Baylor News
While StompFest is recognized as a step-dancing competition, fraternities and sororities that belong to the Divine Nine use their platform on stage and their time in the spotlight to give back to their philanthropies.
The Leadership, Education and Development Living-Learning Community, otherwise known as the LEAD LLC, will move across campus for the 2024-2025 academic year. Construction in Allen and Dawson Halls — the former home of the LEAD LLC — means that residents will find a temporary home in Texana and University House, located in North Village.
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.
Waco News
It’s just before 5:30 p.m. As volunteers prepare food for serving, a line of men, women and children form outside the door. The people in the line outside are carrying handbags and backpacks, or they are hiding empty hands in their pockets.
For some people in Waco, food is not an easy thing to find. The United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service defines food insecurity as a reduction in the quality, availability or desirability of food or a disruption in eating patterns and reduced food intake.
Seventeen miles north of Baylor, in West, is a little piece of old-world Europe. Czech Stop, a combination bakery and deli, provides travelers and Central Texas residents alike with authentic Czech kolaches, sandwiches and sweets. Czech Stop is highly successful, serving close to 600 customers on busy days, but things were not always so good.
Students enrolled in the culinary arts program at Texas State Technical College are skilled. Need proof? One meal at the school’s restaurant will have your taste buds convinced.
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.
