News

A Monday night fire at the Jeremy Oatman home at 608 S. 6th Street destroyed an old chicken coop, and damaged a nearby pole barn and the framework of a greenhouse. At 10 pm, dispatchers alerted the Canadian VFD, who then rolled out five trucks, including both city pumpers and three grass rigs, to the scene. Firefighters battled the flames for about two hours. Fire Chief Scott Brewster said the cause of the fire was undetermined.

This B-1 Lancer was transported to Kansas Thursday morning, on its way to be decommissioned and scanned for part fabrication. It traveled through Canadian en route north on US 83, with a full escort of law enforcement and other security vehicles, stopping all traffic on its way. These are just a couple of the impromptu photos that we are certain documented its final mission. CHERI SMITH

A clear majority of voters in both Higgins and Canadian ISDs voted in favor of consolidation, finally settling the hotlydebated decision by both school district’s trustees to support joining forces.

Weekly jobless claims hit 3.84 million last week nationwide, higher than economist expectations of 3.5 million. The total brings the rolling six-week figure to 30.3 million. Rural counties accounted for the loss of a quarter of a million jobs in March alone, according to this report in the Daily Yonder. In the first jobs report after the pandemic forced widespread shutdowns, rural employment dropped 1.2 percent from February to March. Metropolitan counties fared worse, with a drop of 1.9 percent of total employment. Hemphill County reported a loss of 30 jobs during that month—better than the national average, but our overall unemployment rate rose to 3.9 percent in March. Job loss numbers here can be expected to rise again when the figures are released for April.

Monday was a very scary day for J.W. Coffee and his family. The Canadian Middle School fifth-grader was walking out of his house with his cousin, and paused briefly, turning his head to talk to him. He did not see the rattler until it was already in mid-strike, and by then, it was too late.

Gov. Greg Abbott’s stay-at-home directive expires today (Thursday, April 31), and in a Monday afternoon news conference, Abbott announced that he would allow the state’s businesses to reopen in phases beginning on Friday.

Nearly 200 early ballots were cast by Canadian ISD voters in the May 2 school consolidation election, and in Higgins ISD, 94 early votes were cast when early voting ended at the close of business on Tuesday, April 28.

City Manager Joe Jarosek warned council members last week that the combined impact of plummeting oil prices, and declining sales tax receipts due to the coronavirus shutdown, will be significant as the process of preparing a budget for fiscal year 2020-21 begins.