Today is
Tuesday July 21, 2026
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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AUSTIN (THE TEXAS TRIBUNE) – In legislative hearings after last year’s July 4 floods, the state’s emergency management chief made some recommendations to state lawmakers. They included empowering the agency to vet volunteers who show up after disasters and establishing clearer guidelines for local officials to decide whether to do autopsies during mass casualty events.
There was another glaring problem that Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd told legislators about: Unlike paid firefighters and police officers, the state has no required training for all local emergency management coordinators, the people tasked with planning for and helping to lead the response to disasters.
“I do think it’s time that we as a state decide there needs to be a baseline for people that get appointed into that position,” Kidd told lawmakers at a July 23 hearing focused on the floods.
Nine months later, in April, he told another state committee investigating the disaster: “To be an emergency management coordinator in the state of Texas, you need the signature of a mayor or judge. Period. That needs to change.”
Two bills meant to address that issue, and others Kidd highlighted, failed in the final special legislative session of 2025. And as the one-year anniversary of the disaster arrives, that lack of action means that leaders in Texas’ 254 counties, as well as all of its cities, can hire people with no formal training in the field.
After the floods, which left more than 130 people dead, state lawmakers required flood warning sirens to be installed in areas struck by the summer disaster that also have histories of flooding. In Kerr County, where the vast majority of deaths happened, six of the first eight planned sirens are in place.
Legislators also passed two camp safety bills, championed by the parents of 27 girls who died at Camp Mystic, which include requirements for camps to have more robust emergency plans and move cabins from flood-prone spots by rivers. Nearly 300 camps have been licensed under the new regulations, according to state data.
Legislators’ next opportunity to address Kidd’s recommendations — if they choose to — happens in January when they return to the Capitol for their regular session.
“We have work to do next session,” state Sen. Charles Perry, a Republican from Lubbock who authored the failed bill to address licensing, said in the April hearing. “We just don’t have to start from ground zero.”
Absent leaders
Then-Kerr County Emergency Management Coordinator William “Dub” Thomas was notably absent early on the morning of July 4. He’d been feeling badly since July 2 and taken the day off on July 3, according to his testimony to lawmakers. Legislative investigators later found no evidence that a representative of Kerr County dialed into a state emergency preparation call on July 3 to learn about potential storms over the holiday weekend.
County Judge Rob Kelly was at his Austin-area lake house for the holiday, he testified. According to the county’s emergency plan, in their absences, the judge’s role should have fallen to the most senior county commissioner, while the coordinator’s role should have fallen to someone designated by the judge.
The state legislative investigation concluded that the state’s “alerts and warnings effectively were disregarded by Kerr County officials, who were substantially absent from duty, and who failed to conduct effective local emergency coordination relating to summer camps in advance of the storm. As flooding began, the county judge was away and unaware, and the county’s emergency coordinator was sick and asleep in bed with no delegate at the watch while the entire tragedy unfolded.”
Amid a series of increasingly urgent National Weather Service alerts that night, a 911 call came in from upstream on the Guadalupe River’s south fork at 2:52 a.m., warning the river was rising high and fast. The flooding started its precipitous rise around that time in Hunt, where the north and south forks of the river meet. It peaked around 6:45 a.m. downstream in Kerrville, the county seat, according to US Geological Survey data.
As the morning wore on, county law enforcement helped lead the response. Text messages among a group that included a number of Sheriff’s Office officials, obtained through an open records request by the Texas Newsroom and shared with The Texas Tribune, reveal some issues they faced. The text thread included Thomas.
By 7:18 a.m., the sheriff’s office leaders and others were working through where to send evacuees. At 9:15 a.m., they were texting about where to stage media and, at 9:40 a.m., where to stage resources. Later in the morning, they considered whether to set up a hotline or email for families to report missing relatives.
“It’s very common in the middle of a response for there to be a lot of back and forth and for people to be confused where resources are, how things are changing and evolving in the moment,” said Samantha Montano, an associate professor of emergency management at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. “That’s really why you want to have an emergency manager, somebody who is overseeing all of that and funneling correct and updated information out to the people who need it.”
According to his resume, Thomas had spent much of his career moving up the ranks of the Texas Highway Patrol and had spent less than two years working as regional preparedness manager with the local American Red Cross when he took the Kerr County job in 2015. Thomas had completed various state and federal training courses related to emergency management before the flood, county records showed.
Thomas retired from his post at the end of March, according to county records. Kelly, the county judge, did not seek reelection this year.
