we went to texas city to investigate further.e refinery, but they declined our request for an interview. they referred us to their own report on the explosion, which concluded... but when we spoke to the chief government official who has been investigating the explosion, she told us that's not true. >> the problems that existed at bp texas city were neither momentary nor superficial. they ran deep through that operation of a risk denial and a risk blindness that was not being addressed anywhere in the organization. carolyn merritt, appointed by president bush to chair of the u.s. chemical safety board, has led an 18-month investigation into what happened at texas city. >> these things do not have to happen. they are preventable. they are predictable, and people do not have to die because they're earning a living. >> you think this accident could have been easily prevented? >> absolutely. >> merritt's investigators found problems at texas city just about everywhere they looked: antiquated equipment, corroded pipes about to burst,

texas cities to resolve the allegations. that same month in florida a president of a durable medical equipment company was imperezened for fraud. block granting medicaid funding to states is the right thing to do. i speak as a former statewide elected official. the states know their population best. who is going to hold the governors and the states accountable? guess what. the people will hold the governors and the states accountable. what makes us sitting here that we know better than the elected officials of our states and of our localities? why can't we trust the people again? why are we trusting some unelected unaccountable bureaucrats with billions and billions of dollars instead of trusting the people that we are supposed to be serving? when you block grant medicaid you let the states decide who is poor and what kind of services that they need. yes, the states. the people. not a federal unelected unaccountable bureaucrat. that works best. i'm not yielding. i'm not yielding. i'm looking. the one-size-fits-all washington

. >>> how the homeless helped patch up the wifi dead spots in one texas city. >>> what you may have in common with lindsay lohan and kim kardashian. do you all have money coming to you? >>> this is not how you want to start your day. a jet was badly damaged when it rolled off a taxiway at one of the world's busiest airports in atlanta. one of the wings sticking up in the air mechanics were testing the engines on the delta 737 when the braking system failed. two maintenance workers were onboard, they were not hurt. cranes were brought in to move the jet. they have some explaining to do. >> yeah, nothing like that but we have our own share of airport problems locally too. >> three hours 15 minutes last time i checked and they are getting longer every time i checked, so i stopped checking. flight tracker abc7news.com go to the bottom of the page. some regional flights may be cancelled because of the rain and snow. good morning again. 11:19 snow falling in the sierra they are going to get more snow pack now around 30% of average. we could use as much as they can give us without the avalanc

. >>> how the homeless helped patch up the wifi dead spots in one texas city. >>> what you may have inommon with lindsay lohan and kim kardashian. do you all have money coming to you? >>> this is not how you want to start your day. a jet was badly damaged when it rolled off a taxiway at one of the world's busiest airports in atlanta. one of the wings sticking up in the air mechanics were testing the engines on the delta 737 when the braking system failed. two maintenance workers were onboard, they were not hurt. cranes were brought in to move the jet. they have some explaining to do. >> yeah, nothing like that but we have our own share of airport problems locally too. >> three hours 15 minutes last time i checked and they are getting longer every time i checked, so i stopped checking. flight tracker abc7news.com go to the bottom of the page. some regional flights may be cancelled because of the rain and snow. good morning again. 11:19 snow falling in the sierra they are going to get more snow pack now around 30% of average. we could use as much as they can give us without the avalanche

one person died, three others hurt when the man opened fire outside of the court in southeast texas city of beaumont. the man whose name is not released was at the courthouse with his family. the police have not said why and he hit one of the shooting victims with the truck as he was trying to escape. the gunman is hospitalized and is not clear how he was injured. >>> another big story, a close call for defense secretary leon pineta. the secretary's plane was landing in sank. a man stole the truck and drove it to the runway to crash the vehicle. authorities say it's unclear if pineta was targeted. later, he met with gap and tribal leaders to try to smooth the relations of the death of death of 16 afghans allegedly cold by a u.s. soldier. >> as tragic as the events of violence has been, they do not define the relationship between the coalition and afghan forces and the afghan people. >> the american soldier is in custody and was flown out of afghanistan and is being held in another country. where's not been charged. >>> in the u.s., a day of weight weighty discussions between obama and ca

guys it's time for tonight's tool time award and tonight we're giving it to the farmers branch texas city council here last week the fifth u.s. circuit court of appeals ruled the farmers branch law regarding immigration housing regulations was unconstitutional and according to the associated press city officials and farmers branch say they will likely press on defending the law and he farmers branch texas started on the path to immigration infamy in two thousand and six when they first tried to impose a law against renting to undocumented immigrants i love was repealed in two thousand and seven after the law was challenged in federal court by the a.c.l.u. and so in two thousand and eight the current version of the law was drafted and passed and the newer version attempts to require all renters to have a city license and have legal status of any applicant to be checked now that new less illegal law has been snared in legal battles of its own sense of past so far date the legal battles cause farmers branch taxpayers four point five million dollars while the cost is staggering especially sin

