Since the George Floyd protests began, calls for the removal of statues deemed racist have reached as far as Belgium, the United Kingdom and South Africa. They’ve also crescendoed in Gainesville, a town 85 miles north of Dallas. Gainesville, which has a population of fewer than 17,000 people, is home…
May 14, Kiara Yarbrough was sent to Dallas County jail for a probation violation. Seven weeks earlier, the jail was consumed by an outbreak of COVID-19. While a pair of lawsuits have called for the release of medically vulnerable inmates, the jail has avoided responsibility for what attorneys describe as…
This year’s State Fair of Texas is canceled due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19, organizers announced Tuesday morning. This year marks the first time since World War II that the fair has been canceled. It was canceled once during World War I, for three years in the 1930s…
It was almost two years ago that off-duty Dallas police officer Amber Guyger shot and killed Botham Jean, a 26-year-old accountant, while he was watching television in his own apartment. Guyger said she mistook Jean’s apartment for her own and thought he was a burglar. Two years later, protesters against…
As infections of the novel coronavirus surge across North Texas and around the state, a majority of Texans now say efforts to control the spread of the virus are going badly, according to a poll released this week. The poll, conducted by the Texas Politics Project at the University of…
No pass, no play. In 1984, that was the blunt nickname of sweeping educational reform led by Dallas businessman Ross Perot that mandated Texas high-school athletes make a grade of 70-plus in all classes or be sidelined in their sport. In 2020, it’s potentially life or death. Dictated by the…
On Saturday afternoon, as Independence Day celebrations were getting started in backyards across Dallas, about 40 people gathered in Klyde Warren Park. Protesters stood holding signs that read “Say Their Names” and “Black Lives Matter” as the afternoon sun beat down on them. “Many Black people are not connected to…
This week, the Dallas Police Department modified its general orders to allow the release of videos from officers’ body cameras within 72 hours of critical incidences. On Thursday, panelists discussing justice and the Black Lives Matter movement said this change is a step in the right direction but that there…
Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday issued an order requiring people to wear masks in public in any county with 20 or more confirmed cases of COVID-19. The order comes as cases of the novel coronavirus continue to surge statewide and public health officials worry about how Independence Day gatherings could fuel…
It’s no secret that Texas is having trouble getting a handle on the coronavirus. Cases are surging and plans to reopen the economy just got rolled back. In a virtual conference on Wednesday, state Democrats called Gov. Greg Abbott’s response to COVID-19 reckless and urged him to mandate the use…
First, came the coronavirus pandemic. Then, came the latest wave of Black Lives Matter demonstrations. Many health experts feared the protests against racial injustice would usher in a landslide of new COVID-19 cases, but some doctors are now saying it’s unlikely. “For the most part, we’re not going to see…
Brandon Saenz didn’t feel the projectile hit him. He heard a sound — “a boom,” he says — and a moment later he saw blood dotting his shoes and the pavement beneath them. “‘Whose blood is that?’” Saenz, 26, remembers thinking. “‘Oh, it’s mine.’” Saenz was walking by a group of peaceful protesters…
Chris Polone woke up on Friday to around 100 phone calls. The owner of The Rail Club Live in Fort Worth said they all asked the same thing: Had he heard about Gov. Greg Abbott’s order to shutter the state’s bars? Polone said he was shocked when he learned of…
Dallas County crossed two grim thresholds Tuesday in its ongoing surge of cases of the novel coronavirus. County health officials reported 601 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday afternoon, marking the first time the county has reported more than 600 cases in a single day. The county also reported 20 coronavirus-related…
Dallas County’s new coronavirus cases continues to rapidly climb. June 1, the county counted 220 new cases. Sunday, the number jumped to 570. The disturbing trend prompted Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins to write a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday. In it, he urges Abbott to impose statewide…
Earlier this month, Gov. Greg Abbott announced that students would be returning to public schools this fall. But as COVID-19 cases surge in Texas, Rena Honea, the president of the teachers union Alliance-ATF, said she has concerns about sending kids back to school. Honea and Joanna Cattanach, Democratic candidate for…
Dallas hair salon owner Shelley Luther has cannonballed her way into the national spotlight. Her brash act of political defiance flung heaps more mud into the already murky debate surrounding safety mandates amid the coronavirus pandemic. Last week, the University of Houston released a poll indicating that Luther’s peers disapproved…
A federal judge recently ordered children who have been held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody for more than 20 days to be released by July 17. But demonstrators protesting for immigration reform outside Dallas City Hall on Saturday say that order isn’t enough. “This is a victory, but it…
Unless you fall into one of a handful of categories that would allow you to cast a ballot by mail, you’ll need to show up in person if you want to vote in next month’s runoff election, coronavirus or not. That’s the takeaway from the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to…
A day after he hit the pause button on the state’s reopening plan, Gov. Greg Abbott is reinstating some restrictions designed to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Friday morning, Abbott issued an executive order closing bars across the state at noon Friday and placing a 50% occupancy…
Amber Sims lives in what was once a freedmen’s town, built by people who were born into slavery and then emancipated. But very few remnants of the area’s history are left today, she said. Correcting racial inequities in Dallas starts with addressing that history, said Sims, the director of regional…
It was good while it lasted. Dallas County’s eviction moratorium ended June 15, effectively halting certain protections for thousands of North Texas tenants. Tuesday, DeSoto City Council member Candice Quarles delivered a bleak forecast for Dallas evictions during a virtual town hall meeting on Zoom. She said considering the county’s…