County commissioners hired Shorey Harmon, the Texas Division of Emergency Management’s liaison officer for Kerr and Bandera counties, to replace Thomas.
Harmon had earlier served in the U.S. Navy and worked for Texas Parks and Wildlife and Texas A&M Forest Service, according to his resume, then became a TDEM cadet in 2022 — attending what the resume described as “the first-ever emergency management academy in the United States for training in all-hazards emergency preparedness and response.”
A developing field
The emergency management field is relatively young, with beginnings tied to Cold War concerns about nuclear war, said Romeo Lavarias, lecturer at the University of Central Florida’s emergency management program. The field has developed because emergency management became more complicated and expensive, involving much more than the immediate disaster response, Lavarias said.
A recent study from Argonne National Laboratory found that an emergency management director’s professional background could matter greatly. The study found most local directors had worked in the field more than 10 years and that nearly a third of them were between 50 and 59 years old.
As one person told the researchers: “In our agency, the director position has historically been occupied with people with no formal training in emergency management (myself included).”
In 2024 in Florida, lawmakers passed a new law for all county managers to have minimum emergency training.
“We haven’t got a choice anymore,” Lavarias said. “With the nature of hazards we’re dealing with here, their drastic impacts on everyone, the complications of politics, of social (issues) and economics, it’s going to take a heck of a lot more than what we’ve got going for us.”
UPDATE: The Texas Department of Public Safety said that Robert Gomez was found on Friday after a CLEAR Alert was issued for him earlier in the day.
HENDERSON — A search is underway for a missing 55-year-old East Texas man last seen Wednesday and believed to be possibly endangered.
The Texas Department of Public Safety issued a CLEAR Alert for Robert Gomez, who was last seen around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday on South Main Street, in Henderson. He was wearing an ABC Auto hat, a blue Body Armor shirt, khaki shorts and black shoes. DPS says Gomez has tattoos covering his body.
Gomez is described as white, with brown hair and brown eyes. He is 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs about 165 pounds.
Anyone with information about his whereabouts is urged to call 911.
RUSK – As conditions across the region begin to dry out, East Texas fire officials are warning people to be careful before lighting fireworks this holiday weekend. According to the Texas A&M Forest Service, a five-acre fire was put out in Upshur County.
According to our news partner KETK, the latest drought monitor shows most of East Texas is either abnormally dry or in a severe drought.
“It looks like conditions are starting to creep back in, that the drought is starting to intensify in the area, and normally when that happens, especially around the 4th of July, we see an uptick in grass and brush fires,” Support Director for ESD1, Michael Searcy said. Read the rest of this entry »
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump reshaped this year’s U.S. Senate map by sidelining some Republican incumbents and promoting loyalists to replace them. Now the question is whether he’ll put his money where his mouth is.
With four months to go until November’s elections, it’s still unclear how much MAGA Inc., the country’s largest political war chest with $382 million in the bank as of last month, plans to spend on key races. The silence has persisted even as Senate Republican leaders have urged Trump’s team, both privately and publicly, to pick up the tab for the president’s decisions.
Front and center is Texas, where Trump successfully endorsed fiery conservative Ken Paxton over Sen. John Cornyn, a choice that some Republicans grumble has turned a safe election into a toss-up that will drain resources away from other battlegrounds. Democratic nominee James Talarico, a state lawmaker, has made Paxton’s history of corruption allegations a central target of his campaign.
“The president picked Paxton, and he’s got $350 million dollars,” Cornyn recently told Semafor. “I think he can spend his money.”
Another challenge has emerged in North Carolina, where Sen. Thom Tillis declined to run for reelection after feuding with Trump last year over healthcare spending. Trump backed Michael Whatley, his former handpicked chair of the Republican National Committee, to run instead, and Democrats hope to flip the seat with former Gov. Roy Cooper.
Some in Republican campaign leadership are expecting MAGA Inc. to pitch in for Whatley in North Carolina, where the state’s several metro media markets can be pricey.
Republicans will likely be able to count on generous support from well-funded official party committees, which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled earlier this week should be allowed to make unlimited direct contributions to candidates’ campaigns. But even that sum falls short of what Trump has stockpiled in MAGA Inc. Even though the president is constitutionally barred from running again, he began raising money shortly after winning a second term, and he’s regularly held fundraisers at his resort properties where tickets cost $1 million per person.
James Blair, the former White House political director who left his government job to coordinate the president’s midterm efforts, was evasive in an interview with Sean Spicer, a former Republican spokesman who hosts a podcast.
