John Mark Dempsey

Texas A&M University-Commerce athletic director Ryan Ivey says unionization of college football and basketball players, as a court has approved for athletes at Northwestern University of the Big Ten, could eventually affect NCAA Division II athletic programs, such as A&M-Commerce.

With STAAR testing underway this week, Commerce Independent School District superintendent Blake Cooper says the state legislature made progress in reducing the number of standardized tests for secondary students from 15 per year to five, and he hopes similar progress will be made for elementary-age children in the next legislative session.  And Blake says the Commerce ISD is now part of the Texas High Performing S

Commerce Mayor John Ballotti says, even though the emergency pick up period for limbs from last December's ice storm is over, the remaining limbs are being picked up as part of the city's regular series of curbside refuse pickups.  And the mayor says he's appointed a committee to bring back the Farmers' Market on Bonham Alley in downtown Commerce.

The editor of the Cooper Review, Cindy Roller, says law enforcement agencies are investigating a series of cattle thefts in Delta and Hopkins Counties.  Cindy also says the water level in Cooper Lake remains very low.

KETR general manager Jerrod Knight, a guest on Blacklands Cafe on this first day of the KETR spring pledge drive, says a recent Advertising Age article shows that radio listening is about as strong as its ever been.

First United Methodist Church of Commerce senior pastor Valarie Englert says a significant number of non-Christians observe the period of Lent leading up to Easter, which she says is not necessarily about giving up things that you enjoy; it can be about taking up a personal challenge.

Dr. LaVelle Hendricks, associate professor of counseling and associate editor of the Journal of Counseling and Addiction, says because most e-cigarettes (electronic cigarettes) contain nicotine, they still pose a major cancer threat to users.

Commerce Mayor John Ballotti says the city has been officially designated a "Go Texan Certified Retirement Community."  And the mayor says the deed to the old A.L. Day Elementary School building has been transferred to Tipitina's, the New Orleans-based non-profit music organization that plans to open a facility in the old school.

Bert Cooper, the director of Community Seeds, says his organization is developing a community, or incubator, kitchen in Lone Oak, where citizens will learn to cook food for sale to the public, and where the food can be prepared.  Community Seeds is an "outreach organization, providing care for the less fortunate."

Dick Latson of Commerce Community Cares introduces a special guest.  Commerce Community Cares Inc. was organized for the charitable and educational purposes of the citizens of Commerce. CCC strives to support local agencies that provide services to the citizens from infancy through senior care.