Today is
Thursday June 04, 2026
LONGVIEW – UPDATE: Just days after the crash that killed a Longview teacher and a nurse practitioner, Joel Mack’s final act of generosity is unfolding: in less than 24 hours, his organs will be donated to save others.
Newly released details from the Texas Department of Public Safety shed light on the U.S. Highway 259 crash that killed a Longview nurse practitioner and a Longview ISD teacher last weekend. Our news partners at KETK report that the collision occurred at around 3 a.m. on Sunday in the Diana area, involving Longview ISD teacher Kimberly Law and Hospitality Health ER nurse practitioner Joel Mack, DPS confirmed.
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RUSK – Missing 57-year-old David Blount’s brother, Billy Blount, shared a letter on Friday calling for action and stating that the City of Rusk has “failed his brother, his family, and every resident who expects transparency.” The open letter arrived in the KETK newsroom on Friday afternoon, calling for accountability from those investigating his brother’s Dec. 2 disappearance.
“We have watched in disbelief as the City of Rusk turned what should have been a straightforward investigation into a masterclass in stonewalling and self-preservation,” David’s brother Billy said. “Thank God for the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department and the Texas Rangers who stepped up in our family’s time of desperate need.”
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EAST TEXAS — Over 60 East Texas cities are on a statewide list as the AG’s office checks compliance with rules tied to property tax increases. The investigation was launched by Attorney General Ken Paxton earlier this month, claiming that many cities are not complying with Senate Bill 1851, which requires them to complete and publicly post annual financial audits before increasing property taxes.
Due to possible violations of SB 1851, Paxton is demanding documents from over 1,000 cities across the state to ensure they are complying with audit and transparency requirements before raising taxes. The Office of the Attorney General said the review does not target cities for raising taxes, but instead aims to ensure compliance with audit and transparency requirements.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The Artemis II astronauts who ignited a lunar renaissance gave high marks Thursday to their moonship, especially the heat shield, for its performance during reentry.
In their first news conference since returning to Earth, the three Americans and one Canadian said their lunar flyby puts NASA in a much better position for a moon landing by a crew in two years and an eventual moon base. They spoke from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, their home base.
Commander Reid Wiseman later told The Associated Press that he’s been so busy since getting back that he hasn’t had time to gaze up at the moon, let alone Carroll Crater, the name suggested by the crew for a bright lunar crater in honor of his late wife. They shared two daughters whose anxieties and fears over their father’s journey ended with his safe splashdown late last week.
“Being 252,000 miles away from home was the most majestic, gorgeous thing that human eyes will ever witness,” he said in an interview with the AP. But hurtling back through the atmosphere at 39 times the speed of sound, “that is scary and that is risky.” That’s why he yearned for home midway through his flight. “You just want to hold your kids and you just want them to know that you’re safe.”
Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen launched to the moon from Florida on April 1, NASA’s first lunar crew in more than a half-century and by far the most diverse.
They became the most distant travelers ever — breaking Apollo 13’s record — as they whipped around the lunar far side, illuminated enough to reveal features never viewed before by the human eye. The sight of a total lunar eclipse added to the wonderment.
Their Orion capsule, which they named Integrity, parachuted into the Pacific last Friday to close out the nearly 10-day voyage. Artemis II’s Houston homecoming the next day coincided with the 56th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 13.
Wiseman said he and Glover “maybe saw two moments of a touch of char loss” to the heat shield as Integrity plunged through the fastest, hottest part of reentry. Once aboard the recovery ship, they peered at the bottom of the capsule as best they could, leaning over to view any signs of damage. They spotted a little loss of charred material on the shoulder, where the heat shield meets the capsule.
“For four humans just looking at the heat shield, it looked wonderful to us. It looked great, and that ride in was really amazing,” Wiseman said.
He cautioned that detailed analyses still need to be conducted. “We are going to fine-tooth comb every single, not even every molecule, probably every atom on this heat shield,” he said.
The heat shield on the first Artemis test flight in 2022 — with no one aboard — came back so pockmarked and gouged that it pushed Artemis II back by months if not years. Instead of redoing it, NASA opted to change the capsule’s entry path to minimize heating. Future capsules will sport a new design.
