Today is
Friday June 19, 2026
TYLER — The National Weather Service Office in Shreveport issued a tornado watch for Tyler until 10 p.m. Thursday, March 2. Strong to severe thunderstorms will likely continue into the overnight hours. The City of Tyler streets and storm-water crews will respond and intervene during a severe weather event where roads have washed out, and other public facilities may be compromised, according to a news release. If you have an emergency, call 9-1-1, stay on the line and DO NOT HANG UP until your call is answered. Answer all questions and follow instructions. The Tyler Police Department’s non-emergency line (903) 531-1000 should be used for all other calls and notifications, including traffic signal issues. Read the rest of this entry »
TYLER – 114th District Court Judge Austin Reeve Jackson has sentenced Jeremy Moffitt to a combined 166 years confinement for four offenses. According to a news release from Jackson’s court, those include unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, evading arrest causing serious bodily injury, assault of a peace officer, and aggravated assault of a public servant. The charges date to an incident in which Moffitt, a Dallas resident now 30 years old, attempted to evade officers who were arresting him at the Smith County Probation Department for violations of his bond conditions. Jackson says trying four offenses at once hasn’t often been done in Smith County, but that doing so means heightened efficiency, financial savings, and less delay.
TYLER — Keep Tyler Beautiful is searching for vendors and sponsors for an Earth Day Festival on Saturday, April 22, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Bergfeld Park. The Tyler Earth Day Festival will promote a message of conservation and sustainability for the community, according to a news release. Keep Tyler Beautiful says it hopes to inspire a call to action to make a difference. The festival will feature vendor booths, music, food trucks, and other fun eco-friendly activities, according to the release. Admission is free to the public. For more information about this event or to become a vendor or sponsor, contact KTyB Community Coordinator Erin Garner at (903) 531-1335 or via email at [email protected].
TYLER — Tickets are now available for one of the showcase events of Tyler’s upcoming Azalea and Spring Flower Trail. The theme of this year’s Historic Tyler on Tour is “Strolling through Charnwood.” Charnwood is Tyler’s first historic district, and the event, which features a Candlelight Home Tour and Garden Party, is scheduled for April 1 and 2. Five historic local homes will be featured. Click here for more information, and click this link for a complete rundown of this year’s Azalea and Spring Flower Trail.
LINDALE (KRLD) — There’s a reported increase in Texans aged 18 to 20 signing up for license-to-carry training. The owner of Freedom Defense training in Lindale, Ray Barron, says he’s getting a lot of phone calls from parents wanting to sign up their teenagers for gun safety training. That’s after the Texas Department of Public Safety announced in January that young people from 18-20 can get a handgun license. Barron says parents are concerned for the safety of their children when they go to college or otherwise leave home. He says he’s also seeing an increase in women seeking handgun training.
TYLER – A Bullard man was sentenced to four years of deferred adjudication after pleading guilty Wednesday to planting a camera in the bathroom of his Tyler business and recording a woman while she was changing. According to our news partner KETK, an arrest warrant for Michael Blundell, 48, says he was an employer at a medical site and was arrested on Oct. 22, 2021, after he recruited a potential new worker who noticed a small camera sitting by the toilet after she had gone into the bathroom to change into scrubs. The woman reportedly called a friend, and left the business, taking the camera with her after discovering it. She then went to the police, who found a recording of her changing and Blundell adjusting the camera on it. Read the rest of this entry »
LONGVIEW – The Longview Police Department says a woman earlier reported missing was found safe on Monday. Officials had sought assistance in locating Vanitra Odom, 46. According to our news partner KETK, Odom had last been seen February 23.
TYLER — The Smith County Commissioners Court on Tuesday approved using $264,654 of its ARPA funding to help build a special baseball field for the new Miracle League of Tyler. According to a news release, the nonprofit organization promotes recreational and developmental activities for children with mental and physical disabilities. Smith County’s ARPA funding will help pay for a special rubberized turf baseball field that accommodates wheelchairs and other assistive devices while helping to prevent injuries in case of a fall, according to the release. The City of Tyler is providing the land to build the field, adjacent to its other baseball fields. Miracle League is raising funds to construct the field and the City will maintain it. Click this link for more information.
