News

By Connie Swinney
Staff Writer

Marble Falls city officials have tabled a proposal to proceed with folding Los Escondidos subdivision into the city limits in light of state law prohibiting involuntary annexation and the smattering of development agreements among 38 lots.

“The council does agree it would be unfair for us to only access a portion of the lots. To have them come in and pay taxes and not have the others pay,” said City Manager Mike Hodge …

By Lew K. Cohn
Managing Editor

Burnet County found itself the victim of a ransomware breach on one of its servers just before Christmas — the latest in a string of attacks on local governments throughout the country since 2013.

“A bug that got into one of our servers caused it to seize up and we had to unplug all of our systems and make sure that breach was isolated,” County Judge James Oakley said …

Special to The Highlander

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signed a proclamation certifying that exceptional drought conditions continue to pose a threat of imminent disaster in several counties including Blanco, Burnet and Llano counties due to persistent drought conditions. …

By Lew K. Cohn
Managing Editor

Burnet County government employees who do any work using county-owned computers will have to take a mandated cybersecurity course each year, starting this month.

By Lew K. Cohn
Managing Editor

Other counties wishing to house female inmates in the Burnet County Jail will be paying a higher cost per day after a vote Friday morning by the Burnet County Commissioners Court.

By Connie Swinney
Staff Writer

Marble Falls police utilized surveillance video and witness accounts to piece together an incident where a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle in the Walmart parking lot.

The incident occurred at 9:28 a.m. Dec. 24 at the store, located in the 2700 block of U.S. 281 in Marble Falls.

Victoria Leigh Bailey, 34, was the pedestrian struck by a 2015 Chevrolet pickup driven by 82-year-old Mark Eldon Fox of Marble Falls, according to the Marble Falls Police Department report. …

Connie Swinney
Staff Writer

Marble Falls police are looking for a possible suspect who left a message on a store phone which resulted in the evacuation of Walmart the day after Christmas.

Officials confirmed that the message may have been left the evening before but was discovered the morning of Dec. 26 by a staff member.

“The threat was extremely vague and not specific to any part of the store or person,” Marble Falls Police Sgt. Barry Greer said. “The building was evacuated out of an abundance of caution. …

By Connie Swinney
Staff Writer

Hundreds of peace officers and emergency personnel from around the state descended on Marble Falls two days before Christmas to honor a Burnet PD K9 handler who died after suffering an apparent heart attack, just a week short of his year anniversary with the agency.

A funeral mass for Burnet PD K9 Officer Jose Humberto Meza was conducted at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church Dec. 23, followed by a procession to Post Mountain Cemetery where graveside services were conducted with full law enforcement honors. …

From staff reports

A Lampasas woman, who works at a Marble Falls women's shelter, has succumbed to her injuries Dec. 13 and died following a vehicle crash in Lampasas County.

Caety Edwards, a vehicle occupant, suffered “significant injuries” including a punctured lung, broken bones and internal damage, a family source stated. Prior to the incident, she had worked for the Highland Lakes Family Crisis Center. …