LONGVIEW – The Longview Police Department said they arrested a man on Friday after he allegedly pointed a rifle at officers from a home on Tupelo Drive. According to our news partner KETK, Longview PD officers were responding to a domestic incident in the 200 block of Tupelo Drive at around 8:50 p.m. on Friday when they first made contact with Benjamin Howell, 41 of Longview.
After the officers arrived at the Tupelo Drive home, Howell reportedly fled inside and then pointed his rifle out at the officers. According to a Longview PD press release, the officers then took cover and called for the Longview SWAT unit and the Negotiations unit.
Officers reportedly heard one gunshot from inside the home and after negotiators made repeated attempts to contact Howell, the SWAT team had to resolve the standoff through non-lethal force measures, Longview PD said. Continue reading Standoff suspect arrested in Longview
PALESTINE â Current and former educators are demanding answers regarding the school voucher bill that was recently passed by the Texas Senate.
According to our news partner KETK, a protest over the bill took place on Friday afternoon at 519 North Sycamore Street in Palestine near the office of Texas State House Representative Cody Harris. The protest included current and former educators expressing their frustration at the bill that was passed.
Harris released a statement expressing his disappointment with the protest and wished the group would have come to him directly to vocalize their concerns.
âWhile I will always encourage constituents to reach out to my office to share their views, I was disappointed that this group did not choose to try and schedule an appointment to sit down and visit about their concerns.â Harris said. Continue reading East Texans protest Texas Senate passing school voucher bill
MISSION (AP) â An idled Border Patrol bus sat empty this week, on standby for any migrants surrendering near the southern tip of Texas.
Agents in two speedboats zipped past pockets of sandy shores, known landing spots for people entering the U.S. illegally from Mexico on inner tubes but saw nothing suspicious.
Once busy river landings near the Texas border city of Mission were barren of the migrants who previously crossed there, though the river bank was littered with clothes, plastic bracelets issued by smugglers and a teddy bear on an unusually cold Thursday morning.
Arrests for illegal crossings have fallen dramatically from an all-time monthly high of 250,000 in December 2023, perhaps most strikingly in the Rio Grande Valley, the epicenter for migrant arrivals from 2013 to 2022.
Associated Press journalists accompanying Border Patrol agents in an SUV and on speedboats that traversed 30 miles along the Rio Grande Valley and river for five hours Thursday didn’t encounter a single migrant.
Arrests, already at their lowest levels since 2019 when President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20, have fallen sharply in recent weeks. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks said Friday they are currently about 350 a day, down from more than 1,500 daily in December, the last month of published data.
Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley, home to about 1.4 million people, have been making about 50 arrests a day, down from a daily average of 325 in December and nearly 3,000 on the busiest days of 2021.
Despite the relative calm, Trump declared a national emergency at the border on his first day in office.
In an immigration policy memo, as she took office last week, Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote: “Unlawful border crossings and illegal migration into the United States have reached record levels, resulting in a substantial and unacceptable threat to our national security and public safety.â
Overnight Thursday, there were arrests along the Rio Grande, as well as a shooting Wednesday. The Border Patrol said an agent fired at someone in a suspected smuggling incident in the town of Boca Chica, wounding one suspect.
But migrants were nowhere to be found along the river by Thursday morning in former hot spots like Mission, a city of 87,000 where as recently as December asylum-seekers waited in open fields near a busy international bridge for agents to pick them up, or in many other spots along the winding river lined by thick, giant cane.
In recent years, the Texas National Guard and state police have become a major presence under Gov. Greg Abbott’s âOperation Lone Star,â a multibillion-dollar border crackdown. U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently agreed to let the Texas Guard arrest and detain people for illegal crossings, which had been the sole domain of the federal government.
On Thursday, 300 Texas Guard members were deputized to conduct immigration arrests alongside Border Patrol agents and enlarge their show of force along the border.
Tyler – The East Texas Food Bank will hold the second annual Empty Bowls Tyler event on Thursday, February 27 at the ETFB, to bring awareness to the 1 in 6 adults, including 1 in 4 children in East Texas who are hungry, brought to you by presenting sponsor the Hall Family of Dealerships and restaurant sponsor Hibbs- Hallmark Insurance. âWe are so excited to bring Empty Bowls back for our second year,â said David Emerson, CEO of ETFB. âWe have some of the best restaurants in Tyler participating in this event. We hope people will come out and enjoy some great food and drinks, listen to live jazz music and take home a bowl made by Tyler ISD children.â Empty Bowls will feature live music and a raffle and silent auction for great prizes. Guests can purchase handcrafted bowls from East Texas artists. The event will be held from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Tickets are $50 and are available at EmptyBowlsTyler.com. No guests under 21 years of age. Each ticket provides 250 meals to our neighbors facing hunger.
