COVID-19 and its impact on high school sports Years from now, many will look to publications such as the Hays Free Press to see just how much COVID-19 impacted our daily lives, both big and small. And while the medium of athletics across the globe tried to hold out hope of conducting business as usu...

Hays County and the state of Texas as a whole shared the dubious distinction of a 12.8 percent unemployment rate for April. The Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area fared a bit better at 12.2 percent; however the jobless rate for the city of Kyle hit 13.3 last month. That’s a jump from 3....

Gov. Greg Abbott on May 18 allowed restaurants to increase occupancy to 50% and relaxed his earlier executive orders that limited certain other public activities over the last two months to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Reopenings, Abbott said, must adhere to restricted occupancy levels and minimum...

Local residents can now take part in a virtual Town Hall regarding long-range planning along the State Highway 21 corridor, which connects portions of eastern Hays County with Caldwell County. The roadway is also a major thoroughfare between San Marcos and Bastrop. The virtual town hall runs through...

The U.S. Census Bureau, in coordination with federal, state and local health officials, will begin a phased restart of some 2020 Census field operations next week in Central Texas. Counties that may see census-takers include Hays, Caldwell, Blanco and Guadalupe. All returning staff will receive safe...

Two adults are dead and three children in critical condition following a rollover collision along northbound Interstate 35 in San Marcos Saturday. The five adults and five children traveling in the 2002 Ford Explorer were said to be from San Antonio and en route to a family gathering in Austin. At a...

Call it a case of two pipelines coming together – though not in a way either one wanted. Contractors building Kinder Morgan’s Permian Highway Pipeline (PHP) on May 21 punctured the Vista Ridge Pipeline, a project of the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) built to deliver water from the Carrizo Aquifer ...

Thanks to volunteers and with the continued support of the community, in spite of the COVID-19 (coronavirus), The Friends Foundation continues its programs providing vital services to the elderly in the greater Dripping Springs area. Our Daily Bread™ provides meals, which are still being delivered o...

As the next school year approaches, districts and teachers are having to make back-to-school decisions they have never made before. Walking into unknown territory, Hays CISD has planned out at least three scenarios as to how its schools will run. “A normal start to school would be ideal in a perfect...

It’s been nearly five years now since the night many in Hays County will never forget. After a rainy beginning to May 2015, an estimated 13 inches or so fell near the headwaters of the Blanco River on May 23, pushing it to levels no one had ever seen before – and when the wall of water some 40 feet ...