Baylor News

The Lake Waco area is home to southern bald eagles, and the community is working to construct a 50-foot nesting tower to ensure that the eagles always have a place to inhabit in the area.

Janet Wallace, president of the Central Texas Audubon Society, said 20 years ago bald eagles were discovered nesting near the shores of Lake Waco. The Audubon Society is concerned, Wallace said, because the eagles have been selecting dead cottonwood trees to build their nests in.

The Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative draws researchers and employees to a site that has been largely vacant for 27 years.

“The research that has been going on here and will go on here in the future has the potential to affect humankind,” Lori Fogleman, assistant vice president for media communications, said. “I hope that is not much of an exaggeration and I really don’t think it is. The future is just limitless here at the BRIC.”

As Baylor seniors prepare for the transition from college into the professional realm, they will also need to prepare for a transition in their email accounts.

In the past, university policy allowed Baylor graduates a non-specific grace period to continue using student emails. However, the costs of licensing every used email account, coupled with the decrease in available server space, prompted Baylor’s Information Technology Services Department to find an alternative best suited to alumni needs, said Becky King, associate vice president for information technology and deputy CIO.

Waco News

State News

Texas voters turned out in historic numbers Tuesday, delivering victories for State Rep. James Talarico and forcing a runoff between Attorney General Ken Paxton and incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the state’s U.S. Senate contest that claimed national attention. The total early-voting turnout of more than 2.5 million marks the highest ever for a midterm primary election. The results also kicked off the 2026 midterm cycle.

INTERNATIONAL

The Iran war is now in its 46th day. Iran responded by restricting access to Hormuz, which carries about a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil, and moving to toll vessels transiting the strait. Waco drivers are already feeling it. The local average hit $3.38 a gallon last week, up 21 cents in seven days and 75 cents year-over-year, according to AAA data.

Gas prices in Texas have surged more than 70 cents per gallon since the U.S. went to war with Iran three weeks ago. The near-total shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz has driven oil prices up more than 40%, pushing the national average to its highest point since 2023 and sending diesel past $5 for the first time in three years.

The largest U.S. military operation in the Middle East in decades unfolded as American and Israeli forces struck Iran Saturday, killing its supreme leader and triggering retaliatory strikes from the Gulf to Israel. The White House said the campaign is aimed at dismantling Iran’s military and toppling its government.