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NACOGDOCHES – Our news partners at KETK report the Nacogdoches Police Department said that one person was critically injured after a reported shooting at a private club on Sunday morning.

Nacogdoches PD Sgt. Brent Handy said that 911 calls came from the private club at 1600 E. Main St. at around 12:46 a.m. on Sunday. When officers arrived, Handy said, they could tell there had been a disturbance at the scene and then they were called to a local hospital where a shooting victim had been privately taken.

According to Handy, the victim was in critical but stable condition as of 2:40 p.m. on Sunday.

Nacogdoches PD is investigating the shooting.

DALLAS – The Dallas Morning News reports that a state judge Friday halted a $116 billion Medicaid contract proposal that would have excluded three Texas children’s hospital plans — including one run by Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth — and forced 1.8 million low-income Texans to change their health coverage. District Judge Laurie Eiserloh of Travis County blocked Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Cecile Erwin Young from finalizing a set of contracts that would have displaced nearly half the Texans who receive Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Plan coverage from six managed care organizations across the state, switching them to new plans next year. The judge granted the temporary injunction sought by four health plans that have lost billions of dollars after 12 years in the program. Eiserloh found the proposed changes violated state law and exceeded the state agency’s authority.

“The intended contract awards will impose significant harm and confusion on millions of Texas’s STAR & CHIP members,” the judge wrote in a 10-page order. The ruling came after a week of testimony from health plan officials and leaders of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. Eiserloh set a Nov. 3 trial on a permanent injunction. The ruling can be appealed before then, or Young could opt to cancel the procurement and start the agency’s fourth attempt to renegotiate the contracts in the past six years. In addition, state lawmakers concerned with the proposal have said they plan to revisit procurement laws next spring. Officials with Cook Children’s Health Plan in Fort Worth, which would have been eliminated under the proposal, celebrated the ruling. “This decision is a major win for the 125,000 children and families who rely on CCHP for their health care coverage,” plan officials said in a statement. “We believe this ruling will help ensure that our Members continue to have access to the care they need, when they need it.” Officials at Texas HHS did not return emailed requests for comment.

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has joined calls for CenterPoint CEO Jason Wells to resign after the company botched its response to Hurricane Beryl, telling the utility’s regulators in front of Wells and more than a hundred Houstonians: “This is not the CenterPoint that I know from the past.” “I believe at this point, the board of CenterPoint should ask for Jason Wells’ resignation, or I believe he should submit it,” Patrick said. “It’s not personal, Mr. Wells, we’ve had good discussions. But CenterPoint needs to have a strong leader who will have foresight, not look back in the rearview (and say), ‘Oh, we’ll fix it now.’” Patrick told the five-member board of the Public Utility Commission of Texas he expects the state agency to audit CenterPoint’s business operations to ensure the utility is not overcharging customers. He said CenterPoint must continue with a required review of its rates, which cities and consumer advocacy groups say is their avenue to fight for a rate decrease.

The lieutenant governor also reiterated his stance that ratepayers shouldn’t pay for CenterPoint’s $800 million lease for massive generators – most of which have never been used. “If the PUC allows CenterPoint to get away and try to PR their way through this, that will show the commission is not accountable,” Patrick said. The five commissioners were appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott. Two commissioners, Chairman Thomas Gleeson and Courtney Hjaltman, have yet to be confirmed by the Senate, which Patrick leads. Patrick’s comments kicked off the PUC’s Saturday meeting in Houston hosted as part of the agency’s ongoing investigation into CenterPoint’s response to Beryl and the May derecho. The commission is also taking online feedback through Wednesday and is supposed to deliver its final report with suggestions for new legislation to the governor and the legislature by Dec. 1. A record 2.26 million CenterPoint customers lost power after Beryl, many for multiple days. More than 40 deaths have been connected to Beryl, including 10 from overheating and one from carbon monoxide poisoning due to a generator.

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that in the year and a half since an anonymous player engineered a $95 million Texas lottery jackpot win by buying virtually all of the 25.8 million possible number combinations, two mysteries have persisted: Who did it? And how did the small group of outlets conducting the operation process so many tickets in only 72 hours while still following the strict rules the Texas Lottery Commission places on its sales? Now there are some answers — one of which raises new questions about the Texas Lottery Commission’s role in abetting the operation, which, while controversial, did not violate any state laws or game rules, according to the agency.

After seven months without a player correctly picking all six numbers, the April 22, 2023, Lotto Texas jackpot had climbed to the third-highest in state history. The single winner took advantage of a state law allowing big winners to remain anonymous. In June, the one-time payout of $57.8 million was claimed by Rook TX, a limited partnership identifying only a New Jersey lawyer as its registered agent. According to three sources, however, the Texas lottery operation was orchestrated by a gaming entrepreneur operating out of Malta, a Mediterranean island nation that is a hub for the online gaming industry. There is evidence the enterprise was funded through a large London betting company with connections to similar lottery buys. A Florida investor said the Malta businessman told him he had orchestrated the big Texas payday. Late last year, Philip Gurian, owner of Honey Tree Trading, lent an online lottery sales company called Lottery.com $1.3 million, according to allegations in court documents. The Austin-based Lottery.com played a central role in the April 2023 Lotto operation; it and an affiliate in Waco processed nearly 7 million of the tickets for the draw.

