Last week, the U.S. Census Bureau began following up with households nationwide that have not yet responded to the 2020 census. Based on the current Hemphill County self-response rate, the Census Bureau estimates it will need to visit about 1,230 homes in Hemphill County to collect responses in person.

Students across Texas returned to campuses last week as schools and universities scrambled to put into place new lesson plans that best accommodate a pandemic. For many school districts, this meant greatly expanding the technological resources of their students to support a mix of in-person and online education. For example, Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District east of Houston announced plans to buy 16,000 iPads for almost $3.1 million. The Texas Education Agency’s statewide initiative, Operation Connectivity, will pay half the cost. Gov. Greg Abbott also announced the TEA had obtained more than 1 million personal devices and internet WiFi hotspots as part of the initiative. The effort is financed by a previously announced $200 million allocation of Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funding to the TEA and matched by school districts. It will ensure that students attending a Texas public school will have both a device and connection to the internet throughout the school year and beyond, Abbott said. In other tech-related news last week, Apple became the first U.S. company to be valued at $2 trillion.

I’ve been reading to Lori. Lori is my husband, Peter’s, older sister.

Thank you to everyone who donated to the pioneer and ranching education trunk! On Monday, I stopped by the post office to check our mail and was welcomed with an overflowing cart of boxes and packages. It barely fit into my little car! Your generosity helps make our education outreach a success! Educational programs have always been important to Canadians, even 100 years ago.