Baylor News

It wasn’t quite a Cinderella story. Sure, I was running around at midnight. It’s true, I’d just seen fireworks at a party. But instead of dropping a glass slipper, I’d left something a little more valuable behind.

The trip up to this point had been like a fairy tale. This past summer, I spent a month in Italy studying writing and photography through Baylor’s study abroad program. We’d been in Italy for a few weeks, had already seen Rome and were now starting classes in Florence.

After months of construction on Third Street and $73 million dollars, East Village Residential Community has opened its doors to about 700 students of all classifications.

“Most of our residence halls pre-1960s were not built in such a way that our upper-division students say, ‘Yeah, I want to live here,’” Dr. Kevin Jackson, Vice President for Student Life, said.

The living areas are styled with cove units that contain four double bedrooms as well as semi-suites and apartment-style living. Semi-suites have two rooms joined in the middle by a bathroom. The apartment-style rooms have a varying number of rooms including a bathroom and living room. In addition, there are study rooms, lounges and game rooms for students to use.

The study abroad trip wasn’t going as she’d hoped.

Austin junior Rachel Clark watched as one American student after another left for the Cairo International Airport.

On June 1, a little more than a month before Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi was deposed, Clark arrived in Cairo to take two six-week classes, Egyptian Polictics and Government and Arab Society. Originally, she was supposed to stay for eight weeks. Because of the turmoil of Morsi being removed from office, Clark was forced to leave three weeks early.

As Baylor students begin returning to campus this semester, they may notice several things missing – like 200 student parking spaces.

This year, Parking and Transportation Services has reallocated parking spaces and limited decal choices to the $300 all-access decal. Lori Fogleman, assistant vice president for media communications, said that 100 former student parking spaces have been allotted to faculty and staff. The remaining 100 former student spaces are either temporarily blocked by construction or will no longer be spaces in lieu of greenery.

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.