WASKOM (KMHT) — Select staff members with a school district in East Texas will soon be armed with guns on campus. The Waskom ISD Board of Trustees voted to approve district policy allowing for the adoption of the Guardian Program. The Guardian program will work as an addition, not a replacement, to the school resource officer and existing campus safety protocols. The state requires guardians to have classroom and weapons training, an annual psychological exam, and a license to conceal carry, amongst other criteria. Waskom ISD has applied for a safety grant to add more safety measures for each campus.
TYLER — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says his office was busy recently in Smith County addressing human trafficking allegations. In his Law Enforcement Round-Up for January 16–31, Paxton says from January 23 through January 26, the Office of the Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Unit and Fugitive Apprehension Unit participated in a proactive online solicitation operation in Tyler. The operation resulted in the arrest of Jose Ernesto Hernandez of Tyler, Delano Roosevelt Phelps of Tyler, Matthew Blake Organ of Whitehouse, James David Amos II of Flint, Lobo Monterrey of Jacksonville, and Charles Alexander McLarty of Flint. All individuals were arrested and charged with solicitation of prostitution of a person under the age of 18.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Classified documents and the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment were addressed by Congressman Nathaniel Moran during his weekly visit with KTBB. Moran discussed his new bill, the Information Security Act, which seeks to train government officials in the proper process of designating and handling classified government documents. Moran told us, “There’s a number of documents that are out there that probably have been over-classified. Typically, “classified” should only be assessed to information that if released would have some detrimental effect on our national security.” Read the rest of this entry »
HENDERSON – A Henderson woman has been arrested and charged in relation to a May 21, 2022 crash that left at least one child dead, according to Texas DPS. Iliana Esther Ayala, 29, was booked into the Rusk County Jail Saturday and charged with two counts of intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle and two counts of intoxication assault with a vehicle. According to our news partner KETK, she’s being held on bonds totaling $220,000. In 2022, DPS reported that Ayala was driving down Highway 64 at 7:45 p.m. when her car left the road and flipped over its front end, ejecting three children. Inside the car with Ayala was also Edna Grinaldo, 25, of Tyler, who was the only one wearing their seatbelt. Read the rest of this entry »
QUITMAN – Wood County officials last week conducted two search warrants that led to approximately 1,600 pounds of marijuana being seized, according to a release. One warrant was executed Thursday on County Road 1350 near the Lake Quitman area after investigators received information of a growing operation allegedly in that area. According to our news partner KETK, officials reportedly seized approximately 1,000 pounds of marijuana and arrested two Russian nationals at the location. Authorities say one of the suspects had just crossed the border of Mexico a few weeks prior after flying into Colombia. The other warrant was executed Saturday on County Road 1573, where officials say they located and seized another 600 pounds of marijuana. Read the rest of this entry »
TYLER – A former Tyler ISD integrated student supports teacher was arrested Thursday for sexual assault, accused of having an improper relationship with a student while working at Three Lakes Middle School. According to our news partner KETK, Andre Jefferson, 28, of Tyler, was arrested for sexual assault of a child Feb. 23, three days after Tyler ISD police were notified of the allegations and Jefferson was suspended by the school pending an investigation. According to an arrest warrant, the middle school student told someone with the Smith County Children’s Advocacy Center that she “has been seeing Mr. Jefferson†at his apartment since January. Jefferson’s bond was set at $500,000.
TYLER – A Tyler man was sentenced to 20 years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to accident involving death and intoxication manslaughter in an April 2022 crash that killed a local teenager. According to our news partner KETK, Justin Pierce, 30, also pleaded guilty to assault of a peace officer for an April 2021 incident in which he was also arrested for public intoxication. According to a DPS report, Pierce was driving down Highway 64 near Tyler when he struck 18-year-old Marissa July-McCuin of Tyler, who was trying to cross the road. July-McCuin was taken to a local hospital where she later died from her injuries. According to the DPS report, Pierce had left the scene of the crash but was later caught. Pierce was booked into the Smith County Jail the day of the crash and remained jailed during the duration of his case.
