East Texas State Fair tickets go on sale

TYLER — Tickets for the 108th annual East Texas State Fair have officially gone on sale. According to our news partner KETK, this year’s East Texas State Fair will run from Sept. 20 – 29 at 11315A State Highway 64 West and tickets cost $12 for adults, $6 for children 5-12, children under 5 get in free and carnival wristbands for unlimited rides in one day cost $37.

The fair also said that there will be special themed days, Military Appreciation Day will be on Sept 23, offering free admission to active and retired military personnel with valid ID, First Responder Day will be on Sept 25, offering free admission to police, firefighters and EMS with valid ID.

“This year, we’re opening at a new location, offering a fresh experience with new attractions and entertainment for the whole family,” Cody Rosenbalm, CEO and president of the East Texas State Fair, said. “We’re here to make this year’s Fair unforgettable and look forward to welcoming everyone at our new grounds.”

Click here for more information.

Demolition phase is underway for new Smith County courthouse

TYLER — Construction in downtown Tyler has been going on for months and it’s getting busier with the demolition of buildings for the next phase of the new courthouse project, according to our news partner KETK. “Phase two is starting of the construction of the courthouse but the demolition of the east side of the square actually has to start first and that will begin on Monday,” Smith County Judge Neal Franklin said. People who visit or work downtown should plan for detours and parking changes. “You see all of the fencing all around but you’ll see people in there working and heavy equipment pushing down buildings and walls,” Franklin said.

Currently, crews are looking underground at fiber and utility lines to prevent any issues moving forward. (more…)

Unregulated oilfield power lines are suspected of sparking Texas wildfires

PANHANDLE (AP) – When a spate of wildfires tore across the Texas Panhandle in February and scorched 20,000 acres of Craig Cowden’s ranch near Skellytown, he decided he had had enough. Cowden took on a second unofficial job: looking for possible fire hazards on his family land, including checking on the electric lines that power oil and gas equipment.

Unlike the utility companies that run power lines across a region under state oversight, oil and gas companies typically string their own power lines from utility poles to their work sites.

Texas relies on the operators to maintain those lines. Not all of them do. And the state agencies that regulate the energy industry and the power industry said they’re powerless to regulate power lines in the oil patch.

Cowden, 38, spots problems such as a pump jack with faulty wiring or a power line lying on dead grass. He’s filed complaints with the Railroad Commission of Texas, which oversees oil and gas operations. The agency inspected some of the issues he reported, Cowden said. That made him lucky — a lawyer said others have had to file lawsuits against oil lease owners to get dangerous electric equipment fixed.

“I have enough to do on my plate,” Cowden said. “I don’t need to do their job too, but that’s basically what I’m having to do in order to get change.”

The series of devastating February fires burned more than 1.2 million acres. Electric lines for oilfield equipment were blamed for at least two of them, state records show. The disaster revealed the danger of what are effectively unregulated power lines built by oil and gas operators — a problem Texas lawmakers tried and failed to fix 15 years ago.

State Rep. Ken King, a Republican from the Panhandle who led the investigation into the recent fires, said he would prefer not to push a new law next year to address that regulatory gap. Instead, he wants the Railroad Commission to write a rule defining its role in investigating energy operators for electrical problems and notifying the state Public Utility Commission if the electricity needs to be turned off.

But in a statement to The Texas Tribune, the Railroad Commission said it doesn’t have any formal role in regulating power lines. And the Public Utility Commission of Texas, which oversees electricity in the state, told the Tribune it lacked legal authority to inspect oilfield power lines too.

King and other legislators said the result is “a regulatory ‘no man’s land’” that leaves the Panhandle residents vulnerable to more wildfires — as they have been for years.

“I would never do anything to damage the oil and gas industry in our state; it’s too important,” King said. “But that being said, one tiny part of the industry does not have the right to burn millions of acres and destroy all these other industries every couple years because they won’t clean up their own mess.”

In 2006, eight fires merged to become the East Amarillo Complex Fire and blazed for nine days, setting a record for the biggest fire in the state’s history that stood until this year’s fires. Attorney Joe Lovell said improperly constructed power lines owned by an oil and gas operator caused the North Fire, which became part of that 2006 complex that burned part of Cowden’s property. Lovell sued the operator on behalf of landowners and families of two people who died.

