East Mountain News

A late-afternoon wreck on U.S. 271 a few miles south of Gilmer Tuesday sent two children who were in a minivan and the driver of an 18-wheeler to the hospital.

A search for a missing 2-year-old girl near Gladewater ended happily Wednesday. Kayden Sue Rushing was discovered missing that morning by her mother, Betty Lou Croley, about 10:12 a.m. from her home on Willow Oak Road in southern Upshur County.

Severe thunderstorms which passed through Upshur County late Tuesday afternoon knocked out power to thousands of electric customers, according to reports from Upshur Rural Electric Cooperative and SWEPCO, the two utilities which serve most of the county.

Local government received unpleasant but unsurprising news in the past week in the form of falling property values projected in the latest estimated appraisals.

Overall property values have fallen in nearly every Gregg County jurisdiction, according to estimated appraisals released Thursday.

Turns out Gregg County Chief Appraiser Tom Hays' prediction one month ago that local property values wouldn't increase as much as in past years was an optimistic remark.