LONGVIEW – The Longview Police Department is asking for public assistance in locating a missing woman. According to our news partner KETK, a news release says Vanitra Odom, 46, is 5’3″, weighs approximately 300 pounds, has black hair and brown eyes, and wears glasses. Police said she could be driving a silver Honda Accord with a license plate number of NKT6466. Odom’s family believes she could be in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. If you have any information on Odom’s whereabouts, contact the Longview Police Department at 903-237-1199.
AUSTIN (KRLD) – Casting an illegal vote would be a felony under a bill filed by an East Texas state senator. Bryan Hughes of Mineola passed an election law two years ago in the previous session, but an amendment to that bill lowered the penalty for illegal voting to a misdemeanor. He says his new bill is intended to correct what he sees as a shortcoming in the law. James Slattery of the Texas Civil Rights Project is opposed to the bill because it says a person could be prosecuted if “the person knows of the circumstance that makes the person not eligible to vote.” Hughes says voting illegally is a serious offense and the punishment should fit the crime.
TYLER — TxDOT schedules another week’s worth of roadwork in the Tyler District for the week of February 27. In Gregg County, Longview maintenance will begin blade level-up work on FM 2906, both northbound and southbound, from SH 149 to the state maintenance ends marker. In Smith County, Tyler maintenance will have a crew performing base failure repairs on FM 15 about two miles south of SH 64. The crew will then move near Sadler St. on FM 15. Expect lane closures with flaggers controlling traffic. Click here for the complete rundown of roadwork around the district.
NACOGDOCHES (KRLD) — Video from the dashcam camera of the tractor-trailer rig involved in a fatal crash that killed two East Texas college students is missing. Attorneys for Graylan Spring, one of the Stephen F. Austin State University students killed in the crash between Nacogdoches and Houston on January 20, want to see video from the cab of the 18-wheeler. But KTRE television reports that in a hearing in a Lufkin courtroom, attorneys said there are no files on the SD card and they believe the card was wiped. They say that is not an accident. They demand information on the chain of custody of the SD card. Defense attorneys for the trucking company want access to the cell phones for Spring and Micah McAfoose.
TYLER – The East Texas Speakers Forum will present “An Evening with Patrick Mahomes†at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 1, at the UT Tyler Cowan Center. Tickets will go on sale at 9 a.m. Monday, Feb. 27, through the Cowan Center Box Office. Ticket prices are $45, $75, $85, and $125. They can be purchased online here, by calling 903-566-7266, or at the Box Office between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Mahomes, a Tyler native who graduated from Whitehouse High School, this month led the Kansas City Chiefs to a second Super Bowl victory and was named the game’s Most Valuable Player. Click this link for additional information.
LONGVIEW — The Gregg County Sheriff’s Office says it is facing a severe staffing crisis. According to our news partner KETK, the sheriff’s office currently has about 40 vacancies, creating a need for extra overtime work. Many people left their jobs when the COVID-19 pandemic started and have not come back. Chief Deputy Craig Harrington also says people aren’t applying for other personal reasons. “It’s not a job you’re gonna get in and be rich and is a job that oftentimes folks aren’t praised for, they are criticized for being in,†said Harrington.
JACKSONVILLE – A Jacksonville police officer was injured after attempting to stop a pedestrian, which led to a fight on Wednesday, according to the Jacksonville Police Department. According to our news partner KETK, the officer stopped the pedestrian around 2:02 p.m. on South Jackson Street. Authorities said the suspect ran away after they spoke. The officer reportedly chased the man, and they got into a physical altercation. Cadarius Rashad Mitchell, 31, of Jacksonville, was later arrested. The officer suffered minor injuries, was taken to a local hospital, and was released Wednesday. Mitchell was charged with evading arrest and/or detention, resisting arrest, and obstruction or retaliation. He is now at the Cherokee County Jail. Police said they will not release the name of the officer.
