Tyler traffic advisory

Tyler traffic advisoryTYLER — The Tyler Water Department is working on a main water break Sunday morning. According to Tyler Police, as crews work on this issue, both north and southbound lanes of traffic Broadway between 7th and 8th Street will be shut down. Motorists are encouraged to avoid this area and seek alternate routes. Officials said an update should be released once the area is back open for normal traffic.

City renames road for judge after community petition

City renames road for judge after community petitionLONGVIEW — Thanks to a recent community petition, a portion of George Richey Road in Longview has been renamed in honor of Gregg County Judge Bill Stoudt. According to our news partner KETK, the part of George Richey Road between Gilmer Road and Judson Road will now officially be known as Bill Stoudt Parkway. The change comes after the Longview City Council approved a resolution to rename the road in their meeting on Thursday.

According to the agenda for Thursday’s City Council meeting, more than 51% of the property owners along the road agreed to have the name changed in a petition that was submitted to the council.

Stoudt was chosen because of his past efforts to help expand the road and his many years of service in Longview and Gregg County. Thank you so much Judge Stoudt for your years of dedication, spearheading not only this effort but many others in our community,” Longview city councilwoman for District 5, Michelle Gamboa said in a recap of Thursday’s meeting.

Nacogdoches firefighters deployed to deadly California wildfires

Nacogdoches firefighters deployed to deadly California wildfiresNACOGDOCHES – Six firefighters from the Nacogdoches Fire Department are heading to California to assist with the deadly wildfires ravaging the state according to our news partner KETK. The team was deployed through the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System to help combat the wildfires burning near Los Angeles in southern California.

On Saturday morning, Battalion Chief Sean Black, Captains Shawn Dillon and Dusty Arreguin and firefighters Kalin Cobb, Garrett Lowery and Wesley Pietruszka began their journey westward. The Nacogdoches Fire Department is asking the community to join them in sending well wishes for the safety of their team as they face the fires.

Woman arrested in connection to $400,000 Lego theft ring

Woman arrested in connection to 0,000 Lego theft ringSMITH COUNTY – A third person has been charged in connection to a multi-state Lego theft ring that allegedly stole more than $400,000 worth of products including from several stores in East Texas.

According to our news partner KETK, Semetric Danielle Baker of Burnet, TX, was arrested by the Smith County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday. Her arrest comes after two other people were arrested in 2024 for alleged thefts from several Walmart and Target stores in Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Florida and Texas, including stores in Longview, Tyler, Kilgore and Gun Barrel City.

The two other people accused are Brian Fleming who was arrested on Dec. 6 and Shane Joel Gentry who was arrested on Nov. 21. Gentry would reportedly sell items on eBay and Amazon and, according to an arrest affidavit, he showed Amazon an invoice for the items from Fleming. Continue reading Woman arrested in connection to $400,000 Lego theft ring

U.S. Attorney for Eastern District of Texas announces departure

U.S. Attorney for Eastern District of Texas announces departureTYLER — According to our news partner KETK, United States Attorney, Damien M. Diggs, announced that he will be resigning as the chief federal law enforcement officer for the Eastern District of Texas in January. Diggs, 49 of Frisco, will be departing from his officer position where he led an office of nearly 100 employees, including 50 prosecutors, across six fully staffed offices in Beaumont, Lufkin, Plano, Sherman, Texarkana and Tyler. The district covers 43 counties from the Gulf of Mexico to Oklahoma.

Diggs was nominated by President Joe Biden on Feb. 2, 2023 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 4, 2023. He took the oath of office on May 7, 2023 from Chief U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap. During his time in leadership, he focused on public safety, fighting fraud, waste and abuse, civil rights and community outreach. Under Diggs’ leadership, the office achieved noteworthy successes in criminal matters like gun and gang violence, firearms trafficking, drug trafficking, public corruption, healthcare fraud, white collar crime, cybercrime, national security issues, child exploitation and human trafficking. Continue reading U.S. Attorney for Eastern District of Texas announces departure

Constellation buying Calpine in $26.6 billion deal that would join two huge US power companies

HOUSTON (AP) – Constellation is buying natural gas and geothermal power provider Calpine for $16.4 billion, joining together two of the country’s biggest power companies.

