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Daily Ledger
Daily digest straight from the source
Monday, September 21, 2026
The lead · Sep 21
Lubbock County commissioners back Texas Rangers investigation as dispute spreads to Meurer's legal bills
The Lubbock County Commissioners Court voted Monday, September 21, to support an independent Texas Rangers investigation into the Precinct 2 payroll irregularities. A separate dispute has emerged: attorney Kristen LaFreniere, who represented Mark Meurer in the Precinct 2 litigation, says she was assured the county would pay her invoices as submitted. It is not clear who gave that assurance or whether the court ever authorized it.
District Attorney Sunshine Stanek told commissioners she is already investigating the payroll matter and does not need the court's direction. Meurer has said he will return all salary received and withdraw from the litigation.
Sources Lubbock Lights · KCBD · EverythingLubbock
More Local
Council takes up new tax abatement rules Tuesday, with two public hearings at 2 p.m.
The Lubbock City Council meets Tuesday, September 22, and has set two public hearings for 2 p.m. on adopting the city's Commercial Tax Abatement Guidelines and Criteria and its Industrial Tax Abatement Guidelines and Criteria, according to the agendas posted on the city's Agenda Center. Texas law requires a city to readopt those guidelines every two years before it can grant a property tax abatement; the council last reauthorized them July 28.
The guidelines set the terms under which Lubbock forgives property taxes to land a plant, a distribution center or an expansion. Council convenes at noon and reconvenes in open session at 2 p.m. at Citizens Tower, 1314 Ave. K.
Sources City of Lubbock
Lorenzo is under a boil water notice after a water line leak
The City of Lorenzo issued a boil water notice on Sunday, September 20, after a water line leak. The city said pressure coming from the water tower into the line at the leak forced a temporary shutoff. No estimate has been given for when the notice will be lifted, and the city said it had no further details Sunday afternoon.
Lorenzo, a Crosby County town of about 1,100 roughly 25 miles east of Lubbock, is the second South Plains community under a boil notice this month; Ralls, nine miles away in the same county, went under one on September 15 after a main line break.
Sources EverythingLubbock · KCBD
Two Democrats on the November ballot made their case on KAMC's Talking Points
KAMC's Jen Phillips interviewed two Democratic candidates on Talking Points, which aired Sunday, September 20. Kyle Rable, the Democratic nominee for Texas' 19th Congressional District, discussed his campaign and what he hopes to accomplish if elected. Malik Williams, the Democratic nominee for Texas House District 83 -- the seat held by Speaker Dustin Burrows -- said his upbringing in San Antonio, his time as a Red Raider and his work as a family law attorney shaped his campaign.
KAMC's Alyssa Guevara also broke down the Lubbock County Commissioners Court's adoption of a budget and a no-new-revenue tax rate, and the friction it has created between the commissioners, County Judge Curtis Parrish and Sheriff Kelly Rowe. Early voting begins October 19.
Sources EverythingLubbock
Action PrintingTexas Tech climbs to No. 11 in the AP poll and into the coaches' top 10
Texas Tech moved up two spots to No. 11 in the Associated Press Top 25 released Sunday, September 20, and rose two places to No. 10 in the U.S. LBM Coaches Poll -- the Red Raiders' first appearance in that poll's top 10 this season. Tech is 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the Big 12 after beating No. 22 Houston 28-26 on Friday night.
The win was Tech's 10th straight at home, the program's longest such run since it won 12 in a row in Lubbock across the 2007-2009 seasons, and its eighth straight over Houston. BYU is the highest-ranked Big 12 team at No. 9. Tech hosts Sam Houston on Saturday at 11 a.m.
Sources Texas Tech Athletics · KCBD
Amarillo briefs: TSA PreCheck sign-ups at the airport this week, lane closures on Loop 335
The Amarillo Tribune reported Monday, September 21, that Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport will host a TSA PreCheck enrollment event Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. each day. Drivers should expect lane closures on westbound State Loop 335 at River Road for patching work, which is expected to finish Wednesday.
Also Monday, Kevin O'Leary of ABC's "Shark Tank" speaks at 7 p.m. in the First United Bank Center as the second speaker in West Texas A&M University's Hill Lecture Series; tickets are $5. Separately, West Texas A&M police said they received a report Thursday of a rape and dating violence on campus and have identified the responsible party.
Sources Amarillo Tribune
Ropes is KCBD's End Zone Team of the Week after beating Panhandle
KCBD named the Ropes Eagles its End Zone Team of the Week on Monday, September 21, after the third-ranked Eagles beat Panhandle 42-34 at home Friday night in what coach Beau Riker called their stiffest test of the season. Ropes led 21-14 before a kickoff return for a touchdown, and a second return score was wiped out by a penalty.
