The Albany Independent School District 2018-2019 school year began today, Aug. 16, with classes starting at 7:55 a.m. on both campuses. As of press time, administrators were not ready to forecast enrollment numbers.

The portion of Baird Street between Hwy. 180 and Rambler will be closed next week starting on Monday, according to Albany city manager Billy Holson, so that a concrete low water crossing can be constructed at the Rambler intersection.

Donations to the Albany Fire Department have been used to purchase a replacement for the City’s aging 1987 GMC fire engine, and in the next week or two the new rescue engine will officially be installed in a “Push In” ceremony.

Shackelford County elected officials looked at Information Technology (IT) suggestions for the upcoming fiscal year in an afternoon meeting on Monday, Aug. 13 that ended with an hour-long budget workshop. Commissioners also discussed a contract with Callahan County for inmate housing.

The Albany Chamber of Commerce annual garage sale will take place on the third Saturday in September this year, rather than the usual second Saturday of the month because of the way the dates fall.  Chamber directors decided that since Sept.

Albany High agriculture teacher Chris Beard, new Moran ag instructor Matthew Hise, and Michaela Bradford, the new Shackelford County AgriLife extension agent, are all getting ready for the start of a new year of activities with FFA and 4-H students.

Former Albany resident Gina Gillit Overby has been named the new high school principal at Anson. Overby attend Albany schools from third grade until she graduated with honors in 1992.

County residents may have noticed a bright red flag flying at the Albany Visitor Center. The new banner signals whether the Shackelford County Commissioners have enacted the county-wide burn ban. It will be flown continuously until the ban is deactivated.

Forty years ago this month, record-setting rainfall caused severe flash flooding in Shackelford County, killing nine Albany residents, leaving 102 families in the city and 50 more in the county homeless, damaging about 100 additional houses, washing out multiple bridges and miles of roadway,...