Today is
Sunday July 26, 2026
CARTHAGE – A Carthage High School teacher has been named as one of 50 finalists statewide for the H-E-B Excellence in Education Awards. According to our news partner, Carthage High School teacher Catherine Jackson is a finalist for a Lifetime Achievement Award. H-E-B said in a release, that 50 finalists were named statewide. Teacher finalists received a $1,000 check for themselves while their schools received a $1,500 check. Officials at Carthage ISD said that as a finalist, Jackson is eligible to win a $25,000 prize for herself and a $25,000 grant for Carthage ISD. Those will be announced on May 5.
LONGVIEW – The Longview Police Department said a student was apprehended after they allegedly made a terroristic threat to Pine Tree ISD on Sunday. According to our news partner KETK, officials said were made aware of the threat on a social media platform Sunday around around 11 p.m. After an investigation by Longview Police, the student was taken into custody, charged with make a terroristic and is currently in the Gregg County Juvenile Detention Center.
EMORY – The Texas Department of Public Safety said that Rains County Justice of the Peace Robert Jenkins Franklin was arrested last Thursday for driving while intoxicated. According to our news partner KETK, on Wednesday night March 20, a Rains County Sheriff’s deputy was asked to check a suspicious vehicle that had its brake lights on and the driver sitting in it for an hour. The officer found the driver was the 44-year-old Franklin of Alba. The deputies report said that several open alcoholic beverage containers were in the truck. And, that Franklin had a strong smell of alcohol on his breath.
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HAWKINS — Thursday during Hawkins’ city council meeting, the chief of police resigned. According to our news partner KETK, he is the second chief to resign in the span of two years. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the resignation of the municipal court judge and the two-week notices of the police chief and two officers. The city council approved the resignation of the Municipal Court Judge Kyle Waggner before going into executive session for 45 minutes.
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ANGELINA COUNTY — 
The Angelina County Commissioners Court approved a $1 million grant that will add five new beds to the juvenile detention center according to our news partners at KETK. Mark Gorman, the Chief Juvenile Probation Officer of Angelina County, met with the court during their regular session on Tuesday asking the court to approve a $1 million Texas Juvenile Justice Department Detention Expansion grant. The Angelina County Juvenile Detention Center Services is a hybrid department ran by the county and state. Gorman said by statute, the center is a county department, with the county providing equipment buildings and office space. The center also entered into a contract with the Texas Juvenile Justice Department primarily for services including counseling, salary and fringe operating. Read the rest of this entry »
DALLAS – The Dallas Morning News reports that more than 93,000 Texans have unclaimed tax refunds, but the deadline to file a tax return is approaching. The IRS said this week that roughly 940,000 people in the U.S. have until May 17 to submit tax returns for unclaimed refunds for tax year 2020, which total more than $1 billion nationwide. In Texas, unclaimed refunds total $107 million, with a median refund of $960. The national median refund for 2020 is $932. “There’s money remaining on the table for hundreds of thousands of people who haven’t filed 2020 tax returns,†IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a statement “We want taxpayers to claim these refunds, but time is running out for people who may have overlooked or forgotten about these refunds.†Taxpayers typically have three years to file and claim their tax refunds before the money becomes the property of the U.S. Treasury. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the deadline for 2020 was extended from 2023 to 2024.
By not filing a return, taxpayers could lose more than a refund. Many low- and moderate-income workers may be eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit, which in 2020 was worth up to $6,660 for taxpayers with qualifying children. The program helps individuals and people whose incomes are below certain thresholds. “People faced extremely unusual situations during the pandemic, which may have led some people to forget about a potential refund on their 2020 tax returns,†Werfel said. For those who need to file a return, the IRS advises taxpayers to request their W-2, 1098, 1099 or 5498 from their employer or bank — or order a free wage and income transcript using the “Get Transcript Online†tool at IRS.gov. This week’s announcement from the IRS comes weeks after the federal tax collector launched a pilot program called Direct File in a dozen states, including Texas. Some 50,000 people in those states have used the free program so far this year.
MARSHALL— Authorities have charged a Wichita man for murder in connection to the 2023 killing of a 16-year-old. According to our news partner KETK, the Marshall Police Department Tuesday arrested 27-year-old Jarvis Gill in the murder that occurred in the early morning of June 7, 2023.
MPD said at the time of the shooting they received a call of a person lying in the roadway on Alexander Street. When officers arrived they found the unnamed teen dead of a single gunshot wound. Further investigation found the body had been in the street about 90 minutes before authorities were called. During this time, officers said people drove around the body and took pictures and video of it.
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CHANDLER – A multi-vehicle crash Thursday morning on Lake Palestine has left five persons injured. According to our news partner KETK, the accidents happened around 8 a.m. The Chandler Volunteer Fire Department responded to the incident, finding six vehicles had collided, some with major damage. Five people were sent to local hospitals, one of those had to be flown out. DPS was at the scene controlling traffic until the bridge was reopened to normal traffic flow.
TYLER – Tyler city officials announced Wednesday a contract has been approved for an engineering study on water quality from Lake Palestine. According to our news partners KETK, the $120,000 contract with HDR Engineering, Inc. partnering with Tyler Water Utilities is to create a study meant to “identify ways to enhance the treatment process and address the taste and odor issues that TWU customers experience when Lake Palestine experiences seasonal issues.â€
The city said in their release that the lake has high levels of Geosmin. Geosmin is a naturally occurring compound, that may raise concerns on water quality. This may be more of an issue due to the age of the lake and the amount of natural organic matter in it.
