opposite is true. She accredited this to our heat wave.

Most snakes dig their own holes for shelter. However, their are some snakes that seek easier shelter, like air conditioning units and dog carriers. Snakes can also smell water, so they are naturally drawn to shelter with water close by.

There are 37 species of snakes in Texas, however on four of them are venomous: The copperhead, the corral snake, the water moccasin and the rattle snake.

The most common snake bite seen at hospitals are Copperhead. Snakes can bite prey with out releasing venom, but as a rule of thumb you should always go to the emergency room after an encounter with a snake bite. Copperhead venom causes your red blood cells to deteriorate in a short amount of time.

Antivenin is very expensive, the average cost of a vial of it is around $2,500. Sometimes one vial of antivenin is not enough to cure to poison. There have been stories of up to ten vials of antivenin being used to rid the person of the poison.

The Bryan city council indicated they were going to keep the property tax at the same rate. This comes as a surprise for many residents of Bryan, as the property tax has increased the past twelve years. Technically, it is going to be a minimal increase, because the total value of taxable properties rose in the area this year. That means there will be more revenue for the city, but the tax rate will still stay the same.

City leads said they were very happy to be able to keep the same tax rate. According to Bryan mayor Jason Bienski, the city of  Bryan does not do evaluate property values. This is job is given to the appraisal district.

Interim city manager Kean Register said the main reason rates weren’t lowered this year was because of the fact there is a planned increase of payments to the Texas Municipal Retirement System. However, to keep the rate from rising, there were many budget cuts made by the city council.

One of the cuts has been jobs. Nearly 20 jobs have been eliminated in the past few months, with the possibility of more on the way. One other change city officials did was the way city vehicles were being replaced and buildings being maintained and cleaned. They are looking for more cost efficient options than the ones they currently have. These changes are expected to save up to 2.1 million dollars of the city’s budget.

The extra revenue these cuts bring is planned to be used to replenish the city’s cash reserve, which has been dwindling the past few years.

The next fiscal year starts October 1. The city employees has compiled a proposed budget. They hoped to give this budget to the city council to review next week. The city wants to approve the final budget for next year by September 27.

The state of Texas is suffering from the worst 1 year drought in state history. This drought has destroyed entire ecosystems. No specie is being spared, the smallest bug to the largest carnivore are all being affected by this drought and are clinging to life.

Water, the most important resource for any living thing, is quickly drying up. Rivers, springs, cricks, ponds, have turned in to empty water beds. Jeff Bonner, a wildlife biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department was quoted saying this, “It has a compound effect on a multitude of species and organisms and habitat types because of the way that it’s chained and linked together.” His analysis is spot on. Everything is interlinked together, dependent on one another. If one pillar of the ecosystem falls, the other ones will follow eventually.

In 2011, Texas has only received 6 inches of rain. The normal amount is 13 inches. This is why climatologists are saying this is the worst one year drought on record. Last week Texas received even worse news, La Nina might be back. This is a whether pattern that brings drought with it. This would extend our drought in to 2012.

The drought is not only in Texas, but extends in to Kansas and Oklahoma. The triple digit heat is aiding the cause of the drought, causing crops to wither even more, and reservoirs to evaporate.

Fish have taken the most severe hit by this drought. Immense fish kills have already happened in parts of the state due to bodies of water drying up, stranding the fish on dried up water beds.

The impact this drought has made on species can last for years. An example is quail, who normally nest in grass grown the year prior to their current one. This year, they will have no habitat, as no grass has been able to grow.

A Bryan man is currently hospitalized because he was struck by a street sweeper. He is in serious condition. Bryan officials said Melvin Workman, 29, was leaving his pickup truck that had halted on Martin Luther King Jr. Street close to King’s Mart to let him out when the street sweeper rear ended the pickup truck. After the truck was rear ended, it was jolted forward, which then allowed for the street sweeper to hit Workman.

The driver of the street sweeper and the truck were both hospitalized at St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center after the incident as well. Fortunately, both drivers only suffered minor injuries. Their names have not been released by the police yet.

