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Baylor Law School is partnering with Discoverlaw.org to teach Waco area high school students about career opportunities in law professions.

As part of the partnership, the Baylor Law School will host Discoverlaw High School Day from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today at Waco High School, University High School, the McLennan County Challenge Academy and La Vega High School.

A man convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend by dousing her with gasoline and setting her on fire was executed in Texas on Thursday after the U.S. Supreme Court refused his final appeal.

Carl Blue, 48, was condemned to die for attacking Carmen Richards-Sanders at her apartment in Bryan, about 100 miles northwest of Houston, in September 1994. He also tossed gasoline on a man in the apartment, but the man survived and testified against Blue.

Blue claimed it was a prank gone wrong, but prosecutors said it was an intentional attack sparked by jealously.

Drew Peterson — the swaggering former suburban Chicago police officer who gained notoriety after his much-younger fourth wife vanished in 2007 — was sentenced to 38 years in prison on Thursday for murdering his third wife.

Illinois does not have the death penalty, and the 59-year-old Peterson had faced a maximum 60-year prison term. The judge gave him four years’ credit for time he has served since his arrest.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan is talking with school districts about how to free them from unworkable parts of the federal No Child Left Behind law, signaling he is open to an approach he long tried to avoid.

The Education Department has given 34 states and the District of Columbia permission to ignore parts of the Bush-era No Child Left Behind Law and eight others have waiver applications pending ahead of next week’s application deadline. But that still leaves eight states — giants California and Texas among them — operating under the law and set to fall short of its requirements, such as all students being proficient in math and reading by 2014.

Learn how to convince a potential employer that you are the right person for the job in a “Learn to…

From barbells to benches, a trio of Baylor students are out to help people reach their full potential.

Linden, Mich., junior Alex Barbaretta; Colorado Springs, Colo., senior Eric Press; and Linden, Mich., sophomore Shawna Tharp are a part of Barbell Fitness, a team dedicated to spreading awareness of health and fitness and bringing the tools to help people succeed.

Texas A&M University officials are investigating a bomb threat at Kyle Field that prompted officials to issue a “Code Maroon” safety advisory and close the stadium and nearby buildings, displacing about 700 people.

An A&M statement Wednesday says the football stadium and adjacent buildings that were evacuated will remain closed for the rest of the day.

State Sen. Brian Birdwell is proposing a bill to make sure college students get the most out of their education with one more test before graduation.

Birdwell filed Senate Bill 436 on Feb. 8 in the hopes of instituting a standardized test for all Texas public universities.

Birdwell released a statement about the importance of this bill to the success of Texas students and universities.

Texas lawmakers are moving forward with creating a new, unified campus for the University of Texas System in the Rio Grande valley.

Brownsville Rep. Rene Oliveira and other South Texas lawmakers laid out the legislation that would combine two campuses into a single university with a new medical school in South Texas.

National Rifle Association President David Keene said Wednesday he doesn’t expect a filibuster from gun rights supporters as the Senate prepares to vote on potential gun control issues.

Keene spoke at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum in a one-hour event moderated by CNN chief national correspondent John King, who asked him if the NRA would support efforts to filibuster and block the votes.

House and Senate leaders on Wednesday agreed to create a special committee to investigate the University of Texas System board of regents, as a key senator filed a bill seeking to limit the power of board members.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Joe Straus agreed to form the joint panel following an emotional speech Dewhurst gave on the Senate floor Monday defending embattled University of Texas President Bill Powers.

Baylor students will have the opportunity Friday to meet and speak with eBay’s vice president of corporate communications, John Pluhowski.

EBay advertises as the world’s largest online marketplace.

Pluhowski, who has been with eBay for three years, will speak at 12:05 p.m. in 254 Castellaw Communications Center.

Amy Shireman logged into Twitter early Wednesday to join thousands of people from 60 countries watch live something she had experienced but never seen: a baby boy delivered by cesarean section, in all its graphic imagery.

The live Twitter broadcast brought to viewers by Houston’s Memorial Hermann Health System was the medical institution’s latest foray into a growing trend to gain exposure by showing the world via social media routine procedures that happen daily in operating rooms.

The first of three people killed in a gunman’s rampage was identified Wednesday as a 20-year-old woman.

Police did not know why she was in the home of the shooter, who lived with his parents and was described by authorities as a video game-playing loner.

Courtney Aoki, 20, of Buena Park was shot multiple times early Tuesday in the home where gunman Ali Syed, 20, lived, said Orange County sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino.

