Today is
Wednesday June 03, 2026
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX Starship launches are on hold pending an investigation into last week’s test flight.
The Federal Aviation Administration announced Wednesday that the hourlong spaceflight resulted in a mishap based on the performance of the mega rocket’s first-stage booster.
Minutes after Starship blasted off from Texas on Friday, the booster separated as normal but engines conked out as it made its way back to Earth. Instead of a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, the booster came in hard. There were no reports of injury or property damage, according to the FAA, which will oversee the company’s investigation.
The spacecraft continued around the world, releasing 20 mock satellites before ending the mission as planned with a fiery splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
The 407-foot (124-meter) rocket is SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s biggest and most powerful Starship yet, designed to carry crews to Mars. NASA is looking for it to land astronauts on the moon as soon as 2028 and help build a lunar base.
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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.
HOUSTON (AP) — Texas Democrat James Talarico launched his general election campaign for the U.S. Senate Wednesday by framing his Republican opponent, state Attorney General Ken Paxton, as part of a corrupt political establishment that uses power to serve itself rather than the people.
Talarico has given Democrats their best chance in years of winning a Senate race in Texas and has boosted their still-uphill chances of retaking the majority in the U.S. Senate in November. Talarico, a former middle school teacher and a state lawmaker from Austin, laid out a clear strategy for the months ahead: Litigating Paxton’s scandals to a weary electorate.
“Ken Paxton is the most corrupt politician in America,” Talarico told a crowd of about 1,000 supporters who packed a dance club in downtown Houston. “He has failed the character test. He has put his own interests above the laws of Texas. Those are not my words, those are the words of Ken Paxton’s fellow Republicans.”
He also sought to tie what he called the “rot” at the heart of the nation’s political system to the everyday problems faced by many voters, driving home the concerns over rising costs that have been part of Democrats’ wider messaging strategy for this year’s midterm elections.
“In America, we have an affordability crisis because we have a corruption crisis,” Talarico told the crowd.
Talarico’s messaging is tougher than in the primary
It was a stark pivot from the more sunny, spiritual theme of Talarico’s Democratic primary campaign. Now, he’s leaning into the same arguments against Paxton that Republican Senate leaders feared would make the attorney general a weaker candidate than Sen. John Cornyn, who Paxton beat in Tuesday’s Republican runoff.
The diverse crowd in Houston held signs emblazoned with “Talarico,” but with a new twist. On the flipside was the campaign’s new theme: “THE PEOPLE vs. KEN PAXTON.”
Phrased like a court case aimed at the state’s chief law enforcement officer, the theme was launched on the day that also marked the third anniversary of Paxton’s impeachment on allegations he used his office to benefit a wealthy political donor.
Paxton was acquitted on all 20 articles of impeachment, which has emboldened him and fueled his supporters. Many of them have long held that he and President Donald Trump, who endorsed him, have been victims of political persecution.
But the message seemed to resonate with many at Talarico’s rally.
Monique Green, a retired elementary school teacher from Houston, said the most important part of the “The People vs. Ken Paxton” sign she clutched to her chest while standing in line to meet Talarico were its first two words.
“It’s a declaration that it’s about us,” she said. “We are the ones, all of us, what we can definitely do together. And he inspires us to act. He doesn’t just talk — he believes.”
Campaign aides said Talarico had raised $600,000 in small, on-line donations within two hours of Paxton’s win in the Republican Texas runoff Tuesday, the most lucrative two hours for his campaign since he announced he was running in September 2025.
Turning personal attacks into campaign slogans
One of the first speakers at the rally was the Democratic state representative who co-led Paxton’s impeachment, Ann Johnson, alongside a Republican lawmaker.
Talarico emphasized that the impeachment over corruption allegations was brought by the Republican majority in the Texas statehouse, Paxton’s own party. After his rally, he said he is making the campaign about Paxton’s record because “he has escaped accountability for years.”
Paxton’s campaign declined to comment. But after Talarico finished speaking, Paxton posted a link to his campaign’s donation page on the social platform X with a personal attack on his opponent: “James Talarico and his big vegan allies have raised a fortune trying to stop the America First agenda. I need your help!” he wrote.
It echoed a line from Paxton after his runoff victory on Tuesday, and Talarico had a response ready for his supporters at the Houston rally: “I’ve been eating barbecue since before Ken Paxton’s first indictment,” he said.
The vegan jab is part of Paxton’s attempt to seek out what he considers weak points in Talarico’s campaign, including past statements in which Talarico said God is nonbinary and that there were six biological sexes. And in a strategy reminiscent of Trump, Paxton also has been testing nicknames for his opponent.
They included “TalaFreako,” which Talarico turned to his advantage Wednesday night. He told his supporters they could go to his campaign website and buy T-shirts stamped with the new nickname.
In an interview with CBS News ahead of Wednesday’s rally, Talarico responded to the claims about his beliefs on gender, saying that what he means is that “God cannot be defined by human categories” and there were “two sexes, men and women.”
“I also know there’s a very small percentage of people who have these chromosomal abnormalities, and I believe that they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect,” he said.
HENDERSON COUNTY — Deputies discovered burned human remains in a backyard barrel after a neighbor reported a strange odor, launching an investigation into a violent dispute between a Henderson County father and son. According to our news partner KETk and the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office, on Monday, May 11, at around 8 p.m., officers were dispatched after a neighbor reported a strong, unusual odor and believed a body might be inside a burn barrel.
When deputies arrived, they found a brown barrel lying on its side containing burned human remains. Deputies searched the residence and located an individual in one of the bedrooms who said he did not know about the incident. The neighbors who contacted law enforcement told deputies that Johnny, the father, and Ronny Medford, his son, had been fighting the previous day and into the early morning hours of May 11. Ronny was later seen leaving the residence that morning, and Johnny had not been seen since. The reporting party also said Johnny had come to her home several times seeking help, fearing that Ronny would hurt or kill him. Read the rest of this entry »
MOUNT PLEASANT, Texas (KETK) — A former East Texas coach has been arrested after allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in February after driving her home.
According to an arrest affidavit from Titus County, a woman went to the Mount Pleasant Police Department late on Feb. 15 asking to speak privately with an officer. She reported that on Feb. 13 she had been drinking at an unknown residence and that Antione Javon Ross had been asked to take her home.
At about 12:29 a.m., the woman’s mother received a call from a friend saying the woman had been crying and claimed Ross had sexually assaulted her.
Hopkins County man arrested after allegedly stealing mower, power tools
The victim told police she does not remember going home and only recalls waking up and telling Ross to “get off her” before he left. She went to the emergency room for a SANE exam before speaking with officers.
Detectives later went to Mount Pleasant ISD and confirmed Ross was a junior high coach. When they approached him in the parking lot, Ross reportedly said, “I kinda know what you’re talking about,” according to the affidavit. He told detectives he had already spoken with his lawyer and would not answer questions.
Investigators obtained the woman’s SANE kit and related paperwork, which they said provided enough probable cause to charge Ross with sexual assault. Ross was arrested on April 29 and released in early May on a $100,000 bond.
TYLER — As the heat starts to settle in and children’s schedules free up for the summer, several youth camps are opening up their doors and stretching out their hammocks in the Piney Wood’s forests for the upcoming season. For 14 camps in East Texas, however, state approval hasn’t come through yet, leaving cabins empty and lake fun at a standstill.
According to our news partner KETK, as of May 22, 16 of 30 East Texas summer camps that have applied for licensing have been approved by the state, according to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services. The new licensing regulations result from Gov. Greg Abbott’s signing of several bills, including Heaven’s 27 Camp Safety Act, which enhances safety measures for summer camps after the tragic floods at Camp Mystic last summer. Under the bills, state officials require camps to comply with new safety measures, such as installing and maintaining emergency systems, to be eligible for licensing and operation. Read the rest of this entry »
PLANO, Texas (AP) — Texans are choosing a Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Tuesday’s runoff election, bringing to a close the extended, bitter and expensive primary where President Donald Trump weighed in late to tip the race in another effort to rid the GOP of leaders less devoted to him.
Trump’s endorsement of state Attorney General Ken Paxton over four-term Sen. John Cornyn gives the challenger a late boost and puts Cornyn at risk of becoming the first Republican senator in Texas history to seek the party’s nod and lose.
That’s despite Cornyn’s campaign and allied groups spending roughly $90 million in advertising since last year, the vast majority of it attacking Paxton.
