Browsing: Waco Updates

Waco weather to some people seems erratic and spastic since it can oscillate from warm to cold temperatures throughout a given week.

According to local Waco specialists, is because of Waco’s location on the globe.

“There’s this constant battle of cold fronts that want to push down, and at the same time we get this maritime tropical air flowing off the Gulf of Mexico,” geology professor Dr. Donald Greene said. “You know the saying: ‘If you don’t like the weather, just wait a few days and it’ll change.’”

The investigation of drug distribution near Baylor’s campus continues as three more people sit in McLennan County Jail after a drug ring that targeted college students was raided Friday, said Lt. Joe Coy, the criminal investigator for the McGregor Police Department.

Le’Ann Keogh Koss, 60, Larry Phillip Koss, 58, and Connor Phillip Koss, 25, were arrested in the 5200 block of Chaparral near Lake Waco after McGregor officials obtained a search warrant, according to a press release by the McGregor Police Department.

Don’t talk to strangers.

This statement has echoed in classrooms and gymnasiums all across the country for years as children are taught about the dangers they have to watch out for. Children are warned of “stranger danger.” They are taught from a young age that strangers are out to harm them and that they should never talk to or go with someone that they do not know. Children are told there are strangers out there that will touch them in places they are not allowed to touch.

A Fort Hood soldier was fined after being convicted of a misdemeanor in a case where gun-rights advocates protested his arrest.

U.S. Army Master Sgt. Christopher Grisham did not get jail time after being convicted Tuesday by a Belton jury of interference with the duties of an officer, the Temple Daily Telegram reported. The jury gave him a $2,000 fine. Grisham has said he’ll appeal both the fine and the conviction.

When the McLennan County Commissioners Board began planning to change district lines, they hired two lawyers they have trusted time and again with this significant task.

These two lawyers also happen to be Baylor Law School professors.

As part of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, today the McLennan County Hunger Coalition and the Heart of Texas Homeless Coalition are asking people to donate to an all-day food drive that will take place at multiple locations, such as H-E-B, Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club locations.

The food will go to local food pantries.

With turkey on the mind, runners are lacing up for the eighth Annual Central Texas Turkey Trot, which will benefit West Independent School District libraries destroyed during the April 17 West Fertilizer Plant explosion that leveled hundreds of buildings.

Registration for the event will begin at 7:30 a.m. Saturday at Redwood Shelter in Cameron Park.

The race will start at 9 a.m. It will include a 5K and 1K, 3.1 and 0.62 miles, respectively.

Mission Waco is giving the less fortunate a chance to celebrate Thanksgiving Day with dinner and worship at their annual Thanksgiving Meal With the Homeless.

Starting at 11 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day at the Meyer Center in Waco, Mission Waco is inviting the homeless people of the community to come and partake in traditional festivities.

Woodway’s Chief of Police Yost Zakhary flew in from Washington, D.C., the night before, fulfilling his duties as the president and face of an international organization. He then switched into teacher mode as he wrote an email to one of his Baylor students around 4:15 a.m. Later at his office in Woodway, he was supposed to have a casual sitting with the mayor, but instead the two gazed over a 5-foot-long map of their town and discussed beautification and savings. His train of thought seems to only go in one direction – forward.

The gobbles of 100 fluffy, white turkeys ring out at World Hunger Relief Inc. as the nonprofit prepares for the flock to be sold this week for Thanksgiving feasts.

Each year in preparation for Thanksgiving, World Hunger Relief raises 100 turkeys in a manner unlike conventional meat company facilities, said Sarah Abdelmessih, livestock intern at the organization. The farm is almost sold out, Abdelmessih said, as customers place reservations on the birds in advance.

Turkeys will be butchered and processed Thursday and distributed Friday and Saturday.

A 12 year old girl once found her 6 month old baby sister Hannah dead in her crib. The girl was Rachel Craig, an alumna from 2001.

The loss of her sister, along with other losses of infants Craig had heard about from friends planted a seed for a ministry in Craig’s heart.

In 2011, this seed grew to fruition in the form of Cradled.

Food stamp benefits were cut more than 47 million Americans Friday as Congress failed to renew temporary funding under the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.

With the holiday season approaching, food banks across Waco are making plans to meet the growing needs of the community with a special emphasis on food insecurity, which refers to availability of food and one’s access to it.

Students will have the chance to look back in time next week during “Discover Waco’s Past.”

Emily Carrington, director of programming for the Historic Waco Foundation, and Mary Duty, Waco History Project board chairwoman, will speak about Waco’s history.

Whether you decide on a white Cinderella-shaped pumpkin or a traditional orange Jack-O’-Lantern, either makes the perfect spooky addition to any Halloween décor.

