Independent News Drop

KELI From Inkwell, this is the Amarillo News Drop. I'm Keli, with Hast.

HAST Good morning. Heat warning first.

KELI Amarillo's tracking a possible record high today—near 104 degrees. The National Weather Service is calling for mostly sunny skies, southwest winds five to fifteen miles per hour, and morning lows around 70. If the temperature hits 104, it ties the record set in 1994. Slim chance of scattered showers, but don't count on it. The heat is the story for the next several hours.

HAST That's the kind of number people feel. One other thing underneath it—we've had consecutive days now in the 100s, and the dew point is low, so the heat index isn't as brutal as the raw temp, but the body still registers the stress. This is the second consecutive day pushing record territory. If we tie or break today, we're in a pattern, not an anomaly. The National Weather Service will be flagging that for the next briefing cycle.

KELI On the state side, Texas has a special election coming. Senator Brian Birdwell, who represented the Austin area and has been in the Legislature for years, resigned this past year to take a Pentagon post as assistant secretary of defense. The special election will fill his seat.

HAST That's a Capitol piece. Birdwell announced in June of last year he wouldn't seek reelection, then moved to the federal appointment earlier this year. The seat's now open for special election. No candidate names yet in the move, but watch for a primary-style race in a competitive district.

KELI West Texas A&M is gearing up. The university announced its 2026-2027 arts season schedule as the fall semester begins Monday, August twenty-fourth. WT's calendar is set for on-campus performances and events across the year.

HAST That's the local education marker. Classes start Monday at WT, so the schedule matters for students and for anyone in Amarillo following the university calendar.

KELI Before we close, a history note. On this day in 1902, Theodore Roosevelt became the first President of the United States to ride in an automobile in public.

HAST That's worth the moment.

KELI That's the Amarillo News Drop. Full script and sources at inkwell.wiki/news/amarillo.

KELI Before we close, a word from Inkwell. There's an essay at Gil's Intelligent Version on what actually happened in 1914 — and how a real historical instinct curdled into false certainty the moment someone tried to measure it to the inch.

HAST It's called The Witness and the Ruler. At inkwell dot wiki, slash giv.