NACOGDOCHES â A Nacogdoches man was arrested on Tuesday after three different types of illegal narcotics were discovered inside of his vehicle and home. According to the Nacogdoches County Sheriffâs Office, and our news partners at KETK, around 2 p.m. deputies conducted a traffic stop on the 600 block of W Main Street where they asked Michael Anthony Green, 56, of Nacogdoches, if they could search his vehicle and they were denied. Deputies then requested a K9 unit and the dog alerted to the presence of drugs, and a search was conducted. Officials said deputies found a large amount of cash and three different types of of illegal narcotics inside Greenâs vehicle including: Continue reading Nacogdoches man arrested after drugs found during traffic stop
Minor arrested after alleged threat to Carthage daycare
CARTHAGE â Our news partners at KETK report that a juvenile has been arrested after allegedly making a threat to a local Carthage daycare. The FBI contacted the Carthage police department after a threat was made on social media âshowing daycare with alarming text overlayâ. An immediate investigation began where officials learned that the suspect was a juvenile and has since been taken into custody. The case will be referred to District Attorney and Juvenile Probation for prosecution, the Carthage police department said.
School vouchers won in Texas. Next up, the nation.
TEXAS – The New York Times reports that with a big win for school vouchers in Texas in the early hours of Thursday morning, the private-school choice movement conquered the last major Republican-led state. Next up, the rest of the country. Voucher advocates will now turn their attention to Washington, D.C., where Republican allies are advancing a bill that could force the concept even on Democratic states that have resisted for decades. In President Trump and Republican leaders in Congress, voucher proponents have friends in the highest of places. They also have a plan for a federal private-school choice program that could pass this year with simple majorities in the House and the Senate. âItâs a monumental and cascading moment for the school choice movement,â said Tommy Schultz, chief executive of the American Federation for Children, a private-school choice advocacy group.
In recent years, the nationâs Republican-dominated and Democratic-dominated states have gone their separate ways on fundamental issues such as abortion rights, health insurance, climate change and energy policy. On education, red states, in a remarkable procession, have adopted measures to use taxpayer dollars to finance private school tuition and home-schooling. In many cases, Washington has let the states drift apart. Vouchers might be different. A national bill would bring private-school choice to states where Democrats and teachersâ unions have always been successful in quashing the concept, contending that vouchers could drain resources from public education, diminish learning standards and leave the most disadvantaged children warehoused in poorly funded public schools. The federal legislation is structured as a $10 billion tax credit for donations to nonprofit groups that offer private-education scholarships, and as such, it could be included as part of a giant budget reconciliation bill expected to be assembled this summer. If so, it would need only 51 votes in a Senate where Republicans hold 53 seats.
ACLU claims administration is restarting deportations under 18th century wartime law
(AP) â The American Civil Liberties Union on Friday asked two federal judges to order the Trump administration not to deport any Venezuelans held in northern Texas under an 18th century wartime law, contending that immigration authorities appeared to be moving to restart removals despite the U.S. Supreme Courtâs restrictions on how it can use the act.
The group has already sued to block deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 of two Venezuelans held in the Bluebonnet Detention Center and is asking a judge to issue an order barring removals of any immigrants in the region under the law. In an emergency filing early Friday, the ACLU warned that immigration authorities were accusing other Venezuelan men held there of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang that would make them subject to President Donald Trump’s use of the act.
The act has only been invoked three previous times in U.S. history, most recently during World War II to hold Japanese-American civilians in internment camps. The Trump administration contended it gave them power to swiftly remove immigrants they identified as members of the gang, regardless of their immigration status.
The ACLU and the group Democracy Forward sued to halt deportations under the act. The U.S. Supreme Court allowed deportations to resume, but ruled unanimously they could proceed only if those about to be removed had a chance to argue their case in court and were given âa reasonable timeâ to contest their pending removals.
Federal judges in Colorado, New York and southern Texas promptly issued orders barring removal of detainees under the AEA until the administration provides a process for them to make claims in court. But there’s been no such order issued in the area of Texas that covers Bluebonnet, which is located 24 miles north of the city of Abilene in the far northern end of the state.
