Amarillo, Potter County | featured news

Jason Crespin’s quest to co-host with Kelly Ripa is still alive and well.
As soon as Ripa and her sidekick of the day, Matt Bomer, announced Tuesday morning that finalist Dena Blizzard from Moorestown, New Jersey had been eliminated, the world knew the Amarillo Little Theater director had made the final four in the “Live with Kelly and You” contest.
The grand prize winner will be Ripa’s right-hand person on her shows this Friday, October 21, and one day next week.

A man was taken to an area hospital with life-threatening injuries Saturday night after his motorcycle collided with another vehicle.
At 8:40 p.m. Saturday a motorcycle driven by John Dudas, 34, of New Jersey was headed northbound on Western Street when police said he lost control and ran into a Chevy Suburban that was stopped at a red light in the 800 block of Western Street.
Dudas, who was not wearing a helmet, was last known to be in critical condition, Amarillo police said.
Speed was also considered to be a factor in the collision.

Transportation Security Administration officials at Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport found a loaded handgun in a carry-on bag Thursday, according to the TSA official blog.
The gun was a .380 caliber that was loaded but it did not have a bullet in the chamber.
According to the TSA Sanction Guideline Policy, the passenger carrying the firearm could face a fine between $3,000 and $7,500, plus a criminal referral.
Nationwide, TSA found 75 firearms in carry-on bags for the week of Oct. 7; 66 of which were loaded and 25 of which had a round in the chamber.

Canyon Independent School District Board of Trustees decided to move forward with becoming a District of Innovation after a public hearing Monday.
Trustees voted unanimously to form a committee to create a local innovation plan that will allow Canyon ISD to claim exemption from parts of the Texas Education Code.
After a plan is drafted, it must be posted online for 30 days and sent to the state’s commissioner of education. Trustees can then vote to adopt the committee’s finalized plan — no state approval required.

Jason Crespin, the showman, made his 30-second co-host pitch on “Live with Kelly” Monday morning along with the other four finalists in the contest to be Kelly Ripa’s second banana later this week.
This morning, we find out if he survived the latest round of elimination.
Who survives to compete another day depends on several factors; one of them is what happened during Monday’s round of viewer voting on the program’s website (livekelly.com/live/kelly-and-you).
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After several days of record-breaking heat, things are set to cool off this week.
But don’t put your shorts away for the winter months just yet; another warm weekend is around the corner.
A high of 95 on Saturday in Amarillo smashed the previous record of 88 set in 1999, according to the National Weather Service Amarillo office.
On Sunday, the high temperature was 98 degrees in Amarillo, besting the previous record of 91 set in 1991. And then again on Monday the 96 degree temperature at 4:50 p.m. beat the previous record of 92 in 1991.

A record number of women were killed in domestic violence incidents in Texas last year, and Amarillo has one of the state’s highest domestic violence homicide rates per capita, according to a new report from the Texas Council on Family Violence released today.
In 2015, Amarillo had five domestic violence homicides, or one for approximately every 50,000 citizens in Potter and Randall counties, according to the report, a rate higher than the two largest counties in Texas.

Baseball without beer simply isn’t baseball, at least to Pecos League officials.
After meeting with West Texas A&M University officials and touring Wilder Park in Canyon on Monday, independent baseball Pecos League commissioner Andrew Dunn said Monday his league will focus on putting a newly-formed team called the Train Robbers in Potter County Memorial Stadium for the 2017 season, and that beer sales played a role in the choice.
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Amarillo Independent School District Superintendent Dana West gave an update Monday regarding the district’s response after a September “fiesta-themed” pep rally at Amarillo High School sparked outrage in the community.
West announced during a regularly scheduled school board meeting that the district had amended its policies to formalize the pep rally planning process by requiring written plans for each rally be submitted to a principal for approval.

Jason Crespin, the showman, made his 30-second co-host pitch on “Live with Kelly” Monday morning with the other four finalists in the contest to be Kelly Ripa’s second banana later this week.
Who survives to compete another day depends on some more judging and a new round of viewer voting on the program’s website - livekelly.com/live/kelly-and-you.
Voting began shortly after the “fab five” were introduced during the New York airing of the show. It will continue through 10:59 p.m. Amarillo time.