Stories from Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Grayson Patton wasn't due to arrive for at least two more days. Rylan Jones had another 13 days before he was expected. It seemed both of them had other plans. At 4:44 a.m. Sunday, Patton was welcomed into the world, becoming the first baby born in Elmore County for 2016 with Jones following at 3:26 p.m. at the hospital at Mountain Home Air Force Base...

The sound of passing cars and trucks broke the silence as Tom Rist reflected on a career spanning nearly a quarter century. Resting his hands on the desk, he locked his fingers together as he tried to summarize a career that saw its fair share of tremendous accomplishments and unexpected setbacks...

Last week, the Mountain Home News looked at the top 10 stories of the year with a month-by-month breakdown of major stories from the first half of the year. This week, the newspaper takes a look at the stories from the second half of 2015, which included a number of changes affecting Mountain Home and surrounding communities...

Classes at Hacker Middle School were cancelled on Wednesday after rain water leaked through the roof over a section of the school. Citing safety concerns, school officials opted to cancel classes at the school until maintenance crews could finish cleaning up hallways and classrooms that had water dripping through the ceiling.

Edwin "Eddie" Michael McConnell, 51 of Mountain Home, passed away Monday, Jan. 4, 2016 in Fort Worth, Texas. A graveside service will be held Friday, Jan. 15, 2016, at 2 p.m. at Mountain View Cemetery in Mountain Home.