Today is
Monday July 20, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — Crews are again draining the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as President Donald Trump’s problem-plagued efforts to revamp the waterway pushes well past his initial goal of having it ready by July 4 to mark the nation’s 250th birthday.
The president at first suggested his renovations would last a century. But, within weeks of the project originally reaching completion last month, the water was beset by an algae bloom and pieces of the new coating appeared to be peeling off the bottom.
Trump has blamed the peeling on vandals, though critics allege it’s from shoddy repair work.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, whose agency oversees the National Park Service, told conservative podcaster Katie Miller in an interview released earlier this week that the new round of draining was planned. He also said that the water might still contain debris from an extensive Independence Day fireworks display over the National Mall.
“Drain the water, clean up the fireworks stuff,” Burgum told Miller, who is the wife of deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller. “Repair the vandalism that was done. Fill it back up again.”
The work on the Reflecting Pool is just one of a number of projects Trump has spearheaded across the nation’s capital. Most prominently, he demolished the White House’s East Wing to build a $400 million ballroom and plans to build a towering arch between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
He initially announced his intentions to beautify the Reflecting Pool this spring, saying he wanted it completed before the nation’s 250th birthday celebrations.
Water was drained and Trump directed that the bottom be painted what he called “American flag blue.” In May, the president posted on his social media site of the pool: “The goal is to have it done, at this higher level, prior to July 4th — We are ahead of schedule!”
But problems began quickly after the initial work was finished. Trump blamed vandals, and court documents later showed that the National Park Service reported to the U.S. Park Police a June 9 incident in which a sharp knife or razor cut the pool’s new liner.
On Thursday, former Olympic canoe racer David Hearn pleaded not guilty in D.C. Superior Court to deliberately damaging the Reflecting Pool. Hearn has said he reached inside the pool to examine the peeled sealant and let go of a chunk when he was told to by a park worker.
His attorneys and other Trump administration critics have derided the case as an abuse of prosecutorial power and maintain he is being scapegoated for the poor job done fixing up the Reflecting Pool.
At least three other people have been charged in the same court with misdemeanors for allegedly removing pieces of paint from the Reflecting Pool, according to online court records. All three pleaded not guilty during their initial court appearances Wednesday.
The pool was closed for the Independence Day celebration, which featured what Trump said was the largest fireworks display in the world. The president had said that the pool would have to be drained anew as part of the new round of repairs.
Burgum has also said that the Trump administration won’t seek bids for the new rounds of repairs. He told CNN’s “State of the Union” last weekend: “We’ll use the same company because they did a fantastic job.”
Ohio-based Green Water Solutions, also known as Greenwater Services, was given a $1.7 million contract to install a water-purification system in the Reflecting Pool, while Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings was awarded $14.7 million to repaint and waterproof the pool’s concrete floor.
Democratic senators and House members are investigating the pool project, including seeking answers about how much taxpayer funding is involved.
TYLER – Tyler Police Department is reporting that power lines are down in the roadway on Palace Avenue between West Elm Street and West Erwin Street. All southbound lanes on Palace between Elm and Erwin are closed. Northbound lanes are still open. Utility companies are enroute for repairs, but it is unknown how long the repairs will take. Take alternate routes and avoid this area. There are officers on the road directing traffic.
PALESTINE – The Texas Department of Public Safety has released new information about the five people who died after Thursday’s head on crash on Highway 155, near Lake Palestine. According to DPS, the driver of a white Cadillac SUV who was killed in the crash has been identified as Rhanda Lacy, 60 of Crockett. The adult passengers who died were identified as Leshonda Shepherd, 41, of Crockett and Cynthia Donnell, 63, of Palestine. A four-year-old child who was also onboard later died at a Dallas hospital.
The driver of a Toyota Highlander who died in the crash has been identified as Jonathan Ryal, 51, of Tyler. According to new information from DPS, Ryal drove across the center lane crashing into the Cadillac, leaving him with fatal injuries.
Palestine ISD said the loss of Coach Ryal has rattled the student body, he was an alumni who had coached cross country and varsity soccer for close to 15 years. Read the rest of this entry »
TYLER – Brookshire’s Grocery Co. (BGC) hosted a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday to celebrate the opening of its new location in West Tyler, set to open in 2027, with a popular local restaurant joining in the festivities.The new West Tyler location will allow BGC to meet the growing needs of customers with high-quality fresh meats, produce, amenities such as Starbucks Coffee and a full-service pizza kitchen, according to BGC.