The impact of the street sweeper caused Workman to be thrown a few feet in the air, according to Brandon Hall, a local citizen and cousin of Workman. ”It happened fast and it was bad,” Hall said. “I didn’t even see the [street sweeper] coming. The pickup door was still open and he had maybe one foot on the ground when the collision occurred.”

Police officials said the accident is still under investigation. However, we know there have been no citations issued yet.

Our city spokesmen, Alan Bruggman said it requires a commercial drivers license to operate a city street sweeper. It also, depending on experience, requires a 2 to 6 week training course depending on your experience operating heavy equipment.

Hall said after Workman was hit, he attempted to first walk, then crawl to the side of the road. He was unable to reach his destination due to the pain he was experiencing. Hall called 911 right away, and stayed by his cousin’s side until the EMTs arrived.

Workman’s family has been at his beside since the accident, he was unconscious when he arrived at the hospital. How extensive his injuries are is unclear. We wish the Workman family the best.

The chair of the Texas A&M Board of Regents has said a change in the mindset of reforming higher education had nothing to due with the departure of former Texas A&M chancellor Mike Mckinney. The A&M train of thinking is being changed to a more conservative mindset. The Board of Regents are now following a plan called “seven solutions.”

However, when McKinney was asked the same question, he did not agree. He was quoted saying, “I would not say they had nothing to do with it.” He said he disagreed with many of the reforms that were being passed by Gov. Rick Perry and the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a group that is now heavily swaying the Board of Regents decisions.

McKinney believes the Texas Public Policy Foundation is only on good terms with Gov. Rick Perry because of the 300,000 dollars they donated towards Perry’s campaign fund. The donation was made by a board member of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a businessman from Austin named Jeff Sandefer. The Sandefer’s have been pushing towards more significant reforms. Since the Texas Public Policy Foundation has had more power around A&M, many staff members have been worried about private citizens influence around the public university.

One of the most controversial issues that the Texas Public Policy Foundation has passed is the “Academic Financial Analysis Data.” What this does is actually assess each staff members worth to the university using a cost benefit spread sheet in excel. Mckinney argued to the Board of Regents many times over this, citing the fact that it did not present any meaningful analysis. As time goes on, more and more faculty at A&M are agreeing with Mckinney.

Although Mckinney says these reforms did attribute to his decision to retire, they were not the deciding factor. He cited personal reasons mainly for his departure.

College Station may be headed towards a mandatory water restriction. Even though Bryan isn’t quite there yet, both cities continue to urge residents to conserve water during the record-setting drought and heat conditions.

Three days in a row where water usage exceeds 90% of capacity may trigger a mandatory water restriction on residents.

According to College Station’s resource coordinator, Jennifer Nations, the city hit that mark on both Monday and Wednesday. There has never been a mandatory water restriction in the city.

Nations adds that indoor usage only makes up a quarter of the city’s water usage, so scaling back on irrigation and other forms of outdoor water use would offer the greatest result. She tells residents that letting their lawns go brown won’t end the world. It will rain again… eventually.

The average water usage for this time of year is approximately 19 million gallons per day, and the city is currently well over that number. The month with the lowest per-day water usage is January, when the city of under 100,000 residents uses about 9 million gallons per day.

The drought plan in Bryan is similar, but they seem to be in a bit better shape than College Station. On peak days, Bryan uses approximately 23 million gallons, or about three-quarters of capacity, according to Bryan’s water services director Jayson Barfknecht.

For College Station, exceeding the 90 percent usage for three straight days would not automatically trigger mandatory water restrictions. That decision would have to be reached by the city manager, and Nations said she has no clue how that would work, since this is new territory in the city.

She adds that if the city enacts mandatory water conservation, it would not affect indoor water usage, and outdoor usage would be restricted to particular days.

Both Bryan and College Station campuses both failed to meet federal accountability standards according to the Texas Education Agency (TEA). Out of Bryan’s 26 campuses, 12 failed to meet the “adequate yearly progress” standard. Two of College Station’s 13 campuses also failed this same benchmark.

Adequate Yearly Progress is a part of the “No Child Left Behind” legislation enacted by President Bush. This piece of legislation is part of a federal system that requires all schools and districts across the nation to meet certain standards that are given by the government. The system is designed to specifically indicate if all of their students are progressing towards a passing  grade level assessment in 2013-14 school year. This is the first year the federal governments standards were more difficult then the Texas Education Agency’s standards.

