Priority registration began Oct. 26 and was determined by the number of completed Collin College credit hours. Students registered for classes through Workday, which was accessible through CougarWeb at www.cougarweb.collin.edu.

The college offered a variety of course formats, including in-person, online and hybrid classes, giving students options to accommodate their academic goals and schedules. Students could review available courses and class schedules at www.collin.edu/academics/class_schedule.

The early registration payment deadline for Wintermester 2026 and Spring 2027 classes was Dec. 9. Students were encouraged to register early to secure their preferred courses and meet payment requirements by the deadline.

Additional information about registration procedures and important academic dates was available at www.collin.edu/register/registration#dates.

Collin College served approximately 60,000 credit and continuing education students annually and offered more than 200 degrees and certificates. Its academic programs included a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, a Bachelor of Applied Technology in Cybersecurity, a Bachelor of Applied Science in Construction Management and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Clinical Operations Management. The college also offered a Bachelor of Applied Technology in Software Development.

Based in Collin County, Collin College was the county’s only public college. It partnered with businesses, government agencies and industry organizations to provide customized training and workforce development opportunities.

For more information about the college and its academic programs, visit www.collin.edu.

Stay informed, and support your local community newspaper, subscribe to  The Murphy Monitor

What began with an aromatherapy kit and a little experimentation in his parents’ kitchen has grown into a downtown Wylie business where customers can make their own candles, explore new hobbies and connect with others.

For Witty Wick Candles owner R.J. Carranza, the business has become much more than a place to sell hand-poured candles and gifts.

It’s a place where creativity meets community.

Carranza, who grew up in Nevada and attended Community ISD schools, began making candles about six and a half years ago after purchasing an aromatherapy kit on Amazon.

Read the full story, stay informed, and support your local community newspaper, subscribe to The Murphy Monitor.

Murphy residents can pick up free native trees in 3-gallon containers as part of the city’s Arbor Day observance.

The 100 trees will be available, first-come, first-served, from noon to 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6, at the Community Center, 205 N. Murphy Road. 

Supplies are limited, so the Parks and Recreation Department advises residents to come early for the best selection.

Species available include Chinese Pistache, Vitex Chaste, Crepe Myrtle, Chinkapin Oak and Red Oak.

The city of Murphy is proud to have been recognized as a Tree City USA for 15 consecutive years.

The city handed out seedlings in 2024 and last year the Parks and Recreation Department encouraged citizens to join tree-planting projects in Central Park and the Timbers Nature Preserve. 

While most of the nation marks Arbor Day in April, Texans wait until fall to celebrate the importance of trees.

Texas observes Arbor Day on the first Friday in November, when cooler temperatures and seasonal rains offer the best conditions for planting. The tradition recognizes the state’s challenging climate, where spring heat and dry soil can be tough on young trees.

Arbor Day began in Nebraska in 1872, when J. Sterling Morton, a newspaper editor and later U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, proposed a statewide day for tree planting. 

The first celebration saw Nebraskans plant an estimated one million trees. The idea spread quickly, and in 1885 Nebraska made Arbor Day a legal holiday.

President Richard Nixon proclaimed the last Friday in April as National Arbor Day in 1970, but states soon realized one size didn’t fit all. Texas formally established its November observance in 2013, though many communities had long planted trees in autumn.

Across the state, schools, civic clubs and city governments mark the day with ceremonies, community plantings and environmental programs that highlight the vital role trees play in daily life: cleaning the air, reducing heat, sheltering wildlife and beautifying communities.

Stay informed, and support your local community newspaper, subscribe to  The Murphy Monitor

The county held a public meeting Oct. 27 at Leland Edge Middle School in Nevada and made a virtual presentation available online for the Collin County Outer Loop-Southeast project. 

The project covers Segments 2 and 4, extending approximately 14 miles from County Road 656 northeast of Farmersville to the Collin-Rockwall County line northwest of Royse City.

The project team is finalizing the schematic design and Local Environmental Document for the preferred alignment. The environmental document will then go to the Collin County Commissioners Court for consideration and final approval. 

The current study, which began in summer 2024, is expected to conclude in late 2026 or early 2027.

The county has already identified an updated preferred route for the entire project. The alignment is based on what the county calls the previous Technically Preferred Alignment, which was identified through studies completed in 2009 for Segment 2, from U.S. 380 to FM 6, and in 2010 for Segment 4, from FM 6 to the Rockwall County line.

The latest study revisited that route to account for development and other constraints that have emerged since the earlier studies. 

After evaluating several variations and considering public and stakeholder input, the county selected what it calls the Pink Alignment, including a western shift through the middle portion of the study area.

