By JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press

HOUSTON (AP) — Nearly 70 years after a Texas Black man was executed in a case that prosecutors now say was based on false evidence and was riddled with racial bias, officials have declared that he was innocent in the killing of a white woman in Dallas.

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Tommy Lee Walker was executed in the electric chair in May 1956 for the rape and murder of 31-year-old Venice Parker.

At the time of the trial, prosecutors had alleged Walker attacked Parker, a store clerk who was on her way home, on the evening of Sept. 30, 1953. Parker’s killing took place during a time of panic and racial division in the Dallas area as there were reports that a Peeping Tom believed to be a Black man was terrorizing women, according to the Dallas County Criminal District Attorney’s Office.

But an extensive review of Walker’s conviction by the Dallas County Criminal District Attorney’s Office, along with the help of the Innocence Project of New York and Northeastern University School of Law’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, found multiple problems with Walker’s case.

The review found problems with statements from a Dallas police officer who claimed that Parker had identified her attacker as a Black man. But multiple witnesses denied that Parker “did anything outside of convulse and hemorrhage exorbitant amounts of blood,” after being attacked, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot said during a Wednesday meeting of Dallas County commissioners that was held to ask the officials to declare Walker innocent.

During the next few months after Parker’s killing. hundreds of Black men were rounded up by authorities and four months later, Walker, then 19 years old, was arrested.

Walker was subjected to threatening and coercive interrogation tactics by Will Fritz, a Dallas police captain who had been a member of the Ku Klux Klan, Creuzot said.

Walker later testified he confessed to the killing because he was afraid for his life, Creuzot said.

At his trial, Walker’s lawyers presented 10 witnesses who testified that at the time of the murder, they were with Walker and his girlfriend when she gave birth to their son, Edward Lee Smith, at a local hospital, according to the Innocence Project.

“But this carried little weight in Jim Crow Dallas,” the Innocence Project said.

Walker was convicted by an all-white jury in 1954.

“The prosecution in this case presented misleading and inadmissible evidence,” Creuzot said. “This case, while it has undeniable legal errors, was riddled with racial injustice during a time when prejudice and bigotry were woven throughout every aspect of society, including the criminal justice system.”

Creuzot credited the work of journalist Mary Mapes, who first began investigating Walker’s case 13 years ago.

“He paid with his life for a crime he could not have committed,” Mapes told commissioners.

During an emotional moment at Wednesday’s meeting, Smith, Walker’s now 72-year-old son, and the victim’s son, Joseph Parker, hugged each other.

“I’m so sorry for what happened,” Parker told Smith

“And I’m sorry for your loss,” Smith replied.

Smith had earlier told commissioners that his father’s wrongful execution was very hard for him and his mother.

“I’m 72 years old and I still miss my daddy,” Smith said as he cried. “She said, ’Baby, they give your father the electric chair for something he didn’t do.’ ”

Joseph Parker told commissioners he hopes that Walker’s exoneration will help prevent wrongful convictions in the future.

“If nothing else comes from this situation … it’s that we learn to try not to make the same mistake again. The mistake being what? The mistake being the injustice, the taking of an innocent life,” Parker said.

At the end of Wednesday’s meeting, Dallas County commissioners unanimously passed a symbolic resolution declaring that Walker was wrongfully convicted and executed and what happened to him represented “a profound miscarriage of justice.”

Follow Juan A. Lozano: https://x.com/juanlozano70

By MICHAEL PHILLIS, REBECCA BOONE and GARY FIELDS, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A massive pipe that moves millions of gallons of sewage has ruptured and sent wastewater flowing into the Potomac River northwest of Washington, D.C., polluting it ahead of a major winter storm that has repair crews scrambling.

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DC Water, which operates the sewer system, is hooking up pumps to divert sewage around the rupture and allow crews to make repairs. It has cautioned people to stay out of the area and to wash their skin if exposed.

The spill was caused by a 72-inch diameter sewer pipe that collapsed late Monday, shooting sewage out of the ground and into the river. DC Water spokesperson John Lisle said the utility estimates the overflow at about 40 million gallons each day — enough to fill about 66 Olympic-size swimming pools — but it’s not clear exactly how much has spilled into the river since the overflow began.

Signs warn the public to stay away

“Oh, my god, the smell is horrific,” said Dean Naujoks, the Potomac Riverkeeper and part of an environmental nonprofit. “It’s such high concentrations of sewage that just grabbing a sample is a public health risk.”

Associated Press video from the scene showed signs posted near the river that read “DANGER” and “Raw Sewage” and warned people not to enter the area. Naujoks and another man donned protective gloves to take samples of water from the river to test for E. coli and other bacteria. Small bits of debris could be seen floating in some of the sample bottles.

