Today is
Wednesday April 02, 2025
McALLEN, Texas (AP) â Drenching rains along the Texas-Mexico border trapped hundreds of people in flooded homes and in cars stranded in high waters, scrambling rescue crews to calls for help that continued Friday even as the downpours let up. At least four people died, including some who drowned.
Officials warned that the devastation from the storms â which set records in parts of Texas’ low-lying Rio Grande Valley â was only starting to come into focus. In Mexico, hundreds sought temporary shelter, and videos on social media showed military personnel wading through chest-high waters.
On the U.S. side, officials said at least three people were killed in Hidalgo County, where officials said more than 21 inches (53 centimeters) of rain this week soaked the city of Harlingen. The region is rich with farmland, and Texas’ agriculture commissioner said the damage included significant losses to agriculture and livestock.
âThe bed is the only thing dry right now, because the sofas are soaked. Everything is soaked,â said Jionni Ochoa, 46, from his home in Palm Valley, near Harlingen. He and his wife were still waiting to be rescued Friday as the water inside reached their knees.
He said water started coming into their house the previous night and began pouring out of the electrical sockets. They turned off the power and tried to save as much as they could.
âThings I stacked up, the rain, the water made it float, and it knocked it down. So everything got messed up, everything got ruined,â Ochoa said.
Hidalgo County officials said in a statement that they did not immediately have more information about the three deaths except that they involved law enforcement efforts. The Mexican state of Tamaulipas reported that an 83-year-old man drowned in Reynosa, which is across the border from McAllen, Texas.
Earlier Friday, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that the driver of a vehicle suspected of taking part in migrant smuggling tried crossing a flooded roadway in Hidalgo County and plunged into a canal. The agency said the body of one person who drowned was recovered and another was missing. It was not immediately known if those were among the deaths reported by county officials.
In Alamo, a small Texas border city, crews responded to more than 100 water rescues, including people stranded in vehicles and trapped in homes, Fire Department Chief R.C. Flores said. Dozens more rescues were made in nearby Weslaco, which was inundated with about 14 inches (36 centimeters) of rain, according to Mayor Adrian Gonzalez.
âItâs a historic rainstorm, and itâs affecting all the Valley, not just Weslaco,â Gonzalez said.
Thousands of power outages were reported, and more than 20 school districts and college campuses canceled classes. Valley International Airport in Harlingen was closed Friday, and all flights were canceled.
Between 7 and 12 inches of rain (20 and 31 centimeters) fell in parts of northeastern Mexico, according to Tamaulipas authorities.
Luis Gerardo GonzĂĄlez de la Fuente, state coordinator of emergencies, said the most affected city was Reynosa but conditions were also dangerous in the border cities of Rio Bravo, Miguel Aleman and part of Matamoros, south of Brownsville, Texas.
Some 640 military personnel were deployed in the area. Authorities said electricity was being restored as water levels dropped but did not clarify how many people were still without this service.
In Texas, Emma Alaniz was resigned to not being able to leave her home in a colonia, which is an unincorporated neighborhood usually located in a rural area of a county with underdeveloped infrastructure. She described her home as being on âan island.â
âFor today, I wonât be able to go anywhere, because I donât have a big vehicle,” she said. “I have a small car, and I wonât be able to take it out to the flooded street.”
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Lozano reported from Houston. Associated Press writer Alfredo Peña in Ciudad Victoria, Mexico, contributed.
TYLER â According to our news partner KETK, a man reportedly called 911 on early Thursday morning after reportedly attempting to rob a Tyler dealership but was unable to leave after sustaining injuries. The Tyler Police Department received a call at around 3:45 a.m. from a man who had broken into the Patterson Dodge dealership.
Officials later identified the man as Jeremiah Megallon. Megallon was taken to a local hospital and later transported to the Smith County Jail, where he was arrested for burglary of a building.
