The Marble Falls Mustang baseball team punched a ticket to the playoffs after a dominant regular-season run, wrapped up with a 15-3 show of batting power on April 24 against Jarrell at home.
The Mustangs (21-5, 11-3 district) ended their season slotted second place in district, and have already begun the bi-district round of the playoffs in a three-game series against Gatesville (17-8, 2-2 district).
The team hit the bases running on Wednesday, April 29, in its first game of the series with a 5-1 win, and will look to carry the momentum into the next matchup at 3 p.m. on Thursday, April 30. A third game will be played, if necessary, 30 minutes after the second.
The series is being played at a neutral site, Thrall High School. The winner of the series will move on to the area round and play the winner of the Bellville (15-13, 9-1 district) vs. Stafford (7-17, 5-6 district) series.
The Mustangs 2025-26 season has been a significant shift from last, in which the team ended the regular season with a 13-14 record and was knocked out of the playoffs after two back-to-back losses to China Spring.
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For the fourth year in a row, the Marble Falls High School theatre program has claimed a regional championship. The Mustang’s win on April 24 sets the stage for a performance in Austin for the 2026 UIL One Act Play 4A State Championship.
Marble Falls is set to perform its rendition of “The Collective” at around 8:10 p.m. on Monday, May 18, at the Austin Independent School District Performing Arts Center, 1500 Barbara Jordan Boulevard.
Tickets are not yet on sale, as of April 29, but they will be made available at this link by “late April/early May.”
Mustangs theatre has been on a roll for years, with 10 straight years of making the playoffs, nine straight appearances at regionals, four consecutive wins at regionals, and taking home silver in the 2025 UIL One Act Play 4A State Championship.
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The Burnet Municipal Court recently expanded its judicial power over health, safety, and nuisance cases at a Burnet City Council meeting on Tuesday, April 29, as part of a Texas Senate bill passed last year.
Senate Bill 304, signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott in May 2025 and taking effect that September, clarified “the jurisdiction of municipal courts over health and safety and nuisance abatement ordinances,” (SB 304). As an extension of the bill, local municipalities were allowed to ordain that their courts had jurisdiction over these matters.
These ordinances can include matters related to dangerous structures, junked vehicles, and abandoned vehicles.
Burnet Municipal Court Administrator Heather Sutton clarified that these changes would not affect current code enforcement, but would allow for those kinds of cases to be handled at the municipal level rather than being passed on to Burnet County.
“(The bill) would not change the code enforcement process at all,” she told City Council. “This just sets the foundation for the municipal court to hear those sorts of cases. It gives us the opportunity to deal with them at the municipal court instead of sending them to the district court or county court.”
City Attorney Habib Erkan Jr. expanded on the changes as being an expansion to power that the municipal court already had.
“According to records, (the court) has always had this authority,” Erkan said to council. “In the last legislative session, they expanded the authority and gave us more civil authorities.”
Civil jurisdiction for the purpose of enforcing municipal ordinances enacted under Subchapter A (Dangerous Structures), Ch. 214 (Municipal Regulation of Housing and Other Structures) of L.G.C. or Subchapter E (Junked Vehicles: Public Nuisance: Abatement), Ch. 683 (Abandoned Motor Vehicles) T.C.
Concurrent jurisdiction with a district court or county court at law under Subchapter B (Municipal Health and Safety Ordinances), Ch. 54 (Enforcement of Municipal Ordinances) L.G.C. within the municipality’s territorial limits and property owned by the municipality located in the municipality’s extraterritorial jurisdiction for the purpose of enforcing health and safety and nuisance abatement ordinances
Authority to issue search warrants for the purpose of investigating a health and safety or nuisance abatement ordinance violation and seizure warrants for the purpose of securing, removing, or demolishing the offending property and removing the debris from the premises.
Visit the Texas Legislature website for more information on the bill and its historic amendments, votes, and actions.
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The Granite Shoals Police Department and Sunrise Beach Village Police Department will now partner on holiday weekend patrols on Lake LBJ, an effort aimed at increasing safety during peak boating periods.
The agreement, approved during the April 28 council meeting, outlines coordinated patrols during Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day, continuing a partnership used in previous years to boost law enforcement presence on the water.
Granite Shoals will provide boats, equipment and one marine enforcement safety officer, while Sunrise Beach will assign a second certified officer to meet the two-officer requirement.
Each agency will enforce laws within its own jurisdiction, with officers authorized to issue citations and make arrests. Both departments will cover their own staffing, equipment and liability costs, and police chiefs John Ortis of Granite Shoals and Laurie Brock of Sunrise Beach Village will oversee joint operations.
Ortis said during the meeting that the goal is to maintain safety for boaters and visitors during some of the lake’s busiest weekends.
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The city of Burnet recently bolstered its emergency response fleet by approving the purchase of two new ambulances at a city council meeting on Tuesday, April 28.
The two ambulances, which will include a Type 1 ambulance module placed atop a 2026 International CV515 diesel chassis, were budgeted not to exceed $700,000.
Due to lengthy wait times in manufacturing and delivering, the final cost of the units will be taken out of next year’s budget.
Burnet Fire Chief Mark Ingram originally presented to the council a request for a single ambulance to replace the department’s last small ambulance unit that was reaching the end of its service lifecycle. However, further discussion about the chassis of the requested replacement sparked conversations about purchasing a second ambulance.
“I honestly do think we should (purchase two units),” City Manager David Vaughn said. “These things are outperforming other ambulances, and what we’re seeing longevity-wise, these things were made out to really work well.”
