Uvalde school officer pleads not guilty

UVALDE (AP) — A former school police officer who was part of the slow law enforcement response to the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of failing to take action as a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers inside a fourth-grade classroom.

Adrian Gonzales was among the nearly 400 law enforcement personnel who responded to the scene but then waited more than 70 minutes to confront the shooter inside the school.

During a court hearing in Uvalde, a city of roughly 15,000 people about 80 miles (130 kilometers) west of San Antonio, teary-eyed family members of some of the victims watched as Gonzales was arraigned on charges of abandoning and failing to protect children who were killed and wounded.

Afterward, Gonzales left the courthouse and walked to his car as victims’ relatives stared at him.

Some of the families have spent more than two years pressing for officers to face charges, and some have called for more officers to be charged.

“For only two to be indicted, there should have been more because there was a lot of ranking officers during that day that knew what to do but decided not to. But they only got these two,” Jerry Mata, whose 10-year-old daughter Tess was killed, said after the hearing.

“We’ll take what we get and we’re just gonna continue fighting for the kids and the two teachers and see it all the way through,” Mata said.

Gonzales and former Uvalde schools police Chief Pete Arredondo were indicted by a grand jury in June. Arredondo waived his arraignment and entered a not guilty plea earlier this month. Both were released on bond following their indictments.

One of Gonzales’ attorneys, Nico LaHood, said after the hearing that his client “feels he’s innocent.” LaHood, the former district attorney for Bexar County, said such charges against a law enforcement officer are “uncharted territory.”

“He feels all he did was try to show up to help those children,” the lawyer said.

Although there is “justifiable, righteous anger in this situation,” Gonzales’ defense team’s position is that it shouldn’t be directed at him, LaHood said.

“We have not seen or even heard of a theory of why Mr. Gonzales is being singled out,” he told reporters.

Javier Montemayor, an attorney for Arredondo, said his client also believes he isn’t guilty.

“We do submit that these allegations not only against Mr. Arredondo, but against law enforcement in general, are not a common practice in the state of Texas. It’s something that is unfounded,” Montemayor told The Associated Press by phone Thursday.

The May 24, 2022, attack was one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history. The police response has been heavily criticized in state and federal investigations that described “cascading failures” in training, communication and leadership among officers who waited outside the building while some victims lay dying or begging for help.

Gonzales, 51, was among the first officers to arrive. He has been indicted on 29 counts of abandoning or endangering a child, accused of abandoning his training and not confronting the shooter, even after hearing gunshots as he stood in a hallway.

Arredondo, 52, was the on-site commander that day. He is charged with 10 counts of abandoning or endangering a child. Arredondo failed to identify an active shooting, did not follow his training and made decisions that slowed the police response to stop a gunman who was “hunting” victims, according to the indictment.

Terrified students inside the classroom called 911 as parents begged officers to go in. A tactical team of officers eventually went into the classroom and killed the shooter.

Each charge against Gonzales and Arredondo carries up to two years in jail if convicted.

It is the latest — yet still rare — case in which a U.S. law enforcement officer was charged with allegedly failing to act during a school shooting. The first such case to go to trial was a sheriff’s deputy in Florida who did not confront the perpetrator of the 2018 Parkland massacre. The deputy was acquitted of felony neglect last year. A lawsuit by the victims’ families and survivors is pending.

Several families of Uvalde victims have filed federal and state lawsuits against law enforcement, social media and online gaming companies and the gun manufacturer that made the rifle the gunman used.

Teen dead following ‘thwarted burglary’

LONGVIEW — A 17-year-old is dead and another minor is injured after an alleged “thwarted burglary.” According to our news partner KETK, officers responded to a report of a residential burglary in progress on Mahlow Drive around 2:20 a.m. on Wednesday. Officials said that they found a 17-year-old male inside the residence with life-threatening injuries. Police said that the 17-year-old was taken to a hospital where he later died from his injuries. Longview PD said that “it was determined he was the suspect that unlawfully entered the home.”

Shortly after arriving on the scene, officers were notified that another juvenile arrived at a local hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries, and after investigation it was “determined the juvenile was associated with the incident on Mahlow Drive,” police said. (more…)

Harris plans to continue to build presidential momentum in speech to teachers union

Southwest breaks with tradition and will assign seats

DALLAS (AP) –Southwest Airlines plans to drop its tradition of more than 50 years and start assigning seats and selling premium seating for customers who want more legroom.