District Judge James Wesley Hendrix this week declined to bar the administration from removing the two men identified in the ACLU lawsuit because ICE filed sworn declarations that they would not be immediately deported.
But the ACLU’s Friday filing includes sworn declarations from three separate immigration lawyers who said their clients in Bluebonnet were given paperwork indicating they were members of Tren de Aragua and could be deported by Saturday. In one case, immigration lawyer Karene Brown said her client, identified by initials and who only spoke Spanish, was told to sign papers in English.
âICE informed F.G.M. that these papers were coming from the President, and that he will be deported even if he did not sign it,â Brown wrote.
The ACLU asked Hendrix to issue a temporary order halting any such deportations. Later on Friday, with no response from Hendrix, the ACLU asked District Judge James E. Boasberg in Washington to issue a similar emergency order, saying they had information that detainees were being loaded on buses. Boasberg is the judge who originally ruled on the first Alien Enemies Act case, and found there’s probable cause that the Trump administration committed criminal contempt by disobeying his ruling, only to see the Supreme Court rule that only judges where migrants are being held have jurisdiction to halt their removal.
ICE said it would not comment on the litigation.
Also on Friday, a Massachusetts judge made permanent his temporary ban on the administration deporting immigrants who have exhausted their appeals to countries other than their home ones unless they are informed of their destination and given a chance to object if they’d face torture or death there.
Some countries, like Venezuela, do not accept deportations from the United States, which has led the Trump administration to strike agreements with other countries like Panama to house them. Venezuelans subject to Trump’s Alien Enemies Act have been sent to El Salvador and housed in its notorious main prison.
US has 800 measles cases and outbreaks in several states. Here’s what you should know
(AP) â The U.S. has 800 cases of measles nationwide as of Friday, and two more states identified outbreaks this week.
Texas is driving the high numbers, with an outbreak centered in West Texas that started nearly three months ago and is up to 597 cases. Two unvaccinated elementary school-aged children died from measles-related illnesses near the epicenter in Texas, and an adult in New Mexico who was not vaccinated died of a measles-related illness.
Other states with active outbreaks â defined as three or more cases â include Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Mexico. The U.S. has more than double the number of measles cases it saw in all of 2024.
Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus thatâs airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs. It is preventable through vaccines, and has been considered eliminated from the U.S. since 2000.
Health experts fear the virus will take hold in other U.S. communities with low vaccination rates and that the spread could stretch on for a year.
In North America, an outbreak in Ontario, Canada has sickened 925 from mid-October through April 16. That’s on top of cases in Mexico that the World Health Organization has said are linked to the Texas outbreak. A large outbreak in Chihuahua state has 433 cases as of April 18, according to data from the state health ministry.
Here’s what else you need to know about measles in the U.S.
How many measles cases are there in Texas and New Mexico?
Texas state health officials said Friday there were 36 new cases of measles since Tuesday, bringing the total to 597 across 25 counties â most of them in West Texas. Four more Texans were hospitalized, for a total of 62 throughout the outbreak, and Parmer and Potter counties logger their first cases.
State health officials estimated about 4% of cases â fewer than 30 â are actively infectious.
Sixty-two percent of Texas’ cases are in Gaines County, population 22,892, where the virus started spreading in a close-knit, undervaccinated Mennonite community. The county has logged 371 cases since late January â just over 1% of the county’s residents.
The April 3 death in Texas was an 8-year-old child, according to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Health officials in Texas said the child did not have underlying health conditions and died of âwhat the child’s doctor described as measles pulmonary failure.â A unvaccinated child with no underlying conditions died of measles in Texas in late February â Kennedy said age 6.
New Mexico announced five new cases this week, bringing the stateâs total to 63. Three more people were in the hospital this week, for a total of six since the outbreak started. Most of the state’s cases are in Lea County. Two are in Eddy County and Chaves and Don?a Ana counties have one each.
State health officials say the cases are linked to Texasâ outbreak based on genetic testing. New Mexico reported its first measles-related death in an adult on March 6.
How many cases are there in Kansas?
Kansas has 37 cases in eight counties in the southwest part of the state, health officials announced Wednesday.
Finney, Ford, Grant, Gray and Morton counties have fewer than five cases each. Haskell County has the most with eight cases, Stevens County has seven, Kiowa County has six.
