HOUSTON -- The day after an all-white jury acquitted a former Houston police officer for his role in the beating of a 15-year-old African American burglary suspect, community activists rallied a crowd of at least 200 people on the courthouse steps to protest.

Andrew Blomberg was acquitted by a jury in Houston on Wednesday in the alleged beating and stomping of Chad Holley two years ago.

The verdict was criticized by the Houston Police Department on Thursday.

"I understand the jury's verdict, I just have to respectfully disagree," Police Chief Charles McClelland said, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Protesters carrying signs with slogans like, "No justice, no peace. Stop the racist police," and "Justice for Trayvon Martin" circled in front of the Harris County Courthouse and a phalanx of media cameras.

Some of them chanted that Houston Mayor Annise Parker and Harris County District Attorney Patricia Lykos have to go -- even though both officials issued statements saying they disagreed with the verdict.

Blomberg, 29, was one of four officers fired for their role in the beating of Holley in March 2010 when police apprehended him while he was apparently fleeing a burglary.

His acquittal came amid heightened tension after the fatal shooting of black Florida teen Trayvon Martin by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman earlier this year.

Court docs: Trayvon Martin shooting 'ultimately avoidable by Zimmerman'

Holley's beating was videotaped by a security camera at a nearby business showing at least seven officers involved, kicking and stomping him as he lay face down on the ground.

Pat Sullivan / AP

Protesters gather at the county courthouse in Houston on Thursday.

All seven were fired, but four, including Blomberg, were charged with official oppression.

The remaining three defendants will learn of their court dates on Monday. Holley, who was convicted of burglary and sentenced to probation, has filed civil suits against the officers involved.

After the acquittal, Lykos said she respectfully disagreed with the verdict and said prosecutors were "prepared to go to trial on the three remaining cases."

Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle via AP

Former Houston police officer Andrew Blomberg was accused of participating in the videotaped beating of a 15-year-old burglary suspect. He was acquitted.

Blomberg told media after the verdict was rendered the incident had nothing to do with race, and that Holley was simply a "fleeing burglary suspect."

But community activists disagreed, and spoke out angrily against police brutality at the courthouse rally on Thursday.

"The cops standing on the street corner, the ones who cower in the lobby of the courthouse -- those no good bastards are never going to change unless you make them change," said activist Quanell X.

Quanell X told the crowd that two black jurors out of a pool of 75 were stricken, and encouraged the black community to respond to jury summons in the future.

"All-white juries can never happen again," he said.

Other activists present at the rally asked people to sign a petition for an independent civilian review board to examine cases of police oppression and brutality.

Speaking to the Houston Chronicle on Thursday, Lykos pointed out that jury pools are created randomly from prospective jurors who say they can be impartial. She also highlighted that Blomberg's defense team struck the two black jurors from the jury pool.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Two illegal immigrants pleaded guilty in Texas on Monday to possessing 27,000 rounds of assault rifle ammunition along the U.S.-Mexico border, where cross-border weapons smuggling has increased in recent years, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. 

Police in Laredo, Texas, discovered the ammunition after they stopped a Dodge Ram pickup truck that failed to stop at a stop sign in March, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson said in a statement. 

Mexican President Felipe Calderon told U.S. President Barack Obama in April that his country's bloody drug war - which has claimed more than 50,000 lives since 2006 - would not cease until the United States stems the flow of weapons that head south of the Rio Grande. 

After the Laredo traffic stop, officers arrested Abraham Garcia-Perguero, 35, and his wife, Maria Isabel Rodriguez-Olivio, 33, both Mexican citizens living as illegal immigrants in Laredo, Magidson said. 

Police seized 27 boxes of .223-caliber ammunition - commonly used in AR-15 or M-16 assault rifles - alongside a Glock pistol with 50 bullets, Magidson said. 

Garcia-Perguero and Rodriguez-Olivio admitted they picked up the ammunition and Glock bullet magazine from a local gun shop and were going to deliver them to another person waiting outside a strip club, Magidson said. They expected to receive between $400 and $500 for transporting the ammo. 

