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TRINITY COUNTY, Texas (KETK) — After months of struggling with overcrowding and plumbing issues, an East Texas commissioners court will decide whether to close or maintain the county’s jail.

In November 2025, a bond to build a new Trinity County Jail failed to pass voter approval, which would replace the current jail that continues to face plumbing and capacity issues. Since that time, the county has partnered with neighboring agencies to accommodate inmates; however, escalating budget costs may lead to the indefinite closure of the jail.
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The Trinity County Commissioners Court met on Tuesday to consider all funding and alternative jailing options before next week’s final decision. In an hour-and-a-half-long meeting, the commissioners court, Sheriff Woody Wallace and several community members came together to exhaust all options.

Precinct 1 Commissioner Tommy Park stated that the key consideration is whether the jail will result in savings or additional expenses. He emphasized that a decision is necessary as the budgeting process for the upcoming fiscal year nears, with costs starting to surpass the anticipated figures.

According to Park, the budget allocated for jail maintenance this fiscal year was approximately $10,000. As of Tuesday, the total expenditure has reached around $23,000, with an additional $1,896 still pending. The commissioners’ court noted that in previous years, the total budget spent on the jail was about $25,000.

In December 2025, the jail was out of compliance with the state, housing 13 inmates when it could only house a state-approved seven. At the time, the jail was also facing infrastructure issues of a backed-up sewer that was causing flooding throughout the jail.

Inmates were temporarily relocated to the Jasper County Jail and Trinity County secured a contract with Angelina County to house inmates as the facility was inspected and repaired. The contract, approved in January, costs the county an approximate $3,000 per day to house the inmates.

“I know we can hash out the numbers and how much we want to save or not save, but there are a lot of other things we gotta think about and that’s where we all gotta put our heads together — the sheriff, auditor, us, the judge,” Park said on Tuesday, addressing the commissioners court. “Bottom line is if we close this jail down, it’s never gonna open back up. I don’t necessarily know if we want to open it back up. It’s almost a hundred years old.”

In the special meeting, the commissioners court discussed several options — from utilizing the City of Trinity Police Department to continuing the contract with Angelina County. Ultimately, each decision would cost the county, as police officers and department staff would need to be jail certified and jailers would still be needed to transport inmates to and from other county jails.

Sheriff Woody Wallace, who has been outspoken on the jail’s issues, raises concerns of short-term versus long-term resolutions. He brought the question to the commissioners: “So the issue here is do we continue maintaining a building that’s almost a hundred years old? I would love not to. I think it’s pitiful that we have to do it.”

In the special meeting, Wallace agrees with commissioners that the current situation of maintaining a building as old as the jail or transporting inmates across county lines is not cost-effective, but that a jail is a necessity regardless.

Wallace cites that having an operating jail is a county’s obligation to serve its citizens and inmates. He also said it works as a means of controlling crime.

“The county is not in business to ‘save money’ — it’s in business to provide the service to the citizens,” Wallace told the commissioners court. “We have to provide a service to citizens and one of the statutory obligations of this court is to provide the sheriff with a jail. You can do that with a contract across the line, that’s not a problem, but you also have to meet the demands inside the county that we’re dealing with on a daily basis.”

After hearing the sheriff’s remarks and community input, the decision to close or otherwise maintain the county jail will be made on April 14 at 9 a.m. in a regular commissioners court meeting.

HOUSTON (AP) — Still aglow from their triumphant lunar flyby, the Artemis II astronauts made more history Tuesday: calling their friends aboard the International Space Station hundreds of thousands of miles away as they headed home from the moon.

It was the first moonship-to-spaceship radio linkup ever. NASA’s Apollo crews had no off-the-planet company back in the 1960s and 1970s, the last time humanity set sail for deep space.

“We have been waiting for this like you can’t imagine,” Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman called out.

For Christina Koch on Artemis II and Jessica Meir aboard the space station, it marked a joyous space reunion despite being 230,000 miles (370,000 kilometers) apart. The two teamed up for the world’s first all-female spacewalk in 2019 outside the orbiting lab.

Koch told her “astro-sister” that she’d hoped to meet up with her again in space “but I never thought it would be like this — it’s amazing.”

“I’m so happy that we are back in space together,” Meir replied, “even if we are a few miles apart.”

