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The holiday season is officially underway, with lots of office parties, neighborhood open houses and family dinners. For the friends and families of the 1,246 people killed last year in Texas by drunk drivers, the holidays this year (and for many years to come) will be a time of grief and sadness.

The American Lung Association notes that respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, is a common respiratory virus that produces coldlike symptoms in adults and children. Though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that most cases of RSV go away within two weeks without intervention, the virus can be unpredictable. In fact, the ALA reports that RSV is the leading cause of hospitalization in all infants. In addition, most children have been infected with the virus by the time they are two years old. Such high infection rates understandably leads to questions about transmission of the virus, which the CDC reports can spread in the following ways.

Many people consider New Year’s Day the unofficial end of the holiday season. That often means that New Year’s Eve is an opportunity to socialize, gather and party one final time before returning to the routines of daily life.

Recycling, mulching, wildlife habitats provide good options

Most people likely do not pause to consider they could be a victim of stalking. Stalking might seem something more out of the plot of a movie rather than real life. However, according to the Stalking Resource Center, approximately 7.5 million people are stalked each year in the United States. Many times the victims have been stalked by a current or former intimate partner.

Lee University congratulates Mansfield Yiu of Forney, TX, on earning Dean’s List honors during the Fall 2023 semester.

Landen Vasquez of Forney, Tx recently earned his rank of Eagle Scout. He is a senior at Forney High School and has been active in the band all four years. He is a member of troop 1857. During his scouting career he has held the position of Patrol Leader, Assistant Patrol Leader and is a member of Order of the Arrow Brotherhood. For his Eagle project he built a picnic table for Wildcat Ranch Bike Trail.

As the year ends, so does Texas State Parks’ Centennial Celebration, but the fun doesn’t stop when the clock strikes midnight. Kick off your resolution to explore the outdoors in 2024 with a First Day Hike at a state park, which will host ranger- guided and self-guided walks, bike rides, paddling trips and polar plunges in honor of the national initiative aimed at getting people outdoors.

They might not realize it, but New Year’s Eve celebrants honor a worldrenowned Scottish poet and lyricist each time they sing along to “Auld Lang Syne” as the clock strikes 12 midnight on New Year’s Eve. Robert Burns wrote “Auld Lang Syne” in 1788 and translations regarding what the phrase means vary. Burns wrote the poem in the Scots language, which is a little known language spoken in Scotland and parts of Ulster in Ireland. The phrase is now widely translated as “times long past,” which may explain why it has become the unofficial anthem of New Year’s Eve.

A federal grand jury in Greenbelt, Maryland, returned a superseding indictment, unsealed last week, charging a Maryland man and a Texas man with conspiracy to defraud the United States, filing false income tax returns, aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns and theft of government funds. The Maryland man is also separately charged with tax evasion, willful failure to file income tax returns and bank fraud.

New Year’s Eve is a popular night to go out on the town. It’s customary to usher in a new year with friends and family members, and such gatherings tend to run late as celebrants anxiously await the stroke of midnight.

Traditions are the glue that hold many celebrations together. Individuals and families embrace many customs that serve as the script for commemorating yearend holidays.

New Year’s Eve is one of the most festive nights of the year. Despite its reputation for revelry, New Year’s Eve also can be dangerous, which underscores the need to celebrate responsibly when ringing in a new year.