By Melinda L. Lucas After a week of working to abide by a shelter-in-place order, Shackelford County residents were among the 73 Texas counties that didn’t have a confirmed case of COVID-19 as of press time.

By Kathy Thomson Five trustees of the Moran Independent School District board met at called meeting in the school auditorium last Friday, April 10, to consider accepting a tax deferment proposal by a windmill company which intends to start a project south of Moran.

By Melinda L. Lucas In a meeting where discussions ranged from COVID-19 practices to trash roll-offs, Albany city council members sat six feet apart at their temporary meeting place in the larger conference area at the Aztec Theater’s reception room, most wearing face masks.

By Melinda L. Lucas Shackelford County commissioners worked through a typical agenda during their regular meeting on Monday, April 13, most of which had little or nothing to do with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

By Kathy Thomson Throughout Texas and most of the nation, only businesses considered essential are allowed to be open, and even those must abide by social distancing rules, causing many stores in Albany to be locked for the duration of the shelter in place order.

By Kathy Thomson The Shackelford County hospital district board of directors met for a short seven-minute phone conference at noon on Monday, April 6, with one item on the agenda at the special meeting. “The state sent us an email advising us that we had to postpone the May 2 election until Nov.

By Melinda L. Lucas With the circle of confirmed COVID-19 cases closing in on Shackelford County earlier this week, and after Gov.

By Kathy Thomson Last month, 8.29 inches of rain fell in the official rain gauge, making it the wettest March ever recorded in Albany. The previous record was 5.2 inches in March 1979. The abundant March rainfall brought the 2020 first quarter totals up to 12.36, slightly below the record 13.

By Donnie A. Lucas Local schools remain closed this week and throughout the rest of the month by order of Gov. Greg Abbott in an effort to minimize the threat of coronavirus - COVID 19.

By Melinda L. Lucas With Gov. Greg Abbott’s newly defined stay-at-home orders and a local shelter-in-place announcement, all but essential businesses are now closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.