News

Andrew Saul, commissioner of Social Security, and the agency continue raising public awareness about telephone impersonation schemes during the Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) national ‘Slam the Scam’ Day on March 5.

Work began last week on a comprehensive upgrade to the lighting at Sunset Park. The $360,000 project involves the installation of new electrical infrastructure, pedestrian lighting, and lighting for public art.

Canadian school trustees conducted an open forum Tuesday evening to receive questions or comments from the public on the issue of school consolidation. There were neither attendees nor comments at this week’s meeting.

Polls will be open on Election Day from 7 am to 7 pm at the Canadian High School Foyer, 621 South 5th Street, Canadian.

A runoff election will be held on Tuesday, May 26, to settle several primary races in which no candidate won a simple majority of the votes cast.

The big story in this week’s Super Tuesday primary voting had been all but written. Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders’ ascendency to the party nomination was nearly a foregone conclusion, right up until that pivotal moment when House Majority Whip James Clyburn endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden, and on Feb. 29, South Carolina voters handed Biden a decisive victory.

This week, the spread of the coronavirus has accelerated worldwide. The epidemic continues to expand rapidly outside China, topping 90,000 cases and 3,200 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. As of Wednesday, The New York Times has reported more than 150 cases across 16 states and nine deaths linked to the virus.

In his quarterly report to the city council last month, Community Development Director Shane Spencer said he had reached the conclusion that the oil and gas industry that has so long driven the local economy might not rebound. Based on the declines in the oil and gas industry, he said, “I think it’s time to shift gears, to focus more on diversifying our economy.”

Wheeler County earned the dubious distinction last week of being deemed “the fastest-shrinking local economy in Texas.”