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via Room EightA Chance to Make HistoryDear Friends, Our election may be over, but there are still some critically important campaigns that have yet to...

U.S. rig count this week up 23 Staff Writer HOUSTON (AP) - The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. thi...

4 Colorado vets sue Halliburton, KBR Staff Writer DENVER (AP) - Four Colorado veterans are the latest to file "burn pit" lawsuits agains...

NEW YORK — Shares of ION Geophysical Corp., which generates diagrams of crude oil and natural gas deposits for exploration companies, soared Monday when it announced a global joint venture that will dramatically cut its debt.

ION and BGP Inc., the world's largest land seismic contractor, will jointly provide seismic data on land-based petroleum prospects, ION said late Friday.

BGP will contribute $175 million for a 51 percent stake in the joint venture and a 16.7 percent interest in ION. The China-based company also will provide $40 million in bridge financing for ION.

The deal means ION of Houston will cut its long-term debt, and have more than $100 million in liquidity from cash and spare capacity on its revolving line of credit.

Barclay's Capital analyst James C. West reiterated his "Overweight" rating on the shares and raised his price target to $8 from $6.

Cherry Creek was slow last night, without the usual crowds at Little Ollie's and Houston's. But just down the street at 201 Columbine Street...

HOUSTON, TX--A Shell press release read without a trace of irony claims the Global Explorer will host countless fish and marine vegetation....

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board says better pipeline testing might have prevented a 2007 propane explosion that killed two people in rural Mississippi.

The blast destroyed four houses near Carmichael in the central part of the state and caused $3.4 million in property damage. The explosion was caused by a large rupture in an 1,100-mile pipeline that runs from Texas to North Carolina.

Investigators weren't sure how the break occurred but said current pressure testing isn't adequate to detect such failures.

Investigators also found the pipeline's owner, Houston-based Dixie Pipeline Co., had failed to include area houses in its safety awareness program and that 911 operators weren't part of the company's planning to respond to such an accident.

HOUSTON — Texas financier R. Allen Stanford, jailed for allegedly bilking investors out of $7 billion, became ill during a court hearing in Houston and wiped blood away from his mouth.

Stanford's attorney later blamed the condition on stress his client feels from being held in solitary confinement.

Stanford was in a Houston courtroom Wednesday at a hearing to set a trial date in his case when he began bleeding. That prompted U.S. District Judge David Hittner to stop and ask the financier if he was all right before resuming.

Wednesday was the first time Stanford had been in court since he got into a jail fight last month that resulted in him being hospitalized for a concussion.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Former men's basketball coach Billy Gillispie and the University of Kentucky have settled their cases over his firing for nearly $3 million, the school said Tuesday.

Gillispie was dismissed earlier this year and sued for breach of contract and fraud in May, seeking at least $6 million. The university countersued.

He had not signed a contract during his two years coaching the Wildcats to a 40-27 record but was working under a memorandum of understanding. He charged that he should have been paid $1.5 million per year for four of the five years left on the deal.

In a statement, the university said the lawsuits were settled through mediation and that Gillispie would receive a little more than $2.98 million. Another $260,000 will be paid by the university for attorney's fees, as well as $5,600 in mediation fees.

Gillispie's attorney Demetrios Anaipakos of Houston, did not immediately return a telephone message and e-mail from The Associated Press seeking comment. He told KRIV-TV in Houston that Gillispie was glad to have the case behind him.

ATLANTA — A passenger rights advocate accused Delta Air Lines Inc. in a federal lawsuit Tuesday of conspiring with a Virginia company to obtain hacked e-mails from her computer to help them derail her efforts to protect air travelers from lengthy tarmac delays and other inconveniences.

The suit, filed by Kate Hanni of FlyersRights.org in U.S. District Court in Houston, seeks at least $11 million in damages and a jury trial.

A spokesman for the world's biggest airline operator, Trebor Banstetter, denied that Delta hacked Hanni's e-mail account. He says Delta can't comment further on the lawsuit.

"Obviously, the idea that Delta would hack into someone's e-mail is clearly without merit," Banstetter said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

Hanni and her group have been a thorn in the side of the airline industry, pushing Congress to enact a passenger bill of rights at a time when airlines are suffering from big revenue declines thanks to weak demand for air travel.

