Visitors may stop by between 1:30-3:30 p.m. at the Homer and Marie Adams Room. A ribbon-cutting will be held at 1:15 p.m. Lemonade and cake will be served, and visitors may view scrapbooks, photographs and artifacts. Also, there will be a $10 raffle for an “Old Murphy Grocery” throw blanket. The celebration includes a slide show history of the schools in Murphy.
For the complete story, see this week’s edition of the Murphy Monitor.
By Don Munsch [email protected]
]]>Thoughts from Coach Joey McCullough
“I saw a very resilient team,” McCullough said. “In the first half, we didn’t make them punt. Our defense came out in the second half and played lights out. I was very proud of how they performed. Offensively, we lost our quarterback early, and we’re drawing things on the sideline for [Ismail Mahdi]. Our kids responded well to that adversity.”
Impact player of the game: Mahdi
With Drew DeVillier sitting out most of the game with an injury, senior tailback Mahdi became the bell cow for the Panthers’ offense. Functioning as a wildcat quarterback, he kept Plano East going offensively, finishing with 190 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries. Mahdi also threw for a touchdown, hitting Bryan Dyer on a nine-yard pass in the end zone.
The Panthers face off against Plano West (0-2, 2-3) next Friday in a battle of winless district teams.
By Jackson King * [email protected]
]]>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.
Raise your hand for public schools
The Texas Association of School Boards endorsed via Twitter a column urging people to keep supporting public schools despite the pandemic.
In the column, Michelle Smith, vice president of policy and advocacy for Raise Your Hand Texas, wrote, “Enrolling your student in your public school ensures they still have access to the best-prepared teachers, access to the best resources and systems designed to help meet the needs of all students, and, whenever we can all get back to a more normal in-school experience, access to all the other things we miss — sports, arts, academic, extracurricular, and other offerings only provided by our public schools.”
Mean Green welcoming team
Meanwhile, college students across Texas moved into residence halls with new social distancing protocols in place.
Amanda Lee, a resident assistant at the University of North Texas, encouraged Mean Green students and their families arriving at the dorms in Denton. Her advice:
“I would say that, even though this year is going to be pretty different, I would still say to put yourself out there.”
Calorie-free desserts
Big Tex will be lonelier but perhaps slimmer this year as the State Fair of Texas plans for a virtual event instead of a midway packed with people and deep-fried Twinkies.
Fair organizers are still trying to generate some virtual fun, announcing decidedly different arts, crafts and cooking contests. The four virtual arts and crafts contests are for face masks, sidewalk chalk art, nail art and a decorated mantel or shelf. The three cooking contests are for cake decorating, cookie decorating and mini butter sculpture. Because the cooking contest can’t be tasted this year, entries will be judged on their appearance.
Participants may enter their photo submissions for the virtual contests at Creative.BigTex.com. Online submissions will open Sept. 21 and run through Oct. 4. Winners will be announced Oct. 9.
From antiques to Amazon
Forney, proclaimed by the Legislature as the antique capital of Texas, is getting a thoroughly modern makeover.
Officials announced Amazon would build in 2021 a 1 million square-foot fulfillment center in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex suburb, bringing 500 jobs to the city of 26,000. Amazon also is planning in Forney a 200,000-square-foot delivery station, which is anticipated to open later this year.
“Bringing a transcendent company such as Amazon to Forney is a huge step for our community,” Forney Mayor Mary Penn said.
That’ll Be The Day
Texas music is a cure for what ails most anything.
With this prescription in mind, the Texas Music Office encourages people to drive the Texas Music Trail through the Panhandle Plains region. You can download or stream the music office’s Spotify playlist.
The first stop is the Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock. The center is celebrating the rock pioneers’s 84th birthday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 7.
Other stops include the Woody Guthrie Folk Music Center in Pampa, the Jimmy Dean Museum in Plainview and the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo.
Pop singer Rihanna paid a surprise visit last week, stopping by the Cadillac Ranch to spray-paint an obscenity about President Trump on one of the 10 vehicles buried nose-down in the unusual public art installation. No one independently confirmed seeing the international singing sensation in Amarillo, but she posted the photos to her Instagram page, which has 98.1 million followers.
Her message did not “shine bright like a diamond” with the president’s supporters. Ronny Jackson, the former White House physician who is running for Congress in the 13th District, tweeted in response that he had fixed her “art” by spray-painting over her message.
The Cook Partisan Voting Index identifies the 13th as the most Republican district in the country, delivering 80 percent of its vote to Trump in 2016. Jackson took note of this fact, tweeting: “Next time you’re in Texas, don’t forget, THIS IS TRUMP COUNTRY!”
For more stories like this, see the Aug. 27 issue or subscribe online.
