The Dallas Morning News

Celebrating a woman of change

Friends, family and well-wishers gathered Monday to offer their final goodbyes to Anita N. Martinez, the pioneering civic activist linked to the El Fenix restaurant chain but who also rose on her own to become the first Mexican American elected to the...

How does housing affordability shape the North Texas miracle?

The average North Texan’s ability to afford an average home in North Texas has been on the decline since 2012 as home prices surged ahead of wages. The chasm between who could afford to own a home in North Texas and who could not has widened as the...

North Texas not immune to growing water crisis

It’s spring and Dallas-Fort Worth feels lush again. Gardeners plant colorful flowers, runners take laps around White Rock Lake, and boaters and anglers rejoice in warmer days out on the water. Yet about 400 miles south in Corpus Christi, life looks...

Appeals court rules Trump’s asylum ban illegal

WASHINGTON — An appeals court on Friday blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order suspending asylum access at the southern border of the U.S., a key pillar of the Republican president’s plan to crack down on migration. A three-judge panel from...

ZIP code shapes lifespan

Staff Writer [email protected] For years, communities in southern Dallas have grappled with dire health needs, including higher rates of chronic disease, fewer resources and earlier deaths. South of Interstate 30, life expectancy is about 17...

Clinton drops in on Cowboys

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones (left) shared a laugh with former President Bill Clinton when Clinton made a surprise visit during a predraft news conference, at The Star in Frisco, on Wednesday.

Sustainable soccer

As North Texas prepares to welcome a surge of visitors for the FIFA World Cup, hosting an event of this scale will put pressure on transportation systems, public spaces and city services. But it also offers a unique opportunity to strengthen...

Demand for power grows

While there’s little doubt electricity demand in Texas will continue to grow these next few years — especially with new data centers being constructed in hubs like Dallas-fort Worth — determining just how much growth will come to fruition has been more...

An influx of injured animals

PLANO — Five babies burrowed into a blanket, tucked into an incubator in the critical care unit. Just days old, the eastern gray screech owls arrived at the North Texas Wildlife Center as eggs after their home, a tree in Richardson, was cut down this...

A toilet and a battle for soul of rural Texas

George Dunham traded the suburbs for the sleepy town of Bartonville nearly 20 years ago. “We moved here for the quiet,” says the Ticket radio host, one-third of the sports station’s top-rated morning show The Musers. Bartonville — population 1,700 —...

A wedding on death row

LIVINGSTON — It’s almost time for the ceremony, and Tiana Krasniqi is changing into her wedding dress in the back of her Kia Soul, parked in the prison lot. She grabs her marriage license and her vows Tuesday evening before heading inside; first...

Working for the impact

On a recent afternoon, Harrison Blair ambled through the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce, gazing at the art adorning the office’s walls. In a painting hung in the foyer, a young boy held wads of cash against his ears. A message, “money can’t buy...

Mother delivers emotional testimony

Every day since 7-year-old Athena Strand’s battered and bruised body was pulled from a North Texas river more than three years ago, Maitlyn Gandy has talked to her deceased daughter. “I tell her that I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect her and to stop...

Official says she was unaware of alerts

AUSTIN —The woman who serves as Camp Mystic’s chief health officer told a state district court Tuesday that she wasn’t aware the area was under a flash flood watch before water engulfed the Texas Hill Country retreat, killing 25 children and two...

Texas stomps opening efforts

More than 40 years ago, on a crisp pre-dawn November morning in Deep East Texas, three Native American hunters — a father and his two sons, ages 17 and 24 — scoured the Piney Woods for signs of live game. Just as sunlight peaked over the limbs of the...

Neighbors coming together

ERATH COUNTY — In this piece of Texas, “love thy neighbor” is more than Sunday school talk. It’s a way of small town life, often shown through small gestures like waving to the folks on the sidewalk, rooting for each other’s kids at the baseball game,...

Life after loss

For years, Hollie Cunningham longed to give her sons a baby sister, and for years, that dream failed to materialize. In early 2025, when she learned she was pregnant again, her husband, Cody, was excited they had been given another chance. Hollie was...