Three years later, Texas legislators passed a law that required oilfield operators to build and maintain their power lines according to the National Electrical Code. But the law did not specify a penalty or an agency to enforce it, so there were no consequences for violating it.

Power lines have caused 14,236 fires that burned roughly 2.7 million acres since 2005, said Jake Donellan, the Texas A&M Forest Service’s field operations department head. The agency historically did not track how many of those were caused by oilfield electric lines in particular. It’s now working on adding a subcategory to record that information.

Oil operators are responsible for their own lines

In the Texas Panhandle, where oilfields are spread across private ranches, oilfield operators often rely on a single power utility that serves the region. Each operator that needs electricity at a worksite is responsible for tying into the nearest power pole.

The process of requesting a connection and hiring electricians to do the work can take six to nine months and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, said Jason Herrick, president of Pantera Energy Company.

“It is up to the operator to get it to the location,” Herrick said.

Pantera owns 1,800 wells in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles and southwest Kansas. The company checks the condition of its electric lines and poles twice a year, including inspecting the Johnny Balls that weigh the lines down and prevents them from clashing together and sparking, Herrick said. The operator also inspects its oilfield equipment daily.

Not all oil and gas operators take care of their wires, said King, who chaired the investigative committee created to investigate the February fires. Some wells produce small amounts of oil and operators watching costs might not spend money to maintain them, he said.

King’s committee, which includes two other House members and two members of the public, found the regulatory oversight of oil and gas operators “grossly deficient” especially for companies overseeing those low-producing or non-producing wells.

In February, lawyers say a rotten utility pole owned by the utility Xcel Energy, which serves more than 3.7 million customers in Texas and seven other states, snapped and crashed onto dry grass. That ignited the fast-spreading Smokehouse Creek Fire that burned for nearly three weeks, killed thousands of head of cattle and set a new record for the largest wildfire in Texas after torching more than 1 million acres. Xcel Energy acknowledged its equipment was involved in starting the blaze.

Additionally, evidence showed that private power line equipment on oilfields started at least one of the other fires at that time and is suspected of causing another, according to Texas A&M Forest Service investigator reports.

An investigator at the Grape Vine Creek Fire found that a metal conduit wasn’t attached with brackets to the electrical pole, so it blew around in the wind, causing sparks. Two sources told the investigator that an oil and gas operator owned the pole but the investigator could not determine who owned the pole or the electrical equipment, according to the investigators’ report.

At the spot where the Windy Deuce Fire started, three power lines around a pump jack were strung through the branches of a small tree, the state investigator found. The fire went on to burn more than 140,000 acres, incinerating homes around the city of Fritch and putting residents on edge in the city of Borger — where a prescribed burn months earlier created a firebreak that saved countless homes.

“Windy Deuce is the classic example of what happens when nobody enforces the law,” said John Lovell, an Amarillo attorney.

Lovell is representing a rancher who filed a claim to get money from the oilfield company that they believe owned the power lines, Polaris Operating. He said the power lines got close enough to each other for electricity to jump between them, melting aluminum in the wire and causing the fire.

Attorneys for Polaris, which was in bankruptcy proceedings when the fire happened, did not respond to a request for comment.

Three newly freed Americans are back on US soil

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and Russia completed their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history on Thursday, with Moscow releasing journalist Evan Gershkovich and fellow American Paul Whelan, along with dissidents including Vladimir Kara-Murza, in a multinational deal that set two dozen people free.

Gershkovich, Whelan and Alsu Kurmasheva, a journalist with dual U.S.-Russia citizenship, arrived on American soil shortly before midnight for a joyful reunion with their families. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris also were at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to greet them and dispense hugs all around.

The trade unfolded despite relations between Washington and Moscow being at their lowest point since the Cold War after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Negotiators in backchannel talks at one point explored an exchange involving Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but after his death in February ultimately stitched together a 24-person deal that required significant concessions from European allies, including the release of a Russian assassin, and secured freedom for a cluster of journalists, suspected spies, political prisoners and others.

Biden trumpeted the exchange, by far the largest in a series of swaps with Russia, as a diplomatic feat while welcoming families of the returning Americans to the White House. But the deal, like others before it, reflected an innate imbalance: The U.S. and allies gave up Russians charged or convicted of serious crimes in exchange for Russia releasing journalists, dissidents and others imprisoned by the country’s highly politicized legal system on charges seen by the West as trumped-up.

