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Daily Ledger
Daily digest straight from the source
Friday, October 30, 2026
The lead · Oct 30
The Flood Watch for Lubbock and the South Plains was extended through 8 p.m. Friday as heavy rain continues
The National Weather Service in Lubbock reissued its Flood Watch late Thursday, Oct. 29, keeping Lubbock County and much of the South Plains and southern Panhandle under the watch until 8 p.m. Friday. Showers and thunderstorms are expected through Friday evening, some with heavy rainfall that could flood creeks, low-lying spots and flood-prone streets.
The watch covers counties including Hockley, Lynn, Crosby, Hale, Lamb, Terry, Garza, Floyd and Swisher; a separate watch runs to 7 p.m. for Dawson, Gaines, Borden and Scurry. KLBK put the chance of rain Friday at 90% with highs in the mid-50s to mid-60s and a slight risk of flooding across the region.
Sources National Weather Service · EverythingLubbock
More Local
Friday is the last day of early voting; Lubbock County polls are open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Gov. Abbott stumps in town at midday
Friday, Oct. 30, is the final day of early voting for the Nov. 3 general and special elections, and Lubbock County voting sites are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., KCBD reported. Voters can cast a ballot at any United Supermarkets, Market Street or Amigos location.
The ballot includes Gov. Greg Abbott against Democrat Gina Hinojosa, the U.S. Senate race between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico, and the 19th Congressional District contest between Republican Tom Sell and Democrat Kyle Rable for Rep. Jodey Arrington's seat. Abbott is scheduled to hold a get-out-the-vote event at 12:15 p.m. Friday at The Funky Door Bistro & Wine Room, 6801 Milwaukee Ave. Election Day is Tuesday.
Sources KCBD
Lubbock ISD earned a perfect 100 on the state's school financial integrity rating, its 25th straight A
Lubbock ISD earned a perfect score of 100 out of 100 on the Texas Education Agency's School Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas, the district announced Thursday, Oct. 29, KCBD and EverythingLubbock reported. It is the district's 25th consecutive A, or Superior Achievement, rating since the state created the system in 2001.
The rating measures the financial management, health and stewardship of Texas public school districts. Chief Financial Officer Dewayne Wilkins credited the district's financial and business operations teams, and Superintendent Kathy Rollo said the score reflects strong stewardship of taxpayer dollars that directly benefit classrooms, staff and students.
Sources KCBD · EverythingLubbock
Chancellor Brandon Creighton is positioning Texas Tech as a national model for his higher-education overhaul, the Tribune reports
Nearly a year into his tenure as Texas Tech chancellor, former state Sen. Brandon Creighton is going further than the higher-education laws he wrote, positioning Tech as a model for other universities, The Texas Tribune reported Thursday, Oct. 29. One of his first acts required faculty across Tech's five universities to seek approval before teaching lessons involving gender identity, sexual orientation or certain ideas about race and sex.
Creighton has touted ties to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and a partnership with Nvidia. Supporters such as former Abbott adviser John Colyandro praise the reset. Critics including AAUP Texas President Teresa Klein say it is driving faculty away; faculty groups are suing Creighton and the regents over alleged censorship.
Sources The Texas Tribune
Advanced GraphixNorth Lubbock residents filed a state complaint over dust blowing from a nearby concrete company
Residents of North Lubbock are raising concerns about dust blowing from a nearby concrete company and what it could mean for air quality and the Canyon Lakes system, including Lake 7, which is being developed as part of the city's future water supply, EverythingLubbock reported Thursday, Oct. 29.
Alice Lozada, president of the North Lubbock Neighborhood Association, said she and her husband recorded dust blowing through the area on Oct. 5. She has filed a complaint with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which she said told her it has received numerous complaints from Lubbock residents. Residents want companies to control dust on windy days. The company did not respond to EverythingLubbock's request for comment.
Sources EverythingLubbock
Jurors are expected to get the case Friday against a former nurse charged in a ventilator-dependent infant's 2023 death
Closing arguments and jury deliberations are expected Friday morning, Oct. 30, in the Lubbock trial of a 71-year-old former licensed vocational nurse charged with recklessly causing injury to a child by failing to provide proper medical care, KCBD reported Thursday.
Court documents say the nurse was caring for a 4-month-old with a rare genetic disorder that required a ventilator on Jan. 18, 2023, while the child's parents were inside the home. The state alleges the child's tracheotomy tube was disconnected and the nurse ignored a high-priority ventilation alarm several times until the mother walked in and saw the child becoming discolored. The child went into cardiac arrest and died eight days later.
