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9-11 remembrances highlight another busy week of events across Kerr County
Friday brings three separate ways to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, alongside a midweek event tied to Kerrville’s own flood recovery.
The Lead’s stories
Schreiner outlasts Austin College 33-27 in program’s first game since 1956
First-year coach Keith Allen didn’t sugarcoat his team’s first outing. Asked what went well, he said: “We scored more points than the opposing team.” Asked what didn’t: “Everything else. We’ve got to clean up a lot of stuff.”
Kerr County gas prices near record highs, far above last year’s rates
Statewide, regular gasoline is up from $2.77 a gallon a year ago — an increase of nearly 33%. Nationally, the trend looks similar. AAA’s national average stood at $4.14 a gallon this week, up from $3.19 a gallon a year ago, a jump of about 30%.
Schreiner brings football home for the first time since the 1950s, with a roster built from Texas
The Mountaineers open the season at 6 p.m. Saturday against Austin College at Antler Stadium, the first of five home dates this fall under a new agreement that lets Schreiner share Kerrville ISD’s stadium with Tivy High School.
Planning and Zoning Commission approves Texan Store truck stop and gas station
One commissioner said they’d gone into the meeting skeptical about putting a truck stop at one of the city’s main entry points, but came away impressed after reviewing the company’s site plan and existing locations, calling it a well-designed property.
Trump says he’s sending Texas $50.5 million for storm recovery — no word on what it covers
The obvious question locally: does this have anything to do with the flooding that hit Kerrville and the rest of the Hill Country in July?
Truck stop and gas station chain eyes Sidney Baker Street site near I-10
The commission meets at 4 p.m. at City Hall. The only public hearing item on the agenda is Case PZ-2026-16, a bundle of three conditional use permits covering roughly 12.57 acres on Sidney Baker Street, on and around the site of a former Exxon station.
Federal judge approves Meta settlement sending over $1 billion to Texas — and rewiring teens’ social media
The multistate group that tried the case will receive a minimum of $12.1 billion and up to $17.1 billion — described by New Jersey’s attorney general, a co-leader of the litigation, as the largest state consumer protection settlement in history outside the 1990s tobacco deals.
Veterans Benefits Fair returns Sept. 3 — and won’t be back until 2028
The fair runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Happy State Bank Expo Hall at the Hill Country Youth Event Center, 3785 Texas 27. Admission and parking are free, door prizes will be given away every half hour, and two food trucks will be on site.
Two more Kerr County offices set to reopen at courthouse next week
The Kerr County Clerk’s Office and the Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office will both return to the Kerr County Courthouse next week, marking the latest offices to reopen at 700 Main Street since flood damage forced them out.
Flood debris trucks roll Wednesday: Kerr County launches 3-week C&D pickup in unincorporated areas
Household garbage will not be collected, and Sheriff Larry Leitha has warned that his office will take a zero-tolerance approach to anyone illegally dumping garbage into flood debris piles.
Ingram, Hunt lead the way in Kerr County statewide academic scores
Ingram and Hunt ISDs earned some of the strongest numbers in the county, Kerrville ISD showed signs of a rebound alongside a few slipping campuses, and Center Point ISD saw declines at two of its three campuses.
The top 25 moments from Lead Live’s Fifth Annual Nonprofit Week — so far
Sixty-eight segments. 121 guests. Six broadcast days, totaling more than 30 hours. What follows are the 25 moments from The Lead Live’s Fifth Annual Nonprofit Week that we can’t stop thinking about — the revelations, the stories, and the lines that captured something true about Kerr County in the summer of 2026.
Kerr County weather: First 100-degree stretch of the year arrives this weekend
Saturday is mostly sunny and hot, with a high near 101 and a heat index as high as 104. Light and variable wind will become south-southeast at 5 to 10 mph in the afternoon. Skies turn partly cloudy Saturday night, with a low around 74 and south wind 5 to 10 mph.
Kerr Together has been coordinating flood recovery for a year — and couldn’t legally accept a donation the whole time
Temporary housing remains a significant unsolved problem. Local Airbnb credits are exhausted. The rental market — high prices, low inventory — has pushed some displaced residents to look as far as Fredericksburg and Bandera.
The Lead’s Special Report
The monster in the canyon: What the storm actually was — and what was never asked
Nine months after the flood, federal meteorologists tell the full story. In 15 hours of legislative testimony this week, none of it came up.
At 12:56 a.m. on July 4, 2025, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Austin sent a message through its professional communications platform: “Some cell mergers about to take place in central Kerr County. This will be an area to watch for potential flash flooding.”
Eighteen minutes later, a flash flood warning went out to cell phones across the Hunt area — the ninth such warning issued for the Guadalupe River corridor since 2020. The previous eight had all expired without a mass casualty event.
