Area News

COUNTY ARRESTS Forty individuals were arrested in La Salle County over the past three weeks on a range of misdemeanor and felony charges as well as on warrants issued locally and in other jurisdictions. Arrests were made by sheriff’s deputies, officers of the Encinal Police Department, and troopers of the Texas Department of Public Safety…

Years after allowing local residents to dispose of their unwanted yard debris at the transfer station, the city has hired a company to remove the piles of brush. Originally created on the initiative of former City Manager Tim Gump in the late 1990s to serve as a transfer station for bulky waste, the acreage on…

Precursor to annual Wild Hog Weekend The La Salle County Fairgrounds on Hwy 97 in Cotulla will open to the public Friday, October 15, for the first time in over a year and a half as music and rodeo fans celebrate Hogtoberfest, a precursor to the annual Wild Hog Cook-Off next March. This year’s fall…

The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) is publishing a caution this week over the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning in homes, noting that inadequate maintenance and improper work by contractors may put residents in harm’s way. The alert is being made in the weeks leading up to Texas’ colder weather seasons, as many…

Award recognizes dedication to access to justice District 21 Texas Senator Judith Zaffirini of Laredo has been honored with the “Friend of the Judiciary” award by the State Bar of Texas Judicial Section. The award was made in a virtual ceremony in late September. Sen. Zaffirini’s membership on the Texas Judicial Council and on the…

The Frio County Sheriff’s Office has issued a warrant for 26-year-old Dimas Ureste on a felony gun law violation after the convicted felon was found in possession of a firearm during a traffic stop Saturday evening. Deputies say a traffic stop was effected after Ureste failed to stop at the intersection of FM 462 and…

Although the completion date for a new elevated water storage tank on the outskirts of Cotulla remains in line with next year’s La Salle County Fair and Wild Hog Cook-Off, delivery of the tower’s base components has been delayed by a supply shortage. Addressing city councilors at their September meeting, municipal utilities engineer David Wright…

District Judge Lynn Ellison put his signature to a summary judgement Wednesday, September 29, effectively ending a lawsuit filed by a former councilor against the city of Cotulla. Luis Allala had alleged in his 2020 suit that the city acted improperly in providing him with a number of documents that were filed in the public…

“She was calling for her little dog…” An elderly Cotulla resident required extracting from the wreckage of her bedroom during the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday, September 29, after the driver of a pickup truck lost control of his vehicle and crashed it into the side of her house. Emergency responders arrived at the scene of…

After Mayor Ben Briscoe cast the tie-breaking vote last week, the day known as Juneteenth will be an annual paid holiday for the city of Pearsall workers from next year onwards. In June, President Joe Biden signed a bill designating Juneteenth – June 19 – a federal holiday. Juneteenth honors the day in 1865 when…