“This groundbreaking represents a significant milestone for BGC — one that I know our founders, W.T. and Louis Brookshire, would be incredibly proud of,” Jerry LeClair, interim CEO for Brookshire Grocery Co., said.
The store will also feature the classic Brookshires hometown feel East Texans love, with a modern twist from another iconic Piney Woods name. A full-service Stanley’s Barbeque restaurant and bar will be added to the BGC store family.
“Both BGC and Stanley’s have deep roots in Tyler,” LeClair said. “Together we’ll create an experience that is uniquely East Texas and uniquely Tyler. We’re Proud to partner with a local business that has become a true East Texas institution and give our customers another reason to gather, connect and enjoy a great meal together.”
In addition to providing a new place for East Texans to shop, the store will create over 200 new job opportunities in Tyler.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks and oil prices are drifting toward a quiet finish of the week Friday following their earlier fireworks on worries about how the war with Iran will affect the global flow of crude.
The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged in midday trading and on track to close out its fourth winning week in the last five. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 101 points, or 0.2%, as of 11:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% lower.
Oil prices eased following earlier fluctuations as a series of unclaimed airstrikes hit Iran after the United States said it finished its attacks. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, fell 0.9% to $75.63.
That’s above its $72 price from the start of the week, but it’s still well below its wartime peak of nearly $120. The worry is that continued fighting could block oil tankers from the Strait of Hormuz and prevent the delivery of crude from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.
President Donald Trump said on his social-media platform that he agreed to continue talks with Iran but also that the United States told it “in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!”
With the wait ongoing for what will happen next with the strait, some of the strongest action on Wall Street was for the U.S. trading debut of a South Korean tech giant, SK Hynix.
The chip company raised roughly $26.5 billion by selling American depositary shares at a price of $149 each. That price jumped immediately after the ADRs began to trade on the Nasdaq in the midday hours, and it was most recently up 13.4%.
SK Hynix’s stock in Seoul has already surged 634% over the last year thanks to euphoria around artificial-intelligence technology. The boom has created real profits thanks to surging demand for computer memory. But it’s also raised worries that AI stock prices have shot too high and that all the world’s spending on chips and data centers won’t be able to produce enough productivity and profit growth to make it worth it.
Beyond the sharp recent swings for AI stocks, the focus on Wall Street is shifting to the upcoming reporting season for companies’ profits during the spring.
Delta Air Lines said it was able to absorb higher fuel prices from April through June because of strong demand from customers to fly, including a wide range of corporate travelers. Its profit and revenue topped analysts’ expectations, and it gave a forecasted range for profit in the summer whose midpoint was above analysts’ expectations.
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Delta’s stock fell 2.2%, though, after coming into the day with a strong 28.2% rise for the year so far.
Companies across industries will need to produce big growth in profits to justify the big moves for their stock prices, which are broadly near records. Next week will feature earnings reports from many of the biggest U.S. banks, including Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo on Tuesday alone.
Eleswhere on Wall Street, Circle Internet Group rose 5.9%. The company behind the USDC cryptocurrency, which is supposed to keep the value of $1, said it won U.S. regulatory approval to establish a bank. It will operate under the name Circle National Trust, and CEO Jeremy Allaire said the move “marks a defining step in bringing blockchain technology and digital assets into the core of the U.S. financial system.”
WD-40’s stock jumped 10.7% after reporting much stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady as oil prices drifted. The yield on the 10-year Treasury remained at 4.55%, where it was late Thursday.
High yields have shaken financial markets worldwide recently. They’ve climbed on worries about expensive oil and high inflation, which could push the Federal Reserve and other central banks to raise interest rates.
Higher rates can keep a lid on inflation, but they also slow the economy and hurt prices for all kinds of investments.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 2.5%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.2% for two of the world’s bigger moves. Stocks fell 1% in Shanghai.
HOUSTON (AP) — Federal officials are refusing to release the name of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who fatally shot a Mexican man during a traffic stop in Houston, and scrutiny of the shooting is growing after authorities said the man killed was not the person ICE was trying to find.
The shooting in Houston has revived critical voices deriding the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and how ICE operates, especially after immigration arrests around the country surged to 10,000 over a recent five-day period, fueled in part by massive Congressional funding.
No evidence has emerged to support the Department of Homeland Security’s version of events that led to the killing early Tuesday of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo — that he rammed an ICE vehicle when it was chasing his white van and that an officer opened fire in self-defense.