It’s the latest GOP contest where Trump has sought to punish a Republican he sees as insufficiently loyal. This month, he has successfully backed challengers to incumbents in Louisiana, Kentucky and Indiana, a sign of his enduring influence among primary voters.
Paxton’s campaign and a pro-Paxton super PAC began airing ads promoting the endorsement within 24 hours of Trump’s announcement. Cornyn acknowledged Trump’s move would have an impact but said he wasn’t giving up.
“I know who gets to choose our senators, and it’s the people of Texas,” he said hours after the endorsement.
The winner will run in November against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico.
Tuesday’s runoffs also will decide Democratic U.S. House nominees for districts in Dallas and Houston that overwhelmingly support Democrats, and a San Antonio-area seat the party hopes to flip.
The primary has been long, bitter and costly
Cornyn led Paxton in the March primary but failed to win a majority in the three-way contest that also included U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, who finished in a distant third.
That was after Cornyn’s campaign and allied groups waged a monthslong ad campaign, mostly attacking Paxton for ethical and personal questions. The two-term attorney general was acquitted in a 2023 impeachment trial when allegations of extramarital affairs surfaced. Last year, Paxton’s wife filed for divorce, citing “biblical grounds.”
The alliance of pro-Cornyn groups have continued its attack, outspending Paxton’s campaign and two allied super PACs $16.5 million to $5.9 million since March 3, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.
Trump promised to endorse immediately after the primary, asking the unchosen candidate to withdraw. But he didn’t act until after early voting began on May 18.
“Ken Paxton has gone through a lot, in many cases, very unfairly, but he is a Fighter, and knows how to win,” Trump wrote in a social media post endorsing him. “Our Country needs Fighters, and also Loyalty to the Cause of Greatness.”
Pro-Cornyn groups lately have been airing ads criticizing the attorney general office’s handling of a Waco sex abuse case. Pro-Paxton groups had seized on Cornyn’s awkward relationship with Trump.
Trump snubs Cornyn amid retribution campaign
The negative tenor could diminish turnout in an election already complicated by coming a day after Memorial Day, Texas Republican strategist Tyler Norris said. About 2 million of Texas’ 18.7 million voters participated in the GOP primary.
The dynamic could favor Paxton, whose support draws from more of the most loyal Trump base in Texas, said Norris, who isn’t affiliated with either campaign.
“The defining battle lines are based around hyper-negative messaging, which dampens turnout to begin with,” he said. “So who is going to show up is the hardest of the hard core.”
Trump in his endorsement also poked at Cornyn, as he has done with other Republicans who are not in lockstep with the president.
He blasted Republican Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy as “a Disloyal Disaster” on May 16, before Cassidy lost a GOP primary for the office he has held since 2015. The two-term senator had voted to convict Trump after his 2021 impeachment trial over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump backed U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, who advanced to a runoff with John Fleming, the state treasurer. Cassidy finished well behind them.
Last week, Trump celebrated as Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, a critic of the Trump administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, lost his primary to Ed Gallrein. Trump called Massie “the worst congressman in the history of our country.”
In endorsing Paxton, Trump said Cornyn “was not supportive of me when times were tough” and that “John was very late in backing me.”
Cornyn suggested in 2023 that Trump could not win the presidency again in 2024 and that his “time has passed him by.” He also was an early critic of Trump’s plan for a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico — a project he now supports.
Senate GOP leaders backed Cornyn, saying he would be stronger in the general election. Some GOP strategists have argued a Paxton nomination would cost millions of dollars more to promote in the fall, when money could be spent defending Republican seats in more competitive states. Democrats need to gain a net of four seats to take the majority.
Democrats also will choose US House nominees
Newly elected Rep. Christian Menefee and veteran Rep. Al Green are vying for the party nod in Texas’ 18th District, which the Republican-led Texas Legislature redrew last year to help the GOP. The new map led to a contest between incumbents and marks the end of a dizzying series of elections in the Houston area. Menefee was elected in a special runoff in January to the seat that had been held by the late Rep. Sylvester Turner, who died in March 2025.
Menefee finished narrowly ahead of Green in the March 3 primary but didn’t win a majority to avoid the runoff.