Each faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a maximum $250,000 fine for possessing the large ammo cache.

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iPhones, Nintendos and Kindles — devices synonymous with "fun" — are taking a new role in the classroom, thanks to a new trend in education called Bring Your Own Technology – or BYOT.

BYOT programs — like the one at Georgia’s Coal Mountain Elementary School — encourage students to bring in their own personal mobile technology — including iPads, Kindle Fires, netbooks — even gaming devices — to use during class.

“It’s really a simple thing,” says Tim Clark, District Technology Specialist for Forsyth County School District. “Kids have technology in their pockets and [are] taking them to school, but trying to hide them from teachers and from their parents. What we’re trying to do is have the kids take them out of their pockets and use [them] for instruction.”

Technology can be incorporated into lessons in various ways — serving as a research tool, providing access to educational games and allowing students to create multimedia presentations. Clark says students who don’t have their own devices, or opt not to bring them, can use district-owned laptops and electronic resources.

He says the program encourages participation and interaction because “it’s not a solitary type of activity where every child is buried in their device … it increases collaboration. It increases communication with the teacher. The teacher sees immediate feedback from the student’s work and the students are able to overcome other difficulties.”

Tracey Abercrombie, a fifth grade teacher at Coal Mountain, has been impressed with the program in general and praises the difference it has made with her special education students. “I’ve got one [student] who has trouble getting [information],” Abercrombie says. “He can get the ideas formed but there’s a bit of difficulty getting them out verbally. There’s something about typing it, having it come up on that screen. All of a sudden the barrier is gone.”

Clark says incorporating students’ personal devices in the classroom not only enhances learning, but teaches responsibility. “All of this is putting the responsibility on the shoulders of the students and [we’re] also trying to teach them and guide them to use their devices more effectively…not only taking care of their device and being careful not to drop it, but also wanting to make sure they know where it is at all times so it’s not stolen. [Using] it appropriately so they don’t post inappropriate pictures, so they don’t text inappropriate message to each other.”

Those involved with the program say students aren’t the only ones with something to gain from BYOT. For example, Clark says teachers “can learn alongside their students instead of having to determine all of the ways that their students should learn … they get to ask questions and discover all these new uses of the devices themselves."

Abercrombie agrees and has seen her teaching style change since the program began.

“I thought my role was give them all the knowledge that I’ve got about something and use that textbook and my knowledge together," Abercrombie said. "Now I realize that’s not my job at all. My job is to facilitate them. My job is to point them in the right direction, give them the tools they need and — wow — they can do so much more.”

Before launching BYOT in Forsyth County Schools, teachers and administrators explained the program’s structure and ground rules to parents and students. At first, Kara Laurie, who has two children at Coal Mountain Elementary, was apprehensive about allowing her kids to bring their devices to school. She says her initial reaction was that it “was a horrible idea … I had the normal parent concerns, you know, are things going to get broken? Are they going to get lost or stolen? And what about those kids that don’t have technology that they could take to school?”

But as the program got underway, she saw “how much the kids were able to do with it in the classroom. I found that it was a phenomenal idea.”

“We had to sit down as a class, as a team, and really define our rules because [the students are] used to using it any way at home,” Abercrombie says. “They’re used to … putting everything on Facebook, so we had to have a little talk about … different ways to use these devices in school.”

Amy Anderson, another parent of two, was comforted by the district’s approach to the program. Her fourth grader uses a netbook in class, while her first grader has a Nintendo 3DS. “The administration "set some very clear ground rules at the beginning and we had to sign an agreement as parents and they had to sign an agreement as students that they would only stay on,” Anderson recalls. The students "have to be on the school network which has all of the filters. If they don’t abide by those, if they use them when they are not supposed to, if they use them incorrectly, then they lose that privilege of being able to bring it in.”

In 2010, seven schools in Forsyth County School District began BYOT programs. This year, all 35 of the district’s schools are participating. While it is a relatively new idea, BYOT already exists in schools across the country, in states like Texas, Minnesota and Ohio.

Clark says the district has received positive feedback, along with interest in the program.