Jack-O’-Lanterns and bright orange pumpkins are a staple for Halloween decorations, and where better to find the perfect pumpkin than at a pumpkin patch?

Local nonprofit organization Shepherd’s Heart feeds 3,000 Waco families in need per month, clothes children and families, counsels the down-and-out and helps those who are homebound.

This year Shepherd’s Heart’s food pantry has fed more than 30,000 families, said Robert Gager, executive director of Shepherd’s Heart. Besides operating a food pantry, Shepherd’s Heart performs multiple other services. The organization delivers groceries to 350 homebound senior citizens per week.

With the excitement and preparation surrounding Halloween, church groups and Christians alike have a decision to make about participating in the holiday festivities. Several churches in the Waco community see the occasion as an opportunity to evangelize and serve local communities.

Anti-poverty workers from across the nation took on new roles Sunday when they put on hard hats and work boots to help rebuild recently devastated West.

The National Anti-Hunger and Opportunity Corps, an AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America program, attended the Hunger Summit at Baylor Thursday and Friday with their sponsor, the New York City Coalition Against Hunger.

It’s midnight on a crisp October evening and you find yourself strolling through the local graveyard, weaving in and out of tombstones with the full moon as your only source of light. There is a slight chill in the air. You can feel the terror coursing through your veins, and your heart pounds in your chest as you hear a rustle in the bushes nearby.

A glass clinked in the empty kitchen across the Central Texas house. The noise garnered the attention of Becky Nagel, lead investigator for the Central Texas Paranormal Society. The group had been contacted by the parents of twin boys who had been experiencing unexplained incidents.

From cattle rustlers to young lovers jumping off a cliff to be with each other for eternity, Waco has picked up a few ghost stories along the way.

The stories can be shared between co-workers, police officers in squad cars or children during sleepovers, but regardless of where they are told, they capture people’s imaginations.

Horror film enthusiasts, with scalpel in hand, will dissect the deeper meaning behind all the blood and gore that is the horror genre during the fourth annual Dark Mirror horror film festival.

The screenings will begin at 1 p.m. Friday in the McLennan Community College Lecture Hall Building and horror movie experts will introduce each picture.

World Hunger Relief Inc. is bringing a day filled with music, local vendors and farm-fresh food to the Waco community.

The free event, called Farm Day, will last from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the World Hunger Relief farm, located at 356 Spring Lake Road in Waco.

As Halloween draws near, churches across America are gearing up for the holiday and are looking for ways to put a faith-friendly spin on things.

The historically macabre holiday has received plenty of criticism from churches in recent years, but some churches are finding ways to take the element of fear out of Halloween, said religion department lecturer Dr. Joe Coker.

Through the Red Door Project, Central Texas Metropolitan Community Church is attempting to help those who are HIV positive by providing services to people suffering from the disease.

Trick or treating turns to the wild side as children and their parents are invited to attend Cameron Park Zoo’s annual Zoo Boo.

Zoo Boo is an event for children from two to 12 years of age. Zoo Boo takes place from 6 to 8 p.m. on Halloween night only.

Watergate scandal reporter Bob Woodward imparted his knowledge on presidents, politics and reporting at a live interview at McLennan Community College Tuesday night.

Woodward is most known for breaking the Watergate scandal in 1972 alongside fellow reporter Carl Bernstein, as well as writing 17 nonfiction bestsellers.

Hundreds of bones may be under your feet yet to be discovered because Waco’s fossil history runs deep.

The Waco Mammoth Site celebrated National Fossil Day by hosting the Fall Fossil Festival.

The festival took place on Saturday although National Fossil Day was on Oct. 16. National Fossil Day promotes public awareness of fossils and a greater appreciation of their scientific and educational values, according to National Park Service website. The festival featured pumpkin painting, live camels, an excavation station and tours of the site every 30 minutes.

Wacoans can strap on their ice skates for the upcoming Winter Wonderland.

After two years without a Christmas parade, the city of Waco, the Waco Downtown Development Corp., the Historic Waco Foundation and the downtown Public Improvement Project are making sure Waco will have a holiday parade and festival.

Free neutering and spaying services are now available for low-income cat and dog owners who live in the Waco area.

On Oct. 1, the Waco City Council approved Resolution 2013-585, which authorizes the city of Waco to reimburse the Animal Birth Control Clinic up to $100,000 for neutering and spaying services provided to low-income families. The service will cost the city an average of about $55 per animal.

Waco will soon become a lot more colorful.

The Color Me Rad 5k will begin at 9 a.m October 26 at BSR Cable Park in Waco, giving the Baylor and Waco communities the opportunity support a charity.

Color Me Rad is a race known for its one main feature: throwing color. Race participants can expect to finish the race with their clothes looking more vibrant than when they started.