Today is
Tuesday November 26, 2024
QUITMAN – The Wood County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday afternoon that an inmate had died. According to our news partner KETK, the WCSO said the inmate had been admitted to the jail on Wednesday. On Thursday, jail staff found the inmate unconscious and began resuscitation efforts until emergency services arrived. The inmate was taken to a hospital where they were pronounced dead. The sheriff’s said the inmates identity is being withheld and the cause of death is not known. The Texas Rangers have been contacted and as standard practice will conduct an investigation into the cause of death.
TYLER – UT Tyler and Kilgore College announced Thursday as they plan to continue their partnership that will allow student co-enrollment. According to our news partner KETK, the partnership would let students take a majority of their classes at KC, but would be eligible to complete three credit hours per semester from an approved list of UTT courses.
“Concurrent enrollment will facilitate a smoother transition for students who plan to transfer from Kilgore College to UT Tyler,†Dr. Tracy Skopek, KC’s vice president of instruction, said. “It will also simplify the transfer process, ensuring students have the necessary prerequisites and credits to seamlessly continue their education at UT Tyler.â€
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TYLER – AAA announced on Thursday that Tyler has the cheapest gas on average in Texas. According to our news partner KETK, with prices rising because of spring and summer travel, AAA’s survey showed that the average cost for a gallon of gas in Tyler was $3 per gallon. The average for Texas is $3.18, while the average price for a gallon of gas nationally is $3.53.
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McALLEN (AP) — Texas faced skeptical questioning at an appeals court hearing Wednesday as the state pushed to enforce a strict new immigration law that would allow it to arrest and deport people who enter the U.S. illegally.
The one-hour hearing before a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ended without a ruling, leaving Texas’ new law on hold for now. A flurry of court activity, including a decision Tuesday from the U.S. Supreme Court that allowed the law to take effect for several hours, has caused uncertainty at the border.
Chief Judge Priscilla Richman raised a series of questions about how the state law would be carried out, including how Texas would respond if federal authorities don’t cooperate with a state judge’s order to deport someone. No arrests were reported during the hours the law was in effect Tuesday.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has said it would not have authority to deport under the state law.
“This is uncharted because we don’t have any cases on it,†said Texas Solicitor General Aaron Nielson.
The Justice Department has argued that Texas’ law is a clear violation of federal authority and will create chaos at the border. Lawyers for the department faced a grilling from Judge Andrew Oldham, who was appointed by Republican President Donald Trump. The third judge on the panel, Judge Irma Ramirez, did not ask questions during the hearing but has previously voted to keep the law on hold.
Richman challenged Texas’ assertion that it is exercising a “core police power,†getting Nielsen to acknowledge that deporting people has been a federal responsibility. But Nielsen denied that Texas is “trying to take over the field†on border enforcement and said the state wants to cooperate with the federal government on what is widely acknowledged to be a crisis.
Nielsen also said he did not know how the law would affect someone who entered the country illegally but came to Texas from another state.
Regardless of how this three-judge panel rules, the legal fight will hardly be over. The 5th Circuit has been considering the state’s appeal of a scathing injunction from a lower-court judge that put the law on hold.
The 5th Circuit issued a decision earlier this month that would have allowed the law to take effect, and the Supreme Court essentially declined to intervene Tuesday. But hours after the law took effect, the 5th Circuit reinstated the lower court injunction, pausing the law again.
The Supreme Court did not rule on the merits of the law. It instead kicked back to the lower appeals court a challenge led by the Justice Department.
Under the Texas law, once defendants are in custody on illegal entry charges, they can agree to a judge’s order to leave the U.S. or face prosecution. However, Mexico has said it would refuse to take anyone back who is ordered to cross the border.
The impact extends far beyond the Texas border. Republican legislators wrote the law so that it applies in all of the state’s 254 counties, although Steve McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has said he expects it will mostly be enforced near the border.
Other GOP-led states are already looking to follow Texas’ path. In Iowa, the state House gave final approval Tuesday to a bill that would also give its state law enforcement the power to arrest people who are in the U.S. illegally and have previously been denied entry into the country.
It now goes to Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds. If signed, it would take effect in July.
“The federal government has abdicated its responsibilities and states can and must act,†Republican Iowa state Rep. Steven Holt said.