“The president is going to expend substantial resources to win the midterms,” said Blair. “He cares deeply about the party winning.”
As a super PAC, MAGA Inc. can raise unlimited money from individuals and corporations. However, it is barred from coordinating with individual campaigns or national Republican committees, which adds to the sense of mystery surrounding its plans.
It’s been more than two months since Blair, along with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, pollster Tony Fabrizio and political adviser Chris LaCivita huddled at Washington’s Waldorf Astoria to discuss MAGA Inc.’s strategy.
The huddle was focused on assembling teams of vendors, such as advertisers, canvassing providers and digital media company leaders who had worked with the Trump team in key states during previous elections and who would be dispatched once plans were in place.
The president has spent much of the year waging a war of retribution against Republicans who have crossed him. He viewed Cornyn as insufficiently loyal, held a grudge against Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana for voting to convict him in an impeachment trial and assailed Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky as the “worst Republican Congressman in history.” All of them lost their primaries to Trump-backed challengers.
Cornyn’s loss weighs heavily on Senate Republicans, who suggest that Paxton could cost the party an extra $100 million to defend the seat.
Senate Leadership Fund, the principal super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, is still expected to spend money on advertising in Texas but not play a central role given its obligations elsewhere.
Democrats must net four seats to take the majority, and they see Alaska, Maine, North Carolina and Ohio as their best opportunities. The Senate Leadership Fund has already committed to spending $342 million across these four states, plus Iowa, Georgia, Michigan and New Hampshire.
When Paxton came to Washington after winning the nomination on May 26, he had a cordial meeting with Thune focused on moving forward together, according to people with knowledge of the conversation who were not authorized to speak publicly.
Later that day, Thune suggested that Trump should be putting up money for a candidate whom Senate Republicans hadn’t asked for.
“We will do what we need to do to make sure the state stays red,” Thune told reporters. “But I’m certainly hopeful the president and the resources he can bring to bear will be engaged.”
“It’s going to be an expensive race,” he added.
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UPDATE: The search for a Smith County woman wanted in relation to a May dog theft and animal cruelty case has ended after she turned herself in on Thursday, officials confirm. According to the Smith County Sheriff’s Office, Susan Grafft turned herself in for her warrants of theft of property and cruelty to non-livestock animals a month after they were issued.
SMITH COUNTY – An investigation into a dog theft case in May has led to the uncovering of extreme animal abuse at a Smith County home and officials are now seeking information on the suspect who has reportedly left town.
According to a press release from the Smith County Sheriff’s Office, deputies first received a report of two stolen dogs after a witness saw a delivery driver pick up the animals. After the driver never returned the dogs, despite being told to by their supervisor, the case was turned over to the Criminal Investigation Division. Read the rest of this entry »
NEW YORK (AP) — Most U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied to another record, but more drops for computer chip companies and other winners of the artificial-intelligence boom kept indexes mixed.
The S&P 500 finished the day virtually unchanged and edged up by less than 0.1%, even though seven out of every 10 stocks within the index rose. The Dow jumped 594 points, or 1.1%, while the Nasdaq composite dropped 0.8% after erasing an early gain.
Stocks broadly got some help from a report showing that U.S. employers added 57,000 jobs to their payrolls last month. That’s growth, which is good for the economy, but it was also short of the 100,000 jobs that economists expected and a slowdown from May’s hiring pace.
The bright side of the weaker-than-expected result is that it could keep pressure off inflation, which has been accelerating worldwide because of jumps in oil prices caused by the war with Iran. And now that oil prices are back below where they were before the war, if inflation slows in upcoming months, the Federal Reserve may feel less need to raise interest rates several times this year.
That would be a relief for investors, who tend to love lower interest rates because they can give the economy a boost by making it less expensive for U.S. households and businesses to borrow money and spend. Lower rates also tend to push upward on prices for stocks and other investments.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury got to 4.50% in the morning, up from 3.97% just before the war. But after the release of the U.S. hiring data, it immediately fell back to 4.46% before drifting to 4.48%.
Traders now see an 82% chance that the Fed and its new chairman, Kevin Warsh, will not raise the federal funds rate at its next meeting later this month. That’s up from the 71% chance seen a day earlier, according to data from CME Group.
“The labor market isn’t overheating,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economic strategist at Annex Wealth Management. He said the data could allow the Fed to wait through the summer to get more clues about how inflation is behaving before having to decide on hiking rates.
On Wall Street, the company behind LaCroix sparkling waters climbed 7.5% after National Beverage said it will pay a special dividend of $3.25 for each share that investors hold.
