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LUFKIN – The City of Lufkin general election, which was scheduled for May, has been cancelled because both candidates are running unopposed. The Lufkin City Council approved the ordinance on Tuesday to cancel the May elections. Due to the cancellation, the city said Jimmy Ford, who was running unopposed to represent Ward Five, will be sworn in at the council meeting on May 5. Additionally, William Price, who was running unopposed to represent Ward Six after incumbent Adam Lowther decided not to run for re-election, will be sworn in on May 5 as well.

LONE STAR – An investigation by the Texas Railroad Commission found that drilling fluids containing oil from a reserve pit at a Rose City Resources well site on U.S. Steel property leaked into a damaged pipe and flowed into a nearby low?lying area. From there, the fluids migrated through underlying rock formations and ultimately entered the Ellison Creek Reservoir. According to our news partner KETK, the Railroad Commission concluded that Rose City Resources is responsible for the unpermitted disposal and will be required to handle the cleanup, with the Commission providing oversight.

To date, cleanup efforts have primarily targeted the origin point and the lake’s east side, but Tuesday’s observations emphasize the need for more comprehensive action. Inspection findings indicate that areas on the western shoreline require more attention, aligning with suggestions from local officials. The public is encouraged to report any additional affected areas to the Morris County Sheriff’s non-emergency number at 903-645-2232.

HOUSTON COUNTY (KETK) — A Houston County jail employee has been arrested on Wednesday following allegations of sexual misconduct involving an inmate.

According to the Houston County Sheriff’s Office, an inmate reported sexually inappropriate behavior by jailer Cameron Lee Burch on Jan. 17. Sheriff Zak Benge said the report was relayed to the jail administrator, prompting an internal investigation.

Investigators determined Burch engaged in inappropriate conduct. When he returned to duty on Jan. 19, he was immediately terminated, Benge said.

The case was referred to the Texas Rangers, who presented evidence to a grand jury. An indictment was issued, and a warrant was obtained for Burch’s arrest.

At about 4 a.m. Wednesday, Burch turned himself in to the Houston County Jail. He is charged with official oppression and violating the civil rights of a person in custody, with no bond posted.

CORPUS CHRISTI (AP) – Corpus Christi leaders on Tuesday unveiled new projections suggesting that the city could be just two months away from triggering emergency water measures.

At a marathon city council meeting that stretched for 10 hours, Nick Winkelmann, interim chief operating officer of Corpus Christi Water, outlined five potential scenarios — two of which would push the city into a level one water emergency by May. At that point, the city’s water supply would be projected to fall short of demand within 180 days.

When pressed by council member Kaylynn Paxson on which scenario the city is preparing to follow, staffers at the water utility said they expect to narrow the possibilities down to two or three in the coming weeks as more data becomes available.

Meanwhile, Gov. Greg Abbott — who sharply criticized Corpus Christi leaders for their handling of the crisis recently — has ordered agencies to suspend normal procedures in an effort to buy the city more time.

Complicating the outlook are bleak seasonal forecasts. Projections from the National Weather Service show little to no rainfall expected between July and September, limiting inflows to key reservoirs that supply the city, including Choke Canyon, Lake Corpus Christi and Lake Texana.

Despite the mounting concerns, the city has not finalized a curtailment plan that would lay out how much — and how soon — residents and businesses would have to reduce their water use.

“If we get to the point where we have to declare a level one water emergency, we need to be ready for that and we have no precedent to follow and we have no there’s no manual, there’s no video, there’s no, ‘This is how we did it the last time,’ ” City Manager Peter Zanoni told the council, adding that a curtailment plan could take weeks or months to finalize and implement.

Tuesday’s meeting marked the culmination of a crisis that has been years in the making. For a decade, Corpus Christi has aggressively courted large companies to build refineries, natural gas export terminals and other industrial facilities along Corpus Christi Bay while promising the city would have sufficient water to meet the expected demand.

Much of that confidence hinged on a planned seawater desalination plant that was supposed to deliver 30 million gallons of water per day by 2028 — most of it destined for industrial customers. But when the city council killed the project last year amid public opposition to its rising cost and potential environmental impacts on the bay, it upended the city’s long-term water planning.

City leaders are now hoping to restart the desalination project, which received more than $750 million in low-interest loans from the Texas Water Development Board.

Earlier this year, one model projected that the city’s water supply could drop below expected demand as soon as June 2027, at which point the water system would not be able to move water to customers.

The city recently boosted production from its primary water pipeline that pulls from Lake Texana and the Colorado River, increasing capacity by 24 million gallons per day, even as a deepening drought threatens to cut off that extra water.

Under the drought plan for the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority, which operates the lake, when the lake reaches 50% capacity, the agency must reduce customers’ water supply by 10%. The reservoir is currently at 54% of capacity.