In Texas, El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego, the top county executive, said immigration enforcement should remain a federal, not state, responsibility, echoing the Biden administration’s view. He said heightened law enforcement presence in the city of El Paso during a previous migrant surge brought high-speed chases and traffic stops based on assumptions that passengers were in the country illegally.
“We had accidents, we had injuries, we got a little glimpse of what would happen if the state begins to control what happens in respect to immigration,†Samaniego said.
Arrests for illegal crossings fell by half in January from a record-high of 250,000 in December, with sharp declines in Texas. Arrests in the Border Patrol’s Del Rio sector, the focus of Abbott’s enforcement, fell 76% from December. Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for illegal crossings for much of the past decade, recorded its fewest arrests since June 2020.
Tucson, Arizona, has been the busiest corridor in recent months, followed by San Diego in January, but reasons for sudden shifts are often complicated and are dictated by smuggling organizations.
When Biden visited the Rio Grande Valley for his second trip to the border as president last month, administration officials credited Mexico for heightened enforcement on that part of the border for the drop in arrests. They said conditions were more challenging for Mexican law enforcement in Sonora, the state that lies south of Arizona.
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LINDALE – The City of Lindale announced Wednesday afternoon that it had rescinded its boil water notice for a portion of the city. The boil water notice was issued Tuesday afternoon after a new water line was being installed for the residents on Allison Lane.
LONGVIEW – A 50 year prison sentence was given to a man after a guilty plea in the 2022 murder of a Longview teenager. According to our news partner KETK, 30-year-old Laderrion Johnson pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and murder. Johnson was arrested in November 2022 due to multiple incidents at the Preserve Apartments. At this time, Johnson shot and killed 14-year-old Rahsaan Jefferson. After a standoff with Longview Police, Johnson surrendered, was indicted, before eventually pleading guilty.
TYLER – An accident involving a car and a pedestrian Monday morning has killed one person. According to our news partner KETK, Evencio Arellano, 79, was struck by a car on Front Street, near the Rose Garden. Tyler Police said Arellano was taken to local hospital, where he later died. Authorities said the accident did not occur at a crosswalk or intersection.
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TYLER — A man has been sentenced to 32 years in prison after pleading guilty to a 2022 shoot out in Tyler. According to our news partner KETK, 60-year-old Fredrick Leon Harvey of Tyler pleaded guilty Friday of murdering 57-year-old Horatio Williams, also of Tyler. Authorities say on Aug. 8, 2022, Tyler PD was called to the scene of a shooting mid-afternoon. When they arrived, they found Williams with a gunshot wound. He died of those injuries later at a local hospital.
A witness told police, leading to the shooting, the two men were inside a pool hall and “everyone was giving everyone a hard time and joking with each other.†The report continues saying the two men started to argue outside. Williams pulled a shotgun from his van, displayed the gun and then put it back in the van. Around 30 minutes later, Harvey allegedly came back with a handgun in each hand. The witness said, Williams retrieved his shotgun and both men began exchanging shots.
Frederick Harvey was arrested that same day and was charged with two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm and murder.
TYLER – Aaron D. Williams was sworn into office as the 45th Postmaster of Tyler on Thursday. According to our news partner KETK, Williams will supervise delivery and retail operations for three stations and one financial unit. A release from the postal service said The Tyler Post Office has 240 employees, serving 52 city routes and 66 rural routes. Williams has also served for the postal service in Waco, DeSoto, Waxahachie, Lancaster and Rockwall.
VAN – The Van Police Department arrested a man suspected of running into a gas station fuel pump, causing a fire and leaving the scene. According to our news partner KETK, officers booked Trevion Bowie late Tuesday afternoon in Northeastern Smith County. Investigators found a vehicle matching the one involved in the crash that happened last Friday. Bowie confessed to the incident at the time of his arrest. He was taken to the Van Zandt County Jail and charged with criminal mischief.
SMITH COUNTY – One person is dead after a three-vehicle crash in Smith County Monday morning. According to our news partner KETK, the accident occurred around 9 a.m. on State Highway 110 and CR 2121. Initial DPS reports say that a pickup truck turned south off CR 2121 onto Highway 110 and collided with a northbound pickup. The northbound pickup went into the southbound lane, hitting another vehicle head-on. One driver has died. Another is hospitalized, while a third driver had minor injuries.