Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Hometown News For Orange County, Texas
Sorted by date Results 1385 - 1409 of 15415
Orange County approved a new property tax abatement policy that should make local workers and suppliers smile. Under the policy, a company that is granted a tax abatement by the county for a new or expanded operation is expected to hire more local laborers and give preference and priority to local manufacturers, suppliers vendors and contractors – except where it’s not reasonably possible. “This gives our local suppliers and vendors a better opportunity to compete for the w...
Pinehurst City Council will hold a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to consider and possibly accept the resignation of Mayor Dan Mohon. Mohon, 80, a Pinehurst alderman for 11 years, was appointed mayor to serve the final 14 months of Pete Runnels' term when Runnels retired for health reasons in 2019. He won election for a full term on Nov. 3 with 64% of the vote against challenger Troy Pierce. Also on the agenda for Tuesday's meeting is to appoint a mayor to serve to...
Orange County is casting its net after another big industrial expansion. Commissioners Court members voted 4-0 last week to create a 490-acre reinvestment zone near the east bank of the Neches River and Rose City and then posted notice they will consider an abatement agreement with Optimus Steel during their Dec. 22 meeting. Optimus, which bought the old Cargill Steel mill from Brazil's Gerdau SA in 2018, is planning a $40 million investment in an expansion to accommodate a...
Bridge City's school district is on the hunt for new leadership after this week's announcement by Superintendent Todd Lintzen that he plans to retire at the end of the current school year. "After a great deal of thoughtful consideration I have decided to close out my 36-year career in education and retire at the end of this school year," Lintzen said in a letter he wrote to school staff and the community. "I will make my retirement official at the [Thursday] November 19, 2020...
In its third decade of operation, few Orange County social service operations have been as appreciated as the Bridge City/Orangefield Ministerial Alliance. But 2020 has tested everyone's reserve and so the agency with a lengthy record of fulfilling unmet community needs found itself in a time of want. The non-profit that provides food and living expense help to more than 4,000 clients has for years been the beneficiary of the Chamber of Commerce's Bridge City Christmas...
The nearly year-ago explosion at the TPC Group's chemical plant in Port Neches that blew out windows, front doors, brought ceilings tumbling down in hundreds of homes and ruined Thanksgiving weekend for thousands was mostly a Jefferson County event. But don't' tell that to 128th District Court Judge Courtney Arkeen. Her office is overseeing the hundreds of lawsuits against the owners of the 1940s rubber plant that produced more than 900 million pounds of butadiene and...
The green bow tie may have tipped off onlookers that this wasn't your normal heavy machine operator about to tear into the roof over the deserted bank drive-thru teller structurer in downtown Orange Tuesday morning. And there was a twinkle in his eye when he climbed down from the big excavator after ripping the first chunk off the structure that will be cleared away to make room for a new pedestrian plaza at Lamar State College Orange. "That was a lot of fun," Dr. Thomas...
According to the count released Nov. 9 by the Orange County Emergency Management Office, the death toll in the county from this year's COVID-19 pandemic is 42 residents. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services on Nov. 8, Orange County has had 47 COVID-19 deaths. According to a statement put out by the West Orange-Cove school district in early October, three or more players on its high school volleyball team had tested positive for COVID-19, forcing the schoo...
Veterans Day salutes American heroes Since the occasion first began as "Armistice Day" in 1919 to acknowledge the end of World War I on Nov. 11, 1918, Veterans Day, so renamed in 1954, has been a special day to remember veterans of all wars, both living and deceased. The country observes a moment of silence at 11 a.m. each year. Orange County men and women have always done their patriotic duty when their country called. While the last of the World War I veterans have passed,...
If Lamar State College Orange's footprint gets any bigger, it'll give Sasquatch a run for its money. Tuesday morning, the two-year school and skills trainer in downtown Orange gained use of a block-long strip of 4th Street to help create a pedestrian walkway and plaza bisecting the campus from east to west. It will connect LSCO's newest addition, a not-yet begun 58,000-square foot academic building, on 5th Street and Green Avenue, to the Shahan Center, located on Green and...
After 30 years as the leader of First Baptist Church Orange, Barry Bradley is retiring as pastor. Under Bradley's tenure, the church has grown exponentially, introduced new ministries, and become a fixture in serving the local community. Bradley became pastor of First Baptist Church Orange in November 1990 when the congregation was meeting in a stately old building in downtown Orange. In 2013, after years of study, survey, discussions and prayer, the church moved into a new...
It's water, water everywhere if you live in Bridge City, the city of bridges, and the city of Bridge City is busy making sure its citizens have plenty coming out of their faucets for years to come. Currently, the city is replacing two of its four water wells in projects that will cost a total of $7 million dollars, money expected to come from federal grants. "We don't have a water shortage. That's not the problem," Jerry Jones, Bridge City's city manager, said. "We've got plen...
