Around $150,000 in scholarships were awarded to Graham High School seniors as part of the 39th annual GHS Scholarship Awards Ceremony.
The scholarship presentation was held Monday, April 28 at Graham Memorial Auditorium with parents, staff and visitors present to support the local students.
Around 200 local scholarships were provided by 71 different local benefactors, clubs and agencies.
Student recipients
Since 2016, the Wichita Falls Area Community Foundation has hosted the online fundraising day Texoma Gives. Their final event will be held in September this year benefiting Young County and other area nonprofits.
Last year, the 16-hour, online event raised over $215,000 for nine Young County nonprofits, with the majority of donations made to Olney organizations. Over 200 organizations across 24 counties in North Texas and Southwest Oklahoma took part in the event in 2024.
The Texas Education Agency released A-F accountability ratings last week for districts from the 2022-2023 school year, with Graham ISD receiving an overall rating of C and Newcastle ISD receiving an overall rating of A.
State law requires annual A-F performance rating for Texas public schools, with no ratings issued for five years due to the COVID-19 pandemic and temporary injunctions by Travis County courts.
A local tradition for over 50 years, the Graham Lions Club Carnival will be returning to the downtown square next week with rides, games, food and more.
The carnival started in 1974 with the only one year missed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The event will be returning downtown May 7-10 opening at 5:30 p.m. each day.
Lions Club Member and Carnival Chairman Jim Senkel has been involved since the beginning of the carnival in Graham. He said while some try to put a closing time for the event, the club tries to keep it open as long as possible.
Today is the final opportunity to vote early in Young County before election day.
Voting has been slow in the county with the first day of early voting having less than a 1% turnout with 65 voters.
The first week of early voting closed Friday, April 25 with a total turnout of 323 voters, or 3.3% of all registered county voters. As of the end of the day Monday, April 28 there was a total turnout of 484 voters, or or 4.9% of all registered county voters
The Graham City Council was presented a brief financial forecast and set upcoming dates for their planning process as the city works to establish their fiscal year budget.
Graham City Manager Eric Garretty provided a financial forecast to the city council during their meeting Thursday, April 24. The forecast is an estimate for how much the city is going to spend for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Young County volunteers, students and organizations joined together this week creating care packages to support U.S. Marines in four locations around the world.
The initiative was led by Young County Veterans Service Officer Adam LaVine and funded by the American Legion Post 34.
“When I was deployed, I received care packages right before my second mission. …Since I’m a civilian now, I wanted to return the favor and contact my last unit and do the same to just pay it forward and just return the favor,” LaVine said.
Following the success of the inaugural event last year, the Festival de Cinco de Mayo de Graham will be returning next weekend bringing culture, food, music and more downtown.
The event, organized by the nonprofit Graham Downtown Business Association, will be expanding both the space for vendors on the downtown square and the hours.
Fourth Street, Oak Street, the inside of the square, the Young County Courthouse lawn and parking lot will be closed off to expand the festival. The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, May 3.
The city of Graham’s animal control office has documented four cases of rabies from skunks within the city limits.
As of Thursday, April 24, one skunk with rabies was located on the southwest side of the city, two were located on the southeast side of the city and was located central in the city.
The city is advising pet owners to check the vaccination records on all of their animals. The city requires all pets to get annual vaccinations against rabies.
Planning for the upcoming Fiscal Year 2025-2026 budget is underway with the city of Graham as proposed increases in the property rates, water rates and sewer rates are under consideration.
City Manager Eric Garretty presented budget data to the Graham City Council during their meeting Thursday, April 10 as part of the budget development process.
The city manager said no final decisions have been made on the budget and the numbers he proposed will vary as the budget planning process continues.