When any student group fails to meet the standards, the whole district fails the Adequate Yearly Progress standard. Each student is evaluated individually. Some of the factors that are taken in to consideration are race, economic status, English proficiency, and special education. These factors are used to help even out the playing field for school districts.

The Adequate Yearly Progress standard is designed to evaluated based on specific grades and areas: Third through eight graders are evaluated on reading and math. Some core school classes that aren’t evaluated are science, social studies and writing.

The Bryan school district did not meet the adequate yearly progress of reading and math. However, they did meet the graduation rates, attendance standards and participation standards in every school except for the alternative campus, Mary Catherine Harris school.

College Station middle school and College Hills elementary also did not meet the required adequate yearly progress ratings in reading or math. This new standard is definitely changing how schools operate, No Child Left Behind is designed to put pressure on teachers to effectively educate their students.

Day by day College Station is crawling closer to their mandatory water restriction level. Although Bryan isn’t as close to its water restriction level both cities are urging citizens to preserve water. For the past three days, College Station has used 90 percent of their water which is 24.3 million gallons out of 27 million gallons of water. This is what is warranting these water restrictions.

According the College Station’s water resource coordinator, Jennifer Nations, the city hit this limit on Monday and Wednesday as well. To this date the city has never been required to impose mandatory water restriction laws. The most startling statistic is that indoor water usage only accounts for about 25% of water usage. The other 3/4′s of the water supply is used for irrigation and lawns. This is the portion residents need to cut back on.

The water usage is abnormally above average even for this time of the year. Usually the city uses 18 to 20 million gallons of water per day. The month that uses the least amount of water is January, when the whole city only uses approximately 8 to 9 million gallons of water per day.

According to Bryan’s water director, the city is only using about 75% of their water supply or about 23 million gallons of water on the driest days. The final decision to the water conservation laws are left in the hands of the city manager. This puts him in a situation that his predecessors had never been in before.

Texas’ climatologist confirmed that this is the worst drought in recorded history for Texas. Preliminary data showed that July has been the warmest it has ever been in this state, with an average temperature, including night and day, being at 87.2 degrees. To supplement these unbearable temperatures there has been almost no rainfall. It was the third driest July in history measuring only .72 inches of rain.

Movements have been subdued and vaccinations have been given at the Brazon County Jail. Two inmates recently came down with the chicken pox virus. A medical staff has been made available for inmates who wish to receive a vaccination against the virus.

Chicken pox is also known as varicella. The virus is most common in children and causes fevers and itchy rashes all across the afflicted’s body. It is highly contagious, and in a close quarter area, like prison, it will spread like wild fire. Only 10 inmates have asked for the shot. They’re reasons were that they couldn’t remember getting chicken pox as a child or they hadn’t been previous vaccinated for the virus.

Sheriff Chris Kirk confirmed to us that the first inmate got the virus last Monday, and the second out break was Tuesday. Interestingly enough, they were not housed in the same pod, but they did have contact with each other via the rec room.

Now the Sheriff has placed the two dormitories, of which the two afflicted prisoners lived, on restrictive movement to try and stop the spread of this contagious virus.

What has been a very controversial issue at the prison is this: Guards are not being offered free vaccination by the state. The reasoning behind this is because significant funding cuts at our state level for the adult immunization program. These guards might be the first government employees affected by this decision.

Last spring Brazon County Jail had another chicken pox scare. Two inmates fell ill to the virus. Similar protocol was enacted to subdue the spread of the virus. It affected just one pod last year, compared to the two pods it is currently affecting this year. There are 60 inmates in a pod, so more than twice the amount of prisoners have been exposed to the virus this time.

A fire raged out of control Tuesday afternoon in Bryan as it burned down several condominium complexes. The fire actually jumped from one complex to another. Fortunately, no residents were injured because of the fire, but two firefighters and one police officer did receive treatment from medics for dehydration and heat exhaustion. The firefighters and policeman were taken to a local hospital and received an IV to help restore fluids to their body. They were released Tuesday night, but are expected to receive a few days off to help recover from their scare.