SHREVEPORT, La. – A suspect is jailed for the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Kip Lewis of Elysian Fields, Texas, Saturday along the Gemini parade route in Shreveport. That’s according to our news partner KETK together with its partners KTAL and KMSS. According to earlier reports, Lewis and some friends were engaging in what Shreveport police describe as horseplay, chasing each other with plastic swords. For some reason, one of the teens pulled out a handgun and fired a single shot, hitting Lewis in the upper body. Shreveport police say the 16-year-old suspect surrendered to authorities Wednesday. The suspect is facing a charge of negligent homicide and was last reported in the Caddo Juvenile Detention Center awaiting his initial hearing.
TYLER — Tyler is continuing to observe Black History Month in several ways. On Thursday, a group called “We Remember Tyler†announced efforts to place a lynching memorial on the downtown square. A news release from the group mentions the lynching of James Hodge in 1909 on the grounds of the new courthouse then under construction. According to the release, “A lynching memorial must be placed on the new grounds to tell important historical truths, reveal community resilience, encourage reconciliation, and provide dignity.” Click this link to learn more about the group and its efforts. Read the rest of this entry »
TYLER – Weeks after the early February winter storm, we’re still seeing the damage. Now it’s up to solid waste to do the final stages of clean-up. “We’ve been doing about 50 work orders a day. Now we’re going to be looking to ramp it up to about 150 to 200 a day now that we have all of the contractors and all of our staff working together,†City of Tyler Solid Waste Director Leroy Sparrow told our news partner KETK. Solid Waste staffers said they have about 2,400 work orders to get through since the storm, which is more than double from the February 2021 freeze. “So far since Feb. 8, we’ve been able to do 500 work orders,†said Sparrow. Read the rest of this entry »
RUSK – The Cherokee County District Attorney’s Office announced on Wednesday a man was sentenced to 50 years in prison for continuous sexual assault of a child and aggravated kidnapping. The district attorney’s office said the charges were from incidents July 1, 2021 through Aug. 30, 2021. Jesse Ray Schmidt, then 32, was arrested on Aug. 31, 2021 after an Amber Alert was issued for two children who were later found in Kilgore after the 10-year-old and 11-year-old girls went missing from the Rusk area. According to our news partner KETK, Schmidt was convicted of the charges on Feb. 8.
TYLER — Smith County Road 188, east of the Emerald Bay Lake subdivision, will be closed to through traffic for a bridge replacement starting Monday, February 27. Officials say a narrow bridge is being replaced with a concrete box culvert as part of the roadway improvements to CR 188. The portion of the road that will be closed is located between FM 344 and FM 346. The road closure is expected to be for two weeks for the placement of the box culvert.
TYLER – A former Smith County deputy pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal charge of unlawful transfer, possession or use of a means of identification. According to our news partner KETK, an arrest warrant says Luis Alberto Sandoval, 29, was arrested in August 2021 and accused of using a secure database to assist a drug trafficker from Mexico. The East Texas Anti-Gang Task Force also launched an investigation into the case that took several months. Sandoval was with the Smith County Sheriff’s Office from November 2017 to August 2021. His sentencing information was not immediately available.
EAST TEXAS – Two more East Texas school districts move to a four-day week starting this fall. According to our news partner KETK, trustees in Alto and Leverett’s Chapel have added their names to a growing list of area schools making or considering the action. According to the Alto ISD, the board carefully weighed the pros and cons of the transition and reviewed stakeholder input. Leverett’s Chapel trustees voted unanimously to make the switch. “LCISD would like to thank everyone that participated in the surveys and the community meeting,†the district said in a release. “Your input and perspective were greatly valued and appreciated.†The Leverett’s Chapel district said a school calendar will be finalized in March for the board’s approval.
TYLER — The Tyler City Council Wednesday approved a contract for the 2023 Asphalt Enhancement Project. The city prioritizes asphalt repairs according to the pavement condition index scores and staff evaluations of the city’s streets, according to a news release. The project includes 25 lane miles of pavement improvements and repainting traffic lane markings on streets throughout the community, according to the release. Also in the package: installing a high-friction surface treatment on West Grande Boulevard between Gleneagles Drive and Shady Oaks Drive, where there have been several fatal and multiple non-fatal crashes over the past 10 years. Click here for all the details.