Daily Ledger
Daily digest straight from the source
Friday, September 18, 2026
The lead · Sep 18
Lubbock Lights: the appellate hearing is off and Meurer is returning about $70,000 to the county
County Judge Curtis Parrish issued a statement Thursday saying the Precinct 2 fight is finished: Mark Meurer has withdrawn from the litigation, the roughly $70,000 in salary he drew for the seat is being returned, and the appellate hearing that had been on the calendar is cancelled. Lubbock Lights broke the double-pay story Sept. 14 and reported the payments stopped the same day.
The payments began after a December 2025 ruling restored Jason Corley to the Precinct 2 dais while the removal case was on appeal, leaving two men drawing salary for one seat. With the appeal withdrawn, the ruling that put Corley back stands. The Precinct 2 seat is on the November ballot.
Sources Lubbock Lights · EverythingLubbock
More Local
Texas Tech Health Sciences Center lands a $24.5 million NIH grant, the largest in its history
The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center said Thursday it has won a $24.5 million National Institutes of Health grant, the biggest award the institution has ever received. The five-year program is built to move laboratory findings into patient care across the 121 counties TTUHSC serves from its six campuses, with the emphasis on rural and medically underserved communities.
Three principal investigators lead the work: Dr. Lance McMahon, Dr. Julie St. John and Dr. Naima Moustaid-Moussa. The money funds delivery of existing health-priority research rather than a new building, and TTUHSC is the region's largest health-education employer, so the award lands squarely in Lubbock's economy as well as its clinics.
Sources KCBD
Sheriff Rowe says the county budget that takes effect Oct. 1 leaves 17 jobs unfilled and the jail roof unfinished
Lubbock County's new budget takes effect Oct. 1 with the no-new-revenue tax rate for a third straight year, a 3% raise for most county employees and state-funded increases for some Juvenile Justice Center staff. Sheriff Kelly Rowe said Thursday the plan does not cover what the county already owes itself: 17 open positions in his office, 12 of them peace-officer vacancies, 13 more at the jail, and a jail roof replaced only in part.
County Judge Curtis Parrish, the lone vote for a higher rate, said the shortfall reaches the district attorney and the clerk's office too. Commissioner Jason Corley defended the rate, saying more deputies would not by itself make the roads safer.
Sources EverythingLubbock
TxDOT closes 12th Street access to FM 179 in Wolfforth starting Monday, for about two weeks
Drivers in Wolfforth lose the 12th Street approach to FM 179 beginning Monday, Sept. 21, for roughly two weeks while crews continue a $9.6 million rebuild. TxDOT is routing detoured traffic along Corpus Avenue and 20th Street to reach FM 179, and the closure is the second Wolfforth-area traffic change announced this week.
The wider project adds a left-turn lane, rebuilds drainage, lays new pavement, upgrades lighting and installs traffic signals where FM 179 meets US 62. Wolfforth is the fastest-growing town in the Lubbock orbit and FM 179 is one of its two main north-south routes, so the detour reaches well beyond the block that is closed.
Sources KCBD
Mullin Hoard & Brown, LLPBroadway in downtown Lubbock closes from Avenue O to Avenue E starting Monday for underground utility work
Broadway Street will see intermittent closures between Avenue O and Avenue E beginning Monday, Sept. 21, running through approximately Dec. 1 while crews carry out underground utility improvements and temporary paving. TxDOT is routing traffic around the closed segments; drivers are advised to follow posted detour signs through the area.
The closures are the latest phase of Lubbock's $17 million Broadway Street Reconstruction Project, which broke ground in August and runs from Avenue Q to Avenue E. The project replaces historic brick, adds new pavement, upgrades drainage and improves lighting along the downtown corridor. It is the second Monday-starting closure announced this week affecting Lubbock-area commuters.
Amarillo's city manager is expected to resign, and the council takes it up Tuesday
The Amarillo City Council will consider accepting City Manager Grayson Path's resignation on Tuesday, Sept. 22. Mayor Cole Stanley said Thursday he could say little beyond that the matter came out of executive session, and called Path a good man who did the best he could with the circumstances he inherited.
The agenda item cites a clause under which a resignation offered after a suggestion to resign counts as a termination, triggering severance equal to a year of salary; his base pay started at $285,000 in 2024. Three assistant city managers have left since he arrived, and the council met Monday over errors in the 2026 tax-rate calculation.
Sources Amarillo Tribune
Three Lubbock kitchens drew 49 violations between them in inspections released Thursday
Lubbock's weekly health inspection results, released Thursday, put three restaurants on the low-performer list. Mi Linda Michoacana at 2331 34th St. drew 18 violations, including barbacoa held above safe temperature, corn below required heat, dented cans and no certified food manager on staff. Parry's Pizza at 11430 Quaker Ave. drew 16, among them diced tomatoes at unsafe temperatures and hand-hygiene failures.