Fire officials are still investigating the cause of the fire, but are hoping to have a causation by Thursday. Two Carter Creek Parkway complexes were involved and at least twelve units total were destroyed by the fire. Another complex that was involved was Oakwood Gardens, which lost eight units. The last complex that sustained fire damage was Old Oak Condos, which lost a total of 4 units.

This was rated as two alarms and broke out approximately 2 pm. It took fire crews from both Bryan and College Station to subdue the fire. Two policemen were also injured from dog bites when they were going door to door to remove animals from Condos whose owners were not home.

There numerous animals that were rescued by policemen including birds, cats, turtles, and dogs. Only one animal, a cat, was unaccounted for at the end of the day.

Bryan Fire Chief Mike Donoho said he believed the fire started in the Oakwood Gardens condominiums in the 4500 block of Carter Creek Parkway. From there, he said the fire spread to Old Oak Condos, which is located directly behind Oakwood Gardens.

The Red Cross assisted 13 residents of these condos, helping them find a place to stay for the night. They also provided them with food and clothing.

According to the CDC 76 people in 26 different states have gotten sick from the same type of this disease. The CDC refuses to release details on the one death from the salmonella poisoning. The CDC has been investigating this issue since the middle of March. According to them, cultures of ground turkey have shown salmonella contamination in between March 7 and June 27. The CDC did confirm that preliminary results have shown that these contaminations have been linked back to 3 manufacturing plants. They did not release the names of these plants.

In our country, the United States Department of Agriculture is responsible for issuing a recall of food products that they believe might be contaminated. They did send out an alert last week regarding ground turkey, urging consumers to properly cook their turkey, which kills the bacteria that causes salmonella.

As we elaborated earlier, this has been a wide spread epidemic all across the country. The states with the highest amount of sicknesses reported are Michigan and Ohio with 10 illnesses each. Our state, Texas, was second on the list with 9 illnesses.

The FDA says ground turkey is safe to eat when the internal temperature  of the meat reaches 165 degrees. Here are a few other pieces of advice: Refrigerate your meat 2 hours after purchase, 1 hour if the temperature is higher than 90 degrees in your house, it breeds bacteria. Refrigerate cooked meat 2 hours after you have finished cooking it. Wash your hands with soap within 20 minutes after handling raw meat, it is a breeding ground for bacteria.

The most common symptoms of salmonella are diarrhea, fever within in 72 hours after eating, and abdominal cramps.

Michael Leroy Long II, 26, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, which took place in the early morning hours of July 31 on Chisolm Trail Road, 6.3 miles north of Navasota in southern Brazos County, according to investigators with the Texas Department of Public Safety.

According to the official Department of Public Safety crash report, Long was driving his 2008 Ford pickup truck north bound on Chisolm Trail Road when he lost control of the truck and sent it into a side skid. The vehicle then flipped and rolled several times, throwing Long from the driver’s seat in the process, before come to rest. The official report also indicates that Long was believed to be driving at an unsafe speed at the time of the crash, and State Troopers said Long was not wearing a seatbelt, which contributed to the ejection during the accident.

Information was not available Monday as to the extent of Long’s injuries, or what caused his death. Troopers also did not release any additional information with regard to the cause of the crash, including what factors may have caused Long to lose control of the vehicle. Exactly how fast Long was driving at the time of the accident was also not available.

Long’s body was transported to the Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy, but authorities have not said when they expect to see the results of the coroner’s investigation, or if they expect any new information from the examination. There were no other passengers in Long’s pickup truck at the time of the crash, and no other vehicles appear to be involved in the accident.

Condolences for the Long family poured in throughout the internet after Long’s death was announced shortly after the crash, with family and friends remembering him. Several internet users commenting on stories about Long’s death also noted that his father died on the same date 20 years earlier, in 1991.

“Mike was an awesome young man. Always smilin’, he will really be missed by our family,” a couple identifying themselves as Johnnie and Alice Lantz said via kbtx.com on Aug. 1. “My heart goes out to his family, my thoughts and prayers are with them.”

A legend is in the making of a man that is moving in to a small Dallas suburb. He has recently found a 2 story, 3,250 square foot house in the Dallas suburbs worth 340,000 dollars and is only paying 15 dollars to live in it.

