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Daily Ledger
Daily digest straight from the source
Wednesday, November 11, 2026
Today’s lead
Texas Tech regents weigh dropping more than 20 race, gender and social-justice classes from the core curriculum Wednesday
Texas Tech regents will consider a proposal Wednesday, Nov. 11, that would remove more than 20 classes from the list of approved core courses students can take to meet graduation requirements for fall 2027, including a social-justice literature class and a women's and gender studies course, the Texas Tribune reported.
The agenda does not say why the classes are being cut or whether Chancellor Brandon Creighton's directives played a role. Andrew Martin, outgoing president of Tech's AAUP chapter, called regents' growing role in academic decisions an overreach. The terms of Chair Cody Campbell and Regent Arcilia Acosta expire Jan. 31, giving Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa three early appointments to the nine-member board.
Sources The Texas Tribune
More Local
Residents press City Council for a 90-day data center moratorium at the first public hearing
Residents urged the Lubbock City Council on Tuesday, Nov. 10, to adopt a 90-day moratorium on data centers during the first of two public hearings on the proposal, prompted by a summer SAVE Lubbock petition, KCBD reported. Natalie Miller of the North and East Lubbock Coalition said citizens had asked for 18 months and accepted 90 days as a compromise.
North Lubbock resident Fabian Mata said he does not trust the city to enforce setbacks. The Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended specific zoning for large data centers, with landscaping, setback, noise and decommissioning rules, which goes to council Dec. 1. The second moratorium hearing, and council's first chance to vote on it, is set for Dec. 10.
Sources KCBD
Garza County residents sent to Lubbock County or Slaton for vehicle registration after the tax assessor leaves
Garza County residents who need to register a vehicle or change a title must go outside the county after the county's tax assessor unexpectedly left, KCBD reported Tuesday night, Nov. 10. A county public notice said the vacancy has made it difficult to complete Texas Department of Motor Vehicles transactions.
Residents can use the Lubbock County Tax Assessor-Collector's Office at 916 Main St., Suite 102, in the Lubbock County Office Building, or the Smith Ford office in Slaton near U.S. 84 and West Division Street. The county has not said how long vehicle services will be disrupted.
Sources KCBD
No. 16 Texas Tech holds off No. 3 Illinois 84-78 for the highest-ranked non-conference home win in program history
No. 16 Texas Tech built a 49-29 halftime lead and held on to beat No. 3 Illinois 84-78 on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at United Supermarkets Arena, extending its non-conference home winning streak to 49 games. Texas Tech Athletics called it the highest-ranked non-conference home win in Red Raider history.
Cruz Davis led Tech (3-0) with 20 points and five assists, and Jamichael Stillwell had 11 points and 13 rebounds in his season debut. Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn scored 15, Donovan Atwell 13 with a career-high five steals, and Damarion Dennis 10. Illinois cut the lead to 68-66 before Atwell's 3-pointer with 4:01 left. Coach Grant McCasland's team hosts Stonehill at noon Saturday.
Sources Texas Tech Athletics · KCBD
Mullin Hoard & Brown, LLPLEDA unveils a new strategic plan at its annual Economic Forecast Luncheon
The Lubbock Economic Development Alliance unveiled a new strategic plan Tuesday, Nov. 10, at its annual Economic Forecast Luncheon at the Overton Hotel and Conference Center, according to a LEDA news release carried by KCBD. Tom Stellman, founder and CEO of TIP Strategies, introduced the plan, which LEDA said was built over several months from economic data, industry input and community stakeholders and will guide its work for the next several years.
LEDA President and CEO John Osborne called for coordination among business, political and civic leaders. "We may not always agree on every issue or every approach," he said, but leaders can agree Lubbock should be a place where businesses succeed and graduates stay.
Sources KCBD
Texas Tech opens a threat-detection research incubator at the Reese National Security Complex
Texas Tech researchers opened the Critical Infrastructure Telecom Ecosystem Incubator, or CITEI, at the Reese National Security Complex with a ribbon-cutting and demonstration Tuesday, Nov. 10, KCBD reported. The center will develop threat-detection technology that adds radar sensing to ordinary cellular communications so towers and radios can detect vehicles or intruders near critical infrastructure.
Brenda Connor, CITEI's senior technical managing director, said the goal is to make technologies not expected until 2030 or later deployable as early as 2027 for national security and infrastructure protection. She said uses include oil fields, remote rural areas, tactical deployments and the border.
