Independent News Drop

KELI From Inkwell, this is the Amarillo News Drop. It's Friday, July twenty-fourth. The time is one a.m. central. I'm Keli, with Hast.

HAST Good morning. We've got local business movement and a state funding shift that could reshape how Texas pays for higher education. Let's go.

KELI The Amarillo Tribune is tracking money flowing into one of the most expensive U.S. Senate races in the nation. Democrat James Talarico has set fundraising records at this stage of the cycle, posting a quarterly haul larger than any active Senate race right now. His opponent, Republican Ken Paxton, is also raising and spending heavily. The race is shaping up as one of the priciest Senate competitions the country will see this cycle. Observers are watching both the raw totals and where that money's being deployed—digital, broadcast, ground game—because the spending mix often signals campaign strategy and confidence in different regions.

HAST That money story's going to keep developing through fall. On the state side, the Texas Tribune reports the higher education agency is recommending lawmakers revamp how public universities get funded. Instead of formula-based allocations, the agency suggests tying money to student success metrics—graduation rates, job placement, credential completion. It's a continuing conversation about whether state funding should reward institutions for outcomes or enrollment.

KELI Structurally, what other states have tried is this: when you tie funding to success, some universities move resources toward students who are easiest to graduate, potentially narrowing access for first-generation or lower-income learners. Watch whether the agency's proposal includes accountability guardrails for enrollment equity. That'll tell you whether this is efficiency-first or whether someone's thinking about who stays in the pipeline.

HAST Separate track. Twenty-three Republican governors, including Texas's Greg Abbott, have signed President Trump's Ratepayer Protection Pledge. The commitment is aimed at keeping electricity costs steady as artificial intelligence data centers expand across the country and demand for power climbs. Data centers consume enormous amounts of power, and the pledges are essentially a signal that governors will work to shield consumers from rate hikes that might otherwise follow.

KELI The Amarillo area's been in the conversation around data center expansion and power demand. This pledge is a continuation of that broader infrastructure conversation in the region and across the state.

HAST We also have a direct assignment from the desk this morning on local business activity. That piece is moving through our reporting now and will have full details in the morning edition.

KELI Before we close, a history note. On this day in 1927, the Menin Gate war memorial was unveiled at Ypres, Belgium—a monument to the soldiers lost in the First World War's Ypres campaigns.

HAST That's the Amarillo News Drop. We'll be back this evening. From Inkwell.

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.