The Dallas Morning News
‘He was a beautiful soul’
They stood in silence in the cold rain, circling the spot where their teammate had lain the day before. Some bowed their heads. Some wiped their eyes. Others draped their arms around shoulders to offer comfort. One boy held a box of tissues. Wornan...
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‘I still miss my daddy’
In a historic and deeply emotional move, Dallas County officials voted Wednesday to symbolically exonerate a man executed nearly 70 years ago for a crime he could not have committed. Tommy Lee Walker, a 19-yearold Black man and new father, was...
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ERCOT on weather alert
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas is monitoring the weather conditions ahead of an arctic cold front that is expected to bring a mix of wintry precipitation to Dallasfort Worth late this week. ERCOT — which operates the power grid for most of...
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Women’s wages sink in rising economy
Over the past decade, even as the Dallas-fort Worth economy has grown over 75% and median incomes rose nearly 60%, the gender wage gap has persisted and even worsened, according to a Dallas Morning News analysis of census data. D-FW had the widest gap...
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Soccer fans call foul as ticket prices soar
Adyed-in-the-wool soccer fan, Royse City’s Dennis McGowan — an FC Dallas season-ticket holder and vice president of one of the team’s fan clubs — took solace in successfully navigating FIFA’s World Cup ticketing process. He and a friend entered as...
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‘Keep dreaming, keep working’
Dallas fourth grader Blen Teklu acknowledges that hate, hurt and division exist in the world. Even during tough times, she proclaimed, people must solve “problems with love, not hate.” The Preston Hollow Elementary student performed an electrifying...
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Area new home sales tumbled in 2025
Dallas-fort Worth home builders dealt with persistently weak housing demand in 2025 compared with the recent highs of the POSTCOVID boom. Weak job growth and an oversupply of finished, vacant homes contributed to issues for builders last year. Early...
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Minnesota, Twin Cities file suit
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota and its two largest cities sued the Trump administration Monday to try to stop an immigration enforcement surge that led to the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by a federal officer and evoked outrage and protests across...
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Most arrested here in ’25 had no criminal convictions
On the day that Brian Ernesto Villalta-Ramos had a scheduled appointment at the Dallas Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in October, family members told him to skip the appointment to eliminate the risk of being arrested. He refused. He had...
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State faults FBI handling
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota authorities said Thursday that the FBI was taking over the investigation into an immigration officer’s deadly shooting of a woman in Minneapolis, freezing them out of the inquiry and blocking them from accessing evidence. A...
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The call of the mild
Having been toasted itself last week, the new year has apparently decided to return the favor, toasting Dallas residents with unseasonably warm weather. Shreya Patnaik (left) and her friend Anna Ivashchenko (with her Guinea pig named Ginger) took a...
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AT&T’S shift to Plano leaves Dallas in limbo
After spending months scouring North Texas for office space, telecommunications giant AT&T said it will build its new global headquarters in Plano, leaving questions about the future of its massive real estate holdings in downtown Dallas. The move was...
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U.S. to have limited role
Texas Republicans and Democrats running for the U.S. Senate have split sharply over President Donald Trump’s military operation against Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, an early flashpoint over foreign policy and presidential authority. The GOP...
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Program taps into vital lifeline
Strapped to a stretcher in the back of an ambulance, the shooting victim moaned, then screamed. Blood splattered across the person’s cheeks and neck, seeped through the gauze looped around a leg and dripped onto the floor. A group of first responders...
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Shot by a stranger, woman rebuilds
On a warm Wednesday afternoon in November, Kyra Stubbs walks out of the Walmart in northeast Dallas after about 30 minutes of shopping. She is giddy. She is wearing her favorite light blue jeans. She feels beautiful. She even steals a couple of glances...
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A bright but subdued end to 2025
Fireworks exploded over the Chao Phraya River during New Year celebrations in Bangkok on Thursday. Fireworks lit up the skies in the Middle East and parts of Europe and Africa. Russians celebrated in snowy Moscow, Dubai had a light show, and temple...
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Foes team up to fight hunger
When the Ohio State University’s Buckeyes face off against the University of Miami Hurricanes tonight, 80,000 students, alumni and fans will pack AT&T Stadium to cheer stridently for their teams. But on Tuesday morning in an airy warehouse at the...
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After fleeing war, a new battle
On a blustery December Saturday morning by a strip mall in Garland, families, seniors, local leaders and veterans packed into an event hall belonging to a Vietnamese American community center to honor the Yellow Flag, a symbol of democracy and freedom...
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‘We have a right to be on the road’
FRISCO — Before 8 a.m. on Christmas Eve, hundreds of runners congregated in the parking lot of Frisco Running Company wearing Santa hats with their neon-colored running shoes. The annual Santa Run, typically organized by Kelli Kocher, a local real...
