Daily News Recap (4-3-15)

Compiled by Holly Henrichsen
Assistant Web Content Manager

Flight data that has been recovered from the Germanwings Flight 9525 now show that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz purposely used the controls to speed up the planes descent. According to the French air investigation agency BEA, the recovered black box shows that the co-pilot present in the cockpit used autopilot to put the airplane into a descent towards an altitude of 100 feet. Soon after co-pilot Lubitz modified the autopilot to increase the speed of the airplane’s descent. Evidence from the cockpits voice recorder has led investigators to believe that Lubitz acted deliberately to crash the plane, killing all 150 people on board.
-Taylor Zavala

After being confined to the state of Alabama’s death row for thirty years, former inmate Anthony Ray Hinton will now be released after becoming one of the longest serving death row inmates in Alabama’s history. According to CNN, Hinton was convicted at the age of 29 in 1985 of two separate murders, but after a new trial was ordered in 2014, firearms experts testified that Hinton’s accused weapon failed to match the evidence used in the murders and clarified that the 2 murders were not linked at all. Hinton says that he has always maintained his innocence, and that he will continue to pray for the families involved who have suffered a miscarriage of justice.
-Taylor Zavala

In an effort to define marriage, the Texas Attorney General’s office joined with the Attorney Generals of 14 other states to file a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a federal appeals court ruling that affirmed the states’ constitutional authority to refuse to allow and recognize same-sex marriages. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says in a press release the decision by the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is proper and is within the states’ right to define marriage. In January, the Attorney General’s office defended the institution of marriage before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and Attorney General Paxton continues to uphold Texas law against unconstitutional actions taken by Travis County judges.
-Chelsea Seifert

After several months, San Marcos officials have released information indicating that water testing has failed to identify a source of lead water contamination that was discovered at the Hays County Government Center. The government center’s water was shut off in late 2014 due to tests showing high levels of lead contamination leading to city wide testing. However, government officials are confirming that 2015 water testing has come back clean and lead free, but will continue to look into different water sources for drinking to ensure the centers drinking water remains untainted.
-Matthew Hamill