Sources KCBD
Clocks fall back an hour at 2 a.m. Sunday, and Lubbock doctors say the body can take a week or two to adjust
Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, when clocks go back one hour, EverythingLubbock reported Thursday, Oct. 29. Sleep medicine specialist Dr. Christopher Rose said the fall change is easier than the spring one, but the average American gains only about 36 minutes of sleep.
Rose said it can take a week or two for sleep and circadian rhythm to return to normal, and that darker afternoons can worsen depression, anxiety and seasonal affective disorder. Licensed professional counselor Dyan Covington said the fall and winter seasons can bring symptoms similar to major depression, and she encouraged people who notice them to reach out for help.
Sources EverythingLubbock
Amarillo staff lean toward requiring a special permit for any data center after questions about land near Eastridge Elementary
A data center near Eastridge Elementary School in Amarillo is possible but not planned, the Amarillo Tribune reported Thursday, Oct. 29, after the Panhandle 1st Coalition raised questions about talks involving land near the Amazon distribution center that was rezoned from agricultural to light industrial.
Councilmember Tim Reid asked about it at Tuesday's council meeting. Deputy City Manager Andrew Freeman said the land is for sale in three parts and staff knows of no other plans for it. Because data centers are not defined in the city's land-use rules, staff and the Planning and Zoning Board are drafting an update, and Freeman said staff leans toward requiring a specific use permit rather than allowing them by right.
Sources Amarillo Tribune
The RANGE launched a Panhandle plan to steer grant money and workers to rural hospitals at its first innovation expo
The RANGE, the Regional Accelerator on New Growth Engine founded by the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation in 2023, announced plans to strengthen rural health care, workforce training and environmental stewardship at its first Rural Innovation Expo on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at the Amarillo Area Foundation, the Amarillo Tribune reported.
Its 18-month health care plan, Coordinated Outcomes for Regional Excellence, will identify needs in all 26 Panhandle counties, connect hospitals to funding and develop staffing solutions. "We are not a healthcare provider. We want to link those folks to funding," said Executive Director Matthew Garner, adding that many lean rural hospitals lack grant writers. The expo also featured a drone demonstration by Valkyrie UAS CEO Ty Harmon.
Sources Amarillo Tribune
Two Lubbock restaurants logged about 30 violations each in this week's KCBD inspection report
Bombshell's Restaurant & Bar at 6415 Spur 327 had 29 violations and Picantes at 3814 34th St. had 30 in the latest city health inspections featured in KCBD's Food for Thought report Thursday, Oct. 29.
KCBD's report cited dirty dishes and expired food among the problems found at the two low performers, which together accounted for nearly 60 violations. The weekly segment also highlighted two restaurants that were top performers in their most recent inspections.
Sources KCBD
Mullin Hoard & Brown, LLPTexas Tech pitching coach Steve Foster is retiring after one season; Jacob Evans takes over for 2027
Texas Tech pitching coach Steve Foster announced his retirement from coaching Thursday, Oct. 29, after one full season on Tim Tadlock's staff and more than two decades developing pitchers in the pros and college, Texas Tech Athletics announced. Foster, a Dallas native, was pitching coach for the Colorado Rockies from 2015 to 2021 and earlier worked for the Miami Marlins and Kansas City Royals.
At Tech he helped establish a pitching lab built on technology and analytics. Tadlock said Foster is well regarded at every level of baseball. Jacob Evans, who joined the Red Raiders in August as director of pitching development, will be pitching coach for the 2027 season.
Sources Texas Tech Athletics
Lubbock businesswoman Kristi Frazier's Ultimate Stadium Sak was featured on NBC's 'Today' show
Kristi Frazier, the Lubbock creator of the Ultimate Stadium Sak, was featured on NBC's "Today" show during Women's Small Business Month after being chosen from thousands of nominations, KCBD reported Thursday, Oct. 29.
Frazier, who works at her mother's business, KK's Corner Mall, said she came up with the idea about seven years ago after missing her son's touchdown while adjusting a blanket at a football game. The wearable, sleeved blanket is now patented and trademarked. It is sold locally at KK's Corner Mall, but Frazier said most sales come online from customers across the United States and Canada.