“I’m receiving messages from other districts that would like to come and see the implementation of bring your own technology in their schools … we recently held a tour of BYOT in our district … we had over 100 visitors on that tour. They were not only other districts, but also vendors wanting to understand how it’s impacting [the students].”

As far as student reaction, Clark says “the students love it…[they] have their devices, they’re learning how to use them in a more responsible way, and they’re being critical thinkers and very creative with their devices in ways that they never would have used them on their own.”

Storms with lightning, hail and rain rolled through North Texas Friday night, while one person sustained a minor injury as hail the size of baseballs hit parts of Oklahoma.

In Texas, lightning forced Forth Worth's Mayfest 2012 to shut down Friday night and Texas Christian University also called off its baseball game early, NBC DFW reported.

In 1995, a huge hailstorm hit Fort Worth. The storm did $1 billion in damage and injured more than 100 people, including a number of people at Mayfest. 

Barring any more bad weather, the event should be back in business Friday morning, NBC DFW said. 

The storm triggered a tornado warning in Hood County, but there were no immediate reports of damage there, according to the sheriff. 

A home in Celina sustained serious damage when strong winds caused a roof to collapse in the Carter Ranch addition, the Collin County sheriff said. 

Minor damage was reported in Granbury, and some downed trees were reported in Crowley. 

 Meanwhile in Oklahoma, a couple and their grandchild were fleeing the storm in a vehicle when hail smashed a window, injuring one person inside, Tillman County Emergency Management Director Jeffrey Rector told The Associated Press Friday.

In neighboring Cotton County, a sheriff's dispatcher said a number of cars were damaged as the storm passed through, but there were no reports of injuries.

NBC News contributed to this report.

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Texas Forest Service

A helicopter helps battle the wildfire near the Davis Mountain Resort in Texas.

Crews on Wednesday were trying to cut off a wildfire that has moved to within a half mile of a Texas resort community with 400 homes.

Residents of some 50 homes were evacuated in recent days, and more could be ordered "if the fire does get in there," Catherine Hibbard, a spokeswoman for the incident command helping the Texas Forest Service told msnbc.com on Wednesday.

About 80 firefighters from "hot shot" teams worked into late Tuesday night building fire lines "in steep, rugged terrain" on the eastern tip of the fire near Davis Mountain Resort, Hibbard said, and they planned to attack the western side on Wednesday.

Crews are worried that gusts up to 25 mph could fan the fire later Wednesday, she added.

Dubbed the "Livermore Ranch Fire," it has spread to more than 13,000 acres and is just 30 percent contained. On Tuesday, the fire was still a 1.5 miles from the resort community, located about 175 miles southeast of El Paso in West Texas.

Some 150 of the 400 homes there are occupied year-round, Hibbard said.

A second nearby blaze, dubbed the "Spring Mountain Fire," has burned more than 10,000 acres but is 60 percent contained and "looking pretty good," Hibbard said.

The fires, both caused by lightning, are the first major ones this year for Texas, NBCDFW.com reported, and come a year after the area was hit by wildfires that destroyed or damaged 25 homes and scorched some 300,000 acres.

Texas Forest Service

Firefighters view part of the Livermore Ranch Complex Fire in West Texas.

That fact wasn't lost on one resident who lamented the new fires in a posting on the Texas Forest Service's Facebook page.

"Just trying to finish paperwork from last years fire," said Emit Lopez, "and here we go again."

Across the country, an active wildfire season is expected this spring and summer.

An unusually dry winter in much of the Southwest is expected to continue the "severe to exceptional drought from last year across most of western Texas, New Mexico and Arizona," according to the National Wildland Fire Outlook, which was issued on Tuesday.

Above normal fire potential was expected across southwest New Mexico and southeast Arizona through May.

More than 15,000 firefighters will be available this year, officials said, including permanent and seasonal federal and state employees, crews from tribal and local governments, contract crews and temporary hires.

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The first major Texas wildfire of the season was threatening a group of rustic cabins in the Davis Mountains, NBC News reported.

