CROSBY — The U.S. Chemical Safety Board says it will investigate a fire at a Houston area chemical plant that killed one worker and injured two others.

The Chemical Safety Board said Wednesday it will join other agencies probing the cause of Tuesday’s blaze at a KMCO chemical plant in Crosby, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of Houston.

The safety board, an independent federal agency that investigates industrial chemical incidents, is also probing the March 17 blaze at a petrochemical storage facility in nearby Deer Park .

Rachel Moreno, with the Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office, says her agency’s investigators haven’t been able to enter the plant because of ongoing clean up and emergency operations.

Harris County officials say ongoing air monitoring shows no health risks to the area around the plant.

 

Complaint: El Paso immigration judges violate due process

EL PASO — Attorneys say an immigration court in El Paso, Texas, where a tiny number of asylum seekers are approved each year routinely violates due process.

An administrative complaint filed Wednesday by two advocacy groups claims the court at the El Paso Service Processing Center has arbitrary and unjust rules that limit asylum-seekers’ chances of staying in the country, such as limiting the amount of evidence they can introduce.

The latest available data shows that in 2017, only 4 out of 88 asylum-seekers were approved.

Nationwide, about 40% of asylum seekers are approved, and their cases largely depend on which judge sees them.

In New York, some judges grant asylum to 60% of applicants; in El Paso, it’s 4%.

The Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees immigration courts, has not responded to a request for comment.

 

Officials: Charge against woman beaten by man to be dropped

DALLAS — The Dallas County district attorney’s office says it will not prosecute a black woman after police earlier had charged her with criminal mischief following a confrontation with a white man who beat her.

A spokeswoman for the office said Wednesday that it will not prosecute 24-year-old L’Daijohnique Lee on a criminal mischief charge.

Dallas police had charged Lee earlier this week following her confrontation last month with 30-year-old Austin Shuffield over a parking dispute.

Video recorded by a witness shows a man striking Lee with at least five blows to the head. Police say Lee shattered a windshield on Shuffield’s pickup moments after the assault.

Shuffield is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a felony.

A police affidavit says Shuffield claimed to fear for his life after Lee threatened to call friends who would shoot him.