The state’s first reported case, identified in Stevens County on March 13, is linked to the Texas and New Mexico outbreaks based on genetic testing, a state health department spokesperson said. But health officials have not determined how the person was exposed.
How many cases are there in Oklahoma?
Cases in Oklahoma remained steady at 12 total cases Friday: nine confirmed and three probable. The first two probable cases were âassociatedâ with the West Texas and New Mexico outbreaks, the state health department said.
A state health department spokesperson said measles exposures were confirmed in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Rogers and Custer counties, but wouldn’t say which counties had cases.
How many cases are there in Ohio?
The Ohio Department of Health confirmed 30 measles cases in the state Thursday. The state county includes only Ohio residents.
There are 14 cases in Ashtabula County near Cleveland, 14 in Knox County and one each in Allen and Holmes counties, the state said. The outbreak in Ashtabula County started with an unvaccinated adult who had interacted with someone who had traveled internationally.
Health officials in Knox County, in east-central Ohio, say there are a total of 20 people with measles, but seven of them do not live in Ohio. In 2022, a measles outbreak in central Ohio sickened 85.
How many cases are there in Indiana?
Indiana has confirmed six connected cases of measles in Allen County in the northeast part of the state â four are unvaccinated minors and two are adults whose vaccination status is unknown. The cases have no known link to other outbreaks, the Allen County Department of Health said April 9.
How many cases are there in Pennsylvania?
In far northwest Pennsylvania, Erie County health officials declared a measles outbreak Monday after finding two new cases linked to a measles case confirmed March 30.
The state has had nine cases overall this year, six of which are not linked to the outbreak, including international travel-related cases in Montgomery County and one in Philadelphia.
How many cases are there in Michigan?
Montcalm County, near Grand Rapids in western Michigan, has three linked measles cases. State health officials say the cases are tied to a large measles outbreak in Ontario, Canada.
The state has seven confirmed measles cases as of Thursday, but the remaining four are not part of the Montcalm County outbreak. Michigan’s last measles outbreak was in 2019.
Where else is measles showing up in the U.S.?
There have been 800 cases in 2025 as of Friday, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 10 clusters â defined as three or more related cases.
Measles cases have been reported in Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, and Washington.
Cases and outbreaks in the U.S. are frequently traced to someone who caught the disease abroad. In 2019, the U.S. saw 1,274 cases and almost lost its status of having eliminated measles.
What do you need to know about the MMR vaccine?
The best way to avoid measles is to get the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. The first shot is recommended for children between 12 and 15 months old and the second between 4 and 6 years old.
Getting another MMR shot is harmless if there are concerns about waning immunity, the CDC says. People who have documentation of receiving a live measles vaccine in the 1960s donât need to be revaccinated, but people who were immunized before 1968 with an ineffective measles vaccine made from âkilledâ virus should be revaccinated with at least one dose, the agency said.
People who have documentation that they had measles are immune and those born before 1957 generally donât need the shots because most children back then had measles and now have âpresumptive immunity.â
In communities with high vaccination rates â above 95% â diseases like measles have a harder time spreading through communities. This is called âherd immunity.â
But childhood vaccination rates have declined nationwide since the pandemic and more parents are claiming religious or personal conscience waivers to exempt their kids from required shots. The U.S. saw a rise in measles cases in 2024, including an outbreak in Chicago that sickened more than 60.
What are the symptoms of measles?
Measles first infects the respiratory tract, then spreads throughout the body, causing a high fever, runny nose, cough, red, watery eyes and a rash.
The rash generally appears three to five days after the first symptoms, beginning as flat red spots on the face and then spreading downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet. When the rash appears, the fever may spike over 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the CDC.
Most kids will recover from measles, but infection can lead to dangerous complications such as pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and death.
How can you treat measles?
Thereâs no specific treatment for measles, so doctors generally try to alleviate symptoms, prevent complications and keep patients comfortable.
