Today is
Tuesday May 21, 2024
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KILGORE â Kilgore College has released a statement after pictures were posted on social media of music being discarded in dumpster. According to our news partner KETK, the pictures causing many to question why the music was being thrown out by the college. Monday, officials from Kilgore College said in a statement they have been throwing away material that was stored in the music library. They added this does not indicate the school is reducing or removing any of their fine arts programs.
The statement said the majority of the material culled was older sheet music, CD’s or albums that have been stored on campus for years. Because of current technologies, this material being stored digitally.
The release also stated, âThe fine arts department has been sorting through the collection this past year and has maintained a great deal of music, but from time to time, these inventories need to be reduced to allow for the addition of new materials, new technologies and new programs. Kilgore College wants to make it clear that itâs proud of the dedicated music faculty, talented students, and generous patrons and supporters over the years that have left such an amazing legacy.â
CRYSTAL BEACH (AP) â A popular event drew tens of thousands of visitors over the weekend to Texas Gulf Coast beaches, where a fatal shooting erupted and nearly 300 people were arrested, authorities said Monday.
Three separate shootings were reported Saturday on the Bolivar Peninsula during the annual âJeep Weekâ event, including one that left one person dead and two others injured, according to Galveston County Sheriffâs Office Maj. Ray Nolen.
Here are some things to know about the event this year.
WHAT HAPPENED ON SATURDAY?
An estimated 100,000 people and more than 30,000 vehicles crammed into a six-mile stretch of Crystal Beach on Saturday for the culmination of the Jeep Week event near Galveston, Nolen said.
Authorities had not identified any suspects in the most serious shooting on Saturday where one person was killed near Crystal Beach. Another shooting victim was airlifted to an area hospital and was in stable condition Monday, while a third was shot in the hand, Nolen said. Police arrested 295 people over the weekend on an assortment of charges, but mostly for disorderly conduct, public drunkenness and fighting.
Authorities were prepared with more than 170 officers on duty for the weekend, and they made a record-high number of arrests at the event, he said.
WHAT IS âJEEP WEEKâ?
The annual event began more than a decade ago and drew mostly Jeep enthusiasts from Texas and Louisiana.
âIt was a family-fun, friendly event, which we didnât have any problems with,â Nolen said.
But in the last three or four years, the event ballooned in size and started attracting owners of motorcycles, utility-terrain vehicles, pickup trucks and a variety of vehicles for off-highway use.
In recent years, several Jeep clubs have pulled out of the event and distanced themselves from âJeep Week.â
HOW ARE LOCALS REACTING?
What was once a popular tourist attraction that drew tens of thousands of patrons to local businesses has now become a headache for many who live in the area.
After more than 100 people were arrested in 2019, local residents started an online petition to end the event. The following year two people were shot.
This year, several businesses, including beach-side bars and restaurants and a local grocery store, shut down for the weekend. Traffic jams made it difficult for employees to get to and from work, the grocery store saw a sharp spike in shoplifting and restaurants reported dozens of people skipping out of paying their tabs, Nolen said.
Mike Gilbert, the owner of Latitude 29.2 Surf Shop on Crystal Beach, kept his shop open during the day and didnât have any problems, although he acknowledged things got pretty rowdy Saturday night.
âI had no problems being open and no concerns,â Gilbert said. âI think it could have been better if families hadnât been scared to come down here and be on the beach.â
HOUSTON (AP) â A bridge near Galveston, Texas, that was damaged last week when a barge carrying fuel broke free from a tugboat has reopened to vehicle and pedestrian traffic after safety inspections deemed it safe, officials said.
The barge crashed into a pillar supporting the Pelican Island Causeway span on May 15. The impact caused the bridge to partially collapse and cut off the only road connecting Galveston to Pelican Island.
After a review of the bridge by the Galveston County Navigation District No. 1 and underwater inspectors with the Texas Department of Transportation, the structure was reopened late Saturday night. Officials have set weight limits for vehicles using the bridge.
Early estimates had indicated that up to 2,000 gallons (7,571 liters) of oil spilled into surrounding waters following the collision.
On Sunday, the U.S. Coast Guard updated that figure, saying approximately 20,000 gallons (75,708 liters) of oil were spilled.
After the oil spill, authorities deployed a boom, or barrier, to contain the spill, forcing the temporary closure of about 6.5 miles (10.5 kilometers) of the waterway.
Clean up efforts have ended around Pelican Island. But crews were still removing oil and washing shoreside rocks along Swan Lake, a coastal recess located several miles west of Pelican Island along the Texas Coast.
During the clean-up efforts, crews recovered three dead, oiled birds from around Swan Lake: two brown pelicans and a laughing gull.
Nine other birds that were alive but covered in oil were spotted around Swan Lake, but officials said they were not able to recover them.
âTo further protect wildlife, acoustic cannons were placed to provide an audible distraction to shore birds,â the Coast Guard said.
After the barge collision, Texas A&M University at Galveston, which has a campus on Pelican Island, had closed its facility. Fewer than 200 people related to the school were on the island at the time.
The university said the campus resumed normal operations on Monday.