breaking news, a tornado touched down about 25 miles southwest of a central texas city. the twister, part a long line of dangerous weather in the area. >> people who know bales say they're stunned he's accused of slaughtering 16 civilians in afghanistan. in a statement, his wife extends condolences to the victim's families. >>> the owners of the mets have settled a lawsuit over the bernie madoff ponzi scheme. they will pay $162 million to the trustee in charge of getting the money back that madoff stole. they say they knew madoff stole, but never knew it was a scam. >>> and take a look at this. it's a video of a tsa agent patting down a 3-year-old boy in a wheelchair. the video has gone viral. the boy's father recently posted the video. he said it was upsetting. last september the tsa changed its rules on how it searches children. >> isha, there is petty theft. then there's potty theft. ♪ oh! [ baby crying ] ♪ what started as a whisper ♪ every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. ♪ slowly turned to a scream ♪ there's an insurance company that does that,

. >> reporter: houston, texas, city famous for big oil, and big spending.hoped to find a home. with a bachelor's and maeser's degree in hand, she was on her way to a promising journalism career. covering houston's high society for one of the country's most prestigious newspapers. you covered probably the most conservative parties in houston. >> yeah. >> reporter: but sarah had a secret. dreadsing up for fancy lunches by day, followed by taking nearly everything off by night. she was an exotic dancer. >> the reason i started dancing, it boils down to money. the economy was bad. and i couldn't get a job at a bookstore. on any given night how much would you make? >> the most i ever made one night was $2,000. >> reporter: $2,000 in one night. >> yeah. >> reporter: always the writer, tressler blogged online. >> clearly you didn't put stripping on your resume for the houston chronicle. >> no, i didn't. >> reporter: in january, her freelance job at the chronicle became full-time. she thought that her secret life was safe until this week when she was exposed by ano

waerts, more snow in arizona and the northern rockies, hail, gusty winds and tornadoes from texas to oklahoma city kansas city. >>> well most of us can't remember what it was like before gps. >> as amazing at that technology can be, that voice inside your dashboard is not always correct. a lesson can be learned the hard way. here's dan kloeffler. >> reporter: they were headed here thursday. three japanese tourists to the beautiful sappeddy beaches of stadbroke island. it seemed simple enough. what their gps didn't show was the nine miles of water between the mainland and the island. >> continue driving ahead. >> reporter: so they kept on driving and driving. >> continue driving 14.5 kilometers. >> reporter: they made it across some of the water before they decided it was a bad idea. were they the victims of gps confusion of trying to replicate what happened on "the office." >> it can't mean that. there's a lake there. >> the machine nose. >> it's a like. >> stop yelling at me. >> reporter: maybe some units have a thing for water. in washington state last year, instead of guiding a driver to a near

. >> why this city official from texas lays himself off. >> and and from and very information that wille you time, kooum and specially designed cars can help keep lights on during a power outage its coming up at 5:00. diane saw jer wheer a look at what she's working on. >> this is chris kuomo with us. he has more ant rutgers bullying case. the young man at the center of it all. also, coming up to celebrate. every time they can't get jobs back should meet this woman. she turned the town around with an inspired idea -dad, why e you getting that? -that's my cereal. is there a prize in there? oh, there's prize, all right. is it a robot? no. is it a jet plane? nope. is it a dinosaur? [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] inside every box of heart healthy cheerios are the great tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. stickers? uh-uh. a perhero? ♪ kinda. [ male announcer ] and we think that's the best prize of all. ♪ >>> heading towards the top of the hour, be happy you're not stuck in this. checking traffic, slow going whether you're heading towards east

. >> i grew up in new york city triet >> houston, texas.s right outside manhattan. >> i am a native she said. >> my father was a sicilian man. >> my mother was and italian catholics. >> my mother was from japan. i was a bit of a tomboy. >> things got very awkward and strange for me. i had to start trying to act like one and look like one. >> i would always dress in jeans and converse tennis shoes. my girlfriends would be checking out the guys and i would be checking out the girls. >> i had these close friendships with my best girlfriend and i was hiding from my senior prom date. >> there was never someone i could talk to because i thought i was different. >> by the age of five or six i already knew that i should keep it on the down low. >> i knew, absolutely, that i was not supposed to talk about it. >> i was not honest with myself or my family and. >> you are raised with the idea that you're supposed to grow up and have a family. >> find the man of your dreams to would support you. >> grow up and get married and have a husband. >> a wife,

city. >> houston, texas.y father was a sicilian. >> my mother is a catholic. >> my mom is from japan. >> i was a bit of a tomboy. a full-fledged tomboy. >> it got awkward and strange because i had to start trying to act and look like one. >> my choice of dress was always in jeans and converse tennis shoes. i was always checking out of the girls. >> i had close friendships with my girlfriends. hiding from my senior prom date. >> there was never somebody i could talk to because i thought i was different. >> i already knew by five that i should keep it on the download. >> i knew, absolutely. >> i was not honest with myself for my family. >> you are ways with that idea you are supposed to have a family. >> find the man of your dreams who will support you. >> grow up and get married. >> i would have a wife, children, a picket fence. >> i did not have any positive gay role models that i thought were out there. >> all of the imagery that was associated with gays and lesbians was as a hairdresser, some when you were