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Dallas stays warm to solar
The city of Dallas has been gradually installing solar panels on its buildings, but changes in federal renewable energy policies and tariffs might slow its momentum, officials say. In line with Dallas’ goal of using and generating renewable energy,...
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Pope asks world to pay attention
VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV during his first Christmas Day message on Thursday urged the faithful to shed indifference in the face of those who have lost everything, such as the people in Gaza, those who are impoverished, such as in Yemen, and the...
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Prisoners share holiday presence
The last time Karley Alejo spent Christmas with her dad was when she was 3 years old. Now 16, Alejo walked into the gym at the Sanders Estes Unit, trying to make eye contact with her father, Julian Alejo, who was wearing a white inmate uniform and a...
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Ho! Ho! Holy cow, it’s warm!
days before Christmas, the usually solid skating rink in Main Street Garden Park pooled with puddles of melting ice. A few brave souls skated — or rather, splashed — around a behemoth green Christmas tree, decorated with scores of silver ornaments in...
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Help at the speed of flight
ARLINGTON — When the 911 call warned of a man with a gun, the first arrival was not an officer in a patrol car. On the roof of Arlington’s Police Department, a box that blended in with the building’s mechanical clutter stirred to life. It released a...
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Closing with a clunker
Cowboys backup quarterback Joe Milton III lost the ball on a hit by Los Angeles Chargers safety Derwin James Jr. late in the fourth quarter of Dallas’ 34-17 loss Sunday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. A day after being eliminated from the playoff chase,...
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DISD maps billions in bond cash
Dallas ISD presented more details Thursday for the school district’s next bond package, a multibillion-dollar plan to bolster campuses and classrooms across the 240-school system. Officials outlined two bond options, funding $4.9 billion to $6.25...
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Past segregation to graduation
She wanted to go to the school on the corner. The one just steps from her South Dallas home, so close she could hear the bell ring. The one with high ceilings and new textbooks that only welcomed white students. The one the Supreme Court said Black...
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Gathering for light
The smell of latkes and other traditional Jewish foods wafted through the air Tuesday night at the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum as small groups of people gathered at the museum’s West End site to celebrate the third night of Hanukkah. More...
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Input sought on new bond
Dallas ISD graduate Virginia Spencer recalls Lincoln High School’s auditorium without lighting, microphones or a sound system. Those conditions improved after the district’s historic $3 billion-plus bond package in 2020. But officials say work...
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Seeking a way out
Dallas scrapped its 2018 agreement with the Dallas Housing Authority and replaced it with one removing requirements they hadn’t followed Shanise Gilbertoe tried for years to leave Roseland. For the eight years she and her children lived there, gunfire...
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Critical failure
Living at Roseland taught Shanise Gilbertoe’s three children a number of lessons. One of them was to hit the floor at the crack of gunfire. Sharp pops, sometimes heard by the dozens, had long been a fact of life at the public housing complex in Old...
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Scientists look to stomp out virus
On a cool December afternoon at the Fort Worth Zoo, Lady Bird splashes her tiny trunk in a watering hole while her mother, Bluebonnet, and honorary aunt Angel flank her like bodyguards. To zoogoers watching the fuzzy, 3-foot-tall and over 650-pound...
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2 elementary schools to close
After hours of emotional debate that lasted well into the night, Grapevine-colleyville ISD trustees voted 5-2 Wednesday to close two elementary schools, despite impassioned pleas from parents who urged the board to reconsider the plan. The board’s...
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Nonprofit a ‘lifeline’ for students
Efraín Vera recalls the email that didn’t look real 15 years ago. The message changed his life forever. The Oak Cliff native applied for a Bill & Melinda Gates Millennium Scholarship during his senior year at the Judge Barefoot Sanders Law Magnet at...
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When the sidewalks end Residents navigate neglect, city system
A couple of summers ago, Dallas resident Melody Townsel swerved around a sign left in the middle of a sidewalk in her neighborhood of the Cedars. “My wheels went off the wheelchair. I fell into the fence, and ended up badly injured — broke a pair of...
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Crockett jumps in race
And they’re off: Lively Texas races begin after deadline AUSTIN — Political hopefuls from across Texas started their races for the 2026 election season in earnest on Monday, as the window for filing their candidacies for public office drew to a...
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Visionary helped win titles
Thomas O. Hicks, who parlayed an early mastery of leveraged buyouts to create one of the world’s first modern professional sports empires, died Saturday in Dallas surrounded by family. He was 79. Hicks, described by those who knew him as an “eternal...
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A nourishing atmosphere
DENTON — On a two-lane road in a quiet pocket of Denton, a team of chefs is crafting an intimate, hyper-personalized dining experience where each dish is guided by the preferences and specificities of the person it’s made for. Their diners? The...
