Jefferson County, Beaumont | featured news

Calling it an unwinnable case, Jefferson County District Attorney Bob Wortham said Monday he's dropping criminal charges against a retired security guard accused in the July 2016 death of a woman who was shot outside a Port Arthur convenience store.
"The law is against us," Wortham said. "It's a case we don't think we can make."
Michael Turner, 68, was indicted in August 2016 on a charge of criminally negligent homicide, a state jail felony carrying a maximum of two years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — A man piled his wife and baby boy into a car to escape a hurricane barreling toward Texas last year and headed for Atlanta. They never made it.
The Sun Herald reports , 26-year-old Rodolfo Ortuno, of Houston was pulled over in Mississippi by a deputy for careless driving. Court documents say the deputy then searched the car and found 7 kilos (15.4 pounds) of cocaine in the trunk.
Ortuno pleaded guilty to a drug trafficking charge Friday. He faces a possible life sentence and maximum fine of $10 million.

Beaumont Police are investigating a fatal shooting in the 1100 block of Church Street.

Beaumont ISD will open up applications for all "key positions" at the combined Ozen/Central campus, including principals and coaches, Superintendent John Frossard said Monday.

After receiving suggestions from Vidor ISD students and community members, Vidor Police have named their new canine officer.

Beaumont ISD's elected trustees could begin to be seated this year, they said this week after speaking with a state education official, though three campuses in danger of being closed for poor test scores could delay that move.
Four of the six trustees said they spoke recently with A.J. Crabill, TEA Deputy Commissioner of Governance, about the state of "improvement required" schools and the process of replacing the appointed board of managers.
"All of the elected trustees, to my knowledge, have received a call from TEA," said at-large trustee Denise Wallace-Spooner.