By 4:03 a.m., NWS had upgraded that warning to a Flash Flood Emergency — the most urgent alert the agency can issue. Kerr County Emergency Management Coordinator Dub Thomas was home sick that night. Whether anyone else in Kerr County’s emergency structure was actively monitoring professional NWS channels during those critical hours remains unknown. Read more: https://kerrcountylead.com/the-monster-in-the-canyon-what-the-storm-actually-was-and-what-was-never-asked/
The Lead’s Special Sections
Nonprofit Week 2026
All Hands and Hearts: ‘Flash flooding typically doesn’t go for 20 miles’
The organization is working in close collaboration with Texas State University and San Antonio regional VOAD — Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters — networks to develop and share mitigation education more broadly.
Light on the Hill: 469 households reached, 200 more this week, and a food pantry Monday morning
Palmer appeared as the opening guest of Nonprofit Week’s final day to describe an organization that has been in continuous disaster response mode since July 4, 2025 — and is, by her own honest assessment, running a marathon with no finish line in sight.
Reach Global: ‘People over projects’ — and a daughter born in a baptistry at the peak of the flood
Reach Global Crisis Response was founded by Mark Lewis during Hurricane Katrina after he observed something most disaster relief organizations miss: survivors often experience their deepest emotional trauma not during the disaster but after — when the crews leave, the house goes quiet, and the weight of what happened finally lands. The organization’s entire model is built to address that gap.
Water Street Festival returns Oct. 24 — and a three-year-old’s dance at Francisco’s is why
Sigerman, a Kerrville City Councilmember, appeared to promote the second annual Water Street Festival — Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. — and to make the case that community events are not optional extras in a flood recovery economy. They are economic survival.
Schreiner Songkeepers: a world-class violist, a strong opinion about AI, and a man who used it to leave a final album for his family
The program works with students of any level. Caldwell described a collaboration with Mac Damon of Stone Creek Sound in which a student who simply wants to write a song about their dog can emerge with a professionally recorded track.
Hill Country Ministries: 192 countries, 10 million emails, Stage 3 cancer, and ‘use it for my glory’
“God impressed on me: use it for my glory,” she said Monday on The Lead Live’s Nonprofit Week — the final guest of the final day of The Lead Live’s Fifth Annual Nonprofit Week.
Kerr Kids: a military helicopter flew over, and a mother decided her children needed somewhere to play
The operating model is deliberate and worth understanding: Kerr Kids is a stay-and-play facility. Parents do not drop children off and leave. They stay and play alongside their kids. Chavez described watching something she did not expect.
Texas Hill Country Trail Alliance: $113,800 raised, 100 acres of undeveloped park, and a rule about carpet
The alliance’s primary project is Singing Wind Park — 100 acres of city-owned land on the outskirts of Kerrville that has long been underutilized.
Kerr Arts and Cultural Center: Navigating building capacity and there’s a vault sale in the basement
“There’s been so much exhaustion when it comes to the impact of the floods and giving,” she said Monday on The Lead Live’s Nonprofit Week. “All we’re all hungry right now. People just aren’t giving to the arts right now.”
The top 25 moments from Lead Live’s Fifth Annual Nonprofit Week — so far
Sixty-eight segments. 121 guests. Six broadcast days, totaling more than 30 hours. What follows are the 25 moments from The Lead Live’s Fifth Annual Nonprofit Week that we can’t stop thinking about — the revelations, the stories, and the lines that captured something true about Kerr County in the summer of 2026.
Arts and Culture
9-11 remembrances highlight another busy week of events across Kerr County
Friday brings three separate ways to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, alongside a midweek event tied to Kerrville’s own flood recovery.
From gourds to Guadalupe: a week that has something for everyone
Between Monday and Sunday, residents can choose from wildflower walks, wheel-throwing, wine socials, a veterans benefits fair, a Schreiner football home opener, and a folk festival with a headline act — often several in a single evening.
Butt-Holdsworth turns 59 Wednesday — and wants your memories for its 60th
But this year’s party comes with an assignment: the library is collecting community memories ahead of its 60th anniversary in 2027.
Photo galleries
Photo gallery: Schreiner football makes its historic return
The Schreiner University football program made its historic return on Saturday night at Antler Stadium.
Photo gallery: Schreiner women’s soccer exhibition against Concordia
The Schreiner University women’s soccer team opened its season on Sunday by playing host to Concordia Texas i
Photo gallery: Tailchasers, Central Provisions take top honors at inaugural Salsa Fest
Trailhead Beer Garden’s first-ever Salsa Fest drew 16 Makers and 28 salsas Saturday, with Tasters crowning winners in Red and Green categories.