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NACOGDOCHES â Our news partner, KETK, reports that a Nacogdoches man has died after being thrown off his motorcycle during a major vehicle accident Thursday evening.
According to the Nacogdoches Police Department, at around 8 p.m. dispatch received calls of an crash involving a SUV and motorcycle on NE Stallings (Loop 224) and Center Hwy. Officers determined the motorcyclist, Shawn Pritchard, 45 of Nacogdoches, was northbound on NE Stallings and the SUV driver was traveling southbound when the two vehicles collided in the intersection. Authorities said that the SUV driver turned left in front of Pritchard causing the collision and ejecting him off the motorcycle. Pritchard was transported to a local hospital but later died due to his injuries while the SUV driver was treated for minor injuries.
The police department said that the investigation is still ongoing âto determine any and all circumstances related to the accident.â
HENDERSON COUNTY â Our news partner, KETK, reports that a Waco man was booked into the Henderson County Jail on Friday after reportedly attempting to meet with minors for sexual purposes.
The Henderson County Crimes Against Childrenâs Task Force conducted an online investigation and identified Jose Antonio Arriaga-Perez, 32 of Waco, who was allegedly attempting to meet with minors for sexual purposes. The Henderson County Sheriffâs Office said Perez was arrested for online solicitation of a minor sexual conduct and is also facing a federal ICE detainer charge. Perez was transported and booked into the Henderson County Jail.
TYLER â Cheyenne Russell was settling into her new apartment with her two children when her ex-boyfriend, Jorian Jackson, arrived with belated Christmas gifts.
Russell, 26, and Jackson, 29, began to fight over their fractured relationship that ended about a year prior. Thatâs when Jackson allegedly shot and killed Russell. Russellâs children saw it all. Jackson âcaused the red on mommyâs dress, then she started making choking and coughing sounds,â they told police. Russellsâ death on Jan. 6 is part of an escalating trend and comes at a time when advocates are again beseeching lawmakers to broaden protections for domestic violence survivors. Advocates see a number of proposals as opportunities to strengthen Texas law as it relates to domestic and sexual violence.
If passed, these bills could make it easier to remove firearms from people accused of family violence, teach teenagers about dating violence and create a state database of violent offenders that is similar to the one for sexual offenders. Other bills would remove firearms from known sexual predators and create a process for survivors to sue institutions that protected sexual offenders. Similar proposals have been debated at the Texas Capitol before, with advocates enjoying moderate success. Those same boosters hope to see equal support moving forward as more Texans seek help from community organizations created for survivors. Representatives of shelters across the state will converge in Austin on Feb. 20 to voice their concerns and proposals to lawmakers. Continue reading Domestic violence survivors and supporters hope lawmakers take action
JACKSONVILLEâ Our news partner, KETK, reports that an East Texas man is dead after a traffic accident that led to a shooting on Thursday.
According to the Jacksonville Police Department, around 9:52 p.m. Jacksonville police and firefighters responded to a traffic accident at the intersection of Myrtle Drive and Sam Boles Road.
Officials said they saw that one of the occupants, identified as Angel Balderas Jr., 33 of Jacksonville, had a single gunshot wound. Balderas was transported to a local emergency room where he later died.
The shooter was detained and questioned but officials said no charges will be filed at this time. At this time the police department said no other details will be released due to it being an ongoing investigation.
TYLER â According to our news partner KETK, a Romanian national was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday after he was found guilty of engaging in organized criminal activity in Smith County. Fabrizio Slatineanu reportedly entered America illegally from Mexico and was caught taking part in a credit card skimming scheme where he stole over $280,000 from Smith County residents in a single weekend, according to the 114th District Court.
During the sentencing hearing, multiple victims testified about how they had lost thousands of dollars from their savings accounts. During the hearing, Captain Jeff Roberts, a member of the Texas Financial Crimes Intelligence Center, testified about how Romanian organized crime played an increased role in types of financial crimes similar to Slatineanuâs case.
LUFKIN, Texas (KETK) â A Lufkin man was sentenced to more than 14 years in federal prison for drug trafficking and illegal possession of a firearm on Thursday.
According to our news partner KETK, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas Abe McGlothin, Jr. said that Bradley Skyler Bryan, 27 of Lufkin, has pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamines and possession of a firearm by a felon.
SMITH COUNTY â Acccording to our news partner KETK, Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith has apologized after holding an immigration panel where he attempted to ease concerns within the Hispanic community. Smith said the forum came about after Hispanic employees working for the sheriffâs office reportedly advised Smith that many illegal immigrants were afraid to send their children to school, attend church, go to work and report violent crimes.