Firefighters were battling the blaze, which covers 20,000 acres, in an area that was struck by uncontrolled burning exactly a year ago, according to NBCDWF.com.

The blaze comes as federal authorities and forecasters were anticipating an active, though not especially fierce, season.

Former volunteer fire chief Kelly Bryan told NBCDWF.com that no injuries or structural losses were reported in the fires at the Davis Mountain Resort. The area is some 175 miles southeast of El Paso.

Texas Forest Service spokeswoman April Saginor told the news channel that a 10,000-acre fire was burning uncontained Monday night at the Livermore Ranch, within 1½ miles of the resort.

Saginor said firefighters had a 9,900-acre blaze at Spring Mountain 60 percent contained Monday night.

The forest service said lightning strikes sparked the fires.

Four large uncontained fires, including the two Texas fires, were raging as of Tuesday, according to the National Interagency Fire Agency.

A new 500-acre fire was burning 11 miles south of Bowls in Arizona in the Apache Pass area. That fire was not  threatening any structures, according to KVOA-TV. It was believed to be a human-caused fire.

In Florida, a nearly 35,000-acre fire near the county line with Georgia was reported to be 80 percent contained.

A wildfire on Hawaii’s island of Oahu, on the leeward coast, has torched 200 acres of a wildlife reserve. The fire began on Monday night in the Makua Keaau Forest Reserve near Keaau Beach Park. Firefighters were using helicopters to fight the blaze in rough terrain, KITV-TV reported.

'Perfect recipe' for wildfires as season starts early 

Meanwhile, the federal government was bracing for an active wildfire season.

"We are ready to meet the challenge," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said at a news conference Thursday ahead of the fire season. "Our concern does not stop at the border of federal lands, but rather a strategy that is an all-lands approach for safety and wildfire management."

More than 15,000 firefighters will be available this year, officials said, including permanent and seasonal federal and state employees, crews from tribal and local governments, contract crews and temporary hires.

An unusually dry winter in much of the southwestern U.S. is expected to continue the “severe to exceptional drought from last year across most of western Texas, New Mexico and Arizona,” according to the national wildland fire outlook.

Above normal fire potential was expected across southwestern New Mexico and the southeastern third of Arizona through May.

Still, the broader wildfire forecast for parts of Texas was expected to be normal through the fire season, which runs through Aug. 31, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Parts of east Texas, as well as Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, were expected to see below-normal fire potential, the forecast said.

In southern and central California, recent rains were expected to lead to a normal start to the fire season, the forecast said, with significant fire potential in interior areas increasing as the season goes along because rainfall that was 50 percent to 70 percent of normal.

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AUSTIN, Texas - A U.S. appeals court judge on Tuesday issued an emergency stay of a ruling that prevented the state from excluding Planned Parenthood from a health program for low-income women because the organization performs abortions.

The stay, issued by Judge Jerry Smith of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, reversed a lower court ruling Monday in favor of the family planning organization. The decision means the state is free for now to enforce a new rule banning Planned Parenthood from the Texas Women's Health Program, state officials said.

The Associated Press reported that Smith gave eight Planned Parenthood organizations involved in a lawsuit until 5 p.m. Tuesday to present arguments.

"At this point, Planned Parenthood is not an eligible provider in the Women's Health Program," Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, said Tuesday.

The Women's Health Program, which is part of the federal-state Medicaid program, provides cancer screenings, birth control and other health services to more than 100,000 low-income women.

It does not pay for abortions or allow abortion providers to participate in the program. The new state rule bans program money from going to affiliates of abortion providers. State law has included that ban on affiliates since the program began in 2007, but the state did not enforce it.

Judge: Texas can't ban Planned Parenthood from health program

The Planned Parenthood groups sued, and on Monday, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel temporarily blocked the state rule pending trial, citing "the potential for immediate loss of access to necessary medical services by several thousand Texas women."

Planned Parenthood had told Yeakel that the health care of 40,000 women would be disrupted unless he blocked the rule.

But lawyers for the state said that Planned Parenthood's mission was contrary to a program goal of reducing abortions and that the program would end if Planned Parenthood remains in it.

