An unintended consequence of a stay-at-home order is an increase of family violence when existing stressors like job loss become more frequent. However, the Hays Caldwell Women’s Center has seen a dramatic drop in victims reaching out for hospital service calls for the month of March. In February of...

There’s nothing scheduled yet, but the Kyle City Council will soon be calling a workshop in order to gauge how the city’s finances are holding up during the COVID-19 pandemic. Near the end of the council’s marathon (nearly seven hours) meeting April 7, members and Mayor Travis Mitchell began discuss...

The months of spring bring a rush of weddings to Buda, where guests enjoy the wildflower-studded open fields, rustic buildings and sunny weather. But when COVID-19 hit, it stopped the wedding industry in its tracks and hotels followed. Besides the essential employees coming to lodge in hotels, there...

Hays County experienced its first death from the COVID-19 virus on Monday, April 13. The county said a woman in her 80s who was staying with a relative in Buda succumbed to the disease. Her death came roughly one month after the county’s first recorded “presumptive” positive case. Along with that an...

Ascension Seton Hospital in Kyle is sporting a new sign that rightfully acknowledges the role that health care providers play in society, especially during this pandemic.

There is a job that the coronavirus will not stop in the cities of Kyle and Buda – road construction. During a time where work is conducted from makeshift home offices, and where trips to the grocery store have become the epicenter of socializing, it seems that the only “normal” is city construction...

By Chase Rogers Businesses in Hays County are saying that they could only sustain operations for a “few weeks” under current conditions. That’s according to a survey by Hays County which reached out to local businesses, of which 75 percent reported employing 10 or fewer employees, thus being classif...

Taking care of a child with medical conditions can drain a parent’s energy. Doing so during the reign of the novel coronavirus brings on a whole new set of challenges. But that is not where the difficulties stop for single mother Laura Boyer. Her work, like that of all other substitute teachers, has...

Students will not be returning to the classroom until May 4, or until further discussion, according to Gov. Gregg Abbott’s latest order. As school districts prepare for the long haul, the Hays Free Press and News-Dispatch spoke to Hays County school districts to gauge what students will need to get ...

Bad things have always gone on behind closed doors, and now is no exception. April is traditionally the month society turns its attention to preventing sexual assault and child abuse. And though the COVID-19 virus has upended the way we live our daily lives, neither issue has gone away. Both, perhap...