Independent News Drop

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

HAST Good morning. Panhandle police are searching for an 18-year-old in Pampa after a shooting at Walmart on Saturday. Jose Luis Vasquez of Pampa opened fire inside the store; Pampa Police Department says no customers were hit, but they've issued an arrest warrant for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Officers recovered the vehicle Vasquez fled in. He remains at large.

KELI This one's worth the counter-read. Most coverage will frame it as a single incident — wrong place, wrong person, case closed once arrested. The structural piece: Pampa sits in a region where property crime and violent incident reports have ticked up since mid-year, and response times from a two-shift police force can run 8 to 12 minutes in outlying areas. Expect the department to ask the city council for budget relief in November. Watch whether the city moves money or holds line.

HAST Staying with Texas power. The Public Utility Commission is blocking public records on data center deals — and that's state-level, but it hits the Panhandle directly. PUC staff have refused to disclose contracts between energy companies and tech firms building massive server farms that draw huge amounts of grid power during peak hours. That load falls on ratepayers. The Tribune and others have been pushing for the data since summer.

KELI Slower-moving story now. The State Board of Education races are set for November. Four seats are up; three conservative Republicans who've pushed harder-line curriculum votes chose not to run. One seat in the Rio Grande Valley could flip either way. The board controls textbook adoption for the entire state — including the Panhandle. Whoever wins shapes what Amarillo and Canyon schools can teach in health and social studies for the next four years. Polls close November fifth.

HAST Before we close, a history note.

KELI On this day in 1968, a Fairchild F-27 crashed into Moose Mountain on approach to Lebanon, New Hampshire, killing 32 people.

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

KELI Before we close, a word from Inkwell. If you've ever wondered what Gil's Intelligent Version actually is — a chronological retranslation of the Bible with its full scholarly workings left visible — there's now a plain overview.

HAST No author, only method. Start at inkwell dot wiki, slash giv, slash about.