Independent News Drop

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

HAST Canyon's city commission is running a $365,000 budget deficit after they cut the tax rate. On Tuesday they adopted a combined rate of just over 50 cents per hundred dollars of property value — that's down nearly three-quarters of a cent from last year and almost three cents lower than what they'd first proposed. The average homeowner's bill won't go up, but the city's going to have to dip into reserves to close the gap.

KELI Counter-read on that one: the simple framing is "Canyon cuts taxes, keeps homeowners whole." The structural story is different. They lowered the rate, sure, but now they're burning through fund balance — savings — to pay for current operations. That's not sustainable beyond a year or two. Watch whether the commission votes to raise the rate back up by next spring, or whether service cuts start showing up in the budget amendments they'll likely need to pass by November.

HAST Sticking with health: the Coffee Memorial Blood Center is asking for donors today and tomorrow ahead of Labor Day. They're offering a hot dog and a Halloween-themed t-shirt to people who give. Blood supplies typically dip during holiday weekends, so they're getting ahead of it.

KELI On a different front, Texas. Governor Abbott's office is defending the state's Medicaid funding — nearly ten billion dollars a year flowing to hospitals. Abbott's spokesman said Texas isn't doing anything that would disqualify the state from that federal money. This comes as a Medicaid fraud lawsuit against Planned Parenthood is proceeding in court. The lawsuit and the defense are part of a continuing fight between the state and federal government over how Texas manages its Medicaid program.

HAST Quieter story now. West Texas A&M's opera opens its season on September 11th at six in the evening. They're doing their second one-ounce operas event at the Jack B. Kelley Student Center in Legacy Hall. Tickets are twenty-five dollars.

KELI One date marker before we close. In 1914, World War I forces began the Battle of Grand Couronné — a German assault on French positions north of Nancy.

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

KELI Before we close, something lighter from Inkwell. There's a piece asking what the Beatles songbook keeps reaching for — a world set right, meaning that holds — without pretending the band were secret prophets.

HAST An honest look, and an open door. At inkwell dot wiki, slash beatles.