Baylor News

The Waco Metropolitan Planning Organization voted to add an additional $2 million to a project that would renovate the interchange of Interstate 35 and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Chris Evilia, the director of the Waco Metropolitan Planning Organization, said the additional funds will make the traffic to and from Baylor Stadium smoother when the stadium opens.

Stripped of its bustle and mostly cut off from the world, New York was left wondering Tuesday when its particular way of life — carried by subway, lit by skyline and powered by 24-hour deli — would return.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the power company said it could be the weekend before the lights come on for hundreds of thousands of people plunged into darkness by what was once Hurricane Sandy.

Bloomberg said it could also be four or five days before the subway, which suffered the worst damage in its 108-year history, is running again.

All 10 of the tunnels that carry New Yorkers under the East River were flooded.

Money collected by Baylor University’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing during the Communities Foundation of Texas’ North Texas Giving Day on Sept. 13 to fund existing scholarships could be awarded as early as this semester or next with disbursement occurring in the following semesters.

During Giving Day, a one-day event in which charitable donations to nonprofit organizations are partially matched by the Communities Foundation of Texas, more than $35,000 was collected for the school.

The Louise Herrington School of Nursing, located on the Baylor University Medical Center campus near downtown Dallas, prepares baccalaureate and graduate level nurses for their career, all within a Christian community. No scholarships have been awarded yet, although most of the money raised will go straight to endowed scholarships.

State senators worried Tuesday that Texas has gone too far in imposing a zero-tolerance policy for bad behavior in schools, noting that minority students are bearing the brunt of the punishment and school police officers are writing too many tickets for insignificant infractions.

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.