Opinion

As a lifelong Texan, I’ve witnessed the unique challenges faced by families in our rural communities, such as limited access to essential services like unemployment and childcare, as well as insufficient support in accessing resources for business development and assistance for veterans, to name a few. The vastness of our state can sometimes create barriers to accessing essential services, leaving many feeling isolated and overlooked.

Having raised three daughters, I’ve gained, in the words of Liam Neeson, “a very particular set of skills.” Unfortunately, none of these skills would be useful in the event of an international kidnapping. Because two of our daughters (and some of our credit cards) are now in college and one is deep in the bowels of high school, I feel like an abandoned appliance that seemed pretty nifty at first, but the novelty quickly wore off.

CAPITAL HIGHLIGHTS Colorado State University researchers are calling this year’s hurricane season forecast “the most aggressive” ever, the Texas Standard reported. They say there is a 54% chance a hurricane will strike the Texas coast, and a 25% chance it will be major.

CAPITAL HIGHLIGHTS State agencies and regulators were heavily criticized at a Texas legislative hearing for failing to communicate during the deadly Panhandle wildfires, the Texas Tribune reported. The three-day hearing, held in Pampa, investigated the Smokehouse Creek fire and others that burned more than a million acres, destroyed hundreds of homes, killed up to 10,000 cattle and resulted in two deaths.

Now that my age has surpassed the mid-century mark and I’m more ancient than virtually all professional athletes, everyone in my department at work, and even my pastor at church, I’ve noticed that the old memory is not what it used to ... Wait.

s I write, I’m trying to relax in my recliner on a cold winter’s day next to a roaring fire, yet my feet are freezing because a large, semi-elderly cat named “Missy” – AKA “The Loaf” – is lounging on the fireplace hearth directly in front of the firebox and hogging all of the heat. “How did I reach this state?” you might wonder.

FIDDLER’S GREEN Thus, the call at the Butterfield Overland Mail terminal in St. Louis, for the (usually) 21-day trip across the continent.

CAPITAL HIGHLIGHTS One economist is calling it “the most profitable 22 minutes in Texas history,” according to the Texas Standard. The total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8 is expected to draw up to a million visitors to the Lone Star State, especially in its narrow path of totality.

Although he may have passed through at some point, to the best of my knowledge John Caldwell Tidball never visited Texas. However, he was one of those individuals somewhat lost to history, but nevertheless a man who lived life to the fullest and had an impact on all of us. Tidball, from Ohio, graduated eleventh in the 1848 class of West Point and was assigned as Second Lieutenant to the U.S. Artillery.

The on-again, off-again state immigration law is once more on hold while the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals considers its constitutionality. Senate Bill 4 would allow state and local law enforcement officials to arrest and deport people suspected of entering the state illegally from Mexico, the Austin American-Statesman reported. The U.S. Supreme Court last Tuesday removed a temporary hold on the law, which allowed it to take effect for several hours before the 5th Circuit court again stopped SB4 from being enforced while it considers its constitutionality.