Today is
Sunday April 20, 2025
SMITH COUNTY – A Smith County man was given a 20 year prison sentence on Friday after pleading not guilty to a 2023 charge of intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle. According to our news partner KETK, 23-year-old William Chaplinski of Big Sandy, was found guilty in Sept. 2023 fatal head-on crash.
Crash reports from the DPS said Chaplinski crossed the center line in a Nissan Titan in attempts to pass another vehicle when he collided into a Kia Sportage head-on. The driver of the Kia, 42-year-old Harry Collins, III of Tyler, was pronounced dead at the scene. Chaplinski was booked into the Smith County Jail on Sept. 9, 2023 after authorities said he was “determined to be intoxicated at the time of the crash.”
A year later,Chaplinski entered a not guilty plea with the court, for the intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle charge and was found guilty. He will now serve a 20-year sentence in state prison.
TROUP – The Troup Police Department said that the city has reached an agreement with the family of a juvenile who reportedly drew graffiti on a public restroom on Nov. 20. According to our news partner KETK, officials said they identified the juvenile while investigating the vandalized restroom at the city splash pad. Police said the youth was cooperative and remorseful. The city said the family agreed to pay for the cost of cleaning the graffiti.
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SMITH COUNTY— A Tyler man has been arrested for murder after a body was discovered that was later ruled as fentanyl overdose. According to our news partner KETK, Smith County Sheriff’s Office was called to a residence on CR 490, between Swan and Lindale. On their arrival, deputies were told the body of Michael Crone was found by a roommate lying on the floor of their residence.
The sheriff’s office said, “During the investigation, deputies observed a small piece of tin foil just inside the sink in the bathroom which contained what appeared to be a partially burned substance. Also located within the same area was a paper rolled which appeared to be utilized as a straw.”
Detectives determined that Crone’s phone was missing and alongside the narcotics found at the residence, led them to believe the phone contained “information regarding his death.” Investigators also felt that the phone was destroyed to hinder the death investigation.
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DALLAS (AP) — A Dallas anesthesiologist was sentenced Wednesday to 190 years in prison for injecting a nerve-blocking agent and other drugs into bags of intravenous fluid at a surgical center where he worked, leading to the death of a coworker and causing cardiac emergencies for several patients.
The emergencies began two days after Raynaldo Rivera Ortiz Jr. was notified of a disciplinary inquiry into an incident during which he allegedly “deviated from the standard of care” during an anesthesia procedure when a patient experienced a medical emergency.
Ortiz, who had a history of disciplinary actions against him, complained to other physicians that the center was trying to “crucify” him.
Court documents show that Ortiz, who was arrested in September 2022 and convicted in April, waived his appearance at sentencing in federal court.
An attorney listed in court documents for Ortiz did not immediately return a phone call for comment.
Prosecutors said numerous patients at Surgicare North Dallas suffered cardiac emergencies during routine medical procedures performed by various doctors from May through August in 2022. Another anesthesiologist who had worked there died while treating herself for dehydration using an IV bag from the facility, prosecutors said.
The surgical center staff concluded that these cases suggested a pattern of intentional adulteration of IV bags used at the center.
They identified 10 additional unexpected cardiac emergencies that occurred during otherwise unremarkable surgeries in the months before his arrest, which was an exceptionally high rate of complications over such a short period, according to the complaint.
His medical license was suspended following his arrest by the Texas Medical Board.
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TYLER – The Glass Recreation Center will be closed from Sunday, Nov. 24, through Sunday, Dec.1, for annual maintenance. This includes resurfacing gym courts and repainting interior walls. Classes and programs will resume normal schedules when the center reopens on Monday, Dec. 2, at 7 a.m. For more information, contact the Glass Recreation Center at (903) 595-7271 or at their website.
