Today is
Thursday July 23, 2026
MARSHALL – The United States gained 39 new citizens in a ceremony that was conducted Thursday in Marshall. The group was administered the oath of allegiance to the United States in a special naturalization ceremony. Presiding at the ceremony was U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap. According to the Longview News Journal, 19 of the new citizens were from Mexico. Others were from 11 other countries, including Cambodia, Canada, Egypt, India, Vietnam, Nigeria, and the United Kingdom. One of the new citizens is Luisa Reyes, a native of Mexico, who now lives in Tyler.
JACKSONVILLE – A Cherokee County woman, on Halloween night, was tricked and received a treat at the same time. Chelsea Dillard, who was expecting her second child, was in the bathtub at her home in Rusk when her water broke. Realizing the baby was coming quicker than anticipated, she called an ambulance. She was minutes away from UT Health-Jacksonville when she thought the baby was coming. The ambulance pulled over and paramedic Charles Janak delivered his first baby. Welcome to the world Devinity Dillard, who weighed in at 6.7 pounds and 19 inches long. Mother, baby and paramedic are all doing well.
OVERTON – A man is in the Rusk County Jail following an assault complaint at an Overton home. Placed in jail under bonds totaling $20,000 was Johnathan William Elkins, 36, of Overton. The Longview News Journal reports a woman complained that Elkins was intoxicated and started hitting her and a 5 year old with eggs. He is also said to have hit her with his knee below her left rib cage. He faces two charges of assault causing bodily injury, one of those out of Gregg County, and a charge of injury to a child. He is also being held on an Upshur County warrant for theft of property.
TYLER – A state district court judge has rejected a plea from a former Arp school counselor who was convicted last month of sexual assault of a child. Barbara Orpineda was sentenced to 5 years in prison. She still faces one additional count and 2 counts of improper relationship between an educator and student. Judge Christi Kennedy rejected the plea Thursday during a pretrial hearing. She has given both the state and the defense 10 days to come to an agreement on how to proceed. Prior to becoming the Arp Elementary counselor, Orpineda taught seventh grade math for four years. When arrested, she denied the allegations. She also denied the allegations during the trial when she testified in her own defense.
TYLER – A memorial service has been scheduled for David Irwin, of Lindale. The managing partner for Tyler Ford died at his home Wednesday morning. He was 52. According to the Caudle-Rutledge Funeral Home in Lindale, a memorial service for Irwin will be held Saturday morning at 10:00 at Tyler’s Grace Community Church. Along with his business, Irwin was known for many years as a supporter of local nonprofits. Perhaps his highest-profile community endeavor was providing a vehicle for the yearly raffle held by the East Texas Crisis Center during its East Texas Auto and Cycle Show.
PALESTINE – A Palestine High School student has been injured during a woodshop class. According to a posting on the school district’s web site, the student received immediate medical attention from the instructor, who is a certified EMT. After evaluating the student’s injuries, medical personnel decided that he should be flown to Children’s Medical Center in Dallas for precautionary treatment and evaluation. We will have more information when it becomes available.
TYLER – No sooner had a Tyler robbery suspect been identified, he was arrested. On Wednesday it was announced that Thomas Mark Painter, 32, of Tyler was the suspect in the Tuesday morning robbery at the Fuel Plus Gas station on East Gentry Parkway. The U.S. Marshals Service arrested Painter around 11:00 Thursday morning. It’s believed Painter is the person who came up behind a man who had just purchased $40 worth of scratch off tickets. He approached the man from behind, hit him in the head with his fist, grabbed the lottery tickets, and then fled. He’s now in the Smith County Jail under bonds totaling $55,000.
HENDERSON – A man recently arrested on numerous charges in Rusk County will be spending a long time in prison. In state district court in Henderson on Thursday, James Paul Calvert, 47, was sentenced to life in prison. Calvert, who had evaded law officers for nearly a week, was arrested around 9:00 Sunday evening. He had been wanted for sexual assault of a child. On Facebook, District attorney Michael Jimerson said his office was grateful to the Henderson Police Department and Rusk County Sheriff’s Office for apprehending Calvert so he could be sentenced to life in state prison.
KILGORE – Kilgore police are reporting that the SWEPCO phone scam has surfaced again. The police department has received several reports about the scam. The caller tells their victim that they have a past due bill and are about to have their meter pulled. The caller will then demand the victim purchase Green Dot Debit Cards and provide the caller with the numbers. This scam first surfaced in 2014. SEPCO says they don’t call and threaten disconnection for past due bills. And they will never ask a customer to purchase untraceable debit or gift cards to pay their bills. If you get such a call, hang up and report it to your local police department.
