Baylor News

The Baylor Institute for Faith and Learning will host the annual Symposium on Faith and Culture titled “Technology and Human Flourishing,” which will begin at 1 p.m. today in the Bill Daniel Student Center and end Saturday evening. The symposium will be held in the Bill Daniel Student Center and Cashion Academic Building.

Dr. Dave Bridge has taught at Baylor for three years as an assistant professor in the political science department. In 2010, he graduated from the University of Southern California with a doctorate in politics and international relations. Currently, he teaches American politics and a class that focuses on campaigns and elections. Bridge gives his opinion of the state of the presidential race in the second installment of the Lariat’s election Q-and-A series.

An Algerian man whose sentence for plotting to blow up the Los Angeles airport around the turn of the new millennium was thrown out for being too lenient was ordered Wednesday to spend 37 years in prison.

Ahmed Ressam, who had trained with al-Qaida in Afghanistan, was arrested in December 1999 when a customs agent noticed that he appeared suspicious as he drove off a ferry from Canada onto Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. A resulting search turned up a trunk full of explosives.

Cheerleaders at a Texas public school have jumped headfirst into litigation that could have implications on the division of church and state and the First Amendment as it affects the public school system.

The Kountze High School cheerleaders are suing the school for the First Amendment right to use Bible verses on their run-through banners at football games.

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.