Collin County Commissioners have passed a resolution supporting the development of US 380 as a limited-access roadway along the existing highway—a day after the Texas Department of Transportation released its own recommendation for a bypass to relieve traffic congestion.

TxDOT officials unveiled its preferred bypass option for US 380 from the Denton County line to Hunt County line during a public meeting May 6. TxDOT prefers a combination of alignments, which were labeled in earlier plans as Red A, Red D and Green B.

Collin County Commissioners disagreed with TxDOT's recommended alignment. After hours of discussion during a meeting May 7, commissioners passed a resolution in favor of improving the existing highway, which is labeled on TxDOT maps as the green line, with a few modifications.

Collin County Judge Chris Hill said despite the green line being the most expensive, most difficult and most unlikely to pass an environmental study, he believes it is the best route to support the future transportation needs of the county.

TxDOT’s recommended alignment is estimated to cost $2.597 billion, according to documents presented during the May meeting.

“We are moving forward with the preferred alignment presented last night, but as we move forward, other options can still be consider,” TxDOT Public Information Officer Ryan LaFontaine said when reached by phone May 7.

The green line is proposed to run through Princeton, Lowry Crossing, McKinney, Prosper and Frisco on US 380’s current alignment. The green line would also offer an extension off Spur 399 running either (A) east of the McKinney National Airport or (B) west of the airport.

Commissioners unanimously passed a resolution in favor of this green line after adding several amendments. Commissioners also requesting TxDOT move forward with a modified version of this alignment.

Modifications requested by commissioners:

Conversations about the roadway began last April when TxDOT presented five proposed alignments for US 380 through Collin County. The proposed alignments were narrowed to two in October.

Commissioner Cheryl Williams said at the May 7 meeting there is nothing that can be done today that will alleviate everyone's uncertainty. However, commissioners said they hope their resolution is taken into consideration by TxDOT.

Commissioner Susan Fletcher discussed TxDOT's decision in her newsletter to constituents posted online May 7, stating that the goal with this process is to find a solution for system-wide congestion. With Collin County's population expected to grow to more than three million people at buildout, "doing 'nothing' to improve the mobility in Collin County is just not an option," she wrote.

"While many are personally devastated, the over-arching message is that we must not lose heart," her newsletter continued. "The future of Collin County is at stake, and if this project is allowed to fail, it would be devastating to our entire region, costing each [of] us much more in the long run."

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The McKinney Fire Department (MFD) responded to a call for a structure fire just after midnight Monday. Fire crews arrived to find fire at the rear of the New Outreach Church of God in Christ located at 506 Wilcox St.

A resident was safely evacuated from a residential structure that also caught fire. As a precaution, nearby homes were evacuated.

As firefighters attacked the flames, another fire was reported a short distance away at Chicken Express, located at 411 S. McDonald St. All three structures were destroyed.

Fire investigators are on the scene to determine where and how the fire started – and whether the two fire scenes are connected. ATF has been called in to assist with the investigation.

“This was a very intense fire that took a huge number of resources and hours of hard work to extinguish,” said McKinney Fire Chief Danny Kistner. “As always, the most important thing is the safety of the residents and our firefighters.”

Anna, Melissa, Plano, Fairview, Princeton, Frisco, Lowry Crossing, Weston and Allen all provided assistance.

Reports from social media on the incident:

Update: Fire investigators remain on the scene of an overnight fire that burned down a church, a home and a fast food restaurant along N. McDonald. They will determine what started the fire and where the fire started. No one was hurt. Firefighters are watching out for hot spots. pic.twitter.com/VEpeD8mykI

— mckinneyfire (@mckinneytxfire) October 24, 2022

McKinney firefighters working a big fire near downtown overnight. It destroyed a church on Wilcox, and a home and a restaurant on N McDonald. More information coming. We appreciate the assistance from Allen, Fairview and Plano, Anna, Lowry Crossing and Westminster. pic.twitter.com/GRyVjjeRcT

— mckinneyfire (@mckinneytxfire) October 24, 2022

McKinney firefighters are investigating a fire that destroyed multiple buildings near downtown early Monday morning. https://t.co/d7Mfr17eQO

— FOX 4 NEWS (@FOX4) October 24, 2022

MCKINNEY FIRE— a church, a home and a Chicken Express were destroyed in the fire https://t.co/7SyLQihjpl

— Shannon Murray (@ShannonMFox4) October 24, 2022

Lowry Crossing Fire Chief Paul Wood and members of the Lowry Crossing VFD welcome their new fire engine. (Wyndi Veigel/The Princeton Herald)

Tradition, remembrances and blessings were shared Saturday, March 31 as Lowry Crossing welcomed a brand new fire engine into its ranks.

The new Ferrara Cinder fire engine features a 1,250 gallons per minute pump and carries 1,000 gallons of water.

At a cost of $390,000, the Lowry Crossing engine is being paid for through a loan. Donations for the engine are also being accepted.

The engine was welcomed into the community with a formal wet down and push in ceremony.

By Wyndi Veigel • News Editor • news@princetonherald.com

For the full story see the April 5 issue or subscribe online.

In the city of Princeton, CCAD data shows a 23% increase in taxable value, from $2.45 billion to $3 billion. There was $385 million in value added because of new construction. PISD had a 22% increase in taxable value to $4 billion. Of the increase, $569 million was in new construction.

By Bob Wieland | bwieland@csmediatexas.com

Collin County property values once again show an increase, according to figures released by Collin Central Appraisal District (CCAD).

The CCAD mailed the 2023 real property appraisal notices to property owners on April 15. Business personal property mailings were scheduled for mid-May.

