Longview company lays off 68 employees

LONGVIEW – HATCO in Longview laid off 68 employees in late February after discovering issues at the facility were far more extensive than anticipated, according to our news partners at KETK. HATCO said due to the discovered issues, they were unable to safely continue operations and closed the Longview facility located at 302 Huntsman Way on Feb. 27, laying off 68 employees. While the company initially budgeted to repair the issues, the cost of the repairs was far more than what they were able to afford. According to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, HAVCO was required to provide employees 60 days notice of facility closure unless an exception applies. “Due to the unexpected and unforeseen nature of the facility issues, an exception applies and we are unable to provide such notice,” HAVCO said. (more…)

New York steakhouse owner says he’ll sue after Dan Patrick eats a ‘Texas’ strip

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick took to X Tuesday evening to tout the first-ever “Texas Strip” served with “Gulf of America shrimp,” a move which one New York steakhouse owner said he’ll be taking the state to court over. Patrick’s Texas-themed dinner, which cost $99, came after he announced plans to introduce a resolution in the Texas Senate to officially rename the popular steak cut after the Lone Star State. Rebranding the New York strip as the “Texas” strip, he said, would help the state’s cattle ranchers market their beef across the nation. While Patrick said Texas’ cattle industry “sure liked the idea,” Todd Shapiro, owner of the War Room Tavern in Albany, New York, said he will file a lawsuit in the coming weeks over the proposed name change.

“We have a big beef with your lieutenant governor,” Shapiro said. “They’re trying to take away something that’s part of our heritage. People grew up having a New York strip. People all over the country, they eat a New York strip. It’s part of the New York culture.” According to the Little Cattle Company, a Texas-based beef supplier, the New York strip got its name in the late 19th century after it was added to the menu at Delmonico’s, an upscale New York City restaurant that still exists today. Bob’s Steak and Chop House, where Patrick said he was served the “Texas” strip, still refers to it as the New York strip on its website. Bob’s also doesn’t source its beef from Texas, which is the largest produce of beef of any U.S. state, according to a 2022 report from the United States Department of Agriculture. Beef served at its locations, which range from Texas to Arizona, is purchased through “the Chicago-based Stock Yards Meat Packing Company,” according to the website for Bob’s Steak and Chop House. But Patrick said Texas should benefit from the cut’s branding, not “liberal” New York. “Liberal New York shouldn’t get the credit for our hard-working ranchers,” Patrick said in a late February post on X. “We promote the Texas brand on everything made or grown in Texas because it benefits our economy and jobs.”

Texas farmers, a key Trump constituency, raise the alarm

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that in early February, the Texas Farm Bureau defended President Donald Trump as he moved to enact tariffs on foreign goods coming into the United States, saying they trusted him to “protect the interests of farm and ranch families.” But now, after more rounds of tariffs and counter tariffs by nations including China, Canada and the European Union have started to hit demand for U.S. agriculture goods overseas, Texas Farm Bureau President Russell Boening acknowledged his members are growing anxious. “We understand that’s his negotiating tool, but at the same time tariffs can be hard on agriculture,” he said. “If you’re in a good spot you can withstand this, but you worry about the producer who has only been in this five or ten years and doesn’t have a lot of equity built up. Those are the operations that could be in trouble.”

Texas farmers, already struggling from drought and low commodity prices, are on the front line of a growing trade war between the United States and its longtime trading partners. And as a key Trump constituency, their discomfort is likely to be of particular concern to a White House that has already gone back and forth over enacting tariffs. Cotton, a staple for farmers in West Texas, hit its lowest price in four years earlier this month after China announced a 15% retaliatory tariff on a number of U.S. agricultural goods. China, the largest buyer of grain sorghum in the world, has also virtually stopped buying the crop from Texas farms, Boening said. And it’s looking increasingly likely that Mexico, a major buyer of U.S. rice, a big crop in East Texas, will be turning to farms in South America if Trump goes ahead on his threat to impose a 25% tariff on goods from Mexico and Canada on April 2, S&P Global Intelligence, a research firm, reported earlier this month. Lobbyists for the farm bureau have been reaching out to the administration and members of Congress from Texas to warn them of the immediate risks posed to farmers by a trade war.