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HOUSTON COUNTY – Law enforcement’s preliminary report of a Saturday afternoon accident that led to the death of two East Texas students provides more details. According to our news partner KETK, the Texas Department of Public Safety, a preliminary investigation found that around 3:40 p.m. on Saturday, a Ford Fusion was traveling north on Highway 19 and a GMC Terrain was southbound.
“It is reported that the driver of the Ford traveled off the road to the right and overcorrected the maneuver back to the left, which caused the Ford to travel into a side skid into the southbound lane where it was struck by the GMC.” DPS said.
The driver of the Ford was identified at 17-year-old Carter Snider of Hawkins. Carter was taken to a hospital where he later died. A 16-year-old boy was pronounced dead at the accident site. Another passenger in that vehicle is hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. The driver and passenger of the GMC, both 60-years-old were also hospitalized, the DPS report said.
Update: Authorities said a convicted murderer who was charged on Monday in connection to a fatal house fire, allege that he threw gasoline on his girlfriend the day he was supposed to be evicted. Tuesday, officials identified the victim as Marilyn Mceachin.
TYLER — Tyler Police have made an arrest in connection to a Monday morning house fire in which a woman was found dead. According to our news partner KETK, 67-year-old Gregory Bargaineer allegedly walked into the Smith County Jail lobby and “made statements about an incident with a female at their residence on Shady Trail.”
Investigators report that fire crews were sent to a house fire at 3300 Shady Trail and Bradshaw Drive around 4:00 a.m. Crew members found a woman’s body in back of the house. Her body has been sent for autopsy with identity release pending that report. Evidence gathered by Tyler PD during interviews led to Bargaineer’s arrest. He is has been charged with murder and held on a $750,000 bond.
TYLER – Kerry Max Cook was found innocent of the 1977 murder of Linda Jo Edwards back in June and now he’s suing Smith County and the City of Tyler. According to our news partner KETK, the allegations of his lawsuit are listed in a complaint filed by Cook’s lawyers Nov. 14. The complaint alleges that the City of Tyler, Smith County and several named officials violated his civil rights by engaging in a “homosexual witch-hunt” which led to him spending 20 years on death row for a crime he’s been found innocent of by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Cook stated in the release, “For over 20 years I fought for my life from a death row cell,” Cook said in a press release. “After being kicked out the back door of Smith County’s legal system in 1999, I fought for another 25 years to clear me and my family’s name. This year, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals finally declared me ‘actually innocent,’ but my struggle does not end there. Today, I am pressing forward with a civil suit against the officers who framed me and against the broken Tyler and Smith County police agencies that let it happen.”
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Beyoncé is coming to your home on Christmas — provided you have Netflix and are tuning in to the Baltimore Ravens-Houston Texans game.
Netflix announced late Sunday that the megastar would perform during halftime of a Christmas Day matchup in her hometown of Houston.
The streaming service didn’t reveal details about the performance but teased that it would likely feature guest appearances from her “Cowboy Carter” album, which delivered her a leading 11 Grammy nominations earlier this month.
Netflix is streaming two NFL games this Christmas. Its first game will be between the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers — setting up the possibility that two of the world’s biggest superstars will be part of the events. Taylor Swift, who is dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, has attended several of his games so far this year, and will be done with her Eras tour by Christmas.
The NFL games are the streaming giant’s latest foray into sports and live programming. The announcement comes two days after Netflix streamed an evening of boxing that included a bout between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul that resulted with the YouTube influencer winning the fight.
That stream was marred by streaming and buffering problems for many users, with at least 85,000 viewers logging problems with the website Down Detector.
Beyoncé has performed at two Super Bowls, in 2013 and 2016.
CHICAGO (AP) — A company affiliated with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones asked a federal judge on Monday to disqualify a bid by the satirical news outlet The Onion to buy Jones’ Infowars at a bankruptcy auction, alleging fraud and collusion.
The company, First United American Companies, which is affiliated with a Jones website that sells dietary supplements, was the only other bidder at the recent auction, offering $3.5 million. In a filing in federal bankruptcy court in Houston, a lawyer for the company asked the judge to declare it the winning bidder instead of The Onion.
