News

A public hearing at 6:30 pm tonight (Thursday, July 30) at the Canadian Elementary School Cafetorium will offer community members the opportunity to learn more about Canadian ISD’s plan for the safe reopening of school. Tonight’s open forum will give the public a chance to seek answers to their questions and to address any concerns they may have about the new protocols (see summary on following page) that will be implemented to protect students and staff from exposure to the coronavirus when the 2020-21 school year begins.

Our Safe Return to School Plan describes how Canadian ISD will mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in our school system in order to keep our students, staff, and community as safe as possible. While our youth are probably the least likely to experience fatalities or suffer long-lasting health effects, many of our staff and others in the community who may come into contact with students are at higher risk due to age and/or existing health issues.

Texas residents are now among those across the nation receiving mysterious seeds delivered by mail in tiny bags marked as jewelry. U.S. Department of Agriculture officials are on alert because these seeds are unsolicited and are arriving in packages with Chinese writing and a return address in China.

Xcel Energy officials visited Canadian on Tuesday to address complaints made by local property owners whose trees have been trimmed by the company’s contractor, Asplundh, in the last couple of weeks.

Jocelyn Timmons returned to the Hemphill County Hospital Board on July 21 during the district’s regular Zoom meeting. Timmons said she and her family continue to have issues with the new Mesa View Senior Living construction, which is taking place east of their back property line.

Nearly half of the nation’s rural counties saw an uptick in new cases last week. About a third of rural counties are now deemed red zones, or counties where the rate of new infection surpasses a threshold set by White House advisors. Among three hundred rural counties designated for the first time as red zones this week is Hemphill County, where the number of COVID-19 positive cases has grown in only seven days from 31 last Wednesday, to 40 yesterday, according to a report from the Hemphill County Hospital. According to a report in The Daily Yonder, red zone counties are those where the rate of new COVID-19 cases exceeds 100 per 100,000 residents during a one-week period. The definition was coined in a leaked White House report listing regions that should consider reinstating restrictions because of high infection rates. Based on data from Sunday to Sunday. Of the 40 positive cases in Hemphill County, 19 are still considered active. Five tests were pending according to the latest report, and there have been no COVID-related deaths locally. A map showing the illustrating the surge in rural COVID-19 cases is available online at https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/UIQT7/2/.

Budget discussions didn’t last long at Monday evening’s City Council meeting. The city had received its certified appraisal values for 2020, reflecting a drop in total taxable values from $130 million last year to $126.4 million now. Sharp declines in sales tax collections—which were down 21 percent in June, and are expected to worsen as the effect of COVID-19 shutdowns becomes clearer—will also have an impact on the city revenues.

About the time CISD board members called last Tuesday’s meeting to order, news reports broke that—under growing pressure from teachers, parents, and health officials—Texas education officials had extended the time that schools will be allowed to conduct online-only classes from three weeks to at least four, with provisions for additional waivers in areas hard-hit by the coronavirus.