LONGVIEW – A traffic stop in Longview has led to drug charges against a driver. The Longview News Journal reports Chad Reimon Howard, 36, of Longview, was stopped for running a stop sign and failing to signal a lane change at Marshall Avenue at Teague Street. In his vehicle, officers found cocaine, Xanax, Ecstasy, marijuana and and nearly $2,000. He is facing 3 charges of manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance. He is currently free on bonds totaling $104,500.
HENDERSON – All of the power may not be restored in Rusk County until sometime Friday. As many as 5,500 power outages were reported in the county. They were caused by the heavy thunderstorms that moved through the area on Wednesday. Rusk County Electric Cooperative said in a posting on Facebook, because of the storms packing winds up to 60mph, there was damage throughout their system, with southern Rusk County getting hit the hardest. They had crews out all night Wednesday clearing trees off the lines and restringing cable. Once the main lines have been restored, they will focus on the single outages.
VAN ZANDT COUNTY — Three people were killed, several others injured following a two vehicle wreck in Van Zandt County. It happened around 7:15 Tuesday night on State Highway19, one mile northwest of Edgewood. According to the Department of Public Safety, Jessie Michael Brown, 19, of Fruitvale was traveling south and was attempting to pass vehicles in a no passing zone. Connie McKinley Wells, 61, of Wills Point was traveling north when she was struck head-on by Brown. Wells was pronounced dead at the scene. Her passengers, Adam Thomas Tuma, 14, and Elijah William Gabriel Tuma, 11, both of Wills Point, were also pronounced dead at the scene. Read the rest of this entry »
AUSTIN – The Texas Department of Health Services reports that 16 cases of a rare spinal condition have been reported in the state this year. One of those cases was in Smith County. The condition is acute flaccid myelitis (AFM). It is a very rare condition that affects a person’s spinal cord marked by the sudden onset of weakness in the arms or legs. Less than one in a million people in the United States will get AFM each year. According to a news release from the state, there is no specific treatment for AFM, and the cause is unknown. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is to determine what causes the condition. Possible causes include viruses, environmental toxins and genetic disorders. AFM is not required to be reported, but DSHS is asking all healthcare providers to report suspected cases of AFM to their local health departments. Read the rest of this entry »
TYLER – As we close the weather books on the month of October, the month was slightly warmer and very much wetter than normal. The thirty-day outlook for October 2018, issued on September 20, had called for near normal temperatures and above normal precipitation. It was not changed with the September 30 revision. In fact, the month was the third wettest October on record, replacing October 2015 when 11.89 inches fell. The wettest October on record was 1985 when 14.82 inches fell. Compared with October 2017, the month was 0.9 degrees cooler and 10.12 inches wetter. The year-to-date rainfall was 0.39 inch greater in 2017 than in 2018. Read the rest of this entry »
RUSK – A Rusk High School student has been arrested for making a terroristic threat. Police were called to the high school on Tuesday after threats were made by a student. After investigation, the student was detained and removed from the school and charges were filed. The police said on Facebook, “at no time was the school placed in lock down.” The name of the student has not been released.
TYLER – Tyler police have identified a man who is accused of robbing a man of his lottery tickets. He is Thomas Mark Painter, 32, of Tyler. Painter, who is known to stay in north Tyler hotels, is driving 2008 Chevy Impala with Texas license plate KYG-7880. The robbery occurred shortly after 10:30 Tuesday morning at the Fuel Plus Gas station on East Gentry Parkway. Painter is said to be the suspect who came up behind a man who had just purchased $40 worth of scratch off tickets. He approached the man from behind, hit him in the head with his fist, grabbed the lottery tickets, and then fled. He remains at large.
AUSTIN – The Governor has named a Wood County woman to a state committee. Governor Greg Abbott has appointed Carol Hollen of Mineola to the Texas Poet Laureate, State Musician and State Artists Committee. Her term will expire October 1st of next year. The committee selects the state poet laureate, the state musician, the state artist representing 2-dimensional media and the state artist representing 3-dimensional media. The candidates are submitted by the Texas Commission on the Arts. Hollen is a retired human resources consultant and business development executive, and carries the designation of Licensed Professional Counselor.
GILMER – A Longview man, identified as a steak thief, is heading to prison. Mario Lacrae Rogers, 50, has been sentenced to 9 years in prison as a repeat offender and enhanced punishment because of prior state jail crimes. Investigators say Rogers has gone to Brookshire stores and placed meat and steaks in his pants and grabbed beer and fled the stores. He has done this before in several area counties. The prison sentence was for a January incident, following his last release from state jail. He is said to have gone in the Brookshire’s store in Gilmer and left with 7 ribeye steaks in his pants. Gilmer police stopped him as he was leaving the store’s parking lot.
TYLER – A man buying lottery tickets in Tyler has been robbed. It happened shortly after 10:30 Tuesday morning at the Fuel Plus Gas station on East Gentry Parkway. A man had purchased $40.00 worth of scratch off lottery tickets when a man approached him from behind and hit him in the head with his fist. He then grabbed the lottery tickets and ran out the door. The suspect left in a 4-door Chevy.