Crowdstrike blames bug for global tech outage

Officials talk safety after firefighter hit by car

TYLER — Two Smith County firefighters have been hit by cars while working traffic calls all within the span of a month. Officials weigh in on the importance of slowing down and moving over. “Reminding motorists to watch their speed, do all you can to pay attention, put your phones away,” Jeff Williford, TxDOT Tyler District public information officer, said.

According to our news partner KETK, Sunday on FM 850 east of Tyler a firefighter was working the scene of a wreck when a vehicle hit them and took off. The firefighter has since been released from the hospital and authorities are still searching for the person responsible. (more…)

Teen arrested for fatal Longview shooting

GREGG COUNTY — One person is dead following a shooting in Longview on Monday. According to our news partner KETK, the Longview Police Department said officers were dispatched to a shooting at the Townhouse South Apartments on W Loop 281 around 10 p.m. When officers arrived, they reportedly discovered a man had sustained a gunshot wound with life threatening injuries. The victim, identified as Isaiah Dickson, 21, was taken to a local hospital where he later died from his injuries.

Police said the incident appeared to be a disturbance between known parties with the suspect, Tavyon Stephenson, 18, shooting the victim and then fleeing the scene. Longview PD, assisted by the Marshall Police Department, located Stephenson in Marshall on Tuesday at around 1 p.m. where he was arrested alongside another individual on separate charges.

Repercussions rare for violating campaign ethics laws in Texas

AUSTIN (AP) – In 1989, Bo Pilgrim, an East Texas chicken plant magnate, strolled the floor of the Texas Senate and dispensed $10,000 checks to nine members in an effort to stop a worker’s compensation bill from passing.

The scandal, dubbed “Chickengate,” was shocking but legal.

But the chicken man’s brazenness — what he called campaign contributions, many Texans saw as bribes — ruffled enough feathers to usher in a rare era of good government reforms.

Lawmakers would soon pass laws prohibiting themselves from accepting donations inside the Capitol and creating the Texas Ethics Commission, an independent body with investigative power, that would enforce the state’s campaign finance laws.

Three decades following its inception, the commission is toothless. Compliance of Texas’ ethics laws is largely voluntary. That’s because the agency relies on the Texas attorney general to enforce payment of fines for violations.

And under Ken Paxton, who himself owed $11,000 in ethics fines until recently, that has rarely happened.

A review by The Texas Tribune found that the number of politicians, lobbyists and political action committees that owe fines for breaking state campaign finance laws has exploded in recent years.

The Texas Ethics Commission issues the penalties for violations of state campaign finance laws, most often when entities fail to file required reports detailing their fundraising, spending or personal financial holdings. Those penalties could also be for infractions like spending campaign dollars on improper expenditures, failing to register as a lobbyist or using government resources to campaign.

Fines are the primary enforcement mechanism to ensure political actors follow the law. But when the fines go unpaid, the responsibility for forcing delinquent individuals and groups to pay up falls on the attorney general’s office, which can take them to court.

Since Paxton took office in 2015, the ethics commission has referred 2,500 unpaid fines to the attorney general for enforcement, the Tribune found. During that time, Paxton’s office has filed just 175 enforcement lawsuits, or 7% of the cases referred to it. Most occurred early in his tenure. After filing none in 2020 and 2021, the attorney general’s office brought 18 cases in 2022, 25 last year and just one so far in the first six months of 2024.

As enforcement has lagged, the number of delinquent candidates and elected officials has soared. In 2019, 327 filers owed $1.3 million in fines. Through June, 750 filers owed $3.6 million.

That trend is alarming in a state with few regulations in its political system, said Anthony Gutierrez of open government advocacy group Common Cause.

“Candidates are supposed to be telling Texans who they’re taking money from, what they’re spending money on,” Gutierrez said. “If any of that information is not being disclosed, it’s a big deal. It could be being kept secret for a reason.”

For years, the worst offender has been Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City. He owes $77,013 dating back to at least 2014. During that period, he’s been referred for enforcement by the ethics commission 20 times for missing deadlines to file campaign finance reports or personal financial statements. The attorney general’s office has sued him six times, seeking $34,500. Despite this, and a criminal conviction for barratry, he has been reelected five times and remains in good standing with the Democratic caucus. He reported maintaining just shy of $64,000 in his campaign account on the last report he did file, in February.

Reynolds did not respond to an interview request.

This year, Democratic Rep. Shawn Thierry, dogged by accusations that she had bankrolled her primary runoff campaign with Republican donors, did not file the campaign finance report due weeks before the May 28 election. The omission deprived voters in her Houston district of timely information about her financial backers while they mulled who to support in a race where her party loyalty was in question.

