Daily Ledger
Daily digest straight from the source
Saturday, September 19, 2026
The lead · Sep 19
Rescue crews worked into the night to free a person trapped by a cave collapse at Lake Alan Henry
Lubbock Fire Rescue's heavy rescue and dive teams joined Garza County first responders at Lake Alan Henry on Friday night after a cave collapsed with a person trapped underneath. LFR said at 8:39 p.m. that the trapped individual was alert and speaking with Garza County crews on scene. Crews set up a base at the boat ramp and worked at the waterline to reach the person, with an AeroCare air ambulance standing by.
KCBD's account was last updated early Saturday morning and carried no outcome. The lake is in Garza County, southeast of Lubbock.
Sources KCBD · EverythingLubbock
More Local
No. 13 Texas Tech survives No. 22 Houston 28-26 in its Big 12 opener
Texas Tech opened Big 12 play Friday night at Galaxy Stadium with a 28-26 win over No. 22 Houston, decided when Houston's two-point conversion fell inches short with 49 seconds left. Conner Weigman had just thrown a 10-yard touchdown pass to Patrick Overmyer to pull the Cougars within two.
Will Hammond completed 17 of 27 passes for 257 yards and a touchdown for Tech. Kenny Johnson caught four passes for 113 yards including a 35-yard score, J'Koby Williams ran 29 yards for another, and Cameron Dickey scored with 7:35 left. Brendan Jourdan had 10 tackles. Tech is 3-1, 1-0 in the Big 12, and hosts Sam Houston State at 11 a.m. Saturday.
The Lubbock County Sheriff's Office warns of jury-duty and warrant scam calls
The Lubbock County Sheriff's Office warned residents Friday about callers who claim a warrant has been issued over a missed jury summons and demand immediate payment. A local firefighter recorded a 13-minute call and shared it so people could hear the pitch.
The office listed the tells: the wrong agency name, the wrong county, invented judges' names, no supervisor's name or court address, misused legal terms, a threat of immediate arrest, pressure to settle on the spot and an order not to discuss the call. The sheriff's office said it does not demand payment by phone and does not accept bitcoin, Cash App, Venmo or gift cards.
Sources KFYO
A $5.99 million FM 835 bridge replacement east of Loop 289 starts Oct. 1
Work to replace the FM 835 bridge over the North Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River, east of Loop 289, begins Oct. 1 and is scheduled to finish in spring 2027, KCBD reported Friday. Webber Construction LLC of The Woodlands holds the $5.99 million contract.
Signage and traffic-control staging go up this coming week, with bridge demolition and the heaviest detours expected from late October into early November. Crews will use accelerated bridge construction, fabricating part of the structure off site and dropping it into place, which shortens the job from years to months. The work also rebuilds the FM 835 and Olive Street intersection.
Sources KCBD
D. Williams & Co., Inc.An overheated server has left customers of four Panhandle credit unions without online banking since Tuesday
Customers at four Amarillo-area credit unions have been unable to use online and mobile banking, and in some cases to bank at all, since a core-processing server overheated Tuesday, the Amarillo Tribune reported Friday. Sharetec, which runs web-based core processing for credit unions in Texas, Ohio, Maine and Indiana, manages the affected processor; The People's Federal Credit Union said a cooling failure at the data center housing the servers caused it.
City Federal, Hereford Federal and Santa Fe Federal reported being unable to process debit transactions and payroll deposits. Santa Fe regained processing Thursday; Hereford was told Friday. TPFCU says no data was breached.
Sources Amarillo Tribune
Attorney General Ken Paxton brings his Senate campaign tour to Lubbock on Saturday
Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running for the U.S. Senate, stops in Lubbock on Saturday for a "Protecting the Texas Promise" event at Rock City Church, 5833 4th St. Doors open at 1:30 p.m. and the program starts at 2:30 p.m. Admission is free, but attendees must register in advance through Eventbrite. KCBD reported the stop Friday afternoon.
Early voting in the Nov. 3 general election begins Oct. 19.
Sources KCBD
An eastern Lubbock County volunteer fire department covers about 100 square miles with 23 members
Chief Russ Perkins told KCBD, in a story published Friday, that his volunteer department covers roughly 100 square miles of eastern Lubbock County with 23 members total, and that anywhere from three to seventeen of them can answer a given call depending on who is at work.
