Southeast Texans report strange light in the sky

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Some mysterious flashes in the sky gained a lot of attention. We received a lot of comments from viewers, all saying the flashes were spotted around the same time Friday morning.

As the day was starting, at about 6:45am, from north Texas to the Gulf Coast, people were greeted with flash in the sky. Some report hearing what sounded like a sonic boom. Ashley Graham says she was walking her dog here in Houston.

"It was like a big flash and I thought it was lightning," she recalled. "It was a big light, and it was kind of scary, but I didn't think about it too much."

A lot of people are thinking about it now. A flash, a colored light -- reports are still coming in. It could be seen all around the area if you were up early enough.

"If we have a time when a people are outside when something happens, then we get all these reports," said Dr. Carolyn Sumners with the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

Dr. Sumners missed the event. There is no definite explanation yet for the light and what appeared to be a trail across the sky. But for now she suspects it's part of a meteor as it hurtled through the earth's atmosphere.

She said, "The longer we go with no manmade explanation, the more we think it really was a meteor."

Meteors are common. We also call them shooting stars. In the lobby of the museum planetarium, there is part of a meteorite on display, composed of iron ore that burned across the sky.

On Friday afternoon the National Weather Service questioned whether it was debris from a Russian satellite as it re-entered the atmosphere. For now, it's a mystery, and a very intriguing one, just a few weeks before the Mayan calendar's prophecy of doomsday.

"It's getting closer to that day, and this big flash, and I didn't know what it was," Graham said. "Yeah, a lot of different things were going through my mind."

"It is a little scary and you think about all the other things that have happened over the months and over the years and it makes you think about a lot," said museum visitor Glenda Scales.

A week from today a meteor shower is expected to begin. Perhaps this flash across the sky was the prequel. So far the official determination of the flash across the sky has not been made.

If you saw it, tell us about it on our Facebook or Twitter page. And if you happen to have captured a photo or video, email it to us at news@abc13.com or upload it on our iWitness reports page.

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ABC13 report leads to tree trimming for desperate family

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- We have an update to an Action 13 Consumer story we first told you about earlier this week. After seeing our report, volunteers have come to the aid of a family worried about a tree that was dangerously close to falling on their home.

Action 13 reporter Jeff Ehling introduced you to Deborah and Calvin Jackson on Monday. They said they've been getting the run-around about a dying tree in a neighboring lot, which they worried could fall on their house at any moment and presented a danger for kids playing in the area.

Fortunately, Mike McDonald's wife and 3-year-old boy were watching our report. McDonald happens to run Treemasters Tree Trimming Service. They convinced him to do something about it.

"They called me and the boy said, 'Daddy I want you to cut the tree.' So I went out and cut the tree for the lady," said McDonald. "We have a saying, we are our brothers' keepers. And that lady needed our help."

The lot is owned by Sheldon ISD. The school district says legally they weren't permitted to use tax dollars to maintain the property. They were exploring their options when McDonald stepped up to the plate.

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ABC13 report leads to charges against two suspects in jewelry store theft

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Two men have been charged for allegedly stealing from a jewelry store after tipsters saw an ABC13 report.

On August 12, the owner of a jewelry store inside the Food Town Grocery Store at 2770 N. Sam Houston Parkway in north Houston told Harris Co. Sheriff's deputies that three black males came to his store, gained access to his showcase with a key and stole jewelry worth nearly $50,000, including 72 diamond gold rings, 108 gold rings and 75 gold bracelets.

The incident was captured on surveillance video. Court documents state that Undrake Delon Clark and Jody Tyrone Evans, along with a third unidentified male, were the alleged thieves. In the video, police say Clark could be seen removing keys from his pocket and trying to open the showcase while Evans and the other suspect were seen acting as lookouts.

Several attempts were unsuccessful and the suspects could be seen leaving, then returning with new keys and opening the showcase. Clark is then seen removing jewelry trays and loading them into a grocery bag being held by Evans.

Store owner Jacob Cho told Eyewitness News, "It was locked when he tried to steal it, so I had no idea they can unlock the jewelry showcase like this."

After that Eyewitness News report aired on August 20 showing the surveillance video of the suspects, authorities say they received numerous leads in the case.