âI am but a mortal human being who strives to always do what is right. That does not mean by any stretch of the imagination that I am exempt from making mistakes. In a rush to try to make matters better, unfortunately I made some of those matters worse,â Smith said.
JACKSONVILLE â In reports from our news partner, and the Cherokee County Sheriffâs Office, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have arrested five âundocumented aliensâ in Jacksonville.
According to a press release from Cherokee County Sheriff Brent Dickson, an ICE Removal Operations team and Homeland Security investigators arrested five people in a âtargeted enforcement action.â
The five people arrested were described as âundocumented aliens ranging in age from mid-30âs to mid-60âs with criminal histories.â No further information on their arrests was provided by the sheriffâs office.
The arrests come during continued stress and confusion around this latest round of ICE raids. On Jan. 30, several East Texas sheriffs held an immigration Q&A session held in Tyler to explain the role of local sheriffâs offices in regards to ICE raids. The Cherokee County Sheriffâs Office is not a part of ICEâs 287(g) program unlike Smith County and Gregg County, which just joined the program on Tuesday. The program allows local deputies to identify undocumented immigrants with criminal charges for ICE to pick up.
Tyler â The 2025 Campus Teachers of the Year have been selected. A total of 30 outstanding teachers have been nominated for their commitment and dedication to excellence in education. Chosen by colleagues at their respective campuses, these teachers exemplify the highest standards of teaching excellence. Their diligent efforts and innovative approaches have contributed to the academic success and personal growth of their students. The 30 nominees will now vie for the titles of District Elementary Teacher of the Year and District Secondary Teacher of the Year. The selection process involves the submission of written portfolios and interviews with a selection committee. Winners will be determined based on scores from both components. Continue reading Tyler ISD announces 2025 campus Teachers of the Year
Given the amount of fire heâs taking, we can be certain that Elon Musk is directly over the target. In addition to having ignited a wave of howling by enraged Democrats over his upending of the waste and corruption at the United States Agency for International Development ($2 million for sex change surgeries and âLGBTQ activism” in Guatemala anyone?), Musk has uncovered breathtaking sloppiness and massive fiscal irresponsibility at the Treasury Department.
Thatâs not all. Heâs all over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, calling for it to be shut down because it is operating without congressionally approved funding, and it is promulgating banking regulations that have the perverse effect of making credit and financial services harder to obtain for low-income consumers.
Everywhere he shows up, he finds staggering levels of waste, inefficiency and fraud on the part of the federal government that we pay for and that is supposed to be working for us.
Youâd think that rooting out waste and fraud would be enjoy bipartisan support. But no. Democrats are beside themselves. Hereâs Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, (a Native American descendant, just ask her), shrieking about Elon Musk at a small public rally Monday.
This is like a bank robber trying to fire the cops and turn off the alarms just before he strolls into the lobby.â
Yeah, Liz, thatâs it. Itâs not that billions of dollars taken from the paychecks of those hard-working low income and middle-class taxpayers you say youâre all about are being wasted in the most grotesque ways possible. Itâs that Elon Musk â the richest man in the world â is trying to steal from them. In fact, itâs the Leviathan state that Democrats so strongly favor that is stealing, and in ways that no one has dared to imagine until now.
You sometimes have to ask, can these people hear themselves?
In the case of Muskâs criticisms of the Treasury Department, rather than saying, âWow it looks like the Treasury is long overdue for an audit,â attorneys general from 19 blue states filed suit in Federal Court for the Southern District of New York â a friendly venue for Democrats. The judge, Obama appointee Paul Engelmayer, issued an order blocking access by Musk and the DOGE team to the Treasury payments system.
The order essentially says that only permanent federal bureaucrats can have access. Mere âpolitical appointeesâ cannot. Never mind that the Secretary of the Treasury is a political appointee. The ruling is ridiculous on its face. The Treasury secretary can look at anything at the Department of the Treasury that he wants. And so can anyone else appointed by the president â say, for example, Elon Musk.
God bless Elon Musk and God bless Trump for appointing him to this role. All of us who pay taxes take have long known that we are, to some degree or another, being ripped off. But Democrats are panicking because weâre all about to find out that it is many, many, many orders of magnitude worse than we thought.
LONGVIEW – The Longview Police Department said they arrested a man on Friday after he allegedly pointed a rifle at officers from a home on Tupelo Drive. According to our news partner KETK, Longview PD officers were responding to a domestic incident in the 200 block of Tupelo Drive at around 8:50 p.m. on Friday when they first made contact with Benjamin Howell, 41 of Longview.