Yanagi Ramen, at the same Quaker Avenue address, drew 15: soup cooled improperly, raw fish stored above safe temperature, weak sanitizing solution and unlabeled toxic items. AFC Sushi, inside the United Supermarkets at 6313 4th St., posted a perfect score.
Sources KCBD
A Texas Tech pecan study is looking for 60 Lubbock-area volunteers over 50
Researchers at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center began recruiting Thursday for a three-month study on whether pecans change brain function in older adults with early cognitive decline. Dr. Leslie Shen, a professor of pathology, is leading it; the team wants 60 participants aged 50 and up, half eating pecans and half eating pretzels as a control.
Investigators will track gut bacteria, inflammation markers and gut-brain signaling across the three months. Pecans are a West Texas crop as well as a research subject here, and the Clinical Research Institute is taking volunteers at 806-543-8994 or ClinicalResearch@ttuhsc.edu.
Sources KCBD
Week 4 opens on the South Plains: Lubbock-Cooper falls at Canyon, Tulia and Tahoka win Thursday
Thursday night's Week 4 openers left Lubbock-Cooper still looking for its first win of 2026 after a 49-24 loss at Canyon. Tulia moved to 3-1 with a 55-30 win over Brownfield, and Tahoka ground out a 12-8 defensive win over Floydada.
Elsewhere on Thursday's card, Hale Center shut out its opponent 57-0, Southland won 48-0, Aspermont won 64-14, Dawson won 46-6, O'Donnell won 46-33 and Wellington took a TAPPS game 40-6. The rest of Week 4 runs Friday and Saturday; No. 13 Texas Tech opens Big 12 play at No. 22 Houston at 7 p.m. on FOX tonight.
State
Texas recovers nearly $12 billion in hospital Medicaid money, ending a funding halt that began Sept. 1
Texas said Thursday it has restored nearly $12 billion in Medicaid supplemental payments to hospitals, ending a dispute with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that had run close to a year. The payments stopped Sept. 1, the first interruption since the program began in 2014, and the state put the cost of the halt at about $27 million a day.
The money covers the gap between Medicaid reimbursement and what hospitals actually spend treating low-income patients, and it reaches emergency rooms, rural clinics, nursing facilities and behavioral health providers. The fight turned on how Texas raises the more than $4.2 billion in taxes it uses to draw federal matching funds.
Sources The Texas Tribune
D. Williams & Co., Inc.TxDOT freezes new Flock camera permits on state highways
The Texas Department of Transportation has stopped issuing permits for automated license plate readers on state-owned roads, at Gov. Greg Abbott's direction, the Texas Tribune reported Thursday. A police presentation put the start of the pause at Sept. 8. The freeze covers new installations and agreements already approved but not yet built; it does not touch the more than 900 cameras the Department of Public Safety already runs.
The move follows Abbott's late-August order blocking state funding for the cameras, which halted roughly $30 million directed at more than 3,200 devices. Lubbock police use the system, and hundreds of cameras statewide have gone dark since the funding stopped.
Sources The Texas Tribune
ERCOT backs away from CEO's $6.4 million contract extension under Patrick's pressure; board's 30% raise still at issue
Power grid officials backed away Thursday from a contract that would have given ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas up to $6.4 million in compensation after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said it was not the time to give him a raise on ratepayers’ backs. Both the ERCOT board and the Public Utility Commission approved the extension but declined to sign it; Vegas stays under his existing deal through 2027.
Patrick is separately pressing the board to reverse a 30% pay raise it voted itself, set to take effect Oct. 1. Board Chair Bill Flores argued the increases are needed to hold directors against private-sector pay. ERCOT is funded through ratepayer fees; Texas electricity costs are up about 40% since 2020.
Sources The Texas Tribune · KETR
Texas GOP condemns Bo French but few are pulling support, as new reporting shows party knew of his history
A Texas Tribune investigation published Friday found that state Republican leaders knew about Railroad Commission candidate Bo French's history of antisemitic, homophobic and xenophobic social media posts before the primary — but cited policy concerns rather than his social record when opposing him. Despite widespread condemnation following his Sunday post implying Asian-appearing UT fans were displacing Americans, most are still maintaining endorsements.
Two students pictured in the post have confirmed they are U.S. citizens. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and strategist Karl Rove said they will not vote for French; Cornyn may leave the line blank. Speaker Dustin Burrows and Sen. Ted Cruz have also weighed in critically. French has doubled down, and the oil and gas industry has stayed silent.
Sources The Texas Tribune · The Hill
Texas prisons ask lawmakers for $298 million to keep installing air conditioning
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has asked the Legislature for $298 million over two years to continue air-conditioning state prisons, a request reported Thursday ahead of the 90th legislative session that convenes in January. Executive Director Bobby Lumpkin's agency has already received $85 million, then $118 million, plus $110 million for operations and $301 million for cooled expansion dormitories.
U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman has not ruled since an April trial in a suit, filed in 2023 and widened in 2024, arguing that cells above 100 degrees violate the Eighth Amendment. He has called the conditions plainly unconstitutional while declining to order installation at an estimated $1.5 billion. State Sen. Charles Perry's district includes affected units.
Sources KCBD
Minnesota arrests the ICE officer at the center of its extradition fight with Abbott
Minnesota authorities arrested an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis on Wednesday, ending a months-long standoff with Texas over extradition. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said her office looks forward to beginning its prosecution; Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison had pressed the case since charges were filed May 18 over the shooting of a Venezuelan man and false statements to investigators.
Gov. Greg Abbott had declined to sign extradition paperwork, and spokesman Andrew Mahaleris said Abbott had serious doubts the officer qualified as a fugitive, since federal orders had reassigned him to Cameron County rather than his having fled. Texas Secretary of State Robert Howden handles extradition paperwork.
Sources The Texas Tribune
Texas carries out its fifth execution of the year
LeJames Norman, 40, was executed by lethal injection Thursday evening at the Huntsville Unit, the fifth execution Texas has carried out in 2026. He declined to make a final statement when the warden asked for his last words. Norman had pleaded guilty to capital murder in a 2005 robbery in Edna, in Jackson County, in which Samuel Roberts, 24, Tiffani Peacock, 18, and Celso Lopez, 38, were shot.
Norman and an accomplice believed cocaine was inside the house; none was found. He was caught five months later re-entering the country from Mexico. Ker'Sean Ramey, convicted in the same case, is scheduled for execution next week. The U.S. Supreme Court denied a stay Thursday.
Sources Fox News
Action PrintingU.S. & World
The EU offers Canada associate membership, and Trump calls it a possible hostile act
Prime Minister Mark Carney told the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Thursday that Canada embraces European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's proposal to make it the bloc's first associate member, framing it as a way to cut dependence on its neighbor and protect its sovereignty. Von der Leyen floated the idea Wednesday.
President Donald Trump said the same day that the EU allowing Canada in as an associate member could be a hostile act and threatened consequences. Carney told lawmakers Canada is pursuing resilience so that no one can control its open markets. A summit to work out the terms is set for Montreal on Oct. 29 and 30.
Sources The Hill · PBS NewsHour
Xi arrives in Washington next week; White House rehearses military honors as expectations stay modest
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington on Wednesday, Sept. 23 for a summit with President Donald Trump; White House preparations — a rehearsing military honor guard, a new granite helicopter pad on the South Lawn, a confirmed state dinner — signal a visit heavy on ceremony. Trump is to meet Xi at Joint Base Andrews on arrival, with formal meetings following the next day. The agenda covers artificial intelligence cooperation, semiconductor export controls, Boeing aircraft sales, rare earth export restrictions and the wider trade fight.
Analysts from CSIS and the Center for a New American Security warn thin preparation makes atmospherics more likely than agreements. Additional summits are expected at APEC in November and the G20 in December.
Massie says he has the Republican votes to impeach Hegseth after Johnson sent the House home early
Rep. Thomas Massie said Thursday that House leaders had found other Republicans willing to join his push to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a day after Speaker Mike Johnson recessed the House early and blocked a vote on the resolution. Johnson said members needed to get home and campaign before the midterms, and called this Congress the most productive in decades.
Massie held the floor Wednesday asking why the chamber was canceling days while the country burns. The early recess also shelved an effort to force the release of investigation files. The House has cut 28 legislative days this year, a net loss of 24; Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the majority a do-nothing Congress.
Sources The Hill · PBS NewsHour
Italian officials suspect arson behind the fire that swept the Amalfi Coast this week
A wildfire that broke out Monday evening burned scrubland above Amalfi and through Cus Pogerola and Tovere di Amalfi, forcing precautionary evacuations of hotels and restaurants during the tail of the tourist season. Seven ground crews and three aircraft worked the fire, though high winds kept the aircraft grounded until Thursday morning.
Local officials said this week they suspect it was set, with one noting that fires starting at once across four towns looked like a plan rather than a coincidence. No injuries or damaged homes were reported, but authorities warned the burned slopes raise the risk of landslides once the rain returns.
Sources Fox News
The death of producer Tay Keith is ruled an accidental overdose
A medical examiner has ruled that the June 18 death of Grammy-nominated producer Brytavious LaKeith Chambers, who worked as Tay Keith, was an accidental drug overdose, according to findings released Thursday. He was 29 and was found in his Nashville apartment.
The report listed ketamine, alcohol, nicotine and mitragynine in his system, along with mild coronary artery disease. Chambers produced for Drake, Travis Scott and BlocBoy JB among others, and his beats were a fixture of the late-2010s rap era whose artists still fill arenas across Texas.
Sources KCBD