According to Brian Swanson, deputy chief appraiser-business operations and compliance, the increases stemmed from basic supply and demand.

“The number of people moving to Collin County in the last few years has done nothing but increase (demand) and has caused a shortage of property that is available to be purchased (supply),” he said. “As the supply has decreased, the demand has increased, and the home prices have followed suit.

Swanson added that certified values will be sent to taxing entities by the statutory date of July 25. “At that time the entity will look at their values for their individual budgeting process and calculate their tax levy,” he said.

Collin County property values increased by 9.25% to $213 billion with $7.8 billion in new property added to the tax roll.

To read the full story subscribe to The Princeton Herald.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas is indisputably good at one part of his job: always referring to the migrant surge at the border as a “challenge,” never a “crisis.”

He visited Del Rio, Texas, recently and refused to use the offending word about more than 10,000 Haitian migrants huddled under a bridge, living among trash with insufficient food and water in sweltering heat. A mere “challenge.”

If euphemism and spin constituted competent, Team Biden wouldn’t be coping with a historic surge of illegal crossings at the border that reached another level with the nearly instantaneous creation of an enormous migrant camp in an isolated Texas town.

The Haitian migrants had been crossing for weeks, before the flow exploded over a matter of days. The camp grew from 4,000 the middle of last week to more than 16,000 by the weekend. The images of desperate Haitians wading across the Rio Grande by the hundreds and thousands without anyone even attempting to stop them will likely become an indelible symbol of Biden’s border policy.

Administration officials constantly say that the border is closed, but in important respects it is open. They blame misinformation spreading among migrants, and it’s true that unfounded rumors abound, but the basic perception that our enforcement has major, easily exploited holes is correct.

They blame circumstances, but it’s not as though terrible conditions — poverty and rank misgovernment — are new in countries to our south.

No, the new factor in the equation is President Biden and his determination to blow up Trump policies that had gotten control of the border. Border apprehensions remained at a 20-year high in August. They only dipped slightly from July and otherwise have been on an upward trajectory all year.

The fashionable explanation for the initial rise in migration was that it was simply “seasonality,” the tendency of migrants to come to the border in the spring and then drop off when it get hotter. Biden himself confidently asserted this was the dynamic. “It happens every single, solitary year,” he said in March.

But his policies overcame this ingrained pattern, enticing more migrants even during the summer months.

As long as people are convinced that they have a good chance of getting into the United States to stay — which is unquestionably the case with unaccompanied minors and family units — there is a strong incentive to make the trek to the border.

Haitians got the message, too. Prior to the latest influx at Del Rio, almost 30,000 Haitians had been apprehended this fiscal year. The previous two years, the number had been in the low thousands.

The administration granted so-called temporary protected status, a protection from deportation, to Haitians residing in the United States as of May 21 of this year. Then it extended it again to include Haitians residing here since July 29 — sending the message that new arrivals might get the status on a rolling basis.

Haitians also knew family units have been getting through.

The migrants at Del Rio haven’t been coming directly from Haiti, but from South America, largely Chile and Brazil, after tens of thousands fled there in the aftermath of the 2010 Haitian earthquake. Dwindling economic opportunities and immigration restrictions sent many migrants into Mexico, and when Mexican officials began to allow them to travel further north, they descended on Del Rio.

Caught off guard (as usual), the Biden team has begun deporting migrants on flights back to Haiti. This has stanched and even reversed the flow for now, although reports say that family units are staying in America.

Unless and until the Biden team realizes that swift exclusion from the US has to apply to almost everyone, the “challenges” at the border won’t let up.

If Mount Vernon voters approve either of two alcohol-sales ballot initiatives on May 11 - and voters in the Piney Woods town of Tatum do the same - that would leave Delta County the last dry county in East Texas.

When Northeast Texas voters go to the polls on Saturday, citizens in four communities will be casting their lots for or against measures that would allow, in some fashion, alcohol sales where such sales are not currently legal.

The cities of Campbell, Josephine, Lowry Crossing and Mount Vernon all have alcohol-related items on municipal ballots in the May 11 elections.

Dry counties dropping off East Texas map?

The Mount Vernon ballot has two proposals - one to allow beer and wine sales for off-premise consumption and one to allow the sale of mixed beverages at restaurants.

If either of those pass, that would make Franklin County, of which Mount Vernon is the county seat, a "partially wet" county, like all but three counties in East Texas.

Among counties in East Texas, only Delta, Franklin and Panola counties remain dry. The rest have mixed, or "partially wet" regulations regarding the public sale of alcoholic beverages.

Deep in "The Woods," the small city of Tatum, which straddles the Rusk-Panola County line, will vote on May 11 on whether to allow the sale of beer and wine for off-premise consumption.

If both voters in both Panola and Franklin counties decide to allow alcohol sales, that would leave Delta the lone county west of Interstate 35 with dry status. Of the 256 counties in Texas, only 19 remain dry. Of those 19, all but the aformentioned three are in West Texas.

Campbell, Josephine, Lowry Crossing also deciding

The ballot initiatives in Campbell, Lowry Crossing and Josephine won't change the wet/dry status of Hunt and Collin counties, where public alcohol sales are legal, but they would obviously impact the towns in question.

The measures in Campbell and Lowry Crossing would allow sales of all alcoholic beverages for off-premise consumption. Josephine's proposition would allow the sales of beer and wine for off-premise consumption.

Campbell is in Hunt County, while Lowry Crossing is in Collin County. Josephine is mostly in Collin County, but extends over the Hunt County line.