Sources KCBD
City code inspectors sweep the University Pines neighborhood Wednesday, with a free dumpster for bulky items
Lubbock's Code Administration Department is conducting a neighborhood deployment in University Pines from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11, in the area bounded by 82nd Street, University Avenue, 98th Street and Indiana Avenue, according to a city news release carried by KCBD. A field office is set up at 2713 88th St., at 88th and Detroit Avenue.
Inspectors will look for junked vehicles, weeds and rubbish, substandard housing and zoning violations, and may cite or abate violations. Solid Waste is providing a roll-off dumpster at the field office where residents of the area can dispose of furniture, appliances and tree branches.
Sources KCBD
Free Narcan dispensers go up in Lubbock, with 75 doses taken from the first box in a week
Free Narcan dispenser boxes have been installed at 40th Street and Avenue R and on 50th Street outside Lubbock's Breakfast House and Grill, EverythingLubbock reported Tuesday, Nov. 10. The effort is led by advocate Shayla Phares, who said the first box, which holds 100 doses, had about 75 taken since the previous Wednesday.
Phares said the dispensers are placed in areas where overdoses have been a concern and are free to host businesses, with the overdose-reversal medication and boxes funded through a pharmaceutical settlement. She said dispensers are common in Austin, San Antonio and Dallas-Fort Worth but new to West Texas, and that Lubbock needs them all over town.
Sources EverythingLubbock
No. 12 in the CFP rankings, Texas Tech controls its Big 12 path with three games left
Texas Tech (8-1, 5-1 Big 12) rose to No. 12 in the second College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night, Nov. 10, up from No. 15 after Saturday's 53-48 comeback win over West Virginia, Texas Tech Athletics reported. Six Big 12 teams are ranked, led by No. 2 Utah.
The Red Raiders play at No. 25 Oklahoma State on Saturday, then at Baylor, and close at home against TCU on Thanksgiving. Three straight wins would send Tech back to the Big 12 Championship Game in Arlington to defend its 2025 title; a loss would leave its path to tiebreakers. The next CFP rankings come out Nov. 17.
Sources Texas Tech Athletics · KCBD
Coats 4 Kids sets a fundraising record and delivers more than 1,900 new coats to Lubbock students
Lubbock Fire Rescue and the Lubbock Professional Fire Fighters Association said Tuesday, Nov. 10, that this year's Coats 4 Kids drive set a fundraising record, allowing the association to distribute more than 1,900 new coats to students at three Lubbock-area schools, EverythingLubbock reported.
In partnership with each school, every enrolled student receives a coat. The program, founded in 2013 with the national Operation Warm campaign, has provided about 14,000 coats to local students over 13 years.
Sources EverythingLubbock
D. Williams & Co., Inc.First-year Frenship Memorial FFA chapter earns a national three-star rating
The Frenship Memorial FFA chapter, in its first year, received a three-star rating at the 99th National FFA Convention, one of the organization's highest chapter recognitions, EverythingLubbock reported Tuesday, Nov. 10. The award recognizes work in growing leaders, building communities and strengthening agriculture.
Agricultural sciences teacher and adviser Amanda Spacek said the chapter applied in April and advanced through the state level. Six students attended the convention, several of whom helped establish the chapter before Frenship Memorial High School opened.
Sources EverythingLubbock
Lubbock grand jury indicts two men in separate child sex-crime cases
A Lubbock County grand jury on Tuesday, Nov. 10, indicted a man arrested Oct. 1 in Potter County by the Lubbock County Sheriff's Office on charges of indecency with a child by sexual contact, sexual assault of a child and continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, EverythingLubbock reported. The abuse is alleged to have occurred from 2017 to 2022 in the 100 block of 80th Street.
The grand jury also indicted a 34-year-old man on a charge of indecency with a child, in a case reported to Lubbock police in late September. The Ledger does not name people charged with crimes who have not been convicted or pleaded guilty.
Sources EverythingLubbock · EverythingLubbock
Hobbs police charge a 16-year-old in the shooting death of a 15-year-old
Hobbs, N.M., police have charged a 16-year-old in the shooting death of a 15-year-old boy, the Hobbs Police Department said Tuesday, Nov. 10. Officers responding to the 700 block of East Skelly Street found the boy with life-threatening gunshot wounds, and he died at the residence, EverythingLubbock and KCBD reported.
The investigation is ongoing. Police asked anyone with information to call the Hobbs Police Department at 575-397-9265.
Sources EverythingLubbock · KCBD
Amarillo's Sunshine Cottage sews and sells blankets to keep homeless mothers in school
Eveline Rivers-McCoy, founder and director of Eveline's Sunshine Cottage, and administrative assistant Melissa Hendricks have been making blankets since 2016 to support the Amarillo nonprofit, which helps unhoused women and their children continue their education, the Amarillo Tribune reported Tuesday, Nov. 10.