Traffic advisory for downtown Tyler
Tyler – City of Tyler reports that downtown traffic signals are without power, and Oncor estimates power will be restored around 3:30 p.m. on Friday. However, if damage or additional repairs are identified during restoration, the estimated time could be extended. Street crews have placed stop signs and generators at main intersections. City officials remind drivers they should treat a “dark” traffic signal as an all-way stop. Meaning, each vehicle comes to a complete stop and takes its turn to proceed through the intersection.
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Man steals nearly $160K from Tyler ATM, gets 14-months
TYLER â According to our news partner KETK, a Houston man was sentenced to 14 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiring with others to burglarize ATMs in Tyler.
According to the U.S. Attorneyâs Office Eastern District of Texas, Julius Lawan Lockett, Jr., 30 of Houston, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank theft and was ordered to pay restitution of $243,540.85 and forfeiture of $79,850 on Thursday. Officials said on March 28, 2021, Lockett and Jerome Christopher Mayes, Jr. drove from Houston to Tyler to steal money from ATMs in the area. They used a stolen Ford F-250 truck from Smith County, attached chains to the truck and to an ATM at Chase Bank at Southwest Loop 323 in Tyler to pull the ATM open and steal around $159,700.
On Jan. 29, Mayes was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for his role in the ATM conspiracy.
Texas Senate approves $500 million for film incentives
AUSTIN (AP) – The Texas Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that would more than double the amount of money the state spends to lure film and television production to Texas.
Senate Bill 22, filed by Houston Republican Sen. Joan Huffman, would direct the comptroller to deposit $500 million into a new Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Fund every two years until 2035. That figure is more than state lawmakers have ever allocated for media production since they first started funding a film incentive grant in 2007.
The bill received heavy praise from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and passed with a 23-8 vote. Those who opposed the bill raised concerns about how the governorâs office will determine which productions to fund. The bill gives the governorâs office complete discretion over which projects receive grant funding.
The bill now moves to the House for consideration.
Since 2007, lawmakers have funded the film incentive program at varying levels, with $50 million during one legislative session followed by $45 million the next. A then-historic $200 million came during the most recent session.
The variability has left producers tentative to film in Texas for fear that the money might vanish at the whims of lawmakers.
The program has boosted economic activity in Texas, producing a 469% return on investment, according to the Texas Film Commission, though economists and some House lawmakers have criticized that metric and denounced film incentives as wasteful spending.
Huffman successfully pushed through an amendment that would give an additional 2.5% incentive to faith-based productions, despite some strong objections from Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, and Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin. The bill already directs the Texas Film Commission to offer extra grant funding to films labeled âTexas Heritage Projects,â as determined by the governorâs office. The law would ask the office to consider whether the project promotes âfamily valuesâ and âportrays Texas and Texans in a positive fashion.â
Eckhardt said that while she supports the billâs goal, she worries about the subjectivity of terms like âfaith-basedâ and âfamily values.â
âAdding subjective criteria would tilt this away from the realm of economic development and into the realm of non-neutral subject matter propaganda,â Eckhardt said on the Senate floor.
âI donât think the promotion of family values would be propaganda,â Huffman responded.
âOf course, âwhose family values?â would be the question,â Eckhardt rebutted.
Texas is one of 37 states to offer a film incentive program, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Industry insiders and Hollywood producers have for years lamented that Texasâ program is not as robust as that of some other states, including Georgia and New Mexico.
SB 22 would make Texas more attractive to producers who have opted to film their projects in other states that have historically offered larger and more stable incentives, Huffman said during a Senate Finance Committee hearing last month attended by Texas-born actors Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson.
âProducers who want to film in Texas often have difficulty convincing the capital management side of film production companies to allow filming here when presented with more robust and consistent incentives being offered in other states,â Huffman said.
Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, echoed that sentiment Wednesday, noting that the Netflix series about Selena, the beloved Texas singer, was shot in California instead of Texas. âThat should never happen again,â Alvarado said. âWe should be the default choice.â
Fueled by endorsements from famous names in Hollywood, SB 22 appears to have widespread support. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have praised the film commission for what they said is a rigorous program that audits film productionâs spending and only offers rebates on money spent within Texas. Eligible expenses include Texas workersâ wages, meals purchased from local restaurants, and airfare on Texas-based airlines.
