According to the Fannin County Sheriff's Office, deputies were responding to a disturbance in the 500 block of County Road 5012 on Thursday afternoon. The first one to arrive on the scene was immediately met with gunfire upon arrival, according to a statement released Friday.

The suspect, identified as 35-year-old Cory Goode, was using a scoped rifle from a concealed location, the statement said. Goode fired about 14 shots at the deputy "in a clear intentional act to commit a murder," before the deputy escaped from his vehicle and took cover. After Goode lost track of the deputy, he died by suicide.

Bullet holes could be seen in the deputy's vehicle from the CBS News Texas chopper. The deputy's back windshield also appeared to have been shot out.

"This was an orchestrated, planned and intentional ambush with the clear intent to kill," Fannin County Sheriff Cody Shook said in a statement. "[The deputy] survived by his rapid split-second reaction, his extensive tactical training and by the grace of God."

Shook did not identify the deputy, but said he is a department veteran and member of the special response team, as well as a military veteran.

The deputy suffered injuries from shrapnel and windows exploding around him, but he still controlled the scene and checked on civilians in the area. He was treated at a hospital and released.

A statement from the Texas Municipal Police Association (TMPA), the largest law enforcement association in Texas, said that the deputy was the target of an ambush, and that "multiple rounds fired into the windshield and headrest of the patrol unit."

The Texas Rangers responded to the scene and are handling the investigation.

Emergency services responded to a Shell gas station on Berry Street at East Loop 820 just before 2 p.m.

Fort Worth fire spokesman Craig Trojaceck says one victim was taken to Parkland Hospital in Dallas and the other was taken to a Fort Worth trauma hospital.

Both were listed in critical condition. 

It is not yet clear how the victims were nearly electrocuted.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

By the numbers

Economists had predicted inflation would jump nearly an entire percentage point from 2.4% in February to 3.3% in March on an annual basis, according to the average of six separate forecasts reviewed by CBS News. The last time inflation was this high was in May 2024.

The CPI, a basket of goods and services typically bought by consumers, tracks changes in prices over time.

Inflation ran hot in March due to higher energy costs tied to the Iran war, which has constrained the flow of crude through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for global oil supply. The CPI data shows energy prices, driven by a spike in gasoline costs, rose 10.9% from the month prior.

Brent crude, which was trading at $73 a barrel before the war started on Feb. 28, traded at $95.88 as of Friday morning, while the U.S. benchmark hovered around $97.

Consumers got hit with higher prices at the pump last month, with gas prices rising 21.2% from February, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The agency said the jump represents the largest monthly increase since it began tracking the data in 1967.

U.S. gas prices have soared nearly 40% since the conflict erupted, with the national average at $4.15 a gallon on Friday, according to AAA. 

A two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran announced on Tuesday could ease gas prices if it holds, but energy experts said it will likely take weeks to recede below $4 a gallon.

Core inflation, which strips out volatile energy and gas prices, rose 0.2% on a monthly basis and 2.6% from a year earlier, lower than economists expected. Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Northlight Asset Management, said in an email that this should "give the economy some room to absorb the higher energy price shock."

The CPI reading follows the release of another key inflation gauge known as the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index on Thursday, which showed costs were elevated even before the war erupted. PCE rose 2.8% on an annual basis in February, the same as January, but stubbornly above the Federal Reserve's 2% annual target.  

What the experts say

Economists told CBS News that higher energy costs could continue to push up other prices this year, such as apparel and food, in part because a sharp spike in diesel prices is raising transportation costs.

"This is only the beginning. Food prices, travel and shipping costs are all going up in April and will exacerbate the pain," said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, in an email.

Airlines are already offsetting higher fuel costs by raising airfares and, in some cases, introducing checked bag fees. Airline fares rose 14.9% on an annual basis in March, according to the CPI data. 

Investors have assumed that geopolitical tensions will eventually fade and markets will rebound. However, Ed Yardeni of Yardeni Research warned in a note before the CPI release that inflation was heating up just before the war and could continue to rise through the end of this year.

In an email following the release of the report, Bernard Yaros, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, said the April CPI reading will be "uncomfortably strong" as higher gas prices and a statistical quirk from the government shutdown, which disrupted data collection, add upward pressure to inflation.

"A key wildcard in the outlook for both inflation and monetary policy is the duration and intensity of the Iran war, which still hasn't been resolved by the tenuous ceasefire," he said.

While the jump in inflation may be worrisome, Yaros said the U.S. is in a different situation than in 2022, when economic pressures from the pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine pushed inflation to a 9.1% peak in June of that year. 

