Archives for July 2019

The Empire-Tribune reports 28-year-old Patrick Sauceda of Stephenville was killed early Tuesday morning after his vehicle was struck by a train on a railroad crossing. Sauceda was leaving work and heading home when his vehicle was struck by a Fort Worth & Western train. He was transported to Stephenville’s Texas Health Resources where he was pronounced dead.

and; Former El Paso Congressman Beto O’Rourke made a case for Texas as a battleground state in 2020 at Tuesday’s Democratic presidential debate in Detroit, referring to his narrow loss to Ted Cruz in his 2018 U.S. Senate campaign.

Posted to kstv.vncnews.com
Jul. 31, 2019 2:06 AM CST
by rhancock

The Empire-Tribune reports 28-year-old Patrick Sauceda of Stephenville was killed early Tuesday morning after his vehicle was struck by a train on a railroad crossing. Sauceda was leaving work and heading home when his vehicle was struck by a Fort Worth & Western train. He was transported to Stephenville’s Texas Health Resources where he was pronounced dead.

and; Former El Paso Congressman Beto O’Rourke made a case for Texas as a battleground state in 2020 at Tuesday’s Democratic presidential debate in Detroit, referring to his narrow loss to Ted Cruz in his 2018 U.S. Senate campaign.

On Thursday at 10 a.m.,Tarleton State University opens the first building of their new permanent home on Chisholm Trail Parkway. Tarleton President F. Dominic Dottavio and Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp will speak on 80 acres donated by Walton Development. Holder Construction is the builder, and Dallas-based global firm Perkins and Will is the architect and designer of the long-awaited structure. An official ribbon cutting ceremony with the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce and tours of the building will follow remarks by dignitaries such as Republican Congressman Roger Williams, Democratic State Rep. Chris Turner, Tarrant County College Chancellor Eugene Giovannini and more.

Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen on Monday publicly denied allegations from hardline conservative activist Michael Quinn Sullivan that he planned to target 10 Republican legislators in the 2020 primaries. Bonnen’s statement followed an email he sent to House Republicans on Friday disputing Sullivan’s version of a June 12 meeting. Sullivan, the CEO of Empower Texans, was handed another legal defeat in June by the Texas Supreme Court, which rejected his bid to dismiss a case which states that he broke state law by failing to register as a lobbyist.

Tarleton State University will confer upon graduates more than 600 diplomas as part of their summer commencement ceremonies at Wisdom Gym on the Stephenville campus, Friday, August 9th beginning at 10 am. Tarleton President F. Dominic Dottavio, whose successor is expected to be named in August, will preside over three ceremonies that day and evening. For more information, go to; tarleton.edu/graduation. A link for live streaming online will be posted prior to the event. For directions to Wisdom Gym or maps of the Stephenville campus, including parking locations, visit; tarleton.edu/campus.

The Empire Tribune reports Texas’ annual sales tax holiday is coming and back-to-school shoppers can save money on notebooks, rulers, running shoes and more on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, August 9th through 11th.
The law exempts sales tax on qualified items including clothing, footwear, school supplies and backpacks priced below $100, saving shoppers about $8 on every $100 they spend. Items that may be purchased tax-free are listed on Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar’s website at TexasTaxHoliday.org.

The Texas Tribune reports that Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe of Heath, who represents North Texas’ 4th Congressional District from Sherman to Paris to Rockwall, is President Trump’s choice to replace outgoing Director of National Security Dan Coats. Axios reports that Trump was thrilled by Ratcliffe’s scathing critique of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller in last week’s House Judiciary Committee hearing. A former Indiana U.S. Senator who clashed with the administration on Russian interference in the 2016 election, Coats will leave on August 15th.

Three people are recovering from their injuries after a two-vehicle crash that happened at the intersection of U.S. 281 north and FM 8 on Monday afternoon. Stephenville police say the driver of a Ford F250, pulling an RV trailer, headed south on Highway 281, collided with a Ford Expedition. The driver of the exhibition had been headed north. The driver of the exhibition was trying to make a left turn onto FM 8 at the time. That driver, Toni Evans, was taken to a hospital in Fort Worth. Two people in the F250 were taken to Texas Health Harrison Stephenville.

A man from Dublin was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison, for a child sex offense. Newswest9.com says an FBI agent going undercover started chatting with Christopher David Mayhall in November of last year, and indicated he had access to two minor children. Mayhall allegedly expressed sexual interest in the kids, and eventually asked the undercover agent to send him nude photos of the children. He also apparently sent the agent a video of the sexual abuse of young children. He pleaded guilty to attempted production of child porn in May of this year. A federal judge sentenced him earlier this month. Besides the 20 years in prison, he gets a decade of supervised release.

The Empire-Tribune reports an Erath County sheriff’s deputy was attacked by a man in the Walmart parking lot Wednesday afternoon. Rookie Deputy Tye Box reported back to work the day after the incident. Sheriff Matt Coates said Thursday that he wanted to come back to work that same day, but was told to wait and make sure he didn’t have a concussion. Deputies had been trying to make a welfare check on 59-year-old David Moore– who was arrested in 2018 for deadly conduct with a firearm– when a family member said he was at Walmart.