KPD: Officer shoots armed man after foot chase
A traffic stop near downtown Killeen on Jan. 31 turned into a foot chase and an officer-involved shooting, according to Pete Lopez Jr., Killeen’s police chief.
An officer initiated a traffic stop of a vehicle near the intersection of 12th Street and Atkinson Avenue around 9:50 a.m. Jan. 31, Lopez said. The vehicle had four occupants.
During a narcotics investigation at the traffic stop, the driver left the scene on foot and led police on a brief foot chase. The suspect is said to have “produced” a semiautomatic pistol in the waistband of his pants before the officer shot him.
Paxton sues Killeen over marijuana law
The Texas State Attorney General’s office announced Wednesday that it was filing a lawsuit against Killeen and four other cities over marijuana decriminalization laws approved in those cities in the last two years.
Killeen — already embroiled in a lawsuit with Bell County over the passing of Proposition A, which essentially decriminalizes marijuana for under 4 ounces — is being sued, according to a news release from Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office “for adopting amnesty and non-prosecution policies that violate Texas laws concerning marijuana possession and distribution.”
The other cities being sued by the Attorney General’s office are Austin, San Marcos, Elgin, and Denton, which all passed similar decriminalization laws in 2022, the same year Killeen did.
Secretary of the Army chats with soldiers on second visit to Fort Cavazos
For the second time in her tenure as secretary of the Army, Christine Wormuth spent the last two days visiting with junior enlisted and senior enlisted soldiers and officers alike, getting a feel for how things are going in the Army’s III Armored Corps.
Wormuth, the first female to serve as the Army’s secretary, came to Fort Cavazos (then Fort Hood) in the summer of 2021 as her first visit to a post after being sworn into the position in May of that year.
Killeen council hears another presentation about veterans cemetery
The Killeen City Council once again heard a presentation at last week’s meeting on the city of Killeen’s takeover of management of the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in February.
Tony Dale, executive secretary of the Veterans Land Board, gave the presentation and said his talks with City Manager Kent Cagle and city officials have been “professional and efficient.”
According to the agreement, the city of Killeen will take on the employees of the cemetery and they will receive benefits from their employment.
The contract with the city will be $1.3 million for the first term and then $1.7 million annually, according to Jimmy Smaragdis, spokesman for the Veterans Land Board.
Staff will be paid the same as they were earning on Aug. 28 when the budget negotiations were completed, Smaragdis said in an email last week before the meeting.
Reed: KHA likely to dissolve once it pays $3 million
The Killeen Housing Authority will likely dissolve after it pays the $3 million it owes in unpaid bills, taxes and other expenses, Jim Reed, executive director of the Central Texas Council of Governments, said in an interview last week.
While he said what KHA does is ultimately up to the board, the logical next step for the troubled public housing authority is to sell off its assets and then dissolve.
During a KHA meeting about two weeks ago, consultant Cinda Hayward ran through a list of the debts KHA owes to various entities. She said the total is approximately $3 million.
Killeen, Fort Cavazos sign Army program that helps soldiers get jobs after enlistment
Killeen Mayor Debbie Nash-King and Fort Cavazos garrison commander Col. Lakicia Stokes on Tuesday signed an agreement on the PaYS program during a ceremony prior to the regular Killeen City Council meeting.
The PaYS program, also known as the U.S. Army Partnership for Your Success, is a program that partners with local entities, including private enterprise, business and agencies, to help soldiers find jobs when their enlistment ends.
This program does not require any money from Killeen nor does it require that the city hire the person, according to a presentation attached to the Jan. 9 City Council agenda.
What it does do is guarantee five interviews at corporations, governments or entities that the soldier is qualified for.
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