Measures of global supply-chain stress "aren't flashing red," Yaros said, adding that the labor market hasn't created additional inflationary pressure, as was the case in 2022. In the wake of higher gasoline prices, households will eventually have to cut back on non-discretionary expenses, which could be a source of disinflation, he added.

What does this mean for interest rates?

Analysts believe the Federal Reserve will continue to hold rates steady in the near-term as it assesses the inflationary impact of the Iran war. They pointed to the lower-than-expected core inflation reading, which does not reflect energy or food costs, as a sign that higher energy prices have not yet trickled into other categories.

"As long as the increase in gasoline prices is not translating into an increase in the core measures of inflation, then the Fed is probably not going to react to the noise in the headline measures of inflation," Raymond James chief economist Eugenio Aleman said in an email.

The Fed is scheduled to meet from April 28 to 29.

In its last meeting in March, the central bank maintained the federal funds rate at its current range of 3.5% to 3.75%. It also pencilled in one rate cut for 2026. However, minutes released from the Fed's March meeting this week signal that some members of the central bank's 19-member interest-rate setting panel may be open to raising rates "if inflation were to remain at above-target levels," the minutes said.

Next year's second major will be played at the Fields Ranch East course at PGA Frisco, with the tournament and festivities scheduled from May 17-23, 2027. 

It has been more than six decades since a men's professional golf major was played in North Texas. In 1963, golf legend Jack Nicklaus won the PGA Championship at the Dallas Athletic Club. The only other PGA Championship in North Texas was held at Cedar Crest Country Club in Dallas in 1927. North Texas courses have also hosted two U.S. Opens: 1952 at the Northwood Club in Dallas and 1941 at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth.

There is expected to be a high demand for tickets for the 2027 event in Frisco. Early registration for the opportunity to get tickets is open now through May 18 on the tournament's website. 

CBS News Texas's Karen Borta recently spoke with PGA Championship Jason Mengel about the tournament's history and bringing the event back to North Texas. You can see the interview in the player above.

"Today, you've made history and made all America really proud," he said. "Humans have never really seen anything quite like what you're doing in a manned spacecraft. It's really special."

The four astronauts — three Americans and one Canadian — traveled farther from Earth than any human beings in history earlier Monday, reaching a maximum distance from Earth of 252,756 miles, passing the Apollo 13 distance record set in 1970 by over 4,000 miles. They also became the first humans to see parts of the far side of the moon with the naked eye.

In a roughly 12-minute call, Mr. Trump praised the astronauts for their "courage" and "genius" — and noted that their trip is a precursor to NASA's bid to return humans to the surface of the moon for the first time in over half a century.

"America is a frontier nation, and the four brave astronauts of Artemis II … really are modern-day pioneers," the president said, adding that the U.S. plans to "push on to Mars" next.

Speaking to the crew when they were just over 250,000 miles from Earth, Mr. Trump is the latest president to make a very-very-very-very-long-distance phone call to astronauts, a tradition most famous for when President Richard Nixon called up Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin while they were on the moon. 

Monday's call appeared to have a delay of several seconds between when the astronauts and the president spoke. The conversation paused at one point, with Mr. Trump remarking, "I think we might've gotten cut off."

The president quizzed the four astronauts on the most unforgettable parts of their journey around the far side of the moon.

The mission's commander, Reid Wiseman, remarked on the opportunity to lay eyes on "sights that no human has ever seen before." But he said the day's biggest surprise came when they watched a solar eclipse and spotted Mars in the distance.

"All of us commented how excited we are to watch this nation and this planet become a two-planet species," he said.

Mission specialist Christina Koch said her biggest highlight was catching her first glimpses of Earth after passing around the moon, a moment that came after a communications blackout.

"It really just reminds you what a special place we have, and how important it is for our nation ... to lead and not follow in exploring deep space," she said.

Pilot Victor Glover told the president their time on the other side of the moon was "quite nice," but the crew was busy making detailed scientific observations: "I said a little prayer, but then I had to keep rolling."

Mission specialist Jeremy Hansen, an astronaut from the Canadian Space Agency, told the U.S. president that "Canadians are so proud to be a part of this program."

Mr. Trump has had a complicated relationship with Canada, but he was complimentary on Monday, praising both the U.S.'s northern neighbor and Hansen as the astronaut high-fived his American commander. The president said he had spoken with two important Canadians: Prime Minister Mark Carney and retired hockey great Wayne Gretzky.