Rivers-McCoy founded the Sunshine Cottage in 1999 after running the Eveline Rivers Christmas Project, which gave coats and toys to area children for more than 40 years. She said the cottage's goal is to break cycles of poverty and build generational wealth through education.
Sources Amarillo Tribune
Lubbock candy buyback trades Halloween leftovers for prizes to fill stockings for troops through Friday
Double T Smiles, 6100 82nd St., is collecting leftover Halloween candy until noon Friday, Nov. 13, to fill holiday stockings for service members, KCBD reported Wednesday, Nov. 11. Children receive five prize tokens per pound of candy, up to 10 pounds.
The dental office is partnering with Lubbock Impact on the drive, and the stockings will include candy and a toothbrush. Adults without candy are encouraged to buy a bag to donate while stores sell Halloween candy at half price.
Sources KCBD
State
Bill filed to send $1,500 to every Texas household, Gov.-elect Hinojosa's campaign promise
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, filed a bill Monday, Nov. 9, to carry out Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa's pledge to send $1,500 to each of Texas' 11.6 million households, drawing about $17 billion from the state's more than $27 billion rainy day fund, the Texas Tribune reported. Households would have to live in Texas as of Jan. 1, 2027, with payments aimed for the end of next year.
Tapping the fund takes a two-thirds vote in each chamber, so Democrats would need significant Republican support, including nine GOP senators. The Tribune found the bill does not say whether recipients must be U.S. citizens and that its 1% administrative allowance leaves a shortfall of at least $400 million.
Sources The Texas Tribune
Action PrintingTexas' Democratic 'Big Three' tap Republicans, including six former speakers, to steer their transitions
Presumptive House Speaker Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, announced Tuesday, Nov. 10, a transition team of six former Texas House speakers: Democrats Ben Barnes, Gib Lewis and Pete Laney, and Republicans Joe Straus, Dennis Bonnen and Dade Phelan, The Texan reported. Thompson said they know the House works best when members put their districts first.
The Texas Tribune reported that Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa named a former Republican state representative as a transition co-chair and Lt. Gov.-elect Vikki Goodwin tapped two former Republican state senators, a signal the incoming Democrats intend to govern in a bipartisan way. In January, all three top state offices are poised to be held by Democrats for the first time since 1995.
Sources The Texan · The Texas Tribune
SpaceX plans a $24 billion data center and gas power plant near Brownsville, outside the city's new moratorium
SpaceX plans a $24 billion gas-fired power plant and "super-compute facility" on 444 acres near the Port of Brownsville, the city of Starbase disclosed in a public notice Monday, Nov. 9, the Texas Tribune reported. Brownsville had de-annexed the land this year at SpaceX's request, and Starbase later annexed it, putting the project outside Brownsville's data center moratorium that took effect last week.
SpaceX offered $220 million for Brownsville water and wastewater projects in exchange for the de-annexation. Starbase commissioners will hold a public hearing in December on tax breaks for the project. The South Texas Environmental Justice Network announced a protest, while some residents welcomed the jobs.
Sources The Texas Tribune
Texas House Democrats file 23 gun bills, including a red flag law, in the first days of pre-filing
Since bill pre-filing opened Monday, Nov. 9, 23 gun-related bills have been filed for the 90th Texas Legislature, all but one in the House, The Texan reported Tuesday, Nov. 10. They include House Bill 218 by state Rep. Ann Johnson, D-Houston, which would create extreme risk protective orders, known as red flag laws, and proposals restricting Texans ages 18 to 21.
Supporters say red flag orders remove firearms from people who are dangerous to themselves or others; critics say they take guns from people not charged with a crime and violate due process. Gov. Greg Abbott signed a 2025 law prohibiting red flag orders in Texas. The session convenes Jan. 12.
Sources The Texan
Railroad Commission will restore general public comment at its December meeting
The Texas Railroad Commission will reinstate general public comment at its December meeting, about two months after voting to suspend it, state Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, announced Tuesday, Nov. 10, the Texas Tribune reported. Commissioner Wayne Christian confirmed in a letter that every regular meeting will again include a standing item for public input on matters not posted on the agenda.
Commissioners voted in late August to suspend the two-decade practice. Darby, chair of the House Energy Resources Committee, said constituents called with serious concerns and that his committee will not hold another oversight hearing on the issue, though he urged the commission to keep its new listening sessions.