Thierry, who lost her race, said she missed the deadline because the aide in charge of the filing had a death in their family. When Thierry filed the missing report in July, 56 days late, it revealed that more than half of the $200,000 she raised came from donors or political action committees who traditionally support Republicans.

Thierry said she paid her $500 ethics commission fine, though the commission said she hasn’t.

Paxton himself until June was a delinquent filer whom the TEC has referred to attorney general’s office for enforcement. Unsurprisingly, Paxton’s office had not sought repayment from him.

He owed $11,300 for fines that piled up from filing three late reports. Paxton used his $2.4 million campaign account to pay the fines on June 25, after the Tribune had contacted his office seeking an interview about its process for pursuing delinquent filers on June 12, 14 and 17.

As a matter of policy, the ethics commission only refers cases for collection for fines that reach $1,000. The attorney general’s office strategy for collecting these delinquent fines is unclear. Paxton, First Assistant Brent Webster, Bankruptcy and Collections Division Chief Rachel Obaldo and Assistant Attorney General John Adams did not respond to requests for comment.

Paxton has sparred with the ethics commission in the past. He refused to allow the attorney general’s office to represent the commission in lawsuits filed by the conservative political action committee Empower Texans, which had contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Paxton’s campaign. As a result, the commission spent $1.1 million hiring outside counsel. It ultimately won the case.

Adrian Shelley, of left-leaning consumer rights advocacy group Public Citizen, said the lack of enforcement of Texas’ ethics laws makes way for grave consequences for transparency in future elections.

“If I am a candidate for office and I want to conceal who I’m taking political donations from, the message the candidates get right now is there’s really no teeth in the agency,” Shelley said. “There’s really no risk to me in not filing my report before the election… there’s an incentive to game the system”

Of the 25 delinquent filers who owe the largest sums, an average of $29,029, the attorney general’s office has only filed suit against six. The largest fine-ower in this group currently in office and who has not been sued is State Board of Education Member Staci Childs, who owes $23,417. Reached by phone, Childs speculated that she has not ended up in court because she is actively working with the ethics commission to pay down her debt.

Texas has permissive campaign finance laws. It is one of just 11 states where donors can contribute unlimited amounts. They are also not required to disclose their occupations. Candidates and elected officials can spend these contributions on almost anything, including flowers for constituents’ funerals, overseas travel and office décor.

Ethics Commission Chair Randall Erben and Executive Director J.R. Johnson declined to comment. Both referred the Tribune to a self-evaluation report the commission prepared for the Legislature last year, which identified unpaid fines under the “major issues” heading.

The report suggested the Legislature could create non-monetary penalties for delinquent filers and give the ethics commission more enforcement power. Other states, including Missouri and Illinois, bar candidates from running for office until they have paid outstanding fines and are up to date on disclosure reports. The TEC report also noted that the outstanding fines, if collected, would supplement the state’s general fund.

Thirty-seven states have campaign finance regulatory bodies that can levy fines, according to an index created by the Coalition for Integrity. Large states including California, Illinois and New York allow enforcement on delinquent fines without involving their attorneys general — though New York also has a longstanding problem of politicians let off the hook.

The appetite for reform in the Texas Legislature is unknown. Reps. Reggie Smith, R-Sherman, and John Bucy, D-Austin, who are chair and vice chair of the House election committee, did not respond to requests for comment. Neither did Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, chair of the Senate state affairs committee.

Gutierrez said allowing the ethics commission to file lawsuits on its own would be “a huge step,” towards restoring accountability to the state’s campaign finance system. Allowing the commission more independence, rather than having to rely on an elected attorney general, would help separate the body from political influence.

“It feels like any system where there’s a politician who’s subject to the laws and is also subject to enforcing the laws is just a flawed system,” Gutierrez said. “The ethics commission, as it exists today, just doesn’t have the powers it needs to enforce the laws on the books.”

Federal regulators raising scrutiny of Southwest Airlines after troubling incidents

East Texas man sentenced to prison on drug charges

HENDERSON COUNTY — A Payne Springs man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after officials discovered nearly 50 grams of meth during a search of his vehicle. According to the Henderson County District Attorney’s office and our news partner KETK, Richard Blane Sims, 48 , was sentenced on July 11 for manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance.