"They are so proud of you, and you have a lot of courage. I'm not sure if they'd want to do that. I'm not even sure if The Great One would want to do that, to be honest with you," Mr. Trump told Hansen, using Gretzky's nickname.

The Orion spacecraft is now headed back toward Earth, with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean planned for Friday.

After their return, Mr. Trump said he hopes to invite them to the Oval Office, where he plans to give them "a big salute" and ask for their autographs.

"I don't really ask for autographs much, but you deserve that," the president said.

As the U.S. deals with a dangerous shortage of air traffic controllers, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Friday the department would be targeting gamers to join the ranks of employees sitting in airport control towers.

"To reach the next generation of air traffic controllers, we need to adapt," Duffy said in a statement. "This campaign's innovative communication style and focus on gaming taps into a growing demographic of young adults who have many of the hard skills it takes to be a successful controller."

The agency has been dealing with ATC shortages at many airports across the country over the past decade. Increasing numbers is a top priority for Duffy. The Federal Aviation Administration employed 6% fewer air traffic controllers in fiscal year 2025 versus 2015, despite a 10% increase in total flights between fiscal years 2015 and 2024, according to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office released in December.

Newark Liberty International Airport was particularly hard-hit last year due to staffing shortages at the Philadelphia air traffic control facility that manages flights into the New Jersey airport. The government shutdown last November also exacerbated many issues with air traffic controller shortages as employees were forced to work without pay for more than a month. Others decided to leave the industry entirely.

"The failure to pay air traffic controllers for 44 days created uncertainty, drove many experienced controllers out of the profession and harmed the recruitment pipeline," a spokesperson from the Department of Transportation told CBS News in November.

The government points out that more than 200 million people in the U.S. regularly play video games.

"With only about 25 percent of controllers holding a traditional college degree, this effort is focused on reaching talented young people pursuing alternative career paths, many of whom are active in gaming," the department said in its press release. "Feedback from controller exit interviews reinforces this, with several controllers pointing to gaming as an influence on their ability to think quickly, stay focused, and manage complexity."

Even though it doesn't require a traditional college degree, prospective air traffic controllers must pass an aptitude test and get medical and security clearance before they can begin training, according to GAO. They then progress to a four- to six-month training course at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City, and extensive on-the-job training, according to GAO. In total, it could take two to six years to become a certified air traffic controller.

The agency touted that it met its fiscal year 2025 goals with more than 2,000 air traffic controllers being hired, and said it is already halfway to its 2026 goal. 

In 2024 — the last year for which federal data is available — the median annual wage for air traffic controllers was $144,580, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

But pay varies widely based on experience and location. Annual income for less experienced controllers at smaller airports is closer to $60,000, according to aviation experts.

Use the tool below to explore price changes in dozens of items across different categories.

About the data

The categories in this tracker reflect a selection from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index and average price data. We focused on goods and services that make up a meaningful share of household budgets, could be affected by tariffs or have seen significant price changes since 2022.

Tanner Horner, who is accused of the 2022 death of 7-year-old Athena Strand, pleaded guilty to capital murder and aggravated kidnapping just moments before the trial began Tuesday. Despite his guilty plea, Horner still faces the death penalty as the punishment phase begins. 

The jury heard opening statements on Tuesday and will continue to hear evidence before determining Horner's sentence, including graphic video and audio, and testimony. 

According to an arrest affidavit, Horner was working as a FedEx delivery driver when, on Nov. 30, 2022, he went to the girl's home to deliver a package containing a Christmas gift. Investigators say Horner accidentally struck the child with his delivery truck while backing out of the driveway.

Authorities allege Horner told investigators that Athena did not appear seriously injured but said he panicked, placed her into his van and strangled her out of fear that she would tell her father what had happened.

Horner was subsequently tracked down through digital evidence that day.

Two days later, Strand's body was found about 9 miles away from her home, southeast of Boyd.

How to watch the Tanner Horner trial

You can watch the trial live on the CBS Texas stream. Coverage will begin around 9 a.m. daily.

You can find the CBS News stream by downloading the CBS News app and tapping on the Texas section. The CBS Texas stream is also available on Pluto TV, Roku, Fire TV or Paramount+. You can also watch live at CBSTexas.com.

Horner was indicted on Feb. 16, 2023, for aggravated kidnapping and capital murder of a person under the age of 10. 

Wise County District Attorney James Stainton previously said he intends to seek the death penalty. Horner pleaded not guilty to aggravated kidnapping and capital murder in 2023.

Saturday's forecast is similar, with isolated storm chances in the late afternoon. It will still be the better day for outdoor activities, as Sunday is a First Alert Weather Day due to disruptive rain and the threat for severe storms. 

