Today is
Thursday June 04, 2026
HUNTSVILLE (AP) — A man who experts for both prosecutors and defense attorneys had said was intellectually disabled became the 600th person executed in Texas since 1982, put to death Thursday evening for the killing of a 77-year-old retired college professor.
Edward Busby Jr. was pronounced dead at 8:11 p.m. following a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a stay over his disabilities claims. The execution capped a series of last-minute legal efforts by Busby’s attorneys seeking to spare his life.
Busby was condemned for the suffocation death of Laura Lee Crane, a retired professor from Texas Christian University. Prosecutors said she was abducted from a grocery store parking lot in January 2004 and left to suffocate in the trunk of her car with duct tape wrapped heavily around her face, covering her mouth and nose.
The execution was the 600th in Texas since it resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1982. Busby also was the fourth person executed this year in Texas and the 12th nationwide. Earlier Thursday, Oklahoma executed Raymond Johnson for killing his ex-girlfriend and her 7-month-old daughter nearly 20 years ago.
When asked by the warden if he had a final statement, Busby repeatedly apologized and asked for forgiveness.
“I am so sorry for what happened,” he said while strapped to the death chamber gurney. “Miss Crane was a lovely woman. I never meant anything bad to happen to her.” He said he wished he could “take it all back” and added he had “no right to get in that car.”
“I’ll take the blame if that helps.”
He said he had surrendered his life to God and urged a sister, who was praying and watching through a window a short distance away, to find a church and “pick up your cross.”
“I’m here because this is the will of God,” he said before the injection got underway.
As the lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital began flowing, he took a sharp breath, closed his eyes and gasped. Then he made snoring sounds that got progressively quieter. Within 40 seconds, all movement and sounds ceased. He was pronounced dead 38 minutes afterward.
Busby’s execution had been in doubt after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week issued a stay of execution to further review his claims of intellectual disability. But the Supreme Court overturned the stay Thursday at the request of the Texas Attorney General’s Office. The attorney general’s office had argued that similar appeals were previously rejected and were “meritless” and based on “conflicting evidence.”
Busby’s lawyers quickly sought another stay but it was denied by a lower court.
The Supreme Court in 2002 had barred the execution of intellectually disabled people. But it has given states some discretion to decide how to determine such disabilities.
Busby’s attorneys had argued against putting him to death because a defense expert as well as one hired by the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case, both found he was intellectually disabled.
The district attorney’s office had previously recommended Busby’s sentence be reduced to life in prison. But the trial judge in Busby’s case disagreed with the findings of intellectual disability and in 2023 upheld the death sentence.
In a statement Wednesday, the district attorney’s office said it requested Thursday’s execution date because it believed that under current law Busy was not intellectually disabled.
Two other prior execution dates for Busby had been delayed by courts.
Prosecutors have said Busby and his co-defendant, Kathleen Latimer, abducted Crane in her car from a Fort Worth grocery store parking lot and later put in her vehicle’s trunk as they drove around. Prosecutors said she died in the trunk after suffocating from having 23 feet (7 meters) of duct tape wrapped over her entire face.
Busby was subsequently arrested in Oklahoma City driving Crane’s car and led authorities to her body in Oklahoma just north of the state line with Texas.
Latimer is in prison serving a life sentence for murder.
Bryan Mark Rigg, an author and historian who represented the Crane family as a witness to the execution, said they “neither support or oppose the death penalty. However, they are united in their respect for the rule of law.”
Rigg said as a child he was a student of Crane, who for decades helped children overcome learning disabilities and “was discarded in a field like a piece of trash.” He said the execution was not about vengeance but “accountability under the law and about remembering the life of an extraordinary educator.”
PORT ISABEL (AP) — Until recently, young children ran in and out of their public housing homes in this Gulf Coast town, playing on sun-dappled lawns as mothers looked over their shoulders for the school bus to drop off their older kids. Suddenly, couches, dressers and refrigerators started appearing curbside for movers or garbage collectors.
Within weeks, the neighborhood was a ghost town and the playground was empty.
