April 2026

Dear Neil: I just noticed this bark damage in my otherwise healthy looking mature live oak. It seems like it happened almost overnight. I have woodpeckers and squirrels, but I have not seen much activity recently and certainly not anything that would cause this amount of damage. Do you have any idea of what this might be?

The Fort Stockton Panther tennis program closed out its 2025-26 season with representation at the regional tournament in Lubbock, marking another step forward for a program that continues to build momentum year after year. Competing against some of the top talent in the region, the Panthers saw strong efforts from both singles and doubles play as the postseason run came to an end.

The Fort Stockton Panthers will return to postseason action this week as they travel to Seminole for a best-of-three playoff series against the Canyon Eagles. Game 1 is scheduled for Thursday at 6 p.m.

Fort Stockton’s postseason run came to an end last week in Seminole, but the Prowlers closed the 2026 season with plenty to be proud of after one of the program’s strongest years in recent memory.

Panther Tennis continues to shine in the classroom as well as on the court. Congratulations to our outstanding seniors for earning Texas High School Coaches Association Academic All-State honors presented by Walmart.

I learned a lot about lawn and grass care while working in Bermuda grass research at the University of Arizona. One of the most important things is to start working or preparing for a beautiful yard in advance, waiting till the last minute will take a lot more effort, time and money and it will still not be as beautiful.

At the moment of the first drafting of this column our country, an avowedly Christian nation—steeped in “Judeo-Christian values” and legislated state by state to proclaim the sacred/essential nature of the moral/ religious mandates of the Bible’s summary of Torah as rendered in one particular English translation, stood at the brink of “annihilating a civilization” in order to prevent its capacity for threatening humanity.

Survivalism and self-sufficiency are exploding across America. According to TruePrepper, a preparedness research group, nearly 23 million Americans now call themselves preppers — many fleeing big-city metros for rural areas where they can be self-reliant if calamity strikes.

State officials began sending out the first notices to families awarded education vouchers last week, the Houston Chronicle reported. In the first round, 42,644 qualified, mostly students with special needs who are considered the highest priority.

Dear editor, On behalf of myself and the entire Pecos County Historical Commission, I want to thank the community for its support for our recent dedication of the new Texas Historical Marker honoring Felis Garza and Bernardo and Cesario Torres. In particular, I wanted to thank Precinct Four Commissioner Nathan Reeves for all of he and his crew’s help in installing the new marker and maintaining its surroundings, as well as Sheriff Thomas Perkins and his deputies for directing traffic and closing off the road.