“Deals like this one come with tough calls,” Biden said. He added, “There’s nothing that matters more to me than protecting Americans at home and abroad.”

Under the deal, Russia released Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal who was jailed in 2023 and convicted in July of espionage charges that he and the U.S. government vehemently denied. His family said in a statement released by the newspaper that “we can’t wait to give him the biggest hug and see his sweet and brave smile up close.” The paper’s editor-in-chief, Emma Tucker, called it a “joyous day.”

“While we waited for this momentous day, we were determined to be as loud as we could be on Evan’s behalf. We are so grateful for all the voices that were raised when his was silent. We can finally say, in unison, ‘Welcome home, Evan,’” she wrote in a letter posted online.

Also released was Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive jailed since 2018, also on espionage charges he and Washington have denied, and Kurmasheva, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist convicted in July of spreading false information about the Russian military, accusations her family and employer have rejected.

The three flew from Maryland to Texas and landed at Joint Base San Antonio early Friday to begin medical evaluations after spending some time with their family members. If they choose, they can receive treatment the military offers to wrongfully detained Americans.

The dissidents released included Kara-Murza, a Kremlin critic and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer serving 25 years on charges of treason widely seen as politically motivated, as well as multiple associates of Navalny. Freed Kremlin critics included Oleg Orlov, a veteran human rights campaigner convicted of discrediting the Russian military, and Ilya Yashin, imprisoned for criticizing the war in Ukraine.

The Russian side got Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted in Germany in 2021 and sentenced to life in prison for killing a former Chechen rebel in a Berlin park two years earlier, apparently on the orders of Moscow’s security services. Throughout the negotiations, Moscow had been persistent in pressing for his release, with Putin himself raising it.

At the time of Navalny’s death, officials were discussing a possible exchange involving Krasikov. But with that prospect erased, senior U.S. officials, including national security adviser Jake Sullivan, made a fresh push to encourage Germany to release Krasikov. In the end, a handful of the prisoners Russia released were either German nationals or dual German-Russian nationals.

Russia also received two alleged sleeper agents jailed in Slovenia, as well as three men charged by federal authorities in the U.S., including Roman Seleznev, a convicted computer hacker and the son of a Russian lawmaker, and Vadim Konoshchenok, a suspected Russian intelligence operative accused of providing American-made electronics and ammunition to the Russian military. Norway returned an academic arrested on suspicions of being a Russian spy; Poland sent back a man it detained on espionage charges.

“Today is a powerful example of why it’s vital to have friends in this world,” Biden said.

All told, six countries released at least one prisoner and a seventh, Turkey, participated by hosting the location for the swap, in Ankara.

Biden placed securing the release of Americans held wrongfully overseas at the top of his foreign policy agenda for the six months before he leaves office. In an Oval Office address discussing his decision to drop his bid for a second term, Biden said, “We’re also working around the clock to bring home Americans being unjustly detained all around the world.”

At one point Thursday, he grabbed the hand of Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth, and said she had practically been living at the White House as the administration tried to free Paul. He then motioned for Kurmasheva’s daughter, Miriam, to come closer and took her hand, telling the room it was her 13th birthday. He asked everyone to sing “Happy Birthday” with him. She wiped tears from her eyes.

The Biden administration has now brought home more than 70 Americans detained in other countries as part of deals that have required the U.S. to give up a broad array of convicted criminals, including for drug and weapons offenses. The swaps, though celebrated with fanfare, have spurred criticism that they incentivize future hostage-taking and give adversaries leverage over the U.S. and its allies.

The U.S. government’s top hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens, has sought to defend the deals by saying the number of wrongfully detained Americans has actually gone down even as swaps have increased.

Tucker, the Journal’s editor-in-chief, acknowledged the debate, writing, “We know the U.S. government is keenly aware, as are we, that the only way to prevent a quickening cycle of arresting innocent people as pawns in cynical geopolitical games is to remove the incentive for Russia and other nations that pursue the same detestable practice.”

Though she called for a change to the dynamic, “for now,” she wrote, “we are celebrating the return of Evan.”