What prompted the mass exodus was a bungled message from the housing authority in Port Isabel, a South Texas community of 5,000 people, many of whom are immigrants working at hotels and restaurants on the beaches of nearby South Padre Island. The Port Isabel Housing Authority indicated a Trump administration proposal was about to take effect that would end housing assistance to families with at least one member in the country illegally. The events that followed provided a glimpse of what could happen in communities across the U.S. if the proposed rule is actually finalized.
“The impact was not limited to undocumented immigrants, but really to immigrants who are here legally as well as people within their families who are citizens,” Marie Claire Tran-Leung, senior staff attorney at National Housing Law Project, said.
For decades, families with at least one legal or eligible resident have been allowed to live in public housing provided those who are here illegally or are otherwise ineligible due to their immigration status pay a full, unsubsidized share of rent. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development wants to reverse that.
Advocates estimate up to 80,000 people would be kicked out of their homes nationwide under the measure that is part of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. They include U.S. citizens, many of them children born in this country but whose parents were not.
A message from the Port Isabel Housing Authority
On Feb. 3, the Port Isabel Housing Authority sent residents a letter saying that the Trump administration wanted every household member to prove legal status within 30 days or face eviction. Three weeks later, the agency sent a note of “clarification” that no such proof was required.
It was already too late.
Half of residents living in Port Isabel public housing left within a month of receiving the first letter. The occupancy rate plunged from 91% in January to 43% in May, far below the national average of 94%.
The proposed rule from HUD still has not taken effect.
The housing authority gave no explanation for the initial misunderstanding and officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment from The Associated Press.
Rumors and panic
Fears about eviction and rumors that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement might get involved prompted panic among some residents.
“My kids and I spoke and wondered what we were going to do, but then we said it’s better to leave and avoid any retaliation,” a single mother from Mexico raising two teenagers who are U.S. citizens told The Associated Press. She, like other former residents, spoke on condition of anonymity due to fears of being deported.
She turned to legal service organizations that told her and others they could stay in public housing. But she and her children decided it was too risky and left their home of nearly a decade, finding an apartment within the same school district that costs about $500 more per month.
The move also added about 10 minutes to the commute to the island, where both the mother and her daughter work. The 18-year-old gets home from school at 4:30 p.m. and grabs a quick dinner before her mom drives her to a job that starts at 5 p.m. The daughter is a top student in her senior class and plans to go to college in the fall with help from scholarship offers, but she worries how her family will make ends meet. Her brother was laid off, and their mom underwent cancer treatment last year, depleting her energy and straining their finances.
Other families face even greater challenges.
A mother of three said she moved her family into a one-bedroom trailer home illegally parked between two other trailer homes. Her oldest son sleeps in the living room.
Another family of three sold beds and other furniture so they could squeeze into a small trailer home, only to find out the landlord wouldn’t let them use the mailing address, affecting her children’s school and health insurance.
“Since we got the letter, everything changed from one day to the next. It wasn’t the same anymore. Before the letter, the kids were happy, playing outside,” the mother of two said.
A preview of a Trump administration proposal
The Trump administration proposed in February that any household with one ineligible resident would disqualify an entire family, estimating that 24,000 recipients were ineligible in 20,000 households.
“We have zero tolerance for pushing aside hardworking U.S. citizens while enabling others to exploit decades-old loopholes,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner said at the time.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which advocates for low-income families, estimates that 79,600 people could be forced to leave their homes, with a disproportionate impact on children and Latinos.
The rule drew more than 16,000 public comments, many of them critical, including from city leaders across the U.S.
For example, the New York City Council told HUD that an estimated 12% of city of households have at least one member who lacks legal status. Some 240,000 children are in those homes.
“This proposed rule will unequivocally lead to increased displacement, homelessness, poverty, and decreased educational and health outcomes,” the council wrote.
HUD is expected to publish a final version of the rule after considering public comments.
It is almost certain to face legal challenges.
SEATTLE (AP) – Starbucks said Friday it’s laying off 300 corporate employees and closing some U.S. offices as part of its ongoing turnaround.
No coffeehouse employees are affected, the company said. The cuts will impact employees in support functions like marketing, human resources and supply chain management. No international employees are affected for now, but Starbucks said it is also reviewing its corporate structure outside the U.S.
Starbucks said it’s also closing underused offices in Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago and other cities. The Seattle-based company recently announced that it’s opening a corporate office in Nashville, Tennessee, that will employ up to 2,000 people within five years.
