Few city landfills are planned, opened and operated without at least some public resistance, generally in the area where a new landfill is envisioned. So it was in the early 1990s when citizens fought the Waco landfill now operating along U.S. Highway 84. So it is today with the site next door.
Cut through all the fighting and rancor over sanctuary cities, school vouchers and transgender people in public bathrooms and one finds at least some consensus in state leadership regarding growing mental-health needs.
McLennan Community College last week hosted Peter Lake, a national expert in higher education compliance, to conduct training sessions on a variety of issues — including Title IX.
Saturday’s county-wide election will decide whether local officials pursue a plan to significantly and strategically expand and improve Extraco Events Center facilities as well as city of Waco and Waco Independent School District facilities contiguous to them, all in the name of bolstering e…
Amir Hussain, a professor of theological studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles who will deliver a lecture on the topic of Muslims in America Thursday at Baylor University, last week discussed with the Tribune-Herald his new book, “Muslims and the Making of America,” published…
Former Baylor University President Ken Starr recently sat down with the Tribune-Herald to discuss his time at Baylor, which he writes about in a new book, "Bear Country: The Baylor Story." Starr also discusses the school's ongoing sexual assault scandal, which saw him removed as president by…
U.S. Rep. Bill Flores was elected in 2010 as part of a mighty backlash against the Democratic establishment. Now that the tables have turned to the GOP’s favor, he finds himself trying to thread a needle in a polarized time.
In a spirited conversation, the Trib sat down with five Waco-area residents who voted for Trump who offered their insights into what they expect.
Discussing the group’s aims and goals, as well as the contempt and indifference with which they say they’ve been greeted by Baylor regents.
Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro was in Waco this week stumping for the national Democratic ticket.
“Collective impact” is a concept where many entities and individuals — all dedicated to some particular solution for helping those in need — work strategically in different capacities toward a common, agreed-upon goal.
Two days after announcing that he would leave his final Baylor post, the 70-year-old former federal judge and solicitor general sat down for an extensive interview with the Trib at his new home in southwest Waco.
Baylor University Title IX Coordinator Patty Crawford, who was hired by the school in 2014, sat down this week with Tribune-Herald staff writer Phillip Ericksen. Below is a full transcript of that interview.
Take a deep dive inside the Baylor tumult with our wide-ranging special Sunday interview.
Staff writer Phillip Ericksen sat down with Baylor interim President David Garland on Monday, his first sit-down interview with the Trib since taking the reins as interim president for the second time in less than a decade.
Inside: Watch the complete video of our Wednesday interview with Starr.
Last Tuesday, Malcolm Duncan Jr., 63, stepped down as Waco’s ubiquitous, industrious, ever-inquisitive mayor after a busy four-year tenure. Hailing from a family that longtime friend and fellow civic leader Wilton Lanning describes as existing in a “perpetual state of civic heat,” Duncan hel…
Mark Shaw, 55, a business manager for The Johnson Group who also rehabilitates houses, is challenging Waco City Council incumbent Wilbert Austin, 76, to re-election. Shaw is making his second bid to represent District 1, having come in third in a four-way race in 2004 that saw veteran educat…
Dustin Kyle Weins, an insurance agent who turns 34 on City Election Day, is challenging Waco City Council District 3 incumbent John Kinnaird. Weins says he was prompted to run by Kinnaird’s opposition to a city ordinance regulating predatory practices of local payday and auto-title lenders. …
John Kinnaird, 36, vice president and trust officer of Community Bank & Trust, has served on the Waco City Council representing District 3 for the past four years and faces his first competitive election on May 7. A Baylor University graduate, he served on the city of Waco’s Zoning Board…
In January, the Tribune-Herald published the U.S. Chemical Safety Board’s findings and recommendations regarding storage of fertilizer-grade ammonium nitrate after a 2½-year study of the fire at and explosion of the West Fertilizer Company. The blast left 15 people dead (12 of them first res…
Waco Police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton, 54, spokesman for the police department who gained national prominence in last spring’s Twin Peaks shootout, is running for sheriff in the March 1 Republican primary election. Swanton has the endorsement of the Waco Police Association. He says he was firs…
McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara, 69, a retired deputy U.S. marshal whose family has long been involved in area law enforcement, is running for re-election in the March 1 Republican primary election as he begins the final year of his first four-year term. He has received endorsements…
Willie Tompkins, 66, pastor of New Generation Church in Bellmead and a substitute teacher in the Waco Independent School District, is making his second bid for McLennan County sheriff, this time as a Republican in the March 1 GOP primary election. He cites as his experience 600 hours of poli…
Local businessman Ralph Patterson, 58, of Waco, is challenging Congressman Bill Flores in the March 1 Republican primary election to represent District 17, which includes Waco. The former McLennan County Republican Party chairman lists as issues border security, protection of the unborn, vet…
Groesbeck businessman Kaleb Sims, 38, who works in a metal fabrication and machining business founded by his father and uncle, is challenging Congressman Bill Flores in the March 1 Republican primary election to represent District 17, which includes Waco. Among the issues he cites are repeal…
Retired oil & gas executive Bill Flores, 61, of Bryan, is running for re-election to Congress representing District 17, which includes Waco. Victory in the March 1 GOP primary election and then in the fall would bring Flores his fourth term. His platform includes limited government, addr…
Waco Independent School District trustees plan to assemble three “community transformation committees” to bolster struggling neighborhoods around six Waco ISD campuses that have failed in statewide academic tests for at least three years in a row. Each committee would take two of the six tro…
State leaders eyeing the Nov. 3 election are vigorously pressing Proposition 7, which would amend the Texas Constitution to provide more stable and sufficient methods of funding transportation costs in a fast-growing state. Among those pushing this critical proposition are the Greater Waco C…
Our discussion focuses on a plan that would attempt to ensure all students are reading at grade level by third grade, a pivotal measure in long-term student success or failure.
Russ Whitlock, 56, a 32-year veteran of the National Park Service who since August 2006 has served as superintendent of the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, has assumed the additional duties of overseeing federal responsibilities involving the newly named Waco Mammoth National Mon…
The group's “all-star” team of experts spent time in Waco discussing goals and concerns with health professionals, business leaders, educators and officials.
A discussion of BAA's long-running dispute with Baylor University.
Efforts by local nonprofit groups such as Prosper Waco and the McLennan County Reintegration Roundtable to address Waco’s chronic poverty problem; help employees better manage their finances; and allow more Wacoans to share in the prosperity they help produce mean nothing if local businesses don’t meaningfully invest in the workforce.
David Anthony, 62, CEO of the nonprofit Raise Your Hand Texas, the Austin-based foundation heavily involved in working with the Texas House and Senate on public education issues, was in Waco last week to discuss education during a legislative update for the Waco Leadership Forum, a discussio…
Through a strong partnership between the city of Waco, the Humane Society of Central Texas, animal welfare groups such as Fuzzy Friends and the Animal Birth Control Clinic, the city animal shelter has gone from a paltry 36 percent rate of stray and unwanted shelter animals being adopted or f…
Amid what some claim is the Texas Legislature’s ongoing war on public education, the Trib editorial board sat down last week with former teacher and school administrator Bonnie Lesley, co-founder with former Waco Mayor Linda Ethridge of the Waco-based Texas Kids Can’t Wait, to discuss legisl…
Pamela Rivera, 59, the pastor of St. Luke African Methodist Episcopal Church for about 10 years, is running to represent Place 2 on the Waco school board, a post that represents much of East Waco. Previously. she worked in Capitol Metro in Austin for almost 20 years. In an interview with the…
Stephanie Ybarra Korteweg, 38, a former teacher who heads Antioch Community Church’s mentoring program for local students, is running to represent Place 2 on the Waco school board, a post that represents much of East Waco. In an interview with the Trib editorial board, she discusses her pers…
Ashley Bean Thornton, 53, a longtime administrator at Baylor University who has been pivotally involved in the battle against Waco’s chronic poverty for many years, is running to succeed Toni Herbert, who is stepping down after long representing North Waco District 4 on the Waco City Council…