Former Rep. Colin Allred and U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson are competing in the Dallas-area 33rd District. Johnson was elected to the seat in 2024, the year Allred lost his U.S. Senate challenge to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. Allred was running for Senate again this cycle but dropped his bid and instead is looking to return to the House.
Near San Antonio, Democratic leaders are trying to prevent Maureen Galindo, who has expressed antisemitic views, from winning the party’s runoff with Johnny Garcia. While Texas lawmakers redrew the 35th District to help Republicans, Democrats view it as within reach and don’t want Galindo’s past comments to impede them.
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Bedayn reported from Austin, Texas.
GUN BARREL CITY – Firefighters and and Gun Barrel City Police Department officers were sent out to Tom Finely Park on Cedar Creek Lake at around 1:34 p.m. on Monday after a swimmer was reportedly injured in the water. According to Gun Barrel City Fire Department and our news partner KETK, officers found the swimmer in shallow water at around 100 yards away from the park’s swimming area. The patient was stabilized in the water and then floated back to the shore by firefighters.
The swimmer was then transported to a local hospital for treatment. The extent of the swimmer’s injuries has not been reported by Gun Barrel City Fire Department.
AUSTIN, Texas ( THE TEXAS TRIBUNE)– Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing online messaging platform Discord, accusing the tech company of exposing children to predators using the service and deceiving users about the safety of the platform.
Paxton filed the lawsuit Friday in a Collin County state district court, the latest in a recent flurry of lawsuits by Paxton’s office against tech companies and other businesses ahead of his U.S. Senate GOP runoff against incumbent John Cornyn on Tuesday.
Texas joins Nevada, Indiana and New Jersey as states that have recently sued Discord. Florida announced its investigation of the company in March. Many private lawsuits have been filed in recent months, as well, largely from families accusing the messaging service of allowing children to be sexually abused or exploited while using Discord.
East Texas Primary Runoff Election Guide: Where to vote & what’s on the ballot
Paxton first opened an investigation into the messaging platform in 2024, along with several other tech companies, all broadly focused on user data privacy. Paxton announced last October, following the killing of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, that he would expand the investigation of Discord to include a focus on the sexual exploitation of minors and extremist content on the platform.
Discord is an online messaging service generally used by people to communicate while playing video games. It also includes chat functions and the ability for users to create topic-based servers. Paxton has sued other video game and social media platforms, like Snapchat, Tiktok and Roblox, in recent months over similar concerns that they are violating users’ data privacy and allowing their platforms to be used to exploit children.
“Discord has allowed and invited all kinds of nihilistic violence and evil,” Paxton said. “We live in a time where the dangers children face online have never been greater, and every parent in Texas deserves to know their child is protected.”
A Discord spokesperson said the platform has robust safety features for teenage users and is continuously working to improve existing safety features. The spokesperson noted roughly 80% of Discord’s users are adults and the service requires its users to be at least 13.
“The lawsuit’s characterization of Discord does not reflect the platform we have built or the investments we have made in user safety,” a Discord spokesperson wrote in a statement. “We look forward to collaborating with policymakers in working toward a safer online experience for all users on Discord and across the internet.”
In 2023, Texas lawmakers strengthened laws requiring social media platforms to protect minors from inappropriate content online. That legislation, called Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act, is still fighting its way through the courts and parts have been blocked for being unconstitutionally vague.
Paxton has used the remaining provisions of the SCOPE Act to bring lawsuits against Discord and the other tech companies.
The lawsuit asks the courts to require Discord to implement age verification for all users under that law, the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment Act. The lawsuit also seeks for Discord to pay fines under the state Deceptive Trade Practices Act, arguing the company has misled users about the safety of the platform.
Paxton cited a 2025 lawsuit filed by the family of a 13-year-old girl who says she was groomed on Roblox, then later Discord, before being sexually assaulted in her home. The family’s lawsuit argues the companies failed to protect the girl.
This week, Paxton also sued WhatsApp and its parent company Meta, alleging the platform can access users’ private messages.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters in the Lone Star State will make their second attempt to nominate a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in a primary runoff election on Tuesday, the electoral version of the Texas two-step.
