Human beings have a preoccupation with death which has dated back to the earliest of our ancestors. As a species, we try to come to grips with our own mortality by trying to make sense of it any way we can. One such way is by recognizing patterns in the demise of others, especially celebrities, whose lives seem to shine brighter than our own, and in some cases, burn up faster as well.

It has been well documented that a great number of creative artists, whether musicians or singers or even those dedicated to the visual arts, seem to shuffle off their mortal coil on or after their 27^th birthday but before their 28^th. Known as the “27 Club,” its roster of members read like a Who’s Who of the afterlife.

By Lew K Cohn, Managing Editor, Highland Lakes Newspapers

It has been nearly 20 years since I lived in the Texas Hill Country, having formerly worked as a managing editor in Bandera in the late 1990s. When I left to take a similar assignment at a newspaper in Northeast Texas, I never imagined I would get the opportunity to return … until now.

I love the Hill Country. There is something majestic, something awe-inspiring about being out in what I call “God's Country.” The scenic bluffside vistas, dazzling lakes and rolling, bluebonnet-covered landscapes make me feel like I am in heaven.

The entire U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will review Texas’ controversial voter identification law.

A majority of the judges of the Fifth Circuit on March 9 voted in support of an “en banc” rehearing of oral arguments in Veasey v. Abbott, a case challenging the law. No date for the rehearing has been set.

The case stems from Senate Bill 14, a law passed by the Texas Legislature in 2011, which requires prospective voters to present an acceptable form of photo identification along with their voter registration card in order to cast a ballot.

U.S. Navy caught running guns to Santa Anna

While on patrol off the Mexican coast on Mar. 20, 1836, the Invincible vanquished an enemy man-of-war and seized an American blockade runner on the high seas. It was all in a day’s work for the Texas Navy.

Today, Tuesday, March 15, is the day to say thank you to all our farmers and ranchers. It is National Agriculture Day.

“This is the day folks across the country gather to recognize and celebrate the great accomplishments of American agriculture, said Val Dolcini, administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency. “This year’s theme is 'American Agriculture: Stewards of a Healthy Planet'.”

“For me, it brings to mind the important environmental achievements of farmers and ranchers enrolled in FSA’s conservation reserve program,” Dolcini continued. “For over 30 years, these dedicated stewards of the land have worked hard to maintain and improve the soil and natural resources passed on to future generations.

What’s the best barbecue “joint” in Texas? (I’m a language purist and won’t use bar-b-q unless it’s part of the establishment’s name.)

Of course, I don’t have the answer. Thousands of Lone Star wannabe aficionados do not either. I can state one thing with a certainty: Texas barbecue beats Louisiana’s version all hollow. 

Disgraced politician tries to settle the score

Mar. 14, 1882, was the date and the Dallas County Courthouse was the place a former mayor of three Texas towns chose to have it out with the man he blamed for his latest fall from political grace.

It was no coincidence that James Thurmond went out west in the late 1850s. Like other youths of draft age, the Kentucky native wanted to put as many miles as possible between him and the soon-to-come Civil War.

March 1 Super Tuesday election returns posted by the Texas Secretary of State’s Elections Division show 2.8 million (about 20 percent) of the state’s 14.2 million registered voters cast a ballot in the Republican Party Presidential Primary.

In the Democratic Party Presidential Primary, the statewide turnout was 1.4 million, or about 10 percent of the state’s registered voters.

Marine from South Texas raised Iwo Jima flag

A young marine from South Texas was one of six American fighting men caught on camera on Feb. 23, 1945, raising the Stars and Stripes on a Pacific battlefield called Iwo Jima.

Harlon Henry Block was born in 1924 at Yorktown and grew up on 40 acres in the Rio Grande Valley. The third of six children, he had one sister and four brothers.