"If there's a structure fire in the city, they have three or four engines, a ladder truck, a couple of chiefs, 18 to 20 people on a reported structure fire," Perkins said. Nationally, 70% of firefighters are volunteers; the National Fire Protection Association counts an average loss of 12,000 a year while calls have risen 70% since 2008. Perkins said non-firefighting help is welcome.
Sources KCBD
The 5th Circuit revives a former West Texas A&M officer's retaliation suit
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled Friday that a retaliation suit brought by former West Texas A&M University police officer Nathan Crawford should not have been thrown out, and sent it back to the district court.
Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas, Amarillo Division, had granted the university summary judgment in July 2025 before a jury heard it. A panel of Judges Carl Stewart, James Graves Jr. and Cory Wilson found a genuine dispute of fact over whether Crawford suffered an adverse employment action after taking part in a 2021 Title IX investigation. Crawford sued in September 2023 and appealed in August 2025.
Sources Amarillo Tribune
Friday's Week 4 scores: Plainview tops Coronado, Estacado rolls Big Spring, Slaton edges Post
South Plains teams played Week 4 on Friday night. Plainview beat Coronado 41-35 and Lubbock-Cooper Liberty held off West Plains 29-28. Estacado beat Big Spring 45-24, Sweetwater shut out Levelland 44-0 and Seminole beat Hereford 55-23.
In 3A, Denver City edged Roosevelt 43-42, Shallowater beat Monahans 35-21, Idalou beat Fort Stockton 60-20, Littlefield beat Christoval 62-21 and Slaton beat Post 28-24. In 2A, Farwell beat Muleshoe 32-31, New Deal beat Seagraves 27-20, Olton beat Lockney 28-12 and Ropes beat Panhandle 42-34. KCBD posted the full board of final scores and highlights late Friday night.
Sources KCBD
Power Slap held its first Texas event at Texas Tech's United Supermarkets Arena
Power Slap 23, the promotion's first live event in Texas, ran Thursday, Sept. 17, at the United Supermarkets Arena on the Texas Tech campus, KFYO reported Friday. Both title fights ended with the champion keeping the belt: the light heavyweight challenger was disqualified for flinching in the fifth round, and the welterweight champion won by first-round TKO.
The undercard included a former UFC heavyweight who won a unanimous decision and a former WWE world heavyweight champion who lost by third-round TKO on a doctor's stoppage for bleeding. No attendance figure was given.
Sources KFYO
Action PrintingState
Abbott's data-center audit is under way, and ERCOT is asking more than 250 questions
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas sent a community impact survey of more than 250 questions to data-center projects seeking grid connections, KERA reported Friday. It covers facility details, financial assistance, how self-sufficient a site's power is, water use, cooling methods, community impact and ownership. It reaches 247 large projects asking for 75 megawatts or more and 214 medium projects asking 25 to 75 megawatts, with answers due Oct. 12.
ERCOT will then verify which "Batch Zero" projects are ready to build and report to state regulators and lawmakers by December. Texas has fielded interconnection requests totaling 474 gigawatts, roughly five times peak demand, about 90% of it from data centers.
Sources KERA News · Texas Public Radio · Houston Public Media
A month out from early voting, three September polls split the governor's race and favor Talarico
The Texan compared three September polls on Friday, a month before early voting opens Oct. 19. In the U.S. Senate race, ReconMR had state Rep. James Talarico ahead of Attorney General Ken Paxton 49-43 among 614 likely voters, Mason-Dixon had it 46-43 among 625 registered voters, and Emerson College had it 47-46 among 1,000 likely voters.
The governor's race split: Emerson gave Gov. Greg Abbott a 49-46 lead and Mason-Dixon 48-41, while ReconMR had state Rep. Gina Hinojosa up 49-45. ReconMR also showed the attorney general's race tied at 45 and Democrats ahead 47-46 for lieutenant governor. Election Day is Nov. 3.
Sources The Texan
Three Democrats now running statewide gave to a 2024 Austin ISD tax-rate increase
The Texan reported Friday that three Democratic state representatives now seeking statewide office each gave $1,500 toward the 2024 Austin ISD tax-rate election, $4,500 between them. Rep. Vikki Goodwin, running for lieutenant governor, gave in September 2024, and Rep. Gina Hinojosa, running for governor, gave about a month later, both directly to the Committee for Austin's Children. Rep. James Talarico, running for U.S. Senate, gave through Big and Bright PAC, a group he founded.
