Diboll survived layoffs, an associated national recession, change at the top of both the city and school district and a hurricane to end 2008 a little bloodied but unbowed as citizens look to the new year. Here is the Free Press list of the biggest stories of 2008. We are not attaching numbers to them because several of these are very close in importance. More...

Ask Dennis McDuffie his thoughts for the new year and you get a lot more than you bargained for. Diboll's incoming city manager already is raring to go and hopes to be "spending most of my time in Diboll" after the first of the year. He has some last minute details to attend to in McGregor, his current employer, until around Jan. 8, then he hopes to be here full time. More...