The Ledger is Lubbock Lights’ daily digest of the news that matters to Lubbock and the South Plains — our reporting first, then short summaries of stories reported by other newsrooms, each linked to its source. How we build it →
Daily Ledger
Daily digest straight from the source
Friday, November 13, 2026
Today’s lead
Lubbock County's elections chief wants to replace aging voting machines in 2027 or 2029, not in the 2028 presidential year
Lubbock County Elections Administrator Troy Havard will brief commissioners Monday, Nov. 16, on two options for replacing the county's nearly decade-old Hart Verity voting equipment: buy in 2027 or wait until 2029, Lubbock Lights reported Thursday. He told Lubbock Lights he wants to avoid using a new system for the first time in a presidential election year.
The county's memo says vendor support is winding down, and the company servicing its two central ballot scanners says this is its last year. The discussion follows a scanner malfunction at an early-voting site that forced a rescan of 5,681 ballots this month. Havard will also raise a third-party voter-registration system and four-digit precinct numbers at the 9 a.m. special meeting.
Sources Lubbock Lights
More Local
FM 835 bridge east of Loop 289 comes down starting Sunday; detours run until late spring 2027
The Texas Department of Transportation is scheduled to begin demolishing the FM 835 bridge over the North Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River, east of Loop 289, on Sunday, Nov. 15, City of Lubbock officials announced, EverythingLubbock reported Thursday. Crews will remove the existing bridge and detour traffic around the area.
Drivers will be sent to FM 40 (4th Street) and FM 1729 to reach FM 835 toward Buffalo Springs Lake and FM 3523 toward Ransom Canyon. Olive Street will also be closed at FM 835, with traffic routed along the Loop 289 frontage roads and 58th Street. The detour will stay in place until the project is finished in late spring 2027.
Sources EverythingLubbock
Abbott awards Texas Tech a $19.1 million semiconductor grant for a next-generation computing cluster
Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday, Nov. 12, a $19,108,579 Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund grant to Texas Tech University for a next-generation computing cluster in Lubbock, a network of interconnected high-performance servers built to work as one system on massive research workloads, according to the governor's office and KCBD.
Chancellor Brandon Creighton said the project brings Nvidia's most advanced computing technology to Tech and will give it the most powerful computing capability at any U.S. public research university. President Lawrence Schovanec, state Sen. Charles Perry and state Rep. Carl Tepper also praised the award. The fund was created by the Texas CHIPS Act that Abbott signed in 2023.
Sources KCBD · Office of the Texas Governor
Save Lubbock's petitions on LEDA transparency and a Flock camera ban fall short of valid signatures
Two petitions circulated by the group Save Lubbock have failed, organizer Stephen Sanders announced on Facebook on Thursday, Nov. 12, KCBD reported. A petition seeking more transparency and public notice from the City Council and the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance did not gather enough valid signatures.
A second petition, to ban the purchase and installation of Flock license-plate cameras, was thrown out because many of its signatures came from people living outside city limits or elsewhere in the county, Sanders said. He said the effort still raised awareness of how LEDA uses city money, and that the group chose to focus on turning out voters for the election instead.
Sources KCBD
Action PrintingAbernathy High School Principal Tate Albright named Texas Principal of the Year
Abernathy High School Principal Tate Albright has been named Texas Principal of the Year, EverythingLubbock reported Thursday, Nov. 12. Albright taught middle school English at Frenship ISD for 10 years before moving into administration, and said keeping good teachers in the classroom after many left following the COVID-19 pandemic has been his priority.
He now leads a high school of about 236 students. Since he took over, Abernathy has expanded its career and technical education courses in health science, business, education and culinary arts. Albright was nominated by his superintendent and chosen through a statewide process of essays and an interview panel of former winners, and he credited teachers, staff and students.
Sources EverythingLubbock
Hobbs police investigate reports of inappropriate conduct among members of the high school swim and dive team
The Hobbs Police Department's Criminal Investigations Division is investigating reports of inappropriate conduct among members of the Hobbs Swim and Dive Team and is working with Hobbs Municipal Schools administrators to establish the facts, EverythingLubbock reported Thursday, Nov. 12.
Police said they are not releasing details because juveniles may be involved and the investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to call the Hobbs Police Department Criminal Investigations Division at 575-397-9265 or Lea County Crime Stoppers at 575-393-8005.
Sources EverythingLubbock
Amarillo literacy nonprofit Storybridge receives more than $19,000 from two fundraisers
Storybridge, the Amarillo nonprofit working to make sure every child in the area owns at least 20 books from birth through fifth grade, received two donations Thursday, Nov. 12, the Amarillo Tribune reported. The Amarillo Club's fourth annual Set the Table tablescape competition raised $12,310, and McDonald's Gives Back Day on Nov. 3 raised more than $6,800.
Executive Director Chandra Perkins said the money will support Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, Kinderbridge, Summer Story Time and the group's book bank. Founded in 2016, Storybridge has given more than 900,000 books to children in the Amarillo area. The Tribune notes the Amarillo Club is one of its advertisers.
Sources Amarillo Tribune
Shallowater, Ropes, Olton, Seminole and Sudan advance in Thursday's high school football bi-district round
Several South Plains teams opened the playoffs with wins Thursday night, Nov. 12, KCBD reported. No. 6 Shallowater (10-1) beat Odessa Compass 51-7 and No. 4 Ropes (11-0) routed Vega 64-14. Olton (10-1) held off Highland Park 28-20 and will face Ozona, which upset No. 7 Post 32-21.
Seminole (8-3) won its sixth straight, 63-0 over El Paso Bowie, and awaits the Levelland-Mineral Wells winner, who play Friday in Abilene. Sudan (7-4) edged West Texas 27-26 after a 1-3 start. Shallowater next meets the Early-Peaster winner and Ropes the Lockney-Iraan winner, both games set for Friday night.
United Family's 'Thanks for Giving' campaign raises money for Lubbock Meals on Wheels through Nov. 25
Shoppers at United Family stores in the Lubbock area can donate at checkout through Wednesday, Nov. 25, to the 'Thanks for Giving' campaign, which this year supports Lubbock Meals on Wheels, EverythingLubbock reported Thursday, Nov. 12. The nonprofit delivers meals to people who are homebound, elderly or disabled.
United Community Engagement Manager Amber McCloud said volunteers also visit clients, part of the program's aim of reducing the isolation many homebound residents feel. For some clients, she said, a volunteer may be the only person they see that day. Store team members will remind shoppers about the campaign at the register.
Sources EverythingLubbock
Difference Maker Project gives away its old Christmas trees Saturday and collects donations for new ones
Missy Hall, who hosts the Difference Maker Project holiday memorial in central Lubbock, is giving away its old Christmas trees from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, at 1120 30th St., across from the Dream Center, KCBD reported. She is also accepting donations to buy sturdier artificial trees that hold up better in Lubbock's winter wind.
Now in its sixth year, the project began as Hall's way to honor people who made a difference and are no longer here for the holidays. It has grown from a few trees in her front yard to a memorial of more than 100 trees.
Sources KCBD
Duffy Law Firm, PCState
Federal regulators approve construction of four advanced nuclear reactors at Dow's Seadrift complex
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week issued a construction permit for the Long Mott Generating Station, four next-generation reactors that chemical giant Dow and startup X-energy plan at Dow's Seadrift Operations complex on the Gulf Coast between Houston and Corpus Christi, the Texas Tribune reported Thursday, Nov. 12. The Energy Department announced the milestone Monday.
The four 80-megawatt X-energy units are small, modular reactors designed to be built in factories and assembled on site, without the towering containment structures of older plants. X-energy CEO J. Clay Sell has called the design physically impossible to melt down. Diane Wilson of San Antonio Bay Waterkeeper, a retired Seadrift shrimper, remains deeply skeptical of the project.
Sources Texas Tribune
Texas A&M researchers sterilize screwworm flies with electron beams instead of radioactive cobalt
Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists said they have sterilized male New World screwworm flies using electron-beam technology rather than radioactive material, a faster, cheaper and safer option against a pest that threatens the state's livestock industry, EverythingLubbock and Nexstar reported Thursday, Nov. 12. The sterile-male technique eradicated screwworm from the U.S. in the 1960s and 1970s.
The government has traditionally used radioactive isotopes such as Cobalt-60. Dr. Suresh Pillai, director of the National Center for Electron Beam Research at Texas A&M, said the team had demonstrated that eBeam can do what Cobalt-60 does. The work was part of a U.S. Department of Agriculture challenge launched in January to fund screwworm detection, control and eradication.
Sources EverythingLubbock (Nexstar)
SpaceX's possible purchase of Boca Chica State Park would not include the beach, Starbase says
Starbase City Administrator Cayetana Polanco said this week that nobody is buying or selling Boca Chica Beach and that a potential deal between Texas Parks and Wildlife and SpaceX concerns land around the company's launch site, the Texas Tribune reported Thursday, Nov. 12. A draft commission agenda had referenced disposing of 1,300 acres in Cameron County.
The item was dropped from the final agenda for the early-November meeting, and it is unclear whether commissioners will take it up. Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa, who criticized the potential sale, said she asked the agency's executive director that no action be taken during her transition. Texas Parks and Wildlife has stayed silent and is trying to keep the draft agenda from public release.
Sources Texas Tribune
Texas executes John Rubio for the 2003 killings of three young children in Brownsville
John Allen Rubio, 46, was executed by lethal injection Thursday evening, Nov. 12, at the state prison in Huntsville and pronounced dead at 6:47 p.m., Fox News and the Associated Press reported. He was convicted of stabbing and beheading 3-year-old Julissa Quezada, 1-year-old John Esteban Rubio and 2-month-old Mary Jane Rubio in 2003.
In his final statement, Rubio apologized to his wife's family and said he was not the same person he once was. His common-law wife, Angela Camacho, is serving life in prison for her role. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied his latest appeal Nov. 5. Reinaldo Dennes is scheduled for execution Nov. 19.
Sources Fox News · EverythingLubbock (AP) · Texas Tribune
Ken Paxton's divorce from state Sen. Angela Paxton is finalized days after his U.S. Senate loss
Attorney General Ken Paxton's divorce from state Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, is final, his attorney said Thursday, Nov. 12, with the terms kept private, the Texas Tribune and the Associated Press reported. It came just over a week after Paxton lost his U.S. Senate race to Democrat James Talarico.
Angela Paxton filed last July to end their 38-year marriage on what she called biblical grounds. Ken Paxton's infidelity, including an affair aired in his 2023 impeachment trial, became a focus of the Senate race. She is among 19 Republicans who hold the majority in the 31-member Texas Senate and is up for reelection in 2028.
Sources Texas Tribune · EverythingLubbock (AP)
U.S. & World
Microsoft outage knocks out Outlook, Teams and other 365 services for users worldwide
A Microsoft outage affecting Outlook, Teams, the Copilot assistant and other Microsoft 365 services tied to its Exchange Online email system dragged on for hours from Thursday, Nov. 12, into Friday, hitting companies and some government operations from Asia to the U.S., the Associated Press reported. About 130,000 users reported problems on Downdetector on Thursday.
Microsoft said Friday it was trying different ways to find the cause and get servers back online, and that it had no indication of malicious activity. Hours after saying service had been restored, the company updated its list of affected services and said it was still working on the problem. More than 430 million people use Microsoft 365 apps.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP) · KCBD
Advanced GraphixSen. Chris Van Hollen launches a challenge to Chuck Schumer for Senate majority leader
Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said Thursday, Nov. 12, that he will run for Senate majority leader in the next Congress, setting up a challenge to Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer after the party won control of the Senate, Fox News and the Associated Press reported. "The American people called for change," Van Hollen said in a statement.
Schumer has said he has the support to win. The closed-door, secret-ballot vote in early December will be the first contested race for Senate Democratic leader in decades. Schumer recruited and raised money for many of the party's winning candidates, while progressive groups have pushed for his removal. Fox News reported Sen. Bernie Sanders backs Van Hollen.
Sources Fox News · EverythingLubbock (AP)
ICE reports record arrests and deportations in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30
Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported 483,200 people in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the most in its 23-year history, the Department of Homeland Security said Thursday, Nov. 12, Fox News and the Associated Press reported. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said ICE arrests in fiscal 2026 exceeded the combined total of three full fiscal years under President Joe Biden.
The previous high was 405,090 deportations in 2014 under President Barack Obama. The figures reflect a surge in funding for deportation officers, detention space and flights. Democrats, who won control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections, are promising vigorous oversight of the agency at the center of the president's mass deportation effort.
Sources Fox News · EverythingLubbock (AP)
Trump tells Vance to shift his focus from the Iran war to crime and corruption in Democratic-run places
President Donald Trump on Thursday, Nov. 12, directed Vice President JD Vance in a social media post to move his focus away from the Iran war and toward what Trump called corruption and crime in Democratic-controlled cities and states, the Associated Press reported. Vance, the lead negotiator for a short-lived truce, has blamed the war for Republicans' midterm losses.
In the post, Trump wrote that the U.S. does not need a deal with Iran and that "those days have long since passed." Earlier this week he said he believed the eight-month war was effectively over militarily.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP)
Iran tells the U.N. nuclear watchdog that inspections talks cannot proceed while it is under threat of attack
Iran has told the International Atomic Energy Agency that discussions on resuming nuclear inspections cannot go forward amid what it called persistent public threats by the U.S. president to strike its nuclear facilities, according to a confidential IAEA report circulated to member states Friday, Nov. 13, and seen by the Associated Press.
Iran has not given inspectors access to sites hit by Israeli and U.S. strikes during the 12-day war in June 2025, and the agency has been unable to verify the status of Iran's stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium since then. Iran said the situation will not be resolved until the root causes are addressed.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP)
Democrat Cindy Holscher is elected governor of Kansas as AP calls the race
Democrat Cindy Holscher was elected Kansas' next governor, defeating Republican Ty Masterson, after the Associated Press called the race Thursday, Nov. 12, keeping the office in Democratic hands. Holscher, a state senator who promised to halt new data centers, had already declared victory, and will succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.
Masterson, president of the GOP-controlled Kansas Senate, remains its top Republican and said the Legislature will work to cut property taxes. Republicans control both legislative chambers. Democrats had already secured a majority of U.S. governorships for the first time in two decades before the Kansas race was called.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP) · PBS NewsHour
Average 30-year mortgage rate falls to 7.11%, its fourth straight weekly decline
The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 7.11% this week from 7.18% last week, its fourth straight decline and lowest level since Sept. 24, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday, Nov. 12, the Associated Press reported. A year ago the average was 6.24%.
The average rate on 15-year fixed mortgages, often used for refinancing, dipped to 6.45% from 6.57%. Rates had been rising since late February, when the U.S. war with Iran began, before the recent pullback offered some relief to home shoppers who have put off buying because of high borrowing costs and prices.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP)
Mullin Hoard & Brown, LLPDemocratic senators open an inquiry into whether RFK Jr. misled Congress about his 2019 Samoa trip
Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland are investigating whether Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lied to Congress about his reason for a 2019 trip to Samoa, the Associated Press reported Thursday, Nov. 12. They announced the inquiry in a letter Wednesday to Children's Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group Kennedy once chaired.
Kennedy told senators at his confirmation that the visit, before a deadly measles outbreak, had nothing to do with vaccines. A letter he sent to Samoa's prime minister ahead of the trip, published in August by the AP and The Guardian, used the words vaccine or vaccination eight times.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP) · PBS NewsHour
FBI seizes more than $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency stolen from Binance in the largest crypto heist on record
The FBI said Thursday, Nov. 12, that it has seized more than $1.2 billion of the cryptocurrency stolen last month from Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, the Associated Press reported. The theft of about $6.3 billion is considered the biggest crypto heist in history, and the FBI has attributed it to a North Korean hacking group known as TraderTraitor.
The government and private sector have frozen more than $2.7 billion of the stolen funds so far, and the Justice Department said it has court authorization to seize or restrain more than $1.2 billion of it. The FBI also blamed North Korea for a separate scheme that stole $400 million in crypto over 18 months.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP)
Navy quietly removed several commanders, including a submarine's leadership after a collision, lawmakers say
Two Democratic lawmakers said Thursday, Nov. 12, that the Navy failed to tell Congress it fired the entire leadership team of a nuclear-powered attack submarine last month after an underwater collision, the Associated Press reported. The Navy also fired a destroyer commander deployed to the Middle East in September, a defense official said.
Rear Adm. Brian Monahan, the attending physician for Congress and the Supreme Court, also left his post during a Navy investigation without public announcement. All three moves break the Navy's longstanding practice of announcing major removals of commanders and other visible officials, and come amid growing secrecy over military operations in the Middle East.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP)
U.S. Army officer arrested in Britain on suspicion of spying for Russia is expected to be charged there
An American Army lieutenant colonel arrested Tuesday in the United Kingdom on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service is expected to be charged in Britain on Sunday or Monday, and no information reached Moscow, a U.S. official said Thursday, Nov. 12, the Associated Press reported.
The officer, a senior human resources officer assigned to a NATO unit at a base near Gloucester, England, would then be prosecuted under the U.S. military justice system, the official said. London's Metropolitan Police said its counterterrorism forces worked closely with the FBI and the U.S. military on the arrest.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP)
Brooklyn building collapse death toll reaches eight, including two children, as rescue work ends
The collapse of a three-story Brooklyn apartment building killed eight people, including children ages 9 and 10, and injured 18, among them four firefighters, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Thursday, Nov. 12, as the fire department ended rescue operations after freeing the last victim, the Associated Press reported.
The building gave way Wednesday afternoon while construction workers dug at an adjacent lot. Mamdani ordered inspections at about 100 building sites involving companies tied to the project and said anyone responsible would be held fully accountable. Investigators have not determined the cause; neighbors blamed construction vibrations for cracks in their walls.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP)
Cargo ship strikes the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge between New Jersey and Philadelphia; no injuries reported
The 591-foot cargo ship Strategic Alliance struck the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge over the Delaware River around 1:15 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, leaving the drawbridge unable to close for a time and backing up traffic between Palmyra, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, the Associated Press reported. Pennsylvania state Rep. Ed Neilson said no injuries were reported.
The Coast Guard said the Singapore-flagged vessel was moored at a Kinder Morgan facility in Bristol, Pennsylvania, where an inspection team was on site. The bridge reopened to traffic with a lane closure Thursday evening, the Burlington County Bridge Commission police said.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP)
D. Williams & Co., Inc.Richard Glossip, three times near execution in Oklahoma, pleads guilty to a lesser charge in a 1997 killing
Former Oklahoma death row prisoner Richard Glossip pleaded guilty to a lesser accessory charge in the 1997 killing of motel owner Barry Van Treese, and the murder charge was dismissed, his attorney Don Knight said Thursday, Nov. 12, the Associated Press reported. Glossip will be sentenced in December, when he could be released or returned to prison.
Glossip spent nearly 30 years incarcerated and came close to execution three times. Justin Sneed, who admitted killing Van Treese, testified that Glossip promised to pay him $10,000. The U.S. Supreme Court threw out Glossip's conviction, and he was released on bond in May to await retrial.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP)
Richard Posner, influential legal scholar and longtime federal appeals judge, dies at 87
Richard Posner, the prolific legal scholar and outspoken former judge who pioneered using economic theory to resolve legal questions, died Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 87, the University of Chicago Law School said, the Associated Press reported Thursday. His opinions have been cited extensively in textbooks used by generations of lawyers.
Posner served nearly 40 years on the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where he was known as a clear writer, a tough questioner and an author of sometimes acerbic opinions, including a 2014 ruling striking down same-sex marriage bans in Wisconsin and Indiana. His son Eric Posner is a professor at the law school.
Sources EverythingLubbock (AP)
