KELI From Inkwell, this is the Amarillo News Drop. I'm Keli, with Hast.
HAST Land rezoning near Eastridge Elementary has people in the Panhandle asking if Amazon's next move is a data center. The Panhandle 1st Coalition brought it up — the property switched from agricultural to light industrial zoning, and Deputy City Manager Andrew Freeman told city council on Tuesday the land is for sale. A data center isn't ruled out. Council member Tim Reid wanted specifics. Freeman didn't commit to a timeline or confirm active negotiations with Amazon management, but the rezoning clears the path.
KELI That's the structural piece — zoning changes first, then the property gets shopped. Freeman's non-answer on whether Amazon's already talking about it tells you the city's keeping its options open while it markets the site. Watch the next 30 days for a land sale announcement. If there's serious interest in a data center, the buyer would likely emerge before year-end.
HAST On the ballot front, early voting's running strong across the Panhandle heading into Tuesday's general election. Potter County's at 13,080 votes cast early, Randall County at 28,969. That's the snapshot through yesterday. Early voting ends Friday.
KELI Statewide, more than 7.5 million Texans have voted early — that's 39 percent of voters. We're tracking the 2018 pace, which held the modern record. Final numbers come after Tuesday.
HAST Texas Tech and an Austin-based company called Caprock Direct Lithium Extraction are now working on a technology that pulls lithium out of wastewater from oil and gas operations. Caprock DLE's CEO Jonathan Grammer holds the exclusive license. It's polymer-based extraction — could matter for the Panhandle's energy picture down the road.
KELI Before we close, a history marker — on this day in 1955, United Air Lines Flight 629 was bombed near Longmont, Colorado. All 44 aboard were killed.
HAST That's the Amarillo News Drop. Full script and sources at inkwell.wiki/news/amarillo.
KELI Before we close, a word from Inkwell. A principle from Gil's Intelligent Version worth borrowing: where a source genuinely leaves a question open, an honest translation preserves the ambiguity instead of quietly deciding for you.
HAST They call it The Refused Verdict. At inkwell dot wiki, slash giv.
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