Today is
Wednesday June 10, 2026
PALESTINE – The Palestine Police Department said that a third person was arrested on Saturday after officers responded to reports of shots fired on Wednesday night near Spring Street and West Oak Street. According to our news Partner KETK, Detective J. Waldon and Officer L. Medina spoke with a witness who said he heard around eight or nine shots from two guns coming from a residence on West Debard Street. Waldon and Medina arrived at the residence and reportedly found several people “who appeared to be intoxicated†with two vehicles playing loud music. They spoke with a man near one of the vehicles who was allegedly to identify himself and asked the officers to leave. Officers said they decided to arrest him when he continued to not identify himself.
The man reportedly resisted arrest and began “using force†against Medina. The man’s spouse then reportedly got between Medina and her husband to prevent his arrest. Read the rest of this entry »
PANOLA COUNTY – Our news partner KETK is reporting that one person has died after a two-vehicle rollover crash happened on US Highway 59 South in Panola County on Friday. Details about the rollover crash are limited but the sheriff’s office said that the highway had to be shutdown for a medical helicopter to land. According to the sheriff’s office, one person received fatal injuries in the crash and the Precinct 2 Justice of the Peace has been contacted for an inquest. Troopers, sheriff’s office deputies, the Precinct 2 constable, Gary Volunteer Fire Department and UT Health EMS all responded to the crash.
GROVETON — According to our news partner KETK, a Groveton ISD employee has been arrested after allegedly altering education records without authorization, affecting the top 10% class ranking. According to an affidavit, Breanna Faye Abshier, 35, was arrested and charged with tampering with a government record. Abshier reportedly changed student grade point averages and class rankings. Authorities said though her job duties as a registrar did authorize her to make grade changes within the system she reportedly made over 145 changes without the teacher’s authorization beginning in the 2021-2022 school year. By doing so, Abshier tampered with student class averages, affecting their semester average bumping down students from the top 10% ranking.
Groveton ISD said Abshier’s employment was terminated and the school has cooperated with law enforcement. The district said they have started an investigation of potentially affected records for all students grades 6-12. Read the rest of this entry »
WILLS POINT – The Wills Point Police Department said a criminal investigation led to the arrest of one of their officers on Wednesday evening. According to our news partner KETK, Wills Point PD received a complaint of a physical disturbance in Wills Point. The police department said an investigation uncovered that an off-duty Wills Point PD officer, identified as Christopher Tomlin, was involved in a physical disturbance with a direct family member. As a result, the Van Zandt County Criminal Investigation Unit was asked to conduct an outside criminal investigation into Tomlin. Wills Point PD also conducted an internal affairs investigation. The Police department said that Tomlin was terminated effective immediately on Wednesday. “Upon conducting [and] completing the internal affairs investigation, it was found that Officer Christopher Tomlin had violated multiple department policies,†Wills Point PD said.
The Van Zandt County Sheriff’s Office reportedly completed their criminal investigation into Tomlin and has charged him with continuous violence against the family. Tomlin is booked into the Van Zandt County Jail.
SMITH COUNTY — According to our news partner KETK, David Stein, the current county chair for the Smith County Republican Party, announced his bid for vice chair of the Republican Party of Texas on Monday. During the March primaries, Stein won 66% of the votes or 14,703 votes. After being reelected, he is serving as the county chair for the third time. In a release, Stein said he has been a conservative Republican for his entire adult life and supports the core principles of the party including being pro-life, pro second amendment, pro-military, traditional families and individual liberties.
Stein said due to limited funds, the lack of staff or plan for election integrity efforts, no get-out-to-vote initiative amongst other issues is why there needs to more training for county parties and county chairs. The chairman said he looks forward to interacting with all leaders over the next 11 weeks.
“We cannot continue to take actions that further divide our party instead of trying to find that common ground, which most importantly is getting Republicans such as Donald Trump for President and Ted Cruz for Senate, elected in November General elections,†Stein said.