The City of Bridge City cut the ribbon on the new drive through teller machine located in front of City Hall at 260 Rachal Avenue in Bridge City. The drive through payment method is similar to drive through banking machines used conveniently everywhere. Night deposits may also be made at the new City of Bridge City bill pay location. All incoming payments post to the account immediately. According to Bridge City Mayor David Rutledge the new system along with being more...
Bridge City Mayor David Rutledge accepts a $10,000 check from Travis Williams assistant manager of operations for Sabine River Authority of Texas. The funds are part of a community outreach program facilitated by the SRA to help municipalities defray expenses incurred from Hurricanes Laura and Delta....
Blue, Schmoo. Not in this county. At least not in 2020. Or any time soon. It was another clean sweep for the Republican Red team headed by President Donald Trump, who won 81% of Orange County's votes in his reelection bid for 2020. A total of 29,170 county votes were cast for the Republican candidate who shocked the world with his Electoral College win in 2016, versus just 6,534 votes (or 18.2%) for Democrat Joe Biden, with Libertarian and Green candidates getting the remainin...
While confirming Tuesday that the last of the displaced Mauriceville residents have been allowed to go home, County Judge John Gothia admitted he learned about Orange County's latest brush with infamy in an usual way. "The first call I got about it Thursday morning was from USA Today," Gothia said. "He said, 'We're looking at a video posted on the internet, and we want to know when did it happen?' "I hung up the phone and called Joel [Ardoin, Orange County's emergency manageme...
As someone who survived the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Bridge City's Cedric Stout isn't too concerned by the coronavirus. Stout, who will celebrate his 99th birthday Saturday, decided to go to his favorite lunch spot Monday only to discover it was not yet open for indoor dining. "I think it's hooey," he said. "All these other places are letting you in." Stout, an Opelousas, Louisiana native whose nine children attended Bridge City schools while he worked 53 years as a...
Terrie Turner Salter, Orange city councilwoman representing District 3, says she wants people to know that she voted against a resolution that will raise the penalty on delinquent city taxes from 15% to 20%, beginning with 2020 taxes. According to Trisha Anderson, Orange city secretary, the vote at last week’s council meeting was unanimous in favor of increasing the penalty to 20%. Salter said councilwoman Caroline Hennigan made the motion and councilman Paul Burch seconded t...
Orange County Commissioners agreed Tuesday morning to borrow $4 million to avoid end-of-the-calendar-year cash shortfalls that could potentially arise from Hurricane Laura. Because the new county budget year begins in October each year and county tax payments are not due until Dec. 31, the county normally uses a bit of its reserve funds to tide the county over the gap. But the county is looking at $12 million in bills from debris cleanup after Hurricane Laura blew through...
Orange County Commissioners Court, with members on the back row, celebrate the county receiving a $125,000 check from the Sabine River Authority for Hurricane Laura disaster recovery assistance at Tuesday's meeting. Front row, from left, includes Lanie Brown of U.S. Rep Brian Babin's office, SRA board member Kevin Williams, State Rep. Dade Phelan and David Montagne, SRA general manager. SRA will also be presenting checks to the cities of Orange, West Orange and Bridge...
National President Donald J. Trump (REP) Joseph R. Biden (DEM) Jo Jorgensen (LIB) Howie Hawkins (GRN) U.S. Senator John Cornyn (REP) Mary "MJ" Hegar (DEM) Kerry Douglas McKennon (LIB) David B. Collins (GRN) U.S. Representative, Dist. 36 Brian Babin (REP) Rashad Lewis (DEM) Chad Abbey (LIB) Hal J. Ridley, Jr. (GRN) State Railroad Commissioner James "Jim" Wright (REP) Chrysta Castaneda (DEM) Matt Sterett (LIB) Katija "Kat" Gruene (GRN) Chief Justice, Supreme Court Nathan Hecht...
With three days left in early voting for the 2020 Presidential election, Orange County has blown past old records. A total of 24,134 voters have cast their ballots in-person at one of the county's four early voting sites with Vidor's Raymond Gould Community Center hosting the most, 7,073. The record for early voting had been 22,730 in 2016, when Donald Trump easily trounced Democrat Hillary Clinton in Orange County. The magic number left to shoot for on Election Day Nov. 3 is...
Jimmy Scales was one of Bridge City's best-known citizens, the grandson of the man who came up with the name Bridge City. Bridge City's longtime municipal court judge, Jimmy Scales was once named Citizen of the Year. Three years after his death, his name has resurfaced in a family face-off over the election for the judge's former seat on the Board of Directors of the Orange County Drainage District. James Scales, Jimmy's son, is running in the Nov. 3 election against longtime...