As of now it looks like round of rain will move through early Sunday, then another round of rain with the potential for severe storms will come later in the day.

The more rain there is early, the less of a chance there will be for severe storms. Severe weather chances will increase if there is less rain and some breaks in the cloud cover earlier in the day.

The Storm Prediction Center has North Texas is under level 1 (marginal) and level 2 (slight) riska for severe storms on Sunday.  All forms of severe weather will be possible if the storms get fired up later in the day. 

Severe weather chances continue for North Texas each day through Wednesday; Monday looks to have the lowest chance of rain and storms. 

The First Alert Weather Team continues to watch Tuesday and Wednesday for more severe storms and the chance for more First Alert Weather Days. The timing of these storms would be during the afternoons and early evenings.

The graves were found in a rural lot in Ixtlahuacan, a suburb of Guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco, the local prosecutor's office said.

Meanwhile, another 12 bags containing human remains were found at a construction site in nearby Tlajomulco, said Blanca Trujillo, the deputy prosecutor for missing persons, during a press conference.

She said the total number of victims from both sites is still unknown, adding that in both cases, the remains appear to be from a long time ago, without specifying a timeframe.

The discovery of the grave site adds to dozens of similar cases in Jalisco, the state hardest hit by the crisis of missing persons affecting Mexico and where one of the country's most violent and powerful drug cartels operates.

According to official figures, Mexico has more than 130,000 missing persons, most of them in the last two decades amid drug-related violence.

Jalisco has more than 15,900 cases of missing persons, a toll that experts attribute to the activities of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, official data shows.

The cartel has been accused of using fake job advertisements to lure new members and of torturing and killing recruits who resist. 

One of the largest mass graves in Mexico was reported in 2017 when more than 250 skulls were found in what appeared to be a drug cartel mass burial ground on the outskirts of the city of Veracruz.

Most recently, in October 2025, as many as 48 bags containing human remains were found in a vacant lot in Zapopan, a vast outlying municipality in the Guadalajara metropolitan area.

Guadalajara, the state's capital city, is one of the three Mexican cities hosting 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup matches this summer.

The Mexican federal government announced the deployment of nearly 100,000 troops to guarantee security in all three host cities, which also include Monterrey and Mexico City. Mexico is hosting the soccer tournament with the U.S. and Canada.

In February, Mexican military forces killed Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and one of the United States' most-wanted drug lords, leading to an outbreak of violence. After the incident, FIFA reaffirmed its confidence as a host city.

In March, Oseguera was buried in a golden casket with enormous flower wreaths and a large military presence. 

Wyatt Johnston, Mikko Rantanen and Colin Blackwell each had a goal and an assist for the Stars, who now at 106 points are four ahead of Minnesota. They were already locked in as first-round opponents, but both still have three regular-season games left to determine home-ice advantage.

Kirill Kaprizov had two of Minnesota's three power-play goals, giving him 45 goals overall and matching his single-season franchise record at 19 power-play goals. Mats Zuccarello had three assists.

But the Wild had their four-game winning streak snapped in an uncharacteristic way. It was their first regulation loss since March 2024 when leading going into the third period — 61-0-4 in that span.

Minnesota had another power-play chance after Rantanen's slashing penalty with 2 1/2 minutes left, but failed to score even with an extra skater after pulling Filip Gustavsson out of the net.

Stars goalie Jake Oettinger had 27 saves. Gustavsson stopped 15 shots.

Johnston's 44th goal with 4:26 left in the first made it 1-0, and was the only Dallas lead until Robertson scored. Rantanen had the tying goal in the third.

Kaprizov put the Wild up 2-1 with 16 seconds left in the first, then extended that to 3-1 on another power-play goal at the 6:39 mark of the second. Blackwell scored and then assisted on Cameron Hughes' first career goal for Dallas before Ryan Hartman's power-play goal with 9 seconds left in the second put Minnesota up 4-3.

Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen never returned after being knocked hard into the boards by Hartman late in the first period. Before that, Heiskanen had hit the puck that deflected off the stick of Joel Ericksson Ek into the face of the Minnesota center who left the ice and also didn't return the game.

Up next

Wild: Play the second of three consecutive road games Saturday at Nashville, which is trying to stay in a playoff spot in the West.

Stars: Play their home finale Saturday against the New York Rangers, the last-place team in the Eastern Conference.

Within seconds, temperatures across its 16.5-foot-wide heat shield will climb to some 5,000 degrees — half as hot as the visible surface of the sun — as the ship rapidly slows in an electrically charged fireball of atmospheric friction. 