Three other men inside the van told an attorney that officers are lying about what happened and that Salgado Araujo did not ram an ICE vehicle but that he was shot through the passenger side window.
The officers were not wearing body cameras and neither ICE nor DHS, which oversees that agency, have released photos, videos or other evidence from the scene.
Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old homebuilder who was shot and killed as he drove his crew to a construction site, was not who ICE was looking for, Democratic U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia said. Salgado Araujo’s family said he had lived in the U.S. for more than 35 years, had no criminal record and was close to finishing the long process of obtaining legal status when he was killed.
ICE detained the other three men in the van and a lawyer who said he has spoken to them said the version told by DHS is “completely false.”
“At no point did they ever use the van to ram into the ICE agents and at no point were these ICE agents lives ever in danger,” attorney Hugo Balderas-Ibarra said on Instagram.
The other men detained by ICE included Salgado Araujo’s brother. ICE has not released their names, but family members said they have been able to briefly talk with them.
ICE is pressuring the men to self-deport which would make it harder for them to share their version of events with investigators or others, and Daniel Tirado Pantoja has no legal permission to live in the U.S. but has no criminal record, his stepdaughter said.
“We just told him not to sign anything, that we’re going to fight this case,” Juana Degollado told The Associated Press.
DHS said these allegations are “categorically false.”
When asked if officers were specifically targeting Salgado Araujo, DHS said Thursday that officers investigating a tip weeks before the shooting saw two white vans at the address of a target. While heading to that address Tuesday, officers saw a white van and someone inside who resembled the person they were looking for, the department said in a statement.
DHS said it will not release the officer’s name because they could face threats and violence and their family could be at risk.
DHS also has not responded to requests for other information, including how long the officer has worked for ICE or whether anyone involved in the shooting is administrative leave. The department has taken a similar stance after previous fatal shootings involving its officers, unlike many local and state agencies that routinely identify and provide biographical details about officers involved in critical incidents.
Unlike some previous deaths involving federal immigration officers, few photos or videos surrounding the shooting have emerged publicly in the days since Salgado Araujo’s death.
The League of United Latin American Citizens offered a $5,000 reward for video or other evidence but the positions of the vehicles means surveillance cameras in the area were blocked from recording the shooting, Proaño said.
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TYLER – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has delivered one of 250 truckloads of food to the East Texas Food Bank, an initiative marking the nation’s 250th birthday.
This specific donation of 40,000 pounds of food is equivalent to 30,000 meals for East Texans.
The 250 truckloads of food are part of a larger donation effort by the church in observance of the nation’s 250th birthday. The delivery to the East Texas Food Bank included non-perishable items such as pasta, beans and rice, along with household essentials like dish soap, all intended to reach dinner tables across the region. Read the rest of this entry »
SLOCUM – A firefighter with the Slocum Volunteer Fire Department is currently in the hospital after experiencing a serious medical emergency while on duty earlier this week.
According to our news partner KETK, the department spokesperson said while responding to a fire on Tuesday, Safety Chief Dan Hernandez experienced a medical emergency and was taken to a hospital in Palestine.
After being stabilized, Hernandez was taken by an ambulance to a hospital in Tyler, where he currently remains.
“We request your thoughts and prayers for Dan, his wife Valerie, his son Trey, his grandsons and all of his family,” the department said. “We not only consider Dan an integral part of our department, but also a long-time friend and member of our Slocum community.”
HOPKINS COUNTY (KETK) — An East Texas breeder pleaded guilty last week to four counts of wire fraud after a viral dog shooting video led to the discovery of her unlicensed breeding facility in December 2025.
Kirstine Michelle Hicks, owner of Giant German Shepherds, appeared in federal court after being arrested on Dec. 21, 2025, for a social media video depicting her allegedly shooting at a dog three times and leaving it for dead, spurring an investigation into her breeding facilities.
In March, she was indicted for acting as an unlicensed animal dealer and four counts of wire fraud.
Further investigation found that Hicks had as many as 131 German shepherds on her property in devastating conditions by the end of December 2025, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas said.
Additionally, the investigation into Giant German Shepherds found that Hicks has been running the business fraudulently. She advertised dogs as healthy, met certified parentage and were American Kennel Club (AKC) registered though the indictment found that they were not.
Information presented in court determined that the representations of the dogs she was selling online were false. Instead of selling purebred and AKC-registered dogs, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said that Hicks sold mixed-breed dogs that were unhealthy, with fabricated documentation for an inflated price.
