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SHERMAN – An ophthalmology provider group with offices in East Texas has agreed to pay $2,902,505 to resolve False Claims Act allegations. Federal officials name Arlington Ophthalmology Association, PLLC, d/b/a Kleiman Evangelista Eye Centers (“K&E”). According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Texas, officials say the company offered and paid kickbacks to optometrists to induce referrals of patients who were candidates for cataract surgery in violation of the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute. K&E has offices in Arlington, Dallas, Plano, Southlake, Mount Pleasant, and Gun Barrel City.

TYLER — The City of Tyler Parks and Recreation Department is hosting a grand opening at Noble E. Young Park to bring the community together to celebrate updates to the park, according to a news release. The event will be Thursday, April 6, at 5:30 p.m. Officials say the new and improved features include restrooms, an art mural, a parking lot with a new location, a mile-long and eight-foot-wide walking trail, picnic tables and benches, a pavilion, a children’s bike park, and an outdoor gym. The park is located on Towne Park Drive in southwestern Tyler. Funding for the project was provided through the Community Development Block Grant program. For more information about Tyler Parks and Rec improvement projects, visit this link or call (903) 531-1370.

ATHENS – A Waxahachie man was sentenced to consecutive life sentences for multiple charges involving the abuse of four East Texas children. According to our news partner KETK, the case began in Ellis County on a child porn tip and found its way to Henderson County, where the sentences were assessed. Jacob Tyler Weatherholtz, 34, drew two consecutive life sentences after pleading guilty to aggravated sexual assault of a child, an additional life sentence for a separate offense of aggravated assault of a child, and 20 years in prison for indecency with a child. Officials say two girls had been sexually abused by Weatherholtz starting when they were around five years of age, and a young male had been sexually abused as well. A fourth victim was also identified, who officials said was under the age of one at the time of the sexual abuse. Continue reading Man gets consecutive life sentences for sexual assault of East Texas children

WHITEHOUSE — Three men were arrested in East Texas for allegedly forging stolen checks adding up to thousands of dollars, the Whitehouse Police Department said. According to our news partner KETK, on Tuesday, Whitehouse police said officers stopped a vehicle leaving the scene of a disturbance that had just been reported. After talking to the individuals who called in, it was confirmed that the people in the vehicle they had stopped were involved in the disturbance. During the search of the vehicle, officers said they found several forged checks from a multitude of businesses. The stolen checks totaled up to thousands of dollars and lead to the arrests of Charles Clark, Cornelius Brooks and Emanuel Akpom, officials said. All three men were booked into the Smith County Jail and charged with forgery of a financial instrument.

TYLER — Several key items were addressed by the Tyler City Council at its Wednesday meeting. The Council approved a $1,745,800 contract for the design of the Southside Wastewater Treatment Plant Aeration Basin and Final Clarifier Improvements project. Officials point out that the plant was built in 1955, and they say it has an aging system that needs rehabilitation. Continue reading Busy day for Tyler City Council

TYLER — Smith County received the 2022 Safety Achievement Award from the Texas Association of Counties Risk Management Pool. According to a news release, the award was earned for the county’s record of maintaining a strong commitment to safety in the workplace, as well as for controlling workers’ compensation claims. Smith County employees will be formally presented with the award at an upcoming County Management and Risk Conference. Smith County received a banner this week to announce the award, and several departments took turns taking pictures with it. Road and Bridge employees are pictured at left. Continue reading Smith County receives Safety Achievement Award

TYLER – The University of Texas at Tyler University Academy Longview campus has made the national CHILDREN AT RISK School List as an A/A+ school for 2022. According to a news release, UA Longview is ranked No. 20 out of 3,967 elementary schools. “We are pleased that the University Academy at Longview campus has been recognized with this designation,” said Dr. Jo Ann Simmons, University Academy superintendent as quoted in a news release. “This recognition celebrates the work of our teachers, administrators, staff and students.” CHILDREN AT RISK is a nonprofit organization that aims to help parents, educators and community members understand how their schools are performing and spark dialogue on the quality of public education across Texas, according to the release.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (KRLD) — The trial of two East Texas men on charges related to the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol has been delayed. A federal judge has granted the delay in the trial of Longview resident Ryan Nichols and Carthage resident Alex Harkrider, set for March 27, because of a surgery taking place in the family of one of Nichols’s attorneys. But that was not the original reason Nichols’s lawyers requested the delay. They asked for more time to go through additional hours of video taken at the Capitol that were recently released. Also, they say that nichols’s physical and mental health badly declined during the time he was incarcerated in federal prison, to the point that he is “a shell of his former self.” He was released for home confinement last November.

