Baylor News

Known as “The Urban Rescue Ranch” on social media, Christie’s nonprofit has amassed 4.2 million TikTok followers, 2.92 million YouTube subscribers and 701,000 Instagram followers since 2020. The Urban Rescue Ranch is now doing business as Waco Wildlife Rescue and is looking for Baylor student volunteers to help with animal care and social media.

Waco News

Hoping to harness the power of effective Christian leadership, more than 250 local church leaders, Waco residents and Baylor faculty, staff and students attended a live satellite broadcast of the Global Leadership Summit in Waco Hall on Aug. 11.

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.