Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke went out of the way to bring his ‘People of Texas Campaign’ to Canadian on Saturday. Not only did his barnstorming stopover rouse a group of about 15 Second Amendment rights’ supporters—who stood outside the River Valley Pioneer Museum that afternoon armed with flags, signs, and an assortment of firearms (see story on page 8)—it also attracted a surprisingly large crowd of about 60 attendees, who listened attentively and asked questions about issues that concern them.

On Friday, March 18, in response to news of strong winds fueling the rapid spread of wildfires across the state, Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 11 counties in multiple regions. The declaration allowed Brooks, Brown, Coleman, Comanche, Eastland, Grayson, Mason, Potter, Randall, Reynolds, and Williamson counties to use all available state resources to respond to the fires.

Canadian’s track-and-field teams took over 20 athletes to compete at the Panhandle Worker’s Track-and-Field Meet last Friday at Panhandle High School. Neither the Wildcats or Lady Cats took their full teams due to spring break.

Everett Cook has been scuba diving for over half of his lifetime. He started when he was 8 years old, with a program called Little Bubblers, in Turks and Caicos. This sparked a passion for environmentalism and preservation of the ocean along with its creatures and plant life. He is now a junior in high school and has 13 professional certifications: open water, advanced, rescue, marine heritage, wreck, night, deep water, wreck penetration, cave, low visibility, master diver, free diving, and scientific.