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You're on KVII-TV, Channel 7, Amarillo.
This is Pro News, The Six O'Clock Report
with David Green, Elizabeth Duncan, meteorologist Len Fleming, and Terry Amburn on sports.
All lips are sealed in regard to the federal lawsuit filed in court yesterday by two Lubbock police officers and defense lawyer, Millard Farmer,
against a dozen defendants, including Randall County DA, Randy Sherrod.
But an informal conference has been scheduled for tomorrow, where Judge Mary Lou Robinson is expected to make a determination about a temporary restraining order.
Athena McCrary explains.
The suit filed by two Lubbock police officers and lawyer Millard Farmer claims they're fighting to expose a cover-up of foreign pathologist Ralph Erdman.
The civil suit claims the defendants tried to cover up for Erdman, including seeking indictments on Farmer and the Lubbock police officers.
The suit was apparently provoked by attempts by Randall Sherrod's office to move Farmer's trial to next Monday.
It's scheduled for March, and until today, there was confusion on all sides about the trial date.
Judge David Gleason says today it's not on his schedule for Monday.
Pro News has tried to contact everyone involved with the lawsuit, but neither side will comment.
Judge Mary Lou Robinson has called the plaintiffs and defendants to an informal conference tomorrow in her chambers to discuss what to do next.
Lawyers familiar with the case say Judge Robinson will have to decide whether to take the unusual step of interfering in a state criminal prosecution.
Randall County Judge Mack McMinime says Randall Sherrod has asked today for the county to furnish legal counsel to him, Assistant DA John Davis and Investigator Kevin Rush.
McMinime says he will put the DA's request on the Randall County Commissioner's agenda to be discussed at next Tuesday's meeting.
Atina McCrary, Pro News.
About five dozen students at West Texas State University will soon be on their way to Austin.
They'll be talking with lawmakers about the proposed 10 percent cut in higher education being discussed by the legislature.
As Steve Myers reports, the students are hoping to join in a chorus with students from across the state.
These students are part of a 60 person contingent that will be leaving WT Thursday afternoon to meet up with members of other universities on the capital steps.
On their minds, the proposed 10 percent cut in higher education before lawmakers who face a three billion dollar shortfall in the budget.
It is our job and it is our obligation as students and as student government association to do everything we can to prevent this 10 percent budget cut from happening.
The students say their stance will be one of support and hope they can make a difference before a final decision is reached.
You know, we're not threatening anyone. We just want them to know. And we do have an incredible vote.
There's so many students that if they will get out there and vote, we can make an impact.
We want to serve as a source of information for them, whether it be how the impacts, the budget cuts will impact our respective institutions,
or whether it be, you know, the different issues that we're concerned with, how will they affect us.
We want to be a source of information for them. But the most important thing we want to mention at this point, because it is sorely in the game,
is that we want to mention that we want to work with them and that we are organized and ready to go.
Perez says thousands of students and scores of faculty and staff members would be affected by a 10 percent reduction.
And he hopes a statewide show of student support might reverse any notions of legislative cuts.
Steve Myers, Pro News.
Oklahoma Governor David Walters is proposing what he calls a bold budget plan.
Walters gave his budget address to lawmakers today proposing a $3.5 billion budget that cuts deep into state agency pockets.
He is recommending spending $77.5 million on House Bill 1017 instead of the $118 million previously requested.
House Bill 1017 is a four-year education reform bill. His budget also proposes a 9 percent cut in almost all state agencies.
Democratic leaders met with the governor shortly after his speech to express their dissatisfaction.
Texas Governor Ann Richards met today with Defense Secretary Les Aspin in Washington.
Richards is trying to sell Lubbock as a site for a Pentagon accounting center that would employ thousands and pump millions of dollars into the local economy.
Richards said she talked up the city's recent approval of a half-cent hike in sales tax to help finance a $67 million bid for the facility.
Aspin will announce the finalists from some 20 cities on March 15.
Richards is in Washington for the winter meeting of the National Governors Association.
Back home in Austin, state senators approved a plan today to battle the cotton-munching boll weevil.