Dollar Tree rose 2.4% after the retailer said it approved a program to send up to $2.5 billion to its shareholders by buying back its stock.
Stocks of companies in the crypto industry were also strong after the price of bitcoin rose roughly 2%, a day after dropping near its lowest level since 2024. Robinhood Markets rose 3.8%, and Coinbase Global gained 3.9%.
But more drops for computer chip companies weighed on indexes. They’ve come under pressure because of worries that their stock prices shot too high in the frenzy around AI and that all the spending on chips and data centers may not result in as much profit and productivity growth as hoped.
Memory maker Micron Technology erased an early gain to drop 5.5%, a day after plunging 10.6%. Nvidia fell 1.4%, and Lam Research sank 10.2%. They were some of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500 because they’ve grown so huge in size amid AI mania.
Nvidia has a total value of nearly $4.7 trillion, for example, which means that its stock’s movements have more weight on the S&P 500 than any other.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 0.01 to 7,483.24 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 594.83 to 52,900.07, and the Nasdaq composite sank 207.36 to 25,382.67.
In stock markets abroad, continued drops for chip companies sent indexes sharply lower in several Asian markets. South Korea’s Kospi index sank 7.9% due to losses for companies like SK Hynix. That’s its worst drop since a 10% plunge a little more than a week ago.
Indexes also fell 2.5% in Tokyo and 2% in Shanghai.
European indexes were stronger, and France’s CAC 40 rallied 1.7%.
In the oil market, prices dropped in the morning but pared their losses as the day progressed. Brent crude, the international standard, settled at $71.80 per barrel, up 0.3%.
EDGEWOOD – The City of Edgewood has issued an alert to its residents to conserve water after finding themselves in severe water shortage conditions on Thursday.
According to our news partner KETK and the city, customers are requested to practice water conservation and to minimize non-essential use as they initiate stage 3 of water shortage conditions. Stage 3 of the water plan is entered when total daily water demands equal or exceed 350,000 gallons in a single day or over five consecutive days.
To reduce water use, customers are asked to only water landscaped areas, wash vehicles or fill pools during the following allotted times. Customers with a street address ending in an even number should only water landscapes with hand-held hoses, hand-held buckets or an automatic sprinkler system on Thursdays or Sundays from 12 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. Read the rest of this entry »
MOUNT PLEASANT (KETK) — After decades of battling fires and keeping his community safe, an East Texan fire chief announced on Thursday that he’s hanging up his helmet and retiring.
The fire department said Mount Pleasant Fire Chief Larry McRae has officially resigned from the position, concluding a 50-year, dedicated commitment to the city and residents across Titus County.
McRae first began working with the city in 1976 as a volunteer firefighter before rising to the rank of fire chief in 1984. Since then, he’s led the fire department for over forty years and through more than 10,000 calls, never missing a beat and being the glue that holds the department together.
The fire department says McRae was inspired to become a firefighter when he was in high school.
“He was working at an Exxon service station and had lots of volunteer firefighters as customers,” the fire department said in a dedicated social media post to McRae in 2025. “Just hearing them talk about being volunteer firefighters excited Chief McRae and he knew exactly what he wanted to do. His advice for future firefighters is to always be willing to put in the effort and have a servant’s heart!”
As the city prepares posting for the fire chief position soon, Deputy Chief Aristeo Rodriguez has been named the acting fire chief in the meantime. Rodriguez has worked with the department for the past 27 years.
TYLER – Here’s a reminder from the Tyler Police Department in regards to the July 4th holiday. It is a violation of a City of Tyler ordinance to detonate fireworks inside the city limits. You could receive a citation, and your fireworks could be seized.
Discharging a firearm inside the city limits of Tyler is illegal. Celebratory gunfire could injure someone or worse.
There are multiple approved fireworks shows around Tyler to enjoy. Have a safe and happy 4th of July.
EAST TEXAS – The U.S. Supreme Court made several monumental rulings on Tuesday, inciting mixed reactions from East Texas politicians and Gov. Greg Abbott as decisions on transgender and birthright citizenship issues were handed down, according to our news partner KETK.
Two of the rulings made by the Supreme Court that caught the attention of East Texans included the decision to uphold state laws preventing transgender women from playing on school athletic teams and striking down President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring that children born to people who are in the U.S. illegally or temporarily are not American citizens.
