Today is
Thursday June 04, 2026
SMITH COUNTY – Records have revealed that a man was arrested in Smith County after he allegedly had sexual relationships with a 15-year-old girl and provided her with illegal drugs.
According to our news partner KETK and an arrest affidavit, the victim was found on Feb. 24 inside a vehicle in a parking garage in Tyler. After being found, the victim, who had run away from home, was returned to her grandmother by the Tyler Police Department. Following her return, officers with Tyler PD began an investigation after the victim had admitted to using illegal drugs and engaging in sexual intercourse inside a motel room with a man later identified as James Brummett.
While investigators spoke with the victim’s grandmother, she stated that while her granddaughter was missing, she received text messages starting on Feb. 22 from an unknown phone number that was later revealed to be Brummett’s. The texts were believed to have been sent from the victim, who had told her grandmother that she was safe and an hour away from Tyler in Canton, according to the affidavit.
On Feb. 26, detectives arrived at the Relax Inn in Smith County, which was the motel that they believed Brummett had taken the victim to. A motel employee told detectives that Brummett was still checked into a room and typically returned to the motel in the evening after work. The employee also provided officials with Brummett’s phone number and license plate. Read the rest of this entry »
TYLER – ‘Texas Original’ is opening a new medical marijuana pickup location in Tyler this week.
Texas Original, the state’s leading medical cannabis provider, opened their first East Texas store in Nacogdoches in 2022. The new Tyler pick-up site is open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesdays on 11980 State Highway 64. Medical marijuana can be used in Texas to treat 150 conditions. Some of those include: epilepsy, cancer, PTSD and Crohn’s Disease. East Texans can apply for the Compassionate Use Program, which was significantly expanded during the 2025 legislative session.
Thanks to House Bill 46, Texas Original is ready to grow and they’re opening a new pick-up site in Smith County near the Chapel hill area. The building is currently only used for pick-ups which are on Tuesdays since prescriptions have to be transported from their central facility in Austin ahead of time. Read the rest of this entry »
YANTIS – A man was arrested in Wood County on Sunday after metal weights were found in a bass he presented during the weigh in for the Lake Fork Lure Co. Tournament. According to the Texas Game Wardens, tournament organizers contacted game wardens in Wood County to investigate a bass that was flagged while being metal detected during Sunday’s weigh-in at the Caney Point Recreation Area on Lake Fork in Yantis.
According to our news partner KETK, after the alert for a foreign object was confirmed, game wardens conducted a necropsy on the fish and found three uneroded weights in the bass’ stomach. The same kind of weights were also found in the boat of the angler who allegedly submitted the bass for the weigh-in.
The angler was identified as, Curtis Lee Daniels of Willow Park. Daniels was arrested on Sunday and charged with violating fishing tournament law. He was booked into the Wood County Jail but was released on Monday after posting his $20,000 bond. Since the tournament had a $10,000 grand prize and more than $84,900 in hourly cash prizes, the charge against Daniels is a third-degree felony.
LONGVIEW – CHRISTUS Health Cancer Center in Longview, which is set to open later this year, named Steven J. DiBiase as its new medical director on Monday. DiBiase previously worked at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York as a senior academic and clinical leader. Earlier in his career, DiBiase was the chief of service and a member of the hospital’s executive committee at the Julia and Ned Arnold Center for Radiation Oncology.
In addition to serving as medical director, DiBiase will also lead the center’s expanding oncology program and serve as chief of radiation oncology. Throughout his career, DiBiase has contributed to cancer research with more than 40 peer-reviewed publications and presentations. DiBiase officially began his new role on Monday and will help guide the development of the Cancer Center before it opens this fall. Before the center is complete, DiBiase will see patients at the CHRISTUS Good Shepherd Northpark oncology clinic.
“Bringing Dr. DiBiase to our community represents a major step forward in local cancer care,” Reid Dollahite, vice president for physician practice operations, said. “Patients will benefit from his experience and his commitment to treating the whole person.”
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas judge on Wednesday ordered Camp Mystic to preserve damaged cabins and other parts of the grounds hit by last year’s catastrophic floods that swept away and killed 25 girls and two counselors.
The order follows a lawsuit by the family of 8-year-old Cile Steward, who was swept away in the flood last Fourth of July and whose body still has not been recovered. District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble ordered Camp Mystic to halt any construction or alterations after the family argued that any changes at the camp could destroy evidence needed for their lawsuit.
Gamble ruled that Camp Mystic’s owners must not alter or demolish the cabins where campers were housed during the floods, and said they must not use the portion of the camp closest to the Guadalupe River where those cabins were located.