Thursday’s swap of 24 prisoners surpassed a deal involving 14 people that was struck in 2010. In that exchange, Washington freed 10 Russians living in the U.S. as sleepers, while Moscow deported four Russians, including Sergei Skripal, a double agent working with British intelligence. He and his daughter in 2018 were nearly killed in Britain by nerve agent poisoning blamed on Russian agents.

Speculation had mounted for weeks that a swap was near because of a confluence of unusual developments, including a startlingly quick trial for Gershkovich, which Washington regarded as a sham. He was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security prison.

In a trial that concluded in two days in secrecy in the same week as Gershkovich’s, Kurmasheva was convicted on charges of spreading false information about the Russian military that her family, employer and U.S. officials rejected. Also in recent days, several other figures imprisoned in Russia for speaking out against the war in Ukraine or over their work with Navalny were moved from prison to unknown locations.

Gershkovich was arrested March 29, 2023, while on a reporting trip to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg. Authorities claimed, without offering any evidence, that he was gathering secret information for the U.S. The son of Soviet emigres who settled in New Jersey, he moved to Russia in 2017 to work for The Moscow Times newspaper before being hired by the Journal in 2022.

Gershkovich was designated as wrongfully detained, as was Whelan, who was detained in December 2018 after traveling to Russia for a wedding.

Whelan, who was serving a 16-year prison sentence, had been excluded from prior high-profile deals involving Russia, including the April 2022 swap by Moscow of imprisoned Marine veteran Trevor Reed for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot convicted in a drug trafficking conspiracy. That December, the U.S. released notorious arms trafficker Viktor Bout in exchange for WNBA star Brittney Griner, who had been jailed on drug charges.

“Paul Whelan is free. Our family is grateful to the United States government for making Paul’s freedom a reality,” his family said in a statement.

On a warm and steamy night, the freed Americans lingered on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, soaking up the moment of their return to the U.S. They took selfies with family members and friends, shared hugs with Biden and Harris, and patted loved ones on the back and smothered them with kisses.

At one point, Biden gave Whelan the flag pin off his own lapel.

Juvenile charged in double homicide

ANGELINA COUNTY — The Angelina County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a shooting that left two people dead early Wednesday morning. According to Angelina County Sheriff Tom Selman and our news partner KETK, a call reported a shooting in Burke just after midnight Wednesday morning. Officials detained a juvenile, who has not been publicly identified, at the scene. Morgan McRae, 39, was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds. Hannah Griffin, 31, who had also been shot, was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Sheriff Selman said that investigators received a warrant for the residence and found the weapon that was used in the shooting. Officials also said there were other children in the home at the time of the shooting. (more…)

Police trying to contact victims after 4,017 sexual assault cases were shelved

Brookshire’s breaks ground on FRESH location in Longview

LONGVIEW — Brookshire’s Grocery Company held an event for the groundbreaking of their upcoming FRESH location in Longview on Tuesday. According to our news partner KETK, the new FRESH will be located at the corner of US Highway 259 and North Fourth Street and is expected to be finished by the summer of 2025.

This location will be the third FRESH by Brookshire’s, joining one in Tyler and one in Fate. FRESH isn’t just a grocery store, like its sister locations this store will also include dining options, a playground and a patio with an outdoor entertainment space. (more…)

FEMA opens recovery center in Rusk County

RUSK COUNTY — FEMA is opening a Disaster Recovery Center in Rusk County to provide one-on-one help to Texans affected by severe storms, tornadoes and flooding April 26 – June 5. The center will operate from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday- Saturday, closed Sunday. Any center can help with both Hurricane Beryl and the April 26-June 5 storms and flooding. To find the center location nearest you, click here.

Residents in Anderson, Austin, Bell, Calhoun, Collin, Cooke, Coryell, Dallas, Denton, Eastland, Ellis, Falls, Guadalupe, Hardin, Harris, Henderson, Hockley, Jasper, Jones, Kaufman, Lamar, Leon, Liberty, Montague, Montgomery, Nacogdoches, Navarro, Newton, Panola, Polk, San Jacinto, Rusk, Sabine, Smith, Terrell, Trinity, Tyler, Van Zandt, Walker and Waller counties can visit any open center to meet with representatives of FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration. No appointment is needed. (more…)

W.E. Winters Park officially closed for renovations

TYLER — The Tyler Parks and Rec Department is beginning renovations to W.E. Winters Park, formerly known as Peach Park, located at 910 S. Peach Ave. The park will be closed to the public until the end of 2024. According to a news release, W.E. Winters Park renovations will include improvements to the playground, restrooms, pavilion, and parking lot and will feature a pollinator-themed design. Additional renovations will be completed at a later stage of development, including adding additional play elements, amenities, and renovations to the multipurpose courts. The current phase of renovations is expected to be completed by the end of 2024. For more information about this and other Tyler Parks and Rec Improvement Projects, click here, or call (903) 531-1370.

