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NATURAL RESOURCES
TEXAS COURTS
High priced gas Natural gas soars as cold grips homes, drillers By JONATHAN FAHEY ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — The frigid winter of 2014 is setting the price of natural gas on fire. Friday, the price in the futures market soared to $5.18 per 1,000 cubic feet, up 10 percent to the highest level in three and a half years. The price of natural gas is up 29 percent in two weeks, and is 50 percent higher than last year at
this time. Record amounts of natural gas are being burned for heat and electricity. Meanwhile, it’s so cold that drillers are struggling to produce enough to keep up with the high demand. So much natural gas is coming out of storage that the Energy Department says supplies have fallen 20 percent below a year ago — and that was before this latest cold spell. “We’ve got record demand,
record withdrawals from storage, and short-term production is threatened,” says energy analyst Stephen Schork. “It’s a dangerous market right now.” Natural gas and electric customers are sure to see somewhat higher rates in the coming months. But they will be insulated from sharp increases because regulators often force natural gas and electric utilities to use financial instruments and fuel-buying strate-
gies that protect residential customers from high volatility. To understand the price increase, just look at the thermometer. A second major cold snap this month is gripping much of the country, including the heavily-populated Northeast. And forecasters are now predicting colder weather in the weeks to come, extending south through Texas.
Photo by Ron T. Ennis/Star-Telegram | AP
Erick Muñoz arrives for a court hearing in Fort Worth, on Friday. A judge allowed a pregnant, brain-dead woman to be removed from life support, despite hospital opposition.
See NATURAL GAS PAGE 9A
WEATHER
WINTER’S COLD, ICY GRIP
Judge: No more life support Family fought hospital over brain-dead, pregnant woman By NOMAAN MERCHANT ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin-American Statesman | AP
Above: This view is looking south at the icy parking lot and road at the Stone Hill Town Center in Pflugerville, on Friday. Below: Caleb Davis, left, 9, and his sister Allie Davis, 7, play with the ice outside their home on Redmond Road in Austin, on Friday.
Friday was a bad day to travel in parts of the state By MICHAEL GRACZYK ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON — Icy conditions in Central and South Texas resulted in an unscheduled day off Friday for a quarter-million Lone Star State students. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for the Houston, San Antonio and Austin areas until
midday Friday as temperatures hovered just below freezing. The wet, wintry conditions had moved out of San Antonio and Austin by late morning. The weather was forecast to improve by Saturday, and Austin and San Antonio could see a return to temperatures in the 70s by Sunday, forecasters said.
See WINTER
FORT WORTH — A judge on Friday ordered a Texas hospital to remove life support for a pregnant, brain-dead woman whose family had argued that she would not want to be kept in that condition. Judge R. H. Wallace Jr. issued the ruling in the case of Marlise Muñoz. John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth has been keeping Muñoz on life support against her family’s wishes. The judge gave the hospital until 5 p.m. Laredo time Monday to remove life support. The hospital did not immediately say Friday whether it would appeal. Muñoz was 14 weeks pregnant when her husband, Erick Muñoz, found her unconscious Nov. 26, possibly due to a blood clot. Both the hospital and the family agree that she meets the criteria to be considered brain-dead — which means she is dead both medically and under Texas law — and that the fetus could not be born alive at this point. But the hospital had not pronounced her dead and continues to treat her over the objections of both Erick Muñoz and her parents, who sat together in court Friday. “Mrs. Muñoz is dead,” Wallace said in issuing his ruling, adding that meant the hospital was misapplying a state law that prohibits the removal of life-sustaining treatment from a pregnant patient. Larry Thompson, a state’s attorney
Photo by Jay Janner/Austin-American Statesman | AP
PAGE 9A
See WOMAN
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FEDERAL COURT
Conviction OK’d in Saudi student bomb plot By MICHAEL GRACZYK ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON — A federal appeals court has upheld the conviction of a former Texas college student from Saudi Arabia sentenced to life in prison for trying to make a bomb for use in a religious attack that possibly was targeting former President George W. Bush. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday rejected an appeal from Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, 23. A federal court jury in Amarillo in June 2012 convicted him of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. Prosecutors said Aldawsari, serving his life term at a federal prison in Terra Haute, Ind., had collected bomb-making material in his Lubbock apartment and re-
searched possible targets, including Bush’s Dallas home, the Cotton Bowl, Hoover Dam and “people of New York,” according to the trial transcript. Aldawsari’s lawyers contended in their appeal before the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit that the trial judge improperly allowed evidence, gave invalid jury instructions and erred in calculating Aldawsari’s sentence. Dan Cogdell, the lead attorney for Aldawsari, did not immediately respond to messages Friday from The Associated Press. Aldawsari was arrested in February 2011 after the FBI searched his computer and apartment for evidence under terms of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows such searches if there’s probable cause the offender
is an “agent of a foreign power.” The appeal contended the search involving Aldawsari wasn’t valid because there was no evidence of any foreign power’s involvement. But a three-judge panel of the appeals court said “protection of the nation against terrorist threats” made the search proper under a provision of the act. Attorneys also argued Aldawsari never completed the bomb but had made “mere preparations,” meaning a single sentence in the jury instruction referring to the crime of attempt was invalid. The court said the reference in the appeal was taken out of context and the instruction as a whole was correct. In addition, the appeal said the sentence was too severe. While the punishment was the maximum
the trial judge could impose, “we do not find the district court abused its discretion,” the appeals panel said. Aldawsari arrived in the U.S. legally in 2008 to study chemical engineering. A handwritten journal found in his apartment included notes that he believed it was time for “jihad,” a Muslim term for holy war. Federal agents also found explosive chemicals, wiring, a hazmat suit and clocks, along with videos showing how to make the chemical explosive TNP. At his trial, his attorneys claimed he was a harmless failure who never came close to attacking anyone. He told U.S. District Court Judge Donald E. Walter at his sentencing hearing in November 2012
he was lonely and isolated from family, friends and faith. “I am sorry for these bad actions, but none of these bad actions did harm to the United States,” Aldawsari said. FBI bomb experts say the amounts of chemicals he had would have yielded almost 15 pounds of explosives, about the same amount used per bomb in the 2005 London subway attacks. Investigators say they were tipped to his online purchases by a chemical company and a shipping firm. Aldawsari had transferred from Texas Tech in early 2011 to nearby South Plains College, where he was studying business. A Saudi industrial company was paying his tuition and living expenses in the U.S.