“What we’re trying to do is preserve the evidence that’s there so that we can understand, so that future campers will never be put in a situation like this again,” Will Steward, Cile’s father, told reporters after the hearing.
The campers and counselors were killed when the fast-rising floodwaters roared through a low-lying area of the summer camp before dawn on the Fourth of July. All told, the destructive flooding killed at least 136 people, raising questions about how things went so terribly wrong.
The camp, established in 1926, did not evacuate and was hit hard when the river rose from 14 feet (4.2 meters) to 29.5 feet (9 meters) within 60 minutes.
“The worst thing you can do is put a bunch of 8-year-olds on a bus and try to drive them out of there. They all would have drowned,” said Mikal Watts, an attorney for Camp Mystic and its family of owners.
In a packed courtroom Wednesday, family members of the deceased girls wore buttons depicting their images as lawyers for Camp Mystic displayed pictures of trees planted in their memory and architectural renderings of plans to rebuild parts of the camp outside a 1,000-year flood zone.
Attorneys for Camp Mystic have expressed sympathy for the girls’ families but maintained there was little they could have done during the catastrophic flooding that quickly overcame the camp. Pictures of the rising floodwaters were shown in court Wednesday.
“Nobody had every seen a prior flood anything like we saw in 2025,” Watts said.
More than 850 campers have already signed up to attend camp this summer, he said. The camp still needs to be approved for a license by state regulators to operate this summer.
Edward Eastland, the son of camp owner Richard Eastland, who died in the flooding, testified Wednesday that his mother, his wife and their children as well as another staff member were at a camp house when “the double doors of the house broke open” from floodwaters. They had to break out a separate window to climb out and evacuate to higher ground. All survived.
The camp had security cameras around the campus, Eastland said, but no one was watching the live feed in the middle of the night as the waters rose. When he tried to pull it up about 3 a.m., he wasn’t able to.
And when pressed about the camp’s flood plans, Eastland said he didn’t know if there was anything more detailed than a one-paragraph slide shown in the hearing. Will and Cici Steward said they don’t believe the camp has adequate safety measures in place to welcome new campers while they still search for their daughter.
“They didn’t have a plan, and they don’t have a plan moving forward,” Cici Steward said.
The camp’s decision last year to partially open and to construct a memorial on the grounds drew outrage from many of the girls’ families who are mourning their loved ones and who said they weren’t consulted on the plans.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has asked Texas regulators not to renew the license for Camp Mystic while the deaths are being investigated and cited legislative probes that are expected to begin in the spring.
Families of several of the girls who died have sued the camp’s operators, arguing that camp officials failed to take necessary steps to protect the campers as life-threatening floodwaters approached.
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This story was first published on Mar. 4, 2026. It was updated on Mar. 8, 2026 to correct that the judge‘s order focused on directing Camp Mystic to not demolish or alter areas impacted by the flood and made no explicit ruling in the order over whether the camp can remain open.
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Murphy reported from Oklahoma City.
Travelers complained of long waits Sunday — lasting hours in some cases — at security checkpoints at airports in Houston and New Orleans, which officials blamed on a government shutdown of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The estimated wait time at the standard security checkpoint at the William P. Hobby Airport in Houston early Sunday evening was at one point three hours, according to the Houston Airports website. The Hobby airport on social media Friday said it expected more travelers than normal due to spring break.
In a series of posts Sunday, the airport on X went from urging travelers to arrive early to asking them to arrive 3 to 4 hours before their flights to eventually asking them to arrive 4 to 5 hours early to allow extra time for screening, citing the partial government shutdown.
A statement from Houston Airports, which counts Hobby and George Bush Intercontinental Airport as part of its system, said the shutdown “can impact security operations day-to-day and shift-to-shift.” Wait times at checkpoints at George Bush Intercontinental Airport early Sunday evening were as brief as a few minutes.
Posts on X from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport on Sunday said a shortage of TSA agents at the security checkpoint was leading to “longer-than-average” lines. The airport urged travelers to arrive at least three hours before their flights and said wait times could last up to two hours. It warned similar delays could continue through the coming week.
It’s not immediately clear if the delays in Houston and New Orleans were happening at other airports around the country. Sunday’s longer-than-usual wait times came on top of flight delays in recent days in places like Atlanta due to weather.
Agents with the U.S. Transportation Security Administration are expected to work without pay during the ongoing shutdown of the department, which began Feb. 14. Democratic lawmakers have said DHS won’t get funded until new restrictions are placed on federal immigration operations following the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this year.
Chris Sununu, president and CEO of Airlines for America, a trade group for U.S. airlines, in a statement urged Congress and the Trump administration to act.
