Lots of rats around my house Thieves, too. Most of the time, the rats stay outside, but in the winter they want to come in and live with me.

The new year dawned with skies ablaze with shades of rosy pinks, Daylily yellows, celery greens blending with the baby blues of Hydrangeas, mixed with orange of Marigolds highlighting the stunning purple of Lavender. This plethora of morning colors takes your mind to a place of joy, hope, miracles, and of peace.

To the Editor: According to the Washington Examiner, an astonishing ten million illegal border crossings have occurred since Joe Biden was inaugurated, and the majority of these people simply walked into Texas. Governor Abbott responded to the emergency by facilitating transport of 80,000 willing immigrants to large northern cities that support Biden’s immigration policies like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington DC.

This New Year’s Eve I found myself on the rooftop of a three-story house in Brooklyn watching the fireworks explode over The Statue of Liberty. You never know where saying ‘yes’ can lead you.

The closure of St. Mark’s Hospital prompts me to write this.

C APITAL Highlights After the Texas Legislature spent much of 2023 in session, a bevy of new laws go into effect on New Year’s Day, though some have been delayed by lawsuits challenging their constitutionality. TheAustinAmerican-Statesman reported on SB 17, a new law that institutes a ban on programs and policies “designed or implemented in reference to race, color, or ethnicity” at Texas public universities or colleges — commonly known as diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI.

T EXAS History At the peak of the “Old Yeller” craze, the Palace Theater in Dallas invited dogs and their human companions to a special showing of the big screen version of the best-selling book on Jan. 11, 1958.

Jan. 4-8, 1974 Bounty payments for wolf and bobcat scalps turned into Fayette County Treasurer Lloyd H.

“The universe is one being. Everything and everyone is interconnected through an invisible thread of stories.

To the Editor: The issue I have with the decision by the to go ahead with the plan to demolish the iconic old Knesek building in Fayetteville town center, is less with the decision itself than with the high handed manner in which this important matter was presented to the City Council by board representatives of the Fayetteville Community Center (FCC) organization. According to Mr.