Sources The Texas Tribune
Paxton drops his lawsuit seeking to shut down Houston immigrant-rights group FIEL
Attorney General Ken Paxton's office filed a notice Monday, Nov. 9, withdrawing with prejudice its lawsuit seeking to shut down FIEL, the Houston immigrant-rights group Familias Inmigrantes y Estudiantes en la Lucha, the Texas Tribune reported. The filing in Harris County gave no reason, and the state cannot bring the same suit again.
Paxton sued in July over social media posts urging people to vote against President Donald Trump's immigration proposals. Executive director Cesar Espinosa said the suit had been very burdensome. The move came the same day Paxton dropped his effort to close El Paso's Annunciation House shelters.
Sources The Texas Tribune
Trump nominates defeated Texas Supreme Court Justice James Sullivan to the federal bench
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday, Nov. 10, that he is nominating Texas Supreme Court Justice James Sullivan to be a federal district judge in the Western District of Texas, a week after Sullivan lost his seat to Democrat Chari Kelly, the Texas Tribune reported. Sullivan, 45, was Gov. Greg Abbott's general counsel before Abbott appointed him to the court in January 2025.
Democrats swept four Texas Supreme Court seats last week, narrowing the GOP majority to 5-4. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said Sullivan should be confirmed, as Republicans rush to fill judicial vacancies before Democrats take the Senate in January.
Sources The Texas Tribune
Duffy Law Firm, PCDPS Rapid DNA pilot produces its first lead in eight days; Lubbock is not part of it
The Texas Department of Public Safety says its Rapid DNA pilot program produced its first investigative lead eight days after its latest phase began Oct. 15, linking a felony theft suspect booked into the Montgomery County Jail to a 2024 case, EverythingLubbock reported Tuesday, Nov. 10. Rapid DNA can search samples against CODIS the same day, compared with an average of 25 days at the state crime lab.
Drew Fout, lab manager at the Lubbock DPS Crime Lab, said the technology could connect new arrests to unsolved crimes. The pilot runs only in Williamson and Montgomery counties; expanding it would need legislative approval, and DPS will report to lawmakers by Jan. 1, 2028.
Sources EverythingLubbock
U.S. & World
House Republicans block Massie's effort to impeach Defense Secretary Hegseth
The House on Tuesday, Nov. 10, turned aside a resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a near party-line vote, after President Donald Trump signaled strong support for him, the Associated Press reported. The eight-count resolution, led by Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie and backed by Democrats, focused largely on Hegseth's handling of the war in Iran.
Hegseth, in his first news conference in months, called the effort "sabotage." House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, expected to become speaker in January, said Hegseth has abused his power, and the vote may only delay an impeachment push once Democrats take control of Congress.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP) · PBS NewsHour
Senate Republicans keep John Thune as leader after losing their majority
Senate Republicans reelected South Dakota Sen. John Thune as their leader by acclamation Tuesday, Nov. 10, after a day of private meetings over midterm losses that cost them at least seven seats and their majority, the Associated Press reported. The conference first voted 31-15 to proceed with the leadership vote rather than delay it.
Thune said Republicans will make the most of their final two months in the majority and "come out swinging" next year. West Virginia Sen. Jim Justice said there was a legitimate argument for new leadership but that the current leaders did not cause the losses.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP) · PBS NewsHour
Bernie Sanders says he will not back Chuck Schumer for Senate Democratic leader
Sen. Bernie Sanders said Tuesday, Nov. 10, that he will not support Sen. Chuck Schumer as Democratic leader in the new Senate majority, setting up a leadership fight after the party's midterm sweep, the Associated Press reported. "The time is now for change," said Sanders, the Vermont independent.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan joined him, saying she is a no until candidates present a full plan for the new majority, and several incoming Democratic senators have signaled support for another candidate. Progressives are pushing Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP) · PBS NewsHour
National average gas price drops below $4 for the first time since July
The national average price of gasoline fell to $3.98 a gallon Tuesday, Nov. 10, below $4 for the first time in 114 days, according to AAA, The Hill reported via EverythingLubbock. Prices had soared after the start of the Iran war and Iran's effective shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz.
Most of the South is now under $3.70, while Nevada, California and Hawaii average close to $6. Oil futures fell 13% last week and another 5% Monday, with Brent crude just below $90 a barrel Tuesday, after President Donald Trump said he had no plan to renew attacks on Iran.
Sources EverythingLubbock (The Hill)
U.S. charges three men in an Iran-linked plot that included an attack on a British air base housing American bombers
An indictment unsealed in New York on Tuesday, Nov. 10, accuses a dual Iranian-Iraqi national already jailed in Brooklyn of using coded calls to relatives in Iraq to urge associates to bomb RAF Fairford in England, where U.S. bombers are stationed, the Associated Press reported. Men were detained near the base Sept. 27.