Astronauts return home

HOUSTON — Artemis II’S astronauts returned from the moon with a dramatic splashdown in the Pacific on Friday to close out humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than a half-century. It was a triumphant homecoming for the crew of four whose...

Council OKS renos at Roseland

Dallas City Council on Wednesday gave a unanimous, key stamp of approval needed to renovate Roseland Townhomes and Roseland Estates, the neighboring public housing complexes featured in a 2025 Dallas Morning News investigation into failed efforts to...

Ceasefire threatened

TEHRAN, Iran — A ceasefire deal to pause the war in Iran appeared to hang by a thread Wednesday after the Islamic Republic closed the Strait of Hormuz again in response to Israeli attacks in Lebanon. The White House demanded that the channel be...

Driver pleads guilty in girl’s murder

FORT WORTH — Prosecutors laid out what they called a brutal killing while defense attorneys urged jurors to choose life without parole Tuesday, after Tanner Horner pleaded guilty in the death of 7-year-old Athena Strand. Horner’s surprise plea to...

Another leap for mankind

HOUSTON — With the moon now filling their windows, the Artemis II astronauts kicked off their lunar flyby Monday, taking in magnificent views of the far side never before witnessed while setting a new distance record for humanity. The six-hour flyby...

Joy, praise and worship

With joy, praise and worship, Christians in North Texas celebrated Easter Sunday morning. At Friendship-west Baptist Church in Dallas, hundreds of members gathered with family and friends to mark the holiday, also called Resurrection Sunday, which...

TV king of North Texas

If you live in North Texas, you may have recently stumbled across a peculiar road closure. Perhaps you saw a clue in the form of a sign that read “SET.” The commotion most likely traced back to Taylor Sheridan, the Fort Worth-raised show creator who...

Let’s play ball

Home away from home

When 28-year-old Rebecca Pels called her mother Wednesday morning, her mom said she couldn’t wait to see her extended family from the New York City area at Passover Seder that night. “I had that pang in my heart,” said Pels, who moved to Dallas about...

Trump: U.S. forces will press on

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said U.S. forces will “finish the job” in Iran soon as “core strategic objectives are nearing completion,” offering a full-throated defense of the war Wednesday night in his first national address since the conflict...

A peek inside Dallas’ $5B project

Dallas’ new children’s hospital is still five years away from opening, but hospital leaders this week offered a peek at what the inside of the building will look like. Moody Children’s Hospital is a project of UT Southwestern Medical Center and...

Last curtain call for hall

Dallas officials have begun taking apart the gargantuan Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. On Monday, cranes and demolition excavators tore down the exhibition hall closest to the Omni Hotel, dismembering parts of the building that will...

Groundbreaking announced

Questions surround the future of downtown Dallas, as posed by First Baptist Dallas executive pastor Ben Lovvorn. But for his church, the future clear. The church in the heart of downtown Dallas announced on Sunday – Palm Sunday – that construction...

Slipping through the cracks

The sonogram operator at the crisis pregnancy center recorded the details of Kaylee Hall’s pregnancy. Likely due in the middle of June. Fetal heart rate measured at 156 beats per minute. The box for intrauterine pregnancy marked as “yes.” An OB-GYN...

Resurrection plan

students hover over Dallas City Hall’s miniature. They are just minutes away from unveiling a plan they say could resurrect downtown. In a landscape of miniature models, the I.M Pei-designed buildment ing’s replica is lonely in its habitat, except for...

GOP rallies for unity

GRAPEVINE — Republican leaders sought to rally their ranks and squash infighting at an influential conservative gathering Thursday as they aim to fend off Democratic wins in the midterm election. Framing the election as a spiritual battle,...

ICE ordered to aid TSA

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s decision to order federal immigration agents to U.S. airports to help with security during a budget impasse is drawing concerns that their presence may escalate tensions among air travelers frustrated over...

Living through a nightmare

If you didn’t know what happened to Jordan, you might think he still lives in this house. In Jordan’s bedroom, vines of plastic ivy hang like a curtain in front of the window. A stuffed Simba, the cub from The Lion King, sits on his bed. In the...

Reunion Tower upgrade

High above downtown Dallas, workers in harnesses moved carefully along the steel framework of Reunion Tower this week, swapping out aging light fixtures one by one as traffic moved below. The work marks the first major upgrade to the tower’s lighting...