Starbucks expects to the moves to result in $400 million in restructuring charges, including $120 million in employee separation benefits.
Starbucks has been trying to reduce costs and complexity under Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol, who joined the company in 2024. Last year, the company laid off 2,000 corporate employees and closed hundreds of stores in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
Niccol said last month that the simplified structure is helping the company innovate more quickly. Starbucks is also investing in its remaining stores to improve customers’ experience. It plans to redesign 1,000 U.S. stores this year to give them a cozier, more comfortable feel, and it’s also hiring baristas to ensure faster service during busy times.
The efforts appear to be paying off. In the January-March period, Starbucks said its U.S. same-store sales, or sales at locations open at least a year, jumped 7%. Niccol called the quarter “the turn in our turnaround.”
“Our focus now is on sustaining our momentum and making our results repeatable and durable, all while delivering a healthy cost structure that supports profitable growth,” Niccol said during a conference call with investors. “It’s how we turn progress into consistent results.”
SMITH COUNTY – Early voting for the May 26 Primary Runoff Election runs Monday through Friday, May 18-22, 2026.
Statewide runoff races are on the ballot.
U.S. Senator, Attorney General, Railroad Commissioner and Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 3, Judge are on the Republican ticket. The Democratic ballot will have runoff races for U.S. Representative, District 1, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General.
There are five early voting locations open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The polling places include:
*Heritage Building: 1900 Bellwood Road, Tyler
*The Hub: 304 E. Ferguson Street, Tyler
*Lindale Kinzie Community Center: 912 Mt. Sylvan St., Lindale
*Noonday Community Center: 16662 CR 196, Tyler
*Whitehouse City Center: 109 E. Main Street, Whitehouse
Election Day is 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 26, 2026.
For more information about voting locations, times and what is on the ballot, or to use the Smith County interactive map, visit here.
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Gary Grief, the former executive director of the Texas Lottery Commission who was accused of conspiring to defraud Texas lottery players, was indicted by a grand jury in Travis County last month on a felony charge for abuse of official capacity related to an April 2023 lottery win. But the Travis County district attorney’s office dismissed the case for “prosecutorial discretion.”
Assistant District Attorney Rob Drummond signed the motion to dismiss the case just three days after the grand jury indictment. Nexstar reached out to the Travis County DA’s office for an explanation for the dismissal and are waiting to hear back.
Nexstar also asked the office if District Attorney José Garza had any say about the motion to dismiss or if ADA Drummond acted on his own.
Grief retired in 2024 just before a Houston Chronicle investigation revealed a group of investors were able to purchase nearly every single number combination to almost guarantee a $95 million jackpot in an April 2023 Lotto Texas drawing. Lotto Texas is a draw game where players select six numbers between 1 and 54.
The indictment accuses Grief of “intentionally and knowingly misuse government property, services, personnel, or a thing of value belonging to the government” in the April 22, 2023 Lotto Texas drawing.
Tyler — The Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce and its Veterans Committee invite you to a Memorial Day Ceremony on Saturday, May 23, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at The Boulders at Lake Tyler, on McElroy Road.
As we mark 250 Years of Freedom, we remember that liberty comes at a cost. This year’s theme, 250 Years of Freedom, 250 Years of Sacrifice, honors the 1.4 million Service Members who died defending our nation, as well as the families and loved ones they left behind. Read the rest of this entry »
TYLER – CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital continues to lead the way in advancing patient care through innovation, becoming the first hospital in the nation to employ the new V2 Swoop Portable MRI, utilizing the newest FDA cleared software inside an operating room during a pituitary tumor resection.
The groundbreaking procedure was performed by Dr. Todd Patrick, chief of neurosurgery, marking a significant milestone in surgical precision and patient-centered care.
By bringing advanced imaging directly into the operating room, the Swoop system allows surgeons to capture real-time images during procedures, improving decision-making, reducing the need for repeat imaging and enhancing overall surgical outcomes. Read the rest of this entry »
ANGELINA COUNTY (KETK) — The City of Lufkin Animal Services was recently awarded a $150,000 grant to expand its spay-and-neuter services across Angelina County.