Two other men, an Iranian and an Iraqi national, are charged but not in U.S. custody. Prosecutors say the case involves Iran-backed operatives plotting nearly 20 attacks on Jewish communities in Europe and the U.S. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald called it a campaign of terror. The Ledger does not name criminal defendants before a conviction or guilty plea.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP) · PBS NewsHour
Advanced GraphixU.S. Army officer assigned to NATO is arrested in England on suspicion of spying for Russia
A 41-year-old U.S. Army officer serving with NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps was arrested Tuesday, Nov. 10, near Gloucester, England, on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service and disclosing protected information linked to Russia, the Associated Press reported. He was not named.
Brig. Gen. Sean Stinchon of the Army's Counterintelligence Command described the suspect as a senior soldier. London's Metropolitan Police said counterterror officers worked with the FBI and the U.S. military, and FBI Director Kash Patel called it an important arrest.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP) · PBS NewsHour
Immigration arrests continue at full pace after the GOP's midterm losses
Immigration arrests have continued unabated since last week's elections despite President Donald Trump's remark that his crackdown may have been too tough, the Associated Press reported Tuesday, Nov. 10. Advocates reported arrests from California to Michigan and Massachusetts, including masked officers blocking a Los Angeles hospital emergency driveway Saturday.
Trump named Stephen Miller, architect of his immigration agenda, as chief of staff, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told Fox News on Tuesday there would be no change, saying the agency deports roughly 3,600 people a day and has not slowed down. María Bilbao of the American Friends Service Committee in Miami said arrests have not ceased at all.
Sources Fox News · EverythingLubbock (AP)
Supreme Court weighs whether the government can fine a farm over guest-worker conditions without a jury trial
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday, Nov. 10, on whether the Labor Department can fine Sun Valley Orchards, a New Jersey farm, over alleged poor conditions for workers on visas without a jury trial, Gray DC reported via KCBD. The administration argues the guest-worker program falls under its immigration authority.
Justice Neil Gorsuch said the requirements look more like conditions of employment than of entry, and several justices appeared skeptical of the government imposing penalties on U.S. companies without letting the matter go to court.
Sources KCBD
Minivan plows into people outside a Los Angeles Metro station, killing three
A minivan crashed into people outside the North Hollywood Metro station in Los Angeles just before 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, killing three people and critically injuring the driver and at least two others, the Associated Press and Fox News reported. The vehicle ended up under a food vendor's tent at Lankershim and Chandler boulevards.
LAPD Capt. Warner Castillo said police do not yet know whether the crash was intentional or accidental; the driver, in his 60s, appeared in shock. Chief Jim McDonnell said investigators will review video frame by frame. Mayor Karen Bass said the victims included street vendors and pedestrians.
Sources Fox News · EverythingLubbock (AP)
Kennedy family members ask a judge to block Trump's 250-foot Arlington memorial arch
Nine children and grandchildren of Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy asked a federal judge Tuesday, Nov. 10, to block President Donald Trump's planned 250-foot memorial arch, saying it would cast a shadow over family gravesites near John F. Kennedy's eternal flame at Arlington National Cemetery, the Associated Press reported. They moved to join two existing lawsuits.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan last week barred groundbreaking for 14 days. White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said the arch is meant to honor heroes buried at Arlington and the courts should not be used to politicize it.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP)
Congo's Ebola outbreak tops 11,000 cases and 5,300 deaths
Congo's Ebola outbreak has surpassed 11,000 cases, the country's government said Wednesday, Nov. 11, with 11,042 infections and 5,387 deaths, the Associated Press reported. The outbreak, declared in mid-May, is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, which has no known vaccine or treatment, and has reached eight of Congo's 26 provinces.
Fighting in the Ituri and North Kivu hotspots and attacks on health workers have hampered containment, and the disease has spread to Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria. It is now the second-largest Ebola outbreak on record, behind West Africa's in 2014-2016.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP)
Mullin Hoard & Brown, LLPStacy Keach, stage star and TV's Mike Hammer, dies at 85
Stacy Keach, the stage actor best known for playing private eye Mike Hammer on television, died Tuesday, Nov. 10, at his home in Magdalenka, Poland, at 85, after a long battle with a heart condition and heart failure, his wife, Malgosia Tomassi Keach, said, according to the Associated Press and Fox News.
Considered a leading interpreter of Shakespeare, Keach played Hamlet, Richard III and King Lear, starred in the TV series Titus, appeared in the film Nebraska and had a recurring role on Blue Bloods. His career nearly derailed after a 1984 imprisonment in Britain for trying to smuggle cocaine.
Sources Fox News · EverythingLubbock (AP)