Seven Eagles posted double-digit tackle totals. Kaden Riker had 20 tackles, two for loss and a sack; Britton Mitchell had 21 tackles, three for loss, a sack and four quarterback hurries. Chase Lantelme, Zayden Pittman, Kolter Dockery and Cason Kucel also figured in the scoring. Ropes opens district play Friday at 4-0 Seagraves.
Sources KCBD
State
Austin ICE shooting victim identified as Venezuelan delivery driver with a valid work permit
The man shot by a federal immigration officer in north Austin on Sunday afternoon has been identified as Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, a Venezuelan national with a valid U.S. work permit. His attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said he was doing a DoorDash delivery when the shooting occurred and called his wife from inside the vehicle. Garces Perez was released from the hospital and placed in federal custody Sunday evening; he is now held at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, roughly two hours south of Austin.
The Austin Police Department's special investigation unit is handling the case. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not publicly commented on the circumstances of the stop.
Sources The Texas Tribune · The Hill · PBS NewsHour
Abbott orders TCEQ to halt data center permits until ERCOT's audit is complete
Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday, September 21, ordered the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to halt all permits sought by data centers until the Electric Reliability Council of Texas completes its audit of the sector. "Simply put, Texans must come first," Abbott said, adding that data centers must fully pay their own way and protect the grid and water supply before any permits will move.
TCEQ must report compliance to the Governor's Office by October 19. Abbott also said he will ask the Legislature next session to eliminate financial incentives for data centers. The order follows his earlier directives to the Public Utility Commission and the Texas Water Development Board.
Sources Office of the Texas Governor · KCBD
U.S. & World
Trump meets New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani at Gracie Mansion on Monday
President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani at Gracie Mansion on Monday, September 21 -- the first of their meetings on the mayor's ground. Mamdani's office said the two would discuss "issues affecting New York City and New Yorkers."
It is their third meeting: they met at the White House in November after Mamdani's election and again in February, when the mayor pitched building 12,000 housing units at a Queens site. Despite belonging to opposite parties, the two have kept notably cordial relations. Trump is in the city for the United Nations General Assembly, which is expected to bring daily protests, heavy security and street closures across Midtown.
Duffy Law Firm, PCThe U.N. General Assembly's debate opens Wednesday, and the U.S. envoy warns on Iran sanctions
The general debate of the 81st United Nations General Assembly runs Wednesday, September 23, through Monday, September 28, with 73 heads of state and 45 heads of government expected and roughly 1,000 requests for bilateral meetings. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Michael Waltz said in an interview published Sunday, September 20, that nations failing to enforce sanctions on Iran will face consequences.
"There will be consequences for friend and foe," Waltz said, adding that Iran's economy continues to crater. He called the Greenland security agreement announced Friday incredibly significant, and said President Donald Trump wants the United Nations returned to basics -- a push to cut its spending and narrow its work.
Sources Fox News
North Korea fired two ballistic missiles into the sea on Sunday
North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles from its eastern Wonsan area about three hours apart on Sunday, September 20, South Korea's military said. The first flew about 280 miles and the second more than 370 miles before falling into waters east of the peninsula. Japan's Defense Ministry detected a launch but said nothing landed in its territorial waters.
The launches came days after Kim Yo Jong, sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said the North's "will to defend our sovereignty will be expressed in clearer action." South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said President Donald Trump wants dialogue, and Seoul's presidential office urged the North to halt launches barred by U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Sources KSAT · PBS NewsHour
Germany's far-right AfD wins a state for the second time, and Merz calls it a disaster
The Alternative for Germany won 38.2 percent in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on Sunday, September 20, finishing ahead of the Social Democrats at 35.5 percent, while Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats collapsed to 4.9 percent -- the party's worst state result since World War II. Merz called it a disaster. AfD lead candidate Leif-Erik Holm said his party would talk to all the others about forming a government.
In Berlin the same day, The Left won with 25.7 percent, ahead of the CDU's 18.8 percent and the AfD's 16.3 percent. Lead candidate Elif Eralp said: "If a left-wing candidate can win in New York, then there's no reason it can't happen in Berlin."
Sources Euronews · PBS NewsHour
Converse pulls a sneaker ad and apologizes after critics said the imagery evoked a lynching
Converse removed an Instagram advertisement for its Chuck 70 X sneakers and apologized on Sunday, September 20, after online criticism. The photo showed the K-pop singer Karina, of SM Entertainment Group, in a skirt holding the shoes; commenters said a white triangular lighting effect on the garment resembled a Klan hood and that the way the sneakers hung evoked a lynching.
The Nike-owned, Boston-based company said it was sorry, that it understood why the image was deeply upsetting and that it had gotten this wrong, and pulled the picture from its channels. Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt said the apology missed the point: "corporations keep failing the same test."
Sources Boston.com · PBS NewsHour