PALESTINE – The City of Palestine announced Wednesday they are mourning the death of District 3 Council Member and Mayor Pro Tem Vicky Chivers. According to our news partner KETK, the city said Chivers died Tuesday and had served as council member for District 3 since 2002. “Ms. Chivers been a constant in our city government for more than 20 years and a pillar in the community,” Mayor Justin Florence said in a prepared statement. “Not only have we lost a great city and community leader, but we have lost a sister, mother, cousin, mentor and friend.” Continue reading Palestine City Council Member Vicky Chivers dies

LINDALE — Miranda Lambert has begun selling tickets to book signings for her new cookbook “Y’all Eat Yet?” with the final stop of the book tour being held in Lindale, according to our news partner KETK. “At each event, you’ll get a chance to meet Miranda Lambert and have your copy of her new book signed,” the book’s website said. The book tour is set to begin in New York City, before heading to Los Angeles and making it’s final stop in Lindale on May 9 at The Pink Pistol. Tickets are $38.11 plus fees, and only two tickets are allowed per order. “My first book tour,” Lambert said in an announcement. “Let’s go y’all!”

LONGVIEW — The Longview Public Library is forced to cancel a teen lock-in event after too many kids became rowdy. Library Youth Service Supervisor Terri Nalls says most of the teens behaved themselves normally at the event on Friday night, but she said some kids were running the library’s electric scooter into the wall, throwing books, and breaking things. Some of the library staff said they could smell alcohol and probably drugs. Nalls says they normally have about 80 teens 13 to 18 for the lock-in events, but they had 187 registered last Friday night. She said a lot of them were kids they had not seen before. The kids were asked to call their parents to pick them up. The Longview library is now considering what to do about future teen lock-ins.

TYLER – A woman arrested for abuse of a corpse after a baby was found dead in a bucket had given birth to the child in a toilet moments before, according to her arrest warrant. The warrant said deputies with the Smith County Sheriff’s Office were called to a home in the Lindale area March 15, where the baby was found, and spoke with the homeowner, who showed them a red mop bucket that had been placed outside. According to our news partner KETK, the homeowner reportedly told officials she lived at the home with her roommate, Jazzlyn Cooper-Holmes, 23, of Longview, who later told detectives during an interview that the baby found was hers. The warrant says Cooper-Holmes told detectives she gave birth to the child in a toilet around 4 a.m. on March 12 and “only looked at it once.” Continue reading Warrant: Mother gave birth to baby in toilet before placing it in bucket

TYLER — The Smith County Commissioners Court voted Tuesday to approve new hours of operation for the Animal Shelter. The Commissioners Court voted in October to extend the hours the shelter was open to the public, including opening during lunch and staying open until 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and opening on Saturday. Animal Control and Shelter Supervisor Amber Greene said they did not see an increase in people coming in to the shelter to adopt dogs during the extended hours and it resulted in compensatory time being worked by the employees. Continue reading Smith County Animal Shelter changes hours of operation

LONGVIEW — The High Street Bridge between Nelson Street and Marion Drive in Longview will be closed Wednesday and Thursday, March 22 and 23, as part of TxDOT’s bridge reconstruction project. During this closure, traffic will detour on Nelson and Fredonia Streets and Marion Drive, according to a city news release.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Nathaniel Moran gives KTBB an update on the battle in the House over President Biden’s proposed budget. Moran says, “I can tell you there’s so many things inside of this budget that’s been proposed that are troubling to me. When you talk about… 40-plus billion dollars new for the IRS, above the 80 billion dollars that they were granted last year — and then things like climate change and ESG — so much money being presented in this budget to support those administrative policies down the road, things like 178 million dollars for civil right enforcement at the Department of education; we have to cut this nonsense out of the budget.” Continue reading Moran weighs in on budget, gun rights