Today is
Monday June 08, 2026
LONGVIEW – A fatal accident in Longview remains under investigation. It happened Shortly before 9:00 Saturday night on West Loop 281. Killed was Wilbert Hawkins 58, of Longview. His vehicle that had become disabled in the inside lane west bound on the loop. Other cars had stopped to avoid hitting his vehicle. A pickup driven by Julio Martinez 38, of Longview, moved into the turning lane to avoid hitting the stopped cars and hit Hawkins. He later died at a Longview hospital.
TYLER – A report of a robbery brought Tyler police to Texas Bank and Trust at South Broadway and Robert E Lee Drive. It was reported around 10:15 Saturday morning. A man entered the bank and handed the teller a note telling her of the robbery. The man got nervous when the clerk started to walk away, he then took the note and ran away without getting any money. He is described as a black male in his late 20’s medium build, wearing a black baseball cap, black shirt and black pants. He got into a gold, early 2000 Chrysler Pacifica, which was parked near, and drove away.
JACKSONVILLE – Two persons have been killed in a two vehicle accident in Cherokee County. The wreck happened just before 4:45 Friday afternoon on Farm Road 177, 7 miles north of Jacksonville. Dead at the scene was Susan Lynnette Baker, 40, of Troup, and a 15 year old girl who was a passenger in her car. The Department of Public Safety says Baker was traveling at an unsafe speed when her car entered a curve and she over corrected. It caused her car skid sideways into the other lane of traffic where it was hit by a pickup. Both vehicles end up in a ditch. The driver of the pickup was not injured. The wreck remains under investigation.
AUSTIN – Texas’s two high courts have appointed 31 members to lead the newly established Judicial Commission on Mental Health. One of them is Hopkins County Judge Robert Newsom of Sulphur Springs. He will serve through August 2020. The commission, the first body jointly created by the Texas Supreme Court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, will examine best practices in the administration of civil and criminal justice for persons with mental illness. The first meeting of the newly-appointed commission is scheduled for Tuesday, May 15 in Austin.
LONGVIEW – Benjamin B. Johnson, 36, of Longview, has been found guilty of two counts of harassment of a public servant. The ruling came Friday in a trial before State District Judge Alfonso Charles. Johnson resisted arrest in October of 2016 when first approached by officers and later at a Longview hospital. He even spit on two officers. A urinalysis showed Johnson to be on PCP, methamphetamine and marijuana. He will be sentenced at a later date.
MARSHALL – Marshall police are looking for two men in a home invasion. It occurred shortly before 9:45 Thursday night on Dean Drive. Two men, one who was armed, forced their way into the home of an elderly woman and demanded firearms. One held her at gunpoint while the other ransacked her house. They stole a crossbow, and then fled on foot. The woman was not injured. They were described as young black males, both with red bandanas over their face. One suspect was said to have been wearing a red hoodie and the other was wearing a dark colored hoodie.
TYLER – A woman wanted for a Dallas County death has been arrested in Tyler. Diem Trinh Nguyen, 29, of Grand Prairie was arrested around 2:30 Thursday morning in a church parking lot on Highway 155. An officer checking on the suspicious vehicle discovered she had been named in a warrant in Dallas County for criminally negligent homicide. She had been wanted in connection with an accident in which she hit and killed a man standing on a sidewalk in April of last year. She is being held in the Smith County jail under a $100,000 bond.
LONGVIEW – Longview Animal Control is reminding residents, be cautious if you find a bat. Bat exposure is a major concern because of the possibility of contracting rabies. So far this year, they have responded to 17 calls about bats. Six were sent in for rabies testing. The other bats had been released by the people who found them. They believe the number of bat exposures may top 17, because others may have released the bats without knowing how harmful the exposure could be. The best advice, if you see a bat, don’t touch it or release it. Instead, call Animal Control or 911. You can go to https://www.longviewtexas.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1404 to get more tips about bats and bat exposure.
WASHINGTON – Tyler congressman Louie Gohmert has been named a recipient of the 2018 Thomas Jefferson Award. The bi-annual award, presented by the International Foodservice Distributors Association, recognizes legislators whose voting record shows strong support of the U.S. foodservice distribution industry. The award was introduced in 1992.
TYLER – A Tyler man is heading to prison for aggravated kidnapping and sexual assault. Last month, a Tyler jury found Freddi Betancourt, 26, guilty. Friday, State District Judge Kerry Russell sentenced him to 30 years in prison. Last June, he met a woman he had a previous relationship with at Noble Young Park. He forced her into his car where he sexually assaulted her before driving off with the victim still in the vehicle. Witnesses helped police find the car on the Frankston Highway, with the woman trying to get out of the vehicle.
TYLER – Tyler police are looking for help in identifying a man involved in a hit an run accident. He was a passenger in the car that caused the crash. It happened on April 13th at West Gentry Parkway and Parkdale. He is said to have got out of the vehicle and pushed to the ground the lady who was driving. He then took her cell phone while she was trying to dial 911. If you can identify him, you are asked to call Tyler police.
EAST TEXAS – Tyler’s Unemployment rate has dropped, while there has been a slight uptick in Longview’s jobless numbers. The report from the Texas Workforce Commission show Tyler’s unemployment rate for march was 3.7%. That is down from 4.1% in February and far better that the 4.3% rate in March of last year. Longview’s March unemployment rate was 4.5%, slightly up from 4.4% in February, but vastly improved from the 5.7% figure last March. The state’s unemployment rate last month was 4%, slightly better than the March jobless figure for the U.S.
ELKHART – One person has been killed and 3 injured in a one vehicle accident in Anderson County. It happened around 4:45 Wednesday morning on U.S. Highway 287, six miles south of Elkhart. Dead at the scene was Autumn A’mari Taylor, 2, of Tyler. In critical condition in a Dallas hospital is a three week old. The DPS says both were unbealted. A teenager is in critical condition in a Tyler hospital. The driver, Tiffany Marie Taylor, 36, of Tyler, is in stable condition in a Tyler. It appears she fell asleep at the wheel. She then overcorrected, went across the highway, overturned and hit a house.
TYLER – UT Health East Texas EMS, formerly ETMC EMS, has rolled out its new ambulance design. The ambulance service began in 1968. Besides Tyler and Smith County, coverage also includes Henderson County, Wood County, most of Cherokee County and the city of Henderson. It employs 116 paramedics and 124 emergency medical technicians. Moody Chisholm, president and CEO of UT Health East Texas said at Thursday’s unveiling, “over the next several months, all 50 ambulances and EMS support vehicles will be branded with the new look.†UT Health East Texas Air 1 also is being rebranded. The new helicopter look will be revealed in June.
LONGVIEW – Longview police say it was a Dallas man who was killed in a Wednesday morning accident. He is John Warren Young, 56. The accident occurred on East Marshall Avenue in front of Jennings Scrap & Salvage. Police investigators say Young got out of his 18-wheeler and the truck and trailer started rolling down the hill. Before he could get back into the vehicle, it ran over him.