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LUFKIN — A Lufkin woman was arrested Tuesday after allegedly kicking her roommate’s 5-year-old son in the chest during a fight with the boy’s mother. That’s according to KETK and the Lufkin Daily News. Lufkin officers were called to the Lark Street home of the boy’s mother, Victoria Burr, around 10:17 p.m., in reference to the boy being injured by the woman, Versia Walker, who had been living with them for two months, according to an arrest affidavit.

Authorities say Walker, 28, left the house before police arrived. Burr told officers Walker started yelling at her and took a swing at her but then she was able to put Walker in a headlock to keep her from fighting, the affidavit stated. A neighbor reportedly tried breaking up the fight but not before the boy apparently wandered too close to Walker. Four witnesses said they saw Walker kick the boy in his chest, knocking him back several feet, according to the affidavit. When officers talked to the boy, he said his chest hurt.

After taking statements from everyone the officers left but returned about 15 minutes later when Walker showed back up. When asked about the incident, Walker said she “pushed” the boy away with her leg to keep him out of the fight, the affidavit stated. She was arrested on third-degree felony injury to a child and taken to the Angelina County Jail. As she was taken to jail a friend of hers was moving her stuff out of the home, according to the affidavit. If convicted Walker faces up to 10 years in prison.

GILMER — Upshur County officials have issued a complete fireworks ban for 60 hours. Residents will be able to purchase fireworks but cannot use them in the county. A request has been sent to Governor Perry to extend the ban for 7 days.

DIBOLL — An East Texas man wanted after a drug roundup in Diboll turns himself in. According to KETK, Neilson Gibson is charged with delivery of a controlled substance in a drug-free zone. 16 suspects on 30 drug-related warrants were involved in the undercover operation. Police began arresting them last week. Officials say the roundup started June 22 and will continue until all 16 suspects are caught.

TYLER — Smith County is one of a few government entities nationwide to receive the 2011 Achievement of Excellence in Procurement Award from the National Purchasing Institute, County Judge Joel Baker announced this week. According to a county news release, the award is earned by those who demonstrate excellence, innovation, professionalism, productivity and leadership in their procurement practices. “We have worked with the Commissioners Court to implement a lot of good procedures,” Smith County Purchasing Director Kelli Davis said. “This is a great honor for the County.”

“This award is based on performance measures and best practices. Mrs. Davis and the Smith County Purchasing Team have gone above and beyond to provide the best and most efficient purchasing procedures to the citizens of Smith County,” County Judge Joel Baker said. Arrangements are in the works for an NPI member to present the award to Smith County in the near future. “The integrity and honesty that Smith County’s Purchasing Department has shown is incredible,” Tarrant County Purchasing Director and former President of the Texas Purchasing Association Jack Beacham said. “Anytime you are considered for an award of this magnitude it is a great honor.”

LONGVIEW — Longview Fire Department officials are investigating the cause of a Thursday morning fire in the 1900 block of Holly Street. Firefighters were dispatched to the home at around 8:40 yesterday morning. They say it was fully extinguished within an hour.

WILLS POINT – Nearly four dozen animals have been recovered from alleged Van Zandt County puppy mill. The animals were found in a filthy trailer house in Wills Point. The ammonia level was so great, the eyes and throats of investigators began burning. There was said to have been no food or water for the animals. Van Zandt County authorities turned over to the SPCA six dogs, 19 puppies, two turtles and a bird. They also found 12 dogs in a pen outside the trailer.

MARSHALL – An Upshur County man has been sentenced to federal prison for firearms violations. Franklin Levern Turner, 56, of Diana, pleaded guilty in February to possessing an unregistered firearm. He was sentenced yesterday to 18 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge T. John Ward. Turner was also ordered to forfeit a Winchester sawed-off 30-30 rifle.

Federal prosecutors say on July 15, 2009, Turner was found to be in possession of a firearm with a barrel length of less than eighteen inches which was not registered to him in the National Firearms and Transfer Record. Turner was indicted by a federal grand jury last August and charged with federal firearms violations.

TATUM – A motorcycle accident in Gregg County has left one person dead. Killed in the Tuesday night crash was Lonzo Lewis Jr., 40, of Tatum. The Department of Public Safety says Lewis was traveling at an unsafe speed when his motorcycle left Farm Road 2906 and hit a barbed wire fence. Lewis was not wearing a helmet.