Police say the store owner was able to pick out both Evans and Clark from a photo array, and that surveillance video of the getaway minivan is possibly the same make and model as a Chevy Venture Van registered in Clark's name.

If you have information on the third unidentified suspect, you are asked to call the Houston Police Department or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

Court documents show Evans has prior convictions for possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance in 2003 and robbery in 1994.

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Long-awaited Constable report short on details

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Wait till you see the long-awaited report on the constables. Is it a whitewash? You be the judge.

13 Undercover's been exposing possible wrongdoing in some of the constable's offices for months, and last week, we questioned why the county attorney hadn't taken action.

Maybe you didn't expect the county attorney to come down hard on the constables, but now there's not even a slap of the wrist.

What did high-priced county lawyers do in 10 long months? You'll see.

"We are reviewing facts, which do not look good. I can't say that they rise to the level of official misconduct or crimes, but they are serious," Terry O'Rourke told us last year.

That was Terry O'Rourke last year, after 13 Undercover had exposed possible wrongdoing in Victor Trevino's Precinct 6 office; alleged misuse of county equipment had now surfaced in May Walker's office; within months, another constable -- Jack Abercia -- would be in chains, arrested by the FBI for alleged bribes he denies.

"There is an investigation in the district attorney's office as well as a review in our office of all the conduct in Precinct 6 and other constable precincts," O'Rourke said.

Now, that long-awaited report has finally been issued and it took 10 months.

"It's a cut and paste job," KTRK legal analyst Joel Androphy said.

You have to read it to believe it. It won't take long, it's barely five pages long. The summary is just two sentences and it doesn't name names -- not one.

"Should they be embarrassed?" we asked Androphy.

"Embarrassed is not the word here -- incompetency," he replied.

So what does it say? It provides legal advice to the constables on how they can avoid breaking the law and a lot of it is plain common sense.

"A law student could have cut and pasted from the various different codes and produced this report within 30 minutes," Androphy said.

But did anyone break the law, violate county policies? Based on this report, who knows.

"Is the county attorney the public's lawyer or the constable's lawyer?" we asked Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan.

"The people of Harris County's attorney," he replied.

"They were elected to protect the public from the public officials, not the public officials from the public," Androphy said.

Your watchdog won't let you see what his office discovered along the way. Last week, we showed damaging emails that suggested they wanted to keep you in the dark. We showed you how a corruption report on another former county official was changed to take out some of the bad stuff. What happened to all that tough talk?

"Nobody is immune, that's our job," O'Rourke said.

"Does this look like a whitewash?" we asked Androphy.

"Totally," he said.

If you'd like to tell the county attorney what you think, here's his phone number: 713-755-5101.

On your behalf, we have demanded once again to see all those draft reports. In February, they claimed they had reviewed thousands of documents, interviewed several people. Who? What'd they say? Don't you have a right to know? After all, you paid for it.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more 13 Undercover »

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City tears down dangerous abandoned home in Fifth Ward after ABC13 report

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- We have an update that's going to make a lot of folks in northeast Houston happy.

Bulldozers Friday turned an old abandoned building into a pile of rubble. We first told you about this dangerous property on Jensen on Tuesday. Neighbors were worried the building could collapse at any moment, and someone could get seriously hurt or even killed.

After our investigation, today the city finally did something about it.

"I think once they do that the property value will come up, the kids will come out and play and it'll just be a lot nicer," said resident Brett Forward.

The city says it still hasn't found the owner, but because it was a serious and immediate hazard, they cleared all the legal hurdles to tear it down.

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Dozens of HPD recruits report for training

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- It's the first day of training for dozens of new recruits at the Houston Police Department.

Chief Charles McClelland was on hand earlier this morning as 73 men and women started their training courses. This is the 211th police academy cadet class. These future officers will undergo 26 weeks of rigorous training prior to graduation.

Chief McClelland says it's important to keep young, fresh talent coming into the agency, as many veterans start to retire.

"Our department is greying a little bit, so as individuals like myself with time and tenure, we can't stay on forever," said Chief McClelland. "So we need an infusion of young talent."

Just last week, HPD laid off 153 civilian workers. No officers are expected to lose their jobs.

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