Potter County | featured news

■ In the Ribs category, first place in Amateur is 1st Bank Southwest. Second is Multiple Systems, and third is Republic Liquors.
■ First place in Corporate is Sprouse Shrader Smith. Second is Xcel Energy, and third is Bell Helicopter.
■ First place in Professional is Dyer’s BBQ. Second is Bonds Equipment, and third is News Channel 10.
■ In the Brisket category, first place in Amateur is ER Now. Second is Northwest Texas Healthcare System, and third is Walmart.

Residents looking to be more involved with local government can now fill out an online application to serve on a board or commission.
The city announced the online application Thursday in a news release.
According to the city website, there are vacancies on 10 boards and commissions, including the Convention & Visitors Council and the Board of Review for Landmarks and Historic Districts.
“We want citizens to be a part of the process ,and this online tool will help connect us with those citizens,” Mayor Paul Harpole said.

A secret internal Pentagon memo leaked this week spells out tactics to undermine House Speaker Paul Ryan’s upcoming defense spending proposal.
The five-page internal Department of Defense document lays out a plan to pit Senate and House Republicans against each other, and how the military plans to play “hardball” against Ryan as well as undermine Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Amarillo, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Politico.com reported.

Amarillo’s Pantex Plant is again in the national spotlight after official testimony in Washington revealed more details about the crumbling infrastructure found inside the 1950s-era facility.
The House Subcommittee on Strategic Forces heard Wednesday how years of deferred maintenance has left America’s nuclear facilities — including Pantex, the country’s only facility that assembles and disassembles nuclear weapons — in a dire state.

Residents in southwest Amarillo are crying foul on water bills much higher than normal.
City officials, however, said homeowners better check their usage because the larger bills don’t appear to be a mistake.
Laura Storrs, the city’s finance director, said the utility billing department began noticing increased usage in early May, but found meter readings to be accurate. Storrs said the summer months have been much hotter than last year and that homeowners might not realize how much more water they are using because of that.

Amarillo College has wrapped up a number of expensive campus renovations, and work is underway on a couple more projects, all notably paid for with significant philanthropic and fundraising support.
The core of the college’s Washington Street Campus has seen $3.7 million in renovations: A newly designed student commons with a tutoring center, a redone mall area and upgrades to an administrative floor in the College Union Building.

The handwriting is on the wall — and, on closer inspection, it looks like it’s in print.
In the junk bin of school education, along with the slide rule and book covers, could be those cursive alphabet charts that were once on every second- and third-grade classroom wall.
“It seems to be falling away, with technology replacing it,” said Amy Andersen, associate provost for academic affairs at West Texas A&M University and an associate professor in its College of Education since 1997. “In some ways, that’s just the way things happen.

An 83-year-old woman was hospitalized with serious injuries Wednesday following a home invasion robbery in the 6200 block of Adirondack Trail, Amarillo Police Department reported.
APD said the incident happened between 1 and 4 p.m. Wednesday when a suspect, described only as a white male, entered the residence through a window and tied up the victim. The suspect then assaulted the victim and left with several firearms. Police have no additional information at this time.

The president and CEO of the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce is Gary Molberg. A story in Thursday’s Amarillo Globe-News contained incorrect information.

In an impassioned memo sent three days after San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick ignited national controversy by refusing to stand for the National Anthem before a football game, University of Texas System Chancellor Bill McRaven urged his athletes not to repeat the gesture of protest.