Photo gallery: Hill Country Arts Foundation’s Hot Shakespeare at Arcadia Live
A night of painful delight at Arcadia Live.
Photo gallery: July 18, 2026 flood recovery
Across Kerr County on July 18, the community came together to help feed residents who were displaced by the July 16, 2026 flood.
Photo gallery: July 17, 2026 flood recovery
The day after the July 16, 2026 flood, Kerrville and Kerr County tried to pick up the pieces following a devastating event that damaged hundreds of homes and businesses.
Photo gallery: July 16, 2026 flood in Kerr County
In the early morning hours of July 16, 2026, another devastating flood tore through Kerr County, leaving one man dead in Kerrville.
Photo gallery: The 2026 Down Home Parade in Center Point
The Center Point community gathered in force on Saturday for the annual Down Home Parade
Photo gallery: The Lead’s Fourth on the River photos since 2022
Since 2022, The Kerr County Lead has covered Fourth on the River from the crowd at Louise Hays Park — the bands, the fireworks, the kids splashing in the Guadalupe, the whole town turning out for the Hill Country’s biggest Independence Day party.
Photo gallery: The 2026 Bluebell Bike Parade
Riders of all ages decorated their bikes before setting off on the charming neighborhood parade route, adding a lighthearted, family-friendly moment to the holiday.
Sports
Schreiner men shine at cross country season opener
Nico Lopez led the Mountaineers, finishing third overall in 16:18.70 — the runner-up time among scoring competitors, 21 seconds behind individual scoring champion Jeremiah Calderon of UMHB (15:59.92).
Schreiner outlasts Austin College 33-27 in program’s first game since 1956
First-year coach Keith Allen didn’t sugarcoat his team’s first outing. Asked what went well, he said: “We scored more points than the opposing team.” Asked what didn’t: “Everything else. We’ve got to clean up a lot of stuff.”
Photo gallery: Schreiner football makes its historic return
The Schreiner University football program made its historic return on Saturday night at Antler Stadium.
Schreiner University Sports Pages
Obituaries
Jason Landrum: Aug. 24, 1984-Aug. 30, 2026
Jason was a one-of-a-kind person who found joy in the simple things he loved most. He enjoyed fishing, cosplay, and watching movies, and he had a genuine passion for knives and swords.
Everett Eugene Alexander Jr.: Dec. 5, 1963-Sept. 1, 2026
Alongside his career in law enforcement, he was an incredibly skilled and passionate carpenter. He loved working with his hands and poured his heart into building beautiful, lasting things.
Cora Belle Nunn: Aug. 3, 1936-Aug. 29, 2026
he was involved with several organizations including the First Presbyterian Church, Kerrville State Hospital, and was a Dietert Center clown for many years. She enjoyed playing the piano at several nursing homes in Kerrville.
Jeanine Marie Griffith: Jan. 4, 1943-Aug. 30, 2026
She was an underground miner at a time when women made up only a tiny percentage of the mining workforce. She did work most people could never imagine, facing challenges that demanded courage, endurance, and determination. She did it because her children needed her, and she never stopped showing up for them.
Charles Patrick Smith: Jan. 5, 1944-Aug. 23, 2026
Deeply committed to his community, he volunteered for many years as a water sample collector for UGRA, at the Nature Center caring for bird feeders, as well as at the local VA Hospital Museum and charter member of AMVETS.
Community voices
Wayne Uecker: So, God made a small-town Texas business owner
In this Paul Harvey-inspired piece, Kerrville resident Wayne Uecker praises the small business owners of Kerr County.
Editorial: A year later, the hardest comment to hear
So when “nobody told us” gets said out loud, a year on, it lands as a heavy sigh for everyone who has spent that year telling. The nonprofits that stood up relief funds within the week. The case managers. The volunteers.
Commentary: How a trip to Ingram helped bond, unite the San Antonio Spurs to greatness
That trip was initiated by Spurs ownership and management, but it was executed by head coach Mitch Johnson, who made trips to Kerr County in the days immediately after the flood. Johnson saw the devastation firsthand through his volunteer efforts; he connected with the community, especially Ingram Tom Moore football coach and athletic director Tate DeMasco.
They came for Brenda Hughes. Here’s what they used — and what the truth is.
This has been an extraordinary campaign. Not because of anything Hughes has done, but because of what has been done to her.
The Mission of The Kerr County Lead
Covering community news in the heart of the Hill Country.
Founded in 2021, The Kerr County Lead aims to provide high-quality journalism for Kerrville, Texas and the surrounding communities of the splendid Texas Hill Country. In the coming years, Texas faces exponential growth and the challenges of managing land, resources and water. At the same time, the Hill Country offers a robust quality of life and culture. With this mission, The Lead focuses its work on the stories that matter most to the readers in Kerr County.