Chavez statue removed

Workers removed a statue of labor leader Cesar Chavez at the Dallas Farmers Market on Thursday, raising questions from vendors about the speed of the decision and whether the public had any input. Sana Syed, president of the Dallas Farmers Market...

Increasing shelf life

On a typical day at the Lochwood Branch Library near White Rock Lake, the doors open to a steady stream of neighbors: seniors looking for help with a password, job seekers filling out applications, parents bringing their children to story time and...

Real estate broker baffled by snub

As Dallas officials prepared to debate City Hall’s future, a commercial real estate broker helping analyze relocation options grew frustrated when his firm was not allowed to compete for the work. City Hall emails reviewed by The Dallas Morning News...

Growing pains in Texas

Texas consistently grows faster than the rest of the nation. What will it take to keep that growth going? Pia Orrenius, a vice president and senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, has spent years studying how Texas outperforms the...

Horseshoe view

ace fans watch as Indycar drivers pass through the Horseshoe portion of the Grand Prix Arlington near AT&T Stadirum on Sunday. The street race takes place in the Entertainment District and replaces an event at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. Driver...

Behind the plan to save funding

Randall Bryant had been chair of Dallas Area Rapid Transit for less than a day when suburban cities started calling. They wanted out. The night before, Walt Humann, widely regarded as the father of DART, had sworn in the 38-year-old, who wore his...

Kings of the court

Kimball head basketball coach Nicke Smith (above, center left) hugged his brother, Madison head coach Gerald Smith, as their mother, Louise Smith, looked on after Madison’s victory over Orangefield in the Class 3A Division I boys basketball state...

Attacks will continue

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s secretive new supreme leader vowed Thursday to keep up attacks on Gulf Arab countries and use the effective closure of the strategic Strait of Hormuz as leverage against the United States and Israel. It was his...

Getting ready for race day

The inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington takes place Friday through Sunday in the Entertainment District. The Arlington Police Department announced road closures and traffic changes occurring on city streets to accommodate. Road closures...

Urban League returns

A decade after shutting down, the Urban League is back in the Dallas area with a new name, stronger alliances and renewed fight for economic and social justice. More than 500 organizers, politicians and business leaders gathered at Gilley’s Dallas to...

Party plans unveiled

For more than a month, Fair Park in South Dallas will welcome thousands of soccer fans for the official FIFA Fan Festival Dallas. On Monday, the North Texas FWC Organizing Committee revealed plans for Dallas’ Fan Festival, a daily party where soccer...

Company aims to help agriculture tap water

FORT WORTH — While more industries incorporate artificial intelligence and new technologies into their daily tasks, a local company is trying to get agriculture producers on board. Ranchbot, an Australian company that expanded to the U.S. a handful of...

Kickoff time for Dallas, MLS

FRISCO — By the time DJ “G” cued up Lionel Richie’s All Night Long on a recent Friday night, the 24-hour party next to Toyota Stadium was already in full throttle: Dozens of fans feasted on 100 pizzas that FC Dallas supplied; two brave souls planned...

A struggle to survive

For more than half a century, the Stoneleigh P has been a watering hole for anyone in Dallas looking for a beer, a burger or a good time. It survived economic downturns, a devastating fire, the COVID-19 pandemic and an involuntary relocation, but the...

Council strikes compromise

A deeply divided Dallas City Council is hedging its bets on City Hall, exploring relocation while also ordering plans to repair the aging building. After hours of scrutiny, debate and amendments, the council voted 9-6 to approve a compromise...

‘Mass confusion’ for primaries

It’s Tuesday — election day in Dallas County — and an hour has passed since polls opened for a pivotal set of primaries. At Fretz Park Library on the north side of the city, roughly 90 voters have come and gone. Yet, if the poll workers had to guess,...

Candidates await results

Parties watch closely ahead of midterms WASHINGTON — Texas’ bitter, big-money Senate primary left Republicans fractured Tuesday night as Democrats fought for an edge, all in a showdown that could help decide control of Congress. Sen. John Cornyn was...

Conflict in the Mideast widens

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Israel and the United States pounded Iran on Monday in a campaign that President Donald Trump said would likely take several weeks. Tehran and its allies hit back against Israel, Gulf states and targets critical to the...

