James Clark

2 days ago | lubbocklights.com | James Clark

Sgt. R.L. Tyler, original image from DPAA press release. Photo restoration filter applied by LubbockLights.com An American hero from West Texas was not destined to rest forever in “common grave 312” at Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in the Philippines – his death certificate written in pencil by a fellow prisoner on the back of a label for Alpine-brand canned sterilized unsweetened evaporated milk. Nor was Sgt.

2 days ago | lubbocklights.com | James Clark

Lubbock city manager Jarrett Atkinson announced a hiring freeze starting immediately. Atkinson did so during a city council meeting Tuesday afternoon where he said sales collections are $1.8 million below projections. The shortfall could reach $4.7 million between now and October 1 when the new budget takes effect, Atkinson said. Public safety jobs – police, fire and animal control – are the exception. The city can still hire those roles. And the city can still hire part-time or seasonal workers.

3 days ago | lubbocklights.com | James Clark

A cotton boll in a dry dusty field. Image from Adobe Firefly, 2025. Dilemmas atop headaches and an unsympathetic Mother Nature created a crisis for the West Texas cotton industry – long considered king of the local economy. The king is feeling the pain. “In my 45-year farming career, this is the worst year we’ve ever experienced. The Texas cotton industry is bleeding out,” Travis Mires, president of Plains Cotton Growers (PCG), testified in March at the Texas Capitol.

6 days ago | lubbocklights.com | James Clark

5034 Frankford Avenue as seen in August 2024. Staff photo. Lubbock might buy the Godeke Branch Library location for $3 million instead of continuing to rent it. Background material for next week’s city council meeting said there’s a deal with the property owner, Luskey Brothers Investments, LLC, for the purchase of 5034 Frankford Avenue. Currently the city has a 3-year lease agreement that began in September. But the city has rented that spot since February 2014. The deal was renewed in 2019.

6 days ago | lubbocklights.com | James Clark

Tim Hatch, image from Overhead Door Company of LubbockTim Hatch got his lip busted open in a Texas Tech football game in the late 1940s. Busted badly. “It required stitches. Well, in today’s world, you’d be escorted off the field not to be seen again for that game. But the coach summoned over the team doctor and they stitched him up on the bench with no deadening – and put him back in the game,” said his son Les. Timothy A.