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Around Texas 

1. Suspect taken into custody for 2018 San Marcos apartment fire

Victims of one of the deadliest fires in San Marcos history are finally closer to receiving justice after an arrest was made almost five years after the incident, according to officials.

In the summer of 2018, a fire broke out in the early morning of July 20 at the Iconic Village Apartments. The fire claimed the lives of five people and injured seven others.

2. Relatives of El Paso Walmart shooting victims seek justice, saying they're down but not out

A brother who traveled more than 1,000 miles to confront his sister's killer. An uncle of an orphaned 4-year-old whose parents died while shielding the boy from the spray of bullets. A wife whose husband was gunned down at her side while their 9-year-old granddaughter looked on.

Nearly four years after a white gunman killed 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso in a racist attack that targeted Hispanic shoppers, relatives of the victims are packing a courtroom near the U.S.-Mexico border this week to see Patrick Crusius punished for one of the nation’s worst mass shootings.

The sentencing phase, which began Wednesday and continues Thursday, is the first time families have had the opportunity to address Crusius face-to-face since the Aug. 3, 2019, shooting.

3. New DPS deployment data sets out to prove value of APD partnership

A partnership between the Austin Police Department (APD) and the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) resumed on July 2. The City of Austin put out some new data that surveyed each council district’s traffic collision records and emergency response times while DPS was deployed earlier in 2023. 

For the sake of transparency, the City of Austin is committing to providing regular updates regarding the direction of the partnership. Throughout all of this, APD wants to show it's “actively listening to concerns and feedback from the mayor and City Council and community members related to the partnership with DPS.”

A Texas DPS trooper vehicle. (AP)

Around the Nation

1. Meta takes aim at Twitter with the launch of rival app Threads

2. Trump posted what he said was Obama's address, prosecutors say. An armed man was soon arrested there

3. Yankees pitcher Cordero is suspended for the rest of the season under MLB's domestic violence policy

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Deep in the Heart of Texas

The Houston skyline. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

Texas cities ranked as top U.S. vacation spots

Vacation season is in full swing and according to a new list, Texas has a few of the best vacation spots if you wanted to stay domestic. The list of the top 10 U.S. vacation spots focuses on various criteria such as social media reviews, airports, tours, museums, restaurants, hotel costs and more.