AUSTIN (AP/STAFF) – Part of the Texas state Capitol has been briefly evacuated as police officers and a bomb squad checked a suspicious package and letter delivered to a lawmaker’s office. The Department of Public Safety said in a statement Tuesday that a “limited area” of underground offices “was evacuated as a precautionary measure,” but later reopened when the scene “was cleared and no viable threat was discovered.” First word came from a Facebook posting by Tyler State Representative Matt Schaefer. It said, “DPS has evacuated my staff in our Capitol office along with other offices in the vicinity due to a suspicious package. If phones are not answered, leave a message.” The incident affected a small enough part of the building that the Capitol remained open, with tourists and others mostly coming and going as normal.
TYLER – A UT Tyler professor is using a federal grant to support victims of human trafficking. Associate Professor of Nursing, Dr. Cathy Miller is using a $450,000 grant from the United States Department of Justice. The grant is specifically for programs that offer mentoring and support services to victims of commercial sexual exploitation and domestic sex trafficking. It also provides community awareness activities to help prevent further victimization. She says Texas has a huge problem with human trafficking, which she says is really a public health problem. As a nurse, she says she tries to help decrease the mental and physical health problems these victims and survivors have.
BEAUMONT – The U.S. Attorney’s office is ready, should any complaints surface concerning next week’s general election. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Englade of Beaumont has been appointed to serve as the election officer for the Eastern District of Texas. The district covers 43 counties, from Texarkans to Beaumont. She will be responsible for overseeing the District’s handling of complaints of election fraud and voting rights abuses in consultation with Justice Department Headquarters in Washington. Plus, the FBI will have special agents available in each field office and resident agency to receive allegations of election fraud and other election abuses on election day. Tyler and Lufkin are among the East Texas cities with FBI offices.
MARSHALL – In state district court in Marshall on Monday, Gary Lynn Gorman, 36, pleaded guilty to escaping from the Harrison County Jail. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his escape. In June Gorman was with a crew that took out trash to the jail dumpster and he didn’t return. He was spotted in the Woodlawn area of Harrison County a few days later. A DPS helicopter, with infrared radar, found him hiding in some brush and directed ground crews to his location. As he attempted to flee, he was tackled by a sheriff’s deputy who held him until other officers arrived. His mother has also been arrested. Donna Slinkard, 58, has been charged with hindering apprehension. She is said to have harbored Gorman during some of the time he had escaped. She is scheduled for jury selection on December 3rd.
AUSTIN – Governor Greg Abbott has appointed three persons to the Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners. The board is responsible for regulating the practice of chiropractic. Among those named to the board was Debra White, D.C. of Nacogdoches. She was named for a term set to expire on February 1, 2023. Dr White is the owner of Advanced Chiropractic Center.
TYLER – Educators with Tyler school system will soon have the chance to further their own education as part of a new joint program with the University of Texas at Tyler. The TeamONE Tyler program, which is called the Tyler ISD Leadership Pipeline Initiative, was announced on Monday. It paves the way for a select group of Tyler ISD educators to earn their master’s degree through UT Tyler online programs. The Tyler ISD will shoulder the cost of the program, at no cost to the educations enrolled in the program. They must make a 3 year commitment to ensure they remain in Tyler school system for at least that time.
TYLER – The Literacy Council of Tyler is excited about the results of their annual assessment by the Texas Workforce Commission they have just received. They exceeded state averages in every measurable category. The performance summary measures the success of each program by rates of student retention and student progress. They say they owe their success in large part to their volunteers and donors. Read the rest of this entry »
MARSHALL – The Marshall Police Department is very pleased with the results of its drug take back event last Saturday. They dropped off 6 boxes, 116 lbs, of unused and expired medications at the DEA office Monday morning. They still have their permanent dropbox located in the lobby of the police department. They say it is available 24/7.
TYLER – The Smith County Sheriff’s Department is seeking the public’s help in locating a fugitive. April Nicole Moore is wanted for burglary with intent to commit assault and interference with emergency request for assistance. If you know where she can be found, you are asked to call detective Josh Hill at 903-566-6600.
LONGVIEW – A Gilmer police officer is free on bond after being charged with driving while intoxicated. Arrested in Longview around 2:15 Sunday morning was Cody Davidson, 24. He first was stopped for a traffic violation. When the officer smelled alcohol, a sobriety test was administered. Gilmer police have started an internal investigation and Davidson has been placed on administrative leave.
TYLER – North American Midway Entertainment, which has its corporate headquarters in Farmland, Indiana, has signed a three-year contract to continue to be the Midway provider for the East Texas State Fair in Tyler. The company describes itself as “the world’s largest traveling outdoor amusement park.” Danny Huston, owner of North American Midway Entertainment, said they bring “40 rides and tons of games and food to the East Texas State Fair.