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The Amarillo Tribune, Amarillo, TX (2025)

09/24/2025

On Tuesday, the Amarillo City Council went into an executive session to discuss two matters related to Fermi America. According to the agenda, items 2A and 2C would see them consulting with an attorney and engaging in discussion “regarding commercial or financial information received from a business prospect and/or to deliberate the offer of a financial or other incentive,” on the matter of a “Water Supply Agreement with Fermi America.” Item 2B concerned property located in the Northwest Quadrant, and a discussion of “the purchase, exchange, lease, sale or value” of the property.

The details of what is discussed in an executive session are generally confidential, though a record of the session must be kept, according to the Texas Open Meetings Act.

Before the session convened, Councilmember Tim Reid, Place 1, asked why the discussion needed to be in an executive session. City Attorney Bryan McWilliams said an executive session was meant to protect deliberations and the latest negotiations.

“In light of the discussions and the negotiations that are going on, it’s on there to discuss that matter if that’s before the council,” McWilliams said. “I don’t have all the knowledge related to that. So, if the council wants to discuss that, they could. That’s all it is.”

With a handful of concerned citizens present, the council left the chambers shortly after noon, with Mayor Cole Stanley telling the crowd they would be behind closed doors for two and a half to three hours. They did not reemerge until the regular session was slated to begin at 3 p.m.

Read more here: https://amarillotribune.org/2025/09/24/amarillo-city-council-discusses-water-supply-agreement-with-fermi-america-in-executive-session/

09/24/2025

The Panhandle Public Broadcasting System (PPBS) presented its projected budget over the next two years following federal funding cuts.

As we previously reported, the House approved a plan to rescind $9 billion in previously allocated funds, including $1.1 billion allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which supports public broadcasting like PBS and National Public Radio. PPBS General Manager Julie Grimes said in a previous interview that the rescinded CPB funds represented approximately a third of the PBS budget, dispersed in two-year intervals. Grimes said that as of Oct. 1, no federal funds will benefit public media stations.

According to the CPB in a news release on Sept. 22, “the organization distributed $388.35 million in available federal funding for fiscal year 2025 … and will now distribute the remaining $7.1 million to stations in the coming days,” for fiscal years 2026 and 2027.

At the Amarillo College Board of Regents’ Tuesday meeting, Grimes presented the board with PPBS’s budget for 2026 and 2027, stating the next two years will be “most definitely impacted by the rescission in funds.”

Read more here: https://amarillotribune.org/2025/09/24/panhandle-pbs-talks-upcoming-budget-following-federal-funding-cuts/

09/23/2025

North Amarillo community members have established the Pleasant Valley and River Road Neighborhood Revitalization Group (PVRRNRG) and are working with the City of Amarillo to make the area a recognized neighborhood in an effort to reopen Pleasant Valley Elementary school.

Hope McCoy, board member of the PVRRNRG, said the idea of the group began after the creation of “The Petition,” which requested that the Amarillo Independent School District reconsider its decision to close Pleasant Valley Elementary School.

“I reached out to the mayor, Potter County Commissioner [John] Coffee, and anybody that would listen. And Commissioner Coffee is the one that told us about the City of Amarillo Neighborhood Association Program. So, I started looking into it, started reaching out to my neighbors, people in the Pleasant Valley community. I’m like, ‘Okay, we want families to be drawn back out here. We’ve got to clean up and take pride back in our neighborhood.’ And so it’s grown from a simple petition into this recognized neighborhood association group,” McCoy said.

According to the COA Recognized Neighborhood Association Toolkit, to become a recognized neighborhood, a community must first submit an application to the City. This application must be reviewed by the Amarillo City Council to have the community recognized.

“We’re registering for a 501(c)(3), so we’ve been waiting on our certificate formation from the State of Texas to come in, and then we have to register with the IRS to complete that. Then there’s an oversight committee meeting, and we’re not entirely clear when they’re going to approve us in the neighborhood or how that’s going to work,” Sean Hall, PVRRNRG secretary, said.

Read more here: https://amarillotribune.org/2025/09/23/revitalization-efforts-in-pleasant-valley-river-road-lead-to-infectious-kindness/

09/22/2025

Facing a $1.4 million funding loss in Texas Health and Human Services funding, which required the discontinuance of its detox, residential and recovery housing services in Amarillo, Cenikor went before the Potter County Commissioners’ Court on Monday morning to seek support. The nonprofit organization is dedicated to providing a wide range of evidence-based addiction recovery programs and mental health support.

“I know that the county was awarded some opioid abatement funds, and we were just going to see if we could receive any of those to continue to help with our existing programs so that we can keep helping everybody,” Cenikor Regional Director Julie McCarty said.

The State of Texas has participated in various settlement agreements with companies that played roles in the opioid crisis. From those settlements, 15% is dispersed to political subdivisions, which can use their discretion to spend their allocated share of the Op**te Abatement Funds, as long as those funds are used to address opioid-related harms in their communities and abide by state and federal laws.

Last year, Cenikor President and CEO Bill Baily said the Amarillo facility treats around 1,600 people a year. McCarty said, with the financial shortfall, they’ve had to pivot to all outpatient programs. To keep detox and residential facilities open, they would need a smaller building and, of course, more funding.

Read more here: https://amarillotribune.org/2025/09/22/cenikor-seeks-funding-help-from-potter-county/

09/22/2025

The 102nd annual Tri-State Fair & Rodeo’s annual Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association event came to town Sept. 18-20 and awarded over $100,000 to cowboys and cowgirls from around the world.

The rodeo coincided with nine days of fair festivities. Starting in 1923, the Tri-State Fair and Rodeo began as a small livestock show, and the event has only grown since. The event now contributes over $1 million in scholarships to Panhandle area students and millions of dollars in economic impact to the Amarillo area.

Read more here: https://amarillotribune.org/2025/09/22/in-pictures-tri-state-fair-rodeo-deals-out-6-figure-awards-to-cowboys-from-around-the-world/

09/19/2025

Beginning this school year, Amarillo ISD implemented a new, state-approved learning curriculum that includes religious content in all AISD elementary schools.

The Amarillo Tribune became aware of potential local implementation of a new school curriculum, Bluebonnet Learning. At the beginning of the school year, the Amarillo Tribune submitted an information request to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) asking which Region 16 school districts had implemented Bluebonnet Learning.

According to the results, 40 of the 64 districts in Region 16 have notified the TEA they intend to use Bluebonnet, including AISD. The Amarillo Tribune then reached out to AISD via an information request to ask which schools had implemented the Bluebonnet curriculum.

AISD replied: “All AISD elementary schools are utilizing Bluebonnet. Our teachers customize lessons to meet student needs, prioritize essential standards, and craft them to leverage their teaching expertise and style.”

Read more here: https://amarillotribune.org/2025/09/19/all-amarillo-isd-elementary-schools-utilizing-controversial-new-religion-infused-curriculum/

09/18/2025

Amarillo will host its first Miss Rodeo Texas pageant June 16-20, 2026, and serve as the competition grounds for the next three years.

“We are really excited to move to Amarillo because a huge part of the mission statement of Miss Rodeo Texas is preserving and promoting our western heritage, and Texas is full of that, but I think Amarillo exudes, exemplifies that and certainly lives it,” Nikki Woodward, state director of Miss Rodeo Texas, said.

Miss Rodeo Texas has an almost 50-year-long tradition of selecting a Goodwill Ambassador of Rodeo to travel the state, educating fellow Texans about the importance of agriculture and modeling goodwill and integrity for the Texas youth.

Previous Miss Rodeo Texas pageants have been held in Denton and San Antonio. The move to Amarillo is part of a new rotating pageant initiative, wherein the pageants will change locations every three years.

Read more here: https://amarillotribune.org/2025/09/18/amarillo-to-host-miss-rodeo-texas-pageant-next-year/

09/18/2025

As of Thursday afternoon, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signed 29 bills from the second-called special legislative session and has vetoed one. Among the bills listed below, Abbott signed several congratulatory resolutions and bills that apply only to counties with a population of 3.3 million or more.

Read moren here: https://amarillotribune.org/2025/09/18/abbott-signs-bills-related-to-abortion-drugs-ivermectin-and-more-into-law/

09/18/2025

Members of the Black Market Tampon Coven invite the community to the third annual Bizarre Bazaar event on Sept. 20 from 4 to 9 p.m., at the Khiva Shrine located at 305 SE 5th Ave.