In May of 2023, an officer with the Mabank Police Department reportedly “observed a vehicle pulling a trailer with defective equipment and initiated a traffic stop.” Sims allegedly did not have a driver’s license. The district attorney’s office said the passenger of the vehicle had an open warrant and a baggie of methamphetamine was found in her clothing during her arrest. A probable cause search of the vehicle was conducted where officials found a metal box that contained a scale and a large bag that was determined to be 48.64 grams of methamphetamine.

CrowdStrike CEO called to testify over role in global tech outage

Church leaders train to serve as mental health counselors

SAN ANTONIO (AP) – After months of classes on counseling, Veron Blue got her chance to put what she has learned all year, to work.

Across from her, was fellow trainee Deborah Johnson, who, as part of a lesson, assumed the role of a hypothetical client, who had come to Blue for help dealing with depression.

Remembering to focus first on the encounter’s positives, Blue, pastor at San Antonio’s Family Life International Ministries, began, addressing Johnson directly: “I am so proud of you for coming to this meeting.”

By the end of the encounter taking place this month inside a local clinic, her fellow trainees and instructors broke into applause as Blue sighed in relief.

“Having this knowledge with what we already know as pastors is powerful,” Blue told the group.

Blue and Johnson, a member of, are among 10 people from eight different Christian churches in San Antonio who have spent the year participating in a Harvard Medical School program called EMPOWER, a unique program to bring basic counseling skills to places of worship.

The training is designed to help clergy, and its members become part of the mental health workforce, offering brief counseling sessions to community members. This program is not meant to handle severe mental illness beyond depression, and trainees are taught to refer cases beyond their scope to a clinical provider.

“We know the people we are talking to in church, and there is already a built-up trust and dialogue,” said Minister Greg Carter from Vertical Church in San Antonio. “It makes sense for us to use this program.”

The free 12-month program is being sponsored by The Congregational Collective, a nonprofit organization founded by H.E. Butt Foundation in 2023 to help San Antonio faith communities support mental wellness.

The organization’s executive director, Rebecca Brune, said the EMPOWER program draws on 25 years of research in India, which showed how community health workers and non-clinical providers could deliver mental health assistance as effectively, if not more effectively, than clinical providers.

By the end of the year, this initial group of 10 clergy and church members will move on to an internship where they will do nine skills-building sessions at San Antonio’s New Opportunities for Wellness (NOW) clinic and three to five test cases under supervision. By November or December, they will be able to deliver services independently. Once they finish training, this first group will be tasked with helping train the next cohort of religious leaders.

“With the workforce shortage struggle, we needed to figure out how to distribute mental health treatment from an equity perspective,” Brune said. “What better place to go to than faith communities, where Latinos and African-Americans already have trust in.”

How the program works

When the Rev. David Murillo, lead pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church in San Antonio for the past ten years, was approached by The Congregational Collective about participating in the EMPOWER program, he knew it was his calling to say yes.

“This church has been intentional about outreach for centuries,” Murillo said. “I view this as the current iteration of the church serving the community.”

Roxanna Johnson of St. Paul Lutheran Church, said their church has always looked to help those with mental illness, but they didn’t have the tools to address it until now. She said she had already seen the benefits of the training program when a couple from Honduras who were in America for asylum came into their church looking for help.

“They had a hard time coming here. They told all kinds of stories. I assessed the woman using the training I had received, got her some help, and found her a program to get into,” said Roxanna Johnson, who is now the church’s Congregational Collective coordinator. “I am sure we are doing the right thing now.”

EMPOWER teaches people how to treat depression using positive emotions. This is the same training mental health providers receive to treat some depression.

“We have learned that people may need to see a mental health clinician, but they are less likely to speak to someone in a white coat than somebody in the church,” Rev. Murillo said. “This means the church needs to step up. If not us, then who?”

This is the first time this training program has been used in the United States, but it has been implemented in countries such as India and various places in sub-Saharan Africa. Harvard Medical School’s Mental Health For All Lab has recently translated the program from Hindi to English and Spanish, and San Antonio is the first stop.

“Leveraging faith leaders has been done all over the world,” said John Naslund, an instructor in Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard, helping implement the EMPOWER program in San Antonio. “America is actually behind in this regard.”

Naslund believes the program fits perfectly with Texas due to its size and desperate need for more mental health providers.

“San Antonio was perfect because there was already interest in collaboration between churches and clinical partners,” he said. “Also, there is a huge need in Texas, so there is a motivation to make it work.”

