Today is
Thursday June 04, 2026
EAST TEXAS – The East Texas Auto Theft Task Force is warning area residents about the sale of stolen vehicles. The suspects are predominately targeting the Hispanic community. They are posting vehicles on-line in Spanish and Spanish Web sites. The vehicles listed to be sold are extremely below market value to attract buyers. Then, they have the buyer travel to the Houston or Dallas area to complete the cash sale from the town where the vehicle was originally stolen. The task force suggests, if you decide to buy such a vehicle, have them drive to your town so that you won’t make a wasted trip, because they will more than likely not be there to meet you. Read the rest of this entry »
TYLER – A public meeting is scheduled for Tuesday to get citizen input on the proposed expansion of the Old Jacksonville Highway. The proposal calls for widening the existing four-lane roadway to six lanes with a raised median. Bike and pedestrian facilities will be proposed where possible. The project limits are from Loblolly Lane and Woodland Hills Drive, north of the Tyler loop, south to Saline Creek Road and Farm Road 2813. The come-and-go meeting will be held from 5:00 to 7:00pm at Tyler’s Harvey Convention Center.
ALTO – It was back to school on Monday for students in Alto following the April 13th tornado. The gym at the high school and elementary were declared a total loss and other buildings suffered damage. The Rusk school district has offered some portable classrooms to help complete the school year. High school students found a creative use of facilities as they returned to class. Some classes were held in conference rooms, library and even the teachers’ lounge at the middle school and elementary campuses. School officials are faced with a decision, repair the high school or accelerate a 5 year plan to build a new one.
TYLER – Starting Monday, there will be a partial closure of Tyler’s Old Bullard Road. This is to improve drainage structures on the road near Rice Road. It should be closed through late August. The project will include the installation of three additional 5’ x 3’ concrete box culverts under Old Bullard Road, as well as new curb inlets and channel improvements just upstream. Motorists can expect delays throughout the construction period. Southbound traffic will remain open to one lane, having through access along Old Bullard while northbound traffic will be rerouted along Rice Road to Richmond Road to Timberwilde Drive. Four electronic message boards are up notifying motorists of the construction
AUSTIN – The state has recognized outstanding volunteers at state hospitals and state supported living centers. Two of those awards came to East Texas groups. The Spirit of Youth Award went to Rusk High School. The students were recognized for their work individually and through several student groups in service to the patients of Rusk State Hospital. The Volunteer/Advocate of the Year Award went to the Volunteer Council for Rusk State Hospital. The group is a 15 member nonprofit service organization.
AUSTIN (AP) – Energy officials say Austin has bought a wood chip-fueled biomass power plant in East Texas for $460 million to break away from a punitive contract. Southern Company accepted Austin Energy’s bid for the Nacogdoches Generating Facility, a wood chip-fueled biomass power plant. The 115-megawatt plant, one of the largest biomass power plants in the United States, rarely operates because it is too expensive to run. Austin Energy is also acquiring the plant’s holding company. The Austin American-Statesmen reports that Austin Energy General Manager Jackie Sargent says the city is now off the hook for escalating annual payments under a 20-year, $2.3 billion agreement slated to run through 2032.
ALTO – A Houston firm will arrive in Alto next Tuesday to begin the process of certifying trucks and removing debris left behind by last weekend’s tornadoes. Crews expect to work seven days a week until the project is complete. TxDOT expects to remove about 45,000 cubic yards of tree debris during the cleanup effort that is anticipated to span six weeks. The contractor is scheduled to start on State Highway 21, moving eastward, removing debris from the highway right of way. A state monitor along with a TxDOT inspector will oversee the day-to-day operations.
LONGVIEW – It is a long prison sentence for a Longview man. A Longview jury on Thursday found Michael Fred Houston, 38, guilty of aggravated robbery. Due to two prior felony convictions, and other acts against elderly persons, the jury sentenced him to life in prison. In early May of last year, police were called to the Dollar General on Judson Road for a robbery in the parking lot. An elderly woman told officers a man opened the passenger door of her car, grabbed her purse, which had her cell phone, and then fled. Houston will have to serve 30 years before becoming eligible for parole.
AUSTIN – Unemployment in Tyler and Longview continues to run low. The Texas Workforce commission reports Tyler’s unemployment figure in March was 3.4%. That is down from the 3.7% figure in February. In March of last year, it was also 3.7% Longview’s March unemployment was 3.4%. It was 4.1% in February and 4.3% in March of last year. The Texas unemployment figure for March was unchanged, a 3.8%.
FLINT – An attempt to serve a warrant in the Flint area resulted in a standoff with law officers Thursday afternoon. The warrant was for Gregory Colin Morrison, 44, of Flint. He was wanted on a forfeiture warrant with an original charge of possession of a controlled substance. A woman, Rachel Gutierrez, 26, of Tyler, talked with deputies through the door of a metal building, with Morrison inside. But the door was slammed shut and deputies could hear a large tractor started up inside the building. It was driven to the door and used as a barricade. That’s when the deputies called in the department’s SWAT unit. The couple finally came out when SWAT team members entered the building through a window. Morrison was booked into jail on the warrant and a charge of evading arrest. Gutierrez was charged with hindering apprehension.
EAST TEXAS – The storms that moved through overnight Wednesday and Thursday brought over an inch of rain to Tyler. The National Weather Service reports the two day total for downtown Tyler is 1.50 inches. At the Tyler airport, the two day total was 1.88 inches. The Longview airport recorded 1.31 inches. The storms produced gusty winds. The highest wind gust at the Tyler airport was 46 mph at 2:58 Thursday morning. The Longview airport reported its highest wind gust Thursday morning at 3:56 when it hit 56 mph.
TYLER – State District Judge Jack Skeen has granted a defense motion for more DNA testing in the capital murder case against Gustavo Zavala-Garcia. He appeared in court Thursday morning for a pretrial hearing. Both the prosecution and the defense agreed there needed to be testing of additional small hairs found on the victim’s T-shirt and skirt. This would have to be done at a private lab or the University of North Texas lab. Zavala-Garcia is charged with capital murder in the November, 2016 death of Kayla Gomez-Orozco. She was abducted from a Bullard church. Her body was found days later inside a well on the suspect’s property.
TYLER – All non-emergency Smith County offices will be closed for business on Friday, for Good Friday. Offices will reopen for normal business hours on Monday. But, even with Smith County offices closed, the county elections office at 302 East Ferguson will open from 9:00am to noon. The Texas Secretary of State’s Office is requiring the elections office to open for three hours on the holiday to give people a chance to turn in their applications for a mail ballot for the May 4 city and school elections. Friday is the deadline to turn in the applications. Early voting begins next Monday and runs through Tuesday, April 30.
TYLER – Three Tyler residents have been indicted by a federal grand jury in a counterfeit immigration documents conspiracy. The indictment against Jose Luis Marquez Rodriguez, 53; Eleazar Juarez Juarez, 45; and Virginia Colis Rodriguez, 52, was returned on Wednesday. The three are said to have produced phony United States Permanent Residence Cards, United States Social Security Cards, and driver’s licenses. They are said to have sold them for around $200 apiece. Rodriguez is to to have kept detailed records of their distribution efforts and last month alone, recorded 90 sales of counterfeit U.S. identification documents. If convicted, the defendants each face up to 15 years in federal prison.
ALTO – Cherokee County will not be getting any help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the wake of the tornadoes last weekend. That is what County Judge Chris Davis told our news partner KETK. The reason that FEMA will not help is because the damage does not meet the threshold necessary to receive federal disaster assistance. FEMA told KETK that the state had not requested help from them.