Latest News
Plano ISD Trustees have confirmed the Fiscal Year 2026-27 property tax rate will decrease less than one cent, or $0.0068, per $100 of appraised valuation. Meeting Tuesday, Sept. 8, the school board formally adopted the voter-approved rate of $1.03275 per $100...
First-Place winner Hank Gleitz poses in front of his artwork on the side of the Republic Services recycling truck last week. Bob Wieland/Murphy Monitor Mayor Scott Bradley says the yearly recycling art contest is one of his favorite events. “I love this,” Bradley said...
The Planning & Zoning Commission has unanimously denied a site plan for The Center of Islamic Knowledge on 2.64 acres at 1026 and 1030 N. Murphy Road. The vote followed an hour of generally negative public comment and a 20-minute executive session at the Thursday,...
Texas is home to five of the nation’s fastest-growing counties by population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, with Collin County ranked No. 2. From July of 2024 to July 2025, Collin County grew by 3.4%, adding 42,966 people for a total just under 1.3...
A speedy egg seeker leads the pack in Murphy’s annual Hop n’ Hunt event on Thursday, April 2. Bob Wieland/Murphy Monitor Thousands of youngsters, baskets and buckets in hand, lined up expectantly for the Hop n’ Hunt in Murphy Central Park. Photo album Overnight...
Sports
Plano East alum Myles Dennis (16) helped lead the Panthers' boys soccer team to a 2-1 win over Plano and their first playoff berth since 2018. Photo by Andy Redmond / C&S Media By David Wolman [email protected] Plano East remained one of the premier athletic...
Justin Bailey is returning to the Plano East boys soccer team, this time as the Panthers' head coach. Submitted photo By David Wolman [email protected] A familiar face is returning to lead the Plano East boys soccer team. Justin Bailey, who served as a varsity...
Plano East alumnus DJ Hall was presented with the most outstanding player award for the 2023-24 Class 6A boys basketball tournament in San Antonio. Photo by Roosevelt Joubert / C&S Media By David Wolman [email protected] Plano East teams saw plenty of...
Players on the Plano East softball team raise the gold trophy after the Lady Panthers defeated Hebron 6-5 in a Class 6A Division I bi-district playoff game. Photo by Tina Lopez / C&S Media By David Wolman [email protected] There was plenty of winning by...
Colton Shaw, a 2021 graduate of Plano East High School, was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the seventh round of the 2025 Major League Baseball Draft with the No. 212 overall pick. File photo By David Wolman [email protected] The Seattle Mariners dipped into...
Education
Bree W. of Wylie High placed fifth in the steer division at the Collin County Junior Livestock Show last week. Courtesy Nicole House Photography Wylie ISD agricultural science students earned a wide range of honors at the 2026 Collin County Junior Livestock Show and...
Wylie High School’s theater department is putting on a production of a musical that has seen several iterations of a freaky family since they first debuted in 1938 as a cartoon. This year’s winter musical is “The Addams Family,” which will start its run at 7 p.m....
Last week, several students from Wylie High School and Wylie East High School showcased their talents at a county livestock show. The Collin County Junior Livestock Show was held from Jan. 7-14 at the Myers Park and Event Center in McKinney. Students from several...
Several FFA and 4-H students will step into the show ring in a culmination of months of hard work preparing animals for the show ring, and potentially an auction. Students will parade their pigs, cattle, sheep, poultry and goats around the show ring next week to...
2022 Year in Review - Plano ISD and Wylie ISD Looking back at 2022, Plano ISD joined the ranks of multiple North Texas school districts looking for a new superintendent. Sara Bonser, PISD superintendent, announced her retirement Jan. 25, 2022 after 33 years in public...
Life & Style
Delicious soup perfect for the season Cooler weather arrives just as prime entertaining season heats up. Those who will be hosting gatherings soon can expand their recipe repertoire to feed guests and keep them satisfied. Borrowing some flavors from the season can...
While many people who make New Year’s resolutions drop them within a couple weeks or months, pulling those newly received tech device gifts out of the packaging and putting them to good use may be just the help you need to keep your resolutions on track. Learn how to...
Mom’s Facebook blog chronicles son’s fight for his life Beckett Burge is a superhero. On some days the 4-year-old will don a cape, but most days his winning smile, along with an arsenal of medication and family support, is his superpower against the enemy. The enemy...
Packing up a home before a big move can be overwhelming, but in the case of the Harris family, it provided an opportunity to find items lost long ago. When the family began preparing to move from their Murphy home (circa 1973) on Ridgeview Drive, Stacy Harris started...
Retirement starts next week for Joe Stankiewicz of Wylie, longtime engineer with North Texas Municipal Water District, who believes he will be able to stay busy even if he does not have to report to the office daily. Stankiewicz, the NTMWD deputy director of...
Opinion
Columnist John Moore’s dad used to shell a lot of pecans and then gave them away. John is continuing that tradition. Photo: John Moore A ceramic dishpan, a lot of pecans, and a nutcracker made in Little Rock. When we saw those three things sitting in my dad’s lap, we...
We called it light bread. Others called it white bread. Regardless of what it was called, in my hometown of Ashdown, Arkansas and most of the rest of the South it was the foundation of the Southern food pyramid. And it was found aplenty at our home on Beech Street....
Folks who aren’t from the South invariably aren’t familiar with grits. When they come for a visit, they often twist their eyebrows into a John Belushi-type look after they spot them on their breakfast plate. I have kinfolk who live somewhere up close to Canada....
Nearly 220 million American adults turn to their local newspapers regularly for news and information they need to stay informed, feel more connected to their neighbors and improve their lives and communities. That readership number is based on a recent national study...
The Jetsons got a lot right. Flying cars are now a reality. Zoom meetings. Robot vacuum cleaners. And video phones. One thing that was absent from that cartoon show was something that’s been around for well over 100 years. Something we still use today, and I think...
