Latest newspaper headlines- Swimmer rescued from swollen Blanco River - San Marcos Mercury
- Walgreens races to meet deadline - Hays Free Press
- Kyle goes 'wet' with 84 percent mandate: Voters toss out city's alcohol ... - Hays Free Press
- Planning for the end: Hospital staff stresses the importance of advance directives - Hays Free Press
- Kyle residents putting their money on Ratliff for sheriff - Hays Free Press
- Buda to complete $3.75 million wastewater treatment upgrade - Hays Free Press
- Lobo senior Jaylon Hardaway first in family of athletes to make trip to state - Hays Free Press
- Challengers questioning Hays County debt load - Hays Free Press
Author Archives: wes
Emu on the run
A wayward emu is on the loose in northwestern Harrison County after spooking a rancher’s livestock for the past couple of weeks. Continue reading
Posted in Outdoors
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On the road with Wes and Scott
Vicious alligators! Death-defying ziplines! Salty buildings! Check out our six-part series of day trips around East Texas — no luggage required. Continue reading
Posted in Outdoors
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Cicada song
Tiny nymphs hide among the trees of East Texas. But as they grow older, the midsummer night beckons. Continue reading
Posted in Outdoors, Science
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Let’s commercialize high school sports
Pat Collins is a salty old coach, a booster backslapper, a guy whose powers of persuasion can open wallets around town. He wants the best for his kids, and he knows how to get it. For proof, just look at … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Education
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‘He’s given hero a different meaning’
LAKEPORT — Hundreds of East Texans stood in silent tribute Saturday as a Tatum family grieved over the flag-draped casket of a fallen loved one. Relatives and supporters gathered at the East Texas Regional Airport to meet the body of … Continue reading
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Longview Transit riders as varied as the routes
We spent a recent weekday getting to know a few of the passengers who use Longview Transit every day. They are elderly people, working poor people, homeless folks and others who occupy a range of life situations. Continue reading
A dying man's 'holy calling'
Dencil Marsh’s wife calls him a billy goat the way he scrambles over leaf-strewn ledges and through deep, dry washes. Somehow, he said, he never loses his footing. He wanders foot trails through scrubby forest and brush, exploring a patch … Continue reading
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Fast times with the repo man
Never bring a knife to a gunfight. It’s a rule to live by, but not one that applies to Longview’s top repo man. Wesley Pierce has been cursed, chased and shot at in the 18 years since he began combing … Continue reading
Posted in Business
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Hit-and-run
Nakia Wright was straggling behind the others, so the car hit her first. It flipped her into the air, and when she came down her head cracked the right headlight. It struck Jermaine Washington, 20, next, gashing open his big … Continue reading
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Desperate options
No air conditioning, rotting floors, sagging ceilings: This is how some Longview renters live. Continue reading
Posted in News, Poverty
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Dr Pepper death grip
Larry Nelson spilled his Dr Pepper on the way home from work one afternoon. He pulled into a parking lot in Gladewater to clean up the mess, but the bottle cap had fallen to the floorboard, rolling just out of … Continue reading
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Otters among us
The playful river critters are gaining numbers in East Texas, and state biologists hope to learn more about their ways. Continue reading
Posted in Outdoors, Science
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What goes up … must come down the mountain
That’s no problem when you’re like the fun-seekers who brave the trails at Barnwell Mountain. Continue reading
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Forest giants weather age, development
Many of the biggest trees recorded in the state of Texas are found in the Longview area. Continue reading
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Gilmer man can’t slither out of this ticket
The only good snake is a dead snake, as Ricky Huey sees it. So when he spied a water moccasin crossing a highway bridge near Gilmer, he pulled over and got out his pellet gun. Continue reading
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New gas gold rush grips the area
But will East Texans strike it as rich as our neighbors to the east? Not as likely, say people who have studied the Haynesville Shale. Continue reading
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Small town, big night
Football is at the heart of the community in Gilmer and other East Texas towns. Continue reading
Posted in Sports
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Cattle ranchers dwindling in East Texas
Around Longview, cows and calves are dotting fewer landscapes. Local ranchers blame rising costs, fluctuating markets and changing lifestyles. Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Business
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Death Row: ‘I was a bad guy. I thought I was a gangster’
Alvin Kelly still maintains his innocence, saying he didn’t know the Spring Hill family found dead in their home. But he talks openly about a series of crimes in the 1980s. Continue reading
Area schools' wealth gap widening
An era of constant construction and renovation is under way at the wealthiest schools around the state, including Tatum and Carthage. Continue reading
Posted in Education
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Despite 30 years of losses, Sabine stays optimistic
For every team with a storied tradition of district titles and deep playoff runs, there is a high school with a less heralded history and a reputation for losing. Continue reading
Posted in Sports
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East Texans recall the Great Depression
Whether they plowed behind mules, fried up bacon for hungry drifters or rode the oil boom out of poverty, five East Texans recall their experiences during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Continue reading
Posted in Poverty
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Virginity rules the sex ed of East Texas
For the past seven years, virginity has ruled the sex education of area teenagers. In that time, abstinence-only programs have come under fire nationwide, and after a cut in federal funding, the future is uncertain for the East Texas Abstinence … Continue reading
Posted in Education
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A return to 'The Front'
Twenty years ago, reports of a dangerous slum in Longview spurred the community to organize, leading to massive cleanup efforts in poor areas around town. Some believe a similar movement is needed today. Continue reading
Posted in Poverty
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Area mystery mounds delight archaeologists
Locked away and hidden from the nearby town of Longview, largely undisturbed for a thousand years, is an ancient and mysterious place that guards the secrets of a vanished people. It is a sacred place. It is a wide, grassy … Continue reading
Posted in Outdoors, Science
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The Bigfoot hunter
There wasn’t time to fix the propeller, and there wasn’t time for precaution. The party pressed farther into the swamp, because that’s where Bigfoot was. Continue reading
Posted in Outdoors, Showcase
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Bad air. Blame the trees?
Curse those pesky pines for ozone woes in Longview, where air quality is once again under state and federal scrutiny. To understand why trees must shoulder their share of blame, walk into the woods and pluck a handful of long, … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Science
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Go north, young town
Drive north toward Diana, along the fastest-growing stretch of commerce in Gregg County. Dotting the roadway, “For Sale” signs announce acres of skinny pine trees and fields that have been cleared in anticipation of new building. Strings of retailers, car … Continue reading
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Baby mama
A teenager falls in love, becomes pregnant and must learn to raise her baby on her own when her boyfriend is swept up in a federal crack cocaine sting. Continue reading
Posted in Poverty, Showcase
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Life on the Sabine
Its reputation is foul and dirty, but some people who know it well believe the river that snakes through East Texas is a natural treasure and vital to life. Continue reading
Posted in Features, Outdoors, Showcase
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Why write about losing?
Back in August, my editors sent me north to Gilmer to explore why high school football is such a big deal in small towns. (Click here to read that story). I met an ex-Buckeye happy to relive the glory days, … Continue reading
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Small-town newspaper ruffles feathers
The monthly newspaper in Mount Enterprise doesn’t report the news. It shouts it. “CRACK METH & CRIME” cries the November front page of The Texan. “What are WE doing about it?” Inside is a story bemoaning drug problems in the … Continue reading
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Some area towns put lots of cash in, get little out
In 1989, the state Legislature authorized a new half-cent sales tax to fund economic growth in small- to medium-size towns. The measure has been lauded as a game-changing force for new jobs and financial prosperity across the state. “I think … Continue reading
Posted in Business, News
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