Today is
Tuesday June 09, 2026
KILGORE – A Rabies infected bat has been found on the Kilgore College Campus. Our news partner KETK reports the bat was found last week near the fine arts building. The test results that came back on Monday showed the bat tested positive for rabies. Students who touched the animal will be given the rabies vaccine injections. Kilgore police say it is unusual for nocturnal animals to move about during the day. Their warning is, don’t touch wild animals. If an animal appears to be sick, it probably is, so, don’t touch it.
LUFKIN – It looks like, if something isn’t nailed down, someone may try to steal it. Consider the case being investigated by Lufkin Police. Sometime after 4:30 Sunday afternoon, someone stole a turtle from the Ellen Trout zoo. And this is no ordinary turtle, it is an elongated tortoise, which is valued at $200. Zoo officials believe someone reached over the top of a concrete barrier to steal it. There is no surveillance in the area and no other evidence, other than the tortoise is missing.
EAST TEXAS – Threats against schools in Longview and Palestine have surfaced. Two Longview High School students have been suspended after threats surfaced on Instagram. Some students reported the posting, which has since been deleted. So far there have been no arrests and school officials say the students were suspended indefinitely. Meanwhile, at Palestine High Shool, a lockdown has been lifted after a threatening note was found on the campus. The entire campus was searched, including the students’ backpacks. When no weapons were found by 12:30, classes returned to normal following lunch. Longview and Palestine police are continuing their investigation of the two incidents.
KILGORE – A standoff with Gregg County sheriff’s deputies just outside of Kilgore had a successful ending Monday night. A man, whose name has not been released, has been taken to a hospital for observation. It started around 5:00 Monday afternoon with a report of a man, who was disturbed, firing shots from inside a home on Danville road. No injuries were reported and the road, which had been closed during the incident, has been re-opened.
TYLER – School trustees at Monday night’s meeting approved attendance zones for the 2018-2019 school year for its 17 elementary schools. A news release from the school district quotes school superintendent Dr. Marty Crawford as saying that adjusting the elementary school attendance zones will balance enrollment projections, continue to offer neighborhood schools, provide efficiencies in resource allocation and allow administrative tools to be deployed prior to considering a tax referendum. Zoning information for all TISD schools is available at https://www.tylerisd.org/zones Letters from the district containing zoning information will also be sent to each Tyler ISD household by April 1.
LONGVIEW – A Monday recount has affirmed that Easton Mayor Shannon Brown won the March Democratic Primary for Gregg County Commissioner in Precinct 4. The recount total showed Brown with 1,047 votes to Kasha Williams’ tally of 1,042. Those are the same vote results shown election night. The Longview News Journal reports Williams may challenge the results and is seeking legal advice. The paper says the issue centers around mail-in ballots that pushed Brown to victory.
NACOGDOCHES – A suspect is in custody in connection with a threat made against a Nacogdoches School. Mike Moses Middle School Principal Stephen Autrey posted on Facebook Sunday the threat was made against his school on the social media. The investigation resulted into the arrest of the suspect before lunch time on Sunday. No details were released about the nature of the threat or information about the suspect. Autrey said in his posting, “With the individual in custody, we do not feel that a threat to our school remains.”
TYLER – Beginning Monday, TxDOT started traffic counts in the Tyler district’s 8 counties. Motorists will notice road tubes at 6,400 locations around the Tyler district. The traffic data will be collected 24 hours a day on all system roadways through April 26th. Contract personnel are collecting the data for TxDot in Anderson, Cherokee, Gregg, Henderson, Rusk, Smith, Van Zandt, and Wood counties. The data is used for planning, funding distribution and pavement and bridge design. Other counts are also conducted annually by TxDOT’s Traffic Data Collection Programs.
MINEOLA – The Mineola Police Department is looking for two men who burglarized a convenience store early Monday morning. The two two broke into Young’s Chevron on East Broad Street. They left after loading a large amount of cartons of assorted brands of cigarettes into large trash cans. If you recognize the suspects, you are asked to contact the Mineola Police Department.
Second Suspect
MARSHALL – Two northeast Texas schools have signed an articulation agreement. The agreement has been signed by the school president’s of East Texas Baptist University in Marshall and Northeast Texas Community College in Mount Pleasant. The agreement will ensure that eligible graduates of NTCC will be able to seamlessly transfer approved courses, receive priority for admission and scholarships at ETBU. The University will also offer $11,000 each year in academic support to Phi Theta Kappa students.
KILGORE – A church van has been stolen in Kilgore. It belongs to Old Path’s Tabernacle on Green Hills Drive. It was reported stolen Monday morning. It’s a 2002 Dodge van, white in color, with Old Path’s Tabernacle decals. The license plate number is BM9-L570. If you see this vehicle you are asked to contact Kilgore Police.
MOUNT PLEASANT (AP/STAFF) — Authorities have identified a Tennessee trucker and four members of an Illinois family who died in an East Texas traffic accident. The Department of Public Safety on Saturday said investigators are trying to determine why a big rig rear-ended a minivan stopped on Interstate 30 as an earlier unrelated wreck cleared. Sgt. Sylvia Jennings says 64-year-old Wanda Gebhart of Pikeville, Tennessee, died at the scene Friday on eastbound I-30 at Mount Pleasant, 100 miles northeast of Dallas. Jennings says 41-year-old Jessica Brokish of Savoy, Illinois, and her three children were also killed. DPS didn’t immediately release names of the boys — ages 9 and 6 — plus a 2-year-old girl. The woman’s husband was driving. He has since been released from the hospital.
MARSHALL – One person has been seriously injured in a vehicle/pedestrian accident in Marshall. It happened Shortly after 5:15 Wednesday afternoon. The person ran across several lanes of traffic from the west side of East End Boulevard and ran into the path of a southbound vehicle. The person was first taken to a Marshall hospital and later transferred to a Tyler hospital where he remains in ICU. The accident remains under investigation.
KILGORE – Pending board approval, D’Wayne Shaw has been named Kilgore College’s new Dean of Public Services and Industrial Technologies. He succeeds Randy Lewellen who retired earlier this year after almost 28-years at the school. Shaw has most recently served as KC’s Technical Dual Credit Coordinator since August of 2017 and has also served as the Technical Department Chair at KC since 2011. He was first hired at Kilgore College in 1999 where he served as an automotive instructor.
GLADEWATER – Funeral services have been scheduled for the former mayor of Gladewater and a longtime trustee at Kilgore College. James Walker was 82 when he died Thursday. According to the obituary from Croley Funeral Home, services will be Monday morning at 11:00 at the First United Methodist Church in Gladewater. Burial will follow services at Gladewater Memorial Park. The family will receive friends Sunday afternoon from 4:00 until 6:00pm at Croley Funeral home in Gladewater.