Kenneth T. Robinson is 50 years old and sells vitamins and other dietary aids for a living for a marketing company. He has recently moved his stuff in to a house that was built in 1997. He was able to do this because of Texas’ unique law named “adverse possession.” The name is more commonly known as “squatters rights.” What this means is that the owner of record moved out more than a year ago, and could not be found or contacted. The second stipulation that must be met was that the house was not listed as “for sale.” All he had to do after he checked those requirements was file and affidavit of adverse possession with Denton county that charged a $15 fee. After that he turned on the utilities and moved in.

This move has not gone with out controversy. Many neighbors are upset with Robinson. Some have been quoted saying this is no more than robbery on Robinson’s part. Robinson had the police called on him after he moved in by his neighbors. When they showed up he provided them with his affidavit and explain how the law of Texas allows for him to do this. After the police incident, people in the neighborhood association showed up and confronted Robinson. Worried for his own personal safety, Robinson called the police on the neighborhood association, who made them disperse abruptly.

Robinson does now outright own the house. If a former owner reasserts ownership within 5, 10 or 15 years, depending on if Robinson lives there continuously and pays taxes and home association fees.

Two Bryan schools were labeled as academically unacceptable; Jones and Fannin elementary schools. Fannin missed the next higher ranking by the margin of two student scores.

The school ratings were released on Friday by the TEA, covering over 1,000 districts. Statewide, the numbers are not encouraging as a whole. The number of schools receiving the exemplary rating (the highest a school can achieve) dropped from 2,637 in 2010 to 1,224 for 2011. Additionally, the number of school listed as unacceptable grew from a 2010 total of 104 to 569 for 2011.

Districts and schools are classified into any of four categories; unacceptable, acceptable, recognized and exemplary, with ratings based on factors like drop-out rates, completion rates and standardized tests.

College Station schools and campuses named exemplary are Southwood Valley, South Knoll, Pebble Creek, Creek View, Rock Prairie and Forest Ridge elementary schools.

Bryan schools named as exemplary were Neal, Sam Houston and Johnson elementary schools.

Despite more challenging science and math standards, 2011 scores were able to maintain exemplary, recognized status, or increase the percentage of schools meeting above-standard expectations in 96 percent of indicators.

Schools named as recognized include Bowen and Sul Ross elementary schools, as well as the Bryan Collegiate High School.

Deemed academically acceptable in Bryan are Mitchell, Branch, Navarro, Milam, Henderson, Crockett, Bonham and Kemp elementary schools, Davilla, Sam Rayburn, Jane Long and Stephen F. Austin middle schools, Bryan and Rudder high schools, and Mary Catherine Harris School.

College Station schools named academically acceptable are Timber Academy, Oakwood Intermediate, College Hills, Cypress Grove Intermediate School, College Station Middle School, A&M Consolidated Middle School and A&M Consolidated High School.

School districts in the area have said that while they have not had a chance to thoroughly analyze the TEA data, they do use real data like this to analyze and make adjustments that are needed.

The postal service has been the center of much controversy these past few years. The root of the concern is money. Our stamp prices are every increasing but we are receiving no extra benefits or services. Many people have attributed this problem to rural post offices.

The United States Postal Service has been developing a criteria for post offices that they believe are losing the Postal Service the most money. Among many other criterion, logging under 2 hours a week, another post office residing within a 5 mile radius and the ones that are earning less than 50 dollars a day are the offices that are receiving the most scrutiny. The postal service is now grouping this offices together and conducting a 138 day study to fully analyze their situations.

The Postal Service has been expanding its horizon regarding the location of their post offices. Instead of having individual post office buildings, they are experimenting with installing a post office in a building that is being used by another business. A good example of this is a grocery store or a bank. The goal for this is to reduce utility expenses and land ownership costs.

The United States Postal Service may be fighting a battle that is already lost. As we all know, technology is reducing our need for the postal service. Internet social networking sites such as Facebook has replaced the need for your friendly letter you would receive in the mail from a colleague. Invitations are also being slowly replaced by the internet. Postal services will always be needed in our country for freight, but it is slowly dying out as an effective and efficient form of communication. The United States Postal Service needs to acknowledge these problems and restructure their system to accommodate for this change. Down size is needed to keep this business in the green.

