The State of Texas: April 3, 2014

Video of the Day

The Bigfoot that made its way through Texas in February might be a fake, but maybe, just maybe, the chubacabra is real. A couple in Ratcliffe, Jackie and Bubba, claim to have caught the backwoods monster. And except for being the size of a nice poodle, it’s pretty frightening. Way to go, Bubba:

Image of the Day

It’s the best of both worlds — A&M spirit and NASCAR power. Today is the unveiling of the 12th Man Car, a version of which will flash its colors around and around the race track on April 6 during the Sprint Cup in Ridgeway, Virginia. Honorary Aggie, Jeff Gordon, will be behind the wheel:

Daily Roundup

Fort Horror — Like a reoccurring nighthorror, another shooting happened at Fort Hood yesterday. Reports of the shooting started rolling in shortly after 4 p.m. and by the late evening, details of the terrible events were pieced together. “An Iraq War veteran being treated for mental illness opened fire Wednesday on fellow service members … killing three people and wounding 16 before committing suicide,” according to the Waco Tribune. Obviously, when the news hit, most feared the worst — a replay of the religiously inspired attack that left thirteen dead in 2009. This latest attack, however, appears to be rooted in a much more common issue. “The gunman, who served in Iraq for four months in 2011, had sought help for depression, anxiety and other problems. Before the attack, Ivan Lopez had been undergoing an assessment to determine whether he had post-traumatic stress disorder.” More details will emerge in the next few days, but before the barrage of think pieces about Lopez, guns, soldiers’s mental health, and the like begin flooding your reading list, send some good vibes to the families suffering after this tragedy.

Plan B — The abortion fight in Texas will never, ever go away. “Less than a week after a federal court upheld two new Texas abortion requirements already in effect, abortion providers announced plans to file a second lawsuit targeting additional regulations that the Republican-led Legislature passed in July,” according to the Texas Tribune. That previous suit claimed that the part of the law requiring abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at local hospitals was an undue (and unhealthy) burden. A three-judge panel disagreed. This time, abortion providers are challenging parts of the law that “require abortion facilities to meet the same structural standards as ambulatory surgical centers.” There are only six ambulatory surgical centers that perform abortions in Texas. Thus far, the parts of the law already in effect have been blamed with shutting down a dozen clinics. Those that go into effect in September, the structural requirements needed to create what is basically a mini-hospital, could in theory close eighteen more providers, leaving fewer than 10 facilities for nearly 13 million Texas women.

A Family Affair — The family of a seventeen-year-old, whose girlfriend’s father shot him after finding the boy in bed with his daughter, wants the daughter implicated in teenager’s death. The original story made the rounds earlier this month probably because it confirmed everyone’s nightmare scenario. The girl didn’t help the situation by claiming that she didn’t know the boy who was sharing her bed. And now, the family and their supporters “demand that Houston District Attorney Devon Anderson motion to file either one to two counts of accessory to murder, or involuntary manslaughter against the young girl who they say intentionally lied to her father, which led to [the teenager’s] death,” according to KHOU. For what it’s worth, those “supporters” include local rabble-rouser Quanell X. A jury has yet to decide on whether the father will face charges and there’s no response yet from officials about these latest calls-to-action.

Balance Restored — For a day filled with trouble and tragedy, at least there’s one bit of good news. Willie has Ol ‘Dillo back! The “stuffed armadillo that serves as an on-stage mascot for country music legend Willie Nelson has been returned after being kidnapped from a Las Vegas-area show [on Monday],” according to the AP. After Nelson’s crew realized the armadillo was missing, they asked venue officials to “scour surveillance footage” of the post-concert meet-n-greet in question. Then the country gods intervened, hitting the thief in the heart with a Hank Williams-sized guilt. For, lo and behold, on Tuesday morning, “an apologetic man drove up and handed [venue officials] a shoebox and instructions to return it to Nelson.” Both Willie and Ol ‘Dillo are now on the road again.