The four astronauts on board — commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen — are counting on the heat shield to keep them safe, in a comfortable environment, all the way through the peak heating zone to a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific off the coast of California. Splashdown is expected at 8:07 p.m. ET.

"We have high confidence in the system, in the heat shield and the parachutes and the recovery systems we put together," Amit Kshatriya, NASA's associate administrator, said Thursday. "The engineering supports it, the Artemis I flight data supports it. All of our ground tests support it, our analysis supports it, and tomorrow the crew is going to put their lives behind that confidence."

The crew and mission managers are confident, they say, despite major problems with the heat shield that was used during the unpiloted Artemis I test flight in 2022, when the Avcoat material making up the shield developed sub-surface cracks and gas pockets that blew away chunks of the protective barrier's outer "char" layer. 

Based on nearly two years of tests and analysis, engineers were surprised to discover the damage was most likely caused by the Avcoat material's lack of permeability during a specific phase of the reentry when the shield was experiencing lower external temperatures while internal layers were still extremely high, generating gas that could not escape.

Agency managers decided to order a different heat shield design for downstream Artemis missions. But the heat shield for the Artemis II flight, identical to the one used with Artemis I, was already installed. Replacing it with a new design would have delayed the mission by 18 months or more. 

Instead, NASA managers opted to launch Artemis II "as is" based on test data and an exhaustive analysis that indicated the shield would work properly if the reentry trajectory was modified to eliminate the temperature and pressure swings that contributed to the damage seen after the Artemis I flight. 

"They did a tremendous amount of research, a lot of groundbreaking research in some facilities that we had not used before, and they discovered the root cause," Wiseman said.

"They did wind tunnel testing and laser testing and hyper-velocity testing, and they determined that if we come in with this lofted profile ... that this heat shield will be safe for us to go fly.

"So I think all that points in the direction of goodness," he said. "And I think if you, as a human being who was about to board this rocket, had sat in the meetings that we sat in and listened to the experts and gone through the data with them, you would have the same comfort."

What went wrong with Artemis I?

During the Artemis I mission, the unpiloted capsule followed a planned "skip" trajectory, similar in concept to skipping a flat stone across still water. After an initial dip into the upper atmosphere, the Artemis I capsule skipped back out again before making its final descent to splashdown. The skip reentry helps reduce the spacecraft's velocity while offering NASA a wider range of splashdown options in case bad weather makes a targeted landing site problematic.

Despite the heat shield damage seen after the flight, the Artemis I reentry was successful. The capsule landed on target, and officials said that had any astronauts been aboard, they would have had no problems. But the damage triggered alarm at NASA. 

"NASA identified more than 100 locations where ablative thermal protective material from Orion's heat shield wore away differently than expected during reentry into Earth's atmosphere," NASA's Office of Inspector General wrote. 

"While the heat shield successfully protected the Crew Module and its systems during the Artemis I mission, upon inspection after Orion's recovery, engineers noted unexpected variations in the appearance of the heat shield Avcoat — the ablative material that helps protect the capsule from the heat of reentry.

"Specifically, portions of the char layer wore away differently than NASA engineers predicted, cracking and breaking off the spacecraft in fragments that created a trail of debris rather than melting away as designed," the office said. "The unexpected behavior of the Avcoat creates a risk that the heat shield may not sufficiently protect the capsule's systems and crew from the extreme heat of reentry on future missions." 

Testing revealed the damage was related to the heat shield's permeability, or rather, its lack thereof. After the initial, relatively deep dive into the atmosphere, the Avcoat material making up the shield was unable to properly dissipate the heat that remained in its lower layers during the skip back out of the atmosphere. 

Entry heating is what makes the Avcoat's outer char layer permeable enough to allow gas to escape. The Artemis I heat shield worked normally during its initial descent into the atmosphere. But when it climbed back out, reentry heating eased and the outer char layer became much less permeable. 

The underlying material was still extremely hot, undergoing a process known as pyrolysis — combustion without oxygen — and generating gas that had no way to escape. Those buildups eventually blew chunks of the heat shield's outer layers away.

"They go back up from that first entry, they're still hot, they're still off-gassing," said an engineer familiar with the investigation. "The fact that the material itself isn't permeable enough is causing that gas pressure to build up now, very rapidly, because they're still hot. But the char layer has paused."

The outer char layer is "the only part of the Artemis I and Artemis II heat shield that actually allows it to breathe, or allows it to off-gas. So once it stops, now there's no mechanism in the deeper parts of the heat shield for that gas to escape," he said.

