Carl Hoover

5 days ago | wacotrib.com | Carl Hoover

Robotic vehicles whiz across a former school's cafeteria floor. Buzzing drones hover, then fly through hoops erected in another large room. In a hallway, elementary school students fitted with virtual reality goggles paint in the air, using colors only their eyes see. Tabletop Ferris wheels turn slowly on command from young operators. Girls with 3D pens form plastic filaments into bows and other fashion accessories.

1 week ago | wacotrib.com | Carl Hoover

Audiences for the two comedy shows at the Waco Hippodrome this week may feel like the comics’ subjects are hitting close to home, but that’s only because home is where families live. Comic Jon Reep, a “Last Comic Standing” winner with multiple appearances on television, film, online streaming and podcasting, brings his everyman humor to the Hippodrome on Saturday night while comics Lisa Lane, Jody Carroll and Mandy Simonson arrive Tuesday night with their Moms Unhinged standup show.

1 week ago | wacotrib.com | Carl Hoover

Two years after Texas public school students took the tests that drive school accountability scores, the state’s letter-grade report cards for 2023 have arrived, released by the Texas Education Agency late last month. Statewide results show just under three-quarters of the nearly 1,200 school districts graded made a B or a C, with 10.4% receiving As and 16.6% a D or F. In McLennan County, only two districts received As while six, including Waco Independent School District, received D's.

1 week ago | wacotrib.com | Carl Hoover

Waco businessman Taylor Bledsoe won election to the District 4 seat on the Waco Independent School District Board of Trustees on Saturday, defeating McLennan Community College professor Peaches Henry. Bledsoe received 838 votes, or 65.3%, to Henry's 446 votes, 34.7%, of the 1,284 votes cast in the race. "I'm so excited and I'm so humbled," Bledsoe said as the final results came in. "I just love the Waco ISD. I'm a product of the school district and I have kids in the district.

1 week ago | wacotrib.com | Carl Hoover

Art Center Waco trustees are gearing up to find a new leader after Executive Director Meghan Bias decided to resign for family reasons. Bias, whose last day at the center is Friday, has led the center for almost two years. She said in a short interview that the decision to step away to spend more time with her husband and two teenage sons was not an easy one.