Author: Megan Rule

By Megan Rule | Staff Writer A recently opened Road Ranger, a mid-west based travel center and gas station, in Lacy Lakeview is starting to see sparks in business due to its prime location off Interstate 35. “Traffic has been picking up since we opened in November,” Steve Brooks, general counsel for Road Ranger, said. “As a whole, the travel center business has been picking up and getting more active, and we’re very pleased with how the site has been doing. The community of Lacy Lakeview could not have been better to work with.” Brooks said it was a year-long…

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Waco is a city on the rise, going from “just a stop along the way” to a weekend destination, Carla Pendergraft, director of marketing for the City of Waco Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, said.“Waco is a heavily weekend town for tourism,” Pendergraft said. “We have a lot of companies but not a lot of Fortune 500 or 1000 companies, which is how you get weekday business. With Waco, we have a lot of retail and a few headquarters. We’re a leisure town and a tourist town.” Pendergraft said that where Waco used to be a side trip as a part…

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By Megan Rule | Staff Writer The First National Bank of Central Texas exemplified support for local businesses this weekend by handing out cash vouchers and “mobbing” the recently opened Jubilee Food Market. “It’s really all about us wanting to get the word out about how important it is to support local businesses,” said Dan Ingham, vice president of the First National Bank of Central Texas. The “cash mob” took place at noon on Saturday, but people were lined up outside the Jubilee Food Market as early as 11 a.m. to ensure they could get a voucher. Ingham spoke to…

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One of the greatest things about this country is that we are all entitled to our own opinions. We can voice our opinions without punishment, believe what we want and do what we want without much control from a governmental body. In this country, I can publish this column on this page that says “Opinion” right at the top in big, bold letters. In this country, my 600 opinionated words can be distributed to the 16,787 students on the Baylor campus and the 6.9 billion internet users that can access the Lariat’s webpage. With this amazing ability we have been…

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By Megan Rule | Staff WriterInstead of just stepping outside the box Dr. Blaine McCormick and his students step outside the classroom entirely to learn about the supply chain, with trucks roaring underneath them on the Interstate 35 pedestrian bridge.”We’re outside taking advantage of something that’s one of a kind and unique to Baylor. It’s a great field trip for a supply chain class,” said McCormick, Baylor professor and chair of the department of management “That’s the first thing, is to take real advantage of an unexpected rich resource that’s been by Baylor since the ’60s.”Currently, the truck-spotting lesson is…

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By Megan Rule | Staff WriterOver the course of the next two weeks, Baylor Spiritual Life will put on a series of services as part of Calling the Baylor Community to Prayer.“We have two series that we traditionally offer this time of year,” said Dr. Burt Burleson, university chaplain. “One is an Advent service, and the other is the Lift Up Your Hearts; both are prayers for the community and the world.” “These are times in our community and beyond for prayer,” the event’s press release said. “As we seek to follow Christ and live faithfully, we acknowledge our need…

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By Megan Rule | Staff WriterThe Historic Waco Foundation will continue its tradition of celebrating the holiday season with the annual Christmas on the Brazos from Saturday through Dec. 11.“Christmas on the Brazos is a community event. It is a way for the Historic Waco Foundation to give back to the community and ring in the holiday season,” said Julie Olivere, director of marketing and programs at the Historic Waco Foundation, in an email to the Lariat. “It goes along with our mission statement of providing unique learning experiences for audiences of all ages. We love sharing the early story…

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By Megan Rule | Staff WriterChristmas tree decorating will take on a whole new meaning with The Giving Trees Festival on Saturday and Sunday, a new fundraising event that will help differently-abled individuals and families in the Central Texas area live more independently through home modification. This year’s fundraiser will benefit the Copp family.Melissa Copp, event coordinator and mother of two boys who will benefit from this event, said she is working with Heart of Central Texas Independent Living on The Giving Trees Festival. She said the fundraiser came from the need to build her sons a fully wheelchair-accessible home.…

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By Megan Rule | Staff WriterThe Wonderland Run will take off for the first time this Saturday, Dec. 3, as a part of the Waco Wonderland extravaganza taking place this weekend.”This is our first year doing this so I’m excited to see how it turns out and how it goes,” said Aaron Mize, director of development and community partnership with Communities in Schools of the Heart of Texas (CIS-HOT). “We’re excited to see the turn out because there has been a lot of excitement already.”CIS-HOT had a race for the past two years in the spring, but the city of…

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If you want to know how not to be my friend, use the word “retarded.” If you want to be my friend and if you want to have my respect, then don’t use it. Don’t use it as a joke, don’t use it to make me mad and please don’t use it to refer to someone’s disability. The biggest piece of my heart belongs to my brother, a 16-year-old who sleeps until 1:30 p.m. on the weekends and who would eat a cheeseburger for every meal of the day if my mother allowed him. A 16-year-old whose favorite sport is…

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By Megan Rule | Staff WriterThis Saturday, Waco area residents affected by suicide loss will gather for International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day to share stories and find comfort.“It gives me hope because last year, there were other families there who were further along in their journey,” said Annamaria Fajardo, coordinator of this year’s event. “We had peers that could let us know that it would get better. It helps to know that you’re not the only one going through this as an individual or a parent or a sibling.” Saturday is International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day, and events…

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By Megan Rule | Staff WriterThe 11th annual Central Texas Turkey Trot this Saturday will be put on by Altrusa of the Brazos in order to benefit The Cove, an organization that has been open for less than a month but has already made a profound impact on the community by taking in homeless students for a few hours a day.“We would love to see a nice Baylor contingent of runners out there,” said Sarah Bird, co-chair of the Central Texas Turkey Trot and an active member of Altrusa International. “As far as Baylor’s mission being the Christian mission, this…

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By Megan Rule | Staff WriterWith the election season behind us, the wave of commercials, yard signs and social media posts are gone until it is time to prepare for the next cycle. Especially in the case of presidential elections, candidates pump millions of dollars into their advertising, but why?“I think advertising has an effect. Sometimes it doesn’t do very good, and sometimes you can’t go without it. It’s a marginal advantage that pushes you over,” said Gary Bezella, president of Cross and Oberlie, a manufacturer of political signs and promotional campaign products. “Social media is big, and yard signs…

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