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Dallas News •

What happened to Dallas’ public transit network of the 1930s? Curious Texas investigates

At around 7 a.m. on a recent morning, the Green Dragon emerged from McKinney Avenue Transit Authority’s trolley barn in Uptown.

Throughout the day, the vintage trolley will travel on the same tracks that were once part of Dallas’ vast streetcar network. The car will ferry locals and visitors alike between landmarks like West Village, the Dallas Museum of Art and the Winspear Opera House.

Today, Dallas’ public transit system looks very different from a century ago. MATA offers a nostalgic glimp...
Dallas News •

Allen’s $349M spending plan trims tax rate, boosts public safety, parks

As the city plans for new developments and bolstering its infrastructure to keep up with population growth, Allen leaders are set to vote next month on a new tax rate and budget that includes about $349 million in expenditures.

The proposed budget includes a property tax rate of 41.54 cents per $100 in valuation, slightly down from the current rate of 41.75 cents. This marks the fourth year the rate has hovered around this level since the city dropped it from 47 to 42.12 cents in 2022.

City of...
Dallas News •

Visa: Texas, Southern U.S. pulling ahead as national economic growth slows

Job growth, strong consumer spending, housing affordability and surging business investment are making the South the fastest-growing regional economy in the U.S., according to a new report from Visa.

Economic growth slowed in all four U.S. regions in the first quarter of 2025 as tariff implementation and uncertainty weighed on businesses and consumers.

Still, the South led the nation in economic expansion and job creation, according to data from the credit card giant.

Service sector hiring ac...
Dallas News •

New McKinney biotech firm aims to integrate, simplify PCR testing

A new biotechnology company in McKinney has ambitions to become the world’s first fully integrated platform for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing — the same technology behind a common COVID-19 test.

Three Texas health care and biotechnology companies — McKinney-based Community Direct DX and Tyler-based Scienetix and Advanta Genetics R&D — announced Tuesday they have merged to form OSPRI, a name chosen as a play on the fish-eating raptor.

The new enterprise — which aims to streamline the...
Dallas News •

Watch, cheer, donate: Dallas startup ‘gamifies’ money pledges to NCAA football teams

When the first college football games kick off later this month, fans will have a new way to support their teams — through tax-deductible, “gamified” donations.

A new mobile app by Dallas-based company Sportsmo will let users see play-by-play updates during a game, and can let them make donations for positive plays.

Fans can also make pledges ahead of a game — a $5 donation if the team scores more than 18 points, for example.

“It’s a fun and social new way to enjoy a game with your friends,”...
Dallas News •

‘Unacceptable’: Rural Collin County may lose fire protection as tax district vote nears

Jo Ann Graham’s family has called an ambulance twice and the fire department once in the eight years they have lived just outside McKinney. Each of those times, she said, help arrived in minutes.

The wait could soon be much longer, when first responders from McKinney next year halt service to areas outside the city. If that happens, the nearest alternative might be Weston’s volunteer fire department, which is about 12 miles away, much of it on two-lane county roads.

“You never know when a gras...
Dallas News •

4 Collin County mayors share vision for fast-growing region

From within their council chambers, city leaders in Collin County have steered small, sleepy suburbs into booming hubs.

City councils across the county — and the mayors who lead them — have sought to address the growing pains.

Over the last year, the county added almost 76,000 new residents — the most in North Texas. Since the 2020 U.S. Census, the county grew by more than 240,000 people, according to the North Central Texas Council of Governments. In all, an estimated 1.3 million people now c...
Dallas News •

Rural Collin County voters to consider new tax for emergency services

Faced with losing fire protection, residents in rural Collin County will decide in November if they will pay a new tax to cover emergency services.

The county’s Commissioners Court, heeding a resident petition from earlier this year, voted unanimously Monday to place the proposal on the Nov. 4 ballot. If approved, it would create the county’s first emergency services district.

Richard Hill, one of the residents who spearheaded the petition, told commissioners that “homes and other structures w...
Dallas News •

Prosper eyes bond package to fund library, police HQ expansion

Strapped for cash to pay for a new library, expand its police headquarters and make a permanent space for town departments, Prosper leaders could decide next month if they will ask voters to approve a $183.8 million bond package in November.

The package, which Prosper’s Bond Committee presented to the Town Council earlier this week, will not raise the town’s current tax rate.