âHe said he had broken into the Patterson Dodge dealership in an attempt to steal a car but was unable to get out of the building,â Erbaugh said. âHe had cuts from breaking a window at the dealership and crawling through it.â
TYLER â Tyler ISD has confirmed that three former district employees have been arrested for allegedly injuring a student with disabilities. In a statement issued to our news partner KETK, Tyler ISD said the three employees were arrested and fired after an investigation into allegations of injury to a child, elderly individual or disabled individual.
The districtâs superintendent Dr. Marty Crawford called the actions of the former employees unacceptable.
âWe believe in being transparent with our community while respecting the legal process and student privacy. This situation involved a student with disabilities, and while it did not include sexual acts or severe bodily harm, we take any breach of student safety with the utmost seriousness. As soon as these allegations were brought to our attention, the district took immediate actionâlaunching an internal investigation, notifying Child Protective Services as required by state law, and fully cooperating with law enforcement. These individuals are no longer employed by the district.â
Tyler ISD
HAWKINS – An individual has been placed under arrest after one person was found dead in Hawkins on Friday, according to our news partner KETK.
After receiving a call regarding gunshots on Friday, Hawkins PD responded to the 100 block of N. Beaulah Street where a body was discovered. A suspect is now in custody and officials believe there is no threat to the public. Hawkins PD is not providing any further details at this time. The Texas Rangers have been contacted for assistance with the investigation.
Currently, the Hawkins Police Department consists of one police officer. Back in February, the departmentâs other three officers were fired by the Mayor of Hawkins Debbie Rushing, after she claims they were not hired appropriately.
TYLER â Our news partner KETK is reporting that State Senator Bryan Hughes, from Mineola, is leading the anti-abortion charge by filing Senate Bill 31, the Life of the Mother Act.
âThis bill is to look at our pro-life laws and make the language even clearer, so thereâs no question, no excuse when a mom presents with a medical emergency, she gets treated,â State Senator Bryan Hughes said.
In 2022, Texas passed an abortion law authored by an East Texas lawmaker. Over the last few years, doctors and women have expressed concerns and confusion on whatâs actually included in the ban, and what the exceptions are. On Thursday, three pro-life bills were heard by the State Affairs Committee, which Hughes chairs. Lawmakers are hearing testimony from people for and against the bills. Hughes also filed Senate Bill 2880, the Women and Child Protection Act, which would try to hold people who send abortion pills to women in Texas accountable. He added that Texas is the first state to take the senders of these pills on through legislation. Read the rest of this entry »
GUN BARREL CITY â According to our news partner KETK, the motive has been revealed in the case of a Mabank man, John Clague, accused of killing his sister. The Henderson County Sheriff’s Dept. is reporting that that Clague had been hysterical after the victim reportedly took $1,500 and 4 ounces of marijuana.
On Monday at around 3:26 p.m., the sheriffâs office dispatch center received a call that John Clague had shot his sister, Samantha Moore, in the chest. When deputies arrived, they saw a woman applying pressure to the victimâs chest, who was lying on the front porch of Clagueâs residence near Bonita Point outside of Gun Barrel City. Deputies at the scene said they could not find a pulse on the victim and that Clague had fled the scene with the firearm reportedly used to shoot his sister. A witness told officials that Clague had been hysterical after the victim reportedly took $1,500 and 4 ounces of marijuana. Read the rest of this entry »
ANGELINA COUNTY â According to our news partner KETK, an East Texas man has been charged with murder in connection to a missing persons case. Officials said he admitted to killing one of the men by striking the victim in the head and then strangling him.
The Angelina County Justice of the Peace Precinct 1âs Office, the Angelina County Sheriffâs Office and the Lufkin Police Department began working on the missing persons case on Jan. 31, and began the search for Robert Saxton, 79, and Michael Allen, 44. In the next two months, an extensive investigation led to the Texas Rangers being called in to assist. John Wayne McCroskey, became a person of interest after officials learned he lived on the property at Saxton Auto Sales, where both victims had been reported missing.
