Architect Jeff Garnett, who moved to Albany with his family in August 2025, recently earned two honors at the 2025 American Institute of Architects Fort Worth Design Awards. Garnett received a Design Award of Merit for the Elk Edge Retreat and a Studio Award for a concept project known as the Animal Sanctuary.

Readers of The Albany News saw the lengthy 23-page legal notice published in last week’s February 26 edition outlining Oncor’s proposal to construct a new 765-kilovolt transmission line stretching across Central and West Texas.

While the notice includes Shackelford County among the areas studied, the regulatory process requires Oncor to submit a geographically diverse set of potential routes for consideration by the Public Utility Commission of Texas. Shackelford County is included among the full list of proposed routes submitted to the commission.

Albany’s well-known “Home of the Hereford” sign was knocked down early Saturday morning after a vehicle struck the structure, according to local authorities.

The crash occurred in the early morning hours, with Texas Department of Public Safety troopers responding to the scene.

A driver, identified through Shackelford County Jail records as Robert Wayne Leisher, was arrested at the scene on a charge of driving while intoxicated. Officials indicated the intoxication was believed to involve a substance other than alcohol.

In the only contested local race, Shackelford County Judge John Viertel was reelected with 396 votes, or 60.64%, to challenger Raleigh Breeden’s 257 votes (39.36%) in Tuesday’s Republican Primary election. Viertel will begin his second term in January 2027.

County voters turned out in modest numbers for Tuesday’s midterm primaries. Of the county’s 2,445 registered voters, 721 (29.5%) cast ballots – 669 on the Republican side and 52 on the Democratic ballot – with well over half of those cast during the early voting period.