Houston’s Mission Control arranged the cosmic chitchat between the four lunar travelers and the space station’s three NASA and one French residents.

Koch described being awe-struck by not just the beauty of Earth, “but how much blackness there was around it.”

“It just made it even more special. It truly emphasized how alike we are, how the same thing keeps every single person on planet Earth alive,” she told the space station crew. “The specialness and preciousness of that really is emphasized” when viewing the home planet from the moon.

By late Tuesday afternoon, the Artemis II astronauts had beamed back more than 50 gigabytes’ worth of pictures and other data from the previous day’s lunar rendezvous, which set a new distance record for humanity. The highlight: an Earthset photo reminiscent of Apollo 8’s Earthrise shot from 1968.

“While they are inspirational and, I think, allow all of us to really feel a little bit of what they were feeling, there’s also a lot of science hidden inside of those images,” said Mission Control’s lead lunar scientist Kelsey Young. “The conversations and the science lessons learned are just beginning.”

During a debriefing with Young, the astronauts recounted how they spotted a cascade of pinpricks of light on the lunar surface from impacting cosmic debris. The flashes lasted mere milliseconds and coincided by chance with Monday evening’s total solar eclipse.

Young said it was too soon to know whether the crew witnessed an actual meteor shower or more random, run-of-the-mill micrometeoroid hits. Either way, there were “audible screams of delight” in the science operations center, she said.

Koch described being awe-struck by not just the beauty of Earth, “but how much blackness there was around it.”

“It just made it even more special. It truly emphasized how alike we are, how the same thing keeps every single person on planet Earth alive,” she told the space station crew. “The specialness and preciousness of that really is emphasized” when viewing the home planet from the moon.

The first lunar explorers since Apollo 17 in 1972, Wiseman and his crew are aiming for a splashdown off the San Diego coast on Friday to wrap up the nearly 10-day test flight. The recovery ship USS John P. Murtha left port Tuesday for the target zone.

It sets the stage for next year’s Artemis III, a lunar lander docking demo in orbit around Earth. Artemis IV will follow in 2028 with two astronauts attempting to land near the lunar south pole.

As for the Orion capsule’s pesky potty, Mission Control assured the astronauts that no maintenance was required Tuesday. The toilet has been on-and-off limits to the crew ever since last week’s launch, prompting them to rely on a backup bag-and-funnel system for urinating.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told the crew following the lunar flyby Monday night: “We definitely have to fix some of the plumbing” ahead of the next Artemis mission. Engineers suspect a clogged filter in the overboard flushing system.

Aside from the toilet and other relatively minor matters, the mission has gone well, Isaacman noted at a news conference Tuesday, “but I’ll breathe easier when we get through reentry and everybody’s under chutes and in the water.”

AUSTIN (AP) — Texas health regulators told Camp Mystic’s owners Tuesday they are investigating hundreds of complaints following last year’s devastating floods that killed 27 girls as the state considers whether to allow the all-girls camp to reopen this summer.

The Texas Rangers are also helping look into allegations of neglect, according to the Texas Department of Safety, although the scope of the state’s elite investigations unit was not immediately clear.

The investigations underscore the hurdles facing Camp Mystic as it pushes ahead with reopening plans over the outrage of the families of the 25 girls and two teenage counselors who died in the July 4 floods. More than 850 families have signed up to return to the Christian, all-girls camp this summer if it is allowed to reopen a portion of the camp that did not flood.

The Department of State Health Services said that since February, the agency has received “hundreds of complaints regarding Camp Mystic’s operations in the summer of 2025” alleging violations of state laws governing youth camps. The agency said it asked for help from state police.

The Texas Department of Public Safety said the Texas Rangers joined an “investigation regarding complaints of neglect” during the flood. Neither agency released details. The camp did not evacuate and was hit hard when the river rose from 14 feet to 29.5 feet (9 meters) within 60 minutes before dawn.

A letter sent Tuesday from the health agency to the camp owners informed them of the agency’s investigation, but made no mention of the Texas Rangers being involved.

Lawyers for the families of the girls who were killed and the Camp Mystic owners did not immediately respond to email messages requesting comment.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called the Texas Rangers’ involvement a “criminal investigation” and said the state should not grant the camp a license to reopen until that probe and another one by state lawmakers are complete.