“We are in spring break travel season and expecting record numbers of people to take to the skies. Airlines have done their part to prepare; now Congress and the administration must act with urgency to reach a deal that reopens DHS and ends this shutdown,” he said. “America’s transportation security workforce is too important to be used as political leverage.”
Jessica Andersen Alexie and her two children, 10 and 13, were among the travelers caught in the long lines at Hobby in Houston as they tried to return home to New Orleans. They had been in Houston for the World Baseball Classic.
Alexie said they arrived 3 hours early to find a long line and realized they would not make their flight. While in line, she checked rental cars to see if driving home might be an option but couldn’t find any available. She was able to rebook for a late-night flight and felt relieved to get through the CLEAR security line after about 3 1/2 hours.
When they finally sat down to eat, she decided to take another look at available flights, on the chance that others in line had to cancel and rearrange their plans, and found three seats on a flight that got her family home Sunday afternoon. When they landed at the New Orleans airport, the line extended out to the parking garage, she said.
“It was nuts,” she said. “It was crazy.”
GROVETON, Texas (KETK) – A man was arrested on Saturday morning after he was found in a vehicle with a minor near the Dollar Store in Groveton, according to the Trinity County Sheriff’s Office.
Nacogdoches County fugitive arrested after yearslong search
The sheriff’s office shared that a deputy was doing his routine patrol at around 4 a.m. on Saturday when he noticed a suspicious vehicle parked behind the Dollar Store in Groveton.
The deputy contacted the people inside the vehicle but could tell something was “not right” about the situation. According to the sheriff’s office, a 20-year-old man and a local minor were inside the vehicle behind the Dollar Store.
The sheriff’s office said they learned through an investigation that Oscar Venegas Torres, 20, had arranged online to meet with the local minor in person. Torres allegedly travelled from Houston to meet the minor in Groveton.
Torres was arrested and booked into the Trinity County Jail for online solicitation of a minor, according to Trinity County Jail records. The sheriff’s office added that they learned Torres is not a legal resident of the United States.
Trinity County Sheriff Woody Wallace said that more charges may be filed against Torres in this case and he urged parents to consider to the following suggestions:
“Know who your children are communicating with online.”
“Monitor social media and gaming platforms.”
“Know where your kids are going and who they are meeting.”
“Talk openly with your children about the dangers of meeting strangers from the internet.”
“The internet allows our kids to connect with friends and the world, but it also gives predators the ability to reach into our homes,” Wallace said. “Many predators use social media, gaming platforms, and messaging apps pretending to be someone younger or someone they are not.”
Wallace also asked anyone with information about this case to contact the sheriff’s office at 936-642-1424.
EAST TEXAS — An overnight storm brought damage and fallen trees to the area on Saturday and electric company crews are working to restore power to customers.
At least two people were injured after a tornado that swept through parts of Marion County early Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. The tornado touched down in the northern portion of the county, from around Berea Way to the latter part of Hall Road. At one property, the storm ripped the roof off a century-old home and shifted the structure off its foundation.
A seven-day disaster declaration is in effect for the county because of injuries and damage.
The Upshur Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation shared pictures of fallen trees and damaged power lines in the Hall area on social media. The cooperative encourages customers experiencing service issues or power outages to report it through the SmartHub app or by calling 903-680-2100.
SMITH COUNTY – Jury duty for March 9, 2026 has been canceled. If you received a summons to report to the Smith County Courthouse for jury duty Monday, you do not have to report!
POINT — The City of Point will no longer have a police department beginning Friday after city personnel said they’ve struggled to cover costs while facing a debt of up to $500,000.
According to our news partner KETK, Angela Nelson, the city’s mayor, stated it would not be meeting all of its current payroll obligations following the discovery of a “substantial financial shortfall.”
Payroll tax payments to the IRS were not made or were “sporadically” made throughout the last few years, causing the city to be under a formal investigation. The debt, including penalties and interest, exceeds over $300,000 and the IRS may seek to seize city owned vehicles and real property.
The city also owes more than $200,000, which includes $80,000 accrued during 2025, to the Texas Comptroller after a former city employee allegedly misappropriated funds by apparently moving them into the general funds in order to make a payroll. Read the rest of this entry »
KILGORE – Kilgore ISD shared on Friday that they will keep Lifetouch as their vendor for school photos despite allegations that one of their parent company’s executives was named in the Epstein files. Leon Black, the former CEO of Apollo Global Management, which acquired Shutterfly, the parent company of Lifetouch, was named in the recently released files on New York financier and child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
The United States Senate Committee on Finance has alleged that Black made payments totaling at least $158 million to Epstein for “purported tax and estate planning advice.” The committee also alleged that those funds were then used to finance Epstein’s child sex trafficking organization, according to our news partner KETK.