Also on the ballot are primary runoffs in more than a dozen congressional districts, plus state contests for lieutenant governor, attorney general and others.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn was the top vote-getter in the March 3 primary, but strong showings by two GOP challengers forced the four-term incumbent to Tuesday’s head-to-head matchup with state Attorney General Ken Paxton, the second-place finisher who received President Donald Trump’s endorsement on May 19.
The contest is Trump’s next opportunity to purge the party of incumbents he views as insufficiently loyal to him and his agenda. It also sets the stage for a general election where Democrats are increasingly optimistic about their chances to score an upset in the heavily Republican state as they look to retake control of the U.S. Senate. Historically, voters have tended to punish the incumbent president’s party at the ballot box in midterm election years.
The winner will face Democratic state Rep. James Talarico in the general election.
Trump seemed open to endorsing Cornyn following the primary, and he did not excoriate the incumbent in his endorsement of Paxton, as he’s done recently with Republican incumbents in Indiana, Louisiana and Kentucky. But he said Cornyn “was not supportive of me when times were tough.”
Cornyn was critical of Trump ahead of the president’s 2024 campaign.
Since much of the Texas primary campaign has focused on the candidates’ loyalty to Trump, the counties where the president has the most support could play a decisive role. Although many of the counties Trump won in 2024 with 80% or more of the vote are rural and sparsely populated, collectively they made up about a fifth of the GOP primary vote. Paxton beat Cornyn in these counties, 45% to 40%, while Cornyn performed better than Paxton in the rest of the state.
In counties Trump carried with between 50% and 80% of the vote, Cornyn received about 42% of the vote, edging Paxton by a percentage point. Republican primary voters in the 12 counties Democrat Kamala Harris carried in 2024 preferred Cornyn, 44% to 40%. These counties made up 25% of the overall primary vote, larger than the share of Trump’s 80%-plus counties.
Only two incumbent U.S. senators from Texas have lost a primary in the last 100 years.
In 2025, Republicans redrew the state’s congressional districts at Trump’s urging as part of an effort to maintain control of the U.S. House.
Among the notable primary runoffs that resulted from the new congressional map, Democratic U.S. Reps. Christian Menefee and Al Green will face each other in the redrawn 18th Congressional District. In the new 33rd Congressional District, Democratic U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson faces a challenge from her predecessor, former Democratic U.S. Rep. Colin Allred.
Here are some of the key facts about the election and data points the AP Decision Team will monitor as the votes are tallied:
When do polls close?
Polls close statewide at 7 p.m. local time, which is 8 p.m. ET and 9 p.m. ET. Most polls are in Central time and close at 8 p.m. ET, while polls in the westernmost part of the state are in Mountain time and close at 9 p.m. ET.
What’s on the ballot?
The AP will provide vote results and declare winners in Republican primary runoffs for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, railroad commissioner, Court of Criminal Appeals, state Senate and state House and in Democratic primary runoffs for U.S. House, lieutenant governor, attorney general, state Board of Education and state House.
Who gets to vote?
Voters who did not participate in a party primary on March 3 may vote in the runoff for either party. Voters who did cast a ballot in a party primary may only vote in the runoff of the same party as they did in the primary. In other words, Democratic primary voters may not vote in a Republican primary runoff or vice versa. Voters in the non-partisan primary may vote in either party’s runoff.
How many voters are there?
As of the March 3 primary, there were nearly 19 million registered voters in Texas.
How many people actually vote?
About 2.2 million Republican primary votes and about 2.3 million Democratic primary votes were cast in the March 3 Texas primary.
In the 2022 Republican primary for Texas Attorney General, turnout was about 1.9 million voters in the primary and about 932,000 in the primary runoff.
How much of the vote is cast early or by absentee ballot?
About 63% of the vote in the March 3 Republican primary was cast before primary day.
As of Thursday, about 621,000 Republican primary ballots and about 262,000 Democratic primary ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election.
When are early and absentee votes released?
Counties tend to release all or nearly all results from early and absentee voting in the first vote update of the night, before any in-person Election Day results are released.
How long does vote-counting usually take?
In the U.S. Senate primary in March, the AP first reported results at 8 p.m. ET just as polls closed in most of the state. By 11:39 p.m. ET, 75% of the vote had been counted. Vote results were released continuously until about 5:58 a.m. ET, with about 98% of the total vote counted.
When will the AP declare a winner?
The Associated Press does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.