A March indictment identifies four alleged victims of Hicks’ wire fraud scheme, including a disabled veteran who prosecutors say received an aggressive dog accompanied by falsified paperwork. The dog reportedly had undisclosed medical issues and bit the buyer multiple times, drawing blood.
The indictment also states that Hicks knowingly violated the Animal Welfare Act by not obtaining a license from the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture before selling or transporting dogs from June 2024 to December 2025.
On Wednesday, Hicks pleaded guilty to the four counts of wire fraud before U.S. Magistrate Judge John Love. She could face up to 20 years in federal prison.
“The depraved indifference to animal suffering we witnessed in this case was shocking,” United States Attorney Jay R. Combs said. “My office will continue to advocate for the victims who were defrauded by the defendant, as well as the animals who suffered, and often died, in cruel conditions. The concerned citizens who brought this to light are to be commended, along with the amazing animal rescue organizations who worked so hard to assist in caring for the animals, most especially Big Dog Ranch Rescue.”
TYLER – A Brownsboro man has been sentenced to over 15 years in federal prison for trafficking methamphetamine in east Texas, announced U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs.
36-year-old Bradley Korral Gould, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and was sentenced to 188 months in federal prison on July 6.
According to information presented in court, on October 4, 2024, Henderson County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a shooting in Brownsboro, where they found Gould inside his vehicle with a gunshot wound to his upper thigh. While investigating the shooting, deputies located an abandoned backpack on the roadside between Gould’s vehicle and the location of the reported shooting. Read the rest of this entry »
SAN ANTONIO (AP) – Two New World screwworm cases in dogs are among more than 30 confirmed instances in Texas and New Mexico, prompting warnings Wednesday from veterinarians and humane societies that pet owners need to remain vigilant to protect their animals.
The parasite reappeared in cattle the U.S. in June, more than 50 years after it had been largely eradicated from the country. The pest is actually the larvae of the New World screwworm fly. It eats live flesh and fluids rather than dead material, as the larvae of most fly species do.
Here is what to know about the parasite, the threat it poses to pets and how to protect them:
Screwworm fly larvae can infest any mammal
The fly’s migration north from Panama starting in 2024, and through Mexico in 2025, has agriculture officials warning that it poses a threat to the $113 billion U.S. cattle industry, but the larvae can hatch and breed in any mammal, including wildlife, dogs, cats and occasionally humans.
The problem develops when a female fly lays its eggs in open wounds and mucous. After the eggs hatch, the larvae feed for about a week before maturing, dropping to the ground and continuing to develop into an adult fly.
The American Veterinary Medical Association says newborn animals and animals with open wounds or who have undergone surgery or other medical procedures recently are especially vulnerable. Even a tick bite can host an infestation, Aaron Grady, executive director of the Houston Humane Society shelter, said during a webinar on the screwworm.
Infestation signs include restlessness and bad smell
Animal health experts say pet owners in areas where the screwworm is present — southern and southwestern Texas and southeastern New Mexico so far — should watch their animals closely and examine them for wounds, cuts and bites regularly.
Pet owners should look for any maggots or movement in a wound. Other signs include a foul smell and restlessness or anxiety in an animal, or an animal “hyper-fixating on looking or chewing in a certain area of the body,” said Melissa Stansell, a veterinarian at the shelter Austin Pets Alive!
Any of those signs are reason to contact a veterinarian for possible treatment. The affected animal is likely in a great deal of pain, and that can cause death from shock. The larvae also can cause death if they move into vital organs or by causing infections that turn deadly.
Flea, tick medications can stop an infestation
Humane society officials and veterinarians said shelters across Texas are trying to prevent infestations in animals by giving them prescription flea and tick medications. They recommend that pet owners do the same.
“It will kill the larvae as they ingest the blood and tissue,” Stansell said. “The chemical compositions of those products are what kill the actual larval stages of these flies.”
Veterinarians also can treat infestations and animals can recover if pet owners contact them quickly. Stansell said the treatment could include antibiotics.
“It is only fatal if left untreated,” she said.
An effort to eradicate the fly again is underway
The New World screwworm fly is a tropical species and decades ago would disappear each year when colder weather arrived with the fall or winter.
But state and U.S. Department of Agriculture officials aren’t waiting for the weather to turn. They’ve returned to an eradication method that worked decades ago, breeding sterile male flies and releasing them into the wild. The female New World screwworm fly mates once in her monthslong life, and if her partner is sterile, her eggs won’t hatch — causing the population in an area to drop and then disappear.