Due to these concerns, Stein announced his candidacy for Vice Chair of The Republican Party of Texas. The seat is currently held by Dana Myers who recently announced her bid for the Texas Republican Party Chair. Stein said if elected, he would be honored to serve with her.
“I’m asking you to support me in this effort, I’m asking you to believe this is good for our state party,†Stein said.
TYLER – The Texas Health and Human Services Commission said that a data breach might have exposed personal information about 3,392 people in or near Tyler, Texarkana, Longview, Marshall, Beaumont and Nacogdoches. Our news partner KETK reports that on Jan. 11, the HHSC said it discovered that a staff member had allegedly emailed spreadsheets containing full names, home addresses and telephone numbers, health information, services, financial information, Medicaid identification numbers and an individual’s Social Security number to their personal email. These emails were sent between September and October of 2023 and the HHSC said they only determined what the emails contained on Feb. 2 of 2024.
The HHSC said that they’ve already contacted those affected to provide them with one year of free credit monitoring, in order to keep their credit safe from any misuse of their information.
Read the rest of this entry »
MARSHALL – The Harrison County Sheriff’s Office said three people were arrested on Friday after they discovered methamphetamine, marijuana and Diazepam (Valium) during a search of a residence. According to our news partner KETK, a search warrant was ordered after an investigation revealed methamphetamine was being sold from a residence on Walnut Street in Marshall. Decorian Kashun Stewart, 25, Savion Dashawn Hicks, 21, and Taylor Roshelle Dotie, 22, all of Marshall, were located in the residence by the Harrison County Emergency Response Team (ERT), the sheriff’s office said. Stewart allegedly tried to flush methamphetamine in the toilet when the ERT entered the home, the release said.
Stewart and Dotie were charged with possession of a controlled substance. Dotie and Hicks were both charged with possession of marijuana and Stewart was also charged with tampering with evidence.
According to the release, the drug charges were enhanced because of Drug-Free-Zone violations since the residence is within 1,000 feet of East Texas Baptist University. They are currently booked at the Harrison County Jail. Read the rest of this entry »
TYLER – According to our news partner KETK, the son of two elected Smith County officials was sentenced to 30 days in the Smith County Jail on Friday after being convicted of misdemeanor interfering with public duties. Derek Phillips, 37, was initially arrested on the charge in March 2023 alongside his mother, Smith County Clerk Karen Phillips, after an incident where authorities said the two tried to interfere with a traffic stop involving Derek’s friend. Bodycam footage from the incident showed a long dispute before the arrests, and in June, both Phillips sued Smith County alleging multiple violations of their Constitutional rights related to the incident. Both were indicted for interfering with public duties in November, and the trial for Derek began on Wednesday where he was convicted. Karen’s trial is currently scheduled for March 20.
Derek’s older brother Lance Phillips, 40, also has a trial date set for April 24 for a misdemeanor charge related to an incident on Jan. 2 where he was taken into custody for disrupting a Smith County Commissioners Court meeting where his father, Terry Phillips, currently sits as Precinct 3 Commissioner.
HARRISON COUNTY – The Harrison County Sheriff’s Office said an Alabama man was arrested on Thursday for breaking into a house and drinking two beers while at the residence. Our news partner KETK is reporting that Alex Ortiz, 29 of Horton, was detained after a caller reported a man had broken into their home. Ortiz reportedly admitted he drank two beers and threw a hammer at a window.
“Before he left, he became angry from things that happened in his past. Once he thought about it, he decided to throw a hammer through the window and departed the location,†the sheriff’s office said. Ortiz was taken to the main Harrison County Jail and was charged with burglary of habitation.