The spill occurred in Montgomery County, Maryland, along Clara Barton Parkway, which hugs the northern edge of the Potomac River near Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic Park.

Crews are removing lock gates on the C & O Canal and will set up pumps to divert the sewage into the canal, rerouting it away from the river and back into the sewage system downstream. The pumps have enough capacity to capture all of the sewage flow in dry weather, said Lisle, but they could be overwhelmed by a surge in stormwater. Crews will work through the weekend, when a bad winter storms is expected, Lisle said, and they hope to have the bypass set up by Monday.

The spill does not impact drinking water, which is a separate system, DC Water said.

Naujoks said the spill is happening at time when the river is low. He went out to look at it Wednesday and was “kind of stunned.”

“Sewage is just bubbling up like a small geyser, maybe 2, 3 feet into the air,” he said. “Sewage water is running in every direction.”

The District of Columbia Department of the Environment did not immediately respond to a request for comment, including whether it is testing the river’s water.

Damaged pipeline is one of several sections identified for repair

DC Water knew the pipeline was deteriorating, and rehabilitation work on the section surrounding the break began in September. It was expected to be completed in April. Repair work on additional “high priority” sections of the pipeline is expected to start later this year.

The pipeline, called the Potomac Interceptor, was first installed in the 1960s.

There’s a huge funding gap for water infrastructure in the U.S., said Gary Belan, a senior director with American Rivers, an environmental organization that advocates for clean waterways.

“I know a lot of the wastewater folks are trying to catch up as best they can, but this is something we see and will continue to see, where these pipes fail and these massive sewage dumps occur,” Belan said. “This is why we can’t defer maintenance of our wastewater infrastructure. Too often, we’re dependent on these disasters to prod us forward.”

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, speaking at a press conference declaring a snow emergency for the impending storm, said authorities there were aware of the sewage spill “but I can’t give you an intelligent response right now.” She said D.C. officials would be more forthcoming as soon as they could.

Kelly Offner, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency spokesperson for the mid-Atlantic region, said the agency was coordinating with DC Water, the Maryland Department of the Environment and other federal, state and local authorities to assess the impact on the environment from the Potomac Interceptor sanitary sewer overflow. The federal agency oversees DC Water’s sewer operations under a 2015 federal consent decree.

“DC Water has provided daily updates since the overflow was discovered on January 19, 2026, and has been coordinating efforts to contain the overflow, monitor environmental impacts, and communicate with the public,” Offner said in an emailed response to questions.

An EPA survey of wastewater infrastructure needs from 2022 estimated that the District of Columbia needs roughly $1.33 billion to replace or rehabilitate structurally deteriorating sanitary or combined sewers within the next 20 years.

Nationally, hundreds of billions in infrastructure investment is needed over the next two decades for clean water problems like aging sewer pipes. In other places where sewer breaks are persistent, it can lead to backups into homes and regular flooding.

Boone reported from Boise, Idaho.

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military said Friday that it has carried out a deadly strike on a vessel accused of trafficking drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the first known attack since the raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro earlier this month.

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U.S. Southern Command said on social media that the boat was “engaged in narco-trafficking operations” and that the strike killed two people and left one survivor. It said it notified the Coast Guard to launch search and rescue operations for that person.

A video accompanying the post shows a boat moving through the water before exploding in flames. The U.S. military has focused lately on seizing sanctioned oil tankers with connections to Venezuela since the Trump administration launched an audacious raid to capture Maduro and bring him to New York to face drug trafficking charges.

The last boat strikes occurred in late December, when the military said it struck five alleged drug-smuggling boats over two days, killing a total of eight people while others jumped overboard. Days later, the Coast Guard suspended its search.

Longtime Minnesota Twins broadcaster Dick Bremer is joining the club’s Hall of Fame. The St. Paul native will be officially inducted before the Twins’ game against the Los Angeles Angels at Target Field on July 11.

Bremer will be the 42nd member of the team’s hall, which includes players, managers coaches and front office personnel that “contributed to the organization’s growth and success since Minnesota broke into the major leagues in 1961,” the team said in a release.

“For 40 seasons Dick Bremer wasn’t just the voice of Twins baseball, he was woven into the fabric of it,” Twins president of baseball and business operations Derek Falvey said in a statement. “His love for the game, this team, and his home state of Minnesota came through every night in a way fans could feel.”

Bremer began his Twins play-by-play career with Spectrum Sports from 1983-85. He rejoined the club’s broadcast team in 1987 and was the Twins’ television play-by-play voice through the 2023 season.

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