The Odessa High baseball team kept its playoff hopes alive with a crucial 10-2 win against Midland Legacy Friday at Pressly Field.

Playing in the second of a three-game series in District 2-6A action, the Bronchos (15-13 overall, 5-9 in district) recovered from Thursday’s 4-2 loss in Midland.

Needing at least two wins in the series to remain in the playoff conversation, Odessa High scored three runs in the bottom of the third inning and seven in the sixth.

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By LINDSEY BAHR

AP Film Writer

Growing up in the Midwest, filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung developed both a healthy fear of tornadoes and a reverence for Jan de Bont’s 1996 disaster film “Twister.” He saw the movie in the theater with his family when he was a teenager.

“I remember thinking, ‘I didn’t know you could chase after these things,’” Chung said. “That, to me, was very mind-blowing.”

These were forces of nature he and his schoolmates in rural Arkansas, near the Oklahoma border, were being taught how to safely hide from.

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MIDLAND As the title will suggest, it’s a play where everything goes wrong.

While everything doesn’t go according to plan, audiences should find plenty to enjoy in Midland Community Theatre’s upcoming production.

“The Play That Goes Wrong” will run from April 26-May 11 with productions taking place at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 28.

Tickets can be purchased online at tinyurl.com/3uw5mz2v.

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ATHENS The Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center (TFFC) is pleased to announce the 2024 winners of the Texas division of the Wildlife Forever’s Fish Art Contest.

The Fish Art Contest is part of an international conservation education program designed to foster youth interest in fish, fisheries and fishing. The program encourages K-12 students to submit original artwork of any fish and an essay or poem (grades 4-12) about the participant’s fish entry, its habitat or efforts to conserve it.

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The Odessa High baseball team hosted Midland Legacy in the second of this week’s three-game series Friday at Pressly Field.

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By MICHAEL R. SISAK, JENNIFER PELTZ, JAKE OFFENHARTZ and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER

The Associated Press

NEW YORK Donald Trump’s defense team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution’s first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Returning to the witness stand for a fourth day, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker was grilled about his memory and past statements as the defense tried to poke holes in potentially crucial testimony for prosecutors in the first criminal trial of a former American president.

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By Joshua Fechter and Andrew Park, The Texas Tribune

A longtime homeowner in McAllen. A senior living in southeast Austin. The owners of a home in a quickly gentrifying Dallas neighborhood.

Each saw a sizable cut in their property tax bill in 2023 after the Texas Legislature funneled billions of dollars into tax cuts, according to a Texas Tribune analysis.

For the past five years, Republican lawmakers have been on a crusade to rein in the state’s property taxes, among the highest in the nation.

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Governor Greg Abbott has appointed Midland City Manager Tommy Gonzalez to the Texas Municipal Retirement System Board of Trustees for a term to expire Feb. 1, 2029.

The board oversees the Texas Municipal Retirement System, which is responsible for providing a secure retirement benefit plan for eligible employees of more than 800 cities.

“This prestigious appointment is a testament to Tommy’s dedication, leadership, and expertise in municipal governance,” the City of Midland reported in a news release.

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The Texas Department of Transportation issued a traffic alert Friday for Ector County.

Beginning Monday contractors will require the closure of the inside lanes and center turn lane of FM 1882 beginning at IH-20 and continue north to the end of the project at BI-20 to continue with milling and paving. The work in this area is anticipated to take approximately five days.

This portion of the project is part of a larger project, anticipated to be complete by mid-November, to rework the existing roadway, improve the riding surface and increase the safety of FM 1882 between BI-20 and 0.1 miles west of US 385 in Ector County.

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By MATTHEW PERRONE and ZEKE MILLER

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON President Joe Biden’s administration is indefinitely delaying a long-awaited menthol cigarette ban, a decision that infuriated anti-smoking advocates but could avoid a political backlash from Black voters in November.

In a statement Friday, Biden’s top health official gave no timeline for issuing the rule, saying only that the administration would take more time to consider feedback, including from civil rights groups.

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