Dillon Meek, 29, general counsel for Rydell Holdings, a local investment firm, and previously an attorney at the Haley & Olson law firm, is running to succeed Toni Herbert, who is stepping down after long representing North Waco District 4 on the Waco City Council. In this interview with…
Attorney and businessman Kyle Deaver, 51, is running for election to the Waco City Council District 5 seat, a post to which he was appointed nearly three years ago when it was left vacant by Malcolm Duncan Jr., earlier elected mayor. Deaver serves on the board of the Waco Foundation and Vang…
Robert Cervantes, 40, an Iraq War combat veteran and administrator with the Center of Excellence for Research on Returning War Veterans at the Doris Miller Veterans Affairs Medical Center, seeks election to the Waco City Council to represent District 5, encompassing much of West and North Wa…
Jake Russell, 24, a Baylor University graduate and real estate agent for Magnolia Homes, which has drawn national attention through HGTV’s “The Fixer Upper” and charismatic home renovators Chip and Joanna Gaines, is running to represent South Waco District 2 on the City Council. In this inte…
Alice Flores Rodriguez, 71, who has long represented South Waco, including Baylor University, in District 2 on the Waco City Council, is running for re-election. She served on the council from 1991 to 2001, then returned in 2005. She has long been involved with the local chapter of the Leagu…
Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Vanessa Roth’s newest film, “The Texas Promise,” focuses on the ongoing fight over funding for public schools; those state leaders pressing to redirect some taxpayer funds to private and religious schools; and the students, teachers, parents, administrator…
Texas Railroad Commission Chairwoman Christi Craddick, 44, begins her third full year at the agency that oversees and regulates Texas’ busy oil and gas industry — and at a time of great upheaval in the market, partially triggered by Saudi Arabia’s decision to keep its own oil production at h…
Globe-trotting author and photographer Bill Wright chats with the Trib about his new book, “Authentic Texas: People of the Big Bend,” which offers casual but thoroughly engaging portraits of the cross section of fascinating, fiercely independent people who choose to live in this visually striking but rugged and remote stretch of Texas.
Almost as if on cue given a sweep of Republican victories across the state this month, former Texas GOP executive director Wayne Thorburn has released a new book, “Red State: An Insider’s Story of How the GOP Came to Dominate Texas Politics.”
Earlier this month, The New York Times highlighted Baylor University President Ken Starr’s growing role in defending the institution of college athletics amid concerns such as student-athletes’ injuries, academic preparation and arguably the most contentious issue in college sports today — w…
Sunday’s Trib report on enrollment at local school districts and charter schools might at first glance seem to offer little new. Yes, enrollment at school districts such as Midway and China Spring continues to grow. Yes, charter schools are drawing more and more students. Yes, student numbers are relatively flat in Waco Independent School District. In the old days, we labeled this scenario “white flight.” Some of it likely still is.
To the best of my knowledge, all four of my grandparents immigrated to America in a legal fashion. My parents were born in Texas, allowing my birth to gift me citizenship as an American and a Texan. Yet I sometimes wonder where I might be had my family been deported.
This month marks the 60th anniversary of implementation of the 1957 Civil Rights Act, which enshrines the right of all U.S. citizens to vote regardless of race, ethnicity or gender. It also established the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, so instrumental in helping to ensure the rights of minorities and women.
What were we talking about one year ago? Take a look back.
“Collective impact” is a concept where many entities and individuals — all dedicated to some particular solution for helping those in need — work strategically in different capacities toward a common, agreed-upon goal.
Two days after announcing that he would leave his final Baylor post, the 70-year-old former federal judge and solicitor general sat down for an extensive interview with the Trib at his new home in southwest Waco.
Baylor University Title IX Coordinator Patty Crawford, who was hired by the school in 2014, sat down this week with Tribune-Herald staff writer Phillip Ericksen. Below is a full transcript of that interview.
Take a deep dive inside the Baylor tumult with our wide-ranging special Sunday interview.