For years, the only factory breeding sterile flies in the Western Hemisphere was in Panama, but the USDA invested $21 million to convert a site in southern Mexico from breeding fruit flies to recently start breeding screwworm flies. The agency also plans to spend $750 million on a new fly factory in Texas, set to open next year.
HOUSTON (AP) — A Mexican national fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Houston had no criminal convictions during his decades living in the U.S. and was driving a crew to a homebuilding site when he was killed, his family and a Texas congresswoman said Wednesday.
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was working toward securing legal status in the U.S. and knew what to do if stopped by ICE, his son said.
Ronaldo Salgado said his father may have been scared that the people in unmarked vehicles were coming to steal the tools he used for 35 years to build homes, from sunrise to sunset, so he could send his three American sons to college.
“He did not deserve to die. He did not deserve to be reduced to a headline of Mexican man shot and killed by ICE. He deserved to live a quiet life as Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a husband, a father and a job creator for dozens of men who also wanted the American dream,” Salgado said during a news conference.
The shooting happened Tuesday in Magnolia Park, a neighborhood that has been a hub for Houston’s Mexican American community for a century.
Federal officials say their vehicle was rammed but don’t provide evidence
Salgado Araujo was shot after he ignored commands and attempted to ram an officer who fired his weapon in self-defense, the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday in a statement. ICE officers were targeting him because he was living in the country without legal permission, according to the department, which oversees ICE. The man’s car struck an ICE vehicle, the department added.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia said Salgado Araujo had no criminal convictions.
Houston firefighters said he was shot in the abdomen. He died at a hospital.
Three other men appeared to be detained as Salgado Araujo lay moaning on the ground, according to his son, who said one of them was his uncle and that no one has heard from any of them since.
Federal officials have not released video or images of the shooting or the alleged damage to the vehicles. Salgado on Tuesday joined civil rights groups and Democratic officials in urging federal authorities to release all the footage and other information it has on the shooting.
In several other shootings involving federal officers, initial descriptions by immigration officials have sometimes been contradicted later by video evidence.
A video shot by bystander Juliet Martinez shows a black vehicle angled towards a white van, their doors wide open. A bleeding and handcuffed man groans loudly on the ground and his leg shakes. Other federal officers stand over at least three other handcuffed men.
Civil rights groups say ICE can’t be trusted with the investigation
The federal crackdown has created a country where it is “open season on Latinos” by officers who think they can “shoot and explain later,” League of United Latin American Citizens President Roman Palomares said during the news conference.
The way ICE has handled previous investigations shows they have not earned the trust of taking their statements as facts without evidence like video to back it up, he said.
“Your pattern has been one of inaccuracies of prejudicial leaks before the facts are known, of twisting the narrative to fit your version of events,” Palomares said.
The league offered a $5,000 reward for information and videos from witnesses as it calls for an independent investigation. Other civil rights leaders begged anyone with videos to not turn them over to ICE, which they said could destroy them.
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said Salgado Araujo’s family and the community deserve the truth but federal authorities are exclusively handling the investigation at this time.
There’s been an uptick in arrests in recent weeks
Representatives of ICE and DHS have not responded to repeated requests for comment Wednesday.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin took over the department in March with the aim of keeping it away from the controversies that had marked the tenure of his predecessor, Kristi Noem.
In the months after two fatal shootings in Minnesota sparked a fierce backlash, the number of immigration arrests across the country fell and ICE appeared to recalibrate its tactics. But in late June, arrests around the country surged to 10,000 over a five-day period, fueled in part by massive Congressional funding.
The shooting was at least the eighth death resulting from an encounter with federal immigration officers since the start of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Son says his father worked hard for decades
Ronaldo Salgado said his mother was told something bad had happened to his dad around 7 a.m. Tuesday. After frantically looking for him at his job site and finding his empty van, he saw a video.
“I recognized him, not from his appearance but from his voice crying for help as he lay on the street,” Salgado said.
Salgado Araujo met his wife as a teenager in Mexico. They came to America and built their own home in Houston with help from friends and family who worked on his crew. His wife made his lunch before he left for the day and had a hearty meal ready when he came home. He would listen to music and pet his dog on his porch, Salgado said.
“After nearly 35 years of working to give us the American dream, he made the choice to begin the process of obtaining his American dream through a work permit,” Salgado said. “We dotted every I, crossed every T, filled every document, attended every appointment. He was close to obtaining his legal status.”
