Baylor News
The “Be Safe. Drive Smart” initiative aims to combat the growing number of pedestrian deaths and injuries on Texas roadways, particularly as National Pedestrian Safety Month approaches.
Baylor’s Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in STEM recently received national recognition for their efforts in celebrating culture on campus.
While Columbia was nice, Terrell said what sets Baylor apart is its students. His Christian faith allows him to build relationships with students to find their “sense of purpose.”
“The whole certificate is about building beyond students to become global learners first and foremost, exposing students to intercultural humility, cultural awareness and having the ability to be able to interact with different ethnicities and backgrounds,” said Raphael Abayateye, assistant director of Global Engagement.
Waco News
An explosion Wednesday night at a fertilizer plant near Waco sent flames shooting high into the night sky, leaving the factory a smoldering ruin, causing major damage at nearby buildings and injuring numerous people.
The blast at the plant in West, a community north of Waco, happened shortly before 8 p.m. and could be heard as far away as Waxahachie, 45 miles to the north.
Authorities say an explosion at a fertilizer plant near Waco, Texas, has injured several people.
A dispatcher with the West, Texas, Fire Department says the explosion happened Wednesday night at a fertilizer plant in the community north of Waco. She says any casualties would be taken to hospitals in Waco.
At 8:29 a.m., Temple High School officials called in a shooting which took place on the exterior of the campus building, according to Brad Sheffield, the school’s director of communications.
The shooting, according to Sheffield, was isolated to one self-inflicted shot. The school immediately went into lockdown to check for any other threats inside the school that has 2,000 students.
Police say a Central Texas high school is on lockdown after a student shot himself with a handgun on campus.
Temple police Cpl. Christopher Wilcox says no one else was injured Tuesday and no other students at Temple High School endangered when the boy, believed to be 15 years old, shot himself. The shooting occurred outside near the school athletic complex.
State News
President Donald Trump has approved the execution by firing squad of Nidal Hasan, the former Army major convicted of killing 13 people in the 2009 Fort Hood mass shooting, with the execution scheduled for 1 p.m. Dec. 3 at the Central Texas military installation, roughly an hour from Baylor’s campus.
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.
Dr. Joshua Alley, assistant professor of political science, said part of the Trump administration’s interest in Greenland has to do with America’s national security strategy.