MOUNT ENTERPRISE – The Tuesday night storms appear to be responsible for a traffic fatality in Rusk County. The accident happened around 10:30 Tuesday night when the victim’s pickup truck hit a tree that had fallen across the roadway. Alvertis Pruitt, 83, of Mount Enterprise, died about 12 hours later at East Texas Medical Center in Henderson. The accident happened on Farm Road 225.

GILMER — One man is dead after being hit by a truck while driving a golf cart in Upshur County on Wednesday morning. DPS officials say Alfred Keck, 74, was heading west on FM 49, just east of Lime Tree Rd., around 7:40 a.m. Authorities say Keck turned his golf cart left in front of a truck driven by Aldon Marty, 38, from Hawkins. According to KETK, officials say Marty was not speeding. Keck was thrown from the cart and pronounced dead at a local hospital.

LONGVIEW — The Gregg County Commissioners Court enacted a burn ban Wednesday during its regular meeting. It’s the latest in a growing series of such prohibitions throughout East Texas and around the state. According to a release by Gregg County Judge Bill Stoudt’s office, the ban will be reviewed on a periodic basis.

LUFKIN — A 17-year-old Lufkin man was arrested Tuesday for allegedly soliciting his 13-year-old cousin by reportedly sending her an inappropriate picture via text message. That’s according to KETK and the Lufkin Daily News. The man is not being named in this story in an attempt to protect the girl’s identity. He sent his cousin a text message on May 5 asking her to sneak out of her home and meet him at his mother’s house, according to an arrest affidavit. Authorities say that he then sent a message asking her for a photo and that she responded by sending a picture of herself in a bikini. In response, he said he would send her a picture of himself and did, a photo of his private parts, the affidavit stated.

The girl then sent a message asking why he would send her that photo and he messaged back that he thought she would like it, according to the affidavit. He then reportedly told her that if she would come over he would rub her neck and they could do what they did before. The man was taken into custody Tuesday on a warrant for second-degree online solicitation of a minor. If convicted he faces up to 20 years in prison.

TYLER – A 50-year-old Henderson woman has been sentenced to federal prison for a health care fraud scheme. Sheena Shelton pleaded guilty on July 22, 2010, to health care fraud and wire fraud and was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison Wednesday in Tyler by U.S. District Judge Leonard E. Davis. Shelton was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $125,000 to Medicare and Medicaid.

According to information presented in court, from 2003 to 2009, Shelton controlled and operated KC Medical Supplies, a durable medical equipment supplier in Longview. During that time, Shelton devised and carried out a scheme to defraud Medicare and Medicaid by submitting fraudulent claims for equipment and supplies which had not been prescribed or authorized by a physician. Shelton prepared documents that represented that physicians had prescribed or ordered medical equipment for certain beneficiaries although they had not. Shelton forged the signatures of local physicians to fraudulent claim forms before submitting them to Medicare and Medicaid for payment. Shelton was ordered to report to the U.S. Marshals Service on August 31, 2011, to begin serving her prison sentence.

AUSTIN (AP/Staff) – The Texas House has adjourned, ending the first special session of the 82nd Legislature — and a last-ditch effort to pass an East Texan’s airport screening bill has fallen short. Lawmakers met to consider two remaining bills and sent a minor judicial finance bill to the governor. But they failed to pass a bill from Longview Rep. David Simpson (pictured). The measure would have outlawed enhanced pat-downs by federal airport screeners unless they had reasonable suspicion that someone was carrying contraband. The House adjourned a day after the Senate, which wrapped up business on Tuesday. Both chambers passed critical fiscal bills and hurricane insurance reforms that were the impetus of the special session. Approval of those bills means there is little reason for the governor to call another special session.

NEBRASKA CITY, Neb. (AP/Staff) – A Tyler man accused of killing his girlfriend at a Dallas-area apartment has been captured in southeast Nebraska. The Nebraska State Patrol on Wednesday said 39-year-old Sisro Johnson is in the Otoe County Jail on a murder warrant from Garland, Texas. The beaten body of 45-year-old Zulema McColgan was discovered early Tuesday when officers answered a domestic disturbance call. A Nebraska trooper Tuesday night pulled over an SUV, matching the description of a vehicle being sought, on U.S. 75 just north of the Kansas state line. The suspect then drove off in a chase reaching speeds of 110 mph. The chase ended nearly 30 miles away after the SUV ran over roadway spikes, put down by law officers, and a tire went flat.