The lawyer, Walter Cicack, claimed that the bankruptcy trustee overseeing the auction improperly colluded with The Onion and families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut in naming The Onion the winning bidder. Cicack also alleged the trustee violated rules for the sale set by the judge, and said the company’s cash offer was twice the amount of The Onion’s.
The bankruptcy auction was held last week as part of the liquidation of Jones’ assets, including Infowars. Proceeds from the sale will go to Sandy Hook families and other creditors. Jones filed bankruptcy in 2022 after he was ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion in defamation lawsuits filed by the families for calling the 2012 shooting that killed 20 children and six educators a hoax staged by actors to increase gun control.
Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion’s parent company, Chicago-based Global Tetrahedron, issued a statement Monday through a spokesperson.
“We’re obviously disappointed he’s lashing out by creating conspiracies, but we’re also not surprised,” he said, referring to Jones.
The bankruptcy trustee appointed to oversee the sale, Christopher Murray, declined to comment Monday. A lawyer for the Sandy Hook families, Christopher Mattei, also declined to comment.
In a response filed in court later Monday, Murray called the allegations “baseless.” He said the motion by First United American to disqualify The Onion was “a disappointed bidder’s improper attempt to influence an otherwise fair and open auction process.”
Murray also wrote, “Having failed in its prior efforts to bully the Trustee and his advisors into accepting its inferior bid, FUAC now alleges, without evidence, collusion and bad faith in an attempt to mislead the Court and disqualify its only competition in the auction.”
Murray filed separate court papers Monday asking the judge to approve the sale of Infowars to The Onion.
Monday’s filing by First United American Companies included the formal bid submitted by The Onion, revealing that it offered $1.75 million for Infowars along with certain incentives by Sandy Hook families who won their defamation lawsuit against Jones. The families agreed to forgo up to 100% of their share of the Infowars sale proceeds and give it to other Jones creditors.
With the families’ offer, other Jones creditors would get a total of $100,000 more than they would get if First United American Companies bought Infowars, according to The Onion’s bidding document.
Murray told the bankruptcy judge during a court hearing Thursday that the families’ incentives made it a better offer than the one by the Jones-affiliated company.
“The creditors ended up significantly better off,” Murray told the judge, adding that one of his responsibilities was to maximize value for creditors.
Judge Christopher Lopez, who said he had questions about the sale process and concerns about transparency, ordered a hearing to see exactly what happened with the auction and how the trustee chose The Onion. The date of the hearing has not been set.
Jones has been criticizing the sale process on his show and social media sites, calling it “rigged” and a “fraud.”
Over the weekend, Collins posted a series of comments about the auction on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Long and short of it: We won the bid and — you’re not going to believe it — the previous InfoWars folks aren’t taking it well,” he wrote.
Collins said last week that The Onion planned to turn the Infowars website into a parody site, taking aim at conspiracy theorists and other social media personalities while promoting gun violence prevention efforts.
Cicack also said in Monday’s court filing that the trustee improperly changed the auction process “from a live auction to a secret process.” Cicack said that after sealed bids were submitted Nov. 8, it was expected that there would be a round of live bidding on Nov. 13.
But instead, he said, Murray decided to ask the two bidders to submit another offer as their final and best proposal, which they did. Murray then chose from those final bids without holding a round of live bidding. He alleged Murray violated the auction rules.
Lopez’s 20-page order on the sale procedures, issued in September, made such a live bidding round optional. And it gave broad authority to Murray to conduct the sale, including the power to reject any bid, no matter how high, that was “contrary to the best interests” of Jones, his company and their creditors.
Cicack called the Sandy Hook families’ portion of The Onion’s bid “Monopoly” money with no value.
“It is also the product of impermissible collusion with the Onion in an effort to ‘rig’ the auction with the goal of achieving a specific result desired by the Connecticut Families,” he wrote.
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