Five Schools in the Bryan / College Station area received an exemplar rating from Texas education agency while two elementary schools were deemed unacceptable. Fannin and Jones elementaries were these schools that did not meet the Texas education agencies standards.

More than 1,000 school ratings were released to the public on Friday by the Texas education agency. The schools could be grouped in to 4 categories, exemplary, recognized, acceptable and unacceptable. The state of Texas set a record in 2010 for the amount of exemplary schools in the state with 2,637. Unfortunately though for Texas residents this number fell by over half in 2011. The number now stands at 1,224 in 2011. To pour salt on the wound, the number of unacceptable schools rose in 2011 from 104 to 569. That is nearly 5 times the amount there was in 2010.

In the college station area, the schools that were recognized with the exemplary award were Forest Ridge and Rock Prairie.The recognized schools were Creek View, Pebble Creek, South Knoll and Southwood Valley elementary schools. In Bryan, there were three schools rated exemplary. They were Johnson, Sam Houston, and Neal elementary schools.

What is very encouraging news for parents in the area is that every sub group was above the state examination standard even though the science and math requirements became more challenging. To receive the exemplar status your school must have placed in the 96th percentile.

Superintendent Eddie Coulson elaborated how rankings were one of the many factors the school district used to gauge its success as educators. Another factor the school district uses as a grading scale is how prepared their students are for post secondary education. He stated he wants to raise his schools college attendance as he believes this in turn will help them become productive members of society.

Hopefully our Texas education system will keep striving for academic excellence.

This tropical storm shut down nearly 60 off shore petroleum platforms as it made its way through the gulf of Mexico. The storm made land fall between Corpus Christi and Brownsville. Tropical storm warnings were in effect from the mouth of the Rio Grande to Matagorda.

One concern many residents had with tropical storm Don is the impending evacuations of local camp grounds. Fortunately for our campers, Cameron County Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator Charles Hoskins said he did not expect a mandatory evacuation of the camp grounds if Don behaved as predicted. However, he has recommended people move any property that is in an area where flash flooding can occur. 3-5 inches of rain is expected from tropical storm Don. The highest recorded sustained winds were 50 miles per hour.

In spite of the impending tropica storm, the Padre Islands were still packed on Friday afternoon. One would assume that the causeway from the Padre Islands was backed up because of tropical storm Don, but they would be wrong. The actual cause for the traffic jam was due to construction. It appears that we as residents of Texas are taking this tropical storm very lightly. It took us some time to find residents who were very concerned about this tropical storm. We finally found one, a small town called Harlingen, the residents of the community were banding together in effort to produce as many sand bags as possible.

Now all we can do is wait for the storm to pass and pick up pieces when it is over.

It’s a well-known fact that most homeless people suffer from mental disabilities. However, police officers know that many of these people are harmless. In fact, when cops are called to a disturbance involving a mentally-ill homeless person, it’s usually more of a case of the homeless person acting “weird” than actually committing a crime.

Unfortunately, some police officers are unable to tell the difference between mental illness and criminal activity. For this reason, homeless people are often arrested and placed in jail beside real criminals.
Albright is trying to change all that. After struggling with bi-polar disorder for most of her life, she is able to relate to the plight of many mentally-ill homeless people. She even experimented with drugs to combat her severe depression, which helps her to understand the unfortunate road which many homeless people are forced to take.

In that sense, Albright is acting as a liaison between mentally ill homeless people and police officers. In Brazos County, she teaches groups of law enforcement officials how to deal with mental illness every day. Essentially, by promoting understanding among each group of people, she expects to significantly reduce the number of innocent victims of mental illness who end up in prison.

Albright turned her life around after a police officer found her close to death in a roadside ditch. Instead of just dropping her off at the hospital, the police officer ensured that Albright stayed in the hospital until she received the counseling that she so desperately needed. Soon after that, she found God, quit drugs, and started her road to recovery. The next time you see somebody suffering from mental health issues on the streets, understand that there is a story behind each one. As evidenced by Sharla Albright, the world would be a better place if we would all take that lesson to heart.

