AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - In the sports world, Craig James was a star football player for Southern Methodist University and the New England Patriots. He later became a household name in Texas as a television analyst for ESPN.
Now that he's running for the Senate, James can't separate his Republican politics from football, which accounts for nearly all of his name recognition. But drawing attention to his athletic exploits also means revisiting a pair of well-known scandals going back to the 1980s.
So instead of fielding public-policy questions, he must constantly fend off comments about how he took improper payments at SMU and played a role in firing a popular Texas Tech coach.
James says he "ready to move on." But it won't be easy in a state where football inspires almost religious devotion.
A bitter Republican fight for a Texas Senate seat has taken a new legal turn with Sen. Jeff Wentworth filing a libel lawsuit against opponent Elizabeth Ames Jones.
A suburban Houston man has pleaded guilty to possessing and conspiring to produce child pornography after sexually explicit photos of a child staying in his home were found on his home computer.
A jury has found a former Houston police officer not guilty of charges that he participated in the videotaped beating of a 15-year-old burglary suspect in 2010.
A prosecutor has told jurors that a former Houston police officer accused in the videotaped beating of a 15-year-old burglary suspect did not act with the honor expected of someone in his position.
A Texas death row inmate facing execution in three weeks for the slaying of a Dallas woman at her apartment more than 20 years ago has lost an appeal at the U.S. Supreme Court.
A judge has ruled against three newspapers and found that the Texas Department of Public Safety doesn't have to release travel records of Gov. Rick Perry's security detail.
A university report says a South Texas oil and gas bonanza supported nearly 48,000 jobs last year while creating overnight boom towns cashing in on a $25 billion economic windfall.
Deputies say a woman accused of snatching a 9-year-old Houston-area boy allegedly had an affair with his father and was upset that the relationship ended.
An attorney says a South Texas prosecutor running for U.S. Congress and another lawyer have been arrested in connection with the wide-ranging bribery scheme of a convicted former judge.
The legal stakes have been raised in the ongoing divorce between Deion Sanders and his estranged wife with a new criminal charge against the Pro Football Hall of Famer.
Some 1,119 school districts across Texas will delay for a year a requirement that the results of the STAAR test count toward ninth graders' final grades.
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