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FIFA draw feeds football fever
WASHINGTON — Dan Hunt sounded almost starstruck following the FIFA World Cup draw Friday, listing off the soccer royalty who turned up for the two-hour celebration of the beautiful game, including top coaches and legendary players he described as...
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Time to ‘ramp up’ with draw
If you’re a North Texan who’s a soccer fan of a particular national team or star player, your hopes for Friday’s long-anticipated official draw for the 2026 World Cup are obvious. But if you’re generally soccerpassionate and mostly want AT&T Stadium’s...
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Dallas to DART: ‘Help us help you’
As North Texas cities contemplate leaving the Dallas Area Rapid Transit system, Dallas leaders are imploring the public transportation agency: “Can you please help us help you?” Council member Lorie Blair’s gentle query to Dallas Area Rapid Transit...
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Raising the Christmas spirit
Crews were busy erecting the Mayor’s Tree on Tuesday ahead of Saturday’s Tree Lighting Celebration at Klyde Warren Park in downtown Dallas. The event will kick off with a performance by the Lake Highlands Wildcat Wranglers, followed by a rendition of...
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Cowboys kick off the holiday season
Dallas Cowboys Justin Barron (on truck) and Phil Mafah loaded up their donations to The Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program Monday in Frisco. Each bag contains toys for one Angel Tree recipient. The Cowboys organization — players, coaches, executives,...
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Preserving affordability
When people think about affordable housing, what often comes to mind is housing subsidized by federal or local programs. The reality is that subsidized housing typically makes up a small share of what people can afford. Around 75% of affordable rental...
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A homeownership nightmare
On Merlin Street, duplexes have taken root in a South Dallas neighborhood once called Jeffries-meyers. The homes here are modern and owned by 30-something residents, all first-time homebuyers. They’re young, live near Fair Park and are minutes from...
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A three-game feast
Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson gloved a Thanksgiving turducken to the shock of wide receiver Ceedee Lamb (center) and quarterback Dak Prescott (right) after defeating the Kansas City Chiefs at AT&T Stadium on Thursday in Arlington. Dallas has won...
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A warm meal for the holiday
Volunteer Allison Klingsick of Dallas served warm plates to a table at a Thanksgiving luncheon hosted by faith-based nonprofit Ourcalling on Wednesday in Dallas. Staff members and about 200 volunteers served a traditional Thanksgiving meal at the...
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‘They’re doing something to her’
Lestia Nelson knows what her daughter Saniyah Reese — a nonverbal 19-year-old girl with severe disabilities — sounds like when she gets excited. It’s a loud, bright laughter that rings in the air. When Saniyah is sad, the sounds are different. She...
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Wonderland features frosty fun, holiday magic
Adam Federle encouraged Cooper Federle, 3, to finish sliding down an ice slide at ICE! at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in Grapevine on Monday. Guests toured through 10 rooms featuring scenes from the movie Elf. The slide room is at...
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Unveiling an ‘ugly truth’
In the middle of a hot summer night in North Texas, a pair of 13year-old boys were goofing off on a gigantic jungle gym. The best friends were inseparable on idle days like these, up for some mindless mischief that would maybe irritate their parents...
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A day to remember
Air Force veterans Kenneth Reid (front left) and James Clement Jr. (front right), who both served in Vietnam, saluted during the playing of the national anthem at the Greater Dallas Veterans Day Parade at Fair Park on Tuesday. The parade and other...
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Senate votes to reopen
Hundreds of thousands of travelers had their plans upended Monday as airlines continued to pare back their schedules under a directive from the Trump administration to reduce the number of planes in the skies. As of Monday evening, more than 7,200...
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Abbott officially joins race
Gov. Greg Abbott officially launched his reelection campaign Sunday with a promise to provide Texans significant property tax relief, including the ability for voters to abolish property taxes that fund public schools. “Local governments must live...
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A story of survival and sisterhood
ARLINGTON — Norma and Yesenia Contreras hadn’t seen each other in 14 years. Their long-awaited reunion unfolded in front of 70,000 spectators at AT&T Stadium, just moments before the Mexico vs. Colombia match kicked off on Oct. 11. As Norma watched...
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Flights clipped at DFW, Love
More than 40 flights out of DFW International Airport and Dallas Love Field were canceled Friday during the first day of federally imposed airspace reductions due to the ongoing government shutdown. DFW Airport saw 32 cancellations Friday, and there...
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Defensive end dies by suicide
FRISCO — The final conversation Lou Esposito had with Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland was a happy one, as heartbreaking as it is for Esposito to think of now. Esposito, now the defensive line coach at the University of Michigan, coached...
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‘We must take responsibility’
As Texas faces a workforce shortage, the University of North Texas will measure its success by how well it meets the state’s talent demand, President Harrison Keller said Wednesday in his State of the University address. “Across our region and beyond,...
