Tag Archives: texas tribune

Week of December 12, 2011

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Story No. 1 – No Banner This Year: A Freedom From Religion Foundation spokeswoman confirmed Friday that there will be no FFRF banner on the courthouse lawn this year.
Why it is important: Pushing the issue to next year should drain some of the emotion out of the situation and give attorneys a chance to work out the legal points.
Learn more: The Malakoff News broke the story here.

Story No. 2 – Rally Time: A big crowd is expected for the Henderson County Nativity Rally Saturday from noon to 1 p.m. on the courthouse square.
Why it is important: After being relegated to social media for nearly two weeks, county Christians will be able to personally turn out “ in love, to unite and show the world the true spirit of Christ and Christmas.”
Learn more: The Athens Review, the Tyler Paper, and The Malakoff News all have stories.

Story No. 3 – Primary mess: By court order, filing for a spot on the Republican and Democratic party primary ballots has been extended to Monday. And it will be opened up again at a later time because no one knows what’s going on with redistrict maps. A good sign is that officials from both parties agreed to move the election date back to April 3, but that also has to be approved by a panel of judges, so who knows.
Why it is important: Because candidates can’t file if they don’t know what district they are in.
Learn more: The Review had a basic story, and here is a story from the Texas Tribune .

Story No. 4 – Thunder Bridge closing: The bridge over the Union Pacific Railway on CR 1500 on the edge of Athens will be closed, according to railway officials.
Why it is important: The bridge is more than 100 years old and it will cost around $1.5 million to replace, officials said. There are also several families along CR 1500 who have been cut off from a direct route to Athens.
Learn more: The Review had the story here.

Story No. 5 – School finance lawsuit: The Texas Coalition – which includes Malakoff ISD – filed its school finance lawsuit against the state in Austin last week.
Why it is important: Although it seems far away, legislators will soon be battling over more budget cuts.
Learn more: The Malakoff News had a story.

Week of November 14, 2011

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Story No. 1 – Kurt Budke dies in plane crash: Oklahoma State University head basketball coach Kurt Budke was killed in a plane crash Thursday. He was on a recruiting trip.
Why it is important: Coach Budke led the TVCC Lady Cardinals to four national championships during his tenure from 1993-2000.
Learn more: The Huffington Post has more information on this story. Here is his TVCC Hall of Fame bio.

Story No. 2 – Thanksgiving: The holiday season kicks off with Turkey Day next week, and there are plenty of community events on tap to get things going.
Why it is important: Who doesn’t look forward to this time of year? Plus, with a chance to run in the Turkey Trot or have Breakfast with Santa, there’s no reason to just sit on the couch. There’s even a community Thanksgiving Dinner Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Recovery by the Cross in Athens.
Learn more: Here’s a list of events from the Athens Review. Here is some information about Recovery by the Cross.

Story No. 3 – Malakoff, Eustace still playing football: Malakoff will take on East Chambers, and Eustace will face Melissa in area round playoff football action Friday night.
Why it is important: It is a week before Thanksgiving and we still have football being played by Henderson County teams – how cool is that!
Learn more: Once again, Jayson Larson at the Athens Review is the one to look to for football previews.

Story No. 4 – Judges weigh in on Monarch rates: Last week, State Office of Administrative Hearing (SOAH) judges put a Monarch water rate case on hold and pushed rates back to their former level. A Monarch spokeswoman says the company has more than 4,500 connections in Henderson County.
Why it is important: Investor owned utilities are becoming a hot topic in Austin. This is only the second time SOAH judges have set interim rates and both times involved Henderson County.
Learn more: Here is a story from The Malakoff News.

Story No. 5 – Redistricting maps: Federal judges on Thursday released maps for Texas House and Senate districts. The maps will be used while a lawsuit works its way through the federal court system.
Why it is important: Locally, Henderson County remains split between House District 10 and District 4. Depending on which map is chosen (there are two), District 10 might actually get even more of Henderson County.
Learn more: Here’s a story from the Texas Tribune.