The traffic tangle in La Porte Wednesday has finally cleared, more than 24 hours after a tanker filled with propane overturned and plunged from an overpass. Flares could been seen at the crash site as cleanup crews burned off the propane in the damaged tanker.

Metal thieves hit the mother lode when they targeted a steel supply company in Magnolia last weekend. The heist happened about 11 p.m. Saturday at the Specialty Steel Company in the 19200 block of Circle Lake Drive near Highway 249, according to the Magnolia County Sheriff's Office.

The northbound lanes were temporarily blocked while crews cleared the scene. Earlier a stalled big-rig about 7:30 a.m. made headaches for drivers on the westbound East Freeway near Normandy.

Firefighters battled blaze at a home in northeast Harris County late Wednesday morning. The fire broke out about 10:40 a.m. at the home on Misty Ridge near Shurb Oak in the Atascocita area, according to the Atascocita Volunteer Fire Department. Officials said firefighters were at the scene and no information was available about possible injuries or what sparked the blaze.

Policed said the woman, whose name has not been released, had blunt-force trauma to her head and evidence at the scene suggested she had been strangled. Anyone with information about the case is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

Three men were being questioned after police found them in the stolen SUV of a 74-year-old man who was discovered dead Monday morning in his home in southeast Houston. Police said a preliminary investigation indicated the back door of the home had been forced open.

Police were investigating a smash-and-grab robbery after thieves rammed a pickup into the glass doors of a convenience store Tuesday morning along Interstate 45 in north Houston. The incident happened about 5:40 a.m. at a Texaco station at 7102 North Freeway near Rittenhouse. The suspects smashed a maroon Dodge Ram pickup into the store, grabbed the ATM, put it in the truck and sped away. No other information was immediately available.

A man was taken into custody after he held police at bay following his alleged assault on an officer Tuesday morning at an apartment in southwest Houston. Police said preliminary information indicated officers were initially dispatched to the scene after the suspect reported a theft.

A woman died after she was found shot, lying face down on the ground and clutching a crowbar early Tuesday morning outside at an apartment complex in northwest Houston. Police said the woman, whose name has not been released, was gripping a crowbar and had apparently crawled from where she had been shot outside an apartment.

The description was broadcast on police radio and another officer later spotted the vehicle on 23rd Street near Avenue J. That officer stopped the car for a traffic violation. Police said the driver, 27-year-old Gustavo Aybar, and the passenger, 20-year-old Rudy Servantes, were arrested and both charged with felon in possession of a firearm.