For nearly three decades, Kathy O’Shields has been the steady hand behind the Stephens County Humane Society –a volunteer-run non-profit organization dedicated to providing a helping hand to animals.
The Breckenridge Independent School District board has officially adopted its budget and tax rate for the upcoming fiscal and tax year. Board trustees voted following a public hearing Monday, Aug. 25.
For the 2025 tax year, the board voted to adopt the same tax rate as last year at $0.7575 per $100 valuation.
Despite the tax rate staying the same, the levy carries an increase of $66.39 in taxes on the average household. This is due to the average market value and average taxable value of residences increasing.
Acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock announced in late August a grant program that will expand broadband infrastructure across the state, particularly prioritizing projects that improve connectivity for flood detection and emergency warning systems in vulnerable areas.
There are $200 million in grants being made available through the Texas Middle Mile (TMM) Program after the Comptroller’s Broadband Development Office (BDO) issued a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) regarding the program. The NOFA was announced by Hancock Monday, Aug. 25.
The Stephens County commissioners are continuing to work on the process for engraving names on the Stephens County Courthouse veteran’s monument. With assistance from the county’s Veteran Director, Les Strickland, they have compiled a list of names to be engraved that have not yet been added for 2024 veteran deaths.
In their first year participating in the blood drive, Sacred Cross EMS has been named the winners of the 2025 Battle of the Badges. Earlier this summer, the community came out in support of each other and local first responders for the annual blood drive.
The votes were tallied and Sacred Cross EMS was announced as the winner at a meeting of the Rotary Club of Breckenridge.
The Stephens Memorial Hospital Board of Directors unanimously approved a new tax rate and adopted its Fiscal Year 2026 budget following a public hearing held Thursday, Aug. 28.
The decisions come as the hospital navigates rising costs, shifting property values and the long-term financial implications of wind farm depreciation.
Following a disposition hearing in which the defendants failed to appear, Stephens County Justice of the Peace Judge Steve Spoon ruled that the 17 dogs seized earlier this month from a property on the 1200 block of West Sixth Street will remain in the custody of Breckenridge Animal Control at the shelter.
The animals, found in various stages of malnourishment and neglect, will be held at the city shelter through the 10-day appeal window. After that period, their fate will be determined based on health evaluations and adaptability.
The City of Breckenridge is inviting local artists and students to help transform downtown infrastructure into vibrant public art, in alignment with its strategic plan to promote beautification and community pride.
Two college students from Latvia, Karlis Mednis and Gustavs Vanags, have spent the last three months traveling across North Texas as part of their summer internship with Southwestern Advantage, a U.S.-based educational sales and leadership program. Their final stop has been the welcoming porches and streets of Breckenridge.
Vanags was in his third year of the program this year and is going into his senior year, and he recruited Mednis to join in over a phone call.
The Breckenridge Independent School District Library Services is a recent recipient of a grant that will help support English Language Learners (ELL). BISD announced Thursday, Aug. 14 that they received a $5,000 grant from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation (DGLF). The grant project is entitled “Cultivating Reading Confidence for English Language Learners.”