The governor’s office Friday ordered the river authority to change that trigger point to 40% to guarantee more water to the city. The authority is meeting on Wednesday to make that change, according to the governor’s office.

Meanwhile, several major water infrastructure projects remain months or even years away from completion, leaving a critical gap as water demand continues to climb.

To close that gap, the city has turned to drilling wells in two fields in rural Nueces County that are expected to produce up to 26 million gallons daily once fully operational. One field is completed and another has some wells ready to operate soon, but is awaiting a permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Corpus Christi officials say the delays could push the city toward a water emergency sooner.

“The only thing holding us up is a piece of paper,” Zanoni, the city manager, said at a Friday press conference.

On Friday, Abbott directed the TCEQ to fast-track temporary permits and loosen certain regulatory requirements to accelerate the city’s drilling projects.

“Corpus Christi is an important economic driver not only for Texas but also the nation,” said Andrew Mahaleris, the governor’s press secretary. “The State of Texas is committing significant investments to ensure Corpus Christi has the water resources it needs to serve citizens. The Governor is further stepping in and has waived regulations to ensure TCEQ can issue temporary permits on an expedited basis — while still preserving public input.”

TCEQ did not immediately comment on whether those permits have been issued.

During Tuesday’s meeting, the council also voted to accelerate the second well drilling project — despite not yet having the permits needed to pump.

The Evangeline groundwater project would include 24 wells and is projected to produce about 24 million gallons of water per day from neighboring San Patricio County. It could be finished by 2028, according to a city memo.

“We’re taking a calculated risk and continuing the design and we’re going to build,” Zanoni told council members. “We’re going to start building the project in about five weeks, without the permits, without the drilling permits.”

Officials say the design for the project is about 60% complete and the wells could deliver roughly 4 million gallons of water per day by November, though that timeline depends heavily on when the city receives permits to start pumping.

City officials acknowledged their action could face legal challenges.

The local groundwater district initially approved the city’s well permits in San Patricio County, but when the city of Sinton and two other parties contested them, the permits were put on hold until there’s an administrative hearing. No date has been set for that hearing, which Corpus Christi officials said could trigger a contested case that delays the project by up to two years.

The city of Sinton and San Patricio County Groundwater Conservation District did not immediately reply to comment on the city’s decision to move forward.

Zanoni defended the aggressive timeline and financial risk on Tuesday, saying the project is critical to avoiding water restrictions.

“It’s the only thing right now that’ll keep us out of a level one water emergency,” he said. “So yes, it’s expensive, but it’s the only thing.”

Mayor Paulette M. Guajardo echoed that urgency.

“We need this water, we cannot let it go,” she said. “We have to move this forward and hope for the best and do everything we can.”

Council member Rolando Barrera questioned whether the city is committing too much money to a project that is not guaranteed to move forward. Council member Mark Scott raised similar concerns about moving ahead without permits.

“My heartburn is that I thought it was a no-brainer to get these permits,” Scott said. “Now I’m walking the plank … about to spend, how much money, based on the assumption that we’re going to get those permits.”

The council unanimously approved moving forward with construction — earmarking nearly $190 million for it — and also voted to spend $170 million on land that comes with groundwater rights.

“It’s a little scary,” said council member Gil Hernandez, “but we’re in a situation where we should be afraid right now.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Air traffic controllers will use radar, not just visual checks, to ensure that helicopters maintain a safe distance from arriving and departing airplanes in the wake of last year’s fatal midair collision near Washington, D.C., federal officials announced Wednesday.

The Federal Aviation Administration said recent near-misses show that previous guidelines for pilots to maintain visual separation between helicopters and airplanes have failed to provide adequate protection around busy airports.

Under the new guidelines, air traffic controllers must use radar to keep helicopters and airplanes apart by specific lateral or vertical distances. The new requirement applies to more than 150 of the nation’s busiest airports, extending a restriction already put in place at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

“Today, we are proactively mitigating risks before they affect the traveling public,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in a news release. “Following the mid-air collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), we looked at similar operations across the national airspace. We identified an overreliance on pilot ‘see and avoid’ operations that contribute to safety events involving helicopters and airplanes.”

Officials also specifically mentioned a Feb. 27 near-miss in which a police helicopter had to turn to avoid an American Airlines flight that was landing at San Antonio International Airport in Texas. A similar close call happened on March 2, when a helicopter had to turn away from a small aircraft that had been cleared to arrive at California’s Hollywood Burbank Airport, officials said.

The January 2025 collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter killed 67 people, making it the deadliest plane crash on U.S. soil since 2001. Among other factors contributing to the crash, investigators said controllers in the Reagan tower overly relied on asking pilots to spot aircraft and maintain visual separation.