“I urge you to prioritize safety and do everything in your power to ensure Camp Mystic and/or their operators are not allowed to operate until the facts are in,” Patrick wrote in a letter Tuesday to the head of the health agency.

Families of several of the girls who died have sued the camp’s operators, arguing that camp officials failed to take necessary steps to protect the campers as life-threatening floodwaters approached. A district judge last month ordered the camp owners to preserve damaged cabins and other parts of the grounds in the flooded area as the lawsuits proceed.

The body of one of the campers killed, 8-year old Cile Steward, has not yet been recovered. DPS officials said the search for the girl continues.

Richard Eastland, one of the camp owners, was also killed. All told, the destructive flooding killed at least 136 people along a several-mile stretch of the river, raising questions about how things went so terribly wrong.

AUSTIN (AP) – Biblical stories like Jonah and the whale would be required reading for Texas public schools students under proposals that are putting the state at the center of another contentious wrangling over the role of religion in classrooms.

Religious leaders, teachers, parents and students spent hours Tuesday before the state education board arguing about the reading list for the state’s 5.4 million kindergartners to 12th-graders. The debate is part of widening efforts in the U.S. to incorporate religion in schools, mostly in Republican-led states, driving legislation and legal action.

Nationally, President Donald Trump has pledged to protect and expand religious expression in public schools. And Texas, a red state that is home to about one in 10 of the nation’s public school students, often helps set the agenda.

Texas became the first state to allow chaplains, in 2023. And just last year, a Republican-led mandate that the Ten Commandments be displayed in public schools took effect in the state, although around two dozen districts took them down because of a lawsuit.

But while the debate over Texas’ reading list could have national implications, to the speakers the issue boiled down to whether the passages are essential to understanding the nation’s history and morals — or unconstitutional.

“Our children need truth,” said Nathan Irving, a pastor and father of eight from Myrtle Springs, Texas. “Truth is the only currency that never devalues. Investing truth into our children is the most loving thing that we can do for them. This is the truth. This country and this state were founded upon a Christian worldview. Like it or not, it is true.”

Final vote on the changes still ahead

A final vote on the list is expected in June, and if approved by the Texas State Board of Education, the changes would take effect in 2030.

Several speakers cited the “establishment clause” of the First Amendment, which states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

“This list is a tool of proselytization that has no place in our public schools,” Rabbi Josh Fixler, of Congregation Emanu El, a reform synagogue in Houston, told the board. “There is a difference between teaching about religion and teaching religion, and this list will force teachers to cross that line.”

Megan Boyden, a mother of three from Denton, Texas, described is as a direct attack on her private faith.

“As a Christian mother, it is my right and responsibility to teach our family’s religion,” she said. “It is not the state’s job to shed through the lens of a teacher who may not share the same beliefs I do. Will Bible passages be taught in conflict with my beliefs?

“What,” she asked, “of non-Christian students?”

The list stems from a state law passed in 2023, which called for the creation of a state-approved list of high-quality materials.

Third graders would learn about the Road to Damascus, which tells the story of Paul’s transformation from an early persecutor of Christians into a follower. Seniors, meanwhile, would learn about the Book of Job, a story about a man whose faith is tested when he looses everything.

The list also includes classics like Dr. Seuss’ “The Cat in the Hat,” stories about the national folk hero Daniel Boone. And there are also works by famous African Americans like Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King, Jr. and a book about Harriet Tubman of the Underground Railroad fame.

Texas has already approved optional curriculum that incorporates the Bible

The GOP-leaning board previously approved a new Bible-infused curriculum that is optional for schools to incorporate in kindergarten through fifth grades.

The board also is considering social studies standards that have been criticized as too state-centric, not focused enough on world events and rife with an undercurrent of American exceptionalism. They call for students to “identify the Texas flag as a symbol of Texas pride,” and recognize the state song “Texas, Our Texas.”

Students also are supposed to be able to understand stories about Texas Independence.

Curriculum debates crop up occasionally. Over the years, state boards in places such as Kansas have debated whether the teaching of evolution should reflect doubt about the well-established scientific theory — and leave room for arguments that the universe’s complexity points to an intelligent design.

Allison Cardwell, a mother of a fourth grader and a fifth grade social studies teacher, urged the board to rethink the standards. She said fifth grade would be the only time most Texas students would receive instruction in U.S. history until high school.

