Texas

Inquirer music critic Dan DeLuca reports as of midweek from the SXSW music festival in Austin, Texas. See his blog dispatches at www.philly.com/inthemix

LUBBOCK, Texas - The adoptive mother of a 3-year-old Russian boy who died in Texas told authorities the boy was outside playing with his younger brother before she found him unresponsive, a sheriff said Wednesday. Laura Shatto told deputies that she was inside the family's home outside of Odessa on Jan. 21 and came out to find Max Alan Shatto on the ground, Ector County Sheriff Mark Donaldson said. Deputies arrived at the home as the ambulance was leaving with Max, he said, and the boy was pronounced dead at the hospital a short time later.

To devise a plan to distribute billions in federal money for Sandy relief, the Christie administration hired a company fired for poor management under a similar contract in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike in 2008. "It was a complete nightmare," said Steve Greenberg, a former councilman in Galveston, Texas, who said CDM Smith failed to pay subcontractors and to deliver on its promises of home construction after the storm. CDM Smith narrowly survived a dismissal vote from the Galveston City Council in 2011.

FORT WORTH, Texas - The Iraq War veteran charged with killing a former Navy SEAL sniper and his friend on a Texas shooting range had been taken to a mental hospital twice in the last five months and told authorities that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, police records show. Eddie Ray Routh, 25, also told his sister and brother-in-law after the shootings that he "traded his soul for a new truck," according to an Erath County arrest warrant affidavit obtained by WFAA-TV.

UNIVERSITY OF Texas regents Sunday ordered a review of policies regarding inappropriate relationships between employees and students after a 2-hour, private telephone meeting to discuss incidents involving assistant football coach Major Applewhite and former women's head track coach Bev Kearney. The call between the regents, their legal staff and Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa was scheduled after the disclosure Friday that Applewhite, the Longhorns' offensive coordinator, had been disciplined by the school in 2009 for his conduct with a student during a trip to the Fiesta Bowl.

GLEN ROSE, Texas - A 25-year-old man was charged with murder in connection with a shooting at a central Texas gun range that killed former Navy SEAL and American Sniper author Chris Kyle and his friend, the Texas Department of Public Safety said Sunday. Sgt. Lonny Haschel said in a news release that Eddie Ray Routh of Lancaster was arraigned Saturday evening on two counts of capital murder. Officer Kyle Roberts at the Erath County Jail said Routh arrived there Sunday morning and is being held on a combined $3 million bond.

HOUSTON - A fight Tuesday between two people led to a shooting at a Texas community college, where a maintenance man was caught in the crossfire and wounded, officials said. One of the people involved in the fight had a student ID, and both people were wounded and hospitalized, Harris County Sheriff's Maj. Armando Tello said. A fourth person also was taken to a hospital with a possible heart attack, he said. The two people involved in the fight are considered people of interest, Tello said.

BRYN MAWR NATIVE Carl Mazzocone is a producer of "Texas Chainsaw 3D," the highest-grossing film at the box office over the weekend. Mazzocone was the producer involved in securing rights to the name of the film, an update on the 1974 horror classic "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. " Mazzocone was also the producer of "Boxing Helena" who sued Kim Basinger for breach of contract after she decided against starring in the picture.   Bradley's b-day award Rydal native Bradley Cooper , whose hometown haunts were featured on CBS' "Sunday Morning," was serenaded by director David O. Russell and "Entertainment Tonight" host Mary Hart on his birthday Saturday.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE to take down a killer ex-slave? A chainsaw. Movie-studio estimates Sunday show the horror sequel "Texas Chainsaw 3-D" at No. 1 with a $23-million debut. The follow-up to 1974's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" has masked killer Leatherface on the loose again. Quentin Tarantino 's revenge saga "Django Unchained" held on at No. 2 for a second-straight weekend with $20.1 million, raising its domestic total to $106.4 million. After three weekends at No. 1, part one of Peter Jackson 's "The Hobbit" trilogy slipped to third with $17.5 million.

EDNA, Texas - Most of the time, the windowless building with the dome-shaped roof will be a typical high school gymnasium filled with cheering fans watching basketball and volleyball games. But come hurricane season, the structure that resembles a miniature version of the famed Astrodome will double as a hurricane shelter, part of an ambitious storm-defense system that is taking shape along hundreds of miles of the Texas Gulf Coast. Its brawny design - including double-layer cinder-block walls reinforced by heavy-duty steel bars and concrete piers that plunge 30 feet into the ground - should allow it to withstand winds up to 200 m.p.h.