July of 2021 Criminal District Attorney Brian Risinger reports that on Friday, July 30, 2021, a new Grand Jury for the July-December 2021 term was impaneled and sworn in by Judge Hal Ridley of the 278th District Court. Following their initiation, the newly impaneled Grand Jury for the July term convened for their first formal session.

Years ago several times when my dad was sent overseas we went to live with our grandparents. I was just starting elementary school and my younger brother wasn’t in school yet. It was fun because they lived out in the country but sometimes we got into trouble, usually for not minding. There was a bush in my grandmother’s back yard and when a small branch was broken off it made a keen switch. Well, when we really did, it my mother would head for that switch bush and we knew we were going to really get it. Sometimes we would run to our grandmother screaming, “Grandmother she is going to kill us!” We would grab ahold of her legs and hold on for dear life. Sometimes she would talk my mother out of spanking us even though we deserved it. But we had to tell my mother we were sorry and we had to promise that we would obey her. Those memories remind me of something in the Bible. First, God is a God of love, (John 3:16-18, Romans 5:8, John 15:9). Second, God is a God of mercy, (Ephesians 2:4, 1 Timothy 1:14, Matthew 9:27, 29:30). But God is also a God of forgiveness, (Acts 26:18, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:14). But we must put our faith in Jesus Christ and obey what the Bible says, (Matthew 6:33, Romans 12:2, John 14:21).

The following persons were arrested or booked into the Madison County jail. All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Jewett, Texas - Texas’ top agricultural officials and organizations are lining up to support Leon County landowners Jim and Barbara Miles’ legal efforts to protect their ranch from Texas Central Railway’s proposed Dallas to Houston highspeed rail project. In the trial court, Judge Deborah Oakes Evans ruled in favor of the Miles’, finding that Texas Central does not have eminent domain authority as a railroad or an interurban electric railway. Judge Evans also found that ITL, an entity created in the middle of the lawsuit, does not have eminent domain either. The Corpus Christi Court of Appeals reversed that ruling, finding that both Texas Central and ITL are railroads and interurbans with eminent domain authority. The Texas Supreme Court recently denied the Miles’ petition for review of the court of appeals’ opinion earlier this summer; so late last month, the Miles’ filed a motion for rehearing asking the Texas Supreme Court to grant review and affirm Judge Evan’s ruling. Blake Beckham, the

Madisonville City Council amended Ordinance 629 of the Residential District section at their bi-weekly meeting Aug. 9. The amendment omits two-car garages or carports from the wording of the ordinance, adding residents must still include a concrete, asphalt and slag driveway/ parking area instead.