CUNEY — Authorities say a plane made an emergency landing in a field in Cherokee County. It happened Wednesday morning off of County Road 3414 north of Highway 175 near the town of Cuney. Officials say the pilot, Roger Willheim, 64, of Frankston, first reported engine trouble around 9:45 and shortly after landed the plane in the field barely missing power lines. Willheim, who was the only person on board, was not injured.

TYLER — Overnight storms Tuesday and Wednesday caused considerable damage throughout East Texas, especially in Wood County and Big Sandy. Fallen trees and downed power lines added to the chaos. Wood County officials say numerous fires occurred overnight as a result of the downed power lines but all had been put out as of Wednesday morning. Power company representatives report that several thousand people lost electricity for varying lengths of time because of the storms.

LINDALE — An early Wednesday morning fire has left one man homeless. Lindale and Mineola fire departments were dispatched to 22035 Highway 69 for a mobile home fire just after 4:00am. They say the home was fully engulfed when they arrived, but was out within 10-15 minutes of their arrival. Fire officials say that the owner of the home had lost power and was sleeping in his truck to stay cool. No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

LONGVIEW — A Longview man remained jailed after police said he tried to pass two counterfeit $100 bills. Carlton Hollins, 41, was jailed on $5,000 bond, charged with two counts of forgery of a government instrument. Police said he tried to pay for his food at McDonald’s in the 100 block of West Loop 281 with a counterfeit $100 bill around June 7. Then, when the cashier gave him change for the bill, he asked the employee to give him change for another $100 bill. Several days later, police said, Hollins attempted to pass a $100 bill at the McDonald’s in the 3100 block of Estes Parkway.

TYLER – An Anderson County man has pleaded guilty in Tyler federal court to drug trafficking. Derrick Deon Hicks, 37, of Palestine pleaded guilty Tuesday to possession with intent to distribute and distribution of crack cocaine in an appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge John D. Love. Hicks faces a minimum of 10 years in federal prison and forfeiture of $50,000.00 and firearms at sentencing. A sentencing date has not been set.

Federal prosecutors say up until last August, Hicks conspired with others to distribute more than 280 grams of crack cocaine throughout the East Texas area. Hicks was indicted by a federal grand jury in February and charged with federal drug trafficking violations.

PALESTINE – A former Anderson County couple is arrested in West Texas on charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child. Anitia Fonville Reyes, 46, was arrested in Odessa and Tony Reyes Jr., 49, was taken into custody in Abilene. The offenses are said to have occurred in 2009 when they lived southwest of Frankston in the Brushy Creek area.

TYLER — Smith County’s financial stability has been recognized when financial institutes Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s gave the county bond ratings of Aa2 and AA+, which are both just a notch below the highest score possible, AAA.

According to an update from Specialized Public Finance, Inc. to the Commissioners Court, the exceptionally high bond rating, along with falling interest rates will make paying off the recently passed jail bond much faster and less expensive than originally anticipated.

A total of $40.875 million in bonds were issued on Tuesday; $35 million from the recently passes jail bond at an interest rate of 2.564% and the refunding of about $5 million in existing county debt at 1.7489% interest. “It’s good to know that we will be able to pay this off even sooner and save money for the citizens of Smith County because of these lower rates and our high bond rating,” County Judge Joel Baker said.

The jail bond component will be structured with a 12 year amortization schedule, which is three years shorter than originally anticipated and the refunding component will save the county approximately $376,000 in total interest expenses. “A county jail with an interest rate of 2.5 is about as low as I have ever seen in this business,” said Financial Analyst Steven Adams.

In addition, S&P revised its Financial Management Assessment to “strong” from “Good” due to the adoption of a formal, long-range capital plan and a formal debt management policy, which is the highest classification.

