VIDEO: Ryan Burns with Texas A&M Forest Service on Polk Co. plane crash

Wellness Pointe CEO Chad Jones reported it’s presently serving eight students on campus and 26 Longview residents who are treated off campus. A two-year $700,000 federal grant will pay salaries of employees of the clinic which presently has two counselors.

“Pinwheels are beautiful, and childhood should be beautiful,” said Tonya Fuller, a Community Engagement Specialist for the Department of Family and Protective Services. The pinwheels serve as a visual reminder of the hundreds of kids who suffer from abuse or neglect every year in East Texas, but also as an encouragement to the community to use the resources available and/or offer any help via volunteering, donations, or even just educating others.

The location of the clinic could be affected by the passage of the coming LISD bond election.

Congregation Beth El took time during the celebration to honor a hostage, named Omri Miran. Rabbi Neal Katz tells us he met him and his father during his time in Israel last year. As for the rest of the celebration, certain parts will be tempered, according to Katz.

In Smith County at any given time, it can be extremely difficult to surrender an animal, whether that animal is yours or one you found, due to no-kill shelters and rescues being overcrowded.

Jennie Ravanesi, engagement coordinator for The Fostering Collective, tells us about the symbolism of these pinwheels.