28% of Texas teachers making ends meet with second jobs More than one in four Texas teachers moonlight at a second job to make ends meet, and 44 percent are seriously thinking of finding another career, according to a survey by the Texas State Teachers Association.
Low morale also appears to play a bigger role than small paychecks for teachers who are considering quitting, according to the survey released Friday by researchers at Sam Houston State University.
Asked why they are considering leaving the profession, 42 percent of teachers cited poor working conditions, double the percentage of those who cited low salaries.
"This year's report is especially disturbing because it shows an increasing need for teachers as an aging teacher corps moves closer to retirement," Donna New Haschke, president of the teacher's union, said in Saturday's edition of The Dallas Morning News.
The survey, conducted in February, questioned 177 teachers who responded to 700 questionnaires mailed by researchers.
The average annual salary of teachers surveyed was $47,545. An extra job brought in another $8,288, according to the survey.
Of the 28 percent of teachers who reported having second jobs, the survey found that just over half have another school-related position, like private tutoring. About 25 percent have service jobs, and 14 percent work in sales.
Weekend wildfire contained; no major damages reported DALLAS - The Texas Forest Service fought a 100-acre fire in Erath County.
Officials say the fire was caused by an escaped controlled burn. The terrain was described as rough and in a canyon, but the blaze was 50 percent contained by Saturday evening.
One home was threatened by the flames, but no injuries were reported.
Wildland firefighters were anticipating difficult conditions on Sunday and Monday with low humidity and high winds. Winds could gust as high as 50 mph in the mountains of far Southwest Texas.
Air passengers rescreened after metal detector malfunctions GRAPEVINE - Some passengers on two American Airlines flights had to be rescreened after security officers with the Transportation Safety Administration discovered that a walkthrough metal detector at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport wasn't working for 18 minutes.
TSA spokesman Greg Soule said 19 passengers went through the detector during that time frame Sunday. They determined that the 19 were on flights to either Birmingham, Ala., or Las Vegas.
Soule said passengers with connecting flights were rescreened and that those whose flights ended in those two cities were allowed to continue on their way. He said there were no problems on either flight.
Passenger Russ Jensen of Knoxville, Tenn., said that those arriving on the flight to Las Vegas were placed on a bus and taken around to the front of the airport, where they could go to baggage claim.
Oklahoma remembers victims of deadliest city bombing OKLAHOMA CITY - Oklahomans paused Saturday morning at the Oklahoma City National Memorial to remember those who died 13 years ago in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.
The attack on April 19, 1995, remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history.
As has become custom, the anniversary service held at the memorial - part of which sits on the site of the former federal building - was both simple and poignant.
At 9:02 a.m., the exact moment of the bombing, those attending the service observed 168 seconds of silence for each of the bombing's victims.
Before the ceremony, family members of the victims placed wreaths and mementos on the permanent chairs, each one representing a victim of the bombing.
"The evil act perpetrated here illustrated the depths of human depravity," Gov. Brad Henry said. "From such a horrible crime came tales of astounding goodness."
The nine-story federal building was destroyed when a cargo truck packed with 4,800 pounds of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil was detonated near its entrance. Besides the 168 who died - including 19 children - more than 800 others were injured.
An Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper caught Timothy McVeigh less than two hours after the bombing. McVeigh was convicted of federal murder charges before being executed on June 11, 2001.
West Texas fundamentalist church opens doors to media SAN ANGELO - Before authorities raided their west Texas retreat, members of a secretive polygamous church spent decades holding as tightly to their intense privacy as the Scriptures guiding their way of life.
Contact with outsiders was limited. Media inquiries were rejected with either stone-faced silence or a polite "no comment."
But after Texas officials removed 416 children belonging to members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the sect fired up the public relations machine.
From newspaper stories to appearances on morning network television, "Larry King Live" and "Oprah," FLDS women are speaking publicly about the heartbreak of being separated from their children and sharing some details of their life.
The public relations campaign began a more than week after the April 3 raid, when many FLDS women who had been allowed to remain with their children in state shelters were bused back to their 1,700-acre ranch.
Within an hour, church leaders threw open a pair of normally locked gates, launching a two-day media blitz. Cameras and reporters have had tours of the grounds and peeks inside the sect's homes and a church school.
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