President Biden honored 19 people with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Friday, the nation’s highest civilian honor. According to the White House, the Presidential Medal of Freedom “is presented to individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors.” Among this year’s 19 recipients is Fort Worth’s own Dr. Opal Lee, civil rights icon who championed Juneteenth awareness, an informal Texas holiday celebrated since Reconstruction recognizing the day in 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, when Black slaves in Galveston, and eventually…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
North Texas students have joined the national pro-Palestine movement across college campuses, and the call for their universities to divest. Among other demands, student protesters are calling on university leaders to “fully divest from corporations complicit and directly facilitating war, occupation, policing, militarism, and death in Palestine and around the world,” according to social media posts from the Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Texas at Dallas. In other posts, the student groups have named some particular companies, like Lockheed-Martin, Raytheon, and General Dynamics. So, how much money does the UT system invest in those companies? All investments and…
A Royse City High School student is facing a misdemeanor after police say they posted a “credible threat” directed at the school on social media. The student, who was identified only as a 17-year-old, was arrested at home without incident and booked into the Hunt County Detention Center. The student is facing a charge of threat of exhibition or use of firearms which is a Class A misdemeanor. Royse City Police said someone came forward and reported the threat and that they immediately began an investigation. Police did not provide any details about the threat and only said it was…
Have you ever seen robots playing soccer? That’s kind of what is happening at the VEX Robotics World Championship, the largest high school robotics competition. Students from around the world are competing at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, taking robots they built and programmed to get as many of these foam cones into the other team’s net. “We work our butts off. We do programming, building, driving, skills teamwork — everyone plays a part of this team,” said Zana Rayon. Rayon and her friends Lesli Jacobo and Layla Owens are all students at Mesquite’s Vanguard High School. “We’re a team of three. And we see…
Crime scene tape still marks the intersection where a 16-year-old was hit by gunfire and later died. It all started Thursday at about 7 p.m. when Dallas police say there was a minor wreck at North Masters Drive and Carolina Oaks Drive. “When I looked down here it was full of officers had this part blocked off,” witness Glenda Price said. Police say people who were not involved in the crash started fighting. That’s when someone pulled out a gun and started shooting hitting three people including the 16-year-old who died. “I could see down here at the light they had…
As Tarrant County neighbors review their appraisal notices, for the first time, they’ll get to elect three people to the Tarrant Appraisal District’s board of directors. “People really are at war against their property taxes,” said Vinny Minchillo, a Republican political consultant. “They feel like there’s no control at that appraisal district. So, this is a very big deal for voters to have some control over what goes on in the appraisal district.” Under property tax reforms passed last year, the election is to be held in appraisal districts in counties with populations of 75,000 or more. The change expands the appraisal district’s…
On the afternoon of May 6, 2023, the sun was shining and the Allen Premium Outlets were buzzing with people from all over North Texas. Then, first responders got the call they’d long prepared for but one they’d hoped would never come. “I heard the radio officer say that he thought he had shots fired at the outlet mall,” said Allen Police Lieutenant Kris Wirstrom. “It became very real that this wasn’t just another incident, this wasn’t another training scenario, that this was in fact our mass shooting, our incident,” said Allen Fire Department Division Chief Daniel Williams. Williams and…
On the UT Dallas campus Friday, students said they were holding their ground, continuing a call for the university to divest financial interests in companies providing weapons for Israel amid the war in Gaza. “We as students here, we’re going to keep demanding, we’re going to keep pushing until our university ends its complicity,” said Fatima, a member of Students for Justice in Palestine. Friday’s rally on Chess Plaza painted a stark contrast to one held there Wednesday when protestors erected an encampment. The University said it called on state and local law enforcement to remove structures that stretched into…
CROSBY, Texas (KTRK) — Twenty-seven students on board a Crosby Independent School District bus are safe after driving into floodwaters on Friday as heavy rainfall continues. The incident happened just before 6:30 a.m. on Gulf Pump Road near Maple Street by the San Jacinto River. In a press conference the same morning, Judge Lina Hidalgo spoke to the public regarding the severe weather impacting the area. Hidalgo said the bus driver drove into the flood waters. The district said in a press release that the driver stopped before getting into deeper water. They added that there were no barriers in place.…
HOUSTON, Texas — The start of the first civil trial stemming from the 2021 Astroworld festival, at which 10 people were killed in a crowd surge, has been delayed. Jury selection had been set to begin next Tuesday in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the family of Madison Dubiski, a 23-year-old Houston resident who was killed during the crowd crush at the Nov. 5, 2021, concert by rap superstar Travis Scott. But Apple Inc., one of the more than 20 defendants going to trial next week, filed an appeal this week, automatically delaying the start of jury selection. “Unless I hear…