As the parachutes released right before splashdown, Glover said he felt like he was in freefall — like diving backward off a skyscraper. “That’s what it felt like for five seconds,” he said, adding when the ride smoothed out: “It was glorious.”
Since their return, the four astronauts have endured round after round of medical testing to check their balance, vision, muscle strength and coordination, and overall health. They even put on spacewalking suits for exercises under conditions simulating the moon’s one-sixth gravity of Earth to see how much endurance and dexterity future moonwalkers might have upon lunar touchdown.
NASA already is working on Artemis III, the next step in its grand moon base-building plans. The platform from which the rocket launches headed back Thursday to Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building, where it will be prepped for next year’s Artemis launch.
Still awaiting an assigned crew, Artemis III will remain in orbit around Earth as astronauts practice docking their Orion capsule with one or two lunar landers in development by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.
Artemis IV will follow in 2028 under NASA’s latest schedule, with two astronauts landing near the moon’s south pole.
NASA is aiming for a sustainable moon presence this time around. During the Apollo moonshots, astronauts kept their visits short. Twelve astronauts explored the lunar surface, beginning with Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969 and ending with Apollo 17’s Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt in 1972.
Koch said that since returning, she and her crewmates are “feeling even more excited and just ready to take that on as an agency.”
“We made it happen,” she added.
Everyone will need to accept extra risk to achieve all this and trust that any future problems can be figured out in real time, Hansen noted. “We’re not going to be able to pound everything flat before we go. We’re going to have to trust each other,” he said.
While everything went smoothly for them, “it was also very clear to us that it can get pretty bumpy,” he said. Future crews will have to “understand it can get real bumpy real fast.”
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
PALESTINE — A Palestine man is facing a third-degree felony after allegedly stealing several horses from a Montague County livestock auction earlier this year. According to the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association and our news partner KETK, the investigation began in January after Jordan Rivera, 18, purchased four horses from an online auction using PayPal to complete the purchase.
Rivera reportedly disputed the purchase charges after the horses had been released, and an investigation was opened. A special ranger obtained evidence and witness statements indicating Rivera’s involvement, including text messages to associates about the horses and his PayPal account.
After a warrant was issued out of Montague County, Rivera was arrested in Anderson County on April 9 for livestock theft. Rivera was released on April 10 after posting his $75,000 bond.
KILGORE — Kilgore College is one step closer to naming its next president, as two finalists are to meet with students, staff and the public during a series of forums this week, according to our news partner KETK.
Dr. Staci Martin, the college’s interim president, spoke during a public forum Wednesday morning, outlining her leadership philosophy and vision for the campus. The second finalist, Dr. Tracee Watts, is scheduled to meet the public during forums on Thursday, with the first session beginning at 10 a.m. The search follows the retirement of former president Dr. Kay, after which Martin stepped in as interim president.
College officials say the forums are designed to give the community an opportunity to interact with each candidate and provide feedback before a final decision is made.
POLK COUNTY, Texas (KETK)— An East Texas man was rearrested after being taken into custody and released on bond last week for possession of child pornography.
According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, 47-year-old Jose Sanchez was initially arrested on April 8 after he was found to be in possession of child pornography obtained from the internet. Following the arrest, Sanchez was charged with five counts of possession of child pornography and was released on bond the following day.
On Wednesday, Sanchez was rearrested from his home in Polk County after investigators processed the evidence collected during the initial search of his home and issued five additional warrants against him for possession of child pornography.
Sanchez is currently being held at the Polk County Jail, awaiting a judge’s review of his new charges. According to authorities, the case remains open and additional charges may still be filed.
AUSTIN (AP) — The medical officer for the Texas summer camp where 27 girls were killed in a flood last year testified Tuesday she still has not officially reported the deaths to the state health agency that regulates camps and is reviewing its application to reopen this summer.
Mary Liz Eastland, a member of the family that owns and operates Camp Mystic, was questioned in a legal fight between the camp operators and families of victims who have filed lawsuits and want the camp to preserve damaged areas as evidence. The hearing over the past two days has produced the most extensive details from camp operators of what happened in the July 4 predawn flood on the Guadalupe River, and the delayed decisions to evacuate until it was too late.