According to the City of Lufkin, the grant was provided by the Texas Health and Human Services’ Public Health Region and will allow the shelter to provide low-cost sterilization services. The service will help reduce overpopulation and decrease shelter intake.
Through the grant, residents will only pay $25 to have their pets spayed or neutered, with the remainder of the treatment covered by the shelter, the city said. Along with making sterilization services more affordable for pet owners, the grant will also help in reducing the stray and unwanted animal population in Angelina County.
“This funding is a tremendous opportunity to make a lasting impact on animal welfare in our community and across the region,” Lufkin Animal Services Manager Morgan Williams said. “By increasing access to spay and neuter services, we are taking proactive steps to reduce homelessness among pets, improve public safety, and support healthier communities.”
Residents can schedule the first round of sterilization services by contacting the Lufkin Animal Shelter at 936-633-0218. A $25 deposit fee will be required for each appointment.
LIVINGSTON (KETK) — Two students and a school bus driver were taken to the hospital after a Thursday morning crash in Livingston involving a school bus and a pole.
According to the Livingston Independent School District, the crash happened early Thursday on Highway 59 in front of the hospital when one of their buses struck a road post. EMS evaluated all students at the scene, and parents were notified.
Two students and the driver were transported to the hospital for further evaluation. The remaining students were taken to their campus on another bus.
“We appreciate the quick response of emergency personnel and school staff in ensuring the safety and care of our students,” the school district said.
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POLK COUNTY (KETK)— Two people were arrested in Polk County on Tuesday after over 15 pounds of marijuana and over 100 THC vape pens were found inside their home, along with several firearms.
According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, deputies conducted an investigation at the home of Mohammad Shoaib and Komal Jiwani in Onalaska on Tuesday after obtaining a probable cause warrant.
During the search, officials allegedly discovered 16 pounds of marijuana, 115 THC vape pens, and several multiple marijuana edible products, which were packaged to resemble candy and snack items that would appeal to children. Several firearms were also found inside the home, according to officials.
The sheriff’s office alleged that the edible products were located throughout the home and were easily accessible to young children living there.
Shoaib and Jiwani were arrested following the search of their home and charged with the following offenses:
*Possession of marijuana
*Manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance
*Three counts of child endangerment
“The Polk County Sheriff’s Office remains committed to aggressively targeting the illegal distribution of narcotics within our communities,” Sheriff Byron Lyons stated. “Investigations involving narcotics that are accessible to children are especially concerning and will continue to be a top enforcement priority.”
TYLER — The University of Texas at Tyler R. Don Cowan Fine & Performing Arts Center announced its 2026–27 season, unveiling a dynamic lineup that brings some of the most celebrated names in music, Broadway, entertainment and storytelling to East Texas. With chart-topping artists, smash-hit musicals and nationally recognized performers, the upcoming season promises to be one of the Cowan Center’s most exciting and wide-ranging yet.
“This season reflects our commitment to presenting world-class talent across genres,” said Ryan Poynter, Cowan Center executive director. “From iconic rock and country artists to award-winning Broadway and innovative live experiences, we’re offering something unforgettable for every audience member.” Read the rest of this entry »
BEAUMONT – A Mexican national illegally living in the Eastern District of Texas, has pleaded guilty to immigration violations, announced U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs. Jose Perez-Segura, 41, pleaded guilty to unlawful reentry by a deported alien before U.S. Magistrate Judge Zack Hawthorn on May 13.
According to information presented in court, Perez-Segura was arrested by the Lufkin Police Department in August 2025 for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Further investigation revealed Perez-Segura was an alien illegal present in the United States after having been previously deported in 2011 and did not have permission to return to the United States.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.
This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Angelina County Sheriff’s Office, and the Lufkin Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald S. Carter.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A licensed drug addiction counselor who delivered “Friends” star Matthew Perry the doses of ketamine that killed him was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison.
Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence to 56-year-old Erik Fleming in a federal court in Los Angeles.
“It’s truly a nightmare I can’t wake up from,” Fleming told the judge before the sentence. “I’m haunted by the mistakes I made.” He wore a black suit and spoke at the podium with a deep, somber voice.
A judge ordered Fleming, who has been free on bond for about two years, to turn himself in to serve his term in 45 days. He was also sentenced to three years of probation.
