Conroe ISD trustees reviewed the status of the district’s $1.97 billion 2023 bond program on Oct. 8. Of the original amount, $1.64 billion has been issued, $332.88 million remains to be issued, and remaining projects are on pace to finish by December 2027 except Washington High School.
The Jasper Economic Development Corporation voted 9 to 1 on Oct. 8 to hire former executive director Eddie Hopkins as a consultant at $7,500 a month to recruit a new executive director and new businesses to Jasper, plus up to $500 a month in expenses and mileage. The same meeting also voted to move the Jasper Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce back to the JEDCO Welcome Center at $750 a month.
The Shelby County Commissioners Court voted Friday to lift the countywide burn ban. Judge Allison Harbison said Shelby is at elevated fire danger and urged residents to burn with extreme care.
The Lufkin City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a preliminary zoning change on Spence Street from light manufacturing to residential small, overriding the Planning and Zoning Commission’s denial and clearing the way for up to five new single-family homes next to existing industrial parcels.
A Jasper County controlled burn got out of control Friday morning on FM 777 west of Jasper, destroying a travel trailer and threatening a nearby home and tire pile while a National Weather Service Red Flag Warning kept conditions ripe for fast-moving fire through 7 p.m.
Montgomery County deputies arrested a parole suspect in south Montgomery County on Oct. 5 after a traffic stop turned up eight catalytic converters, all reportedly cut from Toyotas, along with a reciprocating saw.
Montgomery County Commissioners Court on Oct. 8 approved selling $35 million in bonds to pay for roadway projects through next summer, drawing from the $480 million road bond voters approved in May 2025. Municipal interest rates are at 5.21 percent.
Conroe ISD police are searching for a 17-year-old Grand Oaks High School student last seen on campus at 12:50 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8. Documents left behind suggest the teen may have headed toward Oregon or Washington with a plan to cross into Canada. Tips go to 936-709-8911.
The Huntsville City Council voted unanimously Tuesday, Oct. 6, to pull three tracts totaling about 1,018 acres south of town into the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction. The land stays unincorporated, but future subdivisions there now have to meet city rules for streets, drainage and platting.
Republican Ag Commissioner nominee Nate Sheets brought his “Texans Should Feed Texans” bus tour to the former Loco Feed Mill building near Livingston on October 11.