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RUSK — An accident Monday afternoon involving an 18-wheeler and a van killed that vehicles lone occupant near Rusk. According to our news partner KETK, the driver was 44-year-old Nicholas Schintgen of Lino Lakes, Minn.
A DPS report said that Schintgen was driving south on US 69 “at an unsafe speed for the road conditions.†The 18-wheeler, also on US 69 south lost control, causing the van to veer off the edge of road and striking a tree. Nicholas Schintgen was pronounced dead at the accident site.
TYLER — A Tyler man was sentenced Monday to 44 years in prison in connection to a 2021 shooting. According to our news partner KETK, 26-year-old Zaccheus Keion Dunn was found guilty for the murder of Christopher Frank Eiglebiger. Police records say Eiglebiger was fatally shot May 13, 2021 at a residence in Tyler. A second suspect, 29-year-old Dakevian Beniot Scroggins was identified in connection to the murder. On July 25, Tyler Police arrested Scroggins and he was charged with capital murder, evading arrest/detention and a parole violation. His trial was scheduled to start Monday.
TEXARKANA — 
Our news partners at KETK report that a 1-year-old has reportedly died at a Texarkana apartment after being hit by a vehicle while playing outside in the parking lot. According to a release, police responded to the scene in the 3900 block of West 39th Street, where a 1-year-old boy was struck and killed by a vehicle. The police department said they are conducting an investigation but “it appears that the driver never saw the child.â€
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.
BOWIE COUNTY – 
Our news partners at KETK report that a Texarkana woman and Tyler man are dead after a crash Tuesday night on U.S. Highway 59, four miles south of Texarkana. According to a preliminary DPS report, a 2024 Kia Telluride SUV was traveling southbound on the highway around 9:53 p.m. when it crossed into the northbound lane and struck a 2023 Chevrolet Tahoe SUV. The driver of the Kia was identified as Natasha Brewer, 48 of Texarkana, and the driver of the Chevrolet was identified as Jason Foster, 46 of Tyler. Both were pronounced dead at the scene. Officials said the investigation is ongoing.
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.
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.
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.
SMITH COUNTY – 
The Smith County District Attorney’s Office said a Tyler man was sentenced to 40 years in prison on Thursday for abusing a minor, according to our news partners at KETK. According to a release, Camron Bowens, 38 of Tyler, was found guilty of abusing a nine-year-old girl for six years. “The victim testified and was able to confront the defendant with the abuse she endured,†the district attorney’s office said. A detective also testified about his investigation into the abuse and arrest of Bowens. Bowens was sentenced by the 241st District Court to serve his sentence without the possibility of parole.
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.
TYLER – A man was arrested following a shooting at an apartment complex in Tyler on Wednesday morning that has put a 3-year-old in the hospital. According to our news partner KETK, Tyler Police Public Information Officer Andy Erbaugh said officers responded to a shooting at the Liberty Arms apartments on North Broadway, EMS also arrived on the scene. Officials said a toddler had been shot in the buttocks and was transferred to a local hospital, and their current condition is unknown. Tyler PD said that they located the suspect, identified as Darius Davis, 30, across the street and arrested him. Davis was reportedly booked into Smith County Jail and was charged with aggravated assault and is facing other charges.
TEXARKANA — 
The Texarkana Police Department said a man has been arrested for child grooming after reportedly sending sexually suggestive messages and videos to several underage girls according to our news partners at KETK. According to a release, Matthew Riddle, 35 of Texarkana, had access to the underage girls “through their involvement in youth sports activities in the community.†Texarkana PD said while they cannot provide details of the case due to the age of the victims. The police department said this type of behavior is used by pedophiles to manipulate and gain the trust of minors in small steps towards sexual contact. Read the rest of this entry »
PANOLA COUNTY — 
The Panola County Sheriff’s Office said three people were arrested on Monday after a search warrant revealed 29 firearms and suspected methamphetamine. According to our news partner KETK, a special response team alongside two constables conducted a search warrant on Jasmine and Smith streets in the city of Beckville. During the search, authorities reportedly recovered 29 firearms and “suspected methamphetamine related paraphernalia, including measurement and packaging implement.†Read the rest of this entry »
TYLER – 
The Humane Society of the United States partnered with an Oklahoma sheriff’s office as part of a large scale alleged cruelty case involving two puppy breeding operations that advertised selling at ‘Dog Alley’ in Canton according to our colleagues at KETK. According to a release, the Humane Society assisted in the rescue of over 150 dogs and puppies from two puppy breeding operations in Milburn, Oklahoma. “It’s a bleak existence for these dogs, no one would want to live like this,†said Cynthia Armstrong, Oklahoma state director for the Humane Society of the United States. “We are grateful to the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office for intervening on behalf of these animals and getting them the care they need.†Read the rest of this entry »
TYLER – 
Our news partners at KETK report that a man was sentenced to 20 years in prison last month after pleading guilty to two charges of aggravated robbery in connection to a fatal shooting at a Tyler apartment complex in March 2023. Nicholas Hudson, 19 of Malakoff, was arrested after, according to his arrest warrant, he met with another man at the Royal Crest Apartments where a gun trade had been planned. Read the rest of this entry »
TYLER – 
The Texas Department of State Health Services has announced that they’ve awarded $19.3 million in grants to Federally Qualified Health Centers and similar organizations, including five in East Texas according to our news partners at KETK. This initial round of funding is a part of $40 million from the Texas general revenue fund to help expand Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), FQHC look-alikes and eligible nonprofit health centers. Read the rest of this entry »
SMITH COUNTY – All non-emergency Smith County offices will be closed for business on Friday, March 29, 2024, for Good Friday. Offices will reopen for normal business hours on Monday, April 1. To get more information on Smith County events, click