Vaughn told council that he understood the weight of the $700,000 purchase, but believed it would be a worthwhile investment.
Ingram told council that the new ambulances’ chassis, the International CV515, would no longer be produced as of next year. He relayed that the chassis was leagues beyond any other in performance and ease of maintenance, and that once production was stopped, it would raise concerns over finding another reliable alternative.
While the fleet will be at full power with a single ambulance purchase, the second would allow the city to wait for a reliable alternative chassis to be manufactured.
“If they don’t make another chassis, we’re in trouble,” Ingram said. “I can’t tell you how much better this ambulance is. There’s no comparison.”
After further discussion between city staff, council, and Ingram over the department’s success with maintaining their vehicles and the unknowns of a future ambulance chassis, it was decided that the purchase of a second unit would be in the city’s best interest.
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Editor’s Note: The following media release was issued by the Marble Falls Police Department on the afternoon of Tuesday, April 28.
The Marble Falls Police Department, in conjunction with the Texas Department of Public Safety, will be conducting accident reconstruction on between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Wednesday, April 29, at the intersections of RR 1431 and Industrial Boulevard and then at the intersection of RR 1431 and Avenue L.
Motorists should expect delays and possible detours in these areas during that time. Please plan ahead, allow extra travel time, and consider using alternate routes if possible.
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On Thursday, April 23, James Lawrence, 37, of Del Valle, Texas, was sentenced to 40 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice after pleading guilty to possession of heroin with intent to deliver and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
Lawrence was arrested in the early morning hours of November 27, 2024, after Llano County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a vehicle obstructing traffic at the intersection of Corona and Dallas Streets in Kingsland.
Deputies found Lawrence asleep in the driver’s seat, bleeding from facial injuries and unable to explain how he had been hurt. A sawed-off shotgun and a pit bull breed dog were also present in the vehicle. While Lawrence was being evaluated by emergency medical service workers, deputies observed a bag containing methamphetamine on the driver’s seat.
After animal control secured the pit bull, a search of the vehicle yielded multiple firearms, additional methamphetamine, drug trafficking paraphernalia, and nearly 50 grams of heroin — a first-degree felony under Texas law.
Lawrence had previously been convicted of possession of a controlled substance in 2016 and bail jumping in 2023. As a convicted felon, he is prohibited by law from possessing firearms. The State was represented by Assistant District Attorney Joel Johnson.
District Attorney Perry Thomas said of the conviction and sentence, “Drug trafficking of this magnitude puts every member of our community at risk. This sentence sends a clear message that Llano County will pursue the maximum consequences available under the law for those who bring dangerous narcotics and illegal weapons into our neighborhoods.”
DA Thomas also expressed gratitude to the Llano County Sheriff’s Office for their diligent work in bringing Lawrence to justice.
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The 2025-26 school year is drawing to a close and community members have the chance to celebrate the accomplishments of soon-to-be graduates by “adopting” a senior.
The Adopt a 2026 Marble Falls Senior project is led by a community-run Facebook group that lets parents post a picture and short paragraph about their students’ interests ahead of graduation on May 22.
Other members of the group can adopt the seniors, and gift them anything from snacks and candy, to money and gift cards with their parents’ blessing.
“Let’s show the Senior Class of 2026 some love,” reads the page’s about section. “Parents, post a picture of your Senior that you would like to be adopted with school name and a little bit about your child… Visitors, help adopt a Senior by providing them with small gifts.”
The Adopt a Senior group has helped congratulate Marble Falls seniors since April 2020. The page is updated by parents daily, so there is rarely a shortage of seniors to be gifted.
The page has also sponsored events for seniors, like the upcoming Senior Breakfast providing students with tasty tacos, donuts, and fruits.
Interested community members can visit the Adopt a Senior Facebook page here.
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Local school districts have been discussing potentially costly seatbelt upgrades to school bus fleets in order to meet updated safety standards by Sept. 1, 2029, as outlined in a new Texas Senate bill.
Texas SB 546, signed into law by Governor Greg Abbot in June 2025 and made effective that September, requires public school districts to equip all school buses with three-point (shoulder, both sides of lap) seatbelts by Sept. 1, 2029.
Burnet Consolidated, Marble Falls, and Llano independent school districts have all discussed the senate bill’s financial impacts to decide whether or not each district can take on the cost of retrofitting their fleet.
Both BCISD and LISD came to the conclusion that they would likely not be able to take on the financial burden of replacing the seats, which would cost $918,000 and $660,000 respectively.
MFISD, which is sitting on approximately $3.2 million in 2025 bond funds, concluded that they would likely meet compliance requirements, and fully replace their 14 out-of-compliance buses using bond funds.
MFISD Transportation Director Gina Solorzano told the board at their April meeting that the bond funds were already budgeted to cover full replacements of several aging buses, and would not strain their budget. The quoted cost for the 14 new buses was $2.24 million.
As an extension of the bill, districts were allowed to determine whether their budget would not allow for the upgrades within the set deadline, potentially extending the timeline and opening up grant opportunities to meet compliance with SB 546.
The bill required that districts submit to the Texas Education Agency a statement and accompanying information if they believed they would not meet compliance by the end of the current school year.
The TEA will calculate the total assistance needed for all districts to meet compliance, and submit a report to the legislature for further action no later than Jan. 1, 2027.
“After all the reporting is turned in by the districts around the state, (the TEA) will see how much it would cost the state of Texas, and then you’ll probably see some grant opportunities,” BCISD Chief Financial Officer Clay Goering said at a March board meeting.
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