Baylor News

Student government, despite its name, is not best defined as a governing body. According to primary staff advisor Tanner Vickers, it’s really an “advocacy group that acts on behalf of the undergraduate student body.”

“I would say it is totally worth doing, even without the salary, just because this what I’m chasing,” Phnom Penh, Cambodia, senior Laura Workman said. “This is what I’m passionate about and what I want to do with my life. Being paid is a great bonus, but I would do it again without the salary.”

Waco News

Mission Waco volunteers will celebrate their past year of service to the Waco community on Tuesday.

The Mission Waco Banquet will take place at 6 p.m. Tuesday in
Chisholm Hall of the Waco Convention Center.

Birds keep out of the weather and flock together on power lines and in parking lots.

At the Central Texas Marketplace, a strip center near Highway 6 and Interstate 35, Baylor students have encountered a sea of black, rustling feathers while shopping and dining out.

Over the weekend, vandals in Oakwood Cemetery caused up to $200,000 worth of damage to historic graves. The defaced monuments included those of former Texas Gov. Richard Coke and Madison Cooper, author of the best-selling novel “Sironia, Texas.” According to police, the damage was done between 9 p.m. Friday and 7 a.m. Saturday.

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.