October 16, 2015 - Texas A&M Forest Service has called in a DC-10 air tanker to help battle the wildfire raging through Bastrop County.

The tanker can drop close to 12,000 gallons of retardant at a time, spreading a swath three-quarters of a mile long and 500 feet wide. It is also able to divide its load into five separate drops if needed.

The Very Large Air Tanker, VLAT, is coming from the West Coast and headed to the Hidden Pines Fire in Bastrop County, Texas. It is expected to be available Friday morning.

October 15, 2015 - Texas students gathered at the State Capitol today to declare, “Drugs Aren’t My Style,” as part of the 18th annual Red Ribbon Rally. Wearing rally T-shirts and sunglasses, more than 1,100 fifth- and sixth-graders pledged not to abuse drugs.

October 15, 2015 - The U.S. Forest Service is seeking nominations to fill 11 positions on a new Southern Region Recreation Resource Advisory Committee for national forests across the Southeast.
 

October 14, 2015 - LUFKIN – TxDOT reminds motorists attempting to exit US 59 and continue westbound on SL 224 or continue on to US 59 North in Nacogdoches that traffic patterns have changed.

Webber LLC, contractor for the $5.9 million project, redirected traffic last week which included the closure of the cloverleaf entry ramp that exited from the outside lane of US 59. The newly constructed exit has redirected traffic to the inside lanes of US 59, exiting onto SL 224 westbound/US 59 northbound.

October 9, 2015 - Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton today released the following statement after a federal court granted a nationwide stay of the Obama Administration’s new waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule: