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Daily Ledger
Daily digest straight from the source
Wednesday, October 7, 2026
The lead · Oct 7
A truck hit the Loop 289 frontage road bridge over I-27 Tuesday, closing two access roads in south Lubbock
A tall semi-truck heading north on the I-27 access road struck the eastbound South Loop 289 frontage road bridge late Tuesday afternoon, Lubbock Fire Rescue said. The first call came in at 5:31 p.m., and no one was seriously hurt.
The northbound I-27 frontage road at South Loop 289 and the eastbound Loop 289 frontage road at I-27 were both closed and detoured, and TxDOT said traffic was still disrupted at 8 p.m. Tuesday. The main lanes of I-27 and Loop 289 stayed open.
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Beto O'Rourke will headline two Lubbock voter events Thursday and Friday, one on the Texas Tech campus
Former Congressman Beto O'Rourke will appear at two voter engagement events in Lubbock this week, hosted by the Lubbock County Democratic Party, Powered by People and Texas Tech Democrats, organizers announced Tuesday.
The first runs Thursday, Oct. 8, at The Garden in the Depot District, doors at 5 p.m., with congressional candidate Kyle Rable and House District 83 candidate Malik Williams also speaking. The second is Friday, Oct. 9, from 9 a.m. to noon in the free-speech area by Texas Tech's Student Union Building. Both are free, and organizers will help attendees check or complete voter registration.
Sources KCBD · FOX34 · EverythingLubbock
Early voting in Potter and Randall counties runs Oct. 19 through Oct. 30 at countywide vote centers
Early voting for the Nov. 3 midterm election begins Oct. 19 and ends Oct. 30, and voters in both Potter and Randall counties can cast ballots at any vote center in their county, the Amarillo Tribune reported Tuesday in a voter guide.
Voters must show an approved photo ID, such as a Texas driver's license, a handgun license, a military ID or a U.S. passport, or sign a reasonable impediment declaration. Curbside voting is available through the Potter County election office at 806-379-2299 and the Randall County office at 806-468-5510, and both counties post sample ballots online.
Sources Amarillo Tribune
Agriculture commissioner nominee Nate Sheets will bring his bus tour to six West Texas towns Oct. 21-24
Republican nominee for Texas Agriculture Commissioner Nate Sheets will stop in Plainview, Farwell, Muleshoe, Littlefield, Brownfield and the Seminole-Denver City area from Oct. 21 through Oct. 24, his campaign announced Tuesday.
The stops are part of a 96-stop, 32-day "Texans Should Feed Texans" tour that began Oct. 2. Sheets plans town halls and farm and ranch visits focused on agriculture, the food supply, school lunches, land and water, rural economies and data-center growth, and he wants state institutions to buy more Texas-grown food.
D. Williams & Co., Inc.A pipeline exploded and burned near Eunice in Lea County Tuesday evening; no evacuations were ordered
Emergency crews responded Tuesday evening to a pipeline explosion and fire near Paduca Breaks and Alisha Lane in the Eunice area, Lea County officials said. The Eunice and Jal fire departments, the Lea County Sheriff's Office and the county's emergency management office responded.
Officials said no evacuations were expected, no structures were damaged and the incident was contained to the area around the blast. Leased roads nearby were temporarily closed while crews and company representatives worked the scene, and the public was asked to stay away.
A person on a scooter was seriously injured in a crash with a vehicle on Avenue U Tuesday night
A vehicle and a person riding a scooter collided in the 9800 block of Avenue U in south Lubbock Tuesday night, with the call coming in at 7:32 p.m., authorities said.
Officials confirmed serious injuries, and the rider was taken to University Medical Center by EMS. KCBD described the investigation as developing, and no cause had been released by late Tuesday.
Sources KCBD · EverythingLubbock
DPS identified the woman killed in Sunday's motorcycle crash north of Lubbock as Andrea Hyatt, 22, of Mansfield
The Texas Department of Public Safety on Tuesday identified the 22-year-old woman who died after an early-Sunday motorcycle crash near US 84 and County Road 1900 as Andrea Hyatt of Mansfield.
DPS said Hyatt was riding north on Slide Road, crossed US 84 onto what becomes County Road 1900, struck a utility pole and was thrown from the motorcycle. She died at University Medical Center. Troopers said the road was dry and the weather clear.
Sources EverythingLubbock
Curry County is investigating the death of a 31-year-old inmate found unresponsive in the Clovis jail
The Curry County Sheriff's Office is investigating the death of a 31-year-old man found unresponsive in his cell at the Curry County Jail in Clovis during a routine welfare check Monday morning, KFDA reported Tuesday.
