Latest News
The city will pay one-third more for ad valorem tax collection this year than it paid last year. The Murphy City Council agreed at its Tuesday, April 21, meeting to a rate increase requested by Scott Grigg, the Collin County Tax Assessor-Collector. “The fees...
Sarah Hustwit of McKinney feeds a sample ballot into a DS 200 tabulating machine in a practice run for the Nov. 4 general election. The Tuesday, Nov. 4, general election ballot contains 17 proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution as well as a countywide election...
Texas voters will decide on 17 proposed constitutional amendments in the Nov. 4 general election. The Texas Constitution, written in 1876, has been amended more than 500 times. Amendments are frequent because the state’s charter restricts lawmakers from making many...
Presentation slide shown at council meeting highlighting commercial development conditions in Murphy. In the annual report on Murphy’s economic development, Reagan Rothenberger said Murphy’s population was estimated at 22,866 people with an average household income of...
The focal point of the Murphy Veterans Tribute is a bronze statue of a kneeling GI holding a rifle and U.S. flag. The design is copyright, Randolph Rose Collection, Yonkers, N.Y. Courtesy Randolph-Rose Collection After eight years of planning and fundraising, the...
Sports
Plano East senior Haley Reed and the Lady Panthers basketball team are 12-0 in District 6-6A. Photo by Andy Redmond / C&S Media By Seth Dowdle [email protected] McKINNEY – Three months ago, the Plano East girls basketball team embarked on a journey with an...
Plano East senior quarterback Jackson Hays, pictured in previous action, threw for two touchdown passes in a 44-21 win for the Panthers over Princeton on Friday. Photo by Roosevelt Joubert / C&S Media By Seth Dowdle [email protected] MURPHY – The District...
Plano East junior Simone Heard, pictured in previous action, recorded 16 kills in the Lady Panthers' 25-19, 25-21, 25-13 road win over McKinney Boyd on Tuesday, Sept. 10. Photo by Tina Lopez / Murphy Monitor By David Wolman [email protected] Trailing 17-13 in...
Plano East junior Jackson Howard runs past a North Forney defender Friday, Sept. 6, from Tom Kimbrough Stadium. The Panthers won 34-21. Photo by Roosevelt Joubert. MURPHY – The Panthers are rolling into district play with an unblemished record. Jackson Hays...
Andrew Earls (1) and CJ Chaloux (53) celebrate during the Panthers 55-27 win at Royse City. Photo by Roosevelt Joubert, Murphy Monitor ROYSE CITY – Offense, defense and special teams all made an impact in Plano East’s road win. Jumping out to an early 17-0...
Education
The use of cell phones and other personal communication devices by students during the school day is now prohibited at all Texas public and charter school students, grades K through 12. All Texas public and charter school students, grades K through 12, are now...
Editor’s note: This story is the first in a two-part series about the Wylie Independent School District’s recruiting and retention program. Melissa Hefty doesn’t mind helping a teacher in need. Wylie ISD operates a recruiting and retention department that seeks to...
Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Department of Public Safety released the Texas Homeland Security Strategic Plan 2021-2025 Tuesday, Jan. 26. The plan is the state’s framework for establishing homeland security priorities focused on a broad range of efforts to develop,...
The Wylie ISD began a Diversity and Inclusion program this year, a non-curriculum program designed to create unity and ensure people of all backgrounds are heard and valued. And this first year centered on multiple goals: Listening, learning and getting a feel for...
Wylie High School junior Devin Chaky speaks enthusiastically about entering a science field - engineering - for a career one day. The work she does now in one of her classes can help her with science-related industries. Some 92 certifications were earned by WHS...
Life & Style
Discovery Room When the summer sun scorches the Texas sky, savvy families know the best way to chill out is to head underground. Across the state, a network of natural limestone caves offers more than just geologic wonder—they provide a refreshing retreat where...
Wylie native Jacob Hemsath isn’t waiting around for a miraculous offer – he’s making his dreams come true himself. Although he graduated college less than a year ago, his professional theatre career is already well underway: he has been cast in five shows since summer...
More than 500 eager anglers ventured out in windy conditions Saturday, Feb. 23 to compete for the honor of catching the biggest fish in Murphy’s annual Rainbow Trout Roundup. “The event was a great success this year. The weather turned out to be perfect, and we had...
The date of April 2, 2009 is seared into Karen Schrah’s brain, as it would be for any parent who underwent what she did that day. That afternoon, her son, Zachary, a sophomore at Clark High School, was taking part in spring football practice at Plano East, where he...
Ordinary people, extraordinary love stories. Whether you’re 14 or 40, some couples have a knack for finding ever-lasting love. Last week we asked our readers to let us know if they had a love story to share and they did. Here’s a few that might give you hope and put a...
Opinion
Columnist John Moore remembers the parlors of the houses of yesterday. Where plastic covered the furniture, fresh flowers adorned the window sills, and you’d better not ever get caught going in there. Courtesy John Moore There was always one room in every Southern...
By Todd Baughman This weekend I had the opportunity to celebrate two men in my life turning 90 years old. One was my grandfather Bob Houser and the other, my friend and founding pastor Gene Getz. These milestones gave me the opportunity to celebrate the...
No matter how hard we try, we really can’t avoid one another. We live in a world where what takes place somewhere else on the globe has a very good chance of affecting us, along with many others. The pandemic, of course, is a useful – if sobering – example. A virus...
The COVID-19 pandemic has produced too many tragedies to tally, but here is one that does not get talked about enough: It has worsened conditions that leave children and youth especially vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation, a human trafficking crime. Human...
Gov. Greg Abbott and other Texas leaders are rolling up their sleeves to get the COVID-19 vaccine and to encourage the public to follow suit. “I will never ask any Texan to do something that I’m not willing to do myself,” Abbott said before getting vaccinated at a...