The acquisition would create the nation’s leading retail electric supplier, serving 2.5 million customers, the companies said Friday. It’s geographic footprint will span the continental U.S. and include a significantly expanded presence in Texas, the fastest growing market for power demand, as well as other key strategic states, including California, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The buyout will also create the

Constellation will buy Calpine with 50 million of its shares and $4.5 billion in cash. It will also assume about $12.7 billion in Calpine debt. The total value of the deal will be about $26.6 billion.

The combined company will have nearly 60 gigawatts of capacity from zero- and low-emission sources, including nuclear, natural gas, geothermal, hydro, wind, solar, cogeneration and battery storage.

“By combining Constellation’s unmatched expertise in zero-emission nuclear energy with Calpine’s industry-leading, best-in-class, low-carbon natural gas and geothermal generation fleets, we will be able to offer the broadest array of energy products and services available in the industry,” Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez said in a prepared statement Friday.

The deal is anticipated to add more than $2 billion of free cash flow a year, which the companies said will create strategic capital and scale to reinvest in the business.

“Together, we will be better positioned to bring accelerated investment in everything from zero-emission nuclear to battery storage that will power our economy in a way that puts people and our environment first,” Calpine CEO Andrew Novotny said.

The transaction is expected to close within a year of its signing. It will need regulatory approvals from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Canadian Competition Bureau, the New York Public Service Commission, the Public Utility Commission of Texas and other regulatory agencies.

Privately held Calpine is based in Houston. Shares of Constellation Energy Corp., based in Baltimore, surged more than 25% Friday.

Lawmaker files ethics complaint after receiving political threats

Lawmaker files ethics complaint after receiving political threatsPALESTINE — An East Texas representative has filed an ethics complaint against Abraham George, Chairman of the Texas Republican Party, accusing him of using coercive political tactics including threats and intimidation to silence dissent within his own party.

State Rep. Cody Harris (R-Palestine), one of the few Republicans to publicly oppose the party’s endorsed Republican caucus nominee for House Speaker, Rep. David Cook., is in the crosshairs of party leadership. Harris, alongside fellow East Texas Representatives Cole Hefner and Jay Dean, have instead thrown their support behind Rep. David Burrows (R-Lubbock), whom they argue represents a stronger conservative alternative to Cook.

KETK News spoke with Harris who asserted that East Texans have little tolerance for bullying. “Growing up here in East Texas, there’s only one way to deal with a bully and that’s to punch him in the nose, so that’s exactly what I’m doing. I’m not going to sit back and let him stifle the voices of the people of East Texas.” said Harris. Continue reading Lawmaker files ethics complaint after receiving political threats

Officials search for missing Longview woman

Officials search for missing Longview womanLONGVIEW– The Longview Police Department is asking for the public’s help as they search for a missing 21-year-old woman. Officials said Nyah Newton was last seen on Tanglewood Road. She is described as being around 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighs around 90 pounds. She has black hair and brown eyes.

According to our news partner KETK, officials said Newton was last seen wearing a brown shirt and checkered black and white pajama pants. Anyone with information about Newton’s whereabouts is asked to call the Longview Police Department at 903-237-1199.

Jacksonville Police Chief relieved from duty

Jacksonville Police Chief relieved from dutyJACKSONVILLE — Jacksonville Police Chief Joe Williams was “relieved” from his duties on Thursday afternoon. The City of Jacksonville said the action was made by City Manager James Hubbard after Williams held the position for nearly five years.

“A pattern of poor judgement, disengagement and disrespect culminated in my decision,” Hubbard said. “I wish Mr. Williams well and look forward to naming a new chief that will provide the service and professionalism deserved by the department, organization, and community.”

According to our news partner, KETK, Assistant Chief of Police Steven Markasky has been named as Acting Chief of Police, that will ensure a smooth transition.Plans regarding the process to install a new police chief will be released soon, the city said.

Abuse allegations land dad, grandma behind bars

Abuse allegations land dad, grandma behind bars SMITH COUNTY — A Smith County father and grandmother are behind bars after the alleged abuse of a three-month old baby. The Smith County Sheriff’s Office said that at around 6 p.m. Wednesday night, a deputy responded to a hospital in Tyler regarding a possible child abuse. Once the deputy was on scene, he was informed by hospital personnel that a three-month old baby had received significant injuries that looked like child abuse.