Fleming was the fourth defendant sentenced of the five who have pleaded guilty in prosecutions over the actor’s 2023 death in the Jacuzzi at his Los Angeles home. Fleming connected Perry to Jasveen Sangha, the convicted drug who dealer prosecutors called “The Ketamine Queen.” She was sentenced last month to 15 years in prison.
Fleming gave up Sangha to investigators the same day they found him at his sister’s house, where he was sleeping on the couch several months after Perry’s death. He became the first defendant to plead guilty in August 2024, admitting to one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. That was before arrests in the case were even announced, and Wednesday was his first court appearance since his role became public knowledge.
His attorney Robert Dugdale told the judge he “handed over the Ketamine Queen on a silver platter.”
“They didn’t have a clue who she was before that day,” Dugdale said.
He would have gotten about four years in prison if it weren’t for his cooperation, according to federal sentencing guidelines.
The prosecution said he deserved credit for doing the right thing, but argued that he did so only when confronted and cornered by authorities.
“Mr. Fleming didn’t cooperate because he had a benevolent motive, or because he wanted justice for Mr. Perry,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian Yanniello said. “He wanted to save himself.”
The judge also pointed out that Fleming didn’t come forward in the months after Perry’s death, that he didn’t create new evidence by making phone calls to co-conspirators or anything similar, and that the information he provided might have been obtained anyway simply through the seizure of his phone.
But all agreed that he sped up and smoothed the investigation with his cooperation.
Prosecutors said in a sentencing memo that his role as a drug counselor who “deliberately undertook to sell illegal street drugs to a victim who had a public, well-documented battle with drug addiction” should count against him, even if Perry wasn’t one of his regular clients.
Defense lawyers emphasized that he had no criminal record and repeatedly pointed out that he only spent 11 days of his life dealing drugs and to a single customer. Fleming told the judge it was an act of desperation “in the midst of the worst time of my life.”
They had asked for a sentence of three months in prison and nine months in a residential drug treatment facility.
Fleming told the judge his great remorse “can’t compare to the agony I’ve caused.”
Outside the courthouse, he said “my chest and heart hurt every day for the pain I caused not only his family but the millions of people who adore him.”
He and his lawyers also highlighted what they called his extraordinary work towards rehabilitation, spending 20 months sober and helping to establish a sober living home. After the hearing, he hugged several friends who were in the courtroom to support him.
Perry had been receiving ketamine treatments for depression — an increasingly common off-label use.
A few weeks before his death, Perry was seeking more of the drug than he could get through doctors and asked a friend to help him get more. She was in a treatment facility, so introduced Perry to Fleming. He was a former film and television producer whose career had been ravaged by addiction. He got sober and became a drug counselor, but had relapsed after the 2023 death of a beloved stepmother who had rescued him from a traumatic childhood, his lawyers said.
Fleming would get ketamine from Sangha, mark up the price to make a profit, and deliver it to Perry’s house, where he sold it to the actor’s live-in personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa.
His deliveries included 25 vials for $6,000 four days before Perry’s death.
Iwamasa would inject Perry from that batch on Oct. 28, 2023, and hours later, he found the actor dead. A medical examiner’s report found that Perry died from the acute effects of ketamine, a surgical anesthetic, and drowning was a secondary cause.
Iwamasa is set to be the last defendant sentenced in two weeks.
Perry, who died at 54, became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing on “Friends,” NBC’s culture-changing sitcom that ran from 1994 to 2004.
An auction of his valuables including “Friends” memorabilia will go to benefit the foundation founded in his name after his death.
SMITH COUNTY — The Smith County Commissioners Court striked down a motion to conduct an audit on previous road bonds in a meeting on Tuesday. According to our news partner KETK, the independent audit would examine how the county has spent millions of dollars from taxpayer-funded road bonds from 2017 to 2021. The motion came to the court after a watchdog group raised concerns about a possible $7 million discrepancy, rising project costs and delays.
Ultimately, the court rejected the motion by a majority vote. Precinct 1 Commissioner Christina Drewry was the sole vote in favor of the audit.
“This is about not repeating the same mistakes,” Drewry said. “We didn’t do a great job of capturing all of the documents, the inspections, the engineering. There are documents that are missing. We shouldn’t have that. The road bond was $84 million.”