News of the Ark-La-Tex

The Texarkana USA Regional Chamber of Commerce has selected Steve Mayo, as the 2022 Chairman of the Board.

According to a report from the Bowie County Sheriff’s Department, one teen is dead and another has been transported to Children’s Hospital in Little Rock due to what is believed to be carbon monoxide poisoning.

Miller County prosecutors have formally charged 34-year-old Christopher Allen Basham with murder and terroristic acts in connection with a December 9th shooting that resulted in another man's death.

A total of 27 additional nurses have been deployed to Christus St. Michael’s Hospital in Texarkana from the Regional Advisory Council to help fight the recent surge of COVID in the area. 22 RACs are the administrative bodies responsible for trauma system oversight within the bounds of a given Trauma Service Area in Texas.

An Amazon Hub Locker has now arrived in Texarkana to coincide with the opening of the new Amazon Fulfillment Center in Shreveport. The purpose of Amazon Hub Lockers is to allow customers the opportunity to ship their packages to a secure location to ensure safe delivery.

Responding to an anonymous 911 call last night, Texarkana Texas Police found 6 children ranging in age from 7 years to 11 months alone and hungry. When questioned, one of the children said their parents were at a nearby laundry mat.

Texarkana Firefighters brought in a ladder truck to assist police in arresting a man on the roof of a car wash in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

In 2014, Texarkana Independent School District (TISD) finalized a Strategic Planning process that has been used to guide district efforts during the last six (6) years.

The Texarkana City Council last night approved acceptance of a grant award totaling 30 thousand dollars from the 2022 NFC/TRAPS Healthy Cities Campaign.

Local volunteers helped hundreds of needy families Saturday as East Texas Food Bank, partnered with the non profit 59 thousand souls teamed up with volunteers to fight hunger in the Texarkana area.

A man was shot in the face in front of his wife Friday afternoon and police have arrested the suspect.

22-year-old Zachary Salazar was sentenced by a Bowie County jury to life without the possibility of parole Friday for intentionally crashing his truck into a minivan and killing two young children.

A statement from Kilolo Kijakazi, Acting Commissioner of Social Security, was sent to KTFS about Agency Reentry this week...

For the many fans of the popular BRESTERS ON THE BOULEVARD, a sad day has arrived as they have decided to close their doors indefinitely.

An new ammunition plant will be opening next year in Hooks and bring more jobs to the region. Work on the facility is now underway and recruiting efforts are ramping up. Expansion Industries is planning to hire hundreds of people at their new facility, just east of Hooks. An on-site job fair will be held next week in Hooks. The Carrollton, Texas based company is opening the ammunition plant on land purchased from the Tex-Americas Center.

A woman who took a cell phone from and punched a hostess at Zapata’s Mexican Grill and Cantina last August has pleaded guilty to battery, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct in Texarkana, Arkansas. 45 year old Shana Renee Holt was assessed fines totaling more than $1,000 and must complete a Life Skills class. District Judge Tommy Potter ordered a fine of $605 for battery, $245 for disorderly conduct and $335 for criminal mischief.

Texarkana police are encouraging taxpayers stay vigilant and be aware of the latest tactics scammers use, so they can avoid falling victim to fraud or identity theft. IRS and financial scams are quite common this time of year, and it's important to watch out for imposter scams.

The jury is seated, and testimony began Tuesday in the murder trial of a 22 year old Zachary Salazar, accused of intentionally causing a head-on crash that killed two young children last year in DeKalb. Salazar was allegedly upset over a disagreement with his pregnant girlfriend and had threatened to wreck his pickup truck on purpose moments before he smashed into a minivan on U.S. Highway 82 in DeKalb on Jan. 13 of last year.

Charles Brooks, Jr. of Atlanta is currently on the run after cutting his ankle monitor off and possibly hiding in the Texarkana area. Brooks was arrested in April of 2021 for beating two-year-old Blake Sampson within “inches of his life.” Brooks is described as an Italian American approximately 5’7” and 170lbs with brown eyes and covered in tattoos.

