The KTTZ News Team

Texas parents have less than a week left to apply for Texas Education Freedom Accounts — the state’s school voucher program. Last year, the Texas Legislature funded it to the tune of $1 billion dollars. Our Brad Burt reports the Texas Comptroller’s office has been accepting applications for just over a month, and more than 160,000 students have applied for the program’s first year.

The state’s health department has finalized sweeping new regulations for the Texas hemp industry. As KUT’s Nathan Bernier reports, the new rules include sharply higher fees on businesses and a ban on selling smokable forms of cannabis. Terms end this year for several local elected positions, including school boards, and Lubbock ISD’s Board of Trustees recently passed a motion to cancel the LISD portion of the general election, because none of the races were contested.

Lubbock City Council saw a presentation yesterday from Lubbock Public Health on services and expenses for patients who are not Lubbock County residents. Our Samantha Larned reports the information was requested in relation to the approval of the latest iteration of a long-standing referral agreement with a substance use treatment center in Plainview. And last night, District 4 representative Brayden Rose announced his resignation from the Lubbock City Council.

This weekend, Texas Tech University announced the immediate pause of business travel to certain countries in the Middle East. The U.S. Court of International Trade has ordered the Trump administration to repay tariffs imposed by President Trump just over a year ago. Houston Public Media’s Andrew Schneider reports many Texas businesses may wait years for any reimbursement. Former candidate competing to represent the Republican Party for Lubbock County Clerk, Jim Baxa has dropped out of the May runoff race.

Farmers are waiting longer for U.S. Department of Agriculture services. Harvest Public Media’s Macy Byars reports that more than a quarter of USDA employees have left their jobs since late 2024. More than four million Texans cast ballots in this year’s primary elections. The Texas Newsroom’s Lucio Vasquez reports Democratic turnout more than doubled compared with recent primaries and Republican turnout remained strong and consistent.

Last month, Lubbock County Commissioners passed an amendment to the game room ordinance which went into effect in May 2025. Our Brad Burt reports that one Lubbock game room owner has filed a lawsuit, claiming the new rules are unenforceable under the Texas and U.S. Constitutions. The U.S.-Israeli war in the middle east is influencing gas prices in Texas. Prices for regular unleaded gas in Lubbock increased by about 40 cents over the last week, according to AAA.

Lubbock County saw historic 23% voter turnout for the joint primary election – more than 30,000 early voters and an additional more than 15,000 in-person on Election Day. It was a packed ballot for Republican and Democratic voters alike and our reporter Samantha Larned breaks down county offices which will return to ballots for runoff elections on May 26.

One of the region's toughest competitions in yesterday's primary elections was for which Republican candidate would represent their party in the race for U.S. Congressional District 19. Tom Sell came out as an early leader, but much of the evening was an exchange for who would come in second, between Matt Smith and Abraham Enriquez. In the end it's Sell and Enriquez who will compete in the runoff election on May 26.

There were seven Republican candidates competing to represent their party for U.S. Congressional District 19 in the general election and for two of them, the race isn't over. Tom Sell and Abraham Enriquez are the top contenders to appear on the runoff ballot in May.

After historic early voting turnout in Lubbock County, voters continued to show up on Election Day, March 3, to select their parties’ candidates for the general election. The KTTZ news team went out to the polls to speak with voters about what brought them out.