US-Mexico border arrests expected to drop to new low for Biden’s presidency

SAN DIEGO (AP) — United States-Mexico border arrests have plummeted about 30% in July to a new low for Joe Biden’s presidency, U.S. authorities said, raising prospects that a temporary ban on asylum may be lifted soon.

The U.S. Border Patrol is expected to arrest migrants about 57,000 times during the month, down from 83,536 arrests in June, the previous low mark of Biden’s presidency, according to two U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials who spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday on the condition of anonymity because the figures had not been released publicly. It would be the lowest monthly tally since 40,507 arrests in September 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic slowed movement across borders in many countries, including to the United States.

Even before Biden’s Democratic administration invoked powers to suspend asylum on June 5, border arrests had fallen by about half from a record-high of 250,000 in December amid increased Mexican enforcement. Since June 5, arrests have fallen by half again, helping the White House fend off attacks by former President Donald Trump and other Republicans that Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris, have allowed the border to spiral out of control.

The asylum halt would end if daily arrests drop below 1,500 over a seven-day average, a scenario that Customs and Border Protection officials are preparing for with arrests now hovering 1,600 to 1,700 day. The halt would be reinstated if arrests reach a seven-day daily average of 2,500, a threshold of “emergency border circumstances” that was immediately met when the restrictions took effect in June. Immigrant advocacy groups are challenging the asylum measures in court.

Under the halt, U.S. authorities deny a chance at asylum to anyone who crosses the border illegally. Unaccompanied children are exempt, and others may seek asylum-like forms of protection that allow them to stay in the United States with a higher bar and fewer benefits, like the United Nations Convention Against Torture.

Asked to comment on July numbers, the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday referred to a statement last week that arrests had dropped 55% since asylum restrictions took effect.

San Diego was again the busiest corridor for illegal crossings in July, followed by Tucson, Arizona, an official said.

The biggest declines have been nationalities that are easiest to deport, including Mexicans, but people from other countries are also showing up less as other travel restrictions take hold, officials said. Chinese migration appears to have been slowed by Ecuador’s new visa requirements and more U.S. deportations to China.

Trial to begin against accused attacker’s parents over school shooting

GALVESTON (AP) — A lawsuit accusing the parents of a former Texas high school student of negligence for not securing weapons he allegedly used in a 2018 shooting at his campus that killed 10 people was set to go before a jury on Wednesday.

Opening statements were expected in Galveston, Texas, in the civil trial over the lawsuit filed by family members of seven of those killed and four of the 13 people wounded in the attack at Santa Fe High School in May 2018.

Dimitrios Pagourtzis was charged with capital murder for the shooting. Pagourtzis was a 17-year-old student when authorities said he killed eight students and two teachers at the school, located about 35 miles (55 kilometers) southeast of Houston.

The now 23-year-old’s criminal trial has been on hold as he’s been declared incompetent to stand trial and has remained at the North Texas State Hospital in Vernon since December 2019.

The lawsuit is seeking to hold Pagourtzis and his parents, Antonios Pagourtzis and Rose Marie Kosmetatos, financially liable for the shooting. The families are pursuing at least $1 million in damages.

The lawsuit accuses Pagourtzis’ parents of knowing their son was at risk of harming himself or others. It alleges Pagourtzis had been exhibiting signs of emotional distress and violent fantasies but his parents did nothing to get him help or secure a handgun and shotgun kept at their home that he allegedly ended up using during the shooting.

“We look forward to obtaining justice for the victims of the senseless tragedy,” said Clint McGuire, an attorney representing the families of five students who were killed and two others who were injured.

Lori Laird, an attorney for Pagourtzis’ parents, did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment.

