Wichita Falls Pundit
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09-12-2025 - 10:55 AM - From the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistcs - Economics Daily - Payroll employment little changed in August 2025 - In August 2025, total U.S. nonfarm payroll employment changed little (+22,000) and has shown little change since April. Over-the-month employment increases in 2025 have slowed to about half the pace seen in 2024. In August, job gains in health care were partially offset by losses in federal government and in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction. Health care added 31,000 jobs, below the average monthly gain of 42,000 over the prior 12 months. Employment continued to trend up over the month in ambulatory health care services, nursing and residential care facilities, and hospitals. Employment in social assistance (part of health care and social assistance) continued to trend up in August, reflecting continued job growth in individual and family services. Federal government employment continued to decline in August (-15,000) and is down by 97,000 since reaching a peak in January. (Employees on paid leave or receiving ongoing severance pay are counted as employed.) Employment in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction declined by 6,000, after changing little over the prior 12 months. Wholesale trade employment continued to trend down in August (-12,000) and has fallen by 32,000 since May 2025. Manufacturing employment changed little in August (-12,000) but is down by 78,000 over the year. Employment in transportation equipment manufacturing declined over the month, in part due to strike activity. These data are from the Current Employment Statistics program and are seasonally adjusted.
09-12-2025 - 2:35 PM - From the U.S. Federal Communications Commission - FCC ENFORCEMENT BUREAU ISSUES NOTICE OF ILLEGAL PIRATE RADIO BROADCASTING (NIPRB) TO TAO AND PERSEPHONE LUNDOLOS. The FCC Enforcement Bureau issued a Notice of Illegal Pirate Radio Broadcasting (NIPRB) per its authority from the PIRATE Act to Missouri property owners for allowing illegal broadcasting from their property.. by NIPRB. EB.
09-12-2025 - 2:45 PM - The most famous Amateur (ham) Radio operator I ever worked on the air was Roy Neal, K6DUE (Silent Key), an NBC News correspondent. The most famous ham I ever saw was King Hussein of Jordan, JY1 (Silent Key), as he departed the Letterman Army Medical Center at the Presidio of San Francisco in 1976. My most interesting contact was with a Naval aviator in an FA/18 Hornet - on 146.520 FM simplex - as he passed over north Texas headed to the Houston area. He said he was using the aircraft radio.
09-12-2025 - 3:45 PM - From the U.S. Food and Drug Administration - The FDA is updating the alert with an additional product, Jiva Organic ground cinnamon, that contains elevated levels of lead. The samples were collected at a retail establishment by the FDA. Exposure to this product may be unsafe. The FDA is advising consumers to stop using and dispose of the ground cinnamon products listed on the advisory.
09-12-2025 - 6:15 PM - The Local Group is active on CB Radio Channel 23. The bad is open, and I hear a few distant stations doing their thing. Tune in!
09-12-2025 - 8:00 PM - I don't know which is thinner, the Wichita Falls Yellow Pages or a World's Finest Chocolate bar. They have both shrunk over the years. I sold my first WFC bar around 1964, and I know they were twice as big as they are now. And, they were 50¢.
09-11-2025 - 5:00 AM - Good Morning! It's Thursday. Other than my heating and air company tech coming by to do a regular check-up on the system, I have nothing scheduled. He is coming early, so the rest of the day will be mine. The lawn is mowed, so nothing to worry about there. I suppose I'll just pour a cup of Folgers Black Silk coffee and figure out something to write about.
09-11-2025 - 5:05 AM - Wichita Falls NWS Forecast - Today: Sunny, with a high near 95. South southeast wind 6 to 9 mph. Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 69. South wind 7 to 10 mph.
09-11-2025 - 5:10 AM - Current National Short Range Weather Forecast
09-11-2025 - 5:15 AM - According to Water Data for Texas, Wichita Falls reservoirs are: Arrowhead: 91.2% Kemp: 100% Kickapoo: 94.2%. Monitored Water Supply Reservoirs are 95.5% full. The City of Wichita Falls uses combined levels of Arrowhead and Kickapoo (92.7%) to determine drought stage.
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09-11-2025 - 5:25 AM - ERCOT (Texas) snapshot of grid conditions - ERCOT reports that conditions are normal and there is enough power for current demand with an operating reserve of 12,506 Megawatts.
09-11-2025 - 6:00 AM - The "spider" building on Seymour Highway near KFDX (CH 3) TV, once a popular liquor store, is long gone. It has been demolished and a new building put up in it's place. The spider had long been abandoned and was falling apart. Its companion, the "giraffe", the tall sign that stood to the right of it, was taken down many years ago. I wish I had a picture of them together.
09-11-2025 - 6:10 AM - If you're an old-timer, you may remember dialing the phone number to check the local time and temperature. I called it many times. It went out of service years ago. I don't remember the number, and so far, I haven't been able to find it in the city directory of that period. I might check to see if the Wichita Falls Public Library has some old phone books. I wish I had every old phone book issued during my life. They are a great window to the past.
09-11-2025 - 6:15 AM - A decade or so ago, I found a storm spotter group in Georgia that used CB Radio rather than Amateur (ham) Radio. I'm not sure how that worked out. With no repeaters, really high power would have been necessary. Even with that, the thunderstorm-induced static crashes must have been really distracting. CB Radio is great, but it isn't all-purpose.
09-11-2025 - 6:16 AM - The CB Radio is waking up locally with traffic on Channel 19. I have the President McKinley on 40-channel scan, and this is the first signal I've heard this morning. Let's see what the day brings.
09-11-2025 - 6:20 AM - You're on Route 66, cruising along at the speed limit of 55 with the CB Radio tuned to Channel 19, but you know the trip is not complete without a stop at a Whiting Brothers gas station! Those were the days!
09-11-2025 - 6:30 AM - A local guy on Channel 19 is all excited about some non-emergency issue. He sounds like the late (very late) Slim Pickens on speed, but out of breath, if you can imagine that combination of symptoms.
09-11-2025 - 8:25 AM - FEMA Daily Operations Briefing for September 11, 2025
New Significant Incidents / Ongoing Ops:
• No new significant incidents / operations
Hazard Monitoring:
• Severe Thunderstorms – Montana and North Dakota
• Heavy Rain / Flash Flooding – Interior Northwest, Central to Southern Rockies, and Florida
• Atlantic:
Disturbance 1: Low (20%)
• Eastern and Central Pacific:
Disturbance 1 (EP95): High (90%)
Disaster Declaration Activity:
• No new declaration activity
Event Monitoring:
• No significant events
09-11-2025 - 9:20 AM - In the news: There was a pornography conference in Amsterdam. Jobless claims rise. Some EV makers want their vehicles to roar. Instead of Back to the Future, it's Ahead to the Past. Mortgage payments are higher than they've been in decades. A single workout can slow cancer growth. Inflation picks up.
09-11-2025 - 10:15 AM - From the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - Economics Daily - Long-term unemployed accounted for 25.7 percent of all unemployed people in August 2025 - Both the unemployment rate, at 4.3 percent, and the number of unemployed people, at 7.4 million, changed little in August 2025. These measures also changed little over the past year. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) changed little at 1.9 million in August but has increased by 385,000 over the year. The long-term unemployed accounted for 25.7 percent of all unemployed people in August, the highest percentage since February 2022. This ratio has increased 4.2 percentage points over the year. These data are from the Current Population Survey and are seasonally adjusted.
09-11-2025 10:22 AM - I contacted a station in Hiwassee Ocoee State Park (US-2952) in Tennessee on 20 meters (14 MHz) CW (Morse code) in the Amateur (ham) Radio Parks on the Air® program.