Witnesses placed McCroskey with Saxton on Jan. 27 at around 9:30 a.m. in Saxtonâs lime green vehicle. Surveillance video from a Lufkin motel confirmed that Saxton and McCroskey were together earlier that morning. Read the rest of this entry »
NEW YORK (AP) â A U.S. airman has been charged with coercing a 9-year-old girl to share sexually explicit images of herself, after he posed as a 13-year-old on the gaming site Roblox.
David Ibarra, 31, was arraigned Wednesday in a New York federal court after being arrested in February in Anchorage, Alaska, where he was serving on active duty in the Air Force, prosecutors said in a statement.
A judge ordered him to be held pending trial on charges including sexual exploitation of a child. Ibarra’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ibarra was serving as an air transportation specialist Senior Airmen, which mainly manage cargo, according to an Air Force spokesperson.
Prosecutors say the girl, who lives on Long Island, a suburban region east of New York City, met the man on TikTok in August and he asked her to communicate with him on Roblox, telling her he was a 13-year-old boy living in Texas.
He allegedly got the girl to text him from her phone and eventually directed her to create explicit videos and images, while sending her money via Apple Pay.
Ibarra paid her $191 in a series of 17 transactions, prosecutors allege.
The girl’s mother eventually became aware of the messages. Posing as an older sister, she garnered more information about the sender by texting him from her own phone, and he ultimately sent her a selfie revealing part of his face, according to the indictment.
Investigators used Ibarra’s El Paso, Texas-based phone number and searched his iCloud account to confirm his identity, according to prosecutors.
Under interrogation the 31-year-old allegedly admitted to paying the girl for the images, saying he thought the victim was 12. Prosecutors say he acknowledged coercing other girls into sending explicit images as well, including one in New Jersey.
Ibarra has been âin an unpaid statusâ since his arrest, Air Force spokesperson Erin Eaton said via email. It is not clear what other military discipline he could face.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) â A federal judge on Wednesday found the extreme heat in Texas prisons is âplainly unconstitutional,â but declined to order the state to immediately start installing air conditioning, which could cost billions.
The judge affirmed claims brought by advocates of people incarcerated in the state, where summer heat routinely soars above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius). But they will have to continue pressing their lawsuit later in a trial.
The lawsuit was initially filed in 2023 by Bernie Tiede, the former mortician serving a life sentence whose murder case inspired the movie âBernie.â Several prisonersâ rights groups then asked to join his legal fight and expand it.
The lawsuit argues the heat in the state facilities amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, and seeks to force the state to install air conditioning.
Jeff Edwards, lead attorney for prisoners and advocates, called the judgeâs order a victory, even if it didnât require an immediate fix.
âWe proved our case,â Edwards said. âThe court made it very clear what the state is doing is unconstitutional and endangering the lives of those they are supposed to be protecting … This is step one in changing the Texas prison system.â
Edwards said advocates will push for relief for prisoners as quickly as possible. âIâm regretful we canât protect them with temporary relief this summer, but we will move as fast as we can,â he said.
Texas has more than than 130,000 people serving time in prisons, more than any state in the U.S. Only about a third of roughly 100 prison units are fully air conditioned and the rest have either partial or no electrical cooling.
âThis case concerns the plainly unconstitutional treatment of some of the most vulnerable, marginalized members of our society,â U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman wrote in his ruling on a a temporary injunction request. âThe Court is of the view that excessive heat is likely serving as a form of unconstitutional punishment.â
But the judge said that ordering the state to spend âhundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars to install permanent air conditioning in every (prison),â could not be accomplished before it expired in 90 days.
It would take months to install temporary air conditioning, and could even delay a permanent solution, the judge wrote.
Pitman said he expects the case will proceed to trial, where advocates for prisoners can continue to argue their case.
He also issued a warning to the state that they will likely win at trial, and that the state could face an order to install air conditioning.
The judge also noted that the state Legislature, which is in session through May and writes the two-year state budget, is also considering bills that would require air conditioning to be installed in prisons.
But the Republican-majority Legislature has been hearing complaints about extreme heat in prisons for years and has not addressed the issue. In 2018, the state was ordered to install air conditioning at a unit for older prisoners and those that are medically vulnerable.