The night of the crash, the controller approved the Black Hawk’s request to do that twice. However, investigators say the helicopter pilots likely never spotted the American Airlines plane as the jet circled to land on the little-used secondary runway.

Many of the people who died were young figure skaters and their parents and coaches who had just attended a development camp in Wichita, Kansas, after the U.S. Figure Skating Championships were held there.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — An Arkansas law requiring that the Ten Commandments be prominently displayed in public school classrooms was struck down by a federal judge Monday.

The law is among those pushed by Republicans, including President Donald Trump, to incorporate religion in public schools. Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas all have enacted similar laws requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms. And as such, each mandate has faced legal challenges that many expect to eventually be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Here is a closer look at the status of the mandates, which have stirred the long-running debate over the role of religion in government institutions.
Federal court ruling blocks mandate in Arkansas, Republicans vow to appeal

Last year, seven Arkansas families of various religious and nonreligious backgrounds filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s new law requiring all public elementary and secondary schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom and library. The lawsuit named six school districts in Arkansas as defendants.

While it is unclear how many school districts or publicly-funded universities have hung up posters, local media outlets have cited multiple examples over the past five months. That includes the Ten Commandments being posted at the University of Arkansas on the Fayetteville campus, the Arkansas Advocate reported in October.

Critics argue that the mandate is unconstitutional and violates separation of church and state. Proponents of the legislation say the Ten Commandments have historical significance and are part of the foundation of U.S.

On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Timothy L. Brooks said in his written judgment that “nothing could possibly justify hanging the Ten Commandments—with or without historical context — in a calculus, chemistry, French, or woodworking class, to name a few.”

Brooks, who was nominated by former President Barack Obama, went on to write that there is “no need to strain our minds to imagine a constitutional display mandated” by the 2025 law; “One doesn’t exist,” he wrote.

While Brooks’ judgment blocks the requirement, it’s unclear how broadly his decision can be applied — if it is limited to the specific school districts named in the lawsuit or if it applies to the entire state. Megan Bailey a spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, one of the groups representing the parents challenging the law, said the ruling “makes clear the law is unconstitutional.”

“Given that, it would be unwise for any school district in Arkansas to move forward with posting the Ten Commandments,” Bailey told The Associated Press.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement that she plans to appeal the ruling and “defend our state’s values.”
Louisiana schools encouraged to hang up posters after most recent ruling

In 2024, Louisiana became the first state to mandate poster-sized displays of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom, from kindergarten through college.

While the challenge has wound its way through federal courts for nearly two years, a ruling last month vacated an earlier court order that had prevented the law from taking effect — clearing the way for displays to be installed in classrooms.

Immediately following the Feb. 20 ruling from the full 5th U.S. Circuit of Appeals, Gov. Jeff Landry instructed schools to follow the law and post the Ten Commandments. In a letter to educators, Landry wrote that the court’s decision “removes any obstacles to the implementation of Louisiana’s Ten Commandments law” and that schools “should now proceed with placing the posters in classrooms.”

The law requires schools to accept donated Ten Commandments posters, which must have “large, easily readable font.” Earlier this year, a conservative advocacy group, Louisiana Family Forum, sent posters to most of the state’s parish school systems, The New Orleans Advocate/The Times-Picayune reported.

There have not yet been widespread reports of schools hanging up the posters, with some school officials expressing worries about potential litigation. However, others say it is imminent. Among them is Louisiana State University President Wade Rousse, who said the university intends to comply with the law but, as of last week, has not received donated posters.
Posters go up in Texas classrooms

Last year, a similar mandate in Texas took effect — marking the widest-reaching attempt in the nation to hang the Ten Commandments in public schools.

With no shortage of strong opinions among teachers, parents, and students, the posters began going up in classrooms as school districts accepted donations or paid to have them printed. About two dozen of the state’s roughly 1,200 school districts were barred from hanging the posters after federal judges issued injunctions in cases against the law.

In January, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments over the Texas law and litigation is pending.

HOUSTON COUNTY, Texas (KETK) — A man who was driving while using hallucinogenic drugs was arrested in Houston County earlier this week after holding someone in his car against their will.

According to the Houston County Sheriff’s Office, deputies received a call on Sunday evening stating that a man later identified as Christopher Russell Cross was holding a man in a vehicle against his will. It was later revealed that Cross had consumed mushrooms and PCP while driving with the victim.

The victim later stated that Cross told him that if he exited the vehicle, he would “send him to Jesus” and ordered him to urinate inside the vehicle, officials said.

Following the incident, officials found one pound of hallucinogenic mushrooms and 64 grams of PCP inside Cross’s vehicle. Cross was arrested and charged with kidnapping and two counts of possession of a controlled substance.