Today is
Thursday June 04, 2026
TYLER – The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) confirmed there is no state-mandated deadline for removing campaign signs from roadsides following an election. The agency oversees signage within its highway jurisdiction but primarily focuses on placement rather than duration.
While the state agency does not enforce timing restrictions, officials noted that local governments may have their own specific requirements. Cities and counties retain the authority to set individual rules and time limits on how long political advertisements may remain in public view. Regulations on the duration of political displays vary by local municipality.
All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KETK. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat information into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KETK staff before being published.
LUFKIN, Texas (KETK) — A man injured in a stabbing in a Lufkin parking lot Sunday evening led to the arrest of one, Lufkin city officials said.
Lufkin police responded around 5:30 p.m. to a report of a stabbing in the 4500 block of South Melford Drive. Officers found the victim, a 32-year-old man, with a wound to his upper back and a woman applying pressure to the injury. Police assisted until emergency medical services arrived.
Surveillance footage from nearby stores showed the victim and a another man, identified as 30-year-old Justin William Benton, preparing to fight. Benton appeared to cut the victim in the back before leaving the scene.
Benton was arrested and booked into Angelina County Jail for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He was released on Monday after posting bail.
SMITH COUNTY — Crews are responding to a three-vehicle crash on Highway 110 South at Toll 49 in Whitehouse Wednesday morning. Smith County officials say the Texas Department of Public Safety is investigating the crash, which was reported at 11:17 a.m. Fire crews and EMS are on scene, and traffic is being affected. Injuries have been confirmed.
More details will be provided as they become available.
RUSK COUNTY– Two people are dead, and one child is currently in critical condition following a single-vehicle crash in Rusk County over the weekend. According to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and our news partner KETK, following an initial investigation, officials believe the vehicle was traveling north on the 7400 block of State Highway 323 and attempted to pass another vehicle in a no-passing zone. The driver, later identified as River Burks, lost control of the car and hit a tree.
Following the crash, Burks and a two-year-old child were pronounced dead on the scene, while a six-year-old in the car was airlifted to a hospital in Shreveport and is currently in critical condition.
The crash is being investigated by DPS, and no further information is available at this time.
Programming Note: KTBB will have live state and local election night returns beginning at 7:00 p.m. tonight. Coverage will be available on 97.5 FM and 600 AM, as well as here on our website via the “Listen Live” link and via our free mobile app for Apple and Android.
WHITEHOUSE – The security research firm Safewise has ranked the city of Whitehouse as the 6th safest city in the state for 2026. According to our news partner KETK, Safewise has tracked a decline in violent crime in the city of Whitehouse over the past four years, along with a two-year decline in property crime. According to Safewise, the violent crime rate has fallen from 1.6 violent crimes per 1000 Whitehouse residents in 2024 to 0.6 violent crimes per 1000 residents in 2026.
“In Whitehouse, violent crime has decreased for the last four years in a row, and property crime has declined for the past two years,” Safewise said. “This has resulted in a 65% decrease in violent crime and a 74% decrease in property crime.”
This decline has secured Whitehouse’s spot as Safewise’s 6th safest city in Texas. The ranking prompted the city to thank the community for helping to keep the area safe. Smith County has also seen a decline in reported crimes, with the county’s reported crime rate falling 3.75% between 2024 and 2025. Read the rest of this entry »
TYLER – East Texas lawmakers are chiming in as tensions escalate in Iran following Saturday’s unprecedented attacks by United States forces. Congressman Nathaniel Moran fully throws his support behind President Donald Trump following this weekend’s missile strikes against Iran, which killed their supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and 40 of their top officials. It became a huge blow to the nation and marks a shift in power since the regime took over in the late 1970s.
“This is a national security interest matter for the United States long term,” Moran said.
As tensions rise overseas, the congressman’s attention turns to our troops’ safety and the safety of residents on U.S. soil.
“The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations is a big issue now, more than it was a couple of weeks ago,” Moran said. “When homeland security is heightened, that level of security is necessary.” Read the rest of this entry »
HENDERSON — The Henderson Police Department is seeking the public’s help in locating a man who has been missing for almost two weeks. Joseph Shelton, a 23-year-old man, was last seen on Feb. 14 in the area of Van Buren Street in Henderson. He is described by the police department as being approximately 5 foot, 8 inches tall and weighing 157 pounds.
Though there is no clothes description at this time, Shelton is believed to have a gaming system and a laptop, the police department said.
Anyone with information regarding Shelton’s whereabouts is urged to contact the Henderson Police Department by calling 903-657-3512.