According to our news partner KETK, at the time, the infant was undergoing CT scans and X-rays. The attending nurse informed the deputy that the baby was lethargic, weak and had bruises on their face and neck. An investigator then spoke with the baby’s mother, who reportedly told officials that her baby had just returned home after spending several days with his father, Zachray McGinn, at a home on County Road 2192 near Whitehouse. Continue reading Abuse allegations land dad, grandma behind bars

Troup man arrested following shooting

Troup man arrested following shootingSMITH COUNTY — A Troup man is in custody after running from the scene of a shooting that left one wounded. According to our news partner KETK, Troup Police said that they responded to a call about a victim suffering from a gunshot wound Tuesday. While EMS personnel were treating the victim, officers proceeded to the scene of the shooting, where they were informed that the suspect might still be inside the home.

With assistance from the Arp Police Department, White House Police Department and the Smith County Sheriff’s Office, officers quickly set up a perimeter around the home. After multiple attempts to contact the suspect by phone and using loud speakers were unsuccessful, officers decided to enter the home, but they discovered that the suspect had fled. Continue reading Troup man arrested following shooting

Will Californians at last ask themselves the hard question?

A structure is burned by the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Coastal California is one of the nicest places on Earth. It has a 1,000-mile coastline, magnificent natural geography and a Mediterranean climate, all set against the vista of the beautiful Pacific Ocean.

But no place is perfect, and nothing is free and the price attendant to enjoying the picturesque natural landscape, and the year-round moderate climate of Coastal California, is to live with the risk of natural disasters, one of which is wildfires – such as those now devastating Los Angeles.

If you choose to live in an area prone to natural disaster, you have an affirmative duty to fully acknowledge that risk, which includes holding your government to account for being properly prepared.

The residents, homeowners and business owners of Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Altadena and other Greater Los Angeles communities are finding out the hard way that their government is woefully unprepared.

As the tragedy of the Los Angeles wildfires unfolds, it is becoming clear in an acutely painful way that government in California – at both the state and local levels – is breathtakingly incompetent.

Protecting the lives and property of citizens is the first job of government. It is why governments were ever formed in the first place. If the job of protecting lives and property isn’t done, nothing else that government does matters.

Yet even though an astonishing percentage of California citizens have seemed blissfully unaware of it – up until now at least – government in California hasn’t operated in their interest in quite some time.

Government in California has greatly curtailed – sometimes to the point of outright abandonment – the performance of its core functions in favor of far-left initiatives that include DEI-dominated hiring practices, extreme environmental policy, race-fixated law enforcement and a near theological (fetishistic?) belief in man-made climate change. Taken together, radical leftism has crowded out governmental attendance to the day-to-day interests of the California citizens that government is nominally there to serve.

You and I take for granted that water will come out of the fire hydrant at the end of our block. We simply assume that our local government would take steps to mitigate an obvious extreme fire risk.

The citizens of LA have learned the hard way that they can’t make such assumptions.

From allowing environmental extremism to stand in the way of clearing dry, fire-prone underbrush (as happens in other places with similar geography), to allowing concern for an obscure fish species to stand in the way of providing adequate water supplies, to prioritizing race-based hiring in the fire department, to cutting fire department budgets, leaving them undermanned and underequipped so as to fund the costs of homelessness (driven in large measure by illegal immigration), California – a one-party Democratic state – has abjectly failed in its basic duty to protect its citizens.

Tens of thousands of Angelenos have lost literally everything. It seems cruel to ask this question now.

But it will have to be asked sometime.

As they begin the long, hard slog of rebuilding their lives, will these beleaguered, over-taxed citizens at last reexamine how they vote?

Family seeks justice after Mineola Pastor Arrest

Family seeks justice after Mineola Pastor ArrestMINEOLA — A victim’s family continues to speak out, after the justice system has seemingly done nothing, following allegations of a pastor committing child sex crimes and subsequent arrest.

Timothy Nall, a former pastor at Mt. Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church in Mineola, was arrested for indecency with a child by sexual contact in 2023 after having worked at the church for three years. The allegations stem after a woman saw Nall touch another church member’s daughter inappropriately, an affidavit said, and it was later determined, that he had placed his hand right above the child’s pubic area. The woman, concerned about her own children, asked them if they had been inappropriately touched by the pastor. One of her children said they had while at church, an affidavit stated. Continue reading Family seeks justice after Mineola Pastor Arrest