It’s a new year, but the news out of the capital continues to focus on COVID-19. Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted last week that “a significant portion of vaccines distributed across Texas might be sitting on hospital shelves as opposed to being given to vulnerable Texans. The state urges vaccine providers ...

(Editor’s note: The following is taken from a eulogy given recently in Blanco at an outdoor memorial service by the author who had been asked to speak at the funeral of late educator Bobbie Abbott. It is offered here as a tribute to her as well as to honor all those dedicated career teachers whose c...

JANUARY 6, 1971 Tanya Sue Itz, born Saturday, Jan. 2, at 11:49 a.m., to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Itz, at Keidel Memorial Hospital, was welcomed as Gillespie County’s first baby of 1971. Her father is the owner of Itz Electric in South Heights, while her mother has been an employee at Community Savings a...

The way my siblings and I responded to my family’s chicken-pox outbreak in 1973 may shed light on Americans’ responses to COVID-19 in 2020. I was abou...

I hardly feel I’ll be alone in saying to the year 2020, “Don’t let the door hit ya where the Lord split ya.” It’s a year most of us can’t wait to forg...

DECEMBER 30, 1970 The first baby of 1971 will receive a royal welcome with gifts and merchandise from local merchants, the two local newspapers and th...