"So the pressure built up, and as the capsule came back down and started reheating, the pressure was already there.

"All those cracks, the pockets had already formed. And now, bang, bang, bang, pop. Avcoat started sloughing off during that second entry," the engineer said. 

A modified reentry trajectory should solve the problem

Engineers verified in lab tests that a modified skip-entry trajectory — one with an initial dip into the upper atmosphere followed by a shorter-duration climb back out — would allow the Avcoat to "breathe" throughout, preventing the formation of cracks and trapped gas. An independent review team agreed with those conclusions.

Interestingly, Apollo engineers were aware of the Avcoat permeability issue and designed that program's heat shields accordingly. Apollo capsules also used skip reentry trajectories and had no problems. But the Avcoat used in the Artemis heat shields was reformulated slightly, and that ended up affecting its permeability. 

In any case, the downside to the modified reentry trajectory for Artemis II will reduce the distance the Orion capsule can fly to avoid bad weather in the planned splashdown zone. It will also result in higher sustained heating during the descent, but engineers say that is exactly what is needed to maintain permeability in the outer char layer and ensure good performance. 

Former astronaut Charles Camarda disagreed, strongly criticizing the "fly as is" decision. He argues that engineers do not fully understand the root cause of the Artemis I heat shield damage and cannot accurately predict how the Artemis II heat shield will perform or whether the revised entry trajectory might have unintended consequences. 

In a letter to the NASA administrator, Camarda wrote that "history shows accidents occur when organizations convince themselves they understand problems they do not." 

Like Wiseman, Glover says he trusts the analysis of the Artemis I problem, saying critics "haven't been in these meetings from day one and met the team and looked them in the eye and shook their hands at the ends of these meetings."

That said, he added, "I don't want to discount the things that they've said. Any time you talk about fire, any time you talk about entry and heat shields, talk about parachutes, these are high-risk things that ... don't have fault tolerance built in. They have to work."

"And so I appreciate all of that nudging and poking and prodding that they've caused," Glover said. "They have made us sharpen our pencils and put more due diligence, more vigilance into that process. But I think we've done that. And so I think the crew is comfortable because of that team."

Jurors heard new details about how investigators found Athena Strand, including testimony that she was found unclothed and that items of her clothing were later recovered.

There was a high level of detail in how investigators built this case, from recovering out‑of‑state video from the FedEx vehicle contracting company to using cell data to pinpoint locations. 

"We did a geofence for T-Mobile," Taylor Paige, a special agent with the FBI in Dallas, testified. "That device became of interest for us. Secondly, there was a phone number from Mr. Horner that was also identified and became more relevant as Command Post started to unfold."

Prosecutors also examined Horner's home and personal life.

In the video shown to the jury, he shared with investigators that he lived with his fiancée in a shed, just steps away from the main home where his mom and grandmother lived. Photos shown in court revealed the area behind that shed, where investigators began focusing their search — and where they say key evidence was found.

Investigators documented items of clothing, including a pair of children's underwear and socks, and blue jeans — items that matched what Athena was wearing the day she disappeared. When asked why he removed her clothes, Horner allegedly said it was for "humiliation," that he thought it was "funny."

When investigators pressed Horner on motive, he said that stress was "getting too much" and insisted he's "not a bad person" who has "done the right thing" his whole life, describing Athena as being in the "wrong place at the wrong time."

Horner cites "Zero," mental health struggles

Testimony also highlighted Horner's shifting behavior: at times discussing his family, but when pressed about his actions, he deflected blame onto "Zero" and avoided accountability.   

Horner described "Zero" as a "little devil on my shoulder," saying it developed more recently and often blamed "Zero" for his actions. According to court testimony, Horner repeatedly separated himself from the crime, saying, "I didn't do this, but he did," referring to "Zero."

He also said that he felt like events were a "bad dream" or "nightmare," referencing confusion, memory gaps, and comparing it to PTSD. At one point said he was "in trouble for something I don't remember."  

When asked if he had told investigators everything during an interview, Horner responded, "It's not Zero, it's Tanner," but continued describing the situation as if he were "in the backseat watching it happen," a pattern investigators point to as Horner distancing himself and deflecting responsibility. 

Testimony also revealed that Horner attempted self-harm in jail and tried to hang himself while in custody. At one point, Horner asked investigators to shoot him and referenced harming himself.

In May 2023, Horner attempted suicide while in the Wise County jail, and he referenced prior suicidal ideations.