Sources KCBD
Miss Ann's Diner and the Panhandle Pushrods car club bring back their trunk-or-treat under the diner's new owner
Miss Ann's Diner and the Panhandle Pushrods car club are continuing the trunk-or-treat tradition they started in 2013, EverythingLubbock reported Thursday, Oct. 29, as families look for safer ways to celebrate Halloween this weekend.
Club members Darren Hedrick and Adam Willey said the event has drawn well over 200 children in some years, with the cars parked under the diner's awning to hand out candy. New owner Aaron Hundly said he wants Miss Ann's to be a neighborhood drive-in where people can break away from busy schedules, and that bringing the event back is part of reestablishing the diner's place in the community.
Sources EverythingLubbock
State
A deposition says the transgender-youth texts that roiled Texas were sent for a national Republican women's caucus fund, which denies it
Texts sent across Texas that linked to material for transgender youth were sent on behalf of the "Republican Women Caucus Fund" and an individual named John Braun, according to a deposition from messaging company Infobip that a Travis County judge made public, The Texas Tribune reported Thursday, Oct. 29.
A spokesperson for the Republican Women's Caucus Fund said the group had no involvement in the texts or similar mailers. The Transgender Education Network of Texas, which petitioned for the deposition, said the texts pointed to its website and triggered threats of violence against it. Mailers from a group called the Texas Transgender Student Union arrived days later. The deposition gave no information about Braun beyond his name.
Sources The Texas Tribune
Harris County pulled ethnic audience tags from its get-out-the-vote ads hours after the attorney general's office sued
The Texas Attorney General's Office sued the Harris County Clerk on Thursday, Oct. 29, alleging the county's online get-out-the-vote ads targeted Black, Latino and Asian voters while excluding "European ethnicities," and asked a district judge to order them pulled or reconfigured, The Texas Tribune reported.
The suit says the ads on Facebook and Instagram used audience tags such as African-American literature, Latin music, 27 countries and cities including Madrid and Bangkok. Late Thursday, Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth said the tags had been removed to avoid distractions from the election. It was unclear how the change affects the lawsuit. Early voting ends Friday.
Sources The Texas Tribune
Sen. Charles Perry says treated Permian Basin produced water could irrigate crops within five years
Lubbock state Sen. Charles Perry says water produced alongside oil in the Permian Basin, about 26 million barrels a day, could become a viable source of irrigation water within five years, KCBD reported Thursday, Oct. 29. Untreated, it carries 100,000 to 200,000 parts per million of dissolved solids, against about 500 for drinking water.
Perry, who chairs the Senate's agriculture and water committee, said lab tests and crop trials show it can be cleaned without harming soil, and that injection wells are linked to earthquakes and running out of space. Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian said permitting is the biggest delay for industrial reuse; Perry said lawmakers have nearly cleared the statutory barriers.
Sources KCBD
D. Williams & Co., Inc.New World screwworm reached El Paso County in a dog as active cases rose to 18 across the Southwest
The number of active New World screwworm cases rose to 18 on Wednesday, Oct. 28, as El Paso County reported its first case, in a dog in Socorro, Border Report reported through EverythingLubbock. The USDA's five newest confirmed cases involved four dogs and a cat, and Cochise County, Arizona, reported that state's first case.
State Rep. Mary Gonzalez, D-El Paso, urged pet owners to check their animals and see a veterinarian if they suspect an infestation. The parasitic fly lays eggs in open wounds, and its larvae burrow into living tissue of livestock, pets and wildlife. Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller warned earlier in the week after four cases in Hudspeth County and Doña Ana County, New Mexico.
Sources EverythingLubbock
U.S. & World
The U.S. economy grew at a 3.4% pace last quarter, but inflation picked up and the savings rate hit a four-year low
The U.S. economy grew at a 3.4% annual rate from July through September, faster than the 2.2% of the spring quarter and above forecasts, the Commerce Department said Thursday, Oct. 29, the Associated Press reported. Consumer spending rose 3.8%, and business investment jumped 12.7%, the most in six years, on the artificial intelligence boom.
Inflation also accelerated, and inflation-adjusted after-tax incomes slipped from August to September, the AP said. The personal savings rate fell to 3.8%, its lowest in four years, as consumers dipped into savings. Housing investment fell 3.3%, its sixth drop in seven quarters, hurt by high mortgage rates. The data arrived five days before the midterm elections.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP) · EverythingLubbock (AP)
Final Israeli results show Netanyahu's bloc losing its majority, and his party claims the election was 'stolen'
Final results released Thursday, Oct. 29, showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc winning 53 of the Knesset's 120 seats, short of a majority and well below the 68 it once held, the Associated Press reported. The main opposition, led by former army chief Gadi Eisenkot, won 48 seats, and Arab-led parties a record 19.