“We have to ask ourselves, How can we expect to create citizens who value liberty, responsibility, and the principles this country was founded on, if we don’t ensure that they truly understand those foundations?” she said.

FORT WORTH (DMN) – The former FedEx driver charged with killing 7-year-old Athena Strand after delivering a Christmas package to her family’s Wise County home pleaded guilty Tuesday before his capital murder trial even began. Tanner Horner’s plea before State District Judge George Gallagher will send the case directly into sentencing. A jury will have the choice to sentence Horner to death or life in prison without parole. The Dallas Morning News reports that Athena’s body was found two days after she went missing and several miles away, after investigators said Horner led them to it. A medical examiner ruled she died from blunt force trauma and strangulation. No evidence of sexual assault was found. Although the case is based in Wise County, it was moved to nearby Tarrant due to argument that Horner could not get a fair trial in Wise County. Horner is charged with capital murder of a child under the age of 10 and aggravated kidnapping. He has remained jailed since his arrest. Horner was charged with three unrelated counts of child sexual assault shortly after being taken into custody in Athena’s slaying. These charges are separate and reportedly occurred in a 2013 incident. Athena’s family later sued FedEx and Big Topspin Inc., the Dallas-Fort Worth-based contractor that hired Horner on the bases of lack or proper background checks on drivers. A nondisclosure agreement entered in the case prevented family attorney Paul Belew from disclosing what happened.

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices are rising, and U.S. stocks are falling Tuesday, but the moves are not as dramatic as the dire talk coming from both sides in the war with Iran.

President Donald Trump threatened that a “whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” if Iran does not meet his latest self-imposed deadline at 8 p.m. Eastern time to open the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian officials, meanwhile, urged young people to form human chains to protect power plants that Trump has threatened to bomb.

But the S&P 500 slipped just 0.5% as officials involved in diplomatic efforts said talks were ongoing, even though it was unclear if a deal would come in time to head off Trump’s threatened attacks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 271 points, or 0.6%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% lower.

The moves were sharper in the oil market, where prices have spiked since the end of February because the war has snarled the production and transportation of crude in the Persian Gulf. Much of that oil exits the gulf through the Strait of Hormuz to reach customers around the world, but Iran has blocked it to enemies.

The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude climbed 3.1% to $115.86. Brent crude, the international standard, added 0.4% to $110.17 and is well above its roughly $70 level from before the war.

The worry in markets has been that a long-term disruption will keep oil prices high for a long time and send a painful wave of inflation crashing through the global economy. Iran on Monday rejected the latest ceasefire proposal and instead said it wants a permanent end to the war.

So far in the war, Trump has made a series of threats to blow up Iranian power plants if it doesn’t open the Strait of Hormuz, but he has then delayed it several times. The possibility remains that Trump could back down again, among other scenarios, which is keeping uncertainty high.

A year ago, Trump ultimately backed off many of the stiff tariffs that he initially threatened to put on other countries’ imports, though they ended up higher than from before his second term.

“Investors are likely to remain on edge and markets unable to establish trends, probably until there is a clear outcome later this evening: a deal, the U.S./Israeli strikes intensify, or Iran’s retaliation becomes escalatory instead of proportional,” according to Paul Christopher, head of global investment strategy at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

In global stock markets, Universal Music Group helped to limit losses after Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management offered to buy the record label behind Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny in a cash-and-stock deal valued at approximately $64 billion.

The proposed purchase, which Pershing Square argued would clear uncertainty that’s weighed on UMG’s stock, would bring the company to Nevada and move its stock listing from Amsterdam to the New York Stock Exchange.

UMG’s stock in Amsterdam rose 9.3% but remains well below what Pershing said its bid is worth. That could indicate investor doubt that the deal will happen.

Indexes were mixed amid mostly modest movements across Europe, while Asian stock indexes were a touch stronger. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.8% for one of the world’s bigger gains.

In the bond market, Treasury yields were holding relatively steady ahead of Trump’s looming deadline. The yield on the 10-year Treasury remained at 4.34%, where it was late Monday.

But it’s still well above its 3.97% level from before the war. The rise has pushed up rates for mortgages and other loans going to U.S. households and businesses, which slows the economy.