By Lynsi Musselman
Old Jail Art Center’s virtual camps started this week, with another workshop scheduled for next week.
OJAC education director Erin Whitmore said the Cultural Connections Camp had a great enrollment with several campers from out-of-town and around the state.
There are three spots available for the Things on Strings and Tonkawa Camp next week.
Texas shoppers get a break from state and local sales taxes on August 7-9, the state’s annual tax holiday.
School supply items and clothing make up the list of exempt items, which until four years ago had been limited to clothing and backpacks.
Online shopping is also covered.
The law exempts most school supplies, clothing and footwear priced under $100 from sales and use taxes, which could save shoppers about $8 on every $100 they spend.
By Lynsi Musselman
Keeping healthy during the school year is not a new concern for families but with COVID-19 worries, precautions are being taken even more seriously than usual.
Albany Independent School district administrators and staff have been hard at work all summer preparing to welcome students back to school in a safe environment.
AISD school nurse Lisa Russell said plans are in the works to help make monitoring of students’ health at two campuses more manageable.
By Lynsi Musselman
New students at Albany High School and Albany Junior High school, including all incoming seventh graders, are urged to register online for a time slot to come to campus for a personal face-to-face orientation.
The interactive signup form is posted on the Albany Jr/Sr High School Facebook page, as well as on the district’s website.
The orientation dates are scheduled for Aug. 12, 13, and 14, and will not be the traditional in-person group meeting that has taken place in previous years.
By Lynsi Musselman
Ragin’ Red Band members and the new Albany band director William Vaughn met this week to begin summer practices.
Vaughn said practice will take place mainly in the band hall starting at 5:00 p.m. each night until Aug. 14.
The 28-member band will not be able to start marching practice on the field on Sept. 7, due to UIL restrictions.
“In order to get ready for practice to start this week, a lot of clean-up of the band hall took place,” Vaughn said.
By Lynsi Musselman
Shackelford County residents are reminded to pick up the August distribution of the commodity food program.
Dates to receive the commodities are Thursday, Aug. 6 and Friday, Aug. 7, with no restrictions.
On Thursday, Aug. 6, certified eligible families in Moran should pick up their monthly commodity food at the Moran City Hall between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m.
By Lynsi Musselman
With school starting soon, local churches are getting back to Sunday school and other regular church activities suspended during the summer break and COVID-19 restrictions.
Albany United
Methodist Church
Adult and children Sunday school classes got back underway last Sunday.
Breakfast will be served at 9:30 a.m. followed by Sunday school at 10:00 a.m. and worship at 11:00 a.m.
Sunday, Aug. 9, UMC will have a baptismal service at the Stasney’s Cook Ranch Headquarters.
By Lynsi Musselman
While it may seem like spring break never ended, the first day of the 2020-2021 school year is approaching for Shackelford County students, and new school supplies are in demand.
ResourceCare’s annual Adopt-a-Buddy program benefits in-need students countywide with supplies for a successful school year.
The deadline has passed to register a student for the program, but donations are still being accepted to fulfill the supply needs.
By Lynsi Musselman
The Albany Chamber of Commerce annual garage sale will take place on Saturday, Sept. 12.
Chamber manager Mary Beth Jones said participants can register to get on the map between Aug. 24 and Sept. 1.
The signup fee to register a garage sale, be included on the map, and receive a paper sign will be $10.
“Signs do not need to be returned this year so the deposit cost has been removed from the $25 fee of last year,” Jones said.
Agricultural producers can now apply for USDA’s Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), which provides direct payments to offset impacts from the coronavirus pandemic. The application and a payment calculator are now available online, and USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) staff members are available via phone, fax and online tools to help producers complete applications. The agency set up a call center in order to simplify how they serve new customers across the nation.