How do recounts work?
Texas requires an automatic recount only in cases of a tie vote. Losing candidates may request and pay for a recount if the margin is less than 10% of the leading candidate’s vote. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.
Are we there yet?
As of Tuesday, there will be 161 days until the 2026 midterm elections.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2026 election at https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/.
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Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks during a campaign event in Lubbock, Texas, Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Annie Rice)
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May 19, 2026 5:55 PM
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Election 2026 Texas Senate
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FR171627 AP
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EAST TEXAS — East Texans head back to the polls for the primary runoff election and every county in the region has its own set of decisions to make. Our news partner KETK has put together a guide; whether you’re double?checking where to vote or previewing the races on your ballot, this guide keeps the essential details in one place so you can cast your vote with confidence. Always confirm final voting information with your county’s official election office. You may view the guide here.
TYLER – Memorial Day is almost here and East Texans are preparing to host several events that will honor United States soldiers who’ve died while at war. The holiday was first nationally observed as Decoration Day on May 30, 1868, because Union General John A. Logan wanted to honor the Union soldiers who died in the American Civil War, which had ended just three years before.
To help East Texans find local events for the annual observance, our news partner KETK has put together the following list of Memorial Day events happening across East Texas.
TYLER – The Topps Pizza on Shiloh Road in Tyler is closed after a fire burned the restaurant over Sunday night. According to our news partner KETK, the fire started at around 1 a.m. on Sunday but wasn’t noticed and called in until at around 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. Luckily, the Tyler Fire Department has a station directly next door to Topps Pizza and they were able to quickly put out the fire.
The fire has been ruled accidental and those at the scene speculated that it may have been started by an electrical fan left on overnight. Fire damage was reportedly contained to one area and most of the damage done to the restaurant was from smoke.
Topps Pizza at 3101 Shiloh Road Suite 131 Tyler is currently closed until further notice as the owner works to repair the restaurant. A GoFundMe has been set up to help the business cover repair costs.
JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville Police Department officer Elyse Hand has won the Department of Justice’s 2026 Hometown Hero Award after she was shot in Nov. 2025. Hand and a Jacksonville PD K-9 were injured while she was serving warrants for a then-wanted fugitive who opened fire as Hand called out to him at his home. Hand is now on the road to recovery with help from her young son and her husband, who’s a Texas State Trooper.
U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs of the Eastern District of Texas announced Hand as their district’s recipient of the 2026 Hometown Hero Award on Friday. According to our news partner KETK, the awards are being given out to law enforcement members around the country this year as part of President Donald Trump’s Freedom250 initiative for the United States’ 250th anniversary.
Photo of Elyse Hand, courtesy of U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs’ Office. Read the rest of this entry »
TYLER – East Texas pet lovers gathered at Bergfeld Park in Tyler on Saturday for a Dog Days of Summer Festival where pet owners could get vaccinations and even adopt a new furry friend. On top of animal services like vaccinations, microchipping and deworming, pets and their owners also got to take part in dog races, a musical sit game and a best dressed pet contest. The festival also featured several local vendors and food trucks with donations benefiting the Pets Fur People Rescue Fund.
Pets Fur People, Angel Paws Advocates, Pawsitive Place Rescue and O’Malley Alley Cats all brought out animals to Saturday’s festival for loving East Texans to adopt. To learn more about each rescue or to adopt one of their animals, check out the following links: Pets Fur People, Angel Paws Advocates, Pawsitive Place Rescue and O’Malley Alley Cats
SMITH COUNTY — With the 2025–26 school year coming to an end, East Texas educators are reflecting on the first year of a classroom cell phone ban and the impact they say it had on students.
The end of another school year is here; hallways are empty, and students are already making summer plans. This school year was different as it marked the first year under Texas House Bill 1481, which bans personal communication devices in the classroom. Interim Principal for Winona High School, Jeff Dozier, said that having a state law enforced helped persuade students to keep their phones out of sight.
Teachers at Winona High School, including Theater Director Jeffrey Stokes, said students were more focused on lessons and less concerned about what their classmates were posting on social media.
Longtime math teacher Josh Loeffler at Tyler Legacy High School remembers when cell phones started popping up in the classroom and is glad to see them go. Engagement that helps students build skills both inside and outside the classroom.