News

WASHINGTON (AP) — Average longterm U.S. mortgage rates jumped back up ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve meeting where it’s expected to announce another increase to its main borrowing rate. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the 30-year rate jumped to 5.23% this week from 5.09% last week. The brisk jump in rates, along with a sharp increase in home prices, has been pushing potential homebuyers out of the market. Mortgage applications decreased 6.5% from one week earlier, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday. The group’s composite index, a measurement of mortgage loan application volume, is at its lowest level in 22 years.

The Howard Payne University athletic department recently announced the hiring of Danielle Henkel as the head coach of the women’s and men’s tennis teams. While at Dallas Baptist University the past two seasons,Henkel helped guide the Patriot women’s program to back-to-back winning seasons (14-6 and 14-12).

EARLY — The City of Early’s Town Center project received a big boost Monday with the awarding of a $50,000 grant from the Lower Colorado River Authority. LCRA general manager Phil Wilson, accompanied by other representatives of the nonprofit public agency, presented an oversized check to Early city officials at site where a restaurant will be built, overlooking a pond that will be developed for recreational use.

Wednesday Blanket United Methodist Church will host a free lunch for the Blanket community from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Minds’ gristmills generally become unhinged--if not totally off the rails--on items of recent history. But their recollection of long-ago happenings may confound friends, and perhaps amaze whoever is doing the recollecting.

UVALDE, Texas (AP) — Gilbert Limones and a coworker at a funeral home were among the first people shot at by the gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school. He’s spent most of his days since helping prepare for the young victims’ burials and consoling shattered families.

A $12,619 grant from the Lower Colorado River Authority will help the Brownwood Fire Department buy a set of rescue jacks to lift and stabilize wrecked vehicles, making the scene safer for first responders and helping rescuers reach accident victims more quickly.

Nearly a decade ago, Texas lawmakers created the school marshal program, a way for educators to carry weapons inside schools. It was the state’s rapid-fire legislative response to an unthinkable national horror 2,000 miles away when 20 first graders and six adults were shot and killed in a Sandy Hook, Connecticut, classroom just before Christmas 2012.