Big Bend Ranch: Where solitude meets adventure

Spectacular scenery and unmatched adventure await visitors to Big Bend Ranch State Park. The 300,000-plus-acre park in Presidio and Brewster counties is the largest in Texas. The West Texas desert landscape’s geological features and recreational opportunities draw outdoors enthusiasts from around the country. One of the easiest ways to take-in the vastness of the state…

A goat has been mayor of this remote Texas town since the 1980s

Every day since the mid-1980s, the mayor of Lajitas has held court on the side of dusty Farm to Market Road 170, just outside Big Bend National Park in remote West Texas. An unassuming pen next to the town’s general store is home of ‘The World Famous Clay Henry Mayor Mayor of Lajitas.” The title…

In search of the mysterious Marfa Lights

Mysterious and unexplained lights have been reported here in the West Texas desert for more than a hundred years. According to the Texas Historical Commission, the famous Marfa Lights have been theorized as campfires, phosphorescent minerals, swamp gas, or static electricity. The first recorded sighting was by a rancher in 1883. Others say it could…

Network anchor Tom Brokaw shares lessons learned from Berlin Wall

Legendary NBC news anchor and former ‘Nightly News’ managing editor Tom Brokaw returned to Germany for the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. He was the only American broadcaster on-air when East Germans began to stream across the border on November 9, 1989. On November 7, 2019 he spoke with a small…

Understanding the Wall: How the Berlin Wall divided a nation

Three decades after the so-called ‘Peaceful Revolution’ toppled the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany, people are celebrating the anniversary of its climax — the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989. More time has passed since the Wall came down than the nearly three decades it stood, but painful memories associated with…

Art installation sends ‘wishes’ fluttering over post-Wall Berlin

Freely moving in the wind, independent, yet seemingly in harmony, 30-thousand ribbons dance in front of the Brandenburg Gate, Germany’s most visible symbol of unity. The vision of American artist Patrick Shearn and his studio Poetic Kinetics, a massive public art display drapes the setting for one of Germany’s biggest celebrations in years — the…

International broadcaster exchange brings German journalist to KLTV/KTRE newsroom

An international exchange program is bringing another journalist from Germany to work side-by-side with the largest news organization in East Texas, KLTV and KTRE. Andreas Mitzkus will spend the next week shadowing and learning from producers, anchors, reporters, photographers, digital content producers, and news managers in the KLTV and KTRE newsroom. Mitzkus is a producer…

NASA opens $5M Apollo mission control room restoration for public tours

As the country marks 50 years since the history-making Apollo 11 moon landing, visitors to Space Center Houston are getting an inside look at the landmark that helped make the ‘giant leap’ possible. Three weeks ago, NASA and Space Center Houston unveiled a $5 million dollar renovation of Mission Operations Control Room 2, which was…

Wine-making family weathers seasons of change by relying on prayer

Kiepersol Estates Winery is marking 20 years in East Texas. Their journey from South Africa has become a testament to the power of prayer. The homegrown business has weathered everything from weather extremes to the loss of its founder. But there’s now a sense of peace at the vineyards in Bullard, according to proprietor Marnelle…

Walk on the wild side at Tyler’s Caldwell Zoo

Caldwell Zoo in Tyler, Texas recently welcomed two new African elephants to its family of more than 3,400 animals from around the world. The 85-acre park first opened to visitors in 1953 and has grown considerably in the decades since. Open seven days a week, the zoo is an ideal destination for families, school groups,…

Ducks, geese make winter home in Southwest Louisiana’s marshland

Hundreds of thousands of ducks and geese spend their winters in the pristine marshes and prairies of Southwest Louisiana. Located at the confluence of two of the four major North American flyways, the Creole Nature Trail All-American Road is a 180-mile journey through one of America’s ‘Last Great Wildernesses,’ according to the Lake Charles Convention…