Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Sorted by date Results 1071 - 1095 of 15400
The weather outside was frightful but the occasion, so delightful. While rain drizzled, icy winds blew, and trucks noisily roared past on Interstate 10, a group of about 100 invited guests huddled inside a tent and celebrated the groundbreaking for the Gisela Houseman Medical Campus Monday afternoon. "What a glorious day this is. Forget the weather," said Houseman, the Orange land baron who donated 25 acres for a healthcare development near the intersection of I-10 and...
A divided school board voted 4-2 Monday night to name defensive line coach Hiawatha Hickman the fourth head football coach in West Orange-Stark High School's 46-year history. West Orange-Cove board members Tricia Stroud and Tommy Wilson voted against hiring the nominee put forward by Superintendent Dr. Rickie Harris. Board member Roderick Robertson was absent. Board member Gina Simar made the motion to hire Hickman and it was seconded by Ruth Hancock. Linda Platt-Bryant,...
Hiawatha Hickman is the nominee to become the fourth Athletic Director/Head Football Coach in West Orange-Stark history. West Orange-Cove school district superintendent Dr. Rickie Harris announced Thursday he will recommend the hiring of Hickman, the Mustangs' defensive line coach and girls' track coach the past six years, at the Monday, Jan. 24 school board meeting. Cornel Thompson, who spent 46 years as a teacher and coach in the West Orange district, retired in December...
Essie Bellfield, a civil rights pioneer and Orange's first Black and first female mayor, died Sunday morning at age 89. A funeral service will be held at Salem United Methodist Church in Orange at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 5. She served as Mayor of Orange from 1997 through 2000. Nearly two decades after being elected mayor, she rejoined city government as a member of the city council. Bellfield lived an incredible life that included a 1965 civil rights march over the Edmund...
Bridge City's city council voted Tuesday night to hire Brent Walker, assistant city manager in the Texas Panhandle, to be Bridge City's city manager. Walker, who has worked for Dalhart, a city of 10,000, since 2013, was a unanimous choice. He has a master's degree in public administration, a certificate in public finance and a Class C water license. He will report for work Feb. 1, Mayor David Rutledge said. "We're really excited," Rutledge said. "We think he brings a lot of ne...
The term family business is appropriately applied to the Brown Hearing Centers located in Orange and multiple other locations in Texas. The business celebrates its sixtieth year in operation this year. Three generations of family members have worked during the last six decades to make the Brown Hearing Centers the place to go for people wanting to hear better. During that time over a hundred thousand customers have been able to hear life's sounds more clearly and communicate...
Mostly closed for repairs since mid-2017, the swing bridge on East Roundbunch Road, could be ready to reopen soon, a repairman said Tuesday. But if it happens soon, don't look for Orange County to operate it. What had historically been a favorite shortcut between Bridge City and Chemical Row is currently undergoing repairs for at least the third time since the Texas Department of Transportation replaced the old bridge a couple of years ago. The bridge was shut down in July of...
A change in state law means Texas voters who are eligible to vote by mail must request from and turn in an application to vote by mail to the county in which they live. They must register for the service each year now, election officials say. "In the past, we were able to maintain a database of people 65 and older or disabled that wanted to be automatically mailed applications," Cheryl Bradley, elections clerk at the Orange County Elections Administration office, said. "Every...
People driving from Bridge City to Orange are always watching change happen. Especially lately. First there was High Tides restaurant going in beside the Cow Bayou bridge. Then Chevron-Phillips Chemical began clearing land for a multi-million dollar project they haven't decided on. Not that long ago, the side of the road underwent another change. The old fishing boat dumped on the west side of the bridge is gone. The state of Texas spent $2.8 million in the last year removing...
Since its founding in 1952, the Orange Stationer has sold more paper and paper clips than one human being can imagine. But since they bought it in 2015, imagining has become Paul and Kim Dickerson's business. They captured Orange city leaders' imagination with a plan to convert one third of their Division Street real estate into a small business incubator called The Office Downtown. "We're a local business supply company that is ever evolving," Paul Dickerson told the City of...
Construction is set to begin next week on a widening of Farm to Market Road 1442 from Highway 408 to Highway 105. According to Sarah Dupre, Texas Department of Transportation public information officer, a turning lane will be added between the north and south lanes and each side of the road will get a 10-foot wide shoulder. "According to TxDOT, the plan is to make it safer by putting in a turning lane," Kirk Roccaforte, Orange County Precinct 3 Commissioner, said. "Hopefully...
My name is Joy Dubose-Simonton. I am happily running for re-election for the office of Justice of the Peace, Pct. 3 as a proud Republican. I have been a citizen of Orange County for 46 years and resident of Bridge City for 43 years. I have 2 children: Adley and Christian, a daughter-in-law, Jessica, and a granddaughter, Sage. As your full-time Justice of the Peace I will continue to make changes and updates as the judicial system evolves. Over the past 2 years we have had 46...
