Lottery commission names director to replace Cloud
The Texas Lottery Commission voted unanimously Friday to appoint Gary Grief as acting executive director of the lottery, a day after Linda Cloud quit the top job because she lied about her knowledge of an investigation of a former lottery commissioner.
The three-member commission hired Grief at an emergency meeting called after Cloud abruptly resigned late Thursday, saying her reputation had been hurt by the investigation flap.
Hours before Cloud's resignation was made public, the lottery commission announced it was forced to give into months of slumping lotto sales and slash the minimum jackpot from $4 million to $3 million.
"We have a lot of work to do at the commission, a lot of challenges," Grief said.
Man dies after being stung by more than 200 bees
FORT WORTH, Texas - A Parker County man died after being stung more than 200 times by what officials identified as a colony of crossbred Africanized bees and honey bees.
Mike Cavanaugh, 56, was attacked on his tractor Sept. 16 while mowing a pasture in eastern Parker County. The bees had built a hive in one of the tires of an abandoned truck that Cavanaugh jarred while mowing.
Cavanaugh apparently struggled during the attack to return to his wheelchair, officials said. The former excavation worker had been partially paralyzed in a past horseback riding accident.
"He was covered from head to toe with bees," his daughter, Ashley Cavanaugh, 19, of Azle, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Thursday editions.
Kirk's campaign Winnebago stops in Rio Grande Valley
HARLINGEN, Texas - Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk rolled his campaign through Democratic strongholds in the Rio Grande Valley Friday, saying it may be a long time before voters get another chance to send a sympathetic Democrat to the U.S. Senate.
"This is a once in a lifetime chance for many of us to vote on a senator who's going to make a difference in whether your mayor and these congressmen have a friend," he told workers.
Kirk outlined a bipartisan, "common ground" approach to education, health care, homeland security and national spending while at the same time stressing his affiliation with the Valley's Democratic political base.
Republican opponent John Cornyn in a news release criticized Kirk for "finally" visiting the Valley after winning the primary and charged Kirk with being part of a Democratic attack on a U.S. Court of Appeals nominee.
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