kansas city to texas. a chance of isolated storms and northern planes.ay to put it. usually, it's like cover up the tender vegetation, but the flowers could be in a little bit of trouble. >> they're going to freeze. >> tender vegetation. that's a term that i've never heard before. >> let's turn to sports now. after 9223 days and 26 pga tour events, tiger woods has finally won a tour since that thinnest giving night one-vehicle car accident. he's won six times there during his career. he ended the final round with a one-stroke lead on the eighth hole. tiger sends it nicely over the water. he will birdie to go 14 under. tiger with a four-stroke lead since the par putt. he was 13 under through 15. and then on 18, walks up with a five-stroke lead and a little swagger in his step. something we haven't seen for a long time. that's the short putt for par there on the final hole. he finished the day with a 2 under 70. tiger woods now has 72 career pga tour wins, his 7th at the arnold palmer invitational. woods saying he also counts his win last december at the u

league city texas going to spend nearly $200,000 just to move this tree.the way of a road widening project, apparently. it didn't want to just knock it down. it's believed the founder of the city planted it more than 100 years ago. and now it's time to get all scrambled up. here's our word of the day. and to help us out, we're bringing in steve doocy. are you there? >> hello, yes. i'd like to buy a vowel. ok. it's e. i need a little more. >> lottery. >> the word apparently that we've used throughout the show. >> lottery would be -- >> i got it, yeah. >> thank you very much, dave w

league city texas going to spend nearly $200,000 just to move this tree.the way of a road widening project, apparently. it didn't want to just knock it down. it's believed the founder of the city planted it more than 100 years ago. and now it's time to get all scrambled up. here's our word of the day. and to help us out, we're bringing in steve doocy. are you there? >> hello, yes. i'd like to buy a vowel. ok. it's e. i need a little more. >> lottery. >> the word apparently that we've used throughout the show. >> lottery would be -- >> i got it, yeah. >> thank you very much, dave was my phone a friend today. excellent work, david! >> hey, man. got to do something right today. >> he got it when he looked at it. >> steve, have a wonderful show. we will see you back here tomorrow morning, everybody. thanks for joining us. >> it was fun being here. >>

in san antonio, military city as we call it in texas, as i'm sure in a number of other cities there's been great interest in your comments about base realignment and closure. san antonio, as you know, actually gained -- though a traumatic gain, with the closure of burks air force base there in the last round, the city under the leadership has already reached out to find, i think 139 additional acres, if there's a need for expansion we see the cyber command as a place where warfare alternatives can be provides to those facilities that we have here in the washington area. i think the proposal that senator hiutchinson has put forward to include oversee bases in the review, that there at least needs to be a mechanism in any future bracket to consider where our oversees commitments are. i would ask you to consider that as we go forward. all of us have thousands of veterans in our areas and people that are military retirees. you have a number of proposals that you're considering that would impact the military retirees. can we assure those who are retired now or who are nearing retirement th

next on texas city. good morning. >> caller: good morning. in your in-depth study of korea, i'm sure you have gone back to the time of the armistice that we admit that we never left korea and we kept our the captor imm overall the series. can you give me the year in which the military and military intelligence became the land over the development of gun emplacements that they actually send that up the chain of command to the commander-in-chief and the occupied the arms at that time who was so incompetent that he did not take those initial gun emplacements out because they've now develop to the point where if a war should break out, the entire city of seoul would be destroyed. >> guest: in some ways you have to go back to 1953 when the armistice took effect. it is hard to believe in retrospect, but in 1953 americans didn't think we'd won the korean war. they were tired and wanted out. and so, we've reached an armistice cease-fire and the soviets and the chinese kept north korea and check for the most part in the cold war and we settled for a d

found out about the outstanding warrants when he went to renew his driver's license.the city of arlington, texas democrat.thomas tolbert says he just wanted to prove how easy it is... to reggster anyone to vote. so, he made up a birth date and social security number for his pet....and two weeks later, registration card in the mail.... when i opened it there it was. it was a voter registration card for my dog 3 as it turns out... this isn't the first time something like this has happened.two years ago... another man in new mexico registered his dog as an independent votertolbert says he will take responsibility for his 3 3 a swarm of bees....takes over a baseball game.... 3 what fans... were forced to do... for safety ../ . and the clever way .../ the grounds crew ...lured the bees &paway..... 3 was... a lot... of buzzing...// over.. .a... spring training.../ major league baaeball game.../ in arizona. get this..... a swarm of bees took over thh second inning of the arizonaadiamondbacks and san francisco giants game sunday. two sections of fans grounds crew came uu with a sweet solution. they used