While the deaths of 25 campers and two teenage counselors at the all-girls Christian camp have been widely reported and are not in question, the Texas administrative code requires camps to report deaths to state health regulators within 24 hours.
“I did not think of this requirement in the moments happening after the flood,” Eastland said, adding she also had not done so leading up to camp’s March 31 application to reopen.
Eastland could not recall exactly when she learned campers had died, saying it could have been a day, or several days, after the flood. Richard Eastland, her father-in-law, also was killed.
When pressed if she should formally report the deaths now with the camp license pending, Mary Liz Eastland said, “I guess so.”
It was unclear if the failure to report would affect the camp’s license application. A copy of the camp’s application includes lists of camp officers and flood plain maps. Operators are also required to submit a detailed safety plan, but that is shielded from public view.
State regulators will visit the camp during the license review. The agency has also said it is reviewing hundreds of complaints filed against the camp and has invited the Texas Rangers investigative unit to help. State lawmakers also are conducting a seperate investigation of the flood.
“DSHS will consider any findings from the inspection and investigation when making the determination on the renewal application,” the agency said Tuesday.
The camp’s plan to reopen part of the campus this summer and host nearly 900 girls has outraged families of the girls killed. The family of 8-year-old Cile Steward, the only camper still missing, filed the lawsuit that prompted this week’s hearing.
The Steward family has said the camp should not be allowed to reopen under the continued leadership of the Eastland family. Separately, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has said no license should be issued until all the investigations are complete.
Mary Liz Eastland’s testimony came after her husband Edward Eastland spent hours under questioning Monday and Tuesday about missed weather warnings, the delayed decision to evacuate, and desperate attempts to save children as the water ripped through the camp with enough force to create rapids that swirled around the cabins.
He tearfully described grabbing two girls and another who jumped on his back before they were all washed away.
“A genuine hero testified today,” said Mikal Watts, one of the attorneys for the Eastlands. “He told a gripping story of saving lives in an unprecedented tsunami. I am proud to represent Edward Eastland and his family.”
Mary Liz Eastland recounted her steps that night when she and her children left their house to join her mother-in-law. She described water pouring into the house and breaking a window to escape. The family was able to get to higher ground.
She also described what she saw at sunrise when she went toward the river bank, “seeing girls in trees.” She and other staff gathered survivors for a head count, checking names against cabin rosters.
“I had to figure out who we had and didn’t have at that point,” she said.
But she also acknowledged never trying to get to the low-lying areas to evacuate campers in the early moments of the storm, saying she could not pass through the rising floodwaters. She was also pressed as to why, as the camp’s chief medical officer, did she not try to call or alert other medical staff to get to the campers before disaster struck.
Steward family attorney Christina Yarnell noted Eastland had been at Camp Mystic as a camper, counselor or staff member since 2002.
“You knew the property. You knew the flood lines. You knew access points,” Yarnell said. “Your children knew them. These were first-year campers … Cile needed your help and you abandoned her, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” Eastland said.
TYLER — Members of Indivisible Smith County and the East Texas Organizing Coalition rallied outside Congressman Nathaniel Moran’s office Tuesday, demanding he back a War Powers Resolution to halt what they called an unauthorized march toward conflict with Iran. The demonstration came after Moran publicly criticized President Donald Trump’s threat to destroy “an entire civilization.”
On our weekly In Focus program, Moran said while he backed efforts tied to U.S. national security, including targeting Iran’s nuclear capabilities, he believes certain language being used goes too far. “Certainly, I do not agree with and do not support the notion of destroying a civilization,” Moran said. “That goes beyond where we need to go as a nation.”
The protesting organization is urging the congressman to invoke a War Powers Resolution, which would check the president’s authority to engage the nation in armed conflict without Congressional approval. Read the rest of this entry »
HENDERSON — One East Texan just got a million dollars richer, claiming the top prize ticket of a Texas Lottery scratch ticket game. According to the Texas Lottery, an anonymous Henderson resident claimed the winning ticket of the Million Dollar Loteria game purchased at Green Top C Store at 1203 Kilgore Drive.
