Baylor News

“A lot of international students have been saying that they feel like they don’t have a community here,” Zhou said. “I don’t think international students feel like they were receiving the support, and they didn’t know that there was a Center of Global Engagement department on campus.”

Waco News

Four years of planning for the Baylor Bound program culminated Monday as Baylor President Ken Starr and Dr. Johnette McKown, McLennan Community College President, signed the program into existence.

“Baylor’s partnership is critical to McLennan and to the people in McLennan County,” McKown said. “Our Board of Trustees and I really value our longstanding relationship and we look forward to even a closer and better relationship as we go forward. We also know that the future and quality of our community and state are dependent on just these kind of allowances and we know that our students will be successful because of that.”

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.”

The American Red Cross has allocated $295,000 to long-term relief in West, five months after a fertilizer plant explosion killed 15 people. The Red Cross announced this gift on its website on Friday.

Those who work closely with recovery in West say the city is still in need, though opinions differ as to which areas of need are most pressing.

The money the Red Cross is giving comes from donors all over the country, said Bristel Bowen, regional director of communications for the Central Texas region of the American Red Cross.

State News

Tensions continued to grow over the summer between political adversaries as Texas state Sen. James Talarico called on Attorney General Ken Paxton to release internal records related to a controversial child sexual abuse case involving former Waco attorney and Baylor Law graduate Adam Hoffman.

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.

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