The Coast Guard said the tugboat had lost control of the 321-foot barge âdue to a break in the couplingâ that had connected the two vessels.
The affected area is miles from the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, which sees frequent barge traffic, and the Houston Ship Channel, a large shipping channel for ocean-going vessels.
The accident came weeks after a cargo ship crashed into a support column of the Francis Key Bridge in Baltimore on March 26, killing six construction workers.
TYLER â The U.S. Postal Service is asking all homeowners to check their mailboxes as part of their Mailbox Improvement Week. According to our news partner KETK, the postal service designates the third full week of May as Mailbox Improvement Week to encourage customers to examine and potentially improve their mailboxes. The USPS said in a release,, âneat, attractive, mailboxes make a significant contribution to the appearance of the countryside and streets in suburban areas.â
Some changes homeowners could do include: Replacing loose hinges on a mailbox door, repaint a mailbox that may have rusted or started to peel, remounting a loosened mailbox post and replace or add house numbers.
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LONGVIEW â Longview ISD announced that some high school students who participated in a âprankâ that vandalized school property are suspended. According to our news partner KETK with the suspension, they were barred from from participating in graduation. Officials from LISD said in a release, several students were suspected of participating in a âsenior prankâ between Wednesday and Thursday at the high school. The district also announced that there were also students involved from a âneighboring high school,â Longview ISD has contacted officials from their districts as well.
Longview ISD said, âWhile we believe important milestones should be celebrated and we understand the long-standing tradition of âsenior pranksâ at high schools across the country there is a clear line between a prank and the destruction of public property. The disruption of student learning, monetary costs to our district, extra burden on our hard-working staff, and disregard for community property will not be tolerated.â
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TYLER â With graduation right around the corner, students and their families are looking forward to celebrating the conclusion of years of hard work. Our partner KETK has a list of graduation ceremonies in East Texas and when they occur. You can find it here.
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PHILADELPHIA (AP) â New federal estimates show Philadelphia remains the nationâs sixth-most-populous city, despite a decline in population throughout the pandemic.
But the U.S. Census Bureau data out this week also shows San Antonio, Texas, could surpass Philadelphia in the coming years if trends continue.
The data shows that Philadelphia lost 3.3% of its population â roughly 53,000 residents â between April 2020 and July 2023, dropping the cityâs overall population to about 1,550,542.
San Antonio, meanwhile, saw the largest numerical increase in its population of any city in the country in 2023, adding about 22,000 residents last year. Its population now stands at 1,495,295, according to census estimates, or about 55,000 people behind Philadelphia.
The data also shows Philadelphia is not the only major city to see its population shrink. Nearly all its peer cities in the Northeast and Midwest saw losses, too â some coming at much greater rates.
New York City saw a 6.2% decrease in population during the peak pandemic years, while population drops in Boston and Baltimore also outpaced Phillyâs decline from 2020 to 2023. Some West Coast cities also shrank more than Philly, including San Francisco, which lost 7.4% of its population, and San Jose, California.
On the opposite end, five of the nationâs 10 largest cities added population, mostly in the South and Southwest.
HOUSTON (AP) â A Texas judge has ruled in favor of a Republican candidate challenging the results in a 2022 judicial race and ordered that a new election be held in the nationâs third-most populous county, a Democratic stronghold thatâs been beset by GOP efforts to dictate how ballots are cast.
A losing GOP candidate in a November 2022 judicial race had filed a lawsuit calling for a new election in her contest in Harris County, where Houston is located. Republican Tami Pierce lost her race to be a criminal court judge to the Democratic incumbent, DaSean Jones, by 449 votes.
Pierce blamed her defeat on allegations that illegal votes were cast by people who did not live in the county and that some ballots lacked needed signatures and other information. In court documents, Jonesâ attorney, Oliver Brown, argued that Pierce could not prove there were sufficient illegal or mistaken votes cast in the judicial race that would âmaterially affect this election.â
But in a 32-page ruling issued Wednesday, visiting Judge David Peeples ruled in favor of Pierce, saying 1,430 illegal votes were cast in the race.
Peeple wrote that among the illegal votes, 983 were cast by people living outside Harris County and 445 were cast by voters who did not show photo identification or did not show a substitute ID document.
âThe true outcome in the contest for Judge of the 180th District Court cannot be determined, and a new election is therefore ordered,â Peeples wrote.
Peeplesâ ruling, first reported by the Houston Chronicle, came after a two-day trial in April.
A date for the new election was not immediately set as Peeples wrote that he first needed to discuss this with attorneys in the case.
Brown did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment. He told other news outlets he planned to appeal the ruling.
Paul Simpson, an attorney for Pierce, praised Peepleâs ruling and said âvoluminous, detailed evidenceâ revealed many problems with the 2022 election.
âWe hope Judge Jones will not further delay justice by appealing but, instead, face Harris County voters in a new election when ordered by the court,â Simpson said in a statement.
