Amarillo, Potter County | featured news

DALLAS (AP) — Olivia Mendez can't help but see herself in her second-grade students, many of whom barely speak English.
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One of the Amarillo Police Department’s most vital units is currently down 50 percent, but a pair of new recruits that will soon join the force should have it back up to full strength.
APD’s K-9 unit, which, according to Cpl. Cody Lavery, operates best with four dogs as part of the unit, lost one dog in early June to an accident and had another retire due to health concerns. But Lavery and the rest of department will soon have their replacements.
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Another Chance House Executive Director Sandy Fenberg was on paid administrative leave when she died, according to a news release issued Thursday by the nonprofit organization’s board of directors.
The release was vague and did not detail why Fenberg was placed on leave or say when the action was taken.
“ACH had recognized some issues that needed to be addressed, and Ms. Fenberg was completely cooperating in addressing those issues,” the release read.
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Wayne Butcher sits wearing his Coca-Cola shirt covered by his Coca-Cola jacket just below his Coca-Cola cap. He’s brought a few things with him on this day — his Coca-Cola semi-truck, his book sheets of Coca-Cola trading cards, his Coca-Cola crystal and his Coca-Cola miniature cars.
And I can’t help but think of Bubba Blue from “Forest Gump.”
Bubba, from a long line of shrimp fishermen, began to list the ways to prepare shrimp: “There’s shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo, pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup...”

Hereford-based Caviness Beef Packers is recalling beef products possibly contaminated with E. coli, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Safety Inspection Service announced.
The meat in question is 2,100 pounds of boneless beef trim produced Sept. 14 and processed into ground beef by another company.
All but 320 pounds of the ground beef has been accounted for.
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A jury Thursday found Ryan John Kelley guilty of attempted capital murder of a peace officer, but not guilty of assault on a family or household member impeding breathing or circulation, guilty of aggravated assault against a public servant and guilty of attempted capital murder of a peace officer.
The trial of Kelley, 29, in the Jan. 6, 2015 shooting of Pampa Police Officer Sgt. Houston Gass wrapped up on Thursday afternoon. Kelley’s sentence has yet to be determined.

The City of Amarillo announced new parking fee rates on Thursday for lots at Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport.
The new airport parking rates will take effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 1. The city said revenue generated by the parking rate changes will fund improvements to the airport’s public parking garage and surface lots.
Outdoor Parking will now be $7 per day (a $1 increase), Preferred Parking will be $8 per day (a $1 increase) and Garage Parking will be $10 per day (a $2 increase).

The parents of Peyton Trueblood have filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Amarillo’s U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas alleging their daughter’s death was caused by negligence of the “Texas” musical’s executive director as well as three pyrotechnic contractors.
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A stabbing at a home in southeast Amarillo has authorities investigating.
About 4:32 p.m. Wednesday, Amarillo police were sent to Baptist St. Anthony Hospital after a 54-year old man with a stab wound was taken there, according to a Thursday news release.
The man told officers that he was stabbed at his home in the 900 block of South Eastern Street.
A woman known to the man entered his home uninvited and started trying to fight with another person at the home, police said.

Amarillo police are continuing to investigate mysterious gunfire in the North Heights neighborhood.
About 9 a.m. Wednesday, officers were sent to the area of Northwest 12th Avenue and North Van Buren Street.
A nearby construction crew reported hearing the shots and seeing bullets striking near them, police said.
Officers were in patrol cars searching the area when they also noticed bullets striking near them.
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