Horner's attempts to "cut a deal"

Testimony revealed that Horner at one point attempted to "cut a deal," while investigators continued questioning him. 

Horner asked for an ankle monitor and to spend Christmas with his family in exchange for telling the truth; investigators told him no promises or guarantees could be made. He also told investigators that his main reason for talking is to see his son, repeatedly emphasizing wanting "one last Christmas." 

Horner said he had been off medication, emotional, and crying, and that he's "hurting for her and her family," but continued circling back to negotiating a deal.

Horner pleaded guilty to capital murder and aggravated kidnapping just moments before the trial began Tuesday. Despite his guilty plea, Horner still faces the death penalty as the punishment phase continues. 

It's been nearly three years since the May 6, 2023, mass shooting at the Allen Premium Outlets, where eight people were killed, and seven others were injured before an Allen police officer stopped the gunman. The trauma of that day still shapes how first responders train – including a large‑scale joint drill held Thursday.

A Training Scenario Designed to Feel Real

CBS News Texas was granted rare access to the exercise, staged inside a theater at Cinemark Allen near Ridgeview Drive and Watters Road. From outside, you could hear screams for help echoing through the building as officers rushed in.

Inside, a movie played on the screen while actors portraying wounded victims cried out – a deliberate layer of chaos meant to challenge responders.

"That just makes them better going into a real scenario," said Lt. Darrin Whitman of the Allen Police Department.

Whitman said the goal is to force officers to work through noise, confusion, and split‑second decisions – the same conditions many of them faced at the outlet mall.

Lessons From 2023 Still Drive Today's Training

Only a few miles from Thursday's drill site, the outlet mall shooting remains a defining moment for Allen's first responders.

One of the biggest challenges that day – and in many mass‑casualty events – is getting medical help to victims when the scene isn't fully secure.

Assistant Fire Chief Danny Williams said that reality changed how the department prepares.

"We can't have personnel just running in when it's not safe," Williams said. "We started working with our fire department personnel to get them protective gear – vests, helmets, tactical gear – to go into what's called a warm zone."

Joint drills like this one aren't just about tactics. They're about relationships.

"It's great having a relationship with them," one officer said. "We show up, and we already know them — it goes miles into our training."

"Every Second Counts"

Police and fire officials say they were able to save everyone who could be saved during the 2023 shooting — but only because of training and preparation.

Thursday's drill shut down nearby streets and included realistic sights and sounds to simulate the urgency of a real attack.

"Every second counts," Williams said. "If we wait until a scene is fully secured – a cold zone – some patients simply aren't going to survive."

As Allen approaches another painful anniversary, its first responders say they're committed to learning, adapting, and preparing for the unthinkable – so they're ready if it ever happens again.

Isolated storm chances return to the forecast on Friday and Saturday, with a slight threat of severe weather on Saturday for the western part of the region.

After a mild start to Friday, we will see cloudy skies and warm conditions. There will be a few showers and storms in the area. Highs will climb into the low-80's.  

Any outdoor plans will need to be on Saturday, although it will be cloudy and muggy, as Sunday will be a much wetter day. Sunday is a First Alert Weather Day due to disruptive rain and the threat of severe storms. A round of rain will arrive in the morning and another round later in the day, with the potential for strong to severe storms. Strong  winds, damaging hail and flooding rainfall will be possible.

The weather will stay active into next week, with more chances for severe storms from Monday through Wednesday. The driest day of the three looks to be on Monday, with better storm chances on Tuesday and Wednesday as a cold front approaches. Humidity will also increase.

Rain chances look to stay in the forecast all the way into next weekend. 

By comparison, the Consumer Price Index — a basket of commonly purchased goods and services — rose 2.7% last year. Homeowners in some states have faced considerably larger property tax increases, including an 18% hike in Delaware and an 11.6% jump in Maryland.

Property taxes are typically levied by local governments to raise revenue for public services, including public schools, road construction, and police and fire departments. They account for 70 cents of every dollar in local tax collections, according to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation.

Property taxes rose last year even as the average estimated value for single-family homes dropped 1.7% to $494,231 — still among the highest on record but representing a slight year-over-year dip. This shows property taxes are influenced by factors other than property assessments, with some local governments hiking taxes due to the rising cost of providing public services, according to the Tax Policy Center.

"Property taxes often rise faster than inflation because they're driven by local government funding needs, not consumer prices," ATTOM chief executive Rob Barber told CBS News. "Municipalities may increase tax rates or maintain higher levies to keep up with rising costs for schools, infrastructure and public services, regardless of broader inflation trends."

