Category: Top News Stories

Local man Don Bottoms, of Devine, brought in this treasure of a photo taken during the “Salvage for Victory” campaign launched during World War II, shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was just a young man then (pictured on the far right), and in the photo above he and his buddies are collecting scrap metal to be melted down and used to build ships, airplanes, ammo, and other things associated with the war effort.
“We would go from home to home asking ladies if they had any pots and pans they didn’t use or any kind of scrap metal or steel,” Bottoms recalls. “In the picture you can see an old lantern, bicycle rim, hot water heater, and car parts. We would take it to the drop off site, and the Army would pick it up and melt it down to be used for guns, airplane parts, whatever they needed.”
Thanks to Mr. Bottoms for sharing this piece of local history!

I-35 Replacement estimated at $12.8 M

TX DOT provided the following details about a major project ongoing in Medina County. The Chacon Creek I-35 bridge replacement estimated at $12.8 million dollars includes both the northbound and southbound bridges, which were due for upgrades, as each had “non‑standard railings and other structural deficiencies” according to TxDot.
“Because this section of I‑35 has limited right‑of‑way and no frontage roads, traditional construction approaches, such as building a detour or constructing new bridges to the outside, weren’t feasible. To work within those constraints, engineers designed a single, wider bridge to replace the two existing ones.
The project which began in November is now 28% complete.

Construction is occurring in three phases:

• Phase 1: Build the center portion of the new bridge between the existing structures. This is the phase currently in progress.
• Phase 2: Shift traffic onto the newly built center section, then remove and rebuild the outer sections.
• Phase 3: Open the full bridge to traffic once all work is complete.

 “As a result, I‑35, which…LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinenewsmembers.com. You will get instant access to our full E-edition, and begin getting the newspaper delivered to your home next week for $36 a year in Medina County. Support important local city, county, and school news like this!

Daylight shines through at MM 124 where TXDOT is working on the center part of the new bridge which eventually connect the north and southbound lanes at Chacon Creek.

The following Q&A was prepared by the Congressional Research Service, which serves as nonpartisan shared staff to congressional committees and Members of Congress on the topic of data centers. The report examines the energy requirement estimates and pilot studies, as well as the estimated water consumption rates, and more.
Summary
In its simplest form, a data center is a physical facility that houses and runs large computer systems. U.S. data center annual energy use in 2023 (not accounting for cryptocurrency) was approximately 176 terawatt-hours (TWh), approximately 4.4% of U.S. annual electricity consumption that year, according to a report by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. A data center typically contains multiple computer servers, data storage devices, and network equipment that can provide information technology (IT) infrastructure service for organizations to store, manage, process, and transmit large amounts of data. Some projections show that data center energy consumption could double or triple by 2028, accounting for up to 12% of U.S. electricity use.
Roughly one-half or greater of the electric power demand of data centers stems directly from the operation of electronic IT equipment. Much of the rest is for cooling. The operation of the IT equipment raises the temperature of the ambient room air, necessitating a cooling strategy. Centralized cooling resources are of two types: (1) those moving chilled air through large duct work; or (2) those moving chilled water in a piped cooling loop that exchanges heat with the environment. An alternative to these centralized systems is room-scale air conditioners. One type…LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinenewsmembers.com. You will get instant access to our full E-edition, and begin getting the newspaper delivered to your home next week for $36 a year in Medina County. Support important local city, county, and school news like this!

Devine High School juniors Payton Appling and Viola Dzierzanowski created the project “Community Services of Devine” through FCCLA. The project’s goal is two-fold: to demonstrate their commitment to community service and to educate and inspire others, especially young people, to also become involved. The duo will compete at the FCCLA Region V Conference in January in STAR (Students Taking Action for Recognition) events with this project.
The team started their project at the Fall Festival on November 1, by throwing candy out to the crowds to introduce their project. They also created announcements, flyers, and a social media account to let their peers know about opportunities to help.
On November 5th, the girls visited Mrs. Marek’s 3rd, 4th and 5th grade classes at Devine Intermediate School to create 75 cards for Veterans Day. And on November 18th, they collaborated with another FCCLA STAR event team, “Clean and Green”, to pick up trash on the high school campus.  At the conclusion of the event, 3 bags of trash were collected.
Appling and Dzierzanowski plan to help with the next food distribution in January at the First Baptist Church with the DHS Family and Community Service classes. They also plan to do another presentation at the middle school to keep spreading the word on why community service is important.

Kayla Dzierzanowski and Cat Brown present to Coach Cozby’s Environmental Science classes.

By Anton Riecher
The Medina County Emergency Services District No. 2 board of commissioners received an update during its Dec. 17 meeting on progress in audit work to trace funds missing in an embezzlement scandal that brought major changes to local emergency response management during the past year.
ESD2 bookkeeper Nancy Pepper also reported progress by accountant Karl Goering of Armstrong, Vaughn & Associates in providing a further breakdown on nearly $11,000 in misappropriation in the year 2022-23, which includes a lot of Amazon purchases, at least $500, noted in an ongoing fraud investigation involving the Devine Volunteer Fire Department. $10,500 was in payroll, for a total of $11,000.
An audit by…LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinenewsmembers.com. You will get instant access to our full E-edition, and begin getting the newspaper delivered to your home next week for $36 a year in Medina County. Support important local city, county, and school news like this!

Increasing water and sewer rates is “never a fun decision to make but it is the right decision for the city,” McLiney said.

Students at St. Joseph Catholic Church put on a beautiful Nativity play this past week. They are Kassandra Fajardo (Mary), Christopher Tapia (Joseph), Slade Whitley (Prophet), Inn Keepers Mason Cordova, Isaias Mendez, Jayden Palacios, Shepherds- TJ Buvinghausen, Ivan Iglesias, Jacob Casias, Kings- Marcus Gomez, Weston Leal, Carter Stewart, Angels- Jacklyn Guajardo, Lainey Cordova, Sam Steubing, Sophia Palacios, Jackson Weeks, Donkeys- Millie Null, Aaron Aguilar, Sheep Laura Steubing, Cows- Penny Null, Anthony Aguilar, Extras- Reese and Riley Haass, Stage Hands- Andi Haass, Quay Ortiz, Zach Ortiz, Natalia Gutierrez, and Emma Martinez, Narrator Bianca Villanueva. Photo by Adrian Reyes.