Temperatures were stuck in the teens. Snow and ice were on the ground. Residents in many parts of Jacksboro, Texas were stuck in their homes.
So Texas Gas Service shut off the gas supply to the entire town.
The company blames liquid that somehow made its way into the gas lines from their natural gas supplier.
City manager Mike Smith said the gas service was repeatedly turning on and off early Thursday morning meaning the pilot lights in various homes and businesses were shutting off, potentially filling the homes with gas.
The city set up emergency shelters at the Jack City Fair Barn and activity center. Electric heaters in the city are sold out and some people are using their ovens to heat their homes.
The city’s fire department is preparing for home fires and possible explosions from built up gas.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has reported that the country’s cattle herd has reached its lowest level in 63 years and that ongoing drought in Texas and the Midwest is going to further threaten herd levels.
More than 80 percent of the Lone Star state has been facing abnormally dry conditions that have impacted both farmer ability to water herds but also reduced much of the grass in the state to a level where it provides no nutrition for animals.
One farmer said he’s had major hits to his farm this year.
“We need rain bad,” rancher Stayton Weldon told Bloomberg. “We’ve got tremendous drought problems. It cuts your herd size down because people have to sell off to provide for the cattle that are left.”
Weldon has lost 22 cows and two bulls in the last year because of the conditions.
The USDA says the $85 billion a year beef industry will produce at its lowest level in 20 years through the end of 2014.
A man in the Houston, Texas area is facing hate crimes charges after being indicted for a knockout game attack.
Conrad Alvin Barrett, 27, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday.
Barrett is accused of stalking a 79-year-old black man, striking him in the face which broke his jaw in two places and then stood laughing over the man yelling “knockout” as the man fell.
Barrett videotaped the attack and showed it to various friends before waiving it around in a bar where it was viewed by an off duty police officer.
Barrett remains in custody. Defense attorneys have said that Barrett has bipolar disorder and was not on his medication at the time of the attack.
Southern Texas is facing a rare coating of ice as temperatures continue to plummet to record lows.
“The crazy thing is that the current cold snap this week looks to be a bit more modest in the face of next week’s outbreak,” Matt Rogers of the Commodity Weather Group told Bloomberg. “The cold coming for the end of January is sufficient to make this the coldest month of the century so far and the coldest the Lower 48 has felt in at least 20 years.”
Interstate 10 from Texas to Louisiana had to be closed because ice on the highway caused multiple accidents. State police warned residents to avoid the roadways as conditions deteriorated through the day Thursday and into Friday.
At least two deaths have been attributed to the icy accidents.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency because of the storm.
Texas officials are warning residents Friday that even if the winter weather warnings have been lifted, roads and bridges can freeze and be ice covered after dark.
A Texas woman has been arrested on suspicion of capital murder after police claimed she killed her baby and stuffed into a duffel bag that was found at a trash recycling plant.
Nidia Alvarado, 25, was taken into custody on Tuesday night at her home.
A police spokesman said that Alvarado gave birth to the baby boy and then strangled it to death before throwing him away. The baby was discovered on an intake belt at a Waste Management facility in San Antonio.
The woman reportedly gave a false name at the hospital where she gave birth. Poilce investigators did not tell the media how they were able to track down Alvarado but credited “tips from the public” for helping the investigation.
Police said that other children at Alvarado’s home were taken into custody by child protective services.
A group of Hollywood celebrities are hosting an event to pay for abortions in Texas.
The event featuring comedians Sarah Silverman and Zach Galifinakis and others is aimed to protest Texas’ new laws protecting the lives of the unborn.
The money from the event will be given to a group called “A Is For” which will provide financial support for groups that will cover the cost of abortions, travel, lodging and child care for any woman that wants to kill their baby via abortion.
The event reportedly sold out quickly with ticket prices from $60 to $100.
Anti-life activists have been challenging the Texas laws in federal courts.
The Centers for Disease Control is reporting that flu is now widespread in over half the United States.
The CDC says that a majority of the cases is the H1N1 virus that caused a worldwide pandemic in 2009.
The flu peaks in the United States between October and March. The CDC said that the spread this year is quick with at least 25 states having confirmed cases.
The CDC says at least six children in the United States have died from H1N1 and cannot say how many adults may have died from it as they do not track adult deaths from the flu. Texas has been particularly hard hit with 25 deaths this flu season.
Texas officials have told health care providers in the state to begin anti-viral treatments even if rapid flu tests come back negative and a patient is showing signs of the flu.
A Texas city’s mayor is drawing fire after he declared 2014 the “Year of the Bible” in his city.
Tom Hayden, the mayor of Flower Mound, Texas, made the declaration at last month’s city council meeting. Hayden told reporters that he had been considering the declaration for two years because he wants his community to connect through the Bible.
“The morality that helped build our country is based on the values that are found in the Bible,” Hayden told Fox News. “And as we look at problems, maybe we’re getting away from those values. And in my little small way, I want to encourage people to get back into those values.”
Hayden hopes to encourage residents to join together in reading the Bible in its entirety in 2014.
While some residents are critical of the Mayor’s move, it is not without precedent. President Ronald Reagan made a similar declaration in 1983.
A mysterious illness showing flu-like symptoms has killed four people in east Texas.
Montgomery County Health Officials confirmed the deaths of four out of eight patients showing signs of the mystery disease.
The patients all show signs of the flu or pneumonia but all tests for flu are negative. The patients range in age from 41 to 88 and health officials have not said the ages of the patients who have died.
Sources told KHOU-TV that two of the surviving patients at Conroe Regional Medical Center are “very sick.”
Health officials say they are waiting for more conclusive test results to determine the possible illness. They would not comment on whether the patients had pre-existing medical issues. Doctors have been advised to use extra precautions to keep the illness from spreading.