Deputies and the Clovis Fire Department were called around 8 a.m., and the man, booked Oct. 3, was taken to Plains Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The sheriff's office has not released a cause.
Sources KCBD
Two people were arrested after a police chase ended in a crash on MLK Boulevard Tuesday afternoon
Two people are in custody after a Lubbock police chase ended Tuesday afternoon when the fleeing vehicle crashed into two parked cars in the 3500 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, police said.
Officers spotted the vehicle, linked to a theft report, around 3:30 p.m. in the 4000 block of Avenue J and tried to stop it before the driver fled. Police said neither the driver nor the officer was hurt, and the officer was not involved in the collision.
Sources KCBD · EverythingLubbock
Lubbock police are asking for help identifying a man who stole a bottle from a liquor store near 50th and Boston
The Lubbock Police Department's Property Crimes Unit asked the public Tuesday for information about an Aug. 31 theft at a liquor store near 50th Street and Boston Avenue, where a man took a bottle off a shelf just after 3:30 p.m. and ran without paying.
Police describe him as a Hispanic man, 5-foot-4 to 5-foot-9, with a medium build and dark hair, wearing a gray Nike hoodie and a camouflage backpack. Tips go to Detective Damion Pleasant at DPleasant@mylubbock.us.
Sources KCBD · KFYO · EverythingLubbock
Action PrintingCity leaders honored Bienvenido's Abraham Enriquez and restaurateur Gabriel Vitela Tuesday
Mayor Mark McBrayer and Councilwoman Christy Martinez-Garcia joined other city leaders Tuesday at Bienvenido headquarters to surprise Bienvenido founder Abraham Enriquez and One Guy From Italy owner Gabriel Vitela with recognition for their leadership and service to Lubbock and its Hispanic community.
The event follows national attention for Vitela, who was invited to a White House Hispanic Heritage Month celebration last week, where President Donald Trump called him to the stage.
Dreamers Bistro on University Avenue will close for good Thursday
Dreamers Bistro, the family-owned Asian snack and drink spot at 1003 University Ave. near Texas Tech, announced on Facebook that Thursday, Oct. 8, will be its last day, KFYO reported Tuesday.
The owners said the closing came sooner than expected and invited customers in for a final meal. The bistro served bubble waffles, K dogs, boba, sushi and bento boxes, and was a regular stop for Tech students.
Sources KFYO
Two Lubbock companies gave Tech rodeo pioneer Charles Thompson a new air conditioner after a ranching accident
Armstrong Plumbing, Air and Electric and Lennox installed a new air conditioning system Tuesday at the home of Charles Thompson, a lifelong Lubbock resident and central figure in building Texas Tech's rodeo team, through their "Feel the Love" program.
Thompson was pinned between a tractor and a hay bale with a broken neck for nearly four hours in a ranching accident before driving himself for help; he is walking again. Roy Jones, who learned from Thompson decades ago, nominated him.
Sources FOX34
Stoney LaRue will headline a Nov. 14 benefit for the Lubbock Pediatric Cancer Association
Stoney LaRue will headline Cowboys & Courage, a benefit concert for the Lubbock Pediatric Cancer Association, on Saturday, Nov. 14, at The Bus Barn at Cook's Garage, with Slade Coulter and Colton Mortensen opening, KFYO reported Tuesday.
J. Hoffman's and Kendra Scott are co-hosting, with silent and live auctions including an autographed guitar. Organizers say all proceeds stay local, helping families of children with cancer pay for medications, travel and hospital schooling.
Sources KFYO
Single tickets for 'The Bodyguard' at Buddy Holly Hall go on sale Oct. 13
Single tickets for the touring musical "The Bodyguard" go on sale Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 10 a.m., for its Jan. 29-31, 2027, run at Buddy Holly Hall, part of the 2026-27 Broadway at Buddy Holly Hall series, KCBD reported Tuesday.
Tickets will be sold at BroadwayAtBuddyHollyHall.com, BuddyHollyHall.org and by phone at 806-792-8339, with group savings for 10 or more through the American Theatre Guild.
Sources KCBD
Magic 106.5 hosts Jennifer Martinez and Vince Carrillo say a decade on air built a family with listeners
Jennifer Martinez and Vince Carrillo, known on Magic 106.5 as Chismosa and Cucuy, have shared the station's airwaves for more than 10 years, and told KCBD in a profile aired Tuesday that their audience has become family.
Martinez said listeners carried her through the recent loss of her mother, and Carrillo said the pair continue on-air conversations with listeners at community events off the air.
Sources KCBD
Duffy Law Firm, PCState
The PUC sued to keep secret which counties host Texas data centers and crypto mines
The Public Utility Commission of Texas filed suit Monday asking a Travis County judge to block release of the county and regional water planning area for each data center and virtual currency mine in its industry survey, arguing the details could aid terrorists, the Texas Tribune reported Tuesday.
The suit pits the PUC against Attorney General Ken Paxton's office, which ruled twice that the agency had not shown the information was exempt under the Texas Homeland Security Act. The survey, covering 77 data centers and 13 mining operations that responded, also collected electricity and water use and cooling technology.
Sources Texas Tribune
Comptroller Don Huffines opened financial reviews of the Austin, El Paso, Barbers Hill and Prosper school districts
Texas Comptroller Don Huffines announced Monday detailed financial reviews of the Austin, Barbers Hill, El Paso and Prosper school districts, examining whether spending goes to students, classrooms and teachers rather than administration, the Texas Tribune reported Tuesday.
The reviews follow Gov. Greg Abbott's August request that the comptroller investigate district spending ahead of the 2027 legislative session. The Tribune reported Austin ISD's enrollment fell 14% from 2015 to 2025 while administrative spending per student rose 75%; reports are due Dec. 31.
Sources Texas Tribune
STAAR rescoring requests nearly tripled this year, and more than 13,300 reading scores went up
Texas districts asked the Texas Education Agency to rescore 64,489 spring 2026 STAAR tests, up from 21,620 in 2025 and 2,758 in 2024, as more schools question computer grading of written answers, the Texas Tribune reported Wednesday.
More than 13,300 reading scores improved, 58% of them first graded by computer. Dallas ISD submitted more than 5,100 tests and 34% improved. Rescoring costs $50 a test unless the score rises. TEA spokesperson Jake Kobersky said all-human scoring would add $15 million to $20 million a year.
Sources Texas Tribune
Abbott raised $20 million to Hinojosa's $13 million but has spent most of his war chest
Gov. Greg Abbott's campaign reported raising about $20.3 million from July through late September, outpacing Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa of Austin, who raised $13.3 million, according to filings The Texan reported Tuesday.
Abbott spent nearly $70 million in the period, leaving about $17 million in cash on hand, down from $105 million in January; Hinojosa reported about $4 million. The Texas Tribune reported Hinojosa has stayed within five points of Abbott in most polls, with three September polls showing her narrowly ahead.
Sources The Texan · Texas Tribune
A House committee took up Abbott's $400 million plan to pay for sturdier roofs and lower insurance costs
The Texas House Committee on Insurance on Monday discussed Gov. Greg Abbott's proposed Texas Roof Fortification Program, which would give qualifying homeowners $10,000 each for storm-resistant roofs at a total cost of $400 million, The Texan reported Tuesday.
Chairman Jay Dean of Longview said the governor wants insurance costs down. Invited witnesses, including Alabama insurance researcher Lars Powell, spoke favorably, and members floated a state roofer's license. Rep. Tom Oliverson's similar 2025 bill passed the House but stalled in the Senate.
Sources The Texan
Abbott ordered flags at state buildings to half-staff Wednesday for the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks
Gov. Greg Abbott ordered U.S. and Texas flags at all state buildings lowered to half-staff on Wednesday, Oct. 7, in solidarity with Israel and in honor of those killed in the Hamas attacks three years ago. Flags return to full staff at sunset.
Abbott said Texas stands with Israel and the Jewish community, and the order encourages individuals, businesses and local governments to lower their flags for the same period.
Sources Office of the Governor
Advanced GraphixMost Texas Republican statewide nominees are not accepting Democrats' debate invitations
With two weeks until early voting, Attorney General Ken Paxton has not accepted any invitation to debate James Talarico in the U.S. Senate race, which could make it the first Texas Senate race without a debate in 25 years, the Texas Tribune reported Wednesday.
Talarico has accepted at least four invitations. Gov. Greg Abbott, who debated in each of his three previous races, has not publicly agreed to face Gina Hinojosa. The Railroad Commission race between Jon Rosenthal and Bo French has the only debate on the calendar, Oct. 22.
Sources Texas Tribune
Democrat Jon Rosenthal outraised Republican Bo French in the Railroad Commission race
State Rep. Jon Rosenthal, the Democratic nominee for Texas Railroad Commissioner, raised about $488,000 in the latest reporting period to about $439,000 for Republican Bo French, the Texas Tribune reported Tuesday.
About 60% of Rosenthal's money came from small Texas donors, much of it after French's social media comments following a UT football game drew wide criticism. French's largest check, $100,000, came from Texans United for a Conservative Majority. Neither candidate drew backing from major oil industry groups.
Sources Texas Tribune
Texas may carry out the first U.S. execution since Tennessee's failed attempt
Jamaal Howard, condemned for the 2000 killing of convenience store clerk Vickie Swartout in Silsbee, could be the first person executed in the U.S. since Tennessee's Sept. 30 attempt on Christa Pike, who survived two doses of pentobarbital and is speaking, her lawyers said Tuesday, the Texas Tribune reported Wednesday.
The Court of Criminal Appeals denied Howard's latest appeal Monday; a stay request is before the U.S. Supreme Court. His lawyers asked Gov. Greg Abbott for a 30-day delay while they seek records on the state's compounded pentobarbital.
Sources Texas Tribune
U.S. & World
Paramount closed its $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, and the combined company is now Skydance
Paramount completed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on Tuesday, a deal valued at about $110 billion including debt that pays $31 a share in cash and renames the combined company Skydance.
The company, led by co-CEOs David Ellison and former Mattel chief Ynon Kreiz, now owns Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., HBO, CBS, CNN, Paramount+ and HBO Max. The deal cleared the Justice Department and international regulators over the summer, with state settlements finalized in September.
Sources Forbes · PBS NewsHour
A federal judge blocked Homeland Security fines of up to $1.8 million on migrants who did not leave after deportation orders
U.S. District Judge George O'Toole in Boston issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Department of Homeland Security's civil penalties of $998 a day, applied retroactively for up to five years, on people who did not depart after final removal orders, Fox News reported early Wednesday.
The judge found the government skipped required public comment and did not assess willfulness case by case. The penalties, totaling about $84 billion across more than 103,000 cases since January 2025, could reach $1.8 million per person.
Sources Fox News
Tropical Storm Isaias formed in the Gulf Wednesday and is forecast to reach the northern Gulf Coast as a hurricane by Friday
Tropical Storm Isaias formed Wednesday in the western Gulf of Mexico and is expected to strengthen into a hurricane before making landfall late Friday or early Saturday, the National Hurricane Center said. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph early Wednesday, was moving east-northeast at 8 mph and was centered about 285 miles west of Progreso, Mexico.
The NHC projects landfall somewhere between eastern Louisiana and the western Florida Panhandle, with dangerous wind and storm surge impacts expected for much of the northern Gulf Coast. Texas is not among the forecast targets, though the full track remains subject to change, KCBD reported.
Sources KCBD
Mullin Hoard & Brown, LLPU.S. forces confined troops on Okinawa to base after a Marine was arrested in a woman's killing
U.S. forces on Okinawa began a 48-hour operational pause Wednesday, confining service members to base with no alcohol and mandatory training, after a 20-year-old Marine was arrested on suspicion of strangling a 39-year-old Japanese woman at a hotel in Naha early Saturday. The pause was announced Tuesday.
Lt. Gen. Benjamin Watson said every interaction with neighbors builds or undermines trust, and a 30-day period with curfews and closer supervision follows.
Sources Fox News · PBS NewsHour
Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for work on how mirror-image molecules arise
France's Henri B. Kagan of Université Paris-Sud and Japan's Kenso Soai of Tokyo University of Science won the 2026 Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for discovering non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.
The Nobel committee chair said their work addresses a century-old mystery of how molecules can come to favor one of two mirror-image forms, how one mirror-image form can emerge spontaneously.
Sources South China Morning Post · KOSU (NPR)
A former head of Germany's foreign intelligence service was arrested on suspicion of espionage
German federal prosecutors arrested an 80-year-old former president of the Federal Intelligence Service, who led the BND from 1998 to 2005, on Tuesday on suspicion of espionage and attempted treason, Fox News reported.
Prosecutors allege he obtained roughly 2,000 classified documents and used secret information to prepare analyses for foreign intelligence officers, and that a former aide passed him intelligence for payment from 2010 to June 2022.
Sources Fox News
Dennis Franchione, who coached TCU, Texas A&M, Alabama and Texas State, died at 75
Former college football head coach Dennis Franchione died, it was reported Tuesday. He was 75. His career spanned more than 30 years and over 200 wins, with major stops at TCU, Alabama, Texas A&M and Texas State, where he retired in 2015.
TCU Athletic Director Mike Buddie said the Horned Frogs' program would not be where it is without him. Franchione turned a 1-10 TCU team into a bowl winner over USC the next season; his family said cancer had returned this year.
Sources KCBD