Although a preferred alignment has been identified, its precise location and property requirements could still be refined as engineering work continues. The proposed freeway would use a right of way approximately 500 feet wide, and the county said the alignment could shift slightly as the schematic design is completed.

The schematic design will establish more than the roadway’s location. Engineers will determine preliminary lane configurations, ramp locations and interchange designs, drainage requirements and the amount of land needed for the project.

At the same time, the Local Environmental Document will examine potential effects on the human and natural environment. 

The review includes residences and businesses as well as archaeological, historical, cultural and biological resources and community facilities. 

Collin County is working with the North Central Texas Council of Governments on the environmental document and coordinating with local governments and other agencies.

Once the Commissioners Court approves the environmental document, the county plans to move into final detailed design and begin acquiring property needed for the corridor. The county expects right-of-way acquisition to take several years.

The county said it intends to acquire enough right of way for the ultimate freeway rather than only the land needed for the first construction phase. That would allow the corridor to be protected from additional development while the roadway is built over time.

No date has been set for construction of the full freeway, and construction will depend on funding and traffic demand. The current plan calls for the roadway to be developed in phases, initially with one two-lane frontage road carrying traffic in both directions once funding for that phase is secured.

The county could instead build both frontage roads at the same time if traffic needs and funding justify doing so. 

Officials have not determined which frontage road would be built first. Freeway main lanes in the center of the corridor would be added later as population, development and travel demand increase and money becomes available.

Current plans call for the frontage roads to be designed for 45 mph and the freeway main lanes for 70 mph, although those design speeds could change as engineering progresses. 

Drainage plans call for runoff to be directed away from nearby neighborhoods and the roadway through engineered grassy roadside ditches or channels and appropriately sized culverts based on drainage analysis. 

Decisions about roadway lighting, including the size and spacing of lights, have not yet been made.

The 14-mile project would eventually form part of a much larger transportation corridor. The proposed Collin County Outer Loop would extend approximately 55 miles from the Denton County line through areas including Celina, Weston, Anna, Melissa, Farmersville, Josephine and Royse City. It would connect with a proposed regional outer-loop system extending through Denton, Collin, Rockwall and Kaufman counties and potentially Ellis County.

Collin County also has separate projects underway to advance planning and design for Segments 1 and 5 of the Outer Loop and is studying the feasibility of another north-south freeway between Princeton and State Highway 121.

Residents and property owners can continue to follow the project and view updated alignment maps at CCOL-SE.com. The county said maps will be updated as the project progresses and the right-of-way requirements become more precise.

Stay informed, and support your local community newspaper, subscribe to  The Murphy Monitor

The action clears the way for the district to advertise the properties for sale, receive and evaluate proposals and eventually bring potential sales back to the Board of Trustees for approval.

The properties are two condominium suites in the Pebble Creek Professional Building at 5804 Coit Road and an undeveloped  nearly-10-acre tract near the northeast corner of Coit and Frankford roads.

Read the full story, stay informed, and support your local community newspaper, subscribe to The Murphy Monitor.

U.S. House District 3

Complete, Unofficial 3^rd District Totals from all counties:

Keith Self (Rep) — 169,243 (52.74%)

Evan Hunt (Dem) — 151,667 (47.26%)

STATE REPRESENTATIVE

Texas House District 33 (Collin & Rockwall Counties)

Katrina Pierson (Rep) — 46,507 (55.38%)

Orlando Lopez (Dem) — 37,467 (44.62%)

Texas House District 67

Jeff Leach (Rep) — 42,566 (50.12%)

Jordan Wheatley (Dem) — 42,363 (49.88%)

Texas House District 89

Candy Noble (Rep) — 42,764 (49.20%)

Angie Carraway (Dem) — 44,156 (50.80%)

Texas House District 112 (Dallas County)

Angie Chen Button (Rep) — 37,499 (46.44%)

Zach Herbert (Dem) — 43,251 (53.56%)

RESULTS ARE UNOFFICIAL UNTIL CANVASSED

BOND PROPOSITIONS

Collin County Prop A — Courts & Detention Facilities

For — 158,685 (37.41%)

Against — 265,539 (62.59%)

Collin County Prop B — Roads & Bridges

For — 204,907 (48.33%)

Against — 219,065 (51.67%)

Collin County Prop C — Parks & Open Space

For — 197,460 (46.68%)

Against — 225,561 (53.32%)

Collin County Prop D — Elections & Records Facility

For — 126,279 (30.03%)

Against — 294,202 (69.97%)

Collin College Prop A — College Facilities

For — 200,854 (47.52%)

Against — 221,774 (52.48%)

RESULTS ARE UNOFFICIAL UNTIL CANVASSED

Eight candidates are seeking four seats on the Wylie ISD board. Five candidates — Bonnie Tinsley, Brett Fagan, Brandon Thomas, Sam Satterwhite and Scott Johnson — are competing for Place 2, which is open because current trustee Mike Williams is not seeking another term.