WINONA – A man has been injured when some bales of hay in a Smith County field caught fire. It was reported around 12:30 Tuesday afternoon off County Road 353 in the northern part of the county. The fire is said to have started when a hired hand began welding on a broken tractor.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has nominated four U.S. attorneys to serve as lead Justice Department prosecutors in each of the four federal judicial districts in Texas. The president nominated interim U.S. Attorney John Bales of the Eastern District of Texas to a full term in that position. Bales is a former FBI agent who has been a federal prosecutor since 1989 and was head of the Eastern District’s criminal division before his promotion in 2009.

Also nominated are Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson of the Southern District for the district’s top job, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Ruth Saldana of the Northern District to that district’s top job, and U.S. Magistrate Robert Pitman of the Northern District for the top Western District job.

The nominations are subject to Senate confirmation.

TYLER — Henderson resident Larry Eugene North, 53, has pleaded guilty to possession of an illegal firearm or destructive device, use of a weapon of mass destruction, and obstruction of mail in Judge John Love’s federal courtroom in Tyler. North is set for sentencing in Judge Leonard Davis’s court this afternoon.

North was accused of placing more than 30 explosive devices into mailboxes and at other locations across East Texas. On April 8, 2010, authorities arrested North as he was placing an explosive in a Tyler mailbox.

He had been under surveillance for about a week before his arrest; a pipe bomb was found in the van he was driving and bomb-making materials were discovered in his home, authorities said. He could face 10 years in prison if convicted. Authorities believe North was responsible for planting 36 devices between February 5 and April 7. No injuries or explosions resulted from the devices.

TYLER — Tyler narcotics investigators have arrested Tara Kay McSwain, 37, owner/manager of East Texas Billing and manager of Apple Swim & Fitness Center, on seven counts of fraudulent possession of controlled substance, a 3rd degree felony. On June 16, an employee of Walgreens at 5415 S. Broadway called police and said there was a woman in the drive-thru attempting to pick up a fraudulent prescription for hydrocodone. Patrol officers and vice investigators arrived on the scene and took McSwain into custody after further investigation.

Investigators say they found several pieces of paper with physicians’ and patients’ names on them in McSwain’s purse. Police say the materials were discovered during the search incident to arrest and were believed to be used in a fraudulent manner. Police say because of her billing service for physicians, McSwain had access to doctor and patient information.

After investigators contacted several physicians and former patients, they say they developed probable cause that on six different occasions in 2011, McSwain provided fraudulent information to obtain a controlled substance from pharmacies in Tyler. On June 23, investigators arrested McSwain on six warrants for fraudulent possession of controlled substance. McSwain was booked into Smith County Jail on a total bond of $120,000, set by Judge Randall Rogers. Investigators say they are still looking into further incidents involving McSwain.

NEWTON COUNTY — A Lufkin man dies in an industrial accident in Newton County Sunday. Kyle Helton, 22, was working on a pipeline when a manifold fell on him and crushed him. OSHA was called in to investigate.

TROUP — It’s been a little more than a month since Troup became the second city voted wet in Smith County. KETK reports that the Brookshire’s there is now clearing shelves and making space for its first beer and wine shipments. They’re due to arrive sometime this week — just in time to kick off the Fourth of July weekend. So far, Brookshire’s is the only place in the city that’s applied for a liquor license and has been approved to sell alcohol at its store for off-premise consumption.

GLADEWATER — Investigators are following up on a plane crash that happened yesterday morning. According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, a small plane crashed at Gladewater Municipal Airport on U.S. 271 South. One person was injured in the crash. Gregg County Sheriff’s Office deputies were notified at about 7:00 and DPS troopers were dispatched at about 7:45.

According to a Federal Aviation website, the tail numbers on the airplane were registered to a Hallsville man named Ronald Wayne Baker. Good Shepherd Medical Center officials said they had a man listed under that name who was listed in fair condition around 10:00. DPS officials said the man had built the airplane himself and was taking it for its first spin when the plane went down during takeoff. The Longview News-Journal reports the man was 64 years old.

LUFKIN — One man is arrested after an argument with a Lufkin Police Officer. The officer was reportedly responding to a disturbance complaint around 7:45 Saturday night on the 500 block of Homer Street. Gustavo Rodriguez, 33, allegedly started moving toward the officer in an aggressive manner when she used pepper spray to slow him down. He was arrested for assault on a public servant, a second degree felony.