In a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court ruled that states may continue to uphold bans on transgender girls from competing on girls and women’s school sports teams, after findin that banning transgender women from school athletics does not violate Ttle IX, according to a report from The Hill. Read the rest of this entry »
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Seven more people were sentenced to prison Wednesday over a shooting outside a Texas immigration detention center that wounded a police officer and has left many protesters facing decades behind bars.
All but one of the defendants sentenced in Fort Worth courtrooms pleaded guilty to charges related to the shooting outside the Prairieland Detention Center near Dallas last July 4. They each were sentenced to between nearly two and 15 years in prison.
The same judges have already handed down harsher sentences to eight people who were convicted at trial, including a former Marine reservist who received a 100-year prison term.
The U.S. Justice Department alleges the shooting was carried out by members of the leftist militant group antifa — a claim attorneys for the protesters have denied.
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor called the protest an “assault on democracy” before he and another judge handed down lengthy prison sentences last week to eight others who were convicted on terrorism charges.
The six defendants who did not stand trial had pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists. One of them testified at the earlier trial that he spray-painted a guard shack and vehicles in the parking lot.
The seventh defendant, Ines Soto, was sentenced to 50 years in prison after being convicted of providing material support to terrorists, riot and explosives.
The case has been closely watched by critics who say the prosecution could have serious implications for protesters nationwide and First Amendment free-speech rights.
The protesters’ attorneys have insisted there was no planned ambush and that the people who took firearms to the demonstration did so for their own protection. They argue the gathering was planned as a late-night demonstration with fireworks to show support for immigrants detained inside the facility.
Prosecutors told jurors at trial that the group’s actions — including bringing firearms, first aid kits and wearing body armor — signaled nefarious intent.
Benjamin Song, the former U.S. Marine reservist who was convicted of attempted murder in the shooting, was sentenced to 100 years in prison, and seven others received prison terms ranging from 30 to 70 years. Some of them, including Song, have filed notices of appeal.
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TYLER – Starting on Friday, July 3rd through Monday, July 6th, the Tyler Police Department will be adding additional officers on the street utilizing STEP . STEP stands for Selective Traffic Enforcement Program.
With increased traffic in the city and at Lake Tyler for the 4th of July weekend, officers will be specifically watching for impaired or intoxicated drivers. Please be responsible and don’t drink and drive. Have a safe and happy holiday!
TYLER – Here’s a reminder from the Tyler Police Department in regards to the July 4th holiday. It is a violation of a City of Tyler ordinance to detonate fireworks inside the city limits. You could receive a citation, and your fireworks could be seized.
Discharging a firearm inside the city limits of Tyler is illegal. Celebratory gunfire could injure someone or worse.
There are multiple approved fireworks shows around Tyler to enjoy. Have a safe and happy 4th of July.
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LAREDO – John Gomez, a Tyler-based priest, was ordained and installed as the Second Bishop of Laredo on Tuesday after being appointed by the Vatican in May. Gomez was ordained a deacon on May 24, 2008, and a priest for the Diocese of Tyler on May 23, 2009, by Bishop Álvaro Corrada del Río.
“His experience in diocesan administration as Judicial Vicar and Vicar General, his experience in parish ministry, and his commitment to Hispanic Ministry will serve him well in his new ministry as the second Bishop of Laredo,” Diocese of Tyler Bishop Gregory Kelly said in May. “I am also grateful to Bishop-elect Gomez for his help to me over this last year as a new bishop in Tyler and will miss his presence and ministry.”
SAN MARCOS (THE TEXAS TRIBUNE) – San Marcos has become the first Texas city to ban data centers within city limits, banking on its local authority to stop the data center boom and setting a precedent for other municipalities to follow.
San Marcos City Council voted 4-3 on June 16 to define data centers and make them ineligible for any part of the city in its zoning laws, citing concerns that these developments would funnel water and energy resources from the local community.
The city has no data center projects proposed within its limits, although the threat has reached its borders where at least two data centers have been proposed in surrounding unincorporated parts of Hays County, according to Data Center Map, an industry research tool. Powerless to leverage any of their laws to outright ban data centers, Hays County commissioners recently passed a mostly symbolic resolution to pause data center development over severe water scarcity but the resolution isn’t legally binding.
San Marcos is testing a novel approach to outright ban data centers by exerting its home rule powers, which gives certain bigger cities — 352 of them across the state — the right to create their own zoning codes and control development, land law experts say. Compared to counties and cities without home rule powers or zoning authority, municipalities like San Marcos have a better chance at surviving legal challenges to their data center bans because of their expanded powers, experts say.
Some counties have tried testing their authority to restrict data centers but have failed. Early June, Hill County rescinded its data center moratorium after a developer sued the county for $100 million. Hood County commissioners also tried to pass a moratorium, but pulled it after state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican who leads the Senate Committee on Local Government, asked for an attorney general opinion on whether counties have the right to enact such restrictions.
Similar to what he did with Hood County, Bettencourt told The Texas Tribune he plans to challenge San Marcos’ ban, arguing that it violates 2025’s House Bill 2559, which restricts the ability of municipalities to issue indefinite moratoriums on certain types of property developments and the state’s 2023 Death Star Law, which restricts municipalities from enacting local law that contradicts state law.
“They should not use zoning to ban anything everywhere in the city, because that’s not lawful under the state of Texas guidelines,” Bettencourt said. “[A ban] doesn’t work here, and this will get challenged.”
Texas is on track to become the top data center market in the U.S but a majority of Texans oppose the construction of data centers in their community, citing concerns over water usage, energy demand, and noise pollution. The issue has become bipartisan, drawing calls for regulation from Gov. Greg Abbott who recently wrote a letter to state regulators outlining proposals for data centers such as eliminating state sales tax exemptions for data centers.
While San Marcos is the first in Texas to ban data centers, local officials elsewhere are using whatever authority they have to restrict the rapidly growing industry without drawing the ire of the state government. Other home-rule cities are amending their land development code to restrict data centers. Cities and counties are also including restrictions in incentive agreements they enter into with developers.
“You’re seeing a lot of cities in the age of preemption being creative about things,” said Amanda Rodriguez, a San Marcos city council member.
Multiple cities interested in passing their own bans have reached out to San Marcos to see how the city will survive legal challenges from state lawmakers and private citizens who can also sue the city over its ban.
“All cities are watching what happens to San Marcos,” said Taylor Burge, a council member for Lockhart.
Threats to local control
In February, residents packed San Marcos’ City Hall and aired concerns about how a proposed 200-acre development by Highlander SM One LLC, a Fort Worth-based developer, could consume more than 25 million gallons of water annually from local aquifers. The council ultimately rejected the developer’s request to annex into the city.
Rodriguez first proposed the ban at the end of March, but fellow council members rejected it because of how restrictive it was. It received a new life when council member Lorenzo Gonzalez — who originally rejected the change — moved to reconsider it, seconded by council member Alyssa Garza.
“I think we debated this to death,” Gonzalez said in the council hearing. “The promised benefits remained speculative while many of the concerns raised by residents remained unresolved.”
The city’s ban works by defining data centers in the city’s land development code and setting restrictions on this type of future development, effectively making data centers impossible to build in the city.
“I don’t see how any business minded developer would want to reapproach, hoping they’ll read the room,” Garza said.
In response to San Marcos’ ban, Dan Diorio, vice president of state policy for the industry association, the Data Center Coalition, said the ban signals that San Marcos is “closed for business.”
“A local moratorium on data centers discourages further investment, both from the data center industry and other advanced industries,” Diorio said.
Land use experts and city council members believe San Marcos has a better shot at passing a ban because cities have more power in regulating land use than counties. Nearly half of the 248 data centers that are planned for development in Texas will be built in unincorporated areas.
Although land use bans are uncommon, “theoretically, I think the courts could uphold it,” said Robert Paterson, a University of Texas at Austin professor who specializes in land use and environmental planning. As long as the ban aligns with a city’s comprehensive plan — a long-range policy document which governs the protection of public health, safety, and general welfare — it falls within the city’s power.
But, the 2023 Death Star law complicates city authority. The Death Star law “theoretically pulled back home rule authority,” said Paterson, adding that it bars cities from exercising powers more stringent than those the state itself uses. Republicans and business groups argued that the Death Star was needed to undo a “patchwork” of progressive local policies that made it difficult to do business in cities and it remains unclear what local regulations are out-of-bounds under the law.
Paterson said the law has “a chilling effect on our ability to do our police power, protect the public health and safety,” which is one reason cities are being cautious now.
Bettencourt said a ban on any development has never been upheld in court and he is confident that the state will make San Marcos reverse its ban if a developer doesn’t file a private lawsuit first.
“If you overuse existing legal principles, eventually they get challenged, and/or … laws are changed to make it clear that this can’t happen,” Bettencourt said.
He also says San Marcos is violating HB 2559 that states that property development moratoriums can last no longer than 180 days, and according to Bettencourt, this would apply to San Marcos’ “de facto ban.” However, land experts said that this law would not apply to San Marcos because the city changed its zoning laws to ban data centers, and did not issue a moratorium.
