Amarillo, Potter County | featured news

1. CHRISTMAS IN THE CANYON BALLOON GLOW: See the unique radiance glowing from within Palo Duro Canyon. Santa will be there, too. (Saturday)
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2. AMARILLO YOUTH CHOIRS “SONGS OF THE SEASON”: Some of the city’s most talented young singers will present 17 holiday pieces. (Tuesday)
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Another suitor for the San Antonio Missions is taking big steps to fund a new stadium, but Amarillo Mayor Paul Harpole says he is “still enthusiastic” about the city’s chances to attract a Major League Baseball-affiliated minor league team.
Earlier this week, the Wichita City Council approved the expansion of a sales tax district in hopes of raising enough revenue for a new stadium with the goal of enticing a MLB-affiliated farm team to relocate there.
With a new stadium, Wichita would be a potential location for a Texas League team, possibly the Missions.

Two possible Amarillo mayoral candidates have tipped their hands while some of the city’s more conventional candidates are keeping their cards covered.
Amarillo attorney Ginger Nelson has appointed a campaign treasurer for her potential run for mayor and Councilman Elisha Demerson said he’s also considering a run for Amarillo’s top elected position. Both candidates say they’ve received strong encouragement from the community to run.
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The Texas Panhandle is no stranger to space travel, with a trio from the region who personally saw the stars: Astronauts Rick Husband of Amarillo, Alan Bean of Wheeler, and Edgar Mitchell of Hereford.
But astronaut John Glenn, who died Thursday at the age of 95, also had brief ties to the area — but not for his space travels.
Glenn, who at the time was a senator representing Ohio, visited Amarillo for a weekend in January 1984 while he was on the campaign trail during an attempt to win the Democratic nomination for President.

The Canyon Police Department arrested a teenager in connection with a string of car burglaries in Canyon that led to the recovery of numerous stolen items, including firearms.
Cameron Judkins, 17, was arrested Tuesday afternoon and charged with four counts of theft of a firearm, burglary of motor vehicle, as well as possession of marijuana, equal to or less than 2 ounces.
At the time of his arrest he was found in to be in possession of four stolen guns, all from different car burglaries.

Xcel Energy has agreed with Texas customer groups to increase its utility rates by 4 percent, or $3.97 per month for a typical 1,000-kilowatt-hour residential bill, beginning Saturday.
The deal, which was announced Wednesday, was reached by Xcel, the Public Utility Commission of Texas Staff, industry groups and an alliance of 80 Texas towns served by the power company. It will increase annual revenues to support nearly $1 billion in capital improvements, Xcel said, while recognizing the impact of reductions in wholesale sales in 2015.

Beth Duke, Center City’s executive director, said she’s sad they’re not going to be able to reschedule the annual Electric Light Parade that was cancelled Dec. 2 after weather forecasters called for rain and snow.
“They had predicted it would start raining at about 3 o’clock and then it would turn to snow,” Duke said. They consulted the city’s Office of Emergency Management and the National Weather Service before making the difficult choice.

Jaxson Viermann sat in a computer lab at Canyon High School and focused on guiding the angry bird to the naughty pig.
“What is he doing? He’s behind the pig,” the 10-year-old elementary schooler said.
“He’s facing the wrong direction, kiddo,” said Steve Raymond, a sophomore at Canyon High. Viermann rearranged some blocks of text shown on his computer screen, clicked a button and watched as the computer processed his instructions to navigate a small image of a bird toward its target, a green pig.

A 32-year-old man died after falling at Palo Duro Canyon State Park while hiking off-trail Wednesday, according to the park’s superintendent.
The man fell 40 feet from a cliff near Duck Pond Spur about 3 p.m. and rolled 180 feet down a slope, Superintendent Shannon Blalock said.
He was airlifted to Northwest Texas Hospital where he died around 6 p.m.
Authorities have not released the name of the man. He was accompanied by another person, Blalock said.
Blalock said hiking away from a marked trail was “certainly not encouraged.”

Jamey Brewer and Shauna Moore had only been manning the Salvation Army kettle bells at the Georgia Street Walmart for 40 minutes on Wednesday when Brewer, an Atmos Energy employee volunteering alongside his coworkers, said he’d be hearing bells in his head from all the ringing.
Across the city at Sam’s Club, some passersby simply smiled at Joy Riddles, a four-year veteran kettle bell ringer, and walked on by. Others pretended to look away from the iconic, holiday scene of a red kettle, a bell ringer and the Salvation Army sign.