Melissa Zol, the Swamp Witch, said the group created the event as a way to raise funds for Goth Prom, an event the organization holds each year, commonly in February, offering a fun, macabre safe space for those who don’t fit in.

“This is our biggest fundraiser for prom. So all the proceeds go towards prom, and then 20% of our prom proceeds are going to a nonprofit, ARFA, [for] this upcoming prom in 2026,” Zol said.

Book Witch Angela Workman said the group was talking one evening, and said they “just wanted a spooky market,” leading to the creation of Bizarre Bazaar.

“Goth is really about seeing the beauty and the joy and the macabre and the dark. And although there are a lot of events that are uplifting and beautiful in Amarillo … they’re very nice and they’re very upbeat, and ours is just different. [Bizarre Bazaar and Goth Prom] is for the people who are a little darker, have a different sense of the world,” Workman said.

Read more here: https://amarillotribune.org/2025/09/18/amarillos-spooky-market-is-back-with-the-third-annual-bizarre-bazaar/

09/17/2025

In honor of National Forensic Science Week, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) opened the doors of its crime labs across the state to learn about the specialized work they perform. Amarillo’s lab held its open house on Wednesday morning.

“And part of that is we are showcasing the work that we do in our forensic laboratories. This is generally a closed environment, and so as a closed environment, we have seized drugs in these locations, so we don’t let the public come in and out. We want to ensure the integrity of the evidence we’re analyzing and storing,” Laboratory Manager Brandon Conrad said.

Conrad said the open house was an opportunity for DPS to open its doors and allow the public to see what happens to evidence that is seized on the side of the road or through an investigation by the Texas Rangers, DPS troopers, or local law enforcement.

In Texas, Conrad explained, evidence is taken to an accredited laboratory for analysis to provide “the customer,” ultimately the courts, the information they need to decide on the proceedings being held.

Read more here: https://amarillotribune.org/2025/09/17/dps-offers-tour-of-crime-lab-for-national-forensic-science-week/

09/17/2025

Dr. Char Miller is set to deliver his speech, “Flood and Fire, Deluge and Drought: Environmental History and Watershed Lessons from the Edwards Plateau,” at West Texas A&M University on Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. in Legacy Hall in the Jack B. Kelley Student Center.

The goal of this lecture, part of the Garry L. Nall Lecture Series through WT’s Center for the Study of the American West (CSAW), is to explore the idea of place and the relationship residents build with the landscapes that surround them. Admission to the event is free.

“We’re really trying to hone in a little bit on a core part of our mission, which is promoting place, knowledge and sense of place on the Southern Plains… [It’s important to ask], ‘Who are we as a people on the Southern Plains, and in what depth do we understand our history, the nature of our place?’ and I think those are really crucial questions that CSAW is trying to work on,” Dr. Alex Hunt, Director of CSAW, said.

Miller is a Professor of Environmental Analysis and History at Pomona College in Claremont, California, director of the Claremont Colleges’ environmental analysis program, and also serves as a senior fellow at the Pinchot Institute for Conservation and a fellow of the Texas State Historical Association and of the Forest History Society. While the title of his lecture emphasizes Edwards Plateau, Miller says the lecture will dive into the history surrounding the landscape of Amarillo and Canyon.

Read more here: https://amarillotribune.org/2025/09/17/what-a-place-is-and-how-it-has-emotional-meaning-for-all-of-us-regardless-of-where-we-live/

09/17/2025

On Tuesday, counsel for Kevin Hunt, 18, asked the U.S. Northern District Court of Texas, Amarillo Division, to order an examination to determine if Hunt is competent to stand trial and if he was legally insane at the time he allegedly planned to use a weapon of mass destruction at the City of Canyon’s Fourth of July celebrations.

Hunt also submitted, through his lawyer, a notice that he intends to rely upon an insanity defense.

As we previously reported, a joint investigation involving the Department of Public Safety, the Amarillo Police Department and the Randall County District Attorney’s Office led to suspicion that Hunt was planning an attack at Canyon’s Independence Day festivities. Hunt was surveilled travelling and taking numerous photos along Canyon’s planned Fourth of July parade route.

Read more here: https://amarillotribune.org/2025/09/17/kevin-hunt-intends-to-use-insanity-defense-for-alleged-weapon-of-mass-destruction-attempt/

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