By Brittany Anderson More than 25,000 Hays County residents did not have access to nutritious food in 2019. One in eight individuals were considered food insecure, according to Feeding America. And with recent job losses since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, that number is rising. In the ...

By Sahar Chmais The hospital entrance is deceptive; aside from COVID screening questions, everything is normal and calm. But behind the main doors, especially where COVID-19 patients stay, there is tension, tables outside rooms holding special equipment and air purifiers, according to Teri, a regist...

There will be street closures on Old Stagecoach Road from Center Street to Veterans Drive Monday, Aug. 30 through Friday, Sept. 3. Work times will be Mondays through Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. The work being performed will consist of full-depth street failu...

By Sahar Chmais Just two weeks into the school year, Hays CISD has closed some classrooms due to the spread of COVID-19. On Aug. 27, District 4 Hays CISD Trustee Merideth Keller posted on Facebook notifying the community about classroom closures in the district, but did not specify which schools or ...

By Brittany Anderson Animal shelters in and around Hays County are in dire need of help. Three shelters in Hays County are participating in Clear the Shelters, an adoption and donation campaign that strives to find forever homes for animals in shelters across the nation. KXAN in Austin is spearheadi...

This post was edited on Sunday, Aug. 29.  Staff Report A Pflugerville man was arrested on Wednesday, Aug. 25, on a capital murder charge related to the death of 16-year-old Donavin Sepulveda in Kyle in November 2020. Olegario “Moses” Eliseo Ochoa, 31, was taken into custody without incident and book...

By Sahar Chmais Hays County commissioners will allocate up to $5 million of American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds to create a Public Defender’s Office (PDO). After a long debate on whether ARP funds are viable to use on a PDO in Hays County, the allocation passed unanimously. The creation of a PDO has be...

By Sahar Chmais Five ICU beds remain available in Trauma Service Area O (TSA-O) as of Aug. 22; TSA-O serves 11 counties, including Hays and Travis counties. Not all ICU beds in the area are occupied by COVID-19 cases, but 262 of the 496 occupied ICU beds are coronavirus patients. Lack of ICU bed spa...

By Sahar Chmais Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine is the first to receive FDA approval for individuals ages 16 and older, according to the FDA. Pfizer’s vaccine will be marketed under the name Comirnaty. The FDA gave its approval only to Comirnaty for certain age groups, but the vaccine will still ...

By Sahar Chmais Four ICU beds remain available in Trauma Service Area O (TSA-O); TSA-O serves 11 counties, including Hays and Travis counties. Not all ICU beds in the area are occupied by COVID-19 cases, but 247 of the 484 occupied ICU beds are coronavirus patients. Lack of ICU bed space not only af...