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WASKOM – A week after a fatal house fire killed Waskom ISD students, Isaac and Hector Pedraza, the district announced it will be holding a prayer walk in honor of both students and their family.

The prayer walk will be held on Tuesday morning, starting at 7:30 a.m. outside of Waskom High School. All parents, community members and students are invited to join the walk as it will be a time for reflection, unity and comfort.

The district announced earlier this month that the tragic loss will delay the start of the second semester by a day, allowing students and teachers to attend the funeral services for Hector and Isaac, scheduled for Wednesday. Once school resumes on Thursday, counseling and support services will continue to be available for students and staff. Families are encouraged to reach out to the school district for additional support if needed.

SMITH COUNTY – Smith County property taxes are not due until later this month, but Tax Assessor-Collector Gary Barber is urging taxpayers to plan ahead because recent changes by the U.S. Postal Service could affect whether mailed payments are considered on time. The deadline to pay property taxes without penalty is Jan. 31.

Barber said the easiest and fastest way to pay is online by scanning the QR code on the tax statement or visiting the county’s public tax website. Payments can be made using a debit or credit card or by electronic check. “If you want to skip the long lines at the Tax Office, I highly recommend you pay online,” Barber said.

Taxpayers may also pay in person, use the Tax Office drop box outside the Cotton Belt Building, or mail their payments. However, Barber warned that changes to how postmarks are determined could result in late payments. In the past, postmarks reflected the date mail was dropped off at a mailbox or post office. Continue reading Property tax deadline approaching

RUSK – East Texans gathered together on Saturday to continue the search for James David Blount, a Rusk man who went missing over a month ago on Dec. 2. Blount is a 57-year-old white man who’s around 5’09”, weighs about 200 pounds and has brown hair and blue eyes. His vehicle was found abandoned on Highway 84 West at the Neches River near the Cherokee and Anderson County line.

According to our news partner KETK, more than 40 community members gathered together to search for the second weekend in a row on Saturday morning. Searchers combed the woods on horseback and with ATVs in hopes that they’d find any evidence related to Blount’s disappearance. The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office said that a $25,000 reward is being offered for anyone who provides information that leads to the location of Blount. Anyone with information about Blount is asked to call 911 or the Rusk Police Department at 903-683-2677.

BULLARD – A Bullard man arrested for child grooming in 2024 has been sentenced to serve six years on probation. According to our news partner KETK, Randy Lloyd Smith, 48 of Bullard, was arrested by the Bullard Police Department on Aug. 28, 2024 after officers helped the Smith County Sheriff’s Office find a runaway at his home in Bullard on July 25 of that year, according to Smith’s arrest affidavit.

The arrest document described how officers found four minors at the home, including the runaway. The runaway minor was interviewed by law enforcement and said that, after they left their parent’s home, an unnamed person had picked them up to go to Smith’s house. An investigator interviewed another one of the minors found at Smith’s home. That minor said Smith was touching one of the other minors inappropriately and that he had bought them all alcohol, vapes and a sex toy. Continue reading Six years probation for child grooming

TYLER — After several days of no rain and high winds, several East Texas counties are now under burn bans or facing elevated fire danger, prompting officials to urge residents to avoid any outdoor burning. The list shared from our news partner KETK has burn bans issued for these counties: Harrison ,Panola, Shelby, Rusk, Bowie, Marion and the City of Sulphur Springs. Elevated fire risk is in force for Anderson, Angelina, Houston, Polk, Smith, Titus and Upshur counties.

LONGVIEW – The Texas Lottery has announced that a $2 million Powerball lottery ticket was sold at a gas station in Longview. The Mr. Kwik on South High Street sold a ticket that hit five of five lottery numbers from Saturday’s drawing but not the Powerball number. The ticket was sold with the Power Play option, rewarding it’s buyer with a $2 million prize.