Incumbent Stacie Smith is seeking re-election to Place 1, Virdie Montgomery is seeking re-election to Place 5, and Jacob Day is seeking re-election to Place 6.

Trustees serve four-year terms and represent the district at large, allowing voters across Wylie ISD to vote in each of the four races.

Campaign finance reports filed for the election as of Oct. 22 show differing levels of reported fundraising and spending. Fagan and Satterwhite, both Place 2 candidates, reported campaign financial activity, while Smith and Montgomery filed reports showing no contributions or expenditures.

Fagan filed a report covering July 20 through Sept. 24. He reported no contributions and $3,104.66 in total political expenditures, including $348.04 in un-itemized political expenditures.

Satterwhite filed a report covering Aug. 3 through Oct. 3. He reported $2,750 in political contributions and $2,767.86 in political expenditures. His report also listed a remaining political contribution balance of $140.20 and $700 in outstanding loans.

Campaign finance reports were not listed among the candidate documents provided for review for Tinsley, Thomas or Johnson, who are seeking Place 2, or Day, who is seeking Place 6.

The absence of a report from the documents reviewed does not establish whether a report was filed separately or whether a filing was required at that time.

Texas Ethics Commission rules require candidates with opponents on the ballot, who expect to accept or spend more than $1,140 during the 2026 election, to file pre-election campaign finance reports. Those reports are due 30 days and eight days before the election and must be received by the appropriate school board clerk or secretary by the deadline.

The $1,140 threshold applies to transactions made in 2026. Candidates who choose modified reporting but later exceed the limit may face additional filing requirements, depending on when the threshold is exceeded.

Unopposed candidates are not required to file pre-election campaign finance reports for that election. Candidates generally must continue filing semiannual reports, even if they have no campaign activity or lose the election, until they cease campaign activity and file a final report to end their filing obligations.

Additional election information and candidate documents are available on the Wylie ISD Board Elections webpage. Campaign finance forms and guidance are available through the Texas Ethics Commission.

Voters can find polling locations, voting hours and other election information through the Collin County Elections Department.

Stay informed and support local journalism — subscribe to Murphy Monitor.

The college anticipates no increase in its property tax rate if its bond proposal passes, while county projections show the debt-service tax rate could rise gradually over several years to help pay for the proposed county projects.

Both bond elections will include state-required ballot language stating, “THIS IS A TAX INCREASE.” However, the anticipated tax impact depends on each entity’s debt obligations, revenue growth and future tax rates.

Collin College’s $600 million Proposition A would fund the second and third phases of its Destination 2030 master plan. Proposed projects include expanded workforce training and career and technical education programs, an aviation academy in McKinney, and new or expanded campuses in communities such as Anna and Royse City.

College officials project the district can maintain its property tax rate of 8.122 cents per $100 of taxable property value if voters approve the bond package. The rate has remained unchanged since 2018, according to the information provided by the college.

Under that projection, a homeowner would not pay a higher tax rate specifically to cover the proposed college bonds. However, an individual’s total property tax bill could still change if appraised property values increase.

County projects proposed

The county’s bond package would fund a broader range of infrastructure and public facilities. Voters will consider four separate propositions totaling $817.5 million.

Proposition A would provide $296.5 million for court facilities, adult detention and mental health and medical facilities at the jail. Proposition B would allocate $475 million for non-tolled road and bridge construction and improvements.

Proposition C would provide $6 million for parks and open space projects, while Proposition D would allocate $40 million for county election operations and a records-storage facility.

County administrators project the debt-service tax rate could increase from the currently adopted rate of about 4.18 to 4.19 cents per $100 of taxable value to as much as 4.95 cents by 2031. That would represent a potential increase of about 0.77 cents per $100 of taxable value as bonds are issued over several years, through fiscal 2032.

At that maximum projected increase, a home with a taxable value of $350,000 would incur about $27 more annually in county debt-service taxes. The actual impact would depend on the taxable value of the property and the tax rate ultimately adopted.

The projections are not guarantees that the county tax rate will reach the maximum. County officials have indicated that continued population and revenue growth could allow the county to slow the pace of bond sales or cover debt obligations without implementing the full projected increase.

