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The Ledger
Daily digest straight from the source
Friday, September 4, 2026
The lead · Sep 4
Loop 88 Phase 3C starts next week: FM 1585 becomes a six-lane freeway
TxDOT begins the $221.6 million third phase of Loop 88 on Wednesday, September 9, rebuilding FM 1585 from Avenue U to just east of I-27 into a six-lane freeway with frontage roads. Expect one lane each way and reduced speeds until completion, projected fall 2031.
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Data center builders pledge $250 million for water and will replace Turkey's failing tower
QTS and Lancium, building a 465-acre data center campus near Turkey, about 100 miles northeast of Lubbock, said Thursday they will replace the town's failing water tower — a fix the town could not fund — under a $250 million Texas water infrastructure commitment.
Municipal Court will waive failure-to-appear charges in October resolution campaign
Lubbock's Municipal Court announced Thursday a Case Resolution Campaign running October 1-16: anyone with unpaid Class C citations or warrants who appears voluntarily at 1214 14th Street will not be arrested, failure-to-appear charges are waived, and judges will discuss payment plans or community service.
First storm-destroyed home rebuilt under state program is finished in Hockley County
Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham and Hockley County Judge Sharla Baldridge marked completion Thursday of the county's first home rebuilt under the GLO Homeowner Assistance Program, two years after the May 2024 windstorms. The program holds $244.1 million for repairs; applications run first-come, first-served.
Duffy Law Firm, PCHealth inspectors cite mall cheesesteak shop and 82nd Street taqueria
City inspection reports released Friday cite Charley's Philly Steaks at South Plains Mall for 16 violations, including a cooler running 50 degrees, and Vallarta Taqueria on 82nd Street for 12. Most were corrected on site. Raising Cane's, a University Avenue Subway and a 9th Street Whataburger scored zero.
Sources KCBD
Red Raider docuseries The Program: Texas Tech premieres on Paramount+
The four-episode docuseries premieres Friday on Paramount+, tracking Texas Tech football through its turbulent 2026 offseason. Director Micah Brown says the program opened its doors amid scandal to show whether a traditional team can exist in modern college football. Kickoff against Abilene Christian follows Saturday.
Sources Texas Tech Athletics · KCBD
Good Times Fest brings three nights of Texas music to the Depot District
Blue House Productions hosts Good Times Fest September 10-12 at The Garden, 1801 Buddy Holly Avenue: a battle of the bands Thursday, regional acts Friday, and The Damn Quails headlining Southern Night Saturday. Single-night tickets and weekend passes are on sale; the vendor market is free.
Sources KFYO · EverythingLubbock
State
Troopers flood Texas highways through Monday for Labor Day's Operation CARE
Texas DPS begins Operation CARE on Friday, September 4, running through Labor Day Monday: extra troopers statewide watching for speeding, impaired driving and Move Over, Slow Down violations. Last year's holiday campaign produced more than 63,000 citations and warnings and 211 DWI arrests.
Dallas will shut off 321 state-funded Flock cameras as DFW officials weigh the tool
Dallas police will cancel 321 state-funded Flock license plate cameras effective September 15 under Gov. Greg Abbott's funding ban, keeping 300-plus locally funded units. Tarrant commissioners split at a September 1 briefing: Sheriff Bill Waybourn cited 259 recovered vehicles; Judge Tim O'Hare questioned data access.
Sources The Texan
Perry: cleaning oilfield water is the future of the Texas water supply
Sen. Charles Perry of Lubbock said Thursday that Texas should clean the water it already has — desalinating Permian Basin produced water, brackish groundwater and seawater — rather than chase new supplies, citing 5.2 billion acre-feet of brackish reserves and invoking Lake Alan Henry's long-term payoff.
Sources KCBD
Advanced GraphixSenators look at extending last session's housing laws to more Texas cities
The Senate Local Government Committee, chaired by Paul Bettencourt, heard testimony Wednesday on removing population thresholds so 2025's housing laws — SB 1567 on occupancy limits and SB 840 allowing homes in commercial zones — reach more cities. Phil King noted fast-growing Tarrant County suburbs are excluded.
Sources The Texan
U.S. & World
Administration asks Supreme Court to unblock USPS mail-ballot screening
Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the Supreme Court on Thursday for an immediate stay of the Boston federal court order blocking the USPS plan to screen mail ballots for envelope compliance and voter eligibility, arguing two states begin distributing ballots before the block expires next week.
Sources UPI · NPR · PBS NewsHour
Waller ties a possible September rate hike to next week's inflation report
Fed Governor Christopher Waller said Thursday the September 15-16 rate decision hinges on the August inflation report due September 11 — inclined to hold if inflation cools, open to a hike if it runs hot. Market odds of a September hike slid to roughly even.
Sources KSAT · PBS NewsHour
FBI investigates dark-web sale of 153 million driver's license scans
The FBI's New Orleans office opened an inquiry Wednesday into Nexus, a dark-web service selling digital scans of 153 million U.S. and Canadian driver's licenses apparently stolen from an identity-verification vendor. Roughly 400,000 more scans were added within a day, The Hill reported Thursday.
Vance says nations are privately joining the Iran squeeze, declines to call it a war
In the first White House briefing in a month Thursday, Vice President JD Vance said countries are privately aiding Operation Economic Outcast, the Treasury campaign to isolate Iran, while declining to call the strikes a war. Economic, military, diplomatic and covert pressure all remain on the table.
Gloria Steinem, who built the modern women's movement, dies at 92
Gloria Steinem died Wednesday at her New York home at 92, her representatives announced Thursday. She founded Ms. magazine in 1972, co-founded the National Women's Political Caucus in 1971, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013 after six decades shaping American feminism.
Mullin Hoard & Brown, LLP