“I can say with absolute confidence that our recommendations ensure this bond package truly reflects the diverse voices...
Dallas News •

From schoolhouse to hub of hope: Esperanza Community Center aims to uplift neighborhood

A weathered red sign stood outside J. Frank Dobie Pre-K School on a recent afternoon, two months after it announced the last day of classes — and the end of the school itself. Across the street, Victoria Gonzalez, 59, has been keeping an eye on the schoolhouse. Her family has lived in the neighborhood for more than 30 years, and she worries that the building would sit empty and attract vandals. “We were pretty upset when they closed it, because we were like, ‘Wow, this is the perfect pre-K bui...
Dallas News •

Trump signs disaster declaration, activates federal aid to Kerr County

President Donald Trump on Sunday signed a major disaster declaration for Kerr County after deadly flash flooding through Texas’ Hill Country. Authorities said the death toll had climbed to 68 in Kerr County alone.

“These families are enduring an unimaginable tragedy, with many lives lost, and many still missing,” Trump said in a social media post announcing the signing.

The declaration comes one day after U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem arrived to survey the storm-battered regi...
Dallas News •

What to know about Camp Mystic, summer camp deluged by historic Texas flood

Along the Guadalupe River and just miles south of the unincorporated community of Hunt, population 1,300, sits Camp Mystic. The private Christian summer camp has hosted generations of Texas girls for almost a century.

The camp was thrust into a national spotlight after a “catastrophic” deadly flood inundated its grounds Friday. As of Saturday afternoon, at least 27 girls were still missing as search and rescue efforts continue.

Here’s what to know about Camp Mystic.

Camp Mystic, which is set...
Dallas News •

A look at some of the worst floods in Texas history

As search and rescue efforts continue in response to the “catastrophic” and deadly flooding of the Guadalupe River in Kerr County on Friday morning, many Texans are reminded of the state’s long history with floods.

Here is a look back at four of the worst floods Texas has faced.

On July 16-17, 1987, more than 11 inches of rain fell near Hunt. The rain flooded the Guadalupe River through Ingram, Kerrville and eventually Comfort, about 15 miles southeast of Kerrville.

In Comfort, the river rose...
Dallas News •

About 150 gather in downtown Dallas for Independence Day rally, Trump protests

A crowd of about 150 gathered at Main Street Garden on a cloudy Friday, holding American flags and signs in protest of the Trump administration.

The “We the People, Celebrate the Constitution” demonstration was cohosted by Indivisible Dallas and the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of 50501, the organization behind the nationwide “No Kings” protests on June 14 that drew a crowd of 10,000 in Dallas.

The event was a stationary demonstration, where speakers discussed grievances with the current presiden...
Dallas News •

Mother of missing Everman boy added to FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list

North Texas fugitive Cindy Rodriguez-Singh, charged in the death of her 6-year-old son, has been added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, authorities announced Tuesday.

The reward for information leading to her arrest has been increased to $250,000, the FBI and local law enforcement agencies said Tuesday morning at a news conference in Everman.

Rodriguez-Singh is charged with capital murder in the death of her 6-year-old son Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez.

“This is a case that is still fres...
Dallas News •

D-FW suburban rental markets surge amid affordable homeownership hurdles

Three years ago, a new job at Advanced Micro Devices in Plano brought Samuel Owens and his family to Dallas-Fort Worth, and they needed a new home. “I started with Plano and just circled out from there, trying to stay within a roughly 60-minute-or-less commute time,” Owens said. “There are definitely more apartments that are in my price range, but we were hoping to get an actual home.” Owens, 41, said the family ultimately settled down in Princeton, where he pays around $2,000 a month in rent...
Dallas News •

Frisco homeowners to get maximum homestead property tax exemption state allows

Just weeks after Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation for statewide property tax reforms, homeowners in Frisco are slated to see more property tax relief.

Frisco City Council unanimously approved an increase in the city’s homestead property tax exemption from 15% to 20% — the maximum allowed by state law — at a special meeting Monday.

Mayor Jeff Cheney said at the meeting that it has always been his and the council’s goal to raise the exemption to the state maximum.

“It’s been looking for the...
Dallas News •

North Texas Wildlife Center scouts for new facility as it faces shutdown risk

The North Texas