While Bettencourt is among the Republican camp that support data centers, San Marcos’ state senator Judith Zaffirini, a Democrat, says the city’s decision reflects concerns that many communities across Texas share and that the City Council acted “decisively and appropriately” to ensure the safety of the community.
“Anytime you’re operating in the state of Texas and you’re wanting to do something that goes against the grain, there’s always that thought in the back of your head,” Rodriguez said about legal pushback to the ban.
In response to Bettencourt’s plans, Rodriguez said San Marcos’ ban is different from Hood County’s proposed moratorium, which Bettencourt contested using HB 2559. Council members said the Death Star law has yet to be tested in court and they’re willing to try.
“If they want to make this the precedent case for the bill, they’re gonna have to explain why this is the priority and not addressing the problem [data centers] at hand,” Rodriguez said.
What other municipalities are doing
Bans aren’t the only way to stop data centers. Smaller cities like Lockhart and Kerrville have adopted strict zoning rules that make it difficult for data centers to build, hoping the effect will feel like a ban without immediately triggering legal challenges. Cities that don’t have authority to approve development and counties are exploring other tools to signal or impose restrictions, including through resolutions and tax abatement agreements.
“I think the smartest cities in Texas are already doing this, but they’re doing it in such a way that is not going to raise the hackles of the state Legislature,” Paterson said.
Local lawmakers like Burge are communicating with other city and county officials to figure out what they are permitted to do to stop development in their communities. “This is a big game of telephone,” Burge said.
To pre-empt legal action, Lockhart and Kerrville have instituted regulations in hopes of banning data centers without having to technically ban them. They worry that outright bans would leave them open to lawsuits they do not have the resources to fight, said Burge.
In May, Lockhart City Council moved to define data centers in its zoning codes. The council limited data centers to one land-use category — heavy industry — confining such development to two areas in the city.
In addition to zoning restrictions, Burge also said they want to implement restrictions through special use permits, which add another layer of requirements for developers to meet before they are allowed to build. She hopes the “intense filtration” provided by a permit will have the same effect as a ban.
Like Lockhart, Kerrville City Council updated its zoning code to restrict — but not outright ban — where developers can build data centers. The council also added water capacity approvals, requiring developers to disclose cooling systems and water usage amounts. “My experience is that an outright ban usually ends up more contested,” said Drew Paxton, Kerrville’s director of planning and development.
For municipalities without zoning, like Alvin, they have passed resolutions declaring they don’t want data centers within their city limits. While these resolutions cannot produce anything actionable and are more symbolic, local officials hope state legislators will empower localities like them with more protections, said Dixie Roberts, Alvin’s assistant city manager.
“Resolutions do not have a lot of meat to it,” said Roberts, but the hope is “to get the word out that the council is not interested in this kind of development.”
Still, cities that are using other ways to restrict data centers instead of ban are not completely ruling out that a developer or the state will thwart their decisions.
“We know the state’s going to keep working on this [data center policies]. We don’t know which direction the state’s going to go, but let’s go ahead and get something in place in case we get a request,” said Kerrville’s Paxton.
Another way for cities and even counties to exert some control over data centers are in their incentive programs, such as Chapter 380, Chapter 381 and Chapter 312 agreements. For example, a city could offer a reduction in their property tax bill and in return, require additional development standards.
“This is a tool that counties could maybe use in this period of time when they don’t necessarily have a good amount of development authority,” said Kayla Landeros, a land law professor at Baylor University and a former Temple city attorney.
State lawmakers will likely decide whether to give counties more authority or strip cities of the power to make these kinds of bans, in the next legislative session, depending on what the general reaction is from constituents, said Landeros. San Marcos’ ban will be the first test of which direction state legislators will take.
“Local officials are in the best position to understand the unique needs, infrastructure constraints and priorities of their communities,” Zaffirini said.
SMITH COUNTY – On Friday, June 26, Smith County Sheriff’s Office Deputies responded to The Fuel Spot, on Highway 69, to a possible aggravated robbery. When the deputies arrived, they were met by the store clerk who said that a male suspect, identified later as 29-year-old Tanner McEvoy, entered the business, displayed a knife, and demanded cash.
The clerk complied, giving the suspect an unknown amount of cash . McEvoy then fled the location on foot toward a nearby RV park. Deputies quickly determined McEvoy’s location and took him into custody without incident. During execution of a search warrant, investigators recovered the stolen money from McEvoy’s residence.