The bill will allow cotton farmers to form boll weevil eradication zones to fight the insect and tap into federal money.
Environmentalists who oppose the plan call it a government-subsidized pesticide spraying program.
While weevil eradication was given emergency status by Governor Ann Richards when the legislative session convened, the measure will now be sent to the House.
A Texas lawmaker has introduced legislation that would give homosexuals the same marital rights as other Texans.
State Representative Glenn Maxey of Austin is the legislature's only openly gay member.
Maxey admits his legislation has no chance of becoming law this session, but he says it is a start.
In Texas, as in other states, the law does not recognize the relationship between two members of the same sex as a marriage.
But Austin conservative Christians say Maxey's proposal seeks to give legitimacy to a lifestyle they consider immoral.
A city ordinance regulating the location of sexually-oriented businesses will take effect later this year.
It will currently impact five adult businesses in town that will have to move or be shut down. Ev Avera has details.
Beginning on August 1st, the ordinance passed two and a half years ago by Amarillo City Commissioners will take effect.
It requires any business which is considered sexually-oriented to move to an industrial-zoned area of town and at least 1,000 feet from schools, churches, hospitals, daycare centers, hotels, parks, and other public areas.
Sexual activity or specified areas, anatomical areas, those that deal in that type of activity are covered under the ordinance.
And so it's very well defined. You have to go through and look at it just because they sell alcoholic beverages and they may have topless dancers or whatever does not necessarily mean that they're classified as adult businesses under the ordinance.
That means a place like the Boulevard Video would have to move even though it's right across the street from a topless bar.
There have been lawsuits since 1990 fighting the ordinance and city officials say the owners of the Grand and Britain Street adult bookstores are currently challenging the law's constitutionality.
I think most of them know what the ordinance says and know what to expect. That's not to say that they will all be in compliance when the date gets here. I'm sure we'll have some legal action.
Of the two other sexually oriented businesses licensed in Amarillo, the gentleman's bookstore is in the central business district, not an industrial zone, and the Wild Horse Saloon is in a commercial zone.
Ev Avera, Pro News.
Well if you were outside today, you'd never guess bad weather is on the way, but the care for snow ends up next to details.
And later in sports, Terry will have where the Panhandle's FIAB 5 will play college ball. See with us.
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Well that rodent said we'd have a little more winter and we've got it.
Little critter did it to us.
Well we got about 10 degrees cooler today but certainly not a bad day.
And we'll drop another 10 tomorrow, might pick up some light snow right now we're seeing around Amarillo.
Here in the city we've had a pretty day but the clouds are beginning to move in.
As of 6 o'clock this evening we are now standing at 43 degrees with the dew point 28, humidity 55 percent.
Pressure is on the high side, 30.21 and still rising.
Our winds are running from the north at 16 miles an hour.
Those are indications we've had a weather front come through the region.
And if you look at the statistics for the day, also showing a weather front has passed.
Now earlier this morning we started quite mild, should be around 23 this time of the year.
29 is where we began the day and on the high end just about on the button for normals.
We were at 50, should be around 51.
But if you remember yesterday we were up in the 60s so we did drop back about 10 degrees or so.
Record high, 1934 we hit 81 degrees on this day.
That was a beautifully mild report coming in.
And yet just a few years ago in 1989 we had 4 below zero here in the city.
Six inch soil holding at 38 and our report out of Lake Meredith, the six inch or the five foot depth running at about 40 degrees.
So a pretty nice day around the region.
Did start with some clouds, even little patches of fog at times.
50 is where we ended up in Amarillo.
In fact most of the panhandle, if you had split it from northwest to southeast,
stayed in the low range of 50s and 40s coming in northward.
And if you remember yesterday just about all 60 degree reports had to go 180 miles away down to Wichita Falls
to pick that up today. 61 was their temperature and no one in the panhandle anywhere near that.
Had a 46 at Perryton and another one around the Dumas and Stratford vicinity, some of the cooler spots in Texas.
Guymon and Boy City over to Clayton, Elkhart, Kansas at 44 degrees.