Texas notified the federal government last year of its intent to begin enforcing the ban, effectively excluding Planned Parenthood from the program.

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President Barack Obama's administration has said it will not renew funding for the Texas program because the state was violating federal law by restricting the freedom to choose providers.

The state is suing over that decision. The federal government pays 90 percent of the $33-million-a-year program.

Msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

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A federal judge on Monday blocked a Texas rule that would have excluded Planned Parenthood from participating in the state's women's health program.

In a win for Planned Parenthood, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel ruled Monday there was sufficient evidence the state rule barring Planned Parenthood is unconstitutional. He imposed a temporary injunction against enforcing it until he can hear full arguments.

The rule forbids state agencies from providing funds to an organization affiliated with abortion providers. It was set to go into effect on Tuesday.

In response to the new rule, eight Planned Parenthood clinics that don't provide abortions sued the state. The clinics say the law unconstitutionally restricts their freedom of speech and association.

In granting the preliminary injunction, Planned Parenthood can continue to serve women, and getting reimbursed by the state, according to the Austin Statesman.

"The court is particularly influenced by the potential for immediate loss of access to necessary medical services by several thousand Texas women," Yeakel said in a 24-page ruling.

The preliminary injunction is a big win for Planned Parenthood, which has been under siege in several states by abortion opponents. In the past year alone, states including Wisconsin, North Carolina, Tennessee and Indiana, in addition to Texas, have all moved to block Planned Parenthood from receiving taxpayer money.

"For many women, we are the only doctor's visit they will have this year," Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement. "This ruling affirms what women have known all along: politics simply doesn't have a place in women's health."

The state Health and Human Services Commission will comply with the order and will work with the state attorney general to determine its next steps, spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman said.

"We remain confident that federal law gives states the right to establish criteria for Medicaid providers," Goodman said.

Texas Governor Rick Perry and some Republican lawmakers have said they would rather eliminate the women's healthcare program entirely than direct money to Planned Parenthood clinics.

The Texas program, which is part of the federal-state Medicaid program, provides cancer screenings, birth control and other health services to more than 100,000 low-income women.

The program does not pay for abortions or allow abortion providers to participate in the program. The new Texas state rule would ban program money from going to affiliates of abortion providers.

State law has included that ban on affiliates since the program began in 2007, but the state did not enforce it. Texas notified the federal government last year that it intended to begin enforcing the ban, effectively excluding Planned Parenthood from the program.
According to Planned Parenthood, about 49 percent of the women who received services through the program in 2010 obtained some services through a Planned Parenthood provider. Planned Parenthood said it would lose about $13.5 million of annual funding for preventive care and family planning if the rule is applied, forcing it to close clinics and lay off staff.

Texas has already made deep cuts in other family-planning programs. As a result, state subsidies that once provided low-cost birth control to 220,000 women a year now cover fewer than 60,000 women a year.

The federal government pays for 90 percent of the cost of the Texas Women's Health Program, which serves low-income women of reproductive age who do not qualify for regular Medicaid coverage. Texas puts up just $4 million a year.

Critics object to Planned Parenthood receiving taxpayer money, which cannot be used to provide abortions, arguing that a steady stream of government grants provide an indirect subsidy by helping pay utility bills and keep doctors on staff.

Planned Parenthood is the nation's largest abortion provider, terminating about 330,000 pregnancies a year.

It gets about a third of its revenue -- $360 million in 2009 -- from government grants to provide birth control, gynecological exams and care for sexually transmitted diseases to low-income women.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Cedartown High School

Click the picture to view other dresses in the Cedartown High School dress code for prom.

Girls who squeeze all but their cleavage, backs and midriffs into their special prom dresses may not get through the dances’ doors this spring as U.S. high schools toughen dress codes.

“We’ve never had a problem until this year,” said Hal David, principal for Cedartown High School in northwest Georgia. “It was at homecoming when we first saw the dresses our students were wearing -- and they were inappropriate, unacceptable.”