Officials at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
Texas is not alone in facing lawsuits over dangerously hot prisons. Cases also have been filed in Louisiana and New Mexico. One filed in July in Georgia alleged a man died in July 2023 after he was left in an outdoor cell for hours without water, shade or ice.
A November 2022 study by researchers at Brown, Boston and Harvard universities found that 13% â or 271 â of the deaths in Texas prisons without universal AC between 2001 and 2019 may be attributed to extreme heat. Prisoner advocates say those numbers are only likely to increase as the state faces more extreme weather and heat due to climate change.
Last year in a hearing, people who were formerly incarcerated testified about their experiences in hot prison buildings where they said temperatures reach above 120 degrees Fahrenheit (48.9 Celsius).
They testified some inmates would splash toilet water on themselves to cool off, fake suicide attempts to be moved to cooler medical areas, or even deliberately set fires so that guards would be forced to hose down cells.
âItâs sad it takes a federal court to come in and change things,â Edwards said Wednesday. âThis is not a Spanish galley in the 1600s, this is 2025.â
Texas Department of Criminal Justice Director Bryan Collier has acknowledged that heat was a factor in three deaths from multiple causes in 2023, and that prison staff and inmates sometimes fall ill from high temperatures.
But the state disputed the hundreds of deaths in recent years alleged by the prisoner advocates, and argues Texas has implemented effective heat mitigation measures, such as providing fans, towels and access to cooler ârespiteâ areas.
Collier also insisted he would like to have air conditioning installed across the prison system, but that state lawmakers have never agreed to spend enough money to do that.
LONGVIEW â According to our news partner KETK, a Longview nursing home employee was arrested on March 20 after she reportedly left a patient tied to the bed for more than five hours. According to an affidavit, Simone Monique Barnes, was charged with unlawful restraint after exposing the victim to substantial risk of serious injuries. The victim, who is 55-years-old, has a history of falling and is unable to care for herself independently, records indicate.
On March 11, the Medical Fraud Control Unit of the Texas Attorney Generalâs Office opened an investigation against Barnes. According to the affidavit, investigators learned that the victim was found tied to her bed at around 8:15 a.m. on March 6. Black leggings were tied to both of the victims legs, keeping her restrained to her bed, however officials said the victim did not sustain any injuries.
Once the patient was discovered, a manager was notified and took pictures of the victim in the restraints before releasing her. The manager then sent the pictures along with a written statement from the victim to investigators. Read the rest of this entry »
NACOGDOCHES COUNTY â Officials have located the body of a man they believe has been missing since January. This is the second body found as part of the missing persons investigation. According to our news partner KETK, the Lufkin Police Department discovered a body they believe to be Michael Allen in the 5900 block of Old Tyler Road in Nacogdoches County. Allenâs family has been notified, however, officials said the body has been sent for an autopsy to confirm the identity.
In February, officials said they found the body of another man, which they believe to be 79-year-old Robert Saxon, who was reported missing at the same time Allen was. The body was found in Sabine Parish, La. Despite it being more than a month since the first body was discovered, the Lufkin Police Department said they are still pending autopsy results to officially identify the body.
At this time, the Lufkin Police Department said John Wayne McCroskey is a suspect and is being questioned. He is being held in the Angelina County Jail on unrelated charges.
AUSTIN (ABC) – The measles outbreak in western Texas is continuing to grow with 18 cases confirmed over the last five days, bringing the total to 327 cases, according to new data published Tuesday.
Nearly all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or in individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). At least 40 people have been hospitalized so far.
Just two cases have occurred in people fully vaccinated with the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine, according to the data.
In the Texas outbreak, children and teenagers between ages 5 and 17 make up the majority of cases at 140, followed by children ages 4 and under accounting for 105 cases, according to the data.
“Due to the highly contagious nature of this disease, additional cases are likely to occur in the outbreak area and the surrounding communities. DSHS is working with local health departments to investigate the outbreak,” the department said in a press release.