Notice down at Plainview, 52 degrees today.
And if we check back in the record on this same date, 1956, Plainview had 24 inches of snow fall in the 24 hour period.
That still stands as the record for the biggest snow in a one day period anywhere in the whole state of Texas.
So Plainview and the record books for today.
Satellite showing a low pressure center still spinning northward, but it is beginning to make signs of moving right now.
And also drawing in some gulf moisture.
Showers and even thunderstorms anticipated from about Oklahoma City down to Dallas Fort Worth.
We were in that moisture this morning when that fog began developing.
We can take a little closer look at the satellite and that looping effect of low pressure centers like big whirlpools in the atmosphere.
Center is still spinning just north of here, but we're beginning to pick up bands now of clouds.
You've noticed the increase in clouds here in the Amarillo region.
Well, we're going to just continue to see the tail end of that dragging across the region.
Some little rain showers possible up in this area right now could be changing off into snow during the night.
And by morning we may have some light snow here in the Amarillo region.
The weather front has come on through those north winds and rising pressures are always a good indication of that.
But the main snow is still sitting up in Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska while we have the rain and thunderstorms ahead of this.
And we do have a dry line.
One of the first ones of the season developed yesterday and continues on there.
And that means that dew points are running higher than 50 degrees ahead of it and much less, down around 20 degrees behind it.
So this sharp contrast from dry to moist air setting off the line of thunderstorms.
And in the spring and early summer we see those around the Texas Panhandle means some kind of trouble could be tending to develop.
But right now they're running pretty far to the south of us.
Most of the air is really very mild.
We have to get well over into the northeast to pick up cold air.
This is the main polar stream sitting northward and this is all being blocked by the jet stream.
The main flow coming out of the Arctic region settling in the eastern part of the country.
And meanwhile we're having a little buffer coming in off the Pacific.
Between the two they're forming a nice ridge or protecting us from this big pocket of coal to run on down.
Now we do have that low pressure center and as that swings on it's enough to set off some moisture cloud cover.
Keep our afternoon temperatures down.
But as long as we're not getting in this main flow we're not going to see any big breaks in our nighttime readings.
So during the day today, 30s and 40s behind the weather system, certainly not cold conditions.
We're going to drop more because of the cloud cover anticipated.
And that'll move in tonight.
Could pick up some light snow here in the Panhandle getting on the heavy side once we get toward Oklahoma heading up into Kansas.
And during the day tomorrow we'll be on and off with some light snow.
Could change back to rain particularly in the south part of the Panhandle.
And meanwhile the whole center will tend to shift on away from us.
Temperatures, let's drop back again to about 39 for the high in the city.
Mid to maybe upper 30s coming in from the north and may see some 40s playing you on down toward the Childers region.
This would be the spot for maybe Pampa going on through Perryton up through the eastern Oklahoma Panhandle.
Most susceptible for some moderate to strong amounts of snow.
We'll check a little more on the forecast as Pro News continues.
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Well, for tonight, clouds will begin returning.
We'll see some light snow developing and by morning may have some sticking around on the ground, our low near 30 degrees.
And for tomorrow, on-off occasional snow.
It's going to be a chilly day without an E and a high near 39 degrees.
And winds will gradually work into the southeast sundown tomorrow at 619.
Friday, we could see some of that light snow continuing even into Friday morning.
Some breaking of the clouds by the afternoon.
26 in the morning, 47 for the high.
And for Saturday, Sunday, may turn out to be pretty decent.
Not a really warm weekend, but at least some sunshine in the picture and temperatures climbing back into the 50s.
Not bad.
So we're going to just settle for some minor wintery weather for a day or so.
That's the way we like it. Thanks, Lynch.
Former Texas House Speaker Gib Lewis is joining the ranks of the lobbyists.
He's being paid $110,000 to lobby on behalf of the DFW International Airport's Expansion Project.
Lewis' job will be to persuade his former peers to pass a bill amending the Texas Municipal Airport Act
that would give the airport legal authority to expand.
