Brianne Corn doing what she loves: skidding around the dirt of her private racetrack. ‘Racing was the one thing I felt compelled to do,’ she said. (Sarah Beal photo)

Story by Pam LeBlanc
I start slowly, easing my foot onto the accelerator of a nimble white Miata at the first bend of a half-mile dirt track surrounded by sunflowers in rural Caldwell County.

Brianne Corn, buckled into the passenger seat, asked me what makes me nervous about driving a rally race car. I think about that for a second. I’m still panting slightly, after the high voltage, 3-minute ride I just took around the track as a passenger with Corn, a champion rally car driver and coach, at the wheel. 

Title
Stay calm, drive fast

A Tesla charges at one of a dozen Tesla Supercharger stations at the San Marcos Premium Outlet mall along Interstate 35. The area also has EVgo and ChargePoint stations, which are both DC fast chargers for other types of electric vehicles. (Laura Skelding photo)
Story by Alyssa Dussetschleger 

If you think you're seeing more electric vehicles on the roads of Central Texas, your eyes aren’t lying. By mid-June this year, more than 52,000 electric vehicles — or EVs — were registered in Texas, and 63% of them are model years 2020 or newer, according to data from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.

Title
The charge of the EV Brigade

 Dana Frank charges her 2019 Chevy Bolt electric vehicle at a charging station in San Marcos. Now that she can't charge her vehicle at home overnight, she tries to find places where she can go about her daily routine while charging her car. Sometimes that takes planning. (Laura Skelding photo)

By Dana Frank 

Not so long ago, I drove regular gasoline- or diesel-powered vehicles. When I needed to fuel up, I could feel it in my bones and, of course, see it on the fuel gauge. I filled the tank when, and not before, the gauge neared E.

Title
Miles to go before a charge

Printing supervisor Clifton Green, who has been at the Brenham Banner Press for more than 30 year, checks the calibration of the printing press.

By Ed Crowell

Each issue of a local newspaper offers a time capsule of contemporary life, capturing the ups and downs of any town, big or small.

Community newspapers across the Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative service area are by, for and about local residents. Their unique blend of hyper-local news, school sports stories, community events coverage and personality-driven columns by local residents keeps readers paying attention — and paying to read.

Many of them have been publishing for well over 100 years, too.

Title
Spreading the news

From far left: Viviann in an Easter dress in 2020; a touching portrait of Viviann with mother, Kelsey Snow, taken in April 2021, and Viviann in her purple princess T-shirt at a doctor’s appointment in May. The statement T-shirts were sold as part of a fundraiser to cover costs of her treatment. (Portrait of mother and daughter by Brittany O’Brien of Wild Lovers Photography)

By Melissa Segrest

It started with a stomach bug that most everyone in the family got, around Christmas last year. Everyone got better, but 7-year-old Viviann Snow's stomach pain kept getting worse. 

Title
Cancer picked the wrong princess

Mark and Sunny Woelfel built a 3,200 square-foot barndominium on family land in Giddings. Top right, Amanda and John Hart did all the work themselves building their barndominium in Winchester. (Sarah Beal photos)

Story by Kristin Finan
When Mark and Sunny Woelfel settled onto 3 acres of family land in Giddings in 2014, it was clear they were right where they were meant to be. “It was always a lifelong dream to move to Grandpa’s place,” said Mark Woelfel, a Bluebonnet member.

Title
Booming barndominium life

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Story by Denise Gamino
Photos by Sarah Beal 


Bridges link us together, connecting what divides us.

They span time. They span space. They span history.

Title
Spans of time

What does it take to make a world champion ‘cutter’? Experience, dedication and a well-trained horse with cow sense.

What does it take to make a world champion ‘cutter’? Experience, dedication and a well-trained horse 

By Pam LeBlanc

In a covered arena in Washington County, Constantine Caloudas and his horse Karlos kick up a cloud of dust as they separate a fidgety, rust-colored calf from a milling herd.

As the calf makes a break, the horse instinctively bows low and blocks its way. The calf tries to scramble back to the safety of the herd, but Karlos mirrors every move, keeping it on the run.

Title
The cutting edge