It comes as another case of measles was confirmed in New Mexico, bringing the total to 43, according to data from the state Department of Health. The majority of cases are in Lea County, which borders Gaines County — the epicenter of the outbreak in Texas.
Additionally, two cases of measles were confirmed in Erie County, Pennsylvania, on Monday. A media release from the Erie County Department of Health said the cases were linked to international travel and there is not a high risk of exposure for the general population.
Two likely measles deaths have been reported so far in the U.S. The first was an unvaccinated school-aged child in Texas, according to the DSHS. The child did not have any known underlying conditions, according to the department.
The Texas death was the first measles death recorded in the U.S. in a decade, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A possible second measles death was recorded after an unvaccinated New Mexico resident tested positive for the virus following their death. The New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) said the official cause of death is still under investigation.
The CDC has confirmed 378 measles cases this year in at least 17 states: Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont and Washington. This is likely an undercount due to delays in states reporting cases to the federal health agency.
The majority of nationally confirmed cases, about 95%, are in people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown, the CDC said. Of those cases, 3% are among those who received just one dose of the MMR inoculation and 2% are among those who received the required two doses, according to the CDC.
The CDC currently recommends that people receive two vaccine doses, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective, the CDC says. Most vaccinated adults don’t need a booster.
For those living in the outbreak area, Texas health officials are recommending that parents consider an early dose of the MMR vaccine for children between 6 months and 11 months, and that adults receive a second MMR dose if they only received one in the past.
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COLLEGE STATION (AP) – A drag show scheduled for this week at Texas A&M University can go on as scheduled despite a Board of Regents ban on such performances, a federal judge ruled Monday.
The ruling from Houston-based U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal blocked a university ban on drag performances on free speech grounds.
âTo ban the performance from taking place on campus because it offends some members of the campus community is precisely what the First Amendment prohibits,â Rosenthal, who was nominated to the bench by the late President George H.W. Bush, said in her opinion.
The ruling blocks the ban while the broader legal case over it moves forward. The decision echoes others in recent years from the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to let Florida enforce a statewide ban, and district courts in a Montana, Tennessee and Texas.
Texas A&M has become a flashpoint in the most recent chapter of the legal battle.
Two years ago, the president of West Texas A&M in Canyon, said a drag show scheduled for that campus could not move ahead. In response to a legal challenge, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk said the university could block the show, finding it contained âsexualized contentâ and could be more regulated than other forms of speech.
The U.S. Supreme Court last year declined to take the case when the student group behind it appealed.
This time around, the backdrop is different. The Board of Regents passed a policy banning drag shows across the university system on Feb. 28, after tickets had already been sold to the âDraggielandâ show on the flagship campus in College Station. The show has been an annual event there since 2020.
In the first two years, the university supported it financially. But in recent years, the student group Texas A&M Queer Empowerment Council has been responsible for all the funding.
The university argued that allowing the show could jeopardize federal funding for the university in light of President Donald Trump’s executive order barring federal money to support what he calls â gender ideology.â It noted how funds were cut off from Columbia University.
The judge decided that allowing the event does not imply that the university endorses it. By allowing it, she said, the university could comply with the “constitutional obligation to allow different messages and viewpoints, including those viewed as offensive to some, to be expressed at a university that is committed to critical thought about a wide range of conflicting and divergent viewpoints and ideologies.â
A university spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) â One stateâs effort to exempt young school-aged children from vaccines appears to have stalled as states contend with a burgeoning measles outbreak. In January, West Virginia Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey issued an executive order allowing families to apply for religious exemptions to mandated childhood vaccinations. A measure that would have enshrined that order into law sailed through the state Senate last month, but on Monday the state House of Delegates rejected a bill that would have dismantled what is broadly considered by medical experts to be among the most protective school immunization policies in the country.
West Virginia is currently one of a tiny minority of U.S. states that only exempts students from being vaccinated if doing so poses a medical problem for them.