WASHINGTON — Six years after nearly 1,200 U.S. soldiers in Iraq were potentially exposed to a sometimes deadly chemical linked to cancer, the military and Veterans Affairs Department have been tracking them down and asking them to get a medical exam.

The troops were protecting or in the area of workers hired by a subsidiary of the contractor, KBR Inc., based in Houston, to rebuild the Iraqi water treatment plant Qarmat Ali near Basra, Iraq. The chemical was sodium dichromate, and it had contaminated the area.

In June, The Associated Press chronicled the health problems of the soldiers who had served at the site. Sickness with symptoms ranging from chest pain to lung disease and even death among troops who served there have been blamed on exposure at the site.

KBR, which is facing at least five pending related lawsuits, denies wrongdoing. It says its conduct was governed by its contract with the U.S. military, which was to ensure work sites were free from environmental hazards. Once the contamination was found, it says it notified the Army and helped clean up the site.

The military is also asking the soldiers potentially exposed to enroll in a registry that is tracking such health problems, according to a Sept. 29 letter sent by then-Army Secretary Pete Geren to Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., which spells out the efforts to reach the troops.

DICKINSON, Texas — Authorities on Tuesday made an arrest in a nearly 20-year-old southeast Texas case where an 8-year-old girl was brutally attacked and left for dead in a field, unable to cry out for help because her throat had been slashed.

DNA evidence tested last year led authorities to arrest 40-year-old Dennis Earl Bradford in connection with the 1990 assault in Dickinson, said Dickinson Police Chief Ron Morales.

Bradford was arrested in North Little Rock, Ark., where he has lived the past seven years. At the time of the assault, Bradford, originally from Dickinson, lived about two miles from the apartment where the victim was kidnapped, according to the arrest affidavit in the case.

The victim, Jennifer Schuett, told reporters Tuesday that she never gave up hope her attacker would be brought to justice.

"I hope that my case will serve as a reminder for all victims of violent crime to never give up hope in seeking justice, no matter how long it might take," said a tearful Schuett, 27, who still lives in Dickinson, about 30 miles southeast of Houston.

HOUSTON — A Houston man found asleep with a corpse inside a closet of a vacant home has been charged with misdemeanor drug offenses, authorities...

The St. Louis Cardinals missed their first chance to win the NL Central. Now, they can clinch it on Thursday without even stepping on the diamond.

Houston rookie Bud Norris shut out St. Louis for the second time and the Astros delayed the Cardinals' division championship celebration for at least another day with a 3-0 win on Wednesday night.

The magic number for St. Louis dropped to one when the Cubs lost in Milwaukee before this game ended. But Norris (6-3) pitched six shutout innings and Jose Valverde tossed a scoreless ninth for his 24th save.

"They are one win away from clinching this thing, but we definitely wanted to give them a fight," Norris said. "I think we did."

The Astros ended the fourth and sixth innings with double plays as the Cardinals continued to have problems with Norris. The right-hander won his major league debut in St. Louis on Aug. 2, allowing two hits in seven shutout innings.

Matt Schaub looked like two different quarterbacks in the first two weeks of the season.

His shaky performance in Week 1 ended with a woeful offensive shutout. He rebounded against the Titans to throw four touchdown passes in one of the best games of his career.

Now the Texans must wait to see which Schaub shows up Sunday against the Jaguars.

Coach Gary Kubiak and receiver Andre Johnson both said his struggles against the Jets in the opener had a lot to do with an ankle injury he has finally put behind him.

If he can stay healthy, the Texans believe they'll find consistency on offense and build on last week's success.

Houston Rockets center Yao Ming says he's encouraged by the progress of his recover from surgery to repair fractures in his left foot.

But in an interview with KRIV-TV in Houston, the 7-foot-6 center says there's no chance that he'll play in the 2009-10 NBA season.

Yao suffered the hairline fracture late in a May 8 playoff game against the Los Angeles Lakers. The injury had raised questions, especially in his native China, about Yao's playing future.

But in his interview Wednesday, he says he expects new life to his career and will play again.

Yao had the hard cast removed from his left leg on Friday, and his leg and foot were placed in an orthopedic boot. He says images show the bones are healing properly.

HOUSTON -- Vincent "Vinnie Ocean" Palermo, a former New Jersey mob boss turned FBI informant, has been identified by a Houston-area television ...