Students at Cedartown High School aren’t the only ones under greater scrutiny these days, as more American public high schools crack down on plunging necklines and thigh-high slits, educators say.

Some high school administrators say dresses have become so risqué that staff have created special presentations on acceptable attire and offering approval in advance when girls show pictures of their most-sought after style of dress.

Teen banned from prom over Confederate dress

David said the school came up with new guidelines this fall to spare everyone involved in the special day, which came last Saturday for the Cedartown Bulldogs.

He said parents complained gowns worn during homecoming were too revealing. He said he assembled a team of parents, teachers and administrators to draw up a plan, which included showing pictures of dresses deemed acceptable and unacceptable. To make sure it was accessible to Cedartown’s 1,100 students he posted it on the school’s website. He said staff also placed posters on high school walls, showing pictures of acceptable dresses.

David said students had plenty of warning before they showed up for prom at the local country club. “And to be fair, we were not trying to embarrass anybody. We just wanted our students to be appropriate,” he said. “We didn’t have to turn away anyone, we didn’t have any issues and everything was fine.”

Despite rising melanoma rates, teens' tanning for prom still the norm

But staff at another Georgia high school had a few tears shed at the door.

“The biggest issue is cleavage and you can’t have rules for cup sizes,” said Ginger Lawrence, assistant principal at Lee County High School in Leesburg, Ga., where 375 seniors are graduating this year.

Lawrence said she chaperoned the Trojans' prom wielding a 3-inch ruler, making sure the length of hems were no more than three inches above the knees. She said she had to turn away a few students because their dresses were too risqué.

“One girl went home and put on a tank top and came back,” she said. “The other, well, we didn’t see her again.”

Courtesy of Cheyenne Niemeier

Cheyenne Niemeier, a senior at Crawford High School in Crawford, Texas, said she had no trouble finding her dress for prom this year.

In Crawford, Texas, one parent says there no question prom is a busy time for families, with parents spending up to hundreds of dollars on clothes, meals, tickets and transportation. Parents will spend about $1,078 on the big dance this year, compared to $807 last year, according to a survey by Visa. Sometimes a dress code can help families navigate through a costly purchase, said Renessa Niemeier, a parent of a senior at Crawford High School.

"We've been aware of the dress code for years, and we abide by it," Niemeier said. "Fortunately, we haven't had any troubles finding a dress. We've bought many dresses over the years, too."

Her 18-year-old daughter, Cheyenne, said she spent about $500 on her gown, adding that her friends were able to find suitable styles that comply with Crawford's dress code.

"It wasn't too hard to find a dress, if you look in the right stores," Cheyenne Niemeier said.

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These days, the cuts and look seem to mirror outfits from the popular television show "Dancing with the Stars," says Catherine Moellering, executive vice president of trendspotting firm Tobe in New York City.

“Prom fashion is living in its own bubble,” Moellering said. “A lot of these girls are watching shows like ‘Real Housewives’ and the Kardashians, mimicking what they are seeing. And more or less, less has become the more.”

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AP

This NOAA satellite image taken Thursday at 1:45 a.m. EDT shows dense cloud cover over areas of the Ohio Valley through the Mid-Atlantic as a storm system and associated warm front extend through the Ohio Valley.

Severe thunderstorms are possible Thursday in the central High Plains and the mid-South with damaging winds and large hail the main threats in both locations, the Weather Channel warned.

Weather.com posted a map showing the areas that could be affected that included parts of Virginia, West Virginia, North and South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, as well as areas of Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Nebraska.

Meanwhile, Texas was hit by near-record high temperatures for April, with the city of Childress experiencing 106-degree heat Wednesday.

A spokeswoman for the National Weather Service told msnbc.com that was just one degree shy of the record for Texas in April of 107 degrees on April 19, 1925.

Jody James, NWS warnings coordination meteorologist based in Lubbock, Texas, said he hoped the heat was not a sign that there would be a repeat of the wildfires and drought that hit the state last year.

He said it was expected to be a little cooler Thursday with a top temperature of 96 degrees, with Friday hitting the upper 80s and then falling to the low 70s by Sunday.

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