Flanked by Harrelson, McConaughey told lawmakers during last monthâs hearing that increased funding would allow them and other actors to tell Texas stories in Texas. Seated behind the duo was Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who has declared SB 22 one of his top pieces of legislation.
âAll of the filmmakers in the faith and family category say we will become the leader in the world for faith-based and family movies for all faiths and all families,â Patrick said after the Senate voted on the bill. âItâs always a good thing to sell our Texas values, our faith values, and our family values to the world.â
By committing to 10 years of sizable funding, McConaughey said, Texas could grow into a media hub with facilities dedicated to post-production editing, along with a pipeline of film crew, including makeup artists, hair stylists, lighting experts and set designers.
âThereâs going to be a point where we are not going to need financial incentives from the state because the infrastructure will be in place, and that will be a major game changer,â McConaughey said.
Despite showing overall support for boosting Texas filmmaking, some lawmakers have questioned whether productions that arenât âfamily-friendlyâ should be supported by taxpayer dollars.
Both Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, and Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, suggested shows and movies that use profanities be ineligible for grants. Bettencourt singled out âLandman,â a popular television series centering a West Texas oil company executive played by Billy Bob Thornton.
âItâs not functionally correct, it doesnât explain what a landman does, and no offense, having Billy Bob Thornton f-bomb every sentence is not Texas values,â Bettencourt said of the show produced by Taylor Sheridan whose second season is expected next year. âIt simply is a bad product and not something the Texas taxpayers would want to be supporting.â
The Texas Film Commission limits what types of projects are eligible for funding, and SB 22 would codify additional rules into statute. The bill would prohibit, for example, funding pornography or obscene material, local events or religious services, and casino-type video games. The law does not propose specific rules about foul language, but the governorâs office has broad discretion to designate a project as ineligible for a grant.
Adriana Cruz, executive director of the Texas Economic Development and Tourism office, said in response to Bettencourt that the office would look to state law and its own rules to determine whether to approve a project.
Stephanie Whallon, the director of the Texas Film Commission, previously told The Texas Tribune that some projects had been rejected but didnât specify why.
In addition to pumping more money into film incentives, SB 22 would make smaller films eligible for larger grants. Currently, projects that spend between $1 million and $3.5 million in Texas are eligible for a 10% rebate, and projects with a greater than $3.5 million spend can receive a 20% grant. The bill proposes a larger, 25% grant for feature films and television programs that spend at least $1.5 million.
âIâm excited about lowering some of these sliding scale boundaries or limitations because I think a lot of family-friendly, faith-based projects fall into that tier,â said Chad Gundersen, producer of âThe Chosen,â a television show about the life of Jesus Christ and his disciples that is mostly shot in the town of Midlothian, about 25 miles southwest of Dallas.
Gundersen said during the hearing that his project was not initially eligible for a grant because it was too small. He added that it has since grown and resulted in more than $75 million spent in Texas.
Campbell urged lawmakers and the film commission approving projects to remember that Texas is âstill in the Bible Belt,â and she praised âThe Chosenâ as âthe greatest story ever told.â
Texasâ film incentive program offers an additional 2.5% incentive to productions that are shot in certain âunderutilizedâ or âeconomically distressed areas,â as well as those that hire veterans as 5% of their total paid crew.
Identical legislation, House Bill 4568, filed by Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi has not yet received a committee hearing.
716,000 meals canceled for Austin-area food bank as federal funding is cut
AUSTIN – KUT reports the Central Texas Food Bank is feeling the effects of the Trump administration’s funding cuts after the U.S. Department of Agriculture slashed more than a billion dollars in funding for programs that support food banks and help schools buy goods from local farmers. Within two weeks following the decision, 39 loads of food were canceled, said Beth Corbett, Central Texas Food Bank’s vice president of government affairs and advocacy. Those deliveries included pantry staples, dairy products and vegetables, as well as turkey, pork and chicken. âThat equates to nearly 913,000 pounds of food. For perspective, thatâs the equivalent of about 716,000 meals,â she said. The cuts are happening as demand for food assistance grows and grocery prices remain high.
