KTBB News, Weather, Talk

LONGVIEW — According to a release, U.S. Senator John Cornyn announced Thursday that the Longview ISD was awarded a federal grant of $3.2 million to support the development and implementation of magnet schools. Senator Cornyn is a member of the Senate Finance, Intelligence, and Judiciary committees. The Longview ISD has 5 magnet schools total: Longview High School, Forest Park Middle School, Ware East Texas Montessori Academy, Ned. E. Williams Magnet STEAM Academy and East Texas Montessori Prep Academy.

HARRISON COUNTY — The Harrison County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the death of a 3-month-old. According to our news partner KETK, on Tuesday, authorities received reports that a baby had been been taken to a local hospital and then later flown to a children’s hospital in Dallas. The hospital declared the newborn brain dead Wednesday. An autopsy has been ordered.

TYLER — The City of Tyler received a 2023 Municipal Excellence Award in communication programs for cities over 25,000 in population during the 2023 Texas Municipal League (TML) Annual Conference and Exhibition in Dallas. The award recognized the City of Tyler for our city-wide editorial process. The City of Tyler implemented a city-wide editorial process that encapsulates all departments’ marketing campaigns and ties actions to concrete deliverables. The communication team meets with each department annually to identify marketing goals and develops a comprehensive work plan, with check-ins and updates throughout the year. Since implementing this process, the City’s content creation has increased by 72 percent, crisis communication has improved, and City employees outside the Communications Team have been empowered to become communication best practice ambassadors to their departments, improving cross-collaboration and teamwork across the organization. Continue reading City of Tyler wins statewide excellence award

TYLER – As humanitarian concerns grow in Israel amid its war with Hamas, the Texas Baptist Men, who aid in situations like these, have people there right now with relief. “Within 24 hours of the war breaking out, TBM volunteers were on the plane to Israel,” said John Hall, spokesperson for Texas Baptist Men. Many would have never guessed that volunteers from the Lone Star State would fly over 7,000 miles into an active war zone, according to our news partners at KETK. Continue reading Texas Baptist men feeding Israeli community

LINDALE – The City of Lindale has issued a boil water notice due to an outage. The roads that are effected are CR 4183, CR 4199, Loring Ln, Springcrest Ln, Sentinel Ln and FM 16W on both sides of the road to city limits. Those with questions are urged to contact the City of Lindale at 903-882-4948.

TYLER – During the 2023 Texas Municipal League (TML) Annual Conference and Exhibition in Dallas, the City of Tyler received a 2023 Municipal Excellence Award in communication programs for cities over 25,000 in population. The award recognized the City of Tyler for our city-wide editorial process. The City of Tyler implemented a city-wide editorial process that encapsulates all departments’ marketing campaigns and ties actions to concrete deliverables. The communication team meets with each department annually to identify marketing goals and develops a comprehensive work plan, with check-ins and updates throughout the year. Since implementing this process, the City’s content creation has increased by 72 percent, crisis communication has improved, and City employees outside the Communications Team have been empowered to become communication best practice ambassadors to their departments, improving cross-collaboration and teamwork across the organization. Continue reading City of Tyler wins statewide excellence award

TYLER – The Rose City Music Festival in Downtown Tyler kicks off this weekend, and our news partner KETK reports that there will be multiple road closures around the area starting Friday morning. City officials say that Downtown businesses will remain open, and that parking at the Fair Plaza Parking Garage is encouraged. Here’s a full list of road closures for the event Continue reading Rose City Music Festival road closures

TYLER — The Rabbi of Congregation Beth El, the Jewish Synagogue in Tyler, says his teenage daughter and two members of the Beth El congregation are currently trying to make their way home from Israel. Rabbi Neal Katz says he has been in constant communication with his daughter and that he hopes she will be leaving her high school studies in Tel Aviv to return to East Texas this week. He says his Synagogue members have had to go to a bomb shelter twice already this week. He says all he can do is pray for them. Continue reading Attack on Israel hits close to home

VAN ZANDT COUNTY— 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a stay of execution Monday for a Texas death inmate. According to our news partner KETK, the execution of 48-year-old Jedidiah Isaac Murphy was scheduled for Tuesday. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice said on Oct. 4, 2000 Murphy forced a 79-year-old woman in Garland to give him a ride at gunpoint. He then forced the woman into the trunk of her car and shot her while she was getting into the trunk. Later, Murphy took the woman out from the cars trunk and drowned her in a creek. The Texas Attorney General’s Office tried to overturn the execution order, but the decision was upheld by the Court of Appeals.

AUSTIN — With the third special session now in progress, Gov. Greg Abbott intends to make progress on what he calls “education freedom.” The governor has asked Texans to contact their state representative to advocate for school choice, while opponents of the idea claim this is just a rebrand of the school voucher plan. Since the topic of school choice has been brought forth, public school districts across East Texas have had concerns, according to our colleagues at KETK. “I think that would be detrimental to public schools. Changing the name from vouchers to school choice and different things like that, I mean, parents have a choice, students have a choice,” Central ISD Superintendent Justin Risne said. Continue reading East Texas school districts raise questions in Austin

SMITH COUNTY – Our news partners at KETK report two people are in custody after a pursuit Tuesday morning on I-20 in Smith County. According to Smith County Constable Precinct 5 Wesley Hicks, they were alerted to a pursuit of a stolen car from Grapevine around 9:38 a.m. that was headed towards Smith County. A Precinct 5 deputy attempted to stop the car at the Hideaway Lake exit before the car fled eastbound, driving on and off the highway several times. Hicks said the car came to a stop at the Love’s Travel Stop on Barber Road after colliding with a chain link fence. Two suspects ran from the car and were caught by authorities. The driver was identified as Robert Harris and has been charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and evading arrest while the passenger, Levell Bagneris, was charged with evading arrest. Both were arrested and booked into the Smith County Jail.

TYLER — The Tyler Police Department is working a traffic crash at Old Jacksonville Hwy and South College Ave. that has caused at least 2 power poles and guidelines to break and are in the roadway. There are live power lines in the roadway. There are some road closures to be aware of. Old Jacksonville Hwy is closed from South Broadway Ave. to South Chilton Ave.
South College is closed from West 8th St down to Hamvassy Ln. Avoid this area, officers are in the roadway working the crash and crews are clearing the area.