The store is eligible for a $10,000 bonus under the Texas Lottery’s Retailer Bonus program. The claimed prize was the sixth of 10 top prizes worth $1 million, Texas Lottery said.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The director of the Texas summer camp where 27 campers and counselors were killed by a devastating flood in 2025 testified Monday he did not see official warnings issued the day before the storm hit, that staff had no meetings about the pending danger and that they did not make the call to evacuate until it was too late.
Over several hours of sometimes emotional testimony at a court hearing packed with families of campers who were killed, Edward Eastland provided the most detailed description yet of how camp staff did or didn’t respond as floodwaters along the Guadalupe River quickly rose to historic levels, trapping children and counselors in cabins before they were swept away in the early morning dark of July Fourth.
“I wish we never had camp that summer,” Eastland said near the end of his testimony. He acknowledged lives could have been saved if camp staff acted sooner, but insisted they could not have anticipated the severity of the storm.
This week’s hearing comes during a legal battle between the camp owners and victims’ families who have filed multiple lawsuits and the families’ demands to preserve the damage at the camp site as evidence.
And it comes as Camp Mystic plans to reopen in less than two months. The camp has applied with state regulators to renew its license so that it can open an elevated area that did not flood. Camp operators have said nearly 900 girls have registered to attend.
Eastland acknowledged the camp had no detailed written flood evacuation plan. He also said more campers would have survived if he and his father, camp co-owner Richard Eastland, as well as a camp safety director had made quicker decisions to evacuate.
By the time they did, the waters were so high and so fast they were producing rapids that swirled around some cabins, he said.
Eastland also acknowledged staff didn’t use simple measures like using campus loudspeakers to tell campers and counselors to leave their cabins and get to higher ground earlier in the storm.
Cici Steward, whose 8-year-old daughter Cile is the only camp victim still missing, said after the testimony the state should deny the camp’s license.
“It is so clear they are incapable of keeping children safe,” Cici Steward said.
Eastland attorney Mikal Watts declined comment immediately after the hearing.
Missed warnings and missed chances to evacuate
Eastland said he and other staff were signed up for an emergency warning system on their phones and used other weather apps. But he said he did not see flood watch social media posts by the National Weather Service and the Texas Department of Emergency Management on July 2 and 3.
Eastland said he thought the local “CodeRED” mobile phone alert system and phone weather apps staff had at the time “was enough.”
A July 3 National Weather Service alert asked area broadcasters to note that locally heavy rainfall could cause flash flooding in rivers, creeks, streams and low-lying areas, all features of the Camp Mystic property.
Eastland said that his father typically monitored weather issues and that he did not believe camp staff held a meeting about the alerts and warnings that day.
The storms would hit in the overnight hours, killing 25 campers, two teenage counselors and Richard Eastland, who had loaded up his large SUV with campers before the vehicle was swept away. None survived.
“We did not expect what was going to happen,” Edward Eastland said.
“You were warned,” said Brad Beckworth, an attorney representing the Steward family.
Eastland says campus loudspeakers were not used to issue a weather warning
The courtroom heard part of a video of “Taps” played over loudspeakers when the campers went to bed at around 10 p.m. July 3.
Eastland said he went to bed about 11 p.m. and never received a National Weather Service flash flood warning at 1:14 a.m.. He said he slept through a CodeRED alert text at the same time that warned of a flood event that could last several hours.
His father called him on a walkie-talkie shortly before 2 a.m. to tell him about hard rain falling and the need to move canoes and water equipment off the riverfront. They did not move to evacuate cabins at that point.
“It was not reasonable to do that at that time,” Eastland said. “The water wasn’t out of the Guadalupe River. It was pouring down rain and lightning and the cabins were safe at that time.”
Richard Eastland made the call to evacuate cabins about 3 a.m., Edward Eastland said.
Lawyers for the families introduced a signed statement from a counselor who described the horror of the night. She woke up during the storm and could see girls running for shelter.
“The water was rising faster than anything I have ever witnessed,” the counselor wrote. She said Edward Eastland eventually approached the cabin in knee-deep water, told her it was too late to leave and they should ride out the storm there.
The counselor said she tried to keep the children out of the rising water pouring in before she was eventually swept away herself.
Eastland also tearfully described trying to grab two girls and a third who jumped on his back while he stood bracing himself in a cabin doorway before they were washed away. He and a counselor eventually were pushed into a tree.
