News

Bids for Water Treatment Plant improvements and filter rehabilitation construction were received in the City Council meeting April 14. They were presented by Mike Tibbets of Hayter Engineering. The lower bid of $56,100 from S4 Water Sales & Services, LLC was accepted.

Tibbets also presented the bids for the utility relocation that the city must have done for the SH 24 widening. The lower bid of $104,000 from 7-H Construction, Inc. was approved. Approximately 55 to 60% of the cost of the relocation will be reimbursed by TxDOT.

The sale of a downtown Greenville landmark drew at least some interest from potential buyers, both of whom offered more than $3 million for the property.

A total of two bids were submitted for the purchase of the Paul Mathews Exchange Building.

Since the beginning of the Tea Party movement in Texas in 2009,  state Republicans have harnessed its appeal to voters who are demanding less government spending and more local control. But when it comes to water policy, a hotly debated issue given the state’s severe drought and growing needs, conservatives worry that establishment Republicans have not stuck to those principles.

A year after a deadly explosion at a fertilizer plant in Texas, a federal agency is releasing a report saying the disaster was preventable.

The Chemical Safety Board, which investigates chemical accidents and issues recommendations to ensure public safety, is presenting its preliminary findings tonight in the town of West, Texas, where the fire and subsequent explosion last year took 15 lives, injured hundreds, and destroyed homes and schools.

Hunt County has a rich baseball tradition, according to Hunt County Historical Commission chairman Carol Taylor.  Greenville recently observed the 65th anniversary of the minor-league Greenville Majors defeating the mighty New York Yankees in an exhibition game.  The legendary Monty Stratton of "The Stratton Story" fame was from the Greenville area.  And "town teams" from almost every community in Hunt County used to play each other in fun, and sometimes fierce, competition.

With budgets already reduced and with more cuts on the way, federal environmental regulators are expected to be doing fewer inspections of industries that pollute. And if state environmental regulators were expected to take up the slack, many of them — including those in Texas —- are dealing with budget cuts of their own.

“There have been just dramatically fewer [EPA] inspections,” said Bernadette Rappold, a lawyer who spent years working in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s enforcement division. She’s now with the McGuireWoods law firm in Washington.

While some Northeast Texas counties are experiencing a bit of a respite from the ongoing multi-year drought, Fannin County and Lamar County are driest counties in the region, according to current data.

Northeastern Fannin County and most of western Lamar County are identified as having the greatest disparity between current rainfall totals and historical average rainfall totals in an Apr. 22 release from the Texas Water Development Board. Those areas are designated as experiencing “extreme” drought conditions.

A Princeton High School special education teacher has been arrested on suspicion of having an inappropriate relationship with a 17-year-old male student.

Saralyn Gayle Portwood, 30, was taken into custody by officers from the Collin County Sheriff's Office on Apr. 17 and then released that day on $10,000 bond. The charge is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

With the start of early voting for the May 10 Greenville ISD election less than a week away, school district officials are presenting another public forum tonight concerning the $72 million bond package which will be included on the ballot.

The forum is scheduled for 6 p.m. inside Bowie Elementary School, 6005 Stonewall Street. A walking tour of the building, which would be replaced if the bond proposal passes, is scheduled following the informational presentation, with time for questions and answers.

The Blacklands Cafe's personal technology commentator Rick Miller says a new product will protect your car against hail, even if you have to leave it outside the garage. And Rick says crank-operated radios may not be high-tech, but they're sure good to have in event of a power failure.