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Took lead role in war on terror
WASHINGTON — Dick Cheney, the hard-charging conservative who became one of the most powerful and polarizing vice presidents in U.S. history and a leading advocate for the invasion of Iraq, died Monday night. He was 84. Cheney died due to complications...
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Cuts push groceries out of reach
Martha Lozano pushed a grocery cart through the meat aisle Monday morning, eyeing prices and contemplating her shrinking bank account. With the future of federal food benefits still uncertain, Lozano could not afford to overspend at Malone’s Cost Plus...
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Party for the departed
The Hughes Family Tribute Center held its 11th annual Celebración del Día de Muertos on Sunday in Dallas. The event featured music and dance performances, as well as a parade that ended at the Crown Hill Memorial Park mausoleum. Día de los Muertos,...
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The Mavericks and Stars’ marriage, based on sharing an arena and its revenue, on the brink as franchises explore new options
For most fans the news seemingly came from nowhere, like a thunderbolt on a cloudless afternoon. Wait, what? The Mavericks and Stars for the last 12 months have been embroiled in a bitter cold war? The Mavericks have withheld tens of millions of...
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Religious liberty doctrine cited
Legal arguments around Cindy Clemishire’s defamation lawsuit against Gateway Church and its founder Robert Morris focused Friday on a principle designed to protect religious liberty. Morris founded Gateway Church in Southlake in 2000 and grew it to...
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Melissa ravages communities
SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba — The rumble of large machinery, whine of chain saws and chopping of machetes echoed through communities across the northern Caribbean on Thursday as they dug out from the destruction of Hurricane Melissa and surveyed the damage...
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Starry, starry delights
The biggest surprise at Texas’ second Michelin Guide ceremony came from a Dallas restaurant. In a star-studded ceremony Tuesday night, Dallas restaurant Mamani — open for less than two months — received a Michelin star in the Texas Guide. Let’s be...
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Arena a house divided
NBA franchise says NHL team breached contract amid disputes over lease A yearlong breakdown in the Mavericks and Stars’ relationship came to a head Tuesday morning, when Dallas’ NBA franchise filed suit against the city’s NHL team. The teams have had...
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Jamaica prepares for landfall
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Hurricane Melissa intensified into a Category 5 storm Monday as it drew closer to Jamaica, where forecasters expected it to unleash catastrophic flooding, landslides and widespread damage. At that strength, it would be the strongest...
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Hunger waits if families lose benefits
Those experiencing food insecurity in southern Dallas and across North Texas are bracing for impact as anxieties grow over the federal government shutdown. If the shutdown continues past today, Texas has warned that November food assistance benefits...
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Winner navigates life with star
Tatsuya and Hiroko Sekiguchi sat in silence as they made the three-and-a-half-hour drive from Dallas to Houston last November. They didn’t eat, or talk. Anxiety, heavy and palpable, hung in the air between them. Just three years prior, the Sekiguchis...
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AT&T dials in on the suburbs
Having scoured North Texas for office space since the start of the year, AT&T has intensified its search outside of downtown Dallas in recent weeks — with a particular focus on Plano and Frisco, three real estate professionals with knowledge of the...
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State taking over Fort Worth schools
Texas Education Agency will remove Fort Worth ISD’S elected school board and its superintendent, instituting the second-largest state takeover in Texas history, Education Commissioner Mike Morath said Thursday. Fort Worth ISD, which has about 70,000...
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Ending on a down note
State Fair of Texas officials have pushed back for weeks on reports of declining attendance, but the final numbers confirm overall attendance fell to its lowest in almost a decade. The 2025 fair drew 2,385,855 people, down 365,791 — or 15.3%. Fair...
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Flagg finds a way to win at every stop. Is the NBA next?
NEWPORT, Maine — It’s late on an August morning at Nokomis Regional High in the tiny town in rural Maine. The hardwood floor inside the school’s small gymnasium beams with a glossy shine. It looks brand new, but it’s not. Remodeled, but nowhere near...
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Visits decline in 2025
The State Fair of Texas estimated an attendance of more than 2 million for the 2025 season, down nearly 400,000 visitors from last year. In a news release Sunday, the closing day of the fair, State Fair officials said the busiest day during the...
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Answering a lifelong calling
FORT WORTH — One recent Sunday, four generations of Charles Holland’s family gathered for a service the 94-year-old retired pastor was leading. The service took place at The Ridglea Senior Living, a Fort Worth retirement community. About 30 people,...
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Assessing the State of Play
(Clockwise from top left) The Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, Dallas City Hall, the former Texas Stadium site and the former Valley View Mall site are places that could host the Dallas Mavericks when the team leaves American Airlines Center.
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