McEvoy was transported to the Smith County Jail, where he was booked on charges of aggravated robbery. His bond was set at $250,000.
VAN – The Van ISD community is in mourning this week after a 16-year-old student was found unresponsive in a four-wheeler accident, the Smith County Sheriff’s Office said.
According to our news partner KETK, the school release a statement, “It is with profound sadness that Van ISD shares the passing of one of our own, Kayden Palmer, following a tragic accident,” Van ISD said on Saturday. “Kayden was a beloved member of the Vandal family whose infectious smile, kind heart, and servant spirit left a lasting impact on everyone who had the privilege of knowing him. Having recently completed his freshman year at Van High School, Kayden was known for his energy, intelligence, and willingness to lend a helping hand whenever it was needed.” Read the rest of this entry »
All non-essential City offices will observe the following schedule on Friday, July 3, in observance of the upcoming Fourth of July.
City Hall
City Hall offices will be closed Friday, July 3.
Tyler Water Utilities
The Water Business Office will be closed Friday, July 3. The kiosk at the drive-through offers 24/7 access for water utility customers with its ability to accept checks, money orders, credit/debit cards and cash payments. Those choosing to pay with cash should be aware that no change will be given. Read the rest of this entry »
McALLEN (AP) — A nun was released from immigration custody after she was arrested walking to Mass in her habit in South Texas.
Sister Leticia Ugboaja was walking to Our Lady of Sorrows Church in McAllen, Texas, just a few miles from the U.S.-Mexico border on Sunday when she was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
The Department of Homeland Security and ICE have not responded to a request for comment since Sunday.
Parish officials posted a message on social media shortly after the arrest that gained traction in the news and led to Congress members including U.S. Rep. Monica de la Cruz intervening on Ugboaja’s behalf.
The nun is part of the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy and volunteered as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion at Our Lady of Sorrows Church, according to Brenda Riojas, a spokesperson for the Diocese of Brownsville.
Ugboaja is also a registered nurse at South Texas Health System and worked previously for 10 years as a certified nursing assistant at DHR Health in Edinburg, Riojas confirmed.
Members of congress representing south Texas intervened with federal officials. As of Monday, Ugboaja was back in her home.
“We are grateful for the quick response of local representatives who reached out to the Department of Homeland Security to get her released from custody,” Riojas added in her statement.
President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown — including at sensitive sites such as houses of worship — has prompted faith leaders to adjust their response to church members who have become too afraid to attend. Some have encouraged online attendance, while others have offered help doing errands such as grocery shopping for people too fearful to leave their homes.
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NEW YORK (AP) — Saks Global, the parent company of Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman, officially emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy Friday with fewer stores, less debt, a more focused strategy to pamper the affluent — and a new name.
The company said Friday that the new entity will be called Exemplar Luxury Group, and with an improved balance sheet, including a nearly 75% debt reduction and $500 million in extra financing. Its CEO, Geoffroy van Raemdonck, said the New York-based company is ready for its next chapter after navigating several tumultuous years.
“Today is really a brand new day for the organization and a new day where these three iconic banners have the right funding, the right equity and a bright future ahead of them,” van Raemdonck told The Associated Press on Friday during a phone interview.
Van Raemdonck said that the new name signifies the company’s focus on having an exemplary shopping experience — the best merchandise, and better personalized service with customers, with help from its sales associates and the treasure trove of data it has on its customers. The company employs more than 1,500 sales associates who have sold more than $1 million of goods each, he said.
Saks Global had filed for bankruptcy protection in January of this year, buffeted by rising competition and the massive debt it took on to buy its rival in the luxury sector, Neiman Marcus, in July 2024.
Before the bankruptcy, there were 33 Saks stores and 36 Neiman Marcus locations, according to the company, as well as its Bergdorf Goodman store on Fifth Avenue and roughly 70 Saks Off 5th discount stores.
Now, there are a total of 49 stores — 15 Saks Fifth Avenue stores, 33 Neiman Marcus stores and its Bergdorf Goodman store. The company shuttered most of its Saks Off Fifth discount stores, and it now has 12 outlets, the company said.
Exemplar Luxury Group said it has been teaming up with Pentwater Capital Management and Bracebridge Capital throughout its restructuring process. Both firms will have two representatives on the seven-person board. In addition, van Raemdonck as well as former Ulta Beauty CEO Dave Kimbell and Philippe Schaus, who most recently served as Global CEO of Moët Hennessy, will serve on the board, the company said.
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