The Central Texas Food Bank, which is headquartered in Austin, serves more than 93,000 families each month within a 21-county region. Corbett said the organization expects demand to rise. âWeâre actually serving more people now than we did at the peak of the pandemic and really donât see any signs of that slowing,â she said. In Texas, the food insecurity rate is 16.9%. That is the second highest rate of food insecurity in the U.S. and nearly 5% higher than the national average. According to the Texas Department of Agriculture, the state lost more than $107 million for programs that allowed food banks and schools to buy food locally. Corbett said these changes and cuts could mean people who visit a food pantry see less variety in the products available. âWeâre currently spending about a million dollars a month to purchase food to make up for where we have shortfalls,â she said.
Trump administration eliminates AmeriCorps
WASHINGTON (AP) – A community service program that sends young adults across the U.S. to respond to natural disasters and help with community projects was the latest target of the Trump administrationâs campaign to slash government spending.
AmeriCorpsâ National Civilian Community Corps informed volunteers Tuesday that they would exit the program early âdue to programmatic circumstances beyond your control,â according to an email obtained by The Associated Press.
The unsigned memo to corps members said NCCCâs âability to sustain program operationsâ was impacted by the Trump administrationâs priorities. The federal agencyâs budget showed NCCC funding amounted to nearly $38 million last fiscal year.
AmeriCorps NCCC, which completed its 30th year last year, employs more than 2,000 people ages 18 to 26 participating for a roughly 10-month service term, according to the programâs website. The teams of corps members are tasked with working on several projects related to education, housing, urban and rural development, land conservation, and disaster relief, driving from one assignment to another across the country.
The agency pays for volunteersâ basic expenses, including housing, meals and a âlimited health benefit,â as well as a âmodestâ living allowance and an education stipend for those who complete their full service term, according to the program.
AmeriCorps programs in Texas can be found in various locations, including major cities like Austin and Houston, as well as smaller communities across the state. Organizations involved in AmeriCorps service in Texas range from public agencies and non-profit organizations to tribal governments.
David Ranckenâs App of the Day 04/18/25 â PulsePoint!
Schools react to the passage of school vouchers
TYLER – School leaders in East Texas share their opinions following the Texas Houseâs passage of the private school voucher program early Thursday morning.
The Texas House and Senate have each passed different versions of the bill and will now need to negotiate a compromise. Once an agreement is reached, the final version will be sent to Gov. Abbottâs desk.
Joel Enge, Director of Kingdom Life Academy, is a vocal advocate for the proposed bill, which he believes empowers families with greater educational choice .âParents now have the opportunity to choose,â Enge said. âThey have educational freedom.â
Kingdom Life Academy, a project-based micro-Christian school in Tyler, sees education savings accounts as a game-changerâone that could open doors for more students to access schools like theirs. Continue reading Schools react to the passage of school vouchers
Mabank man arrested for meth posession
HENDERSON COUNTY – A Mabank man was arrested Wednesday night after officials located a sock with suspected meth.
According to the Henderson County Sheriffâs Office, around 10:52 p.m., narcotics investigators stopped a 2010 Harley-Davidson motorcycle at the 8200 block of US Highway 175 West in Kemp and watched the driver, Joseph Duane Whitworth, 52 of Mabank, throw a sock into the grass ditch.
Officials said after locating the sock, they found a gallon-sized plastic bag with a large amount of suspected meth inside alongside clear plastic baggies known for packaging narcotic sales.
Whitworth was arrested for the manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence with intent to impair. He is currently being held at the Henderson County Jail.
Passengers on Southwest flight evacuated after engine fire forces plane’s return
HOUSTON (AP) â A Southwest Airlines flight had to be evacuated on Thursday after an engine fire forced it to return to a Houston airport.
The flight was leaving Hobby Airport on its way to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, when it was forced to return around 11:15 a.m. due to the fire, according to the Houston Fire Department.
When the plane landed, firefighters extinguished the blaze as well as a small grass fire near the runway, the fire department said in a statement.
No injuries were reported. The flight crew helped the 134 passengers evacuate the plane, Southwest Airlines said in a statement.
Passengers exited the aircraft on a taxiway at the airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said in an email.
The cause of the fire was being investigated, the FAA said.
The airline was working to get all passengers to their final destination in Mexico.
