Waco Tribune-Herald

The Bellmead City Council made minor changes to a controversial beautification ordinance Tuesday but postponed a decision on major revisions. Full Story »

Art Center Waco, 1300 College Drive, is offering a handmade soaps class from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday. Full Story »

Business experts and owners aren’t expecting President Barack Obama’s proposal to have much bearing on Waco’s small-business community because there is little in the plan to address the main problems they face: tight credit and slow sales. Full Story »

A former housekeeper at a Waco retirement center will spend the next two years in jail for stealing and forging checks from elderly residents. Full Story »

The McLennan County Commissioners Court is hoping that a new doctor at the county jail will provide more hands-on management and cost control of medical services to inmates. Full Story »

A group of volunteers will be serving ham dinners with a side of census information to local residents at H-E-B’s annual Feast of Sharing on Thursday. Full Story »

Waco home sales in October and November were up from the same two months last year, according to figures provided by the Multiple Listing Service. Full Story »

Those looking for work did not find good news in reports released Tuesday. Full Story »

Bosque County sheriff’s deputies found a woman’s body Tuesday in Lake Whitney near Soldier’s Bluff, said Kelly Olson, assistant to Sheriff Anthony Malott. Full Story »

A Tuesday morning collision in the southbound lanes of Interstate 35 in Lorena killed a 9-year-old girl from Missouri and injured three others. The collision caused another wreck in the northbound lanes of the interstate, forcing all traffic on I-35 to be diverted to access roads for at least an hour and a half , Lorena police officer William Stogner said. Full Story »

A Pentecostal pastor who bought a portion of the life insurance policy of an AIDS patient and Life Partners Inc., the Waco-based company that brokered the deal 13 years ago, settled their breach of contract lawsuit Tuesday after a day and a half of trial. Full Story »

An animal caused a malfunction at an electricity substation Monday evening, cutting power to some 1,300 residents in the Cameron Park area. Full Story »

The Waco Civic Theatre, 1517 Lake Air Drive, will present “The Sunshine Boys,” by Neil Simon, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Dec. 18-19; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, and Dec. 20. Full Story »

The only way to Pam McPeak’s Little People’s Learning Center sits off North New Road on a bumpy, crater-ridden street in need of at least $30,000 worth of attention. And, there’s no one to pick up the tab. Full Story »

Mother Neff State Park officials are making stops around the area this week, holding public meetings to elicit input regarding renovations and rehabilitation at the park. Full Story »

A former retirement center housekeeper who stole and forged checks totaling $2,100 from elderly residents is asking a McLennan County jury to spare him from prison. Full Story »

A Mart woman who stole about $55,000 from a local nonprofit agency was placed on probation Monday and ordered to repay the money. Full Story »

A Waco woman bonded out of jail Monday after being charged with failing to report the sexual abuse of two young girls over a two-month period last year. Full Story »

Van Taylor, who ran against U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, in 2006, is out of McLennan County, but he’s not out of politics. Full Story »

Three Corsicana men were being held Monday in the Navarro County Jail on murder charges in connection with the Thursday evening shooting death of Ty Lott, a 32-year-old father of two. Full Story »

A 23-year-old Waco man was arrested Saturday after police say he had consensual sex with a girl under the age of 17, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. Full Story »

Houston authorities Monday morning captured the 49-year-old convicted rapist who they say escaped from a prison van late last month and was thought to have come to Waco. Full Story »

During a speech Monday at Scott & White, the state health commissioner encouraged Texans to continue seeking out H1N1 flu vaccine, saying no one can predict when another wave of the illness might hit. Full Story »

Sherri Knight will discuss her new book, Vigilantes to Verdicts: Stories From a Texas District Court, at a meeting of the Hill County Genealogical Society at 6:30 tonight in the meeting room in the Hill County Courthouse Annex, 126 S. Covington St. in Hillsboro. Full Story »

Texas Ranger Museum and Hall of Fame officials say they are resolving their graveyard issues and heading toward a construction boom. Full Story »