TYLER – The interim Smith County Democratic Party chair spoke to KETK News on Saturday about the United States military’s capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. Cam Ray said the move to capture Maduro is a violation of the pro-peace platform that Trump ran on in his last presidential campaign.

“I don’t feel like he’s promoting that peace at all. That’s what he said he was going to come in and do,” Ray said. “He was going to end the war with Ukraine on day one, that hasn’t happened. Things are continuing there and in several different countries. Rumors of the attacks in Nigeria, these are not the actions of a peaceful president.”

Ray continued by comparing the United States capture of Maduro and strikes against Venezuela to the American wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Continue reading Local Democrats react to Maduro

JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville Police Department is currently searching for a man who allegedly robbed a gas station at gunpoint on Saturday. According to our news partner KETK, officials say a Black male wearing all black clothing entered the gas station on North Jackson Street near Tacos el Chicharito. Investigators said the robber demanded money from a woman working as a cashier at the gas station. The man took an unreleased amount of cash and left the gas station.

LONGVIEW – The Longview Police Department said that one person was hospitalized after a shooting that happened on Friday. According to our news partner KETK, Longview PD officers responded to the shooting scene at around 7:41 p.m. near the intersection of Eighth Street and Rose Street. After they arrived, the responding officers found one person had been shot. The shooting victim was then taken to a hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Longview PD said their investigation into the shooting is ongoing.

WASHINGTON — The United States has apprehended Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in a swift military operation early Saturday morning. President Donald Trump has announced that the U.S. will oversee the Latin American nation until a transition occurs, that according to our news partner KETK. During this interim period, the U.S. will also take charge of Venezuela’s oil production.

Trump stated that some of the largest American oil companies will invest billions of dollars to repair “the badly broken infrastructure” and generate revenue for the country. This development follows months of escalating tensions between the two nations, along with U.S. officials’ threats against Maduro, who has been accused of leading a drug cartel and labeled an “illegitimate leader.”

Since the early morning attack, numerous representatives from East Texas have expressed their opinions on the situation.
Continue reading ETX GOP praise Moduro capture

SMITH COUNTY — A candidate who was previously disqualified from the Smith County Clerk race announced she will now run as a write-in candidate after several errors were found during the review of required signatures. According to our news partner KETK, Terry Morrow was set to run against the incumbent Karen Phillips in the Smith County Republican Party Primary election on March 3. A review of Morrow’s required signatures found that there were significant errors, including missing printed names, incorrect dates of birth and a missing or incomplete affidavit of circulator statement of intent.

Because of the errors discovered, 139 signatures were declared invalid, leaving Morrow short of the required 500 to run. Morrow was later declared ineligible and she was not certified to be on the ballot, leaving Karen Phillips to run unopposed. Morrow declared on Thursday that she would run as a write-in candidate for the Nov. 3 general election.

Voting for a write-in candidate allows voters to manually enter a candidate’s name on the ballot instead of selecting one of the listed candidates. Registered voters in Smith County will have the opportunity to choose their preferred candidate on Nov. 3.

LONGVIEW – According to our news partner KETK, Longview Police Department said that three vehicles crashed in the intersection of East Hawkins Parkway and North Eastman Road at around 11:40 a.m on Friday. and blocked traffic through part of the intersection for around an hour. The three people injured were then taken to the hospital to be treated, according to Longview Fire Department. Longview first responders have cleared the scene.

WHITE OAK — Our news partners at KETK report a White Oak man has been arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of his mother. According to the Gregg County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded Wednesday to a reported homicide in the area of Jamerison Road, where they found 58-year-old Penny Renee Keys outside her residence with multiple stab wounds. Keys was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Gregg County investigators processed the scene and obtained evidence identifying the victim’s son, Zachary Keys, as the suspect. An arrest warrant for murder was issued and Zachary Keys and his vehicle were later located in Panola County. Panola County deputies took him into custody without incident. Zachary currently remains in the Panola County Jail on a $1 million bond.