NEWS YOU OUGHT TO KNOW
State climatologist: Texas had hottest December since 1889
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Last month was the hottest December in Texas since at least 1889, state Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon said.
Gammon found that temperatures from Dallas through Abilene to Del Rio averaged 5 to 9 degrees above normal, according to a Texas A&M University news release issued Monday. Nielsen-Gammon is the school’s regents professor of atmospheric sciences.
Nielsen-Gammon also said last month would likely prove to have been the warmest Texas winter month on record. February 2017 currently holds that distinction.
“It’s like the entire state moved south for the winter,” Nielsen-Gammon said. “Amarillo got Dallas’s normal temperatures, Dallas got Corpus Christi’s normal temperatures, and Austin got Brownsville’s normal temperatures.
The official state record for the warmest December is held by December 1933, at 53.3 degrees. The 20th-century average for December is 46.9 degrees, he said.
Texas seasonal temperatures have been 2 degrees warmer on average than in the 20th century because of climate change, the climatologist said.
“Global warming didn’t cause this December to be record-setting, but it did contribute to the margin of victory,” he said.
The unseasonably warm temperatures have also been worsening drought conditions throughout the state. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, more than two-thirds of the state is in a drought, and 10 percent is in an extreme drought.
“In much of West Texas, it hasn’t rained for over two months,” Nielsen-Gammon said. “The high temperatures increase the rate of evaporation, drying out everything and leading to increased wildfire risk.”
Lawyer: Texas dad didn’t know son accused in deaths had gun
GARLAND, Texas (AP) — An attorney for a man accused of driving his son to a Dallas-area gas station store where the 14-year-old is accused of fatally shooting three teens and wounding a fourth says the father didn’t know his son had a gun.
Attorney Heath Harris told The Dallas Morning News he believes evidence will show that 33-year-old Richard Acosta, who is charged with capital murder, is innocent.
“Our position is he didn’t do anything to solicit or encourage his son to do this,” Harris said.
Acosta’s son, Abel Elias Acosta, has been on the run since the Dec. 26 shooting in Garland. Police have charged the teen with capital murder and warned that he is armed and dangerous.
Richard Acosta, who surrendered to police a day after the shooting, remained in Dallas County jail Tuesday on $3 million bond.
Surveillance video shows a shirtless boy or man with a handgun approaching the store in a crouching position. He swings the door open and shoots from the doorway.
Police said the shooter fired more than 20 rounds from a .40-caliber pistol before fleeing in the Dodge Ram pickup driven by Acosta, who they said also brought the shooter to the gas station.
Harris said he thinks evidence will show that Acosta initially went into the store alone to pick up medicine for his wife and that after he got back into his pickup, his son said he needed something and went inside alone. Harris said the father heard gunfire but didn’t know the source.
Harris said the son was hysterical when he ran back to the pickup and the father drove them home. The son then got into a car and fled, Harris said.
Police named those killed in the shooting as 14-year-old Xavier Gonazalez, 16-year-old Ivan Noyala, and 17-year-old Rafael Garcia. A 15-year-old who was a cook at the store was taken to the hospital following the shooting and was expected to survive.
Investigators believe the shooting was a retaliatory attack on one or more of the people in the store, Garland police Lt. Pedro Barineau said.
Police initially took a different 14-year-old boy into custody, saying he was the shooting suspect. They released him to his family the next day and said he was not being charged.
