History buffs have two chances to learn about a pivotal frontier military action Saturday, March 9 at Fort Griffin State Historic Site. Todd Smith will speak at 10:00 a.m.

Closet Angels will depart from the practice of past years and be open for business during spring break, director Lori Reames said. The clothing ministry will conduct regular hours of noon to 6:00 p.m.

McLennan Jones of Albany graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Abilene Christian University. Jones was among 496 students who received degrees at ACU’s December Commencement.

Albany ISD students, facultyand staff are scheduled to be dismissed at the regular times on Friday, March 8 for the week-long spring break holiday. The preschool classes will release at 2:30 p.m.

The Ragin’ Red Band is preparing for concert and sight reading competition set for March 26 at Cooper High School in Abilene, hoping to earn a third straight Sweepstakes Award with Division I ratings in both contests. The band earned a Division I at the marching contest last fall, and if they earn two more Division I ratingsinconcertandsight reading, the group will add another Sweepstakes Awardtoitsachievements.

Albany High’s one-act playcastandcrewpresented two local performance s of “Oz” on Monday, March 4 at the high school auditorium, preparing for district competition that was held Wednesday, March 6 in Haskell. Resultsfromthecontest were not available at press time.

Several students at Nancy Smith Elementary in grades 3-5 have placed well in academic contests in science and math, while four of seven sixth graders taking part in the in-person meets are advancing to compete at the state level competition.

A group of 17 Albany FCCLA members competed at the Regional Leadership Conference last week in Waco, with both Parliamentary Procedure teams plus two other individual contests all advancing to the state meet in Dallas on April 12-14. “The kids did a great job,” Jennifer Marshall, FCCLA sponsor, said.

With a forecast of sunny skies and temperatures expected to reach the mid-80s on Saturday, it should be a perfect day for the Old Jail’s March Family Festival. Entire families are invited to celebrate the traditional Bulgarian holiday, “Baba Marta,” onSaturday,March2attheOldJailArtCenter from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.