In a court filing, Roberto Torres, who is representing Pagourtzis in the lawsuit, denied the allegations against his client, saying that “due to mental impairment or illness, (Pagourtzis) did not have sufficient capacity to have a reasonable degree of rational understanding of or control over his actions.”

The trial could last up to three weeks.

Family members of those killed or wounded have welcomed the start of the civil trial as they have expressed frustration that Pagourtzis’ criminal trial has been on hold for years, preventing them from having a sense of closure.

Lucky Gunner, a Tennessee-based online retailer accused of illegally selling ammunition to Pagourtzis, had also been one of the defendants in the lawsuit. But in 2023, the families settled their case against the retailer, who had been accused of failing to verify Pagourtzis’ age when he bought more than 100 rounds of ammunition on two occasions before the shooting.

Other similar lawsuits have been filed following a mass shooting.

In 2022, a jury awarded over $200 million to the mother of one of four people killed in a shooting at a Waffle House in Nashville, Tennessee. The lawsuit had been filed against the shooter and his father, who was accused of giving back a rifle to his son before the shooting despite his son’s mental health issues.

In April, Jennifer and James Crumbley were sentenced to at least 10 years in prison by a Michigan judge after becoming the first parents convicted in a U.S. mass school shooting.

Floating Rio Grande barrier can stay for now

UT Tyler names first-ever ‘Jonas Scholar’ for school of nursing

TYLER — The University of Texas at Tyler announced that one of their students was selected as the university’s first-ever Jonas Scholar. According to our news partner KETK, Ryan Schalles, a PhD student at UTT’s School of Nursing, has been selected by Jonas Nursing and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) to be the school’s first-ever Jonas Scholar.

“Being named a Jonas Scholar is a remarkable achievement for Ryan Schalles and a significant milestone for the UT Tyler School of Nursing,” Dr. Barbara K. Haas, School of Nursing dean, said. “We are immensely proud of him and grateful to Dr. Barbara McAlister for supporting Ryan. Her dedication to mentoring and guiding our students is invaluable and reflects the commitment typical of the UT Tyler School of Nursing faculty.” (more…)

Princess Leia bikini costume sells at auction for $175K

HOUSTON (AP) — The gold bikini-style costume that Carrie Fisher wore as Princess Leia while making “Return of the Jedi” in the “Star Wars” franchise has sold for $175,000, according to the auction house that handled the sale.

The costume was made famous when Fisher wore it at the start of the 1983 film when Leia was captured by Jabba the Hutt at his palace on Tatooine and forced to be a slave.

The costume, one of the most memorable in the “ Star Wars ” movies, was sold on Friday by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions.

Joe Maddalena, Heritage’s executive vice president, said the costume that was sold was one that was screen tested and worn by Fisher on the movie’s set but ultimately did not make it onto the final version of the film as it was switched out for one that was more comfortable.

The auction house said the costume sparked a bidding war among collectors.

Maddalena said he wasn’t surprised by the attention bidders gave to the costume as well as to a model of a Y-wing fighter that took on the Death Star in the original “Star Wars” film that sold for $1.55 million. He said “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” have very avid fan bases.

“The power of ‘Star Wars’ proves itself again. These movies are just so impactful,” Maddalena said.

In a November 2016 interview with NPR’s “Fresh Air,” Fisher said wearing the costume was not her choice.

“When (director George Lucas) showed me the outfit, I thought he was kidding and it made me very nervous. I had to sit very straight because I couldn’t have lines on my sides, like little creases. No creases were allowed, so I had to sit very, very rigid straight,” said Fisher, who died about a month after the interview.

Richard Miller, who created the costume, said in an interview that’s included in a “Star Wars” box set that he used soft material to build the costume so that Fisher could move around more freely.

“However, she still didn’t like it. I don’t blame her,” said Miller, who was the chief sculptor for Industrial Light & Magic, the visual effects company founded by “Star Wars” creator George Lucas. “I did put leather on the back of it to help it feel better.”

The costume had its share of critics, who thought it sexualized Fisher for the franchise’s male fan base.

In “Interview” magazine in 2015, Fisher told actor Daisy Ridley, who starred in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” “You’re going to have people have fantasies about you. That will make you uncomfortable, I’m guessing.” She pushed back against the idea of being a sex symbol and told Ridley to “fight for your outfit.”

House Republicans vote to rebuke Kamala Harris over administration’s handling of border policy

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