Another year is in the books, and Brownwoodnews.com has once again had a good year. With over five million page views in 2022, clearly the folks of Central Texas are looking to us for their primary source of news. We thank you, humbly.
Every year has its good and bad happenings. In the good column, COVID seemed to go away somewhat in 2022 and allow life to get back to normal, somewhat. But still, it never went away, with new mutations appearing and new cases every week in Brown County as well as across the country. So COVID lands in both the Good and Bad columns.
In the business world, business was good in Brown County in 2022, with increased sales tax receipts in Bangs, Brownwood, and especially in Early. Downtown Brownwood continues its revival with new businesses and restaurants opening and succeeding, as well as new businesses in Commerce Square.
In Sports, Central Texas did very well in high school football this year with four area teams winning District championships (Brownwood, Comanche, Zephyr, and Rising Star). Eight more area teams qualified for the playoffs (Early, Coleman, May, Blanket, Richland Springs, Brady, Cross Plains, and Bangs). The Howard Payne University Yellow Jackets had another great season, finishing with a record of 7-3 for the second year in a row.
On the Good News side of things in Texas and the nation, the Houston Astros won the World Series this year. The Dallas Cowboys have had a good season so far with a record of 12 – 4, we’ll see how far they go in the NFL playoffs. Also on the good news side, NASA successfully launched and put into service the James Webb Telescope, which is already producing incredible images as it can peer deeper into space than ever before. It is an amazing scientific and technical achievement, and it is only getting started. Also NASA finally launched an uncrewed Artemis spacecraft and successfully flew it around the moon and back to earth, setting the stage for a crewed mission soon, and hopefully a return to the moon for the first time since 1972.
In the Bad News column, politics was as rancid as ever in 2022, but what else is new? Inflation remained high all year, and the stock market lost significant value. The Texas Rangers stunk, again. But at least they finally replaced their general manager, hired a great field manager in Bruce Bochy, and have signed some good free agent players. So the future should be better for the Texas Rangers.
Below are the Top Ten most read stories of the year on Brownwoodnews.com. They cover business, sports, crime, agriculture, entertainment, politics, etc. Interestingly, the #5 story on this year’s list is actually a story from 2021, but it continued to get high readership in 2022. Here are the stories, in order, with date of publication, and the total number of page views. Thanks again for reading us this year, and we look forward to bringing you the local news in 2023.
#1. Published July 8. 15,591 page views.
Richland Springs Native Tyler Ethridge Arrested For Involvement In Jan. 6 Capitol Riot
#2. Published July 1. 13,694 page views.
PRUSSIC ACID POISONING STRIKES CENTRAL TEXAS AREA
#3. Published June 29. 12,854 page views.
Longtime Local Radio Personality To Retire Thursday
#4. Published September 12. 9,273 page views.
Richland Springs’ Burkhart Ruled To Have Recruited Player, Suspended Three Years By UIL
#5. Published July 26, 2021. 7,789 page views.
Star Of A&E’s American Hoggers Jerry Campbell Passes Away
#6. Published December 24. 6,831 page views.
Texas Attorney General Sues To Protect The State Working With Religious Foster Care Organizations
#7. Published November 3. 6,055 page views.
Former Kroger Building In Brownwood Sold
#8. Published March 17. 5,413 page views.
Firefighters Battling Large Grass Fires Across The County
#9. Published September 9. 4,937 page views.
#10. Published September 12. 4,422 page views.
Early Coach Arrested On Charge Of Sexual Performance Of A Child
Happy New Year!