To hear David Clark tell it, there's a reason Benedictine monks cultivated hops plants for centuries.

A new four-home subdivision could be on the horizon for Bridgewater after Town Council voted unanimously Tuesday to award Bob Cook a special-use permit.

In the Shenandoah Valley, it's easy to get swept up in the excitement of antique shopping.

The Katy ISD Board of Trustees approved the debt service and maintenance and operations tax rates for 2013-14, maintaining the same tax rate for seven consecutive years. The debt services tax rate was approved at $0.40 per $100 valuation and provides funds to service the District’s debt for the 2013-14 fiscal year.

To the unaccustomed eye, the scene looked chaotic. Wheelchairs bashed into one another, and players batted an uncooperative ball that refused to settle into anyone's possession. But slowly, as seconds ticked by, the beauty of quad rugby -- popularly known as murderball -- unfolded.

KATY (CoveringKaty.com) In a country full of boxing gyms, jiu jitsu schools, and world-famous coaches riding the wave of mixed martial arts fame, there’s only one place for rising women’s MMA superstar, undefeated Lauren Taylor-Murphy—right here in Katy. Born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska Taylor-Murphy began fighting in 2010 in her home state.

The biggest misconception about the Anchorage Senior Activities Center is its very nature. "We have a number who think it's a residential center," said Charles Osborne, program coordinator for the center. "They'll call and ask if we have openings for another resident."

In the world of health care, chaplains play an important role in maintaining the human side of a hospital. A program at Providence Alaska Medical Center, the only one of its kind in the state, delivers the training chaplains need to balance medicine, the spirit and the tough questions that follow when the two meet.

With Cat Zingano out of the coaching position opposite women's bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey on the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC announced Miesha Tate as Zingano's replacement. Despite being the No. 3 contender behind Zingano and No. 2 Sarah Kaufman, the decision-makers over at Zuffa may have just hit ratings gold.

Megan Applegate recaps the sixth episode of Vikings season 2…. This week’s episode title, “Unforgiven” could have been interpreted a couple ways. Jarl Borg journeys from his home to Kattegat with Rollo to forge a new, better-than-the-last-time-these-guys-screwed-me-over deal with Ragnar and King Horik.

The names Judy Smith, Kenneth Wellington and Ned -Griest may not be familiar to most Anchorage residents. But to members of the Alaska Mental Health Consumer Web, they were peers, fellow travelers and friends. Smith, Wellington and -Griest were just three of nearly 70 names read as part of a celebration of life held Tuesday honoring homeless men and women who have died on the streets of Anchorage in the past years.

KATY (Covering Katy) – The mascot has been chosen. (Falcons, in case you haven’t heard). School colors have been selected (crimson, navy, and white). The paint is drying on classroom walls. Staff members will soon begin to move into the 600,000 square foot Obra D. Tompkins High School in Katy and next month, the class of 2017 will begin its journey to the first graduating class in school history.

I've never been one to wish the end of a fighting career on anyone (there are plenty of shady promotions and freak injuries out there to do that for me), but as we approach our last few UFC cards of the year, you can't help but wonder who's in and who's out in the new year. The following predictions are mostly speculation mixed with a little bit of hope (in a certain case, anyway) and absolutely no basis in fact.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - "What's a pretty girl like you doing in a sport like this?" If I had a dollar for every time I heard that in the weeks before my Alaska Fighting Championship debut, I would have made my prize money twice over. In a sport that's just beginning to find its place in mainstream American culture, there still is little room for women to be taken seriously.

It's about more than the flowers, the sash or the crown for newly appointed Miss Alaska 2006 Stephanie Wonchala. For her, winning the title and the official state preliminary pageant to the Miss America Program, is about taking her passion and hard work to the next level.

The losses from the fire in Hooper Bay are still being felt as the village picks up the pieces remaining from the Aug. 3 blaze. Among the destruction was the town's school -- and along with it, most of the community's books. "There are parents and grandparents trying to figure out how to keep their children busy when their school is gone, their gym is gone and all their belongings," first lady Nancy Murkowski said.