“The water was over my head very quickly. The water was churning,” Eastland said.
At one point, several family members left the courtroom during a cellphone video taken the night of the flood. Someone could be heard yelling “Help!” in the background.
Flooding killed at least 136 people along the Guadalupe River
All told, the destructive flooding killed at least 136 people along a several-mile stretch of the river, raising questions about how things went so terribly wrong.
Texas health regulators said last week they are investigating hundreds of complaints filed against the camp owners. The Texas Rangers are also helping look into allegations of neglect, according to the Texas Department of Safety, although the scope of the state’s elite investigations unit was not immediately clear.
The hearing is scheduled to continue Tuesday.
ATHENS – Athens City Council has hit the pause button regarding potential zoning changes around a data center. Data Center developer Data Factory has leased land in the city. Their website says they plan to open with 10 megawatts of power this year, along with bitcoin mining operations.
Dozens of citizens showed up to Monday night’s city council meeting, with many waiting outside the council chambers. Every resident who spoke in the public comment session of the meeting spoke against the data center. Athens City Council members were set to vote on several potential zoning changes, including codifying what is classified as a data center. Officials say previous zoning laws did not account for this project.
Right now, it’s unclear how much water the center would use. City council unanimously voted to table all zoning items related to the data center. Officials plan to review and research those changes.
TYLER — What began as public backlash over library leadership has now escalated into a federal lawsuit, with former director Ashley Taylor accusing the City of Tyler of violating her constitutional rights and bowing to outside political influence. In the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas last week, Taylor claims she was retaliated against for protected speech and targeted by false attacks from an outside advocacy group. She argues city officials violated her First Amendment rights and allowed Grassroots America – We the People (GRA) to interfere with her employment through what she describes as defamatory public campaigns.
Taylor alleges in the lawsuit the following legal violations: first amendment retaliation, viewpoint discrimination, tortious interference with existing employment relationship.
Count 1: First Amendment Retaliation
The complaint alleges that as director, Taylor’s work involved protected expressive activity such as curation, programming and signage. Yet, the lawsuit claims the GRA launched a multi-year pressure campaign against the library and Taylor. Read the rest of this entry »
LUFKIN, Texas (KETK) – A Huntington man was sentenced to a total of 110 years in prison on Thursday after he was found guilty of sexually abusing three young children over a span of several years.
According to a statement from Angelina County District Attorney Amy Wren and our news partner KETK, the first two victims in this case where helped by another child to tell their mother and their aunt about inappropriate behavior from Andrew Jacob Shortt, 30 of Huntington, in the year 2012.
“The victims were instructed by their mother not to tell their father and also, that ‘what happens between these four white walls, stays between these four white walls’. Shortt then
moved into the victims’ home and began sexually abusing them more frequently, perpetrating acts that constituted aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child on a regular basis,” Wren’s statement explained.
Three years later in 2015, the victims were able to report Shortt’s abuse of them to their father and the Angelina County Sheriff’s Office. Shortt was arrested that summer but the charges were dropped in 2016 after the victims’ family intervened. Read the rest of this entry »
KEMP, Texas (KETK) – The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office said three people were arrested on Friday after an illegal game room was searched in Kemp.
According to the sheriff’s office, deputies executed a search warrant at “The Box” game room on N. Seven Points Boulevard in Kemp at around 12 p.m. on Friday.
“This operation is part of the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office’s ongoing commitment to investigate and prevent illegal gaming activity within the county,” the sheriff’s office said in a post.
Alisha Norris, 43 of Gun Barrel City, was arrested at the scene and charged with gambling promotion, keeping a gambling place, possession of gambling device, equipment, or paraphernalia and engaging in organized criminal activity. Henderson County Jail records show that Norris is currently being held on a total bond of $42,500.
Later, Gayla Stanley, 64 of Gun Barrel City, and Rad Quarrington, 62 of Mabank, were also both arrested and charged with gambling promotion, keeping a gambling place, possession of gambling device, equipment, or paraphernalia and engaging in organized criminal activity.
Stanley’s being held in the Henderson County Jail on a total bond of $80,000. Quarrington’s bond has not been set and he remains in the Henderson County Jail.