KTBB News, Weather, Talk

SMITH COUNTY — Investigators are trying to figure out what caused a northwestern Smith County mobile home to go up in flames. It happened on the 9000 block of County Road 411. Officials tell KETK the home is a loss, but fortunately, no one was inside the home at the time of the fire.

SMITH COUNTY — The eastbound lane of Interstate 20 was temporarily shut down Thursday night after multiple wrecks. Officials with Smith County DPS tell KETK at least four wrecks occurred between mile markers 551 and 567. Officials say a majority of the wrecks were caused by slick roads.

TYLER — Tyler police are investigating an attempted robbery. Police were called around 4:00 Friday morning regarding an incident that had occurred about 3:30 a.m. in the 100 block of S. Bruck. The victim, a 62-year-old woman, was walking to work when a man approached her and attempted to take one of the bags she was carrying. The victim yelled for help, and the man fled in an unknown direction. The victim then ran away and fell causing, minor lacerations to her head and right arm. She was taken to Mother Frances Hospital and treated for the injuries.

The suspect was described as a black male, between 20 and 25 years of age, 6’01” tall, 130-150 lbs, dark complexion, wearing a black toboggan or “doo rag,” green and white polo shirt and dark blue jeans. Anyone with information concerning this incident is urged to contact the Tyler Police Department at (903)531-1000 or Smith County Crimestoppers at (903)597-2833.

TYLER – Two persons have been killed and two injured in a one vehicle accident in Smith County. It happened around 2:00 Thursday morning on State Highway 31, about six miles east of Tyler. Dead at the scene was Tiffany Ford, 21, and Yolanda Graham, 37, both of Houston. Injured, and in critical condition at Tyler’s East Texas Medical Center is Kwan Ford, 35, and Kadie Powell, 19, both of Tyler. According to State Trooper Matthew Johnson, none of them were wearing their seat belts. The Department of Public Safety report said a car driven by Ashton Ford of Tyler was east bound when it passed another vehicle. Ford then lost control of the car and it overturned.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX-01) held a press conference Wednesday urging Congress to adopt legislation that would ensure that military servicemen and women receive their pay in full, regardless of whether a budget deal can be reached. The two say there is no precedent as to what would be paid out of the federal government’s ongoing cash flow in the event the debt ceiling is not raised and the federal government’s borrowing is exhausted.

Hutchison says Gohmert has led the effort in the House while she did likewise in the Senate in April, when lawmakers were looking at a continuing resolution and a possible government shutdown, to ensure that military families did not have to worry about a paycheck that would come late. Hutchison says the bill has 80 co-sponsors in the Senate. Gohmert remarked, “We need to make sure the military — people in harm’s way that are dodging bullets — never have to have it cross their minds that their paycheck may not come in.”

TYLER – One of the oldest bull elephants in North American Zoos has died at Tyler’s Caldwell Zoo. Zoo officials announced that Chico died last weekend. Chico, who was 46, had not shown any signs of illness prior to his death. A team of pathologists from Texas A&M University along with Caldwell Zoo veterinarians performed a necropsy and at this time the cause of death is undetermined pending further test results.

Chico arrived at Caldwell Zoo in 2003 from the San Diego Zoo to join our group of three female elephants. You can go to http://www.elephantconservation.org and make a donation in Chico’s memory to the International Elephant Foundation.

TYLER — Two Houston women have been killed and two people critically injured in a one-vehicle crash early Thursday morning in Smith County. DPS says it happened at 2:05 a.m. on State Highway 31, six miles east of Tyler. The car was driven by Ashton Ford of Tyler. The deceased are identified as Tiffany Ford, 21, and Yolanda Graham, 37, both pronounced dead at scene. Injured are Kwan Ford, 35, of Tyler, and Kadie Powell, 19, of Tyler. Both were listed in critical condition with blunt force trauma at East Texas Medical Center in Tyler. Authorities say the car was eastbound when it passed another vehicle, lost control, ran off the road, and overturned. None of the victims was wearing a seat belt.

TYLER — State Representative Leo Berman of Tyler wants lawmakers to study some familiar topics, as well as a new one, before the next session. Berman replied to a letter from House Speaker Joe Straus requesting suggestions on topics for House committees to study during the interim.