An Ore City woman under arrest for DWI has had another charge of assault on a public servant tacked on after she claimed to have COVID-19 and coughed directly into a jailer’s face.

With blessing boxes starting to show up all over the country, the Ark-La-Tex is not one to be left out. While this community service has been going on for years, a Texarkana non-profit is hoping to expand their mission of blessing others. "Hope for Texarkana" is a local non profit organization who has launched the blessing boxes last year in five locations to connect people with pantries in their neighborhood.

A Texarkana woman is dead and three juveniles children are hospitalized with serious injuries after an early-Sunday morning crash in Bowie County.

Texarkana Police are warning local businesses about potential credit card scams after multiple stores in the area were hit last week. According to Public Information Officer Shawn Vaughn, there have been three incidents over the last few days where people used fake credit cards to make some big purchases. They say the scam artists are using blank credit cards to trick cashiers into believing that the transaction is being run as credit even though the back of the card has instructions to run it as cash.

Texarkana police are seeking a man who allegedly rammed his girlfriend’s car Friday afternoon, then shot her passenger in the arm. TTPD officers say around 5 p.m. Friday, Princeton Crawford became upset when he learned his girlfriend was giving rides home to one particular co-worker.

Miller County District Court and sister court at the Bi-State will be running an Amnesty Program through April 30th. Individuals can receive up to $350 off of any active misdemeanor warrants.

47 year old Christopher Jeff Langston has been sentenced by a Bowie County jury to life in prison for sexual assault of a child involving a victim who got pregnant and had his child at 14 years of age. The jury convicted Langston of sexual assault of a child Thursday after also hearing testimony from two other witnesses who allege they were sexually abused by Langston when they were 14.

Hooks High School student James Deanda has won the Texas High School state championship for UIL STUDENT CONGRESS after a grueling couple days of fierce competition in Austin.

The Animal Care and Adoption Center in Texarkana has closed temporarily. The adoption center is located on the 200 block of Harrison Street.

A Bowie County jury began hearing testimony Wednesday in the case of a man accused of fathering a child with a teen girl. 47 year old Christopher Jeff Langston was allegedly 39 when a 14-year-old girl gave birth to his son in August 2014. Langston allegedly began molesting the girl when she was 12. Assistant District Attorney Lauren Richards told a jury of seven men and five women that Langston is the “dictionary definition of a pedophile,” in her opening statement Wednesday morning. Richards said paternity testing shows Langston is the father of the child.

CHRISTUS St. Michael is writing another chapter in its more than 105-year history in Texarkana with the construction of the multi- million CHRISTUS St. Michael Hospital – West, set to break ground early this year. Set to open next year, the new, fully-licensed hospital will be conveniently located at Gibson Lane and Arista Blvd. in Texarkana.

With the public appearance of the Omicron variant, many COVID testing sites are being overrun by residents wanting to know whether they are infected or not. This being the case, Arkansas has taken another step to relieve some of the pressure at these sites. Bridging The Gaps of Arkansas in Texarkana has teamed with the Arkansas Department of Health in distributing free COVID-19 testing kits to residents. Johnny Riley, of Bridging The Gaps, said interest in the kits is running high. His organization received nearly 300 kits Tuesday, Jan. 12 and they were out by midmorning the next day.

Schools are closing on the Texas side of Both Texarkana school districts are now closed due to COVID related issues and will remain closed through at least Monday.

Texarkana Fire investigators are figuring out the cause of a blaze that destroyed a former outlet mall in the 2600 block of New Boston Road in Texarkana, Texas, Monday evening.

According to Texarkana Emergency Management Coordinator Eric Schlotter, a surge in positive COVID cases since Christmas is a major cause of Monoclonal antibody treatment centers across the ArkLaTex being affected by a national shortage of treatments such as Regeneron.