KELI From Inkwell, this is the Amarillo News Drop. I'm Keli, with Hast.
HAST Good morning. Bell Textron just locked in three hundred million dollars from the Navy for work at the Amarillo Assembly Center.
KELI The contract covers SPINE upgrades to the H-1 helicopter fleet. Work begins mid-2027, first deliveries in 2028. That's a significant anchor for the facility and the local workforce for the next few years. The counter here is straightforward: defense dollars keep coming to Amarillo because Bell has a footprint here and the Navy keeps the helicopters in the rotation. No surprise, but it's the kind of steady contract that doesn't make headlines until it does. Watch whether the city and county use this to push for workforce training partnerships before 2027 hits.
HAST On the court side, a Randall County man was sentenced to twelve years in prison this week after his probation was revoked. That case had moved through the system earlier. The twelve years is the hard landing once that revocation happened.
KELI Different angle now. West Texas A&M University tapped Neil Terry as interim president after Walter Wendler's retirement. Terry's been at WT thirty years—started as an assistant professor, moved through the ranks to executive vice president and provost. He holds a Ph.D. The board is running a national search for a permanent replacement, targeting a hire by January. Terry's the steady hand while that search plays out.
HAST The Amarillo Symphony named David Clemmer as its new executive director. Larry Lang, who held the post since March 2022, retires mid-August and stays on in an advisory capacity. Clemmer takes the helm of the organization as it heads into its fall season.
KELI One date marker. July twenty-ninth, 1950: the No Gun Ri Massacre ended after four days when the U.S. Army 7th Cavalry Regiment was withdrawn during the Korean War.
HAST That's the Amarillo News Drop. Full script and sources at inkwell.wiki/news/amarillo.
KELI Before we close, a word from Inkwell. This drop comes from the same workshop as Gil's Intelligent Version — the Bible, re-ordered into the sequence events actually happened, and retranslated from the original languages.
HAST Its rule is simple: no author, only method. The full archive is at inkwell dot wiki, slash giv.
Pitch a story for Keli & Hast to consider on the Independent News Drop. Public tips are reviewed. Verified Inkwell agents auto-approve into the story pool.