HOUSTON — Officials say a 13-year-old girl who died days after being involved in a fight while walking home from school was killed by a brain tumor discovered when she was hospitalized days later.

The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences said Monday that Kashala Francis died of complications from pilocytic astrocytoma, the most common childhood brain tumor.

The autopsy didn’t list any contributing factors in her death.

Kashala’s mother said her daughter was hit in the head during the fight April 18. She was hospitalized three days later and died April 24.

Houston police homicide investigators had been reviewing Kashala’s death.

Police spokesman Jodi Silva says the case will be referred to the agency’s major assaults and family violence division to see if charges related to the fight could be filed.

 

Inmate’s last words draw ire from lawmaker

AUSTIN — A Texas lawmaker who pushed to stop letting death row inmates choose their last meals now wants the nation’s busiest execution chamber to cease reading their final words.

Democratic Sen. John Whitmire on Monday called it “totally improper” that a prison spokesman last week read the final words of an avowed racist who orchestrated one of the most gruesome hate crimes in U.S. history.

John William King, who was white, was executed last week for the 1998 dragging death of James Byrd Jr., a black man. King declined to speak any last words but a statement written by him was released after his execution.

A Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman didn’t immediately comment.

Texas stopped letting condemned inmates choose finals meals in 2011 after the same senator became miffed over one expansive request.

 

Charges filed after fire at Texas facility

HOUSTON — Prosecutors have filed water pollution charges against a company that owns a Houston-area petrochemical storage facility where a large fire caused chemicals to flow into a nearby waterway.

The Harris County District Attorney’s Office said Monday it filed five environmental criminal charges against Intercontinental Terminals Company.

Prosecutors allege following the March 17 fire, a dam at the facility broke, sending large quantities of toxic chemicals into nearby Tucker Bayou, which flows into Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

If convicted, ITC could be fined up to $100,000 for each charge.

ITC did not immediately reply to a call or email seeking comment on Monday.

The fire at the Deer Park facility, located southeast of Houston, burned for days and triggered air quality warnings.

 

Retailer plans Louisiana distribution center

PORT ALLEN, La. — A Houston-based furniture, appliance and electronics retailer plans a new $5.7 million distribution center in Louisiana.

Gov. John Bel Edwards and Conn’s Inc. Chairman and CEO Norm Miller say in a news release that the center will create 70 jobs in Port Allen, with salaries averaging $41,300.

Conn’s HomePlus has 127 stores in 14 states. They include two in Baton Rouge and four in the New Orleans area, with summer openings scheduled for two more in New Orleans suburbs.

The state offered incentives including a $250,000 performance-based grant to offset building costs at the Port Allen distribution center. The company also is expected to use Louisiana’s Quality Jobs Program, which provides up to a 6% cash rebate of annual gross payroll for up to 10 years.