When Angela Andrade was growing up, the story of Santos Rodriguez was a cautionary tale. Her family members would detail how 12-year-old Rodriguez and his 14-year-old brother were dragged from their home in Dallas’ old Little Mexico neighborhood and thrown into a Dallas Police Department vehicle. The details still haunt…
Since this summer’s resurgence of Black Lives Matter protests began, calls for racial justice have reached far and wide. Now, the music theory community is reckoning with its own white supremacy issues following a controversy stemming from the University of North Texas. Up for debate is the legacy of late…
Council Member Adam Bazaldua is working to rename a section of R.L. Thornton Freeway after a more deserving person – Juanita J. Craft. Even if you don’t know who Craft is, her name probably still sounds familiar to you. A recreation center at Baylor Scott Hospital bears her name, as…
Denton mom Tina Bennett likened last spring’s semester to a skirmish. After the coronavirus pandemic forced people into isolation, she would work her IT job from home while her two sons did their best to adjust to virtual learning. Her younger son, Koda, had an especially tough time. “It became…
Earlier this year, 200 people packed into Old Parkland to hear city leaders talk about the future of Dallas Area Rapid Transit. DART had some pretty big projects coming up, like the overhaul of its bus system and the D-2 downtown subway, and they were working toward major public transit…
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission slapped 18 club owners with suspensions after they participated in Freedom Fest, Saturday’s statewide bar protest that aimed to challenge the governor’s latest pandemic shutdown order. Organizer Chris Polone, who owns The Rail Club Live in Fort Worth, said he’s also under the gun. This week,…
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins says numerous complaints have been made about businesses where masks, among other things, cannot be worn all the time. Some of these businesses are bars in every sense of the word, but they’re open and are at risk of spreading the coronavirus. Jenkins called these…
Annemarie Aldrich is hunting for answers. At the coronavirus pandemic’s outset, her store, Denton’s Rose Costumes, began sewing masks for inmates and staff at the Denton County Jail. Dubbing the effort “Project Mask Makers,” Aldrich said volunteers delivered thousands of handmade cloth masks that were tailored to jail officials’ specifications. Then,…
East Texas U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, who has shunned mask-wearing during the pandemic because he’s Louie Gohmert, has tested positive for the coronavirus. Gohmert was due to travel back to Texas on a campaign trip with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, but a pre-screening test for that trip came back…
Since the pandemic began, health experts have heralded future coronavirus vaccines as potential godsends. But skepticism surrounding immunization may prevent some from embracing them. No matter how foolproof a vaccine is, it won’t properly work if people don’t get it, said Dr. Eric Bing, professor of global health at Southern…
There weren’t any hiccups in Freedom Fest, Saturday’s statewide bar protest, according to its organizer. More than 300 bars said they would be joining the demonstration by hosting benefits that day in defiance of an order from Gov. Greg Abbott closing bars on account of the pandemic. Organizer Chris Polone,…
Dallas students are starting school three weeks later than previously expected. Thursday, Dallas ISD trustees voted unanimously to begin the school year on Sept. 8 instead of Aug. 17. The move comes after Dallas County Health and Human Services issued an order that prevents private and public schools from holding…
Quiet: The stands. Quieter: The bats. After $1.2 billion in construction, a four-month delay courtesy of COVID-19 and the hype of Major League Baseball’s 60-game sprint of a schedule, Texas Rangers baseball was back in Arlington over the weekend. But after christening new Globe Life Field with masks, social distancing,…
At the beginning of July, North Texans gathered outside the Dallas Police Department’s headquarters for a candlelight demonstration in support of changing the name of Lamar Street to Botham Jean Boulevard in honor of the man murdered in his apartment by now-former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger in 2018. Now, community activists…
Soon, single mother Kimberly Brock will likely be evicted from her Denton home. A federal law that had shielded her from displacement expired on Saturday. That same day, Brock, who has a 5-month-old daughter named Emery, said she received an eviction notice. She hasn’t been able to afford her full…
Black mold, raw sewage and neglected trash piles are plaguing inmates stuck in one of Denton County Jail’s so-called “quarantine pods,” according to a local activist and scholar. Coronavirus-infected inmates are also allegedly deprived of functioning masks; they often must reuse the ones they do have, some of which are filled…
In 2016, Tony Timpa had a run-in with the police. As he stood outside a porn shop on Mockingbird Lane, Timpa called the cops, telling them he was scared, off of his medication and suffering from mental illness. By the end of the night, the 32-year-old Timpa was dead, dying…
U.S. cities are experiencing budget shortfalls amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Although Congress has greenlit about $3 trillion in coronavirus relief, Arlington Mayor Jeff Williams said most American cities have been left behind. “Cities have been on the front line of the battle, and we are being hit hard,” he said…
Saturday, more than 300 bars across the state say they will participate in Freedom Fest, an event its organizer has dubbed “the biggest bar protest in Texas history.” Chris Polone, the owner of Fort Worth’s The Rail Club Live, arranged the festival to challenge an executive order that forced the…
Dallas police will no longer be allowed to fire “less lethal” weapons into crowds nor use tear gas to herd peaceful protesters on city streets, police Chief U. Renee Hall announced Wednesday morning. The chief issued a general order restricting the use of the weapons as anger continues to simmer…
Texas’ Capitol grounds could soon lose seven Confederate memorials if Democratic state lawmakers have their way. In a letter sent Monday to their Republican chairs, eight Democratic members of the state’s House and Senate administration committees called for the memorials’ removal. The letter comes after protests over the police killings…
Amid weeks of protests over police brutality, a poll released Tuesday shows that a majority of Texans support law-enforcement reform. The poll, which was conducted by Progress Texas and Public Policy Polling, showed that 73% of respondents agree police brutality is a “serious or somewhat serious problem.” Ed Espinoza, executive…
