By Scott Harvey

Commerce – Commerce K9 Officer Amanda Taylor and her partner Rocco played an important role in two cases that were being investigated on Wednesday, May 19 by the Commerce Police Department and Commerce ISD Police Department.

In one instance, the K9 was summoned to Commerce High School were it was reported that a smell of burnt marijuana was coming from one of the student locker rooms. K9 Rocco was able to pinpoint the source of the smell as he alerted to one of the stalls in the locker room.

By Scott Harvey

Hopkins County – Severe thunderstorms that included a developing tornado caused minor damage in portions of Hopkins County Thursday afternoon.

Judge Cletis Millsap says the damage was centered around the Dike community, where a tree was said to have fallen on a resident's home and shingles were ripped off the roof of another house.

The National Weather Service Office in Fort Worth at 1 p.m. issued a tornado warning for the southeast portion of the county near Como as radar images indicated a developing tornado.

By Scott Harvey

Tyler – The Ramada Inn in Tyler will host a public meeting Thursday evening about the Trans-Canada XL Keystone Pipeline.

The pipeline would run through much of East Texas, including Lamar, Delta, Hopkins, Franklin and Wood counties on the way to Houston and Port Arthur.

TransCanada refers to the crude oil transport project as an innovative and cost-competitive solution to a growing North American demand for energy.

Houston – Governor Rick Perry joined Texas A&M University System Chancellor Michael D. McKinney, M.D., and University of Texas System Chancellor Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., Wednesday to announce a major cancer research initiative between the institutions.

The new collaboration will combine the resources of the A&M System's National Center for Therapeutic Manufacturing and UT's MD Anderson Cancer Center to develop new cancer-fighting drugs and accelerate the process of getting new cancer treatments to patients.

By Scott Harvey

Commerce – A new food service for the Commerce ISD is expected to create more healthy choices for students, and benefit the district financially.

Board members Monday gave the district approval to enter into negotiations with Chartwells, a service of Compass Group North America, who will begin providing services for the 2010-2011 school year.

According to John Walker, director of finance with CISD, the group will help bring the district's food service budget out of a projected deficit.

By Scott Harvey

Commerce – Texas A&M University-Commerce has announced they have met a five percent budget reduction, as mandated by the state legislature. Total reductions will equal $3,281,923 for the 2010-11 biennium.

"We've looked at areas such as facilities, administrative support services and business services. And those areas are the ones that have seen the initial reductions," said Bob Brown, vice president for business and administration.

Luke speaks with Mark Balette about summer hunting.

Outdoors with Luke Clayton 5-19-10

By Brad Kellar

Greenville – Trial has been reset for a Caddo Mills man charged with murder.

Randall Douglas Smith has pleaded not guilty in the killing of Gregory Poteet, also of Caddo Mills. Jury selection was set to begin next Monday, but during a pretrial hearing Tuesday both the prosecution and defense announced they were not ready to proceed. Trial will now begin August 2.

Smith is currently free on $150,000 bond.

By Scott Harvey

Commerce – The City of Commerce said goodbye to longtime Council member Billie Biggerstaff Tuesday, as new council members were sworn in.

Biggerstaff was defeated by Douglas Rohrabaugh in this month's election for Council Place 2.

By Scott Harvey

Commerce – The Commerce City Council Tuesday approved a second and final reading of its amended sex offender ordinance, but not without long deliberation over how to enforce the law on the university campus.

The City will seek the Texas Attorney General's opinion on whether there's a statute in place that gives the City enforceability of their ordinance on the university campus.