A news conference was held in Greenville on Monday 18th July so that the sheriff’s office could provide details concerning the incident.
Contrary to what the suspects claim, Joe Knight, undersheriff in Hunt County, says that the young boy had suffered blunt trauma on a massive scale and had been dead for quite some time.

The Sheriff’s Office at Hunt County have stated that the man and woman thought to be involved in the murder of Bradley Herrera will be charged with capital murder. On Tuesday 19th July, formal charges were made again them for the murder of the 2-year-old.

The boy’s body was found in a car in North Texas and had been battered. Suspects Arturo Vega, 23, and Gabriella Ortiz, 22, (who have a three-year-old child of their own), were relatives of the victim and were supposed to be caring for him. The couple do not yet have lawyers for when they face trial.
No information has yet been released about what the motive for the murder could have been; however, the boy’s parents have been notified of the recent events by the sheriff’s office.

The suspects were in custody until formal charges were made against them. Officials contacted the parents of Bradley Herrera before releasing information such as the name of the boy. The 3-year-old child of the couple charged with capital murder is currently in the custody of the Child Protection Services. Joe Knight has stated that the mother of the victim had left her son with the two relatives several weeks ago.

A former crime scene investigator from Bryan, Curtis Klingle, has stated that the car tire marks found in the same area where the body of Perez was found match those of the Ford Explorer belonging to Peck.
Many experts and law officials were seen in court on Monday, 18th July as well as two friends of Perez. They had been called by Jarvis Parsons and Kara Comte who were the prosecutors. Police officers charged Michael Allen Peck with first degree murder on January 26th 2010, just six days after the body of Perez had been discovered off Sandy Point Road. Odis Galbreath, a friend of the victim, stated that when he had contacted Perez by telephone on the night of the murder, she had told him that she was off Sandy Point with Peck.

Prosecutors have not yet made a decision concerning the allegations made against Peck, but defense attorneys called upon Michael J. O’Kelly, a cell phone record analyst. O’Kelly, from Nebraska, had reviewed telephone calls from the phones of Perez and Peck in order to determine where the couple were heading that night after leaving the home of a friend. O’Kelly confirmed to the court that Perez could not be reached on her cell phone between the hours of 11pm and 2am.
There were seven items submitted to DNA experts for tests; however, experts have been unsuccessful in finding any DNA that links any of the items to Michael Peck.

With fewer lawyers in Texas than many other American states, it is rumoured that Texas A&M are going to attempt to build the law school once again. The regularly scheduled meetings of Texas A&M are held each week, and many are expecting plans for the new school to be made. Governor Rick Perry is reported to have told a 13-year-old aspiring lawyer: “By the time you get there [Texas A&M], they will have a new law school.”
Before creating a law school, Texas A&M would need to obtain the permission of either Texas Legislature or the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. However, it is unlikely than the coordinating board would agree to this proposal at this particular time.
Although there are not many lawyers in Texas at the moment, officials say that no more lawyers are required immediately. The number of lawyers is expected to rise significantly over the next five years, which means that Texas A&M will have no need to build an extra law school. The state resources in Texas are not many, and the tight budget means that the government is hesitant to fund a sixth law school in this state.

Texas A&M officials are reported as having had plans since the mid-1960s to build a law school, but it seem that all their efforts so far have been completely in vain as the state are limited when it comes to what they can provide for students of an extra school.

Chief Eric Burske is currently overseeing the investigation into this case but states that he cannot release any information. Due to civil service rules, if officers resign before any formal punishment is given, all the findings of the investigation are to remain completely confidential. The police investigation concluded on July 15th, and details were due to be heard on July 20th.

The shootings took place near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Street and Texas Avenue. The victims of the attack were construction worker Juan Garcia and twenty-year old Johnnie Walton Harris Jr., who were both unarmed. William Cross was immediately placed on administrative leave.

A grand jury made the decision in June that Cross would not have to face criminal charges as a result of the shootings; however, police investigation is expected to bring to light further details of the incident. The majority of residents in North Bryan were horrified and angered by the shootings which took place in their community. Many were left traumatised and scarred by the attack which they witnessed. They expected to hear many details of the event when Burske was to release the findings; however, unforeseen circumstances have prevented any evidence or information being made public.