Tyler Firefighters preparing for action with new burn buildings

TYLER – The Tyler Fire Department will soon have two new Class A Burn Buildings for training simulations. The City Council approved the purchase of the portable buildings from Lone Star Tactical Buildings for $129,713 on Wednesday, March 12. A Class A Burn Building allows firefighters to train locally in realistic conditions, simulating the smoke, heat, and fire growth they encounter in real emergencies. Class A fires, which involve wood and other common combustibles, are among the most frequent fire threats in Tyler. The structure has a two-chamber design, which mirrors actual fires. One space mimics a burning room’s intense heat and smoke, while the other simulates the origin and spread of a fire. Currently, the department has only one Class A Burn Building. The additional buildings were necessary to meet the state requirement of igniting two or more Class A fires during training. Tyler firefighters have been traveling outside the city to meet the training requirements. All three Class A Burn Buildings will be set up at the current training facility located at 701 Fair Park Dr. The buildings are portable and can be relocated.

Trump administration drops lawsuit over alleged abuse at child migrant shelters

McALLEN (AP) — The Trump administration is dropping a civil lawsuit against the largest provider of housing for unaccompanied migrant children over allegations of repeated sexual abuse and harassment of minors in its facilities.

The dismissal was filed on Wednesday after the federal government announced they would no longer use services by Southwest Key Programs. The complaint, filed last year during the Biden administration, alleged a litany of offenses between 2015 and 2023 as Southwest Key Programs, which operates migrant shelters in Texas, Arizona and California, amassed nearly $3 billion in contracts from the Department of Health and Human Services.

“Out of continuing concerns relating to these placements, HHS has decided to stop placement of unaccompanied alien children in Southwest Key facilities, and to review its grants with the organization. In view of HHS’ action, the Department of Justice has dismissed its lawsuit against Southwest Key,” the HHS said in a statement.

Children who were still in shelters operated by the provider were moved to other housing.

Southwest Key Programs furloughed employees across the country. “Due to the unforeseen federal funding freeze and the stop placement order on our unaccompanied minor shelters and Home Study Post Release programs by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, we have made the difficult decision to furlough approximately 5,000 Southwest Key Programs’ employees,” the company said in a statement shared Tuesday.

According to allegations in the 2024 lawsuit, Southwest Key employees, including supervisors, raped, inappropriately touched or solicited sex and nude images of children beginning in 2015 and possibly earlier.

Among the accusations: One employee “repeatedly sexually abused” three girls ages 5, 8 and 11 at the Casa Franklin shelter in El Paso, Texas, with the 8-year-old telling investigators the worker “entered their bedrooms in the middle of the night to touch their ‘private area.’”

The lawsuit also alleged that another employee, at a shelter in Mesa, Arizona, took a 15-year-old boy to a hotel and paid him to perform sexual acts for several days in 2020.

Children were warned not to report the alleged abuse and threatened with violence against themselves or their families if they did, according to the lawsuit. Victims testified that in some instances, other workers knew about the abuse but failed to report or concealed it, the complaint said.

“DOJ’s lawsuit revealed horrific sexual abuse and inhumane treatment of children detained in Southwest Key shelters,” said Leecia Welch, an attorney who represents unaccompanied children in a separate case. “It’s shocking to me that the government now turns a blind eye to their own contractor’s actions. I hope the impacted children will have other legal recourse and support in healing from their abuse.”

At least two employees have been indicted on criminal charges related to the allegations since 2020.

The civil lawsuit had sought a jury trial and monetary damages for the victims.

How voucher vendors could make millions from ‘school choice’

AUSTIN – The Texas Observer reports that in August 2024, the business magazine Inc. released its annual list of the top 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the United States. At 815th, a burgeoning upstart called ClassWallet cracked the list’s top 20 percent for the third straight year. By expanding its operations managing school voucher programs for states across the country, earnings for the Florida company grew by 610 percent over the previous three years. Founded in 2014, ClassWallet now has more than 200 employees and has contracts to administer school vouchers and other educational programs in 18 states through its “digital wallet” platform. Indeed, managing school vouchers has become a big business. And, as Governor Greg Abbott and the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature gear up to pass their own program this session, private companies like ClassWallet are descending on the Capitol to lobby for the vouchers legislation and the lucrative contracts it could generate. This comes as other states have drawn scrutiny over myriad problems with the private contractors, including ClassWallet, they’ve hired to administer their voucher programs.

Senate Bill 2, which sailed through the upper chamber early last month, is a universal school voucher proposal that would give students $10,000 a year to attend private school or $2,000 for homeschooling. Lawmakers have initially set aside $1 billion in funding for the Texas school voucher program in 2027, though the Senate bill’s fiscal analysis says the program’s net cost could balloon to $3.8 billion by 2030. The bill stipulates that up to 5 percent of appropriated funds may go to pay up to five outside vendors like ClassWallet, which the legislation calls “certified educational assistance organizations” (CEAOs), to act as middlemen between the state, parents, and private schools by processing program applications and voucher payments. If the bill were to pass, these private companies could soon be reeling in tens and even hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars per year. These private vendors could, under the bill, be tasked with managing a complex application process, connecting parents with private schools and education vendors, accepting payments, and “verify[ing] that program funding is used only for approved education-related expenses.” “They’re a for-profit pass-through, which just means the state appropriates dollars, the vendor holds it, they reserve a small fee for themselves, and then they pass it on to the consumer,” Josh Cowen, education policy professor at Michigan State University and author of the book The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers, told the Texas Observer.