Harris County GOP Chairman Cindy Siegel said voters âcan now have some faith restored in our electoral process.â
But Mike Doyle, chair of the Harris County Democratic Party, was critical of the GOPâs efforts to overturn the election results, saying in statement that âbecause they wonât stop fighting Harris County voting results when they lose, they will just need to lose again in a completely unnecessary and unjustified re-do.â
Peeplesâ ruling in Pierceâs lawsuit came six-months after he threw out most of the 21 lawsuits that had been filed by GOP candidates challenging their losses in the November 2022 election. Pierceâs lawsuit had been the sole unresolved case.
In his ruling from last year related to a lawsuit in another judicial race, Peeples wrote he had âfound many mistakesâ and violations of the election code in Harris County. But not enough votes in the race between candidates Erin Lunceford and Tamika Craft were put in doubt to justify voiding that election, he wrote.
Harris County, which President Joe Biden won by double-digits in 2020, has become a recurring target of GOP lawmakers who have rushed to impose stricter voting measures and passed a law in 2023 that could allow the state to take over the countyâs elections.
The lawsuits in Houston followed similar court challenges that have become more common around the country following baseless conspiracy theories spread by former President Donald Trump and his supporters alleging the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
Elections have been scrutinized for several years now in Harris County â which has nearly 5 million residents, most of whom are Latino or Black. Problems have included long lines, poll worker and ballot shortages and ballots that were not counted the day of the election.
Harris County, like much of the rest of Texas, previously voted Republican. But demographic changes in the county have been trending toward residents who are younger and minorities, groups who tend to vote Democratic, experts say. The stateâs other large urban areas, like Dallas, El Paso and San Antonio, also vote Democratic.
In recent years, new elections have been ordered in races in other parts of the country due to various problems.
In November, a judge ordered a new election for mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut, after finding surveillance videos showed people stuffing absentee ballots into outdoor collection boxes. In December, a judge in Louisiana ordered a new election in a sheriffâs race after finding evidence that a handful of ballots were cast illegally.
GALVESTON (AP) â A barge carrying fuel drifted away from the tugboat pulling it and crashed into a bridge near Galveston, Texas, causing the span to partially collapse and cutting off the only road to a small island, officials said Thursday.
The vessel slammed into a pillar supporting the Pelican Island Causeway span on Wednesday morning.
Video shows splotches of oil that spilled from the barge into Galveston Bay after the crash. The barge, owned by Martin Petroleum, was able to carry up to 30,000-gallons, but the size of the leak is unclear.
The U.S. Coast Guard said it has deployed a boom, or barrier, to contain the source of the spill and was using drones and personnel to determine how much oil was in the water.
The spill led to the closure of about 6.5 miles (10.5 kilometers) of the waterway.
The Coast Guard said Thursday the tugboat lost control of the 321-foot barge âdue to a break in the couplingâ that had connected the two vessels.
On Thursday, the barge remained beside the bridge, weighed in place by debris including rail lines that fell onto it after the crash.
The bridge, which provides the only road access between Galveston and Pelican Island, remained closed to incoming traffic, but vehicles leaving Pelican Island and pedestrians in both directions are unaffected.
TYLER â The University of Texas at Tyler President Dr. Kirk Calhoun has been elected to the board of directors for the holding company of Southside Bank. According to our news partner KETK, Calhoun, who will step down as UT Tyler president at the end of May,was elected Wednesday to serve on the Southside Bancshares Inc. board of directors . He will still serves as chair of the UT Health East Texas board of directors.
Lee R. Gibson, president and CEO of Southside said, âWe are proud to welcome Dr. Calhoun to Southsideâs boards. He has led UT Tyler and UT Health Science Center through extraordinary change and growth and is well-respected across the state. Dr. Calhoun is a true visionary and I have no doubt he will bring great contributions and depth to Southsideâs boards. We look forward to the impact his contributions will have on the Bank, our communities, clients, customers, and shareholders.â
Southside Bancshares Inc. is the holding company for the East Texas headquartered Southside Bank.
TYLER â It’s a spinoff from last summerâs Dr Pepper Float Ice Cream, Blue Bell Ice Cream will begin selling a highly requested flavor this summer. According to our news partner KETK, the new flavor is A&W Root Beer Float. The A&W Root Beat Float is a creamy vanilla ice cream swirled together with a root beer flavored sherbet.
John Neal Robinson, Blue Bell general sales manager said in a release, âWe received many requests for an A&W Root Beer Float Ice Cream. After the huge success of Dr Pepper Float Ice Cream last year, we were ready to work together on another delicious flavor. We recommend enjoying a few scoops in a chilled mug just like your favorite root beer.â
Blue Bell said the new flavor is now available and will be sold in the half gallon and pint sizes through 2025.
HENDERSON COUNTYâ A former business manager for an East Texas school district pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing funds from the school in federal court. According to our news partner KETK, 38-year-old Brandon Delane Looney pleaded guilty to theft from a program receiving federal funds while serving as Trinidad ISDâs business manager. Prosecutors said that Looney embezzled more than $300,000 between 2017 and 2023 during his time at Trinidad ISD. Looney could face up to a decade in prison, a fine and mandatory restitution to Trinidad ISD for the funds he stole.