By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX – Hundreds of friends, family and well-wishers gathered in Brownwood for the funeral of 39-year-old Shannon Stone, who fell to his death trying to catch a souvenir baseball at a Texas Rangers game.
More than three dozen Patriot Guard Riders stood quietly across from the First United Methodist Church, holding American flags while the private memorial got under way Monday.
The program called for 10 fellow firefighters to carry Stone's casket to a lone fire engine parked in front of the church. Hundreds of law enforcement personnel, black tape covering their badges, were expected to join the procession to a cemetery.
Stone took his 6-year-old son, Cooper, to a Rangers game in Arlington on Thursday night. They stopped to buy the boy a glove, and sat in left field. Cooper's favorite player, Josh Hamilton, tossed a foul ball into the stands. But Stone fell about 20 feet onto concrete as he tried to catch the ball. He died a short time later.
Texas schools may fire former Atlanta official
Trustees of a Texas school district are scheduled to meet amid concerns involving their new superintendent, who came to them from Atlanta amid an investigation of cheating on standardized tests.
Trustees of the DeSoto Independent School District are scheduled to meet Monday night to discuss the future of just-hired Superintendent Kathy Augustine.
The 9,000-student district in the Dallas area hired the 60-year-old Augustine in April. She's a former deputy superintendent of the Atlanta school district.
The DeSoto board's agenda includes the possibility of terminating Augustine's contract.
Augustine denies any wrongdoing in Atlanta, where teachers and officials are accused of falsifying and misrepresenting student test scores. She says she discussed the investigation with DeSoto officials while she was being considered for the $188,000-a-year job.
Summer heat hits hard from Louisiana to Illinois
The temperature setting is stuck on broil across a swath of the Midwest and South, with Dallas and Oklahoma City suffering through 100-degree heat for 10 or more days in a row.
Temperatures are soaring from Louisiana to Illinois, where authorities say a 51-year-old man found dead Sunday suffered heat stroke in a mobile home without a working air conditioner.
National Weather Service spokesman Chris Vaccaro says even areas with temperatures in the 90s are feeling as hot as 115 degrees with the humidity.
Hutchison, Kan., hit a scorching 112 on Sunday and Vaccaro says Oklahoma City has hit 100 degrees or higher every day since June 29.
Dallas also is on track to record its 10th day of 100-degree weather.
Perry may 'shake up' GOP field
Texas Gov. Rick Perry is calling influential Republicans in early voting New Hampshire and Iowa, the latest indication that he's seriously considering a presidential run.
New Hampshire Senate President Peter Bragdon says Perry called him over the weekend to gauge his support and seek his thoughts on what might happen if he entered the race and "shook things up a little bit."
Perry also was making calls to GOP leaders in Iowa, which holds the first contest in the fight for the Republican nomination. He left a voicemail Sunday telling Iowa Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds he looked forward to meeting her soon. Other Republicans were called, too.
Bragdon says Perry is doing his homework as he weighs whether to run.
Whoa, baby! Texas mom delivers 16-pound newborn
A Texas mom expected a big baby, but nothing like this: 16 pounds, 1 ounces.
Janet Johnson on Monday remained in an East Texas hospital after giving birth to what her doctors called one of the biggest newborns they've ever seen. She was awaiting word from the state to see whether her son, JaMichael Brown, ranked among the biggest births in Texas history.
JaMichael was born Friday at Good Shepherd Medical Center in Longview. Johnson has gestational diabetes, which results in bigger newborns for many mothers. Yet doctors had estimated JaMichael would be around 12 pounds prior to the cesarean birth.
Johnson says the attention surrounding her fourth child has been overwhelming. She hopes to take JaMichael home this week - and return his newborn clothes that won't fit.