Texas Education Agency Says Less Than Half of New Texas Teachers are Certified
May 13, 2025 – The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has raised concerns over a troubling trend: a significant decline in the number of certified teachers in Texas classrooms. For the 2024–2025 school year, Texas schools hired approximately 43,800 new teachers, but only 45% of them were fully certified. This marks a sharp drop in the proportion of credentialed educators entering the profession, a development that officials say could...
STAAR Test On The Chopping Block
May 12, 2025 – House Bill 4, passed by the Texas House of Representatives on May 12, 2025, represents a sweeping reform of the state’s public school accountability system. Aimed at addressing long-standing concerns about overreliance on standardized testing, the bill significantly overhauls the current assessment framework, particularly the STAAR test (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness), and introduces broader...
EPIC City Now Under Federal Investigation
April 12, 2025 – The U.S. Department of Justice has joined Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Governor Greg Abbott in launching a federal investigation into the East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC) and its proposed development project, EPIC City—a 402-acre planned Muslim community near Josephine, Texas. The planned city will occupy land in Collin and neighboring Hunt County. The probe follows mounting controversy and public...
Attorney General Ken Paxton Secures Historic $1.375 Billion Settlement with Google Related to Texans’ Data Privacy Rights
May 11, 2025 – Attorney General Ken Paxton secured a $1.375 billion settlement in principle with Google, delivering a historic win for Texans’ data privacy and security rights and marking the highest recovery nationwide against Google for any attorney general’s enforcement of state privacy laws. In 2022, Attorney General Paxton sued Google for unlawfully tracking and collecting users’ private data regarding geolocation,...
Staff Changes at Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office
May 9, 2025 – Hopkins County Sheriff Lewis Tatum is pleased to announce the well-deserved promotions of three dedicated members within the Sheriff’s Office. These promotions recognize the individuals’ commitment, experience, and leadership potential. Michael Russell has been promoted to Chief Investigator. With many years of service and a proven track record in complex investigations, Russell has consistently...
Texas Bail Reform Bill Tougher on Suspects and Judges
May 8, 2025 – Governor Greg Abbott convened a roundtable in Austin this week with law enforcement officials, policy leaders, and victims of violent crime to rally support for a proposed constitutional amendment aimed at strengthening Texas’ bail system. The event underscored Abbott’s commitment to prioritizing public safety and tightening rules around pretrial release for individuals accused of serious offenses. “Every member of...
‘DART Killer’ Bill Advances
May 6, 2025 – After weeks of debate and testimony, Texas lawmakers on the House Transportation Committee voted 9 to 2 on Tuesday to advance House Bill 3187, a measure that could significantly reshape public transit funding in the Dallas-Fort Worth region. Authored by Rep. Matt Shaheen (R-Plano), the bill proposes reducing the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) system’s one-cent sales tax collection from member cities by 25%. That...
Sr. Center COOR Dawna Pryor had a Second Cup of Coffee to Discuss What the Center has Planned for a Mother’s Day Celebration
Sulphur Springs Senior Citizens Activity Center Coordinator Dawna Pryor stopped by for A Second Cup Of Coffee With John Mark Dempsey to share what the Center has in store for the community in the upcoming weeks. John Mark and Dawna chatted about the Mother’s Day Celebration the Senior Citizens Activity Center will host May 9th, 2025. The two also talked about the upcoming talk CNB will have on avoiding fraud, the Senior Prom,...
Mt. Vernon Set to Become Nation’s Lithium Capitol
April 6, 2025 – GeoFrame, a Houston-based energy and mining company, has announced bold plans to turn Mount Vernon, Texas — a small town with a population of just 2,500 — into the nation’s largest single-source lithium producer. The company’s ambitious initiative promises to inject new economic life into the rural community, bringing over 100 new jobs and positioning the area at the forefront of the U.S. energy transition. The...
Student Taken into Custody Following What’s Called a “Spoofing” Incident
May 5, 2025 – The Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office says a student has been taken into custody following what’s called a “spoofing” incident which targeted a teacher. The Como-Pickton Consolidated ISD says a person called a teacher Friday from a spoofed number and threatened to shoot her if she didn’t change the caller’s grade. Superintendent Dr. Greg Bower says: “The student suspect has been identified and...