The bond proposals also come after the Collin County Commissioners Court voted 4-1 to increase the county’s overall operations and maintenance tax rate for fiscal 2026-27 to 15.1414 cents per $100 of taxable value. That rate is separate from the debt-service rate used to repay bonds.

For homeowners, the key distinction is that the college expects to finance its proposed bond package without raising its current tax rate, while the county’s proposal could lead to a gradual increase in the portion of the tax rate dedicated to debt repayment.

The Nov. 3 election will determine whether voters authorize the proposed borrowing. The eventual tax impact will depend on debt issuance schedules, property values, revenue growth and the rates adopted in future years.

Early voting will continue through Friday, Oct. 30. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3, when polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voters can find early voting locations and additional election information through the Collin County Elections Department.

Stay informed, and support your local community newspaper, subscribe to  The Murphy Monitor

The city of Murphy had a remarkably low water loss of 3% from its municipal system in August, as leaks were patched quickly and residential usage peaked at 171.3 million gallons. Meanwhile, contractors were behind schedule on replacing 5,500 copper service lines with high-density polyethylene pipe.

In presenting third-quarter water loss totals to the Oct. 20 meeting of the Murphy City Council, Daniel Paredez, assistant director of public works, assured councilmembers the August total was correct, even when compared with 11% in August of last year. 

“We double check and triple check the numbers on this, and numbers are the numbers … we found no errors,” he said. “Best we can come up with is there was about six leaks that came up in August, and they were all repaired relatively pretty quick, so we think we got ahead of the curve on that.”

Read the full story, stay informed, and support your local community newspaper, subscribe to The Murphy Monitor.

Election officials say early voting for the Tuesday, Nov. 3, general election was brisk in the first week, but so far not as heavy as the similar periods prior to the November 2022 and 2024 elections. 

There had been 214,742 in-person voter check-ins after seven days of early voting, from Oct. 19 through Oct. 25, said Collin County Elections Administrator Kaleb Breaux.

That compared with 501,190 during the first week of early voting for the 2024 general election and 352,294 in 2022. 

Breaux also said his department had received 15,560 requests for ballots by mail that have been processed and mailed. 

Early voting ends Friday, Oct. 30, at 42 locations. 

Breaux said Gay Library in McKinney, Davis Library in West Plano and the Allen Public Library had been three of the busiest locations during the first week.

Breaux said Collin County had 795,752 registered voters eligible to cast ballots in the election. But because the county now uses hand-marked paper ballots printed on demand after check-in, voters may vote at any of the 90 polling locations open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day.

The elections administrator encouraged voters to plan for where to vote and perhaps consider voting at another location close to them that may not be quite so busy. Voting locations and wait times may be found under polling locations on collincountytx.gov/elections.

Breaux said total Collin County turnout was 69.19% in the November 2024 election and 52.56% in November 2022. 

“I think we are on pace for a possible 65% to 70% turnout for this election,” he said. “As voter participation increases and the window of opportunity to vote closes, I would just encourage voters to remain patience and vote with grace as they interact with our election officials.”

This year’s early voting got off to a shaky start on Oct. 19, Breaux said.

“We had 10 polling locations that experienced some printer outages in the first hour or so of voting,” he said. “We were able to resolve most issues by 9:30 a.m.”

Collin County switched last year from ballot marking devices (BMDs) to paper ballots that are marked by hand.

“Most voters that we hear from feel like this process takes longs a little longer and liked the ballot marking device’s help in the marking process,” Breaux said. 

But he added it was only a small fraction of voters who commented. “Honestly, it’s probably the same amount that we heard from when we had BMDs, and those folks wanted hand-marked ballots,” he said.

Proposition D on the ballot is a County proposal to issue $40 million in bonds “for the purpose of designing, developing, constructing, and equipping a new County elections and storage facility, including election department offices, election training, election storage, County records, historical documents and equipment storage.”

Breaux said the switch to hand-marked ballots added to the need for more space but was not the only factor. 

“We were part of a space study a few years ago, and the study concluded that we were in about half of the space that we should be in,” he said. “We currently have 25,000 square feet of space (give or take). The study concluded that we should be in about 55,000 square feet of space.”

The elections administrator said the hand-mark ballot equipment is taking up a larger footprint in warehouse space, but growth was also playing a part in his department’s needs. 

“We trained more than 900 workers for this election, and our training space only allows for about 40 participants at a time,” Breaux said. “This is another huge need for us also. We are just out of space here.”

Stay informed, and support your local community newspaper, subscribe to  The Murphy Monitor