Chris Edwards is an Army staff sergeant who was burned over 80 percent of his body when a roadside bomb exploded under his patrol vehicle in Iraq in April 2005. I followed Chris, his wife Tammy and their son Riley for eight months for this three-part story on what it takes for a family to recover from the unthinkable.

The ten problematic homes in West University Place are huge and beautiful — luxurious — ranging in value from $945,000 right up to $2.8 million. Without knowing about a major paperwork oversight, families have lived in the homes for four, five, sometimes up to nine years.

From Sept. 10 to 13, 2008, I traveled to the Texas coast to cover Hurricane Ike for the San Antonio Express-News. I filed video stories on the evacuation of special-needs residents, people preparing their homes for the storm before leaving, others who decided to stay, and the destruction after the hurricane.

Time appears to be against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay in his fight to exonerate himself of money laundering charges before he is permanently replaced as House majority leader.

In an attempt to meet a late January deadline for DeLay to regain his position, DeLay’s attorneys asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to compel a lower court to give the congressman a speedy trial. Since the state’s response to the request was filed today, the court could agree to consider the issue as early as Wednesday, but would not make a decision for another two weeks.

Sixty-two University of Texas shuttle buses allegedly contain an electrical system defect that causes engine fires, which makes the buses “unreasonably dangerous and a threat to the safety of bus riders,” according to a recent lawsuit.

Multiple bus fires have caused some shuttle drivers and members of the group Students for a Fair and Safe Shuttle to question ATC/Vancom of Texas’ bus maintenance procedures.