The airport has a $3.5 billion expansion plan pending because surrounding cities do not want DFW to expand into their city.
The former speaker says he's confident he can get the bill passed.
It took many years and billions of dollars, but a federal official now says Texas banking crisis is finally over.
An economist at the Houston branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas says almost every troubled bank and thrift in Texas has either failed or been sold.
Bill Gilmer says Texas banks are now generally more profitable than their counterparts in other parts of the country.
The stock market turned in its most spirited rally so far in 1993, drawing continuing support from signs of a strengthening economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 45 points, closing at 3373, its biggest jump since last September 14th.
Advancing issues outnumbered decline by more than 2 to 1. Big Board volume came to an estimated 342 million shares.
Tuesday, the Commerce Department reported that the index of leading economic indicators jumped 1.9 percent in December for its sharpest increase in nearly 10 years.
Analysts also say today's surge was due in part to an enthusiastic response to a big offering of Chrysler stock.
Again, the Dow closed up 45 at 3373.
Up next in sports, it was college football signing day across the nation.
And Harry Emmer is in next to let us know who went where and who got who.
***MUSIC***
Wednesday night after Pro News on KVII-TV, Channel 7.
Must be nice to have the next four years of your life wrapped up in a tidy bundle and ready to go.
So some of the coaches were saying, you're not exactly who I wanted, but you're not bad.
Well, settle for you a record six Division I football player signed national letters of intent today in the Pro News viewing area.
Channel 7 sportsman Lee Becker reports on the Amarillo Five.
***MUSIC***
The signing started early at Amarillo High, 8 a.m. to Sandy signing on the dotted line.
Offensive lineman Sterling Elza, considered one of the top 100 prospects in the state, made just one visit during the recruiting process, Rice University.
I liked Rice so much, that's where I wanted to go to begin with.
And I really didn't think it was necessary to lead the other schools on.
So I just decided to cancel all my visits and verbally commit to Rice.
Teammate Clay Staff will enjoy the fruits of a free education just to the west in New Mexico.
I just came down the school I liked best, which was New Mexico.
I really enjoyed the visit there and I think the program is really on the rise.
I'm excited, I'm ready to go.
Over at Palo Dura, another of the state's top 100 recruits, Sheldon Mallory made his commitment.
He is heading for Waco and the Baylor Bears.
It's pretty exciting, it's been nerve-racking.
But I'm pretty happy with my decision.
I'm going to play a defensive end and they told me that I have a choice to play my freshman year or I could redshirt.
Depends on how I do in the spring training session.
On to Tascosa where big offensive lineman Derrick Lyon stuck with his original choice, Oklahoma State.
However, there were some late intrusions from some other schools.
I didn't know what I was going to do until about 9 o'clock last night.
I was bugged coach Huey to death.
Finally came up with a decision.
Are you happy with it?
I'm real happy with it.
I'm ready to get started.
At Randall High School, quarterback Brandon Barker has signed with Northern Illinois where he hopes he will be pitching the Pigskin Pro-Fuse League.
I think I have a new coach.
He's been there I think two years now.
He used to coach at Oklahoma and he was quoted as saying that he was going to throw the ball at least 30 times the next couple of years.
That was a little incentive for me to go somewhere where they throw it a little bit.
One other signing note today, while West Texas State didn't sign any football players, the Bootenbuff Soccer program got a player at Amarillo High.
The main thing I think, one of the reasons that I decided to go to West Texas was soccer's new here.
And a lot of the kids around here don't see an Amarillo soccer player make it very often and that's something I'm proud of.
Lee Baker, Channel 7 Sports.
Over in Pampa, Chris Whitney made 6.
Whitney was the object of one of the hottest recruiting battles in the states between Texas Tech and the University of Texas.
But, big number 70, the linemen committed to Texas Tech.
It's like having a built-in family at Tech. The people are really friendly there.
And my mom graduated from Texas Tech.
And I'm a person I like. I want my family to be able to attend all the home games and Texas is just a little too far away.
As expected, Baylor and Texas made substantial hauls on signing day.