The Baylor campus diversity committee and the School of Music present Saakumu, a dance and drum troupe from the West…

Police officers could be charged with a crime for enforcing new federal gun control laws in Texas under a proposal by a lawmaker who acknowledges the measure likely would end up in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Rep. Steve Toth, a newly elected Republican from The Woodlands, said his proposal would prevent officers from carrying out any future federal orders to confiscate assault rifles and ammunition magazines.

The mayors of Houston, Dallas and Austin told lawmakers on Tuesday that they support a proposed $2 billion fund to finance water projects across the state and would like to see less red tape and more conservation efforts.

Houston Mayor Annise Parker told the House Natural Resources Committee that she supports using money from the Rainy Day Fund to create a water development bank that would help local authorities build new water projects and finance conservation efforts. Houston has invested in numerous water projects and delivers 495 million gallons a day to 470,000 customers.

‘Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ seems to be the idea of the Passport to Waco program, but simplicity does not always mean big benefits for some vendors.

Passport to Waco is a simple concept: Students visit the seven businesses listed in the Passport and get it stamped from each place. In order to get it stamped, the student must make a purchase from the business. The booklet is then turned into the student government office by April 13 in exchange for a prize that has yet to be determined.

Ninety-five percent of state prisoners will re-enter society at some point, according to the National Reentry Resource Center.

The Waco Reintegration Roundtable is working to help ease the transition of those ex-convicts.

A gas explosion that sparked a massive, block-engulfing blaze in an upscale Kansas City shopping district injured 14 people, a city official said Tuesday evening, adding it is believed that an accident by a utility contractor may have caused the blast.

A Senate education panel spent hours Tuesday maligning the state’s standardized testing system, even questioning whether it’s appropriate to ask youngsters across sun-kissed South Texas math problems about the possibility of frost forming on their sidewalks.

By the end of the meeting, it seemed the exam stood only a snowball’s chance in Brownville of surviving the legislative session without a major overhaul.

The Baylor Bears will host the Iowa State Cyclones at 8 p.m. today in the Ferrell Center in a crucial Big 12 Conference match up. With both teams knotted at 7-5 in conference, this single game could determine seeding in the Big 12 tournament and eventually in the NCAA tournament.

“Every home game is so critical, especially at this time of the year in the Big 12,” Baylor head coach Scott Drew said. “We’ve won two out of our last three and we need to keep that momentum going.”

Drug overdose deaths rose for the 11th straight year, federal data show, and most of them were accidents involving addictive painkillers despite growing attention to risks from these medicines.

“The big picture is that this is a big problem that has gotten much worse quickly,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which gathered and analyzed the data.

An East Texas jury sentenced two women to prison Tuesday after convicting them of kidnapping a Houston boy when he was 8 months old and hiding him for eight years before he was found.

Gloria Walker was sentenced to 30 years for injury to a child and eight years for kidnapping, to be served concurrently. Her daughter, Krystle Tanner, was sentenced to eight years for kidnapping and eight years for the lesser charge of reckless injury to a child, also to be served concurrently.

We often hear of the phrase “daddy’s little girl” as if fathers and daughters share a special bond unlike any other. A study at Baylor shows that this father-daughter dynamic may be linked to sports.

Dr. Mark Morman, director of graduate studies in the communication department, has released a study showing that fathers and daughters are fostering relationships through shared activities. He performed this study with alumna Elizabeth Barrett, who now works in the Texas House of Representatives. Barrett could not be reached for comment.

Students, staff and faculty will gather with the Waco community on April 13 to give service to the greater Waco…

Student Financial Services is hosting a workshop titled “Understanding Student Loans” from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. today in the Beckham…

Phi Alpha Theta is holding a book sale from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. today in front of the Tidwell…

Baylor professors have signed and filed a letter in opposition to Sen. Bill 128, filed by Texas Senator Brian Birdwell on Jan. 17. The bill would allow students to carry concealed weapons on college campuses.

Dr. Blake Burleson, a senior lecturer in the religion department, and Dr. Robin Wallace, a professor of musicology in the School of Music, took the letter and the 120 signatures by Baylor faculty and staff to Birdwell’s office Monday.

Baylor students lined the walls of Russell Gym and cheered on six Special Olympics teams walking in behind their team’s banner.

To kick off the Area 12 Special Olympics basketball tournament at Baylor this weekend, the teams made a lap around the gym and enjoyed the cheers and applause from their fans before competition began.