âWe appreciate the professionalism of our flight crew in responding to this situation. Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of our customers and employees,â Southwest Airlines said.
The engine fire comes as air travel is under heightened scrutiny following a series of crashes and mishaps. Federal officials have tried to reassure travelers that flying is the safest mode of transportation, and statistics support that.
A list of deadly shootings on college campuses in the US
The latest deadly shooting on a college campus in the U.S. unfolded Thursday at Florida State University, where two people were killed and at least six others were wounded.
Frightened students, faculty and parents there for a tour took cover and waited in classrooms, offices and dorms across the university in Tallahassee after it issued an active shooter alert. Some crammed into a freight elevator after hearing gunshots outside the student union.
The gun used in the shooting belonged to the 20-year-old suspect’s mother, who has worked for the sheriffâs office for 18 years, authorities said. They described the gun as her former service weapon.
The gunman, believed to be a student at the university, was shot and wounded by officers and was taken into custody, according to authorities. The two people who died were not students.
Florida State’s main library was the site of another shooting in 2014, when a 31-year-old gunman wounded three people before he was shot and killed by police.
Experts say mass shootings on college campuses, although rare, are often on the minds of students today because they grew up participating in active shooter drills in elementary and high school.
âThereâs this overarching fear that at any moment, something could happen and each time it does happen, it reinforces these fears,â says Michael Lawlor, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven in Connecticut.
Here is a look at other deadly shootings on U.S. college campuses in recent decades:
UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, LAS VEGAS: December 2023, 3 dead
A 67-year-old former business professor, whose applications to teach at UNLV had been rejected, opened fire in the building housing the university’s business school, killing three professors and badly wounding a fourth. The gunman was killed in a shootout with police outside the building.
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: February 2023, 3 dead
A 43-year-old gunman fired inside an academic building and the student union, killing three students and injuring five others. He later killed himself miles away from the campus in East Lansing while being confronted by police.
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: November 2022, 3 dead
A student and former member of the schoolâs football team fatally shot three current players aboard a charter bus as they returned from a field trip, setting off panic and a 12-hour lockdown of the campus until the suspect was captured. Two other students were also wounded on the campus. The shooter has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and other charges and is awaiting sentencing.
NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY: October 2015, 1 dead
Just weeks into his freshman year, a student walked onto the campus in Flagstaff and opened fire. One student was killed and three others were wounded in the first deadly shooting since the university was founded in 1899. The shooter later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and aggravated assault and was sentenced to six years in prison.
UMPQUA COMMUNITY COLLEGE: October 2015, 9 dead
A 26-year-old man opened fire on his writing class, killing his instructor and eight other people at the school in rural Roseburg, Oregon. Nine more people were also wounded. The shooter then killed himself.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA: May 2014, 6 dead
A 22-year-old college student frustrated over sexual rejections fatally stabbed or shot six students near the school in Isla Vista, California, and injured several others before he killed himself.
SANTA MONICA COLLEGE: June 2013, 6 dead
A deadly act of domestic violence at home turned public when a 23-year-old man left after killing his father and older brother, carjacked a woman and shot at other vehicles. He then entered the campus where he had previously been enrolled as a student and opened fire, killing four more people before he was fatally shot by police in the school’s library.
OIKOS UNIVERSITY: April 2012, 7 dead
A former nursing student fatally shot seven people at the small private college in East Oakland, California. He was given seven consecutive life sentences and died in prison in 2019.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY: February 2008, 5 dead
A 27-year-old former student shot and killed five people and wounded more than 20 others at the school in DeKalb, Illinois, before killing himself.
VIRGINIA TECH: April 2007, 32 dead
In the deadliest shooting at a U.S. college, a 23-year-old student killed 32 people on the campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. More than two dozen others were wounded. The gunman then killed himself.
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA: November 1991, 5 dead
A former graduate student upset that his doctoral dissertation wasn’t nominated for an academic award fatally shot himself after killing five people and injuring one other person in a shooting spree on the campus in Iowa City.
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS: August 1966, 13 dead
A Marine-trained sniper opened fire from atop the 27-story clock tower in the heart of the university’s flagship Austin campus in one of the nation’s first mass shootings. He killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 others before authorities shot and killed him.