Big Spring businesswoman and school board official Stormy Bradley has declared her candidacy in the upcoming 2022 Republican Primary for the District 31 seat in the Texas State Senate. According to information from Bradley’s campaign website, Bradley is the owner of Bulldog Steel in Big Spring and serves on the Coahoma Independent School District Board […]
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Officials: Schlemeyer Border Security Story “Based on a Lie” – Ector County Rejects Funding
The Ector County Commissioners Court voted unanimously on Tuesday to reject $15 million from a rider amendment in the state transportation budget that was passed without the county’s knowledge or consent this past legislative session. The amendment, which was allocated to lengthen the runways at the airport, caught county officials by surprise when they learned […]
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Landgraf Responds to Questions on Schlemeyer Funding – Conflicts with Past Statements
State Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R-Odessa) has responded to questions from Odessa Headlines regarding the state budget provision that directs $15 million to be spent toward expanding the runway at Schlemeyer Airport at the expense of capital improvement projects for local airports across Texas. After DPS officials issued a statement shooting down a story Landgraf told […]
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DPS Says No Plans for Schlemeyer Airport – Did Not Request Funding
Officials with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) have stated they are unaware of any attempts by the agency to request funding from the legislature to lengthen the runways at Odessa’s Schlemeyer Airport, and that DPS currently has no plans for the airport. This stands in stark contrast to an explanation State Rep Brooks […]
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Watchdog Group Says OA Reporter Tweeted Racial Slur
A citizen-led watchdog organization dubbed the ‘Odessa Accountability Project’ says they discovered a Twitter account that is believed to belong to a local newspaper reporter, and that the account shows multiple past tweets of a controversial nature. The Accountability Project pointed to the Twitter account @fmloco65, which appears to be an old account belonging to […]
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State Funding to Expand Odessa’s Schlemeyer Airport Leads to Unanswered Questions
A rider amendment in the state transportation budget to provide $15 million in funding to expand the runways at the Ector County ‘Schlemeyer’ Airport in Odessa has generated a mystery regarding who wanted the funding, and what prompted the Texas Legislature to pass it. Transportation funding experts say the amendment will ‘cannibalize’ the funding for […]
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Odessa Mayor to Hold Town Hall
Odessa Mayor Javier Joven is planning to hold a town hall today, to update citizens on issued facing the city as well as provide an opportunity for citizens to give feedback to their city’s representative. An event posted on Joven’s campaign Facebook page details that the town hall will be held today, Monday, June 14, […]
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Opinion: Odessa Voters Should Have the Right to Consider Major Public Debt Issues
A quick review of the numbers, and one will realize that local government debt in Texas is a silent crisis in the waiting – with staggering numbers continuously amassing unchecked, unchallenged, and unnoticed. Odessa is no exception. A study conducted in 2020 by the Texas Public Policy Foundation found that the principal debt owed by local governments was […]
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Pro-Debt Councilmembers Plot to Censure Mayor Joven
Several Odessa City Councilmembers who are planning to circumvent the voters by issuing $95 million in taxpayer-backed debt have announced their intention to consider censuring Mayor Javier Joven after the mayor came out strongly against the debt issuance this past week. The censure is being spearheaded by Councilman Steve Thompson, who has claimed the censure […]
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Odessa City Manager Plan will Circumvent Voters with $95 Million Debt Issuance
A proposal by Odessa City Manager Michael Marrero’s office to circumvent Odessan’s right to vote on major public funding projects by exploiting a loophole in state law is moving forward, with the first public hearing on the debt issuance set for this Tuesday. The certificates of obligation totaling $95 million will be the second debt […]