The Madisonville Mustangs varsity soccer team dominated this week's action, securing three consecutive victories against Caldwell, Magnolia, and Bryan. The Mustangs opened the week on Tuesday, Jan.

Each year on January 13th, the U.S. Department of Justice, AMBER Alert Coordinators at the state, regional, tribal, and local levels, state Missing Children Clearinghouses and AMBER Alert partners observe National Amber Alert Awareness Day in honor of Amber Hagerman and the establishment of a national AMBER Alert Program by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Texas Senate’s chief budget writer said state agencies and higher-education institutions have requested nearly $25 billion in funding as the legislative session gets underway. State Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, told The Dallas Morning News the requests for new money reflect the growing functions and purposes of state agencies that serve the public.

Gregorio “Gray” Ariola (1827-1906) led a fascinating life, some of which is recorded in Volume 2 of Madison County history, His maternal grandfather, Ignatius Simes, came to Texas in the early 1820s, received a Mexican land grant for a league of land before 1828, and settled with his family on a hill on the Madisonville side of Bedias Creek. A few years later, his daughter Maria married Eduardo Ariola, and they made their home nearby on the bank of Black Lake on Bedias Creek. By 1834, Antonio Rivers settled on the other side of Bedias Creek. For years, those three families were the only white settlers between Midway and Old Washington. For mutual protection, they built a fort around the Rivers’ home, and when they knew of Indians in the area, the families took refuge in the fort.