The Madisonville baseball team raised over $700 for the Texas High School Coaches Education Foundation’s Benevolence Fund in their program’s scrimmages against Bellville at MHS Feb. 9. The Fund was established by the Texas High School Coaches Association Board of Directors to assist athletes and coaches experiencing hardships.

The Madisonville men’s basketball team split their final district matchups of the season with a 73-63 win over Mexia on senior night Feb. 9 and an 87-66 loss at top-ranked La Vega Friday. The Mustangs finished fourth in district with a 5-5 record and were scheduled to battle Carthage in the Bi-District round of the playoffs Saturday, but the date could be altered due to the winter weather.

This past week, many Americans became fixated on a certain groundhog in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to tell them whether it’s going to be a long winter or an early spring. I must confess that since I was a little kid, I wake up on that day each year with great anticipation and excitement about seeing America’s favorite marmot, Phil, perform his prognosticating duties. Not to be outdone, in recent years, Texas has searched far and wide to find our own famous four –legged forecasters. If you’re not already aware, Prairie Dog Pete and Bee Cave Bob, an armadillo, are quickly developing a loyal following across the Lone Star State.

The International & Great Northern Railroad (I-GN) was formed in 1873 and grew across East Texas. It rolled into Madisonville in September, 1903. A photo of many hatted men surrounding a steam engine was captioned “Woodsmen of the World greet the first train to arrive in Madisonville, Texas.” For 41 years, trains made daily trips from Navasota to Madisonville. In the beginning, the trip was made by combinations of passenger and freight cars, but later there were separate freight and passenger trains.

Madisonville Elementary students donated 3,489 toiletry items to the Son- Shine Outreach Center last week as part of an ongoing service project hosted by the Kindergarten classrooms and Kindergarten teacher Sara Villarreal. The donation effort, in its second year, greatly surpassed the 2020 total of 851.

The North Zulch ISD school board heard a presentation from Kathryn Knotts of the district’s facilities committee and approved an order calling for a bond election to take place May 1 to vote on long-discussed improvements to the school’s campus.

Three children were reported missing by the Madison County Sheriff’s Office after they were removed from a North Zulch foster home, ultimately activating the state wide Amber Alert network. Two of the children, a 14-year-old and an infant, had been located safely in Nacogdoches County at the time of this writing, but authorities were still searching for a missing 16-year-old.

Mackenzie Foster of Madisonville FFA became the Overall Grand Champion of the 2021 Ag Mechanics Contest at the San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo Saturday for her welding bed that attaches to a newer model Ford pickup truck, which she has been working on since October. Foster placed first overall out of over 500 like entries at the show and competed against everything from feeders, trailers, welding skids and wood projects.

Congressman Kevin Brady hosted town halls at four different locations within the Texas’ 8th Congressional District Monday, including the Truman Kimbro Convention Center in Madisonville. According to attendees, roughly 60 people were present and their questions centered around concerns over election integrity and job losses in the state stemming from an unusually high number of executive orders from President Joe Biden’s administration.