A record crowd gathered this past Saturday for the 40th annual Polo on the Prairie, as the longtime West Texas fundraiser drew an estimated 2,000 attendees for its milestone year.

Event founder Henry Musselman said the 2026 crowd was the largest in the event’s history, continuing a tradition that has grown steadily over four decades. What began as a small gathering in 1987 has now become one of the most recognized fundraising events supporting UT MD Anderson Cancer Center.

McCollum performance draws larger crowd

Albany High School has announced honor students for the Class of 2026, with Woods Peterson named valedictorian and Mimi Ivy selected as salutatorian.

Seven other seniors were recognized as honor students, representing the top 25 percent of the class.

Peterson earned a four-year average of 102.71, while Ivy posted a 102 average. Other honor students, in rank order, are Allison McDaniel, Ryan Turner, Jaxson Street, Madison Parrott, Hollis Yeates, Cache Clark and Caysn Hargett.

One of the most accomplished athletes to ever come out of Albany is now part of the Big Country Athletic Hall of Fame, as Kami Norton Richey was inducted during last week’s annual banquet in Abilene.

Richey’s career, which began with a dominant run at Albany High School and carried through to national championships at the collegiate level, made her a clear choice for the honor.

“It was definitely a trip back down memory lane,” Richey said. “Coming back to the Big Country and getting to share that with my family was really special.”

The U.S. Highway 180 bridge over Hubbard Creek Reservoir will be fully closed to traffic beginning Monday, April 27, as TxDOT crews conduct routine maintenance work on the structure.

According to information released by the Texas Department of Transportation, the closure will allow crews to complete work that could not be safely performed with traffic on the bridge. The project is expected to take approximately one week, though it could be completed in as little as five days if weather conditions remain favorable.

A newly filed recommendation from state regulatory staff has added a new layer to the ongoing discussion surrounding the proposed Dinosaur–Longshore 765-kilovolt transmission line, identifying a preferred route that differs from the one submitted by Oncor.

In a filing submitted April 16, 2026, Public Utility Commission staff engineer Eduardo Acosta of the agency’s Infrastructure Division recommended Route 713 as the option that best meets state routing criteria. The filing is part of Acosta’s direct testimony in the case.

Albany ISD officials will return to the community this evening for a second town hall meeting on the proposed $26 million school bond, giving residents another opportunity to review the plan and ask questions ahead of the upcoming election.

The meeting is scheduled for Thursday (today), April 23 at 6 p.m. in the Nancy Smith Elementary gym.

A powerful storm system moved through Shackelford County overnight from Saturday, April 11 into Sunday, April 12, bringing heavy rainfall across the area and causing significant wind damage in Moran.

The Fort Griffin Fandangle Association will host its annual Membership Sampler this Saturday evening, April 18, with this year’s event taking place at the Fort Griffin State Historic Site for the first time.

Last year’s event was hosted on Collins Creek Ranch, near the site of the old town of the Flat, but this year the production has moved to the top of the hill where the fort originally stood, offering a setting that reflects the history portrayed in the Fandangle itself.

Oncor representatives met with Albany residents Thursday evening at Albany High School following increased local concern over the proposed Dinosaur–Longshore 765-kilovolt transmission line, with questions about the project’s timeline, routing and potential impacts dominating a meeting that lasted more than two hours.

More than 100 local residents attended the meeting. Oncor and its representatives were also present in large numbers, with an estimated 35 to 50 individuals in attendance connected to the project.

The City of Albany has been approved for $2,969,212 in state funding to move forward with improvements to its water system, according to a March 31 announcement from the Texas Water Development Board.

The funding includes $505,000 in financing and $2,464,212 in principal forgiveness through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, meaning the majority of the funding will not have to be repaid.

City manager Billy Holson said the primary focus of the project will be installing a new line to better connect the city’s water storage system.