Netanyahu's Likud party amplified unsubstantiated claims that Arab-led parties stole the vote, possibly with foreign help. Election committee chief Justice Noam Sohlberg said he could not verify the claims but asked the Shin Bet to investigate. The results must be certified and given to the president next Wednesday, and the opposition could form a government only with Arab parties.
Sources Fox News · PBS NewsHour (AP)
Blockchain firms tie North Korea to a $6.3 billion theft from Binance, the largest crypto heist on record
Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, said late Thursday, Oct. 29, that about $6.3 billion was affected in a security incident, and it suspended deposits and withdrawals, the Associated Press reported. Roughly $3 billion was frozen with help from blockchain partners.
U.S. blockchain intelligence firm TRM attributed the attack "with high confidence" to TraderTraitor, North Korea's elite hacking unit, saying an attacker moved about $6.36 billion out of Binance wallets on 10 blockchains, most in about 20 minutes. Chainalysis CEO Jonathan Levin also blamed the group. TRM called it the largest crypto theft on record, eclipsing the $1.5 billion Bybit hack the FBI tied to North Korea.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP)
The Justice Department issued grand jury subpoenas in the Alaska spoiler-candidate probe as Mary Peltola denied any role
Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola said Thursday, Oct. 29, in Juneau that she knew nothing about an effort to put a second Dan Sullivan on Alaska's ballot, as the Justice Department escalated its criminal investigation with new grand jury subpoenas, the Associated Press reported.
A person familiar with the matter told the AP the subpoenas and records-preservation demands followed a New York Times report that Peltola's campaign appeared to help recruit Dan J. Sullivan Jr. to confuse voters in her race against Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. More subpoenas were expected, and the targets are unclear. President Donald Trump has called for Peltola's prosecution. The race is considered key to Senate control.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP)
A federal judge refused to let the Justice Department set aside 20,000 California ballots it flagged as likely noncitizens
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter on Wednesday, Oct. 28, rejected the Trump administration's emergency request to stop California from processing the ballots of up to 20,000 voters it alleges are likely noncitizens, warning it would "wreak havoc" on the midterms, the Associated Press reported. More than 3.7 million Californians had already voted.
Justice Department prosecutors said they would appeal the decision immediately. Fox News reported that state officials disputed the list, citing a review that found U.S.-born people and voters with no voting history among those flagged. The administration sued the state in mid-October over a 48-hour review deadline.
Sources Fox News · PBS NewsHour (AP)
Action PrintingA judge blocked a Medicaid rule that would have made chronically ill people prove they are too frail to meet work requirements
U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns in Boston ruled Thursday, Oct. 29, that chronically ill Medicaid recipients will not be bound by Trump administration guidance requiring them to prove their conditions significantly impair their ability to meet new work requirements, the Associated Press reported.
The partial victory went to 25 states and the District of Columbia, which sued in June over the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services guidance tied to the 2025 "One Big Beautiful Bill" law. The law already lists people who are blind or disabled, have substance use or disabling mental disorders, or have serious medical conditions as medically frail; the states argued the rule went beyond the law.
Sources PBS NewsHour (AP)
Trump canceled weekend rallies in Kansas and Iowa for telerallies as Republicans defend tight Senate races
President Donald Trump on Thursday, Oct. 29, canceled in-person rallies planned for Kansas on Saturday and Iowa on Sunday, opting for a 72-hour sprint of telephone rallies that the Republican National Committee said could reach voters in nearly two dozen states, the Associated Press reported.
Trump campaigned the same day in South Carolina for the second time in a month, a sign of Republican anxiety over Darline Graham's Senate race against Democrat Annie Andrews. The AP said Republicans are also navigating tight contests in Texas, Kansas, Ohio, Iowa and Alaska, and Trump told reporters, "We're going to have a strong Tuesday night."
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP)
An aid convoy entered Russian-occupied Oleshky Friday under the war's most significant truce
A humanitarian convoy of 25 buses, ambulances and aid entered the devastated Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky on Friday, Oct. 30, officials said, as a localized ceasefire in the Kherson region held for a fourth day, the Associated Press reported. About 2,000 people still live there, and those who want to leave may go to Russia or Ukraine.
