Amarillo, Potter County | featured news

Residents in southwest Amarillo are looking for answers about recent hikes in their water bills. The city isn’t providing much of an answer.
Jonna Marsh, who lives in the Windsor neighborhood, said she and her husband have called the city water department twice after receiving a $500 bill. The previous month’s bill was $49.

“Our goal is to make citizens more prepared,” said Theresa West, the Amarillo Office of Emergency Management project coordinator.
First responders and residents filled Amarillo Civic Center Complex on Wednesday for a Community Preparedness and Resilience event organized by the OEM.
Wednesday’s event came on the heels of the OEM’s budget, which is funded through federal grants, is being decreased in August.

Catholic Charities of the Texas Panhandle has moved into a new location.
While the move is considered an interim one until funds can be raised to move into a larger, permanent building, the change has allowed the nonprofit to expand its Hunger Project grocery store.
The new store at 2801 Duniven Circle is nearly three times the size of their previous space.
Nancy Turner, with Catholic Charities of the Texas Panhandle, said the old location only had space to allow about three or four shoppers in at a time, creating long waits.

A 31-year-old Amarillo man has been indicted for murder after a July fight at Elwood Park that left one man dead.
A Potter County grand jury last week indicted Jon Aaron Kennedy in the death of Carl Morris Edwards, 53.
According to the indictment, Kennedy killed Edwards by “striking him with his hands and his feet.”
A murder conviction carries a sentence of five to 99 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Kennedy’s potential sentence is enhanced due to a prior conviction for a felony offense of failing to register as a sex offender.

A traffic stop in Carson County resulted in 146 pounds of marijuana being seized by Texas Department of Public Safety and landed two Arizona men in jail.
A DPS trooper stopped a 2005 Chevrolet pickup traveling East on Interstate 40 near Conway for a traffic violation at 1:56 p.m. Sunday. A DPS canine alerted on the vehicle and the trooper discovered several plastic-wrapped packages of marijuana inside a false compartment in the truck’s bed. DPS placed the value of the drugs at approximately $880,000.

More dollars to fund arts in Amarillo could be on the drawing board.
During a meeting Wednesday, the Texas Commission on the Arts designated Amarillo a cultural art district. The recognition will open the door for increased tourism and grant opportunities, said Beth Duke, Center City executive director.
The announcement comes a week after the city’s Convention & Visitors Council announced the closing of its downtown information center and cuts to advertising dollars due to a shrinking budget.

The federal government has filed legal documents accusing Texas of spreading “inaccurate or misleading information” to poll workers and would-be voters regarding identification requirements and ordered the state to educate voters.
Texas Panhandle election officials don’t yet know what that means for them.
Shannon Lackey, elections administrator for Randall County, told the Amarillo Globe-News that no new work has been done.
“We’ve not been instructed by the state to do anything other than what we’ve been doing.”

The “smoke gods” floated through the air Wednesday at the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce grounds as 100 cooking teams began prep work for Thursday's 21st annual Good Times Celebration Barbecue Cook-off.
They burned masses of wood in their pits, as smoke curled from the small chimneys of smokers and men in cowboy hats and aprons eyed temperature gauges — everything had to be precise in order to create an atmosphere where hunks of raw meat would transform into slow-cooked, dripping award-winners.

The WT Enterprise Center announced a reorganization of its top leadership Wednesday.
Jeff Reid has been named executive director of the business incubator. Reid has worked at the center since 2007 as associate director and incubator director. Prior to 2007, Reid worked at the West Texas A&M Small Business Development Center. He replaces David Terry, the enterprise center’s cofounder.
“My goal is to continue the effectiveness of the enterprise center,” Reid said. “We certainly want it to be known as a world-class incubator.”

Amarillo Police Department Officer Robert Vennell was arrested Tuesday on a single misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief. A story on A3 of Wednesday’s Amarillo Globe-News contained incorrect information.