Paul Schattenberg Texas A&M AgriLife Media Relations One of the most popular New Year's resolutions is to eat healthier and make better decisions when choosing what foods to eat. But a recent study by Texas A&M AgriLife researchers shows there are often competing and conflicting forces at work when making food choices. "Consumers who already know the approximate calorie content of various food options and are conscious about calorie intake often choose the lower-calorie food...
A late-January groundbreaking is set on the Gisela Houseman Medical Campus in Orange, with grand opening expected in the spring of 2023. So said a joint New Year's Eve announcement by Christus Southeast Texas Health System and NexCore, a national healthcare real estate developer headquartered in Denver. "It's taken us a while to get all the pieces put together on it, but I'm pretty excited it's finally happening," Houseman, the Orange real estate investor who donated the land...
In an average year, Orange County puts on only three or four elections. But Tina Barrow and her three-person Elections Administration Office have no problem staying busy the other 250-odd workdays. That's because they have 54,000 local bosses – the registered voters – and a few hundred more in Austin. The Texas Legislature is always fine-tuning its voting rules and regulations. "We work year-round," Barrow said. "It takes like three months to prepare for an election, may...
David Frenzel, Orange Fire Chief for the past 25 years is set to retire in April, ending a 53-year tenure at the Fire Department that makes him the longest serving city employee in City of Orange history. He oversaw many great accomplishments, including the construction of Fire Station No. 3, the newly constructed Central Fire Station and a remodel of Fire Station No. 2. To honor Frenzel, a native of Orange who met his wife Hildy when she worked part-time at the Fire...
(AUSTIN) — Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar today said state sales tax revenue totaled $3.56 billion in December, 24.4 percent more than in December 2020. The majority of December sales tax revenue is based on sales made in November and remitted to the agency in December. Year-over-year increases for most tax revenues continue to be affected by base effects: year-ago revenue collections to which this year’s collections are compared were suppressed by the pandemic. Compared to...
AUSTIN - Texas Secretary of State John Scott today released a progress report upon conclusion of Phase 1 of the state's full forensic audit of the 2020 General Election. The report, which outlines initial findings regarding the security and integrity of Texas' election systems in Collin, Dallas, Harris and Tarrant counties, shows that: • Statewide, a total of 509 potential cross-state duplicate votes were cast in the November 2020 General Election - meaning these i...
By: YERÍS MAYOL-GARCÍA The Covid-19 pandemic upended many family dynamics but one positive consequence of this upheaval: Parents shared more dinners and read to their children more often, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2020 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). Many families spent extra time together in spring and summer 2020, when lockdowns were in place in many parts of the United States. 69% of parents reported reading to young children five or more t...
Kay Ledbetter Texas A&M AgriLife Media Relations Farmers can look forward to a future in which their industrial hemp crops have optimal phenotypic and trait characteristics, including the potential to completely eliminate the expression of Delta-9 THC. Transgenetic industrial hemp plants growing under plant selection media at the Texas A&M AgriLife Multi-Crop Transformation Facility. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Marco Molina) Delta-9 THC is one of the plant cannabinoids with...
The Texas Department of State Health Services is reporting 47 new COVID-19 cases in Orange County, a 56 percent jump over last week's reported 30 cases. The highly contagious omicron variant has led to a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases in Texas. "It's rocking and rolling with the resurgence we're having right now," Orange County Judge John Gothia said Monday. "Our call center is receiving four times as many calls as it's been getting. We've seen a huge increase the last seven...
As the Year 2022 looks forward to taking off at midnight Saturday, Orange County leaders are looking to the west for a sign. They’re all awaiting Chevron Phillips Chemical officials headquartered in The Woodlands to disclose a go or no-go decision on a building a $6 billion ethylene plant on the southeast side of the county, north of the current Chemical Row, FM 1006. “We just want to try to get completed with this [hurricane] recovery stuff,” Orange County Judge John Gothi...
My name is Candice Conroy Steele and I am running for Justice of the Peace; Precinct 3, Orange County, Texas. I have been married to my husband, Mark Steele, Sr. for 18 years and we have three children, a son-in-law, a daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. I am a graduate of Orangefield High School and have lived in Precinct 3 for the last 20 years. I have worked in the legal field for over 30 years and I am well versed in many aspects of the law. I have an Associate degree a...
Jerry Jones was just making the jump from Director of Bridge City's Public Works Department to the office of City Manager in September of 2005 when Hurricane Rita blew through the area on the heels of Hurricane Katrina hitting New Orleans. But Jones really earned his spurs as city leader, working with Mayor Kirk Roccaforte three years later as Hurricane Ike did its best to wipe the city off the map. A Category 2 storm of 100-plus winds sent a surge of up to 14 feet of water...
Adam Russell Texas A&M AgriLife Correspondent Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists are on a mission to create a new weapon against disease-carrying mosquitoes. Patricia Pietrantonio, Ph.D., a Texas A&M AgriLife Research Fellow and professor in the Department of Entomology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is leading a three-year project toward a new method of mosquito control. The project will focus on Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus species, which...
