Potter County | featured news

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court appeared fairly split among party lines during oral arguments Tuesday in a Texas case involving how to define intellectual disability among death row inmates.
The high court has previously ruled that executing people with intellectual disabilities is unconstitutional, but it left it up to the states to legally determine the condition.
In 2014, the court weighed in on borderline cases, ruling that states can’t use an IQ below 70 as a sole way to define the disability.

The Amarillo Local Government Corp. has secured a short-term deal with a local realtor to manage the new downtown parking garages retail space.
On Tuesday, the corporation unanimously approved a six-month contract with Bob Garett to manage the space until a long-term agreement can be finalized. Interim City Manager Bob Cowell said the reasoning behind entering into a short-term contract was because the retail space is about 75 percent completed and they want to move forward immediately with marketing the property.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s annual winter fish stockings of rainbow trout are currently underway on 18 designated urban lakes across the state.
Last week in Amarillo, TPWD placed more than 550 fully-grown and ready to catch rainbow trout in Medical Center Park South Lake.
Since Medical Center South Lake belongs to a special program known as the “Neighborhood Fishin” program, it will be stocked approximately every two weeks through the winter with an additional 553 trout each time through early March, 2017.

The City of Amarillo is looking for nonprofit or faith-based organizations to partner with them to launch a pilot program to provide jobs for homeless.
The Homeless Outreach Providing Encouragement (HOPE) program is based on providing proactive outreach of locally available support services to the homeless population by engaging them in temporary day labor. Amarillo City Council members approved $50,000 to fund the program back in October.
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Foreigner will be performing at the Amarillo Civic Center Complex Auditorium Jan. 30, 2017, Amarillo Civic Center Complex General Manager Sam Bass announced Tuesday.
Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. this Friday at the Amarillo Civic Center Complex Box Office, on panhandletickets.com and by phone at 806-378-3096.
Founded in 1976, Foreigner has sold more than 70 million albums and has experienced multi-platinum success around the world with a mix of blues and pop, continuing to captivate generations of fans.

A traffic stop in Carson County last week led to Department of Public Safety troopers seizing 15 pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of more than $900,000.
On Nov. 19 a DPS trooper stopped a 2004 Ford traveling east on Interstate 40 near Conway for a traffic violation.
The trooper searched the vehicle, according to DPS reports, and found six plastic-wrapped packages inside the car’s rear doors.
The six packages contained 15 pounds of cocaine, DPS said.

The Amarillo Police Department and its PACE Unit (ProActive Criminal Enforcement) officers arrested a woman Monday after she attempted multiple car burglaries during the morning.
At 11:10 a.m. APD officers watched a woman who was looking into parked cars at a church day care in the 4300 block of West Interstate 40.
The woman left the scene after a car alarm sounded, police reported, and officers discovered that a window of a car had been broken.
Officers continued to watch the woman as she drove to a business parking lot in the 4100 block of West I-40.

Online shoppers spent $3.45 billion on Cyber Monday, an uptick of 12.4 percent from last year, according to Adobe Digital Insights.
Consumers spent $12.8 billion online from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, 15.4 percent more than was spent in 2015.
And so far, during just November, shoppers have shelled out nearly $40 billion.
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Three weeks ago, Lanitra Barringer, program director for Nehemiah Project in Amarillo, attended a U.S. Air Force graduation ceremony for an Amarillo student at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.
Although the student was not her biological son, Barringer said it felt like a similar moment of success. Together, she and her husband had mentored the student through the College Success Initiative program within the Nehemiah Project.
Through college tours and monthly college prep courses at CSI, they watched as their student’s goal become a reality.

Singer and songwriter Michael Martin Murphey, best known for this 1975 hit song “Wildfire,” will once again headline the Michael Martin Murphey Cowboy Christmas Ball this Thursday, Dec. 1, at 7 p.m. at the Kwahadi Museum in Amarillo. Tickets are available for a Meet & Greet Dinner with Murphey for $30 in addition to the general admission cost of $35. Tickets are available by calling the Museum at 806-335-3175 or online at www.kwahadi.tix.com.