PALESTINE – A man was arrested for burglary after police say he broke into a local Family Dollar and took an ice cream bar. According to our news partner KETK, on Wednesday at 7:46 a.m., Palestine police officers were called to the Family Dollar at 317 E. Spring Street. They were advised the suspect had kicked in the door and made entry, and he was described as wearing a red shirt and blue shorts. The officers saw broken glass at the door and cleared the building before finding the suspect had left through the back door. That Family Dollar was reportedly set to open at 8 a.m., just 15 minutes after the reported break-in. Kilgore was booked into the Anderson County Jail for burglary of a building.
A person was found in the Kroger parking lot that matched the suspect’s description. Officers saw 25-year-old Rhett Kilgore of Buffalo, Texas. “Officers observed Kilgore to have a fresh cut on his right ankle from the sharp glass and to be eating an ice cream bar that had the same wrapper as the ice cream sold at the business,†police said. “When questioned about the burglary, Kilgore made the statement, ‘I got tired of waiting for the business to open.’â€
When officers checked security footage, they reportedly saw Kilgore attempting to enter by “pushing a shopping cart into the glass door and breaking the glass.â€
TRINITY COUNTY – Our news partner KETK reports that a man has been sentenced to 28 years in prison for a home invasion from 2021. Rojae Daejon Kizzee, 21, was found guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for entering an occupied home in an attempted robbery, Sheriff Woody Wallace said. Wallace said Kizzee fired a handgun at a woman caring for her 2-year-old in the home and demanded she hand over the family dog. A fight ensued over the gun after the woman caused Kizzee to drop it. Reportedly, Kizzee regained control of the gun and fired it again before escaping. “Kizzee was on the run for several days before being captured after a manhunt with multiple agencies involved,†Wallace said.
The 21-year-old was identified in a lineup and it was confirmed through DNA evidence on the scene. “After meeting with and discussing the details of the crime with the victim in this matter and discussing with her the potential outcomes of this matter I am satisfied with the court’s sentence,†District Attorney Bennie Schiro said.
PALESTINE – According to our news partner KETK, the Palestine Police Department has released the cause of death of Trenton Lee Staneart who was found dead on Jan. 28. According to the release, a final autopsy report shows that Staneart’s cause of death was drowning and the manner of death was accidental. Police said the toxicology results showed that he had used marijuana prior to his death. Police said there was no evidence of foul play.
Trenton Lee Staneart was last seen leaving the sheriff’s office at 4:44 p.m. on Jan. 20 and was found dead in a creek in the woods off of East Lacy Street just after 11 a.m. on Jan. 28. Detectives reportedly identified Staneart and Anderson County Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace James Todd ordered an autopsy after responding to the scene.
TEXARKANA – Our news partner KETK is reporting that a 17-year-old boy is dead after a Sunday night shooting in Texarkana. Officials with Texarkana police said they were called to an apartment in the 1000 block of College Drive around 1:30 a.m. where they found the victim inside. A 16-year-old was arrested and taken to a juvenile detention facility, according to authorities. The incident remains under investigation, and officials said there are still a lot of questions about what happened.
“We believe that the two boys were friends,†officials said. “The gun that we recovered at the scene had previously been reported stolen in Hope, Arkansas. “However, regardless of the circumstances, the end result is both senseless and incredibly tragic,†officials said.
TYLER – According to our news partner KETK a Tyler man was booked into the Smith County Jail on Friday based on child sex crime warrants issued from Harris County. According to his affidavit, Reginald Long, 27, is accused of engaging in sexual conduct with a student while he was employed by a public and private secondary school. The affidavit said a report was initially made to the Houston Police Department after multiple students said he made inappropriate remarks to them on social media, mainly using Instagram. Arrest warrants were issued for Long on two charges of sexual assault of a child, improper relationship with a student and online solicitation of a minor. His bond has been set at $400,000.
The affidavit said that in an interview with authorities, Long reportedly confessed to having sex with one of his students and sending sexual messages through Instagram to several other students who also attended the school where he used to work.
Airdate: 02/25/24
Guests: Beth Godsey & Beth Hawthorn with East Texas Alzheimer’s Alliance