LONGVIEW – Two former Longview ISD administrators were sentenced to 10 years of probation on Friday in connection to the abuse of Longview ISD special education students in the 2021-2022 school year. Cassandra Renee James and Linda Kaye Brown Lister were both found guilty of injury to a child by a Gregg County jury on Friday. James and Lister were two of six women arrested in 2022 after video of special education students being mistreated at J.L. Everhart Elementary School was shown to Longview ISD officials.
According to our news partner KETK, their indictments show that James and Lister were charged for “swinging a paddle toward and near the head” of a child and not voluntarily delivering them to an emergency infant care provider.
Longview ISD said James and Lister both resigned from their roles instead of being terminated after the video came to the district’s attention. Read the rest of this entry »
TYLER – The UT Tyler Police Department is currently investigating a sexual assault case that was reportedly committed in student housing by a person pretending to be a student. The case was reported to UT Tyler police on Wednesday but occurred in student housing between 9 p.m. and midnight on Tuesday. A UT Tyler notification said the suspect in the sexual assault is known to them. The suspect reportedly pretended to be a student associated with UT Tyler in an online chat group before meeting up with a female student at their dorm room, where they were sexually assaulted, according to UT Tyler PD.
UT Tyler PD detectives are actively investigating this case and temporary measures to improve campus safety have been put in place. Read the rest of this entry »
NACOGDOCHES – A Nacogdoches man has been indicted for sexual exploitation of a child and super aggravated sexual assault of a child after he was arrested last November in Baytown for creating explicit photos of minors he knew using artificial intelligence.
According to the Baytown Police Department and our news partner KETK, 34-year-old Kane Kellum was arrested on Nov. 28 after investigators learned that Kellum’s cellphone contained AI-generated explicit photos of known minors. After Kellum’s arrest, the FBI was notified of the case to permit further investigation and potential federal prosecution.
During a federal investigation, investigators stated Kellum had utilized artificial intelligence applications to create explicit images using photographs of a child he personally knew.
Following the federal investigation, Kellum was indicted on Wednesday for four counts related to child sexual abuse material and he was also charged with super aggravated sexual assault of a child based on information discovered during the investigation. Read the rest of this entry »
TYLER — James Dale Turner, a former Tyler Regions Bank employee, was arrested Monday for the second time after authorities discovered he stole more than $17,000 from the account of a woman who died in February 2025.
According to our news partner KETK, Turner was previously arrested Aug. 15, 2025, for exploiting a different elderly woman with dementia, allegedly stealing $3,812 from her account through cashier’s checks in May and June 2025. At the time, he was employed as a banker at the Tyler branch of Regions Bank and was terminated on July 25, 2025.
An affidavit shows Turner withdrew funds from the deceased woman’s account between October 2024 and May 2025, using cashier’s checks ranging from $500 to $2,000 per transaction, totaling $17,013. Read the rest of this entry »
HENDERSON– A wildfire in the Davy Crockett National Forest is reportedly 80 percent contained after it reached 500 acres on Tuesday. According to the National Forest and Grasslands in Texas, fire crews successfully used aircraft drones to bring the fire under control. Crews will continue to monitor the area to ensure the fire remains within established boundaries.
“We appreciate the continued support of our firefighters and partners working to keep the surrounding communities and public lands safe,” the National Forest and Grasslands in Texas said.
ATHENS — An East Texas man has been sentenced to life in prison after he was found guilty of sexual abuse against children and sexual assault of a minor. According to an indictment from the 173rd Judicial District and our news partner KETK, 35-year-old Ashton Todd Salsman was accused of committing two or more acts of sexual abuse against minors from 2023 to 2024.
On Tuesday, Salsman pleaded guilty to one count of continuous sexual abuse of a young child and one count of aggravated sexual assault against a child. Following his guilty plea, Salsman was sentenced by the 392nd District Court to life in prison.
TYLER – There’s a big addition to the site of the Smith County Courthouse construction project. A massive dome that will sit on top of the new Smith County Courthouse is being constructed onsite and is expected to be installed in late March or early April. Construction workers are pre-fabricating the dome in the old jury parking lot, which has been used as a laydown yard during the courthouse construction project.
The dome consists of several components, including a lower dome, 14-foot columns, an upper dome, and a 9-foot spire and will add nearly 60 feet of height to the building. The lower dome section weighs about 56,000 pounds, with the upper dome weighing an additional 16,000 pounds. Each will be lifted separately over a 2–3-day period and welded in their final resting place.
To safely complete this work, a 900-ton mobile crane — one of the largest cranes of its kind and configuration in the United States — will be utilized on site.
Also, a timeline was released Tuesday on construction progress. Phase 1 of the project was the Smith County Parking Garage, which was completed in November 2024. Phase 2 is the new courthouse construction, which is to be completed by the end of 2026. Phase 3 is the demolition of the current courthouse and adding a green space from the new courthouse to Broadway Avenue, will begin in January 2027, and is expected to be completed in the summer of 2027.