AUSTIN – KERA reports as Texas continues its multi-billion-dollar effort to stop what Republicans call an “invasion” of foreigners, state lawmakers were told this week that most of the people charged with smuggling immigrants during a recent 12-month period aren’t from outside the country. The assessment came during a border-focused meeting of the Texas House Committee on State Affairs, where lawmakers also discussed how much more money Gov. Greg Abbott was going to request from the state legislature to continue Operation Lone Star, the governor’s state-led border security mission, when lawmakers return to Austin in January. On the smuggling charges, Megan LaVoie, the administrative director for the Texas Office of Court Administration, told lawmakers Monday that data from May 2023 to April 2024 showed that 72% of those accused of smuggling immigrants were U.S. citizens. Less than 10% were from Mexico, she added.

“Man, that’s just incredible. I guess I haven’t really seen that. I didn’t see this number before,” said state Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo, who asked for the information. LaVoie said those statistics reflect defendants who have been processed through the central magistration, a process available to state and local officials to process defendants arrested under Operation Lone Star. Of those accused of human smuggling, U.S. citizens account for 1,038 while 140 were from Mexico. That was followed by 88 Hondurans, 43 Cubans and 35 Salvadorans. Exactly who has been arrested for smuggling is noteworthy because of recent actions by the Texas Legislature. During a special session in late 2023, state lawmakers passed Senate Bill 4, which increased penalties for human smuggling to at least 10 years in state prison in most cases. The legislation went into effect in February, but it’s unclear how many of the cases LaVoie referenced fall under that bill as that information wasn’t sought by lawmakers. (The SB4 smuggling bill is separate from Senate Bill 4 passed in a subsequent special session. That law makes unauthorized entry into Texas a state crime and is currently in litigation.)

DALLAS – The Dallas Morning News reports Attorney General Ken Paxton sued major pharmaceutical makers and other companies Thursday, alleging they violated Texas’ consumer protection law and unjustly enriched themselves by conspiring to spike insulin prices by up to 1,000% over the past decade. The complaint says the consequence of the companies’ actions has been “devastating” for Texas diabetics who were overcharged millions of dollars a year. The lawsuit seeks restitution “and other equitable relief that may be owed to” affected Texans. “Unable to afford the drugs their doctors prescribe, many diabetics in Texas ration or under-dose their diabetes medications, inject expired insulin, reuse needles, and starve themselves to control their blood sugars,” the lawsuit says. “This behavior is extremely dangerous and has led to serious complications or even death.”

Insulin helps manage blood sugar levels and prevent serious complications from diabetes, a leading cause of blindness, kidney failure and lower-limb amputations in Texas. More than 3 million Texans have diabetes, and an additional 7 million have prediabetes, putting them at greater risk of developing diabetes. The lawsuit targets Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi, which collectively manufacture the vast majority of insulin and other diabetic medicine available in Texas. Texas also sued CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRX — pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, that serve as middlemen for insurance providers and drug manufacturers — and affiliated companies, including CVS Healthcare, CVS Pharmacy, Evernorth Health, Medco Health Solutions, ESI Mail Pharmacy Service, UnitedHealth Group and OptumInsight. The PBMs have “near complete control” of pricing for diabetes medication and affect “nearly every diabetic drug transaction in Texas,” the lawsuit says. The complaint says PBMs “worked in coordination” with the insulin manufacturers “to distort the market for diabetic treatments to their benefit at the expense of Texas diabetics and payers.”

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that a project linking the Texas power grid with those in the Southeast will receive a federal grant of up to $360 million — if it can overcome obstacles that has stalled it for years. The DOE’s investment is a drop in the bucket compared with the $2.6 billion cost of Pattern Energy’s Southern Spirit transmission line that would span 320 miles through Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. The high-voltage, direct current line would carry nuclear power from Mississippi to Dallas when needed and allow Texas to send wind and solar eastward when it has extra. The grant is among four awarded by the Department of Energy on Thursday with a total value of $1.5 billion. The projects are expected to improve power transmission across the country, but most notably in Texas, where the power grid nearly collapsed during a deadly 2021 winter storm. The grid also continues to be tested as Texas’ population has exploded and more extreme temperatures boost power consumption.

Southern Spirit will allow the Texas grid, managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, to remain free of federal regulation while providing insurance against blackouts. It also is expected to will create 850 construction jobs and 305 permanent positions, the Energy Department said. But a complicated permit process as well as opposition from landowners and lawmakers in Louisiana and Mississippi have held up the project, which has been in the works for more than a decade. It got a boost this month with approval by the Louisiana Public Service Commission.

LUFKIN – Our news partners at KETK report Angelina County Sheriff Tom Selman said a man charged for a Zavalla-area murder in January was brought to the Angelina County Jail from Arkansas on Saturday.

Jeremy Wayne Gladden, 41 of Zavalla, was being held in Arkansas since he was arrested in connection to the murder in January. Sheriff Selman said Gladden allegedly fought his extradition to Texas but was eventually picked up and returned to Lufkin on a Governor’s warrant.

Gladden has been charged with murder after Lawrence Jason Wise was found dead from a suspected gunshot wound inside of a shed near his home ten miles southeast of Zavalla in January. Officials at the time said that Gladden was arrested in Arkansas by the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office for unlawful use of a vehicle.

Wise’s white Chevrolet S-10 was reportedly found at the home of one of Gladden’s relatives near Coal Hill, Arkansas.

Sheriff Selman said that Gladden is being held in the Angelina County Jail after he was indicted for murder by an Angelina County Grand Jury on May 17. Gladden will appear in the Angelina County District court for the first time on Monday.