Kilgore ISD had partnered with Lifetouch to take their upcoming Spring student photos but postponed that partnership in February so they could review concerns about the company after the allegations came to light about Black and Epstein. Read the rest of this entry »
AUSTIN, Texas (The Texas Tribune) — Attorney General Ken Paxton said Thursday he would consider dropping out of the U.S. Senate race if Senate GOP leaders agreed to abolish the filibuster and pass a priority piece of legislation for President Donald Trump.
Paxton made the statement in a social media post that also criticized his opponent in Texas’ Senate Republican primary, incumbent John Cornyn, for being against scrapping the filibuster to pass the bill, known as the SAVE America ACT. It would require people to provide proof of citizenship when they register to vote and present photo identification at the polls, among other new election-related rules.
Cornyn is a supporter of the legislation, though he and other Senate Republicans have long bristled at talk of abolishing the filibuster. CNN reported last month that Cornyn would not say whether he backed ending the filibuster to pass the proposal.
Paxton’s offer to drop out appears designed to make a political point, more than anything else, by drawing attention to Cornyn’s reluctance to get rid of the filibuster. But it marks the first time he has raised the prospect of leaving the race amid intense lobbying by Senate GOP leaders for Trump to endorse Cornyn.
Paxton forced Cornyn into a runoff after Tuesday’s primary – and immediately set off a scramble to win the backing of Trump, who was neutral in the first round. Trump said Wednesday he would make an endorsement “soon” and would expect the candidate he did not endorse to drop out, citing “the good of the Party.”
Since then, Cornyn and his allies in Senate leadership have renewed their case to Trump that he should back the incumbent because he is more likely to win the general election than Paxton. Before his social media post about the SAVE America Act, Paxton had insisted he would not drop out even if Trump endorsed Cornyn.
“The people in Washington can have their own opinion,” Paxton told conservative personality Benny Johnson on Thursday. “The president can have his own opinion. But I’ve been in this race for almost a year, and we’re going to win this race in the runoff.”
Paxton’s defiance appeared to irk Trump, who told Politico in an interview Thursday, “That is bad for him. So maybe, maybe that leads me to go the other direction.” The public split was notable given Paxton’s long-running loyalty to the president, displayed most visibly when he waged an unsuccessful legal challenge to Trump’s 2020 election loss.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, has been skeptical of finding ways around the filibuster to pass the SAVE Act, let alone abolish it. But Trump has kept up the pressure.
“The Republicans MUST DO, with PASSION, and at the expense of everything else, THE SAVE AMERICA ACT – And not the watered down version,” Trump wrote Thursday on his Truth Social network. “This is a Country Defining fight for the Soul of our Nation!”
Disclosure: Politico has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
TYLER – U.S. Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas) released a statement on Thursday in support of President Trump after it was announced that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has been replaced. It was announced on Thursday afternoon that, after a little over a year as secretary of homeland security, Noem is being replaced by Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.). Noem will be transitioning to a new role as special envoy for “The Shield of Americas,” a new initiative that will focus on eliminating drug cartels from the country.
“I look forward to working with them closely to dismantle cartels that have poured drugs into our nation and killed our children and grandchildren,” Noem said Thursday.
Moran also praised Trump for the actions he and his administration have taken during his current term to limit drug trafficking from entering the country. Read the rest of this entry »
TYLER — A man who was arrested in early 2025 in connection to a Tyler apartment shooting that left a woman dead has been additionally charged with injury to a child by a grand jury on Feb. 26.
Jorian Jackson of Plano was arrested on Jan. 22, 2025, for allegedly murdering his ex-girlfriend, Cheyenne Russell, in a Tyler apartment shooting. According to our news partner KETK, on Jan. 6, 2025, two children found their mother’s body and alerted an adult after an apartment shooting on Bellwood Lake Road. Upon arrival, Tyler Police Department officers made contact with Russell’s roommate, who found her dead on a couch underneath a blanket with blood on her face.
According to arrest documents, Jackson was at the apartment that day to drop off some Christmas presents for a child of his and Russell’s. The roommate told officials that the victim and Jackson had a rough relationship. Read the rest of this entry »
BULLARD – East Texas drivers are feeling the pain at the pump in a place where fuel normally hovers around the two-dollar-a-gallon mark. The offensive launched against Iran happened just four days ago and drivers in Tyler are already feeling the effects. Zippy J’s on Old Bullard Road in Tyler had their regular gas priced at $2.44 a gallon last week. As of Wednesday, the price has jumped to $2.79.
Even though the U.S. doesn’t import oil from Iran, China and India and the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf to open waters, is blocked, that sends a ripple effect throughout the world, even on countries that don’t heavily rely on oil from the Middle East. Read the rest of this entry »