By Chris Cobler, board member and past president of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas. • [email protected]
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Russia, China, North Korea, Iran. All are testing how far they can go, seeking to exploit our weaknesses and fill the vacuum they perceive in world leadership. Our allies, meanwhile, are expressing dismay at the U.S.’s inability to come to grips with the pandemic – symbolized most acutely by the prospect that Americans will be barred from traveling to a partially reopened Europe this summer – and at our withdrawal from world organizations, treaties, and involvement in places where we have traditionally been central to keeping the peace.
There are good reasons we have turned inward. As a nation, we have botched the response to the coronavirus, as its recent sharp upward trajectory illustrates. We are still feeling our way through the economic impact, with every likelihood that millions of people will be struggling for a long time. And, of course, street protests, concern about policing, and turmoil over the nation’s racial practices are occupying many people’s attention.
Any one of these things would have been enough to try us as a country; all together make this a desperately difficult time. We’ve been through times like this in the past, and no doubt will again in the future, but at this moment, our mettle is being tested as it rarely has been. The country won’t be out of control if each of us steps up to the challenges we see in our own neighborhoods and our nation.
Oddly, I find something bracing about this. Not long ago I was meeting with a group of young graduate students, who asked what troubled me most about the problems we confront, and the word that instantly came to mind was “complacency.” As Americans, we have a tendency to feel that we’ve always come through hard times and always will. The result is often a sense that we can leave things to others; to our leaders, to our nonprofits, churches, and community groups, to our more involved neighbors. We ourselves don’t set out to do the things we know need to be done.
But here’s the thing about a representative democracy like ours; it doesn’t work unless citizens do their part, and I include our leaders in this. At its heart, it asks of us that we find a niche where we can improve things. It’s disheartening to see recent polls that suggest huge percentages of Americans believe things in the country are out of control – 80% of respondents in a recent NBC News/Wall St. Journal poll – but it’s heartening to know there’s something we can do about it. The country won’t be out of control if each of us steps up to the challenges we see in our own neighborhoods and our nation.
I began my political career because I felt like I needed to do something to help my community in southern Indiana and didn’t know where to start. So, I asked my precinct committeeman, who enlisted me to go door to door to try to get voters involved. That led eventually to Congress, and ultimately to a committee chairmanship trying to resolve some of the country’s knottiest foreign affairs challenges. You never know where these things are going to lead.
My point in saying this is that we can all start somewhere. We are divided as a nation on political, economic, and racial lines. We face the existential challenge of climate change. Many of us on both the right and the left worry about a lack of moral perspective in how we approach our problems.
All of these are ripe for actions that we, as individuals, can take. If you’re white, for instance, how much time have you spent talking to Black people or Latinos about the hostility and difficulties they face? Making the effort to understand as best you can is an important step toward recognizing how deep-seated these problems are, and at the same time how they might be overcome.
This time of testing is an opportunity. It’s a chance to shake off the complacency we’d settled into, and to exercise the gift that our system gives us, the ability to make a difference.
For more stories like this, see the Aug. 13 issue or subscribe online.
By Lee H. Hamilton, Director of the Center on Congress at Indiana University. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years.
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“Though this year has been incredibly difficult for families, it’s inspiring to see how they have become resilient and resourceful by choosing alternative ways and dates to take vacations,” said Lish Kennedy, vice president of brand marketing at Vrbo. “More flexibility in our work and school schedules is allowing families to enjoy a welcome change in their surroundings and a relaxing break together.”
If you missed out on your family’s annual summer trip this year or just want to take advantage of more flexibility in your work and school routines, consider these reasons to take a flexcation.
Save money and avoid crowds. Prices for vacation rentals typically drop during shoulder season, the time period after Labor Day and before the holiday travel season. Families not tied to strict in-person school or work commitments can benefit from fewer crowds and lower prices by choosing later travel dates. For example, you can find drops of at least 20% in average nightly rates for vacation homes in popular destinations like Cape Cod, Massachusetts; Cape May, New Jersey; and Ocean City, Maryland, through October compared to prime summer travel dates.
See familiar places in new ways. Traveling during a different time of year lets you see favorite destinations from a different perspective. It’s a chance to create new family experiences together, like seeing the leaves change colors or visiting the beach when temperatures are milder.
Stay longer. Travel data from Vrbo indicates families want to take longer vacations. With the ability to work remotely or complete online assignments anywhere there’s a Wi-Fi connection, there’s no need to cut a weekend trip short to get back in time for class or punch the clock on Monday morning. If a full week isn’t realistic, you might consider an extra-long weekend, extending your trip from Thursday-Monday instead of the more traditional Friday-Sunday.
Enjoy a change of scenery. According to a study from New York University, people feel happier when they have more variety in their daily routines, such as going to novel places and having a wider array of experiences. After months of sheltering in place, a flexcation may be an ideal way to reestablish a healthy sense of balance.