Austin ISD's Proposition A raised the district's rate 9.1 cents per $100 of valuation to lift teacher and staff pay. Voters approved it with 58 percent, and it was projected to raise $171 million a year.
Sources The Texan
Texas added 159,400 jobs over the past year, more than any other state
Texas Workforce Commission figures covering August 2025 through August 2026, highlighted Friday, show Texas added 159,400 nonfarm jobs over the 12 months, more than any other state, and grew 1.1 percent, the fastest annual rate in the country.
The state's labor force reached 15,932,600, up 10,900 over the year, and total nonfarm employment reached 14,469,300 after a gain of 5,600 in August alone. About 15,225,100 Texans were employed at the end of the period. Gov. Greg Abbott pointed to the numbers in announcing that the state again led the nation in workforce expansion.
Sources KFYO
U.S. & World
Warren Buffett steps down as Berkshire Hathaway's chairman and hands the job to his son
Warren Buffett, 96, stepped down Friday as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, a post he had held since 1970, and becomes chairman emeritus while staying on the board as a director. His son Howard Buffett, 71, a director since 1993, takes the chairmanship. Greg Abel, who became chief executive in January, keeps running the company's operations, and Susan Decker remains lead independent director.
"Serving as your Chairman has been the privilege of a lifetime, and I have never taken your trust for granted," Buffett said. Abel said the culture Warren built will stay at Berkshire's heart, with Howard its guardian. Buffett is directing his roughly $145 billion fortune to his three children's charitable foundations.
Sources Fortune · PBS NewsHour · NPR
White House bars CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters as Trump media ban takes effect
President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social on Friday that he was banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House for "fake-news" reporting, warning other outlets could follow. The ban took effect Saturday: an MS NOW journalist's badge was disabled, a CNN reporter's credential was deactivated, and a Politico correspondent denied entry. All three organizations said they would fight to defend their First Amendment rights.
Jameel Jaffer of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia called the ban unconstitutional on its face. A 2025 dispute over Associated Press access remains in litigation after a judge ordered AP restored.
Duffy Law Firm, PCA federal judge orders the EPA to restore the $7 billion Solar for All program
District Judge Mary McElroy, in Rhode Island federal court, ruled Friday that the Environmental Protection Agency acted contrary to Congress's intent and without statutory authority when it killed Solar for All, and vacated the termination. The $7 billion program was meant to put solar power within reach of more than 900,000 lower-income Americans.
It was created under the 2022 climate law as part of a $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, and the EPA rescinded the money in August 2025. The plaintiffs included the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, the Rhode Island Center for Justice, Solar United Neighbors, the Conservation Law Foundation and attorneys general from more than a dozen states.
Early in-person voting opens in Virginia, the first state to vote in the midterms
Early in-person voting for the Nov. 3 midterms began Friday in Virginia, the first state to open its polls. On the ballot are a U.S. Senate seat, all 11 U.S. House races, three proposed state constitutional amendments covering reproductive rights, same-sex marriage and restoration of felony voting rights, 47 local sales-tax referendums for school funding, 148 school board candidates and more than 1,100 other local candidates.
Virginia's congressional delegation is currently six Democrats and five Republicans, and Republicans hold narrow majorities in both chambers of Congress. Idaho, Minnesota and South Dakota also allow in-person absentee voting at local election offices.
Sources Cardinal News · Al Jazeera · PBS NewsHour
A Wendy's franchisee with more than 300 restaurants files for Chapter 11
Meritage Hospitality Group, one of the largest Wendy's franchisees, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Friday after closing about 60 restaurants earlier this year. It still runs 314 restaurants across the Midwest and Southeast, plus five breakfast-concept locations.
The company listed assets and liabilities each between $10 million and $50 million, and owes City National Bank $150 million on debt declared in default last year. Store-level earnings fell 48 percent year over year to $36.2 million, and it came up $11 million short on a beverage contract. Wendy's has posted six straight quarters of same-store sales declines, including a 7 percent drop last quarter.
Sources Nation's Restaurant News · The Hill