News

Effective immediately, the Window Trail in the Chisos Basin in Big Bend National Park is closed to public use until further notice. This emergency closure is due to significantly increased bear activity in the narrow trail corridor, and the safety of both the bears and the public is paramount.

The Borderlands Research Institute and the Texas Agricultural Land Trust are joining forces with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service to implement landscape-scale conservation initiatives across the Trans-Pecos in West Texas. The effort is fueled by a $3.5 million commitment from the NRCS Regional Conservation Partnership Program, which will help fund innovative conservation approaches on private lands, including habitat restoration efforts, conservations easements, and ecosystem services.

Do you have any pets, and what do you like best about them? Robert Flanders, Alpine: I have a dogshe’s a mix. Marilyn McGee brought her from the Cayman Islands.

Alpine’s 14U West Texas Flying Squirrels baseball players AJ Llanez, Josh Solis, Alec Ramos, and 12U player Brody Mesker pause for a photo in late June during a skills competition held in Richardson. The West Texas Flying Squirrels, a select West Texas boys baseball team, went to Dallas-Fort Worth for the USSSA World Series held June 25-30. Photo by Elizabeth Mesker

Alpine High School student Kaitlyn Wiggins received her Lone Star Degree last week at the FFA state convention in Fort Worth. The honor is the highest degree that the Texas FFA awards. It recognizes students who have developed an outstanding supervised agricultural experience program throughout their participation in FFA. Courtesy photo

Alpine Humane Society Pet of the Week is Raudy, a one-year-old mixed breed pup with a great smile. Mixed breed dogs, affectionately known as mutts, make great pets! Why? Mutts may be healthier and live longer.

Museum of the Big Bend at Sul Ross State University hosted a group to “Sign the Beam” on July 13. The topping out event celebrated a milestone in the construction of the museum’s new wing - the beam’s placement at the building’s highest structural point. Those in attendance were invited to sign their names, and add well wishes for success and for safety of the crew. Courtesy photo

March 21,1941 September 4, 1953 Two more Alpine prisoners of war have been released the past week, bringing the number of freed Alpine POWs to three. The last two released were Cpl.

Dear Neil: Two or three years ago we planted three small Amethyst Falls wisterias at the base of our pergola thinking they would bring cooling shade in the summer. They survived the cold of February 2021 and kept on growing, but when they reached the top of the pergola the plants began dying. What would have caused it, and what can we do to save the plants? If we must replant, should we use Lady Banksiae roses?

What comes to mind when you think about mac and cheese? Is it that quick and easy box of mac and cheese that you keep in stock because your kids are fussy eaters, or you are a broke college student? Is it that golden topped cheesy goodness you get when your cheese sauce is roux based and not some powdered, chemical substance? Or is it even that super creamy mac and cheese you used to be able to get at many restaurants? No matter what your idea of mac and cheese is, the folks at GOLO have produced a different take on an old time favorite.