The White House said first lady Melania Trump brokered the mission, and Pope Leo XIV also pressed both leaders. Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said the convoy was organized in Armiansk. The truce runs through Sunday evening, but fighting continued elsewhere: Russia said it downed more than 1,000 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP)
Saudi Arabia says it downed a Houthi drone near Mecca, and a tanker was bombed and set afire in the Strait of Hormuz
A Saudi-led coalition said Friday, Oct. 30, that it intercepted and destroyed a drone launched by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the region surrounding Mecca, Islam's holiest city, the Associated Press reported. Coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki announced the interception; Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree denied targeting Mecca.
Separately, the British military's maritime trade office said a small boat attached two explosives to a tanker's hull as it transited the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, setting off blasts that caused an engine-room fire about 29 miles northeast of Khasab, Oman. The crew was safe, and the office did not name the tanker or say who was responsible.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP)
ECB President Christine Lagarde will resign Feb. 7, nine months early, opening a succession fight before France votes
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, 70, will step down Feb. 7, nine months before her term ends Oct. 31, 2027, the ECB said Thursday, Oct. 29, the Associated Press reported. The bank left interest rates unchanged the same day.
Lagarde said she wants to be freed from the political neutrality the job requires so she can speak on matters beyond monetary policy. The early exit lets European leaders choose her successor while French President Emmanuel Macron is still in office, ahead of France's presidential election next year. The ECB sets rates for the 21 countries that use the euro.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP)
Two helicopters collided near an Oregon airport Thursday, killing three, including a 22-year-old flight instructor from Texas
A Robinson R22 and an Airbus H125 helicopter collided Thursday afternoon, Oct. 29, near McMinnville Municipal Airport southwest of Portland, Oregon, killing all three people aboard and closing a nearby highway, Fox News and the Associated Press reported.
Yamhill County Sheriff Sam Elliott identified the dead as pilot Tyler Delane Sturdevant, 38, of Newberg, Oregon, and flight instructor Maddie Aasbo, 22, of Texas, who was aboard the R22 with a student pilot from the United Kingdom whose name was not released. One aircraft came from Jerry Trimble Helicopters, a flight school at the airport, which said it is cooperating with investigators.
Sources Fox News · EverythingLubbock (AP) · KCBD
Duffy Law Firm, PCThe Boulder firebomb attacker pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes in the death of an 82-year-old demonstrator
Mohamed Soliman pleaded guilty Thursday, Oct. 29, in Denver federal court to hate crime and other charges for the June 2025 firebombing of demonstrators in Boulder, Colorado, who were marching in support of hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack, the Associated Press reported.
Soliman, already serving life plus hundreds of years after pleading guilty to state charges in May, threw two Molotov cocktails while yelling "Free Palestine." Karen Diamond, 82, was badly burned and died three weeks later, and a dozen others were hurt. Prosecutors, who said he targeted the marchers because they were Jewish, will seek life plus 50 years.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP)
DoorDash agreed to buy Instacart for $17 billion, a deal that would consolidate U.S. grocery delivery
DoorDash is offering $17 billion to buy Instacart, the companies announced Thursday, Oct. 29, in a deal that would consolidate grocery delivery in the U.S. and abroad and help them compete with rivals like Amazon, the Associated Press reported. It is expected to close in late 2027 or early 2028 if Instacart shareholders and regulators approve.
DoorDash said the Instacart name and app would remain and its 600,000 independent-contractor shoppers could keep filling orders. Randall Sargent of consulting firm Oliver Wyman said consolidation generally tends to be worse for consumers, and the AP noted less competition could raise prices and leave grocers fewer delivery partners.
Sources PBS NewsHour (AP) · EverythingLubbock (AP)
Patrick Stewart, the stage actor who played Captain Picard and Professor X, died Wednesday at 86
Patrick Stewart, the classically trained actor who brought Shakespearean gravitas to Star Trek: The Next Generation as Captain Jean-Luc Picard and to the X-Men films as Professor Charles Xavier, died Wednesday, Oct. 28, in Los Angeles at 86, the Associated Press reported.
Spokesperson Kelly Bush Novak said he died after a brief journey with Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia, diagnoses not previously disclosed. Stewart spent more of his career onstage than on screen, playing roles from Claudius to Macbeth, which earned his only Tony nomination, and performing Waiting for Godot with longtime friend Ian McKellen.
Sources PBS NewsHour (AP) · EverythingLubbock (AP)