Army Corps projects uncertain under GOP spending bill

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that the future of Army Corps projects along the Texas Gulf Coast, like the overhaul of flood control systems around Houston and the widening of the Houston Ship Channel, are in question after House Republicans on Tuesday passed a stopgap funding bill to keep the government open through September. Their bill calls for reducing the Army Corps of Engineers’ construction budget by $1.4 billion, a 44% cut. In addition, the White House would assume control over which projects get funded, decisions that are currently made by Congress. The bill nows moves to the U.S. Senate, where Republicans must win over at least seven Democrats to clear the 60-vote threshold needed to consider the measure. To avoid a government shutdown, Congress must pass a spending bill by the end of Friday.

Public officials and contractors in Texas are scrambling to figure out what the possible Army Corps cuts could mean for their projects, said Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Houston. “It’s anyones guess what the Trump administration will do, but that’s a huge part of the problem. It’s the chaos and uncertainty continuously coming out of this administration,” she said. “The port project is hugely important not only to our regional economy but our national security.” A spokeswoman for Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Richmond, denied the $1.4 billion reduction in Army Corps spending was a “cut,” saying the department’s previous year’s budget had been inflated due to the injection of funds from other legislation. “These funds were expended for a one-time purpose. So, no, House Republicans are not cutting any funds for the Army Corps of Engineers,” he said. The continuing resolution passed by House Republicans on Tuesday calls for a $13 billion reduction in non-defense spending and a $6 billion increase in defense spending — relatively small amounts considering the $6.8 trillion federal budget. It passed in a narrow 217-213 vote, with the Texas delegation split along party lines.

Abbott touts a new ally in his school voucher push

AUSTIN – The Houston Chronicle reports that as state House members began debating a school voucher plan on Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott appeared more optimistic than ever that his signature legislation would finally pass the chamber where it has died repeatedly. The difference from past sessions — when a coalition of House Democrats and rural Republicans blocked the bill — is the new speaker now leading the House, Dustin Burrows, Abbott said. “We’ve been down this pathway before, but have never been so close to getting this passed,” the governor told a crowd of supporters in Austin. “And the reason is, because we have not had a speaker willing to step up and stand for school choice.”

For the first time in years, Abbott and a Texas House speaker are aligned, at least publicly, on his vision to send public dollars to families for private education. Burrows took over this year for former House Speaker Dade Phelan, who declined in 2023 to publicly back a voucher plan and later dropped his bid for reelection after Abbott helped unseat several of his former supporters. Burrows, a Lubbock Republican and former Phelan ally, appeared alongside Abbott last month in San Antonio, and he joined the governor again on Tuesday to address a crowd of supporters at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank in Austin. “These are your elected representatives who are about to make school choice a reality in Texas, something that’s been fought for for 30, 40, 50 years — and it’s going to happen,” Burrows said. “It’s a big day, a monumental day.”

UT Tyler holds Vietnam veterans 50th year commemoration

TYLER – The University of Texas at Tyler Military and Veterans Success Center will hold multiple events on campus for the community to recognize Vietnam War veterans and the 50th anniversary since the war ended. These events are hosted in partnership with the UT Tyler history department, VFW Carl Webb Post 1799, Vietnam Veterans of America Rose Capital Chapter 932, American Legion Post 12 and other local veteran serving organizations. “We proudly present these excellent events as a way to honor our Vietnam War veterans here in East Texas and across the country,” said Coby Dillard, UT Tyler director of military and veterans affairs. “The men and women who served during Vietnam faced unspeakable challenges both in country and at home. As a community, it is important that we continue to celebrate the service of those who returned, while honoring the sacrifices of those who were lost during this conflict.” (more…)

Houstonians pay tribute to Sylvester Turner

HOUSTON (AP) – Mourners in Houston paid tribute to the late U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner of Texas as he lay in state at city hall Tuesday, part of a week of public events to honor the Democratic lawmaker and former mayor.

Turner, 70, died on March 5, just weeks into his first term in the House and only hours after attending President Donald Trump’s address to Congress in Washington. His family said he died at his home following health complications.

