Lubbock Texas

Texas Democrat labor leader Taylor Rehmet turned tables in a special election runoff for the Texas Senate seat in District 9, defeating GOP pick Leigh Wambsganss in a 40-year Republican stronghold. Now, fellow Democratic candidates in West Texas are hoping similar work-focused strategies can overcome tough odds in their own deep red districts.

Lubbock community members and Texas Tech students rallied last Saturday to protest ICE as part of a national movement following fatal shootings by federal agents in Minneapolis, calling for solidarity, accountability, and limits on immigration enforcement in the region.

Joe Ely was a Texas music legend who drove humbly at the leading edge of an evolutionary wave in alternative country music, and many talented West Texas musicians came with him. Butch Hancock and Terry Allen spoke with KTTZ about the life and career of their close friend, the role that West Texas played in their music, and the role Joe Ely played in their lives.

Lubbock County Judge Curtis Parrish removed Commissioner Jason Corley from office this week, the latest twist in the Republicans' fraught relationship.

No new taxes would be collected for the package that would give the state's water department $1 billion to spend on projects like cleaning salty water, flood control and reservoirs.

Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed last week at Utah Valley University. Authorities have called the killing a "political assassination."

Texas is home to approximately 1,200 species of bee and about 25% of them are specialized bees, meaning they only pollinate specific plants. The bristly nama may not be a familiar name for those on the South Plains, but the plant and its purple flowers are all over Lubbock and its bees are hard at work to keep the ecosystem alive.

Emails show how overwhelmed West Texas officials were as they asked CDC for guidance on how to respond to the explosive outbreak.

Some Texas legislators may be done questioning the merits of education savings accounts as it moves to a vote in the State House, but voters aren't. Model programs in other states are showing rural voters could stand to lose the most, and they're preparing to do the math on election day.

Katherine Wells was celebrated early during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then public health became a political litmus test.