Killeen Daily Herald

09/23/2026

Bubba’s 33 Eagle Award was presented Wednesday to two of the Killeen Fire Department’s best — Jenn Foster and Captain James Kubinski, at Fire Station No. 4 in south Killeen.

09/23/2026

There are four finalists for the Killeen city manager’s position.
"Of the four, two are from Texas, one is from Missouri and one is from Oregon. Three of the candidates are men; one is a woman. Two have served in the military," writes Dave Miller in Sunday's editorial. "That sounds like a nice cross-section of potential administrators, but one glaring statistic stands out: None of the finalists has served as city manager in a town as large as Killeen."

The editorial continues: "Killeen has an annual budget of $361 million, more than 1,400 full-time-equivalent employee positions and provides programs and services to more than 160,000 residents. How does that compare to Magnolia, a town of about 2,500 residents near Houston, where one of the finalists last served as city administrator? According to online reports, the town’s budget was just $10.56 million last year. That wouldn’t even cover the annual expenditures of one city department in Killeen."
Read the full editorial here:
https://kdhnews.com/opinion/editorials/opinion-killeen-cant-afford-to-hire-city-manager-with-no-experience-leading-a-larger-sized/article_e96d601f-7682-49ab-ac45-4ef12c73ec17.html

09/23/2026

At the Huntington Bank Expo on Tuesday, Sept. 22, seniors from around the area gathered to get a look at available resources and enjoy some age-oriented fun.

09/23/2026

At a regular meeting of the Belton Independent School District Board of Trustees Monday, members passed campus priorities, agreed not to promote diversity, equity and inclusion duties and approved some major purchases.

At a regular meeting of the Belton Independent School District Board of Trustees Monday, members passed campus priorities, agreed not to promote diversity, equity and inclusion duties and approved some

09/23/2026

KDH News interviewed each of the Killeen city manager candidates at a meet-and-greet Tuesday.

Whittaker, who has experience as a city manager of Magnolia, Angleton and Rockdale, said that he was going to assess what his priorities will be by listening and talking to local people in order to understand problems, and then speaking with the City Council and city staff.

“We’ll create the plan,” he said. “And there is a lot of good things going on, so you don’t want to change those sometimes. I just need to tweak them.”

Earlier in the evening, a KDH News reporter was about to interview Whittaker when he suddenly fell backwards and collapsed on the floor, requiring assistance from Killeen Fire Chief Jim Kubinski, who was nearby. It turned out that Whittaker had not eaten the entire day.

Whittaker, later, told KDH News that he watched the council meetings and read the budgets in order to understand the challenges.

“It’s a lot like other cities,” he said, but explained that, due to the property tax limits from the disabled veterans exemption, there are considerations on how the city deals with growth.

Read more here: https://kdhnews.com/news/local/killeen-gets-first-introductions-to-4-city-manager-candidates-at-meet-and-greet-tuesday/article_62a8c7b1-ee2b-414c-aca6-2a5eff4e5bc6.html

09/23/2026

A two-month search for a Temple man accused of throwing a machine gun into a creek in the Greater Austin area ended last week in Temple.

09/23/2026

Starting this week, the 343rd Bomb Squadron from Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, will conduct training operations with B-52 Stratofortress aircraft involving the release of 500-pound munitions at Fort Hood, according to the U.S. Army Fort Hood …

Starting this week, the 343rd Bomb Squadron from Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, will conduct training operations with B-52 Stratofortress aircraft involving the release of 500-pound munitions at Fort Hood,

09/23/2026

At 8 a.m. Wednesday, Killeen Mayor Joseph Soloman and the City Council began a special meeting and quickly went behind closed doors to conduct final interviews with four city manager finalists in the Executive Boardroom at the Killeen Civic and Conference Center.

With Killeen police officers stationed outside, Solomon called for public comment. With no one signed up to speak, the mayor moved the meeting into closed session at 8:03 a.m.

Once the room was cleared, both entry doors were closed.

At 8:18 a.m., candidate Eric Garretty was called into the boardroom. The person who gets the Killeen city manger job — the top administrator for the city — will replace Kent Cagle, who announced his retirement earlier this year.

City officials did not provide an estimated time for each interview, or the length of the entire closed session.

On Tuesday, KDH News attended a meet and greet with the four finalists which allowed residents to get to know the candidates and ask their own questions.

Read that story here: https://tinyurl.com/yfx2nbkj

09/23/2026

Big job fair going on in Killeen today:
Details here: https://kdhnews.com/business/dav-recruitmilitary-to-host-fort-hood-hiring-event-sept-23-in-killeen/article_e2dd59e2-cd5b-4aa8-bc95-32737c9dbf9c.html

09/23/2026

SALADO — The Village of Salado updated its website with a new notice calling for a public hearing on its proposed property tax rate, even though the Board of Aldermen adopted the new fiscal year budget and property tax rate last week.

SALADO — The Village of Salado updated its website with a new notice calling for a public hearing on its proposed property tax rate, even though the Board of Aldermen