Residents observed a memorial at Houston City Hall, where Turner served as mayor for eight years before being elected to Congress in November. Houston Mayor John Whitmire made brief remarks to mourners and the Houston Symphony performed while visitors paid their respects.

“Sylvester knew each and every community, and he treated everyone with equality and inclusion,” Whitmire said. “That’s what made him really special. He brought that public service and that message across not only our great city, but our great state.”

Turner had filled the House seat held by longtime Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who died in July. Prior to becoming mayor, Turner served as a legislator in the Texas House of Representatives for 27 years.

Turner is also scheduled to lie in state at the Texas Capitol beginning Thursday. His funeral is scheduled for Saturday in Houston.

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has not yet announced when a special election will be held for Turner’s seat.

Federal appeals court reverses Texas death row inmate’s conviction

AMARILLO (AP) – A federal appeals court has tossed an Amarillo woman’s death sentence after it found that local prosecutors had failed to reveal that their primary trial witness was a paid informant.

With a 2-1 decision, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals last week sent Brittany Marlowe Holberg’s 1998 murder conviction back down to the trial court to decide how to proceed.

Holberg has been on death row for 27 years. In securing her conviction in 1998, Randall County prosecutors heavily relied on testimony from a jail inmate who was working as a confidential informant for the City of Amarillo police. That informant recanted her testimony in 2011, but neither a Texas Court of Criminal Appeals or a federal district court found that prosecutors had violated Holberg’s constitutional right to a fair trial.

The appeals court disagreed, saying that the informant was critical to the jury’s determination of guilt and that the prosecution violated Holberg’s due process rights by hiding information that, according to a landmark U.S. Supreme court ruling, must be disclosed. Writing for the majority, judge Patrick E. Higginbotham cast Holberg’s case as a blight on the criminal justice system.

“We pause only to acknowledge that 27 years on death row is a reality dimming the light that ought to attend proceedings where a life is at stake, a stark reminder that the jurisprudence of capital punishment remains a work in progress,” wrote Higginbotham, a Ronald Reagan appointee.

Holberg was sentenced to death by an Amarillo jury when she was 23 years old. The jury found her guilty of murdering A.B. Towery, an 80-year-old man and former client of Holberg, a sex worker. During trial, Holberg asserted that she acted in self-defense and that she stabbed Towery because she feared for her life and sought to protect herself after he struck her on the back of the head and refused to relent.

The prosecution, however, presented testimony from Holberg’s jail cellmate Vickie Marie Kirkpatrick, who alleged that Holberg had admitted to killing Towery “in order to get money” and said she “would do it all over again for more drugs.”

Kirkpatrick was at the time working as a confidential informant for the City of Amarillo police, a fact prosecutors did not disclose. They instead presented Kirkpatrick as a “disinterested individual who ‘wanted to do the right thing,’” Higginbotham wrote.

Holberg had experienced severe and repeated sexual abuse during her childhood and fell into a crack cocaine addiction. She turned to sex work to support her addiction, according to court documents.

On Nov. 13, 1996, she had a minor traffic accident and then sought refuge in Towery’s apartment. A heated argument turned violent, leaving Towery dead with part of a lamp lodged within his throat. Holberg left the apartment cut, bruised and bleeding from her head where Towery struck her.

While in jail, the Randall County District Attorney’s Office approached multiple inmates to question them about Holberg, offering them a deal in exchange for testimony. Kirkpatrick, who was placed in the same cell as Holberg, produced a statement detailing an alleged admission from Holberg. That same day, Kirkpatrick was released on bond.

In a lone dissent, circuit judge Stuart Kyle Duncan, a Donald Trump appointee, wrote that the jury did not solely rely on Kirkpatrick’s testimony to reach their decision of guilt.

“The jury was presented with graphic physical evidence that Holberg sadistically butchered a sick old man—with a lamp rammed down his throat as the coup de grâce,” Duncan wrote. “That evidence doomed Holberg’s self-defense theory and there is no chance that impeaching Kirkpatrick would have resurrected it.”

Randall County District Attorney Robert Love, who was the assistant district attorney when Holberg’s case was first prosecuted, said in an emailed statement that he was “disappointed” by the 5th Circuit’s ruling. He declined to comment further on the case until the Texas Office of the Attorney General decides how to proceed. “They are currently discussing the legal options available,” Love said.

Holberg’s attorneys didn’t immediately respond to The Texas Tribune’s request for comment on Monday. A Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson said the agency had no comment on Holberg’s case. Holberg is currently being held at the Patrick L. O’Daniel Unit, a Gatesville prison that houses females on death row, among other inmates.

