🗺️ MICROPLEX NEWS 🗺️
Tarleton stays perfect • Early voting Monday • Mostly sunny 👇
📅 October 18th, 2026AD
The top 10 stories everyone around the Hood County Microplex is talking about right now.
📋 TODAY'S TOP 10
1. 🏈 Tarleton rallies to stay 7-0
2. ☀️ Mostly sunny, 73; 77 Monday
3. 🗳️ Early voting opens Monday
4. 🐾 Aledo runs past Arlington
5. ✈️ Drone maker builds at airport
6. 🛒 Pantry drive runs to Nov. 30
7. ⛪ Bono Baptist marks 150 years
8. ❤️ Hospitals earn heart honors
9. 🌳 Poolville church bounces back
10. 📸 Photographers plan first show
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🏈 TARLETON RALLIES PAST CENTRAL ARKANSAS TO STAY 7-0
Tarleton State scored 21 fourth-quarter points to beat Central Arkansas 49-35 in its Homecoming game Saturday night at Memorial Stadium in Stephenville, the university's athletics department reported.
The game was tied at 28 entering the final period.
Quarterback Kaden Anderson threw a career-high five touchdown passes and finished 21 of 29 for 279 yards. Bryce Green broke a 72-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
The No. 2 Texans are now 7-0 and in position to claim the top FCS ranking for the first time in program history, after No. 1 South Dakota State lost to North Dakota.
Tarleton plays at West Georgia at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24.
📍 Next: at West Georgia, Oct. 24
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
☀️ MOSTLY SUNNY AND 73 TODAY; 77 ON MONDAY
AccuWeather reported 51 degrees and sunny skies in Granbury at 9:43 a.m.
Skies turn mostly sunny today with a high near 73 and an east-southeast wind of 0 to 5 mph, the National Weather Service says.
Tonight looks mostly clear with a low around 49. Monday stays sunny with a high near 77.
No weather watches, warnings or advisories are in effect for Hood County this morning.
🌡️ Granbury, 9:43 a.m.: 51°, sunny
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🗳️ EARLY VOTING OPENS MONDAY ACROSS TEXAS
Early voting for the Nov. 3 election starts statewide Monday, Oct. 19, and runs through Friday, Oct. 30, according to the state's VoteTexas.gov site.
Hood County voters cast early ballots in the Annex 1 meeting room, 1410 W. Pearl St. in Granbury, the Hood County News reported.
Parker County lists seven sites: its elections building at 801 Santa Fe Dr. in Weatherford, plus Springtown, Peaster, Aledo, Hudson Oaks, Azle and Brock.
Both counties are open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 19-23, then 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Oct. 24 and Oct. 26-30. Sunday, Oct. 25, hours are 9 a.m.-3 p.m. in Hood and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. in Parker.
📅 Election Day: Tuesday, Nov. 3
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🐾 ALEDO RUNS PAST ARLINGTON 42-28
Aledo's football team built a 35-7 halftime lead and held on to beat Arlington 42-28 Friday night at Maverick Stadium on the UT Arlington campus, The Community News reported.
The Bearcats scored on their first play from scrimmage, a 59-yard touchdown run.
They finished with 273 rushing yards, their most this season, according to MaxPreps. Arlington answered with three rushing touchdowns after the break.
"We came out in the second half, scored, and it's almost like the wheels fell off," head coach Robby Jones said.
Aledo, now 4-3, hosts Weatherford on Friday, Oct. 23.
📍 Next: Weatherford at Aledo, Oct. 23
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
✈️ DRONE MAKER BUILDS AT MINERAL WELLS AIRPORT
XMX Defense has begun construction and facility buildouts at Mineral Wells Regional Airport for unmanned aircraft assembly, engineering, maintenance, training and flight operations, Defense Advancement reported.
The company has leased multiple existing airport facilities and marked the launch with an Oct. 3 groundbreaking.
"Most of us in the company are veterans of some kind," co-founder and CEO Clay Kroschel said.
Mayor Pro Tem Beth Watson tied the project to the city's past as home of Fort Wolters, an Army helicopter training center.
XMX is also setting up a Texas Unmanned Systems Defense Center of Excellence.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🛒 MISSION GRANBURY DRIVE AIMS TO STOCK PANTRY
Mission Granbury's Stock the Block drive runs through Nov. 30, with a goal of collecting enough food and money to supply its pantry for the entire fiscal year, the Hood County News reported.
Its new Mission Market at 3611 Plaza E Court opened Oct. 9 with indoor shopping and online ordering for pickup.
It now serves about 350 households a week, Deputy Director Justin Rossner said. All six mobile pantries in the county closed over the past year, as the newspaper previously reported.
Businesses, schools and other groups can pick up collection bins at Mission Granbury.
🕒 Pantry: 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday; 2-5 p.m. Wednesday
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
⛪ BONO BAPTIST CHURCH MARKS 150 YEARS TODAY
Bono Baptist Church is celebrating 150 years of faith, fellowship and service to the Johnson County community this weekend, the Cleburne Times-Review reported.
The anniversary festivities were set to begin at 6 p.m. Saturday with a fish fry and special worship service.
Today's schedule includes coffee and doughnuts at 10 a.m., followed by a special commemorative worship service at 11 a.m.
🕒 Today: coffee 10 a.m.; service 11 a.m.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
❤️ CLEBURNE, HUGULEY HOSPITALS EARN HEART HONORS
Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Cleburne and Texas Health Huguley Hospital Fort Worth South were recently recognized by the American Heart Association, the Cleburne Times-Review reported.
The recognition covers their commitment to quality cardiovascular, stroke and diabetes care.
Both hospitals received multiple honors through the association's Get With The Guidelines program. It recognizes facilities for following evidence-based treatment guidelines and improving patient outcomes.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🌳 POOLVILLE CHURCH BOUNCES BACK FROM 2024 STORM
Poolville Global United Methodist Church will welcome worshippers to Celebration Sunday at 10 a.m. Nov. 1, the Weatherford Democrat reported, 141 years after the church's founding.
The property sustained serious storm damage in 2024, and the Tabernacle Oak that stood nearby did not survive.
An enormous burl from the old oak is now the podium in the rebuilt tabernacle.
The church also keeps the Blessing Box, a free pantry in its parking lot stocked for community needs.
📅 Celebration Sunday: Nov. 1, 10 a.m.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📸 CLEBURNE PHOTOGRAPHERS PLAN FIRST GALLERY SHOW
The newly formed Cleburne Photography Society will display the work of local photographers at its inaugural gallery show, Nov. 7-28 at the Cleburne Public Library, the Cleburne Times-Review reported.
Admission is free, and the exhibition will feature original prints from the society's founding members.
Founding members range from professionals to first-time hobbyists.
📍 Cleburne Public Library
📅 Nov. 7-28; free
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
THE BOTTOM LINE
🏈 Tarleton beats Central Arkansas 49-35 to go 7-0.
🗳️ Early voting opens Monday and runs through Oct. 30.
🛒 Mission Granbury's pantry drive runs through Nov. 30.
☀️ Mostly sunny today with a high near 73.
Six counties. One region. Plenty happening.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Hood County Express — Est'd 1/26 🚂
© 2026 Hood County Express. All Rights Reserved
HoodCountyExpress.com