Where property taxes are falling

While property taxes rose in 40 states and the District of Columbia last year, they fell in 10 states, mostly in the West, according to the ATTOM analysis. 

Those declines reflect a push in some states to reduce property taxes, with Wyoming lawmakers approving a 25% cut for properties valued at up to $1 million. About 8 in 10 Montana homeowners got a property tax cut last year because of a new law that introduced a rebate and a tiered tax system.

"In states with year-over-year declines, property tax reductions are typically driven by policy changes and alternative revenue sources rather than just home price trends," Barber said. "Strong revenues from sectors like energy or tourism can ease reliance on property taxes, while legislative actions such as rate cuts or tax relief measures can further lower the overall burden."

Homeowners in the Northeast, California and Illinois typically pay the most in property taxes, with the average New Jersey homeowner paying about $10,500 a year, the analysis found. The lowest property taxes were in West Virginia, with an average levy of $1,081 per home. 

Not only was it the hottest March on record for the U.S., but the amount it was above normal by beat any other month in history for the Lower 48 states. March's average temperature of 50.85 degrees Fahrenheit was 9.35 degrees above the 20th century normal for March. That easily passed the old record of 8.9 degrees set in March 2012 as the most abnormally hot month on record - regardless of the month of the year - according to records released Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The average maximum temperature for March was especially high at 11.4 degrees above the 20th century average and was almost a degree warmer than the average daytime high for April, NOAA said.

Scientists' concern growing  

Six of the nation's top 10 most abnormally hot months have been in the last 10 years. This February, which was 6.57 degrees above the 20th century norm, was the tenth highest above normal.

"What we experienced in March across the United States was unprecedented," said Shel Winkley, a meteorologist with Climate Central, a nonprofit science research group.

"One reason that's so concerning is just the sheer volume of records, all-time records that were set and broken during that time period," Winkley said. "But also this is coming on the heels of what was the worst snow year. And the hottest winter on record."

April 2025 to March 2026 was the warmest 12-month period on record in the continental United States, according to NOAA.

On March 20 and 21, about one-third of the nation felt unseasonable heat that would have been virtually impossible without human-caused climate change, Climate Central calculated.

More than 19,800 daily temperature records were broken for heat across the country, according to meteorologist Guy Walton, who analyzes NOAA data. More than 2,000 places set monthly records for heat - harder to break than daily records - Walton calculated. That's more March heat records set just last month than in entire decades in the past.

"Climate change is kicking our butts"  

All those broken records "tells us that climate change is kicking our butts," said meteorologist Jeff Masters of Yale Climate Connections.

"(The) January through March period was the driest on record for the contiguous U.S. So not only was it hot, it was record dry as well," Masters said. "And that's a bad combination for water availability, for agriculture, for river levels, for navigation."

The European climate and weather service Copernicus and NOAA are both forecasting a "super" strong El Niño to form in a few months and intensify into the winter. Meteorologists expect that to increase already warm temperatures across the globe, likely pushing past the hottest year mark set by 2024.

An El Niño is a natural temporary and cyclical warming of parts of the central Pacific that alters weather across the planet. An El Niño is formed when a specific part of the ocean is 0.5 degrees Celsius (0.9 F) warmer than normal. It is considered moderate at 1 degree Celsius and strong at 1.5 degrees Celsius. Both NOAA and the Europeans are forecasting this one to be well above 2 degrees Celsius into an area that is informally called super-sized and perhaps rivaling records set in 2015 and 2016.

An El Niño releases heat stored in the upper ocean into the air, which causes global temperatures to rise, but with a few months lag time, said Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Victor Gensini.

"A strong El Niño could plausibly push global temperatures to new record levels in late 2026 and into 2027," Gensini said.

Super-sized El Niños often trigger a "climate regime shift" that pushes normal conditions into a different pattern for years or decades, according to a study last December in the journal Nature Communications. The study said that after the 2015-2016 El Niño, the Gulf of Mexico jumped to a new sustained level of warmth that may have contributed to stronger hurricanes along the Gulf Coast in the years after.

Growing research seems to indicate that a warming world from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas could be making El Niños stronger, but climate scientists said that's not quite a consensus yet.

"Global warming is supercharging El Niños and the atmospheric warming they drive," said University of Michigan environment dean and climate scientist Jonathan Overpeck. "We saw this in 2016 and more recently in 2023. We're likely to see another jump in global temperatures if a strong El Niño develops later this year as being predicted."

El Niños tend to tamp down hurricane activity in the Atlantic, but ramp it up in the Pacific and could help ease the southwestern drought, Masters said.