Texas leads the country in executions and is among the top three in imposing death sentences. The state’s use of capital punishment has waned, however, and the number of people on death row has dropped by more than half over the past twenty five years. There are 174 people on Texas’ death row, and seven of them are women.

Rep. Shofner introduces bill to improve healthcare in rural East Texas

NACOGDOCHES – Our news partners at KETK report that Advanced Practice Registered Nurses could soon have full practice authority in rural East Texas. Rep. Joanne Shofner filed HB 2532 on Feb. 6 that would allow APRNs to practice as independent practitioners. The bill will give APRNs the ability to treat health problems and prescribe medications (including controlled substances). In order to qualify, APRN’s must apply to the Texas Board of Nursing and pay an application fee. The deadline for the fee will vary by program and school. Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN) range from nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, nurse anesthetists and clinical nurse specialists. (more…)

Selena’s killer Yolanda Saldívar seeks parole

SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Express-News reports The woman convicted of killing Selena Quintanilla believes she has served her time as her parole eligibility fast approaches, a relative recently told the New York Post. Yolanda Saldívar, a San Antonio native, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years for the murder of the 23-year-old “Queen of Tejano” at a Corpus Christi hotel on March 31, 1995. Saldívar is now 64 years old. The relative, who was not named in the article, told the Post that Saldívar “feels like she’s a political prisoner at this point,” adding, “Enough is enough.” Saldívar was the president of Quintanilla’s fan club before she killed the singer after the star confronted her over embezzlement alegations, which Saldívar has denied. Quintanilla had conquered the Spanish music scene and was on the verge of an English crossover before she was shot and killed two weeks before her 24th birthday.

$1 billion for school vouchers won’t be enough

AUSTIN – The San Antonio Express-News says Republican state leaders pushing a private school voucher plan have emphasized it would transform the face of education in Texas. They also say its cost would be limited to $1 billion for the first year. But projections from the nonpartisan Legislative Budget Board show demand for the program providing students with taxpayer funds to subsidize homeschooling or private education options could quickly outpace that initial investment, pressuring lawmakers to pour more and more money into it, while pulling millions from public schools. According to the LBB, demand for the program is projected to grow from $1 billion worth of vouchers for its first year of operation in 2027 to $3.2 billion the following year, then $3.8 billion and $4.6 billion by 2030. In other words, the $1 billion budget line on this biennium’s state budget could grow to more than $8 billion over the two-year period up for approval by the Legislature in 2029 as more and more students seek a voucher.

State Sen. Brandon Creighton, a Conroe Republican carrying his chamber’s version of the voucher bill, Senate Bill 2, has described the fiscal note as a “fairy tale” because lawmakers would need to sign off on any future funding increases. “Senate Bill 2 is entirely subject to a future appropriations process and the Legislature making a decision to grow the population of students served,” he said during a committee hearing earlier this year. Although the program’s initial investment would be set at $1 billion under Creighton’s bill, there are other pathways to grow it, even without lawmakers’ support. Gov. Greg Abbott, the state’s biggest voucher proponent, has been able to circumvent the Legislature for funding increases in the past, namely with his ongoing border security initiative, Operation Lone Star, which began with an appropriation from the Legislature of less than $3 billion. Abbott grew the program by billions more while the Legislature was out of session by moving money amongst state agencies with the approval of a small group of lawmakers, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and the House speaker. Critics warn the same thing could happen with vouchers. “What will most likely happen based on what we’ve seen in other states, to start drawing down those dollars… it’s really unlimited,” said Jaime Puente, a policy analyst with the left-leaning group Every Texan who is critical of vouchers. “It’s really an unlimited amount of funding, an unlimited amount of seats that people will be advertised to with state dollars.”

Texarkana Police need help finding hit and run driver

TEXARKANA – The Texarkana Police Department is currently searching for a driver who was involved in a hit and run that left a woman critically injured on Friday, according to our news partners at KETK. Texarkana PD said a woman pedestrian was critically injured after she was hit by a white SUV in the 2300 block of New Boston Road at around 10:20 p.m. on Friday night. Officials are searching for the driver and are asking anyone who lives near the hit and run scene to check their security cameras for a white SUV in the area near that time. “We’ve been working non-stop all weekend to track down the driver, but we still haven’t been able to identify the vehicle. If you live or work in the area, please check your security cameras! If you see anything that might help—no matter how small—please reach out to us. It could well be the break that we need.” Anyone information can contact Texarkana PD by phone at 903-798-3876 and any video can be submitted to the Texarkana Police Department online through their new online evidence portal.

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