Salgado Araujo had biometric scan and fingerprints done earlier this year, his son said, and had carefully studied what to do if ICE pulled him over. If he was speeding away, it was probably because he feared having his tools stolen, his son said.
“Had my father seen an emblem of ICE or an emblem that says anything about a law enforcement agency, my father would have complied,” his son said.
Mexico’s president criticizes the latest killing
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said she is considering legal measures or may ask the United Nations to step in to stop the violence against Mexicans in the United States.
“There has been another tragic death of one of our compatriots in the United States due to detention issues, even though their only ‘offense’ is not yet having proper documentation,” Sheinbaum said.
Texas’ largest city has experienced heightened enforcement operations since the crackdown began last year, and not without public backlash. The Houston City Council voted to pass an ordinance limiting ICE cooperation but reversed course after Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, threatened to cut more than $100 million in state funding for public safety.
VAN ZANDT COUNTY – The maintenance director at Martin’s Mill ISD was taken into custody on Tuesday for an outstanding warrant from Dallas County charging him with indecency with a child.
According to our news partner KETK and the Van Zandt County Sheriff’s Office, Larry Plant was taken and booked into the Van Zandt County Jail on Tuesday. The arrest was made after he was found by members of the Texas Attorney General’s Office Fugitive Apprehension Unit and deputies from the sheriff’s office.
The department said Martin’s Mill ISD was made aware of Plant’s arrest and fully cooperated throughout the process.
“This arrest is another example of the working relationships between law enforcement agencies and our local institutions,” Sheriff Kevin Bridger said. “By working together, we remain committed to protecting our community and ensuring those accused of serious crimes are taken into custody safely and professionally.”
SMITH COUNTY – Law enforcement agencies across East Texas are mourning the loss of a Smith County Sheriff’s Office Deputy after he unexpectedly died on duty during a medical emergency on Tuesday.
According to our news partner KETK, and the Smith County Sheriff’s Office, 53-year old Gerald Rhey Atchison Jr. was working on duty as a property and evidence technician when he collapsed due to a medical event.
Other law enforcement personnel immediately begin life saving measures, including CPR. Paramedics arrived to assist and continue life saving measures as Atchison was unresponsive. He was then transported to the emergency room, where he was pronounced dead by medical personnel, the sheriff’s office said. Read the rest of this entry »
TYLER – Tyler Water Utilities (TWU) continues to rebuild and improve the wastewater infrastructure Tyler depends on every day. Upcoming projects will repair aging lines and add capacity, continuing the City’s efforts to reduce sanitary sewer overflows and improve the sewer system.
On Wednesday, July 8, the City Council approved four wastewater projects under the City’s federal Consent Decree with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Together, these projects represent more than $18.5 million in investments to Tyler’s wastewater collection system. Read the rest of this entry »
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UPDATE: Fugitive Scotty Bradberry was arrested in Panola County on Tuesday, Kilgore Police Department said. Bradberry was arrested on the additional charge of running from the Panola County Sheriff’s Office, leading to four arrest warrants from last week’s incident of fleeing from authorities and allegedly violating a protection order.
KILGORE – The Kilgore Police Department is searching for a man who fled from deputies on Thursday afternoon, according to our news partner KETK.
As reported by the department, Scotty Bradberry had been processed last week on a warrant for assault family violence, along with previous convictions but had since returned to Kilgore earlier this week. Read the rest of this entry »
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HOUSTON COUNTY (KETK) — A 9-year-old’s outcry about alleged sexual abuse led to the arrest of an East Texas man on Friday.
The Houston County Sheriff’s Office said the report first came in on June 29, where they learned the child had made an outcry of having been inappropriately touched by a known 37-year-old man.
A forensic interview was then conducted later that day, where the child’s allegations were confirmed. An arrest warrant was then obtained for Ellis Johnta Izquierdo for aggravated sexual assault of a child.
Five days later, on July 3, the Houston County Sheriff’s Office alongside DPS and Game Wardens, executed the warrant at Izquierdo’s home on FM 2663, just east of Latexo.
Izquierdo was then taken into the Houston County Jail on a $300,000 bond. Upon arrest, the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole filed a motion to revoke his parole with no bond issued, the sheriff’s office said.
LONGVIEW – A man was arrested on Sunday after he allegedly shot another man during a “domestic issue,” according to the Longview Police Department and our news partner KETK.