The partnership with the New Opportunities for Wellness clinic in San Antonio provides the EMPOWER program with ongoing clinical supervision and referrals, which Brune believes adds a layer of efficiency and integrity to their effort.

“That is the exciting part. We will be able to measure it and track the referrals and the monetary value of this work,” Brune said.

Father Jaime Paniagua of St. Dominic Church in San Antonio, another EMPOWER trainee, said when he referred people in the past, it might have taken weeks or months before they got help, and many people turned to their pastor before their mental health provider.

“There are two reasons I believe this, and one is because we are a place of trust, and the second is that we don’t charge $200 an hour,” Paniagua said. “I never deny a call, and everybody who wants to call me can. We serve right away here, and people know they will be served.”

He also said now is a perfect time for the EMPOWER training because a new generation is starting to return to religion.

“God created us as good spiritual beings, and we are constantly pursuing things to make us feel spiritually good, but not many places provide it,” Paniagua said. “Sometimes, as a church, we mess up, but we need to give the people what they seek because deep inside, we all want to be happy.”

Still, there are some concerns and questions about making the church a general provider of mental health services.

“I think the biggest challenge is not to get emotional,” said Deborah Johnson. “You have to understand that we know these people personally, and when you hear about those challenges, you want to help immediately.”

David Roberts, a psychologist at the NOW clinic who is helping to supervise the program, said one of the biggest challenges for this pilot program is figuring out where the pastor’s role ends and the mental health provider begins.

“It can be tough to be emotionally detached from people you personally care about, but you can use those emotions to affirm your client’s feelings,” Roberts told the classroom of religious leaders.

Religious leaders hear all kinds of problems from their congregation, whether it be rent, divorce, spiritual conflict, and more. Their natural reaction is to help their congregation immediately, but this training program focuses on not only helping the physical but also the mental.

“You have to set boundaries. You can say right now is the behavioral activation session; outside of this, I will call you as a spiritual leader, but be honest about when you switch directions,” said Megan Fredrick, director of programs at the Now Clinic.

Another concern brought up by the group of trainees is what to do when someone is suicidal, and Fredrick quickly told them to refer those kinds of cases to mental health professionals.

“You are going to meet people who you can’t help, but you can give them actionable items to find that help,” Frederick said.

Naslund stressed that this program does not replace proper clinical counseling because the participants aren’t trained to diagnose or prescribe medication, and it’s primarily used to treat depression.

“The current mental health care system isn’t working,” he said. “We had to find a different way. This is meant just to add additional help.”

The relationship between mental health providers and the church can be viewed as mutually beneficial. Churches can use this program as a method of outreach during a time of declining membership, and providers can use regular people to address low-tier mental illness, freeing up time and space.

“The church gets to help and serve people. The clinics can connect with clients they might have had difficulty getting a hold of. And the school can do their study,” Murillo said. “Everybody wins.”

Safety regulators are investigating another low flight by a Southwest jet

Van residents react to sudden changes in city leadership

VAN – In July alone, the city of Van lost its police chief, city manager, mayor and a council member. According to our news partner KETK, the changes stem from the controversial firing of their police chief by the city manager. Now, people who live in Van say they just want things to go back to normal. Community members gathered at city hall, Wednesday night all eager to learn who will temporarily lead their city. The council members voted unanimously to appoint, Ernie Burns as mayor pro-tem.

“It’s a tough place to be right now, but I feel like the city council has done a wonderful job at being open and transparent. I think they’re doing a wonderful job with what they have,” Ivy Lopez, Van resident, said.

July 1st, there was an uproar from residents after the police chief, Tammy Huff was fired by the city manager. Many people who live there stood by the chief, but others believed it was time for her to go. (more…)

Armed person barricaded on a bus in Longview is dead

LONGVIEW — Following an hours-long standoff at a Longview gas station, a man who barricaded himself in a bus was found dead of a “self-inflicted injury.” According to our news partner KETK, around 3:30 Thursday morning, officers responded to the CEFCO gas station on South Eastman Road for a subject refusing to leave. Officers contacted the male occupant of the bus and learned that he had a handgun. A family member of the occupant in Florida told police that they have experienced similar behavior in the past and that it could have been a “mental episode.”

Police said that they continuously attempted communication throughout the morning, both by police and family members, but found no progress was being made. Officials said that around 8 a.m. Thursday morning, Longview SWAT deployed non-lethal gas in an attempt to have the suspect exit the bus, however there was no response. Officers entered the bus and found the occupant dead from an apparent self-inflicted injury. his identity has not been released.

The store has since reopened.

Go Back