Kolaches, music, Polka dancing and more are lined up for three days to honor West’s Czech heritage through the annual Westfest.
Almost five months ago, an explosion from a fertilizer plant rocked West, causing injuries, devastation to nearby homes and casualties. In spite of the tragedy that took place, president of Westfest John Hurtick said the hosts of Westfest still want to focus on the celebration aspect of the event.
During the months following the April 17 fertilizer plant explosion in West that destroyed 100 homes and killed 15 people, the Baylor community has continued to offer support through a physical presence and large monetary donations.
The university created a West Relief Fund the week the explosion happened and by July 10, the fund had raised more than $290,000, the entirety of which was donated to the First Baptist Church of West.
Cameron Park will be sectioned off with roadblocks for the next nine months and visitors will have to follow posted detour routes to reach their destinations.
Since the first week of August, Cameron Park Drive has undergone a $1 million reclamation project to repair the uneven road.
The entire project, which will be broken into three phases, will continue through May 2014.
Beginning at Redwood Shelter, 2300 Cameron Park Drive, and concluding two miles down at Lover’s Leap, the city of Waco’s engineering department will implement an eco-friendly, three-phase project to repair the road.
All traffic trying to enter the inner parameter of the park is being rerouted.
Waco locals Chip and Joanna Gaines will be lighting up television screens across the nation this coming March 2014 with their new HGTV show, “Fixer Upper,” as they renovate homes in the Waco/Dallas area needing tender loving care.
“The first rule of real estate is location, location, location, but what happens when a buyer’s only option in the right location is a house with dreadful design and a clunky layout?” HGTV asks in its description of the new show on its website, www.hgtv.com.
The wheels are in motion to develop a part of Waco that Baylor students and Waco citizens alike will be able to enjoy.
The Brazos Riverfront project has been proposed by the city of Waco and taken up by developers Rick Sheldon and Joe Beard. The project would bring in business to the Brazos riverfront area and the Waco economy.
The H-E-B grocery store on 1102 Speight Ave., along with the H-E-B location on Valley Mills Drive and Dutton Avenue, closed its doors for good Thursday. It left customers from Baylor and the surrounding community to adjust their shopping plans in accordance with H-E-B’s newest installment in Waco: an H-E-B Plus The store off of I-35 and Valley Mills opened Friday. H-E-B Plus is located at 1821 South Valley Mills Dr in Waco.
College tuition inflation rates historically increase two times faster than the inflation rate of the dollar, according to Simple Tuition Services 2013. With rates such as these, students may struggle to pay for college.
Baylor’s tuition was $18,430 a year with fees in 2003, and in 2008, the tuition was, with fees, $26,234. Baylor University’s current tuition is roughly $36,137 per semester, with estimated fees attached. Some simply cannot afford to pay.
Investigators working to figure out what caused a massive, deadly fertilizer plant explosion in Texas have talked to more than 370 people and received more than 200 tips as they continue to search for a breakthrough.
Two weeks after the April 17 blast that killed at least 14 people, agents compare their work to solving a puzzle or completing an archaeological dig.
On the night of July 19, 2012, when Baylor’s regents approved construction for the $250 million Baylor Stadium, all the stars were aligned.
On May 11, 2012, Baylor approved a new strategic vision “Pro Futuris,” a vision that, in broad strokes, called for growth. The 2011-2012 sports season, what ESPN.com called “one of the greatest combined athletic seasons in NCAA history,” brought Baylor into the national spotlight.
One local organization seeks to tackle the problem of modern day slavery one race at a time.
The27project will hold its first-ever Waco Jog for Justice at 7 a.m. Saturday starting in Heritage Square. Proceeds from the Waco race will go to Educate Nica, an organization that provides education and care to children in Nicaragua vulnerable to the slave trade.
For some people, volunteering your time can mean volunteering your profession. Dianne Sawyer, a medical consultant at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center and a retired OBGYN, volunteers at Cameron Park Zoo once a week.
However, she’s not feeding or cleaning up after animals. Sawyer is a part of a special training initiative for a 14-year-old female orangutan called May.
Musicians are working to help a Texas town decimated in a deadly fertilizer plant explosion.
Officials with the Texas Thunder Festival on Monday announced next month’s performances will benefit emergency responders and schools in West, where 14 people were killed in a blast on April 17.
A shooting at a smoke shop left one teen dead and another injured Monday morning.
Waco police officers responding to reports of a shooting at Eddies Smoke Shop on Waco Drive found two individuals — Dhaodrique Eastland, 17, and another 19-year-old victim both from Waco — with gunshot wounds to the upper torso and forearm, respectively.