The bill rejected Monday proposed allowing private and religious schools to decide whether or not to accept religious exemptions from students’ families, whereas the Senate version of the bill would have required the schools to accept religious exemptions. Public schools would have been required to accept the exemptions under both versions.
The state Senate also voted in favor allowing families to opt out of vaccination for philosophical reasons, a justification the House measure didnât include. West Virginia’s vaccine battle is surging to the forefront of state legislative issues as measles outbreaks in West Texas and New Mexico have surpassed a combined 350 cases, and at least two unvaccinated people have died from measles-related causes.
The West Virginia bill rejected by lawmakers Monday also would have changed the process for families seeking medical exemptions by allowing a childâs health care provider to submit testimony to a school that certain vaccines âare or may be detrimental to the childâs health or are not appropriate.â
Opposition forces surge
Those who opposed broadening West Virginia’s narrow vaccine exemptions said they were concerned about public health effects. Republican Delegate Keith Marple of Harrison County, 81, said he’s witnessed people disabled by polio and living on iron lungs.
Marple said he doesn’t want to see West Virginia children hurt and said it’s âessentialâ they continue receiving the required immunizations.
âI donât want that on my conscience,” he said, before voting no on the bill.
West Virginia does not currently have a state health officer, but the last three people to hold the position wrote a joint letter to lawmakers Friday asking them to vote ânoâ on the bill, which was rejected 56 to 42 on the House floor.
Morriseyâs communications director Alex Lanfranconi said debate had âsadly derailedâ since Morrisey put forward his proposal to provide a religious exemption to âunworkable, rigorous mandates.â
âWest Virginia remains an outlier by failing to provide these exemptions, aligning with liberal states like California and New York,â he said in a statement.
State praised for vaccine policy
A recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report on kindergarten vaccination exemptions cited the West Virginia as having the lowest exemption rate in the country, and the best vaccination rates for kids that age.
State law requires children to receive vaccines for chickenpox, hepatitis B, measles, meningitis, mumps, diphtheria, polio, rubella, tetanus and whooping cough before starting school. The state does not require COVID-19 vaccinations.
Last year, former governor and current U.S. Sen. Republican Jim Justice vetoed a less sweeping vaccination bill passed by the Republican supermajority Legislature that would have exempted private school and some nontraditional public school students from vaccination requirements.
At the time, Justice said he had to defer to the licensed medical professionals who âoverwhelminglyâ spoke out in opposition to the legislation.
Religious freedom
Morrisey, who previously served as West Virginiaâs attorney general, said he believes religious exemptions for vaccinations should already be permitted in West Virginia under a 2023 state law called the Equal Protection for Religion Act.
The law stipulates that the government canât âsubstantially burdenâ someoneâs constitutional right to freedom of religion unless it can prove there is a âcompelling interestâ to restrict that right.
Morrisey said that law hasnât âbeen fully and properly enforcedâ since it passed. He urged the Legislature to help him codify the religious vaccination exemptions into law.
After the bill failed Monday, Democratic Delegate Mike Pushkin called on lawmakers to reach out to Morrisey and “ask him to rescind his dangerous executive order on childhood immunizations.â
U.S. kindergarten vaccination rates dipped in 2023 and the proportion of children with exemptions rose to an all-time high, according to federal data posted in October.
SMITH COUNTY â A Smith County couple has been arrested after a 9-year-old girl accused her stepfather of sexually assaulting her, according to our news partner KETK. The Smith County Sheriffâs Office became aware of the case on March 12 after a CPS worker reported a 9-year-old girl was reportedly being touched inappropriately by her stepfather, Damian Francisco.
The incidents were reported to have occurred in the familyâs home in Tyler. The CPS worker was alerted to the case after the victim, records indicate, told teachers at her school that her stepfather had touched her inappropriately.
Following the report, the victim was taken to the Childrenâs Advocacy Center (CAC) where a forensic interview was conducted. The affidavit stated that the victim cried for the first portion of the interview and claimed that her mother told her that it was her fault they had to do the interview. The victim said the mother threatened she and her siblings may not see her again. Read the rest of this entry »