Environment

WASHINGTON — With real-time monitors, scientists have linked a swarm of small earthquakes west of Fort Worth, Texas, to nearby natural gas wells and wastewater injection.

In 84 days from November 2013 to January 2014, the area around Azle, Texas, shook with 27 magnitude 2 or greater earthquakes, while scientists at Southern Methodist University and the U.S. Geological Survey monitored the shaking. It’s an area that had no recorded quakes for 150 years on faults that “have been inactive for hundreds of millions of years,” said SMU geophysicist Matthew Hornbach.

When the volume of injections decreased significantly, so did the shaking.

The spring rain has fallen, the air has warmed, and the flowers are blooming. A drive in almost any direction will lead you to bluebonnets.

There are bluebonnets all over Texas right now. And with this being called a good year to see them, many people will be taking drives into the country this weekend.

COTTON CENTER — After years spent studying the dust that blows across the southern Great Plains, Phil Smith no longer looks at the dark haboobs that routinely rise over Lubbock without a healthy dose of apprehension. 

In a study slated for publication next month, he and Texas Tech University colleague Greg Mayer may have made their biggest discovery yet: DNA from antibiotic-resistant bacteria in cattle feedlots is airborne.   

For years, scientists have known that humans can contract antibiotic-resistant bacteria by consuming contaminated meat or water. The findings by Smith and Mayer indicate that humans could also be exposed to so-called “super bugs” or “super bacteria” traveling through the air. 

The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Watch for the entire San Antonio area and the Hill Country from 1 p.m. Friday to 7 p.m. Saturday.

There is the possibility of widespread 2 to 4 inches of rainfall with isolated totals of 6 to 7 inches from slow moving and training thunderstorms.