The latest East Texas news from The Texas Tribune.
When Bernie Tiede went to trial in 1999 for murdering a wealthy Carthage widow, many in the town wanted the young man to see a light punishment. But 15 years into his life sentence, many now say prison is where he belongs. Full Story
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About eight months after a ruptured pipe spewed at least 210,000 gallons of tar sands oil in Arkansas, residents and some public officials in East Texas are calling on regulators to permanently shutter the Pegasus pipeline, which runs beneath local reservoirs and backyards. Full Story
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Former Police Chief Rodney Pearson has become a reluctant symbol for many in Jasper's black community of how little has changed in race relations since James Byrd Jr.’s dragging death. Full Story
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Jasper continues to deal with fallout from the dismissal of its first black police chief. Black community leaders in the East Texas town say racial tensions are at "an all-time high." Full Story
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The short-lived tenure of Jasper's first black police chief — and the public feuding it has provoked — threatens to wrench open still healing wounds from the town's troubled past. Full Story
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GOP leaders from East Texas see a tight race in the HD-7 primary rematch between state Rep. David Simpson and Tommy Merritt, a former seven-term House member. Full Story
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Lawmakers and health care advocates gathered today to kick off the state's first annual Minority Cancer Awareness Month, designated in the last legislative session to bring awareness to racial disparities in cancer survival. Full Story
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Child Protective Services officials got an earful on Wednesday at a Senate hearing on improving the caseworker retention rates in rural communities. And they got a minor scolding from Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville. Full Story
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Texas has scored a 68 out of 100, placing 27th in a national state integrity study. The state got high marks for auditing and for monitoring pension funds, but not as high for accountability of the governor and legislators. Full Story
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In 2011, residents of some large Texas cities increased their water usage — despite the widespread adoption of restrictions on lawn-watering. Full Story
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A crowd gathered Friday at the Planned Parenthood Health Center in Austin to express concerns over the expected demise of the Women's Health Program. Full Story
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The political action committee of Dallas billionaire waste magnate Harold Simmons is asking 18 lawmakers to return about $65,000 in contributions after admitting that an oversight led to illegal campaign contributions. Full Story
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God and Country, a new Texas-based organization, will hold a rally Saturday at a Tyler church to “draw a line in the sand and aggressively and publicly defend those certain unalienable rights endowed by our creator.” Full Story
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Renewable energy companies are looking to this big, sunny state as the next frontier for solar power. But solar is expensive, and once again the Legislature did not pass a statewide solar incentive. Some companies and communities are forging ahead nonetheless. Full Story
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New U.S. census data shows the Hispanic population in Texas increased by 42 percent since 2000 and makes up 38 percent of the population. The state's total population increased by 4,293,741 since 2000. Full Story
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Proposing state enforcement of immigration laws can produce strange bedfellows. "Who would imagine that after 28 years of law enforcement the ACLU would be talking so nicely about me,” Sheriff Richard Wiles joked after being introduced as a common-sense sheriff by ACLU of Texas Executive Director Terri Burke for his opposition to proposed legislation patterned on Arizona’s. Full Story
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Should Texas gun sellers be required to notify the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives when they sell two or more semi-automatic rifles to one person within a five-day period? The feds, desperate to stem the flow of weapons into Mexico, say yes. Gun rights advocates like Gov. Rick Perry say such a policy would be misguided. Full Story
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Unregistered high school umpires will keep their stripes on, for now. A U.S. district judge granted an injunction today requested by the Texas Association of Sport Officials, halting a University Interscholastic League mandate that all high school sports officials register with the agency. Some officials were refusing to register, risking a lockout. Full Story
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The drama of the gridiron has found its way into a federal courtroom in a standoff between the Texas Association of Sports Officials and the University Interscholastic League. With the threat of a lockout of referees and their ilk, the result could be the hiring of scabs to replace them — or even the halting of games — just weeks before one of the year's most eagerly anticipated moments in Texas: the start of high school football playoffs. Full Story
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A year after Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced it would reform immigration detention, advocacy groups say the agency has fallen short on a few key counts: addressing alleged human rights violations and expanding alternatives to incarceration. Full Story
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