Blood Drive News, Part 1 — A big Thank You to everyone who came out to donate at the August 12th blood drive. Twenty-two were able to donate which included whole blood units and double red units. The total amount collected will be able to save over 70 lives. Also, congratulations to Tyler Shields, pictured below, who was the winner of the $50 gift card.
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Blood Drive News, Part 2 — Due to the severe shortage of Type O blood, the first August blood drive was moved up a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, this prevented the June donors from giving at the August drive. To allow those donors to participate in August and also at the November drive, a second August blood drive has been scheduled for Monday, August 31st from 1-6 p.m. at the Senior Citizens Building. If you donated in June you will be able to donate at the August 31st drive and in the November drive. There will also be another drawing for a $50 gift card. See ad on this page.
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Over and Out — KPAN Radio in Hereford, Texas, officially shut down and signed off the air on August 4, 2026, marking the end of 78 years of broadcasting. The family-owned station, operating both 860 KPAN-AM and 106.3 KPAN-FM, was run by the Formby family for four generations.
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Rate Freeze — Attorney General Ken Paxton barred 116 more Texas cities from raising property tax rates this year, pushing the total to 251. Each city missed a deadline under Senate Bill 1851, the 2025 law that requires a city to remain at its no-new-revenue rate unless it completes an audit and files financial statements within 180 days of the fiscal year’s end. That rate keeps revenue from existing property from increasing. “I am continuing to fight to stop cities from unlawfully raising taxes on hardworking Texans,” Paxton said. His office has been reviewing more than 1,000 cities since December. Ivanhoe Mayor Skip Blackstone said the firm that handles the city’s audit filed two months late. Ivanhoe had planned to cut its rate to 72 cents per $100 of value, but will instead drop it to its “no-new-revenue” rate of 71.71 cents, resulting in roughly $20,000 less revenue for the city. The Texas Flyover
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How ‘bout them Cowboys — The Dallas Cowboys remain the most valuable sports franchise in the world, with Sportico’s latest rankings showing that the team is worth $15.5 billion. The Houston Texans have catapulted up to an $8.6 billion valuation. The Cowboys’ valuation jumped from $12.8 billion last year and has more than doubled since Sportico valued Dallas at $6.43 billion in 2020. The Los Angeles Rams rank second at $12.7 billion, followed by the New York Giants at $12 billion. Meanwhile, the Texans rank 13th in the NFL, with their value rising 21% from roughly $7.1 billion last year. Houston entered the league as an expansion franchise in 2002 for just a $700 million fee. Across the NFL, the average franchise is now worth $9.34 billion, with nine teams worth more than $10 billion. The last-place Cincinnati Bengals are valued at $7.4 billion—nearly $1 billion more than the Cowboys were worth six years ago. The Texas Flyover
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Strait To The Point — President Trump escalated his claim to the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, posting a map that labels the waterway “new US territory” and announcing that no talks with Iran are taking place or scheduled. Trump says the strait has been cleared of Iranian mines and is open, and that America already controls the waterway through its naval blockade. “I like the idea of declaring it a territory,” he told reporters. The same day, a ship sailing out of the strait was struck by an unknown projectile that hit its engine room and resulted in one crew casualty, maritime monitors said. Only six ships crossed Monday. The Flyover
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In Parmer County: $40 per year
Out of Parmer County: $50 per year
eStar (emailed): $30 per year
Call 806-250-5200 for more information