News

A Hemphill County grand jury returned three criminal indictments on Tuesday, Aug. 10.

According to an Aug. 3 report in the Daily Yonder, by Tim Murphy and Tim Marema, 19 states—including several with rising rates of new COVID-19 infections—saw gains in the pace of rural vaccinations last week.

No one has hit the panic button here yet, but local hospital officials and medical providers have some reason to be worried. Less than two weeks away from the start of the 2021-22 school year—and all that it entails— the coronavirus has re-emerged across the country in the form of the delta variant, and the debate over who and when and whether and why one should get which vaccine at what age is roiling some already muddy waters.

A wanted man is behind bars this week following an 11-day-long investigation that garnered national media attention, according to Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association Special Ranger Jay Foster.

A coalition of organizations representing commercial and nonprofit users of the mail on Friday petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to issue a stay preventing the U.S. Postal Service from increasing postal rates on Aug. 29. NNA appears as an intervenor with the News Media Alliance.

Alex Moreno and Paula Forrest presented a summer concert last Sunday, July 25, at the Texas Crown Performance Hall, to an appreciative audience. The two musicians each performed individually on the piano, and together, with Moreno on vibraphone or xylophone, and Forrest accompanying him on piano.

The final tally for this year’s 6th Annual GO! Weekend was impressive: Two hundred and twenty-five volunteers representing five local churches completed 23 projects, including three houses painted; one home exterior remodeled; two new retaining walls and a staircase built; seven yards transformed; 40 meals delivered, and at least that many stowed away in the freezer for future needs; several boxes of fresh potatoes and other garden produce delivered…and all of that finished by noon on Saturday.

The Canadian Record earned a stack of plaques and general excellence honors in the Panhandle Press Association’s 2020 Better Newspaper Contest awards ceremony, held last weekend in Amarillo. The Record staff collected 11 first-place and two secondplace plaques for its work during what Laurie Ezzell Brown described as one of the most difficult years in her nearly three decades as editor and publisher.

In their July 20 meeting, the Hemphill County Hospital Board rejected a request by Jocelyn Timmons to construct additional privacy fencing around the southwestern perimeter of the Mesa View Senior Living (MVSL) one-way circle drive. During the construction phase of the facility, in July 2019, Timmons made three requests of the board: a change in the compaction process for the site because of fears of cracks forming in her family’s residence which is situated west and downhill of MVSL; clarification of steps the builders were taking about drainage issues; and that a privacy fence be installed above the family’s property to obstruct the view of her backyard. All requests were granted and adjustments made.

In a brief meeting Monday evening, City Manager Joe Jarosek filled in council members on the most recent instruction received concerning the expenditure of about $588,000 in American Rescue Plan funding that the city of Canadian expects to receive.