Category: News & Features

LUBBOCK, Texas — A Midland man celebrated his 60th birthday by doing his favorite thing this week — running, and running far. Nopporn ‘Popcorn’ Leonard ran 60 miles on his 60th birthday while raising money for an important cause inspired by the pandemic.

“I just feel like I need to do my part giving back to the community,” said Leonard.

Leonard has raced in two marathons a year since he was 38-years-old. However, when the pandemic hit, that wasn’t possible.

“I was training for Boston Marathon and it got canceled due to Coronavirus, of course,” said Leonard. “So I was looking for something to do after that.” 

He saw on the news that there was a long line at his local food bank right at the start of the pandemic. Realizing how big that need was, he decided to do something to give back.

“So I was like, Well, you know what? So my birthday, eight days before my birthday, I decided I’m gonna run 59 miles and try to collect money for West Texas Food Bank,” said Leonard.  

Read the full article on everythinglubbock.com, published April 15, 2021.

LUBBOCK, Texas — In one of the most poignant moments from the city’s last Charter Review Meeting, Rosa Saiz came forward to tell everyone about the poor living conditions she’s been enduring at the Spanish Oaks Apartments complex. 

Saiz told us that she thought the buildings needed to be condemned — and KAMC News took a look to see what was really going on. The owner said it was all a result of bad management. 

“We are asking already for a safe place to take my family. Enough is enough,” said Saiz. 

After hearing silence from her apartment complex following a number of work orders for dangerous living conditions, Saiz turned to her city leaders for help.

“It’s not okay to have your kids running through sewage,” said Saiz. “It’s not okay to have them through the winter with cardboard … It’s not okay that these leaks have turned into mold.

Those are just a few of the problems Saiz dealt with since moving into the Spanish Oaks Apartments over a year ago. She said that every work order she filed from gas leaks, backed up sewer lines and broken windows were ignored.

Read the full article on everythinglubbock.com, published April 14, 2021.

LUBBOCK, Texas — The recent mass shootings have put pressure on the Biden administration to take action against gun violence. On Thursday, President Biden announced a number of executive actions on gun reform. 

While many agree that these changes are necessary to keep us safe, many also feel that they infringe on our second amendment rights. 

“What he’s trying to pass, first off, it won’t have any bearing on safety at all,” said gun owner Jim Baxa. “And second off, they’re completely unconstitutional.”

Some of the actions include creating tighter regulations around ‘ghost guns’ — which are guns assembled from kits that don’t have serial numbers and can’t be tracked. 

“Ghost guns haven’t been used in a massive amount of crimes,” said Lonestar Shooting Sports owner Thomas Larson. “Honest people are going to do things, honestly anyway. People that want to circumvent the law, are always going to find ways to circumvent the law.”

However, some gun reform advocates like Jen Shelton with Moms Demand Action, disagree.

Read the full article on everythinglubbock.com, published April 8, 2021.