Before you go, be sure to research how COVID-19 might affect your travel plans, including any travel restrictions, quarantine policies or changes in hours and access to popular attractions in the area. It’s also a good idea to make sure you understand and verify details about your accommodations before you make reservations, such as enhanced cleaning procedures at the property and flexible cancellation policies.
Start planning your next trip at vrbo.com.
Source: Vrbo/Family Features
For more stories like this, see the Aug. 13 issue or subscribe online.
]]>“This year, as long as we stay healthy, we will be able to show the true talent of our team and level up from last year,” Manderson said.
The Lady Panthers lost three seniors from 2019, as well as, London Cummings, who is choosing to play club ball.
For the full story, see the Aug. 13 issue or subscribe online.
By Derdrick White • Special contributor
]]>Her first book, “Levity,” published earlier this summer on Amazon and is coming soon on Audible.
“I had a lot of group chats and we realized we were all feeling similar things [at the start of the pandemic],” she said. “‘Levity’ was for my friends but also for myself. Everyone needed a moment to process things and not think about the pandemic. We’re not denying it, though.”
For the full story, see the Aug. 13 issue or subscribe online.
By Morgan Howard • [email protected]
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The 340,000 square foot campus was built from the ground up on a Country Club Road site near the Wylie Municipal Complex and features three main buildings: the Student Center, Library, and Commons.
“We are excited. It allows us to reach into that part of the county,” Collin College Board President Bob Collins said.
For the full story, see the Aug. 13 issue or subscribe online.
By Joe Reavis • [email protected]
]]>The sense of community, plentiful open space and great quality of life — all found in places like West Texas and the Panhandle — have sustained families for generations. We also power the state’s economy, supplying energy, food and fiber to the world.
Yet West Texas, and particularly rural West Texas, faces challenges that range from shuttering hospitals to inadequate infrastructure; these issues could spell trouble for all of Texas unless we come together as a state to address them head on.
Many of these issues have been illuminated by the coronavirus. Shaping Our Future, the seminal strategic framework just released by the non-profit group Texas 2036, makes such challenges facing Texas even clearer.
The two of us serve on the board of Texas 2036, which encourages long-term, data-driven planning at the state and local level to ensure Texas remains the best place to live and work a generation from now. The report, coupled with the pandemic, shows how badly West Texans need that kind of far-sighted planning and preparation.
The strategic framework notes that Texas is expected to add about 10 million people between now and 2036, the year of Texas’ bicentennial. But 90 percent of that population growth is expected to occur in urban areas. And while the number of jobs in Texas could grow by nearly 20 percent over the next decade, jobs in almost half of Texas’ counties — mostly rural counties — will actually shrink unless action is taken.
In the meantime, rural Texans struggle to access resources that their urban and suburban counterparts take for granted.
Preparing the next generation is key, yet many students in rural communities have less access to postsecondary education. Nearly 60 percent of rural school districts do not offer Advanced Placement courses, and the distance from a high school to a higher education institution can stretch well over 100 miles.
Rural Texans also lack access to health care and face worsening health outcomes. Texas ranks last among its peer states in rural access to care — 63 counties have no hospitals at all, and 35 have no primary care physicians. Obesity also is more common in rural regions, and rural Texans die of heart disease and stroke at rates far higher than Texans overall.
Then there’s broadband internet access — which in recent months has offered a lifeline to millions of Texans through home offices, virtual school classrooms and telemedicine appointments with physicians. In Texas’ urban areas, 97 percent of the population can at least access broadband, but nearly one-third of rural Texans cannot say the same.
Fortunately, we’re Texans — more than that, we’re small-town and small-city Texans — and we’ve never shied away from a challenge. The truth is that every one of these numbers stands as an opportunity to make West Texas even more of a powerhouse than it’s ever been. The state just needs the backing of its people.
Show your support by going to Texas 2036’s website — www.texas2036.org/Future-Of-Rural — and signing up to support rural Texas. The organization will keep you up-to-date on key issues facing rural areas and the rest of the state, and we’ll share opportunities to help Texas communities thrive.
It’s always been easy to see Texas’ past in its rolling plains, small towns, farms and ranches. Look a little closer and you’ll see the future there as well. We simply need to come together as a state and grasp it.
For more stories like this, see the Aug. 6 issue or subscribe online.
By Trent McKnight and Abel Castro • Trent McKnight is a rancher in Throckmorton and former candidate for the state legislature, and Abel Castro is the immediate past chair of the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce.
]]>Consider these tips from the experts at KinderCare to help you emotionally prepare your children to return to school with confidence, optimism and excitement.
For the full story, see the Aug. 6 issue or subscribe online.
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