Longview PD officers responded to a shooting that was reported on Hudson Avenue at around 8:56 a.m. on Sunday. When officers arrived at the scene, they found an adult man who was shot.
The victim was taken to a hospital by the Longview Fire Department in order to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Investigating officers learned that the shooting was part of a “domestic issue” involving the victim and 39-year-old Kaylon Thomas.
Thomas was arrested in connection with the shooting and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and assault causing bodily injury. He’s currently being held in the Gregg County Jail on a total bond of $4,000
ARP – The son of a former Arp ISD assistant principal was sentenced to 10 years probation on Monday, after pleading guilty to injury of a child related to impregnating and having a relationship with a 14-year-old girl in 2023.
According to our news partner KETK, in August 2025, then 21-year-old Blake Emmanuel Florence was arrested in connection to his improper relationship with a minor, alongside his mother, Karla Florence, who allegedly failed to report that she knew of the relationship.
Following a report filed by the victim’s mother, investigators found that Blake was involved in a sexual relationship with the victim, resulting in a child being born in 2024. Blake was charged with sexual assault of a child and tampering with physical evidence. Read the rest of this entry »
HENDERSON COUNTY – Two people were flown to a Dallas hospital after sustaining serious injuries in a jet ski crash on Friday afternoon.
According to our news partner KETK and the Payne Springs Fire Rescue, the crash occurred at Hidden Hills Harbor after the jet ski driver struck a boat dock with another person on board.
An update has not been released about the condition of those involved in the incident; however, authorities said they were both wearing life jackets at the time of the crash.
ARP – Renowned East Texas boys basketball coach Charles Joseph “Joe” Crawford died at 69-years-old last week, after a lengthy career as a leading coach all across northeast Texas.
According to our news partner KETK, Crawford was born in Carthage in 1957 and he graduated from Henderson High School in 1975, after setting a scoring record while playing basketball for the Lions.
He then attended Kilgore College and went on to get his bachelor’s degree from Stephen F. Austin State University in 1979. Crawford then spent the next 43 years coaching boys’ basketball at the following schools at Buffalo, Arp, Gilmer, Henderson, Dallas Christian, Grace Community and Tyler Legacy.
After his last head coaching job at Arp, Crawford retired in 2023 after accumulating a total of 401 career coaching wins. As a teacher, Crawford educated students in world history, United States history, Texas history and health.
SMITH COUNTY – A Smith County man has been sentenced in connection to a fatal 2024 crash that killed two people. Ethan Luna, 20, pleaded guilty to intoxication manslaughter in Judge Austin Jackson’s courtroom Monday morning. Luna was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
According to our news partner KETK, a Smith County arrest affidavit says, deputies arrived to the scene of a two-vehicle crash on Sept. 14, 2024, at the intersection of Highway 271 and FM 2015. In a ditch on the south side of Highway 271, deputies found a Ram truck and a Dodge Grand Caravan both with extensive damage.
“The truck was resting in the ditch facing southbound,” the affidavit read. “Directly in front of the truck was the van laying on its driver’s side. It appeared the van had rolled onto its side and slide into an electric pole where it was currently resting on the guide wires.”
Inside the truck was lone occupant and driver, Ethan Luna. The van’s occupants included driver Chelsea Askew and passengers Tammy Gibney and an unnamed minor. Read the rest of this entry »
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to block Texas from enforcing a state law that requires apps stores to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent for minors seeking to download apps or make in-app purchases on mobile phones.
Justice Samuel Alito, in a pair of one-sentence orders, denied petitions by plaintiffs who claim that the Texas App Store Accountability Act violates users’ constitutional rights to free speech.
Last month, a three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the law can take effect. The panel suspended a district court’s ruling last December that the law is unconstitutional.
The plaintiffs suing to block the law include the Computer & Communications Industry Association and Students Engaged in Advancing Texas. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is a defendant in both cases.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers argued that the law impermissibly seeks to limit access to content protected by the First Amendment, including news and educational material.
“Equity and the public interest support relief because protecting First Amendment rights — and parents’ rights to supervise their children as they see fit, not as the government tells them they should — is always in the public interest,” wrote attorneys for Students Engaged in Advancing Texas.
Attorneys from Paxton’s office argued that the law protects children from “dangerous modern products.”
“A child with access to an app store and a mobile device (such as a tablet or smartphone) can potentially download any number of software applications, potentially agreeing to invasions of the child’s privacy and sale of the child’s data and be exposed to any conceivable content without parental consent or even parental knowledge,” they wrote.
