Baylor News
Granbury senior and community garden co-manager Morgan Garner said her team is excited to welcome all faculty, staff and students from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on April 25 at the garden, which is located on the corner of James Avenue and Ninth Street.
Baylor honored the contributions of the university’s 5,000 graduate students during Graduate Student Appreciation Week — a week that also recognized the growth of the university’s graduate programs and enrollment over the last couple of years.
Baylor Libraries is calling all students with a background and interest in the arts, history, political science, religion and museums to stay in Waco this summer and learn to handle archival material and primary sources. Applications close Thursday and can be found on the Baylor Libraries website.
The Baylor Police Department is currently investigating five scooter thefts that took place on and around campus in the last month. The thefts took place between Feb. 27 and March 23, and assistant chief of BUPD Don Rodman said that among these five thefts, there have been few commonalities or linking traits.
Waco News
Nationally and at Baylor, people are gathering to celebrate the life work of Mahatma Gandhi by serving their local community on Saturday.
The event, called Be the Change, is coordinated nationally by SAALT, South Asian Americans Leading Together, to honor Gandhi.
A Baylor engineering professor and Mission Waco are partnering to form Six Eight Technologies, a new program of Mission Waco-Mission World that will offer training and opportunities for people who want to serve in a technical capacity in developing countries.
A North Texas man was looking for a car to steal “like a predator seeking prey” when he came upon a church, where he killed the pastor and beat the secretary before stealing her car, a prosecutor told jurors as the man’s capital murder trial began Monday.
Steven Lawayne Nelson, 25, faces the death penalty if convicted in last year’s death of the Rev. Clint Dobson, a 2008 graduate of Truett Seminary.
Former Baylor student and Waco resident Richard Kharmir Hurd, age 26, will be sentenced on Nov. 21 by U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith for attempted extortion of Washington Redskins quarterback and Baylor alum, Robert Griffin III.
Hurd pleaded guilty to federal charges of attempting to extort money from Griffin III. Hurd faces up to two years and three years in a federal prison for “interstate communication of a threat, and receipt of extortion proceeds” respectively.
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.
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.