Both were rushed to the hospital, where Eastland was pronounced dead.
Twelve flag-draped caskets stood next to twelve smiling portraits of the first responders who died in last week’s explosion in West.
In front of each stood a uniformed figure. Some old and some young, some with the decorations of rank and office and some unadorned. Periodically a column of similar figures would march in front and raise a hand slowly in a salute. With a quick step to the side, the first responders change places and continue their vigil — a vigil they held from early Thursday morning until the service concluded Thursday evening.
The White House has announced several changes to today’s memorial service that will honor the 10 firefighters killed April 17 in the West fertilizer explosion.
Doors will now open at 11 a.m. and close at 1:45 p.m. or whenever the Ferrell Center reaches capacity, which is 10,284 people. In a statement released Wednesday night, the university said it expects more than 4,000 uniformed first responders to attend and are planning for a capacity crowd.
Several West residents are continuing the search for missing loved ones after last week’s deadly explosion, and for some people those loved ones included four-legged friends.
Following the explosion on April 17 almost 90 animals, mainly dogs and cats, were brought to the Humane Society of Central Texas, according to executive director Don Bland. Chickens, lizards and rabbits were also among those rescued. At the time of publication half of the lost animals have been reclaimed.
Less than a week after the disastrous fertilizer plant explosion, West students returned to school Monday to finish out the year.
Pre-kindergarten through sixth-grade students returned to West Elementary School, a little over a mile away from the West Fertilizer Co. plant that caught fire and exploded Wednesday night.
Baylor will host a memorial service Thursday at the Ferrell Center for the 11 first responders killed in the West explosion.
Doors open at 1 p.m. and the service begins at 2 p.m.. A procession beginning at 11 a.m. will immediately precede the service.
The center of the massive explosion at West Fertilizer Co., has been located.
According to Assistant Texas Fire Marshal Kelly Kistner at a press conference Sunday morning, the epicenter of the blast has been found and investigators will be working inward from areas with the least damage to areas with the most damage.
West’s mayor pro tem, Steve Vanek announced today that stage one of “several upcoming reentry stages” will begin this afternoon at 3 p.m.
According to Vanek, state fire marshalls and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms have been investigating the area devastated by Wednesday night’s fertilizer plant explosion and it has been determined that residents living between Oak Street and Walnut Street in West can assemble at the corner of Tokyo Road and Reagan Street to return to their home on a limited basis this afternoon. Vanek also assured citizens and media that the rumors of lingering health hazards and possible secondary explosions were unfounded.
Since the fertilizer plant explosion Wednesday in West, students have responded swiftly with prayers, donations and relief for victims.
The number of casualties in connection with the Wednesday night explosion in West has been updated to include two additional people, bringing the number of total confirmed casualties to 14.
Since the fertilizer plant explosion Wednesday in West, students have responded swiftly with prayers, donations and relief for victims.
The bodies of 12 people were recovered Thursday night, just two days after a local fertilizer plant exploded in West, according to a spokesman from the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The bodies of 12 people have been recovered after an enormous Texas fertilizer plant explosion that demolished surrounding neighborhoods for blocks and left about 200 other people injured, authorities said Friday.
Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Jason Reyes said it was “with a heavy heart” that he confirmed 12 bodies had been pulled from the area of the plant explosion in West, about 20 miles north of Waco.
The investigation is still ongoing into the Wednesday night explosion that destroyed the West Fertilizer Plant and rocked the small Texas community. Buildings bore traces of the blast, black plastic trash bags covering the places where panes of glass shattered, some taped to hold them in place. It is a city showing signs of life after Wednesday’s disaster, which resulted in the call for a voluntary evacuation of the small town, population 2,849.
The Baylor and Waco communities joined efforts to help victims affected by the fertilizer plant explosion, which occurred Wednesday in West, 17 miles north of Waco.
Thursday evening, two storage trucks full of food, clothes and other personal hygiene products lined the front of the Ferrell Center as more than 100 students and others from the Waco community poured in an attempt to assist with West relief efforts.
On April 19, 1993, the world watched as the Branch Davidian complex burned to the ground.
The Institute for Studies of Religion held a day-long conference Thursday to commemorate the disaster.
Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Waco siege, a 51-day standoff at Mount Carmel Center near Waco, involving government agents and the Branch Davidians, a religious group led by David Koresh (born Vernon Howell).
Many places in the Waco community are taking donations and offering shelter to people affected by the West explosion. In particular, some Waco churches have been organization centers for the road to recovery.