DALLAS (AP) – An Afghan national who fought alongside U.S. forces died from an allergic reaction while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, one day after he was detained for deportation proceedings, his death certificate shows.
Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal, 41, suffered “an adverse drug reaction” to an unidentified substance, which triggered anaphylaxis and exacerbated his asthma, according to the document. His March 14 death at a Dallas hospital was ruled to be an accident.
Paktiawal’s sudden death in ICE custody has drawn outrage because he had risked his life fighting as an ally of U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan for a decade. Members of Congress and an advocacy group, AfghanEvac, have demanded answers about what happened.
Out of more than 50 ICE detention deaths during President Donald Trump’s second term, Paktiawal’s is the first to be ruled an accident, according to tracking by The Associated Press. Most of the others have been blamed on natural causes or suicide.
On Monday, AfghanEvac called on Texas authorities to release his full autopsy report, which they have sought to withhold by arguing its disclosure would interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation into the death.
“This family has a right to know what happened. Why won’t they release the report?” said Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac. He called on authorities to explain what substance triggered the allergic reaction, how it got into his system and why the date of the injury on the death certificate was listed as the day before Paktiawal was taken into custody.
Paktiawal was evacuated with thousands of others from Afghanistan when U.S. troops pulled out in 2021. He entered the U.S. through a legal process and requested asylum to stay. That claim was pending when ICE arrested him at his home in Richardson, Texas, on March 13 as he was taking some of his six children to school.
ICE has defended its decision to target Paktiawal for deportation, noting he had been arrested on food stamp fraud and theft charges. He has not been convicted in either case.
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A one-page ICE report on Paktiawal’s death said that he was screened at its Dallas field office and denied any medical conditions or allergies. Hours later, he began experiencing shortness of breath and chest pain in a holding room and was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital.
The next morning, hospital staff noted swelling of his tongue while he was eating breakfast and gave him epinephrine, a drug that treats allergic reactions, the report said. He was pronounced dead about 40 minutes later after life-saving measures were unsuccessful.
The certificate lists the cause of death as “anaphylaxis complicating acute asthma exacerbation.” Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction typically triggered by food, drugs or insect venom. The document lists the toxic effects of methamphetamine, heart disease and cigarette smoking as contributing factors in the death.
His family members and coworkers said they did not know Paktiawal to use meth, and a private autopsy performed for the family could not confirm whether he had meth in his system because no blood remained for testing, VanDiver said. His wife has said that he relied on an inhaler for asthma, but ICE agents rejected her attempt to give them the device when he was taken into custody.
The cause and manner of death were established by the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office, where a doctor performed an autopsy on Paktiawal.
County authorities have refused to release the autopsy report, citing statements from ICE officials that doing so would interfere with a federal investigation into the death. They have asked Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office for permission to withhold the record under a “law enforcement exception” to the state’s open records law.
In response to the AP’s request for the report, Dallas County official Jennifer Rose wrote that “its release would interfere with the detection, investigation, and prosecution of a crime” but did not elaborate. The medical examiner’s office declined comment.
Paxton’s office hasn’t ruled on the matter, but previously granted a similar request from another Texas county to withhold the autopsy report of a Vietnamese man who died in ICE custody in July 2025, according to documents obtained by the AP.
SMITH COUNTY – Timothy Hollis was appointed as the new Smith County auditor after serving five months as budget officer. The Smith County District Judges appoint the auditor. He was sworn in by 241st District Judge Debby Gunter on Wednesday, July 1.
Hollis will serve as auditor and budget officer until another budget officer can be appointed by Commissioners Court.
He came to Smith County in January from Huntington and earned a Master of Business Administration from Texas A&M University-Commerce.
From 2018 to October 2025, he worked for the Angelina Junior College District. He also worked for a short time as a senior financial analyst for Brookshire Brothers, Inc. in Lufkin. Read the rest of this entry »
TYLER – To help restock the Pet Food Bank, for the month of July, Tyler Animal Services is waiving adoption fees for dogs and cats with the donation of a case of canned dog or cat food.
The Pet Food Bank was established in 2015 so that families in need or those who could not afford to feed their pets would have a safety net to keep pets in their homes. Many times, people who want to surrender a pet only need time to get over a short-term financial hurdle.
Over the years, more than 36,000 pounds of food and litter from the Pet Food Bank has been distributed. All donated items go back into the community and are not used by the animals kept at the shelter. Read the rest of this entry »
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