Berman supports assertion of state sovereignty under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He points to a threat by the federal government to close airspace over Texas if colleague David Simpson’s pat-down bill had passed. Berman’s also continuing to support clampdowns on illegal aliens and Sharia law. He says, “At a minimum, all state department directors should be ordered to clear their files of illegal aliens. All employers should be required to use E-Verify and deny employment to illegal aliens.” Berman adds, “Last session, I sent three amendments to the Texas Senate to prohibit Texas courts from adjudicating cases using international law, which also includes Sharia law…We should continue looking into the need for such legislation.”

Additionally, Berman would like lawmakers to consider a requirement that missing or dead children be reported to authorities within one hour from discovery. That suggestion was spurred by the Casey Anthony case.

BULLARD — A mobile home in Bullard is heavily damaged. It was reported around 3:00 Thursday morning. Fire crews went to the 400 block of Eastdale Lane. A man who was inside the house at the time made it out OK. He says a smoke alarm in the house woke him up. Officials say they were able to put out the flames but only after most of the house had turned to rubble. No word yet on how that fire started.

HENDERSON — East Texas firefighters are working on a large fire in a wooded area south of Henderson on Farm Road 225. The Texas Forest Service says crews have taken control of the situation. They say the fire is contained, but crews will be on site monitoring the situation for the next five or six days. The Rusk County Office of Emergency Management says several East Texas Volunteer fire departments were called to contain the fire last night about 8:00. About 15 acres were burned, and the Forest Service says there was intense burning involved.

LUBBOCK — DPS arrested one of the 10 Most Wanted Sex Offenders in Texas Thursday in Lubbock, just hours after his addition to the list was announced. Acting on a tip, Criminal Investigations Division agents found Ronald Dee House, 41, at a motel in Lubbock at 5:45pm. They say he was arrested without incident. Since the arrest was the result of a tip, a $1,000 cash reward will be paid to the individual who provided the information. Authorities say House, whose nickname is “Chicken Lips,” is a high-risk sex offender who had last been seen in Wills Point. He was wanted for failure to register as a sex offender and parole violations. He has family in both Van Zandt and Lubbock counties.

JACKSONVILLE — Jacksonville police arrest three people they believe stole copper. Authorities charged Carla Davis, 45, Michael Shea, 30 and Troy Smith, 48, for engaging in organized criminal activity along with other multiple charges. Police say they stopped their vehicle in the 500 block of North Jackson for a traffic violation and saw tools and copper wire in the truck.

TYLER — The teen accused of bringing a gun to the Smith County Juvenile Attention Center last July faces five years to life in prison. Corey Webb from Kansas City, who is now 17, has been transferred to adult court to stand trial August 1. Kansas City police asked Tyler police to apprehend the teen from a bus for outstanding warrants. Webb allegedly pulled a gun from his backpack and began firing at an officer inside the attention center.

TYLER — Two biomedical researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler have received an $870,000, two-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to help develop a new treatment for serious lung diseases. UTHSCT Vice President for Research Steven Idell, MD, Ph.D., and Assistant Professor Andrey Komissarov, Ph.D., are co-principal investigators of the grant. They are exploring how to use clot-busting drugs to prevent scarring around and inside the lungs. The UTHSCT scientists are one of just 19 research teams around the nation to receive a CADET grant for lung disease research. CADET stands for Centers for Advanced Diagnostics and Experimental Therapeutics.

TYLER — The University of Texas at Tyler has named Dr. Randall Powell the new vice president for business affairs, President Rodney H. Mabry announced. Powell succeeds Dr. Gregg Lassen, who accepted a vice presidential position at Lamar University in February. Powell, whose appointment begins Sept. 1, was selected in an exhaustive national search that culminated with four finalists from Texas, Mississippi and New York. He comes to UT Tyler after serving Sam Houston State University as its associate vice president for budget and operations and interim vice president for finance and operations.

“He has great experience in academic business affairs, working at various institutions ranging from Tulane and SMU, to his current position. Dr. Powell looks forward to the new challenge of helping UT Tyler reach its goal of becoming the best public university in the state and beyond,” President Mabry said.