Five candidates, one seat

Why me? Five candidates. Millions in TV ads. Months of rallies, block-walking and selfies across a sprawling state. On the eve of Texas’ primary Tuesday, the U.S. Senate contenders are making their final appeals to voters after a bruising campaign...

Trump: Supreme leader dead

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A major attack launched by Israel and the United States killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Donald Trump announced Saturday, confirming an assassination that he said gave Iranians their “greatest...

‘This Is For’ Dallas

Decked out in hot pink sweats and a fluffy gray jacket, Preston Salomon hopped, stomped and twirled in near lockstep with 40 other dancers as “This Is For” by K-pop girl group Twice burst from a nearby loudspeaker. Outside American Airlines Center on...

Honoring a voice for justice

CHICAGO — A line of mourners streamed through a Chicago auditorium Thursday to pay final respects to the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. as crosscountry memorial services began in the city the late civil rights leader called home. The protégé of the Rev....

To sell or to stay?

It was a customer who suggested Richardson restaurateur Ararin “Irean” Wongchingchai go to the hospital last fall. Wongchingchai was unable to walk. She felt dizzy. Maybe something was wrong with her eyes or her ears, she told doctors. Over three...

Fresh start for green sanctuary

Amaris Alanis Ribeiro, recently named the new director of the Trinity River Audubon Center, describes herself as an environmental changemaker. In an interview with The Dallas Morning News, she said her upbringing, experience running a nature center in...

Chaos in Mexico

GUADALAJARA, Mexico — At least 73 people died in Mexico’s attempt to capture the notorious leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the violent aftermath of his death, authorities said Monday as much of the country feared another wave of...

How did Texans fare?

STAFF REPORTS The 2026 Winter Olympics are over. Below you’ll find competition results for every athlete from Texas or with notable Texas connections: Amber Glenn Hometown: Plano Event: Figure skating (women’s singles, team event) Nation: United...

Battleground Frisco

FRISCO — For months, the attacks seeped onto social media, often framed as questions. Why do they not assimilate? Where do they work to afford their luxury homes? Is our town becoming an ethnic enclave? The tensions festering on platforms like Reddit...

‘Expand it, not abandon it’

The bustle on a Monday morning at a downtown Dallas Area Rapid Transit station is full of screeching trains, long stares from windows and corporate suits in headphones, scrolling their phones as they wait for their line. The train seats both young and...

Banned interview goes viral

AUSTIN – What didn’t air on CBS may be doing more for James Talarico than if it had. Late-night host Stephen Colbert said his interview with the Texan in the Democrat primary for U.S. Senate was blocked Monday, and Talarico turned the dustup into a...

Paxton investigates three districts

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is investigating Dallas ISD and two other school districts where students walked out of class this month to protest federal immigration policy. In a news release issued Monday, Paxton alleges that officials in Dallas,...

New life for Mill City church

Lotis Charles Qualls, 63, looked upon the remodeled brick building that used to be a church in southeast Dallas’ Mill City neighborhood with a smile of nostalgia. Fresh white paint coated the bricks of what was once a small red-brick church where...

Unifying through art

On a bitter cold morning, Theo Ponchaveli outlines lettering on the side of a building with a positive message: “Sunny South Dallas.” Not far from the wall, a brass band starts to play. The esteemed artist maps out his design with black, white, yellow...

Love is in the air

Justice of the Peace Paul Raleeh is bracing for a Valentine’s Day surge, lining up back-to-back ceremonies as couples across Collin County skip the frills and seal the deal. He has 14 weddings booked between Friday and Saturday alone, more than he...

Final steps of a long journey

Agroup of Buddhist monks, a day after completing a 108-day Walk for Peace from Fort Worth to Washington, walked to Capitol Hill on Wednesday before heading to the Lincoln Memorial to conclude their journey. A bus will bring the group back to Texas...

Surprise! Spring training is upon us

Texas Rangers pitchers stretched during a spring training workout at the team’s training facility on Tuesday, in Surprise, Ariz. Rangers’ manager Skip Schumaker built rapport among the team by taking a step back allowing new pitching coach Jordan Tiegs...