10 out of the Longhorns' first 13 recruits were listed in the top 100.
But the Bears landed 11 top 100s en route to their best haul since the 77 class that include the likes of Mike Singletary, Walter Abercrombie, and Dennis Gentry.
Here's the way the Channel 7 Sports SWC recruiting chart stacks up.
Baylor, a slight edge over Texas in the recruiting battle, as first-year head coach Chuck Reedy plucked Dallas Bishop lineman David Davis away from the Miami Hurricanes.
Texas coach John Makovich brought the Longhorns to the front, signing blue-chip quarterback James Brown of Beaumont and Fallbrook, California quarterback John Dutton to letters of intent.
The Horns also signed Jersey Village linebacker Brian Johnson, who had committed earlier to A&M.
The Aggies signed eight players today, four of those top 100s.
Texas Tech, Inc., 11, four blue chips, including A&M defector defensive end Curtis Mickey out of Fort Worth Western Hills.
TCU and SMU come in next. Rice and Houston have not reported.
Texas A&M football coach R.C. Slocum said this afternoon that the Aggies had to fight a lot of negative recruiting.
That without any question, I would make a statement that there were young men in Texas being blatantly lied to by coaches and various others about what the realities of our situation were.
But one can go overboard when comparing and rating top 100 players and blue chippers in the recruiting wars.
Remember, Texas Tech running back Donnie Anderson, SMU receiver Gerald McNeil, quarterback James Street of Texas, and Red Raider running back James Hadnot were all nowhere to be found on the blue chip list of their time.
In sports headlines, a decision on the March shot case has been left with the Lawyers.
Baseball owners have left the meeting of the Executive Council where sanctions were being considered against the Reds owner who's accused of making ethnic and racial slurs.
A decision could come tonight. Orlando's Shaquille O'Neal has been voted an All-Star starter, making him the first NBA rookie to claim the honor since Michael Jordan in 1985.
He doesn't shoot as good as Michael, but he stuffs it even better, I think.
Exciting times for these young men who have signed on the dotted line today.
And mom and dad get to save some money.
Don't forget that too. Big time, thanks.
Well finally this evening there's nothing like Crayola crayons to bring out the kid in most of us, and the company has remained relatively unchanged over the years.
But now Crayola has introduced a whole new line of crayon colors. The problem is they're without names. The company's leaving that up to the kids, Ron Mitchell explains.
In the world that is childhood, there is one thing that brings back happy memories for most of us. Crayolas. Most kids had a favorite color and its name was music to our ears, turquoise blue or yellow green.
Now there are new, as yet unnamed colors.
That's rosy pink, that's a good name Michael. Goldy brown. I like this color. You like this?
Mrs. Simon's third graders at Fairview Elementary in Adams County took a crack at naming the new colors.
Let's have a little red. It's going to be a little red. A red rose. Let me get a green. Thank you. Skyline gray.
Each new Crayola says name coming soon. The ones that need names come in a box with 80 others. And there are also rules for a contest to add that all important name.
Well let's see here. Mulberry, cadet blue, sky blue, navy blue. Name coming soon. This is the one we need a name for. Let's see here.
Boinga purple. Yep, boinga purple.
Peach orange. It's sort of a peachy, peachy, orangey color. Sure, I see that. Peachish, orangeish.
Skyline blue. Aquafresh green. Sure, aquafresh green straight from a Madison Avenue commercial.
This is exciting. Who knows, one of the colors these kids came up with may be famous.
Someday a grown-up may look back and fondly remember his favorite color. Maybe even boinga purple.
Or Barney purple, as you suggested. Or ninja green. Ninja green, that's right. That's our time for tonight. Coming up on the Pro News Ten o'clock update.
A C-130 test plane crashed today in Georgia killing the entire seven member crew.
Meanwhile, President Clinton is considering cutting the defense budget by some eight billion dollars.
And Los Angeles holds its breath as jury selection begins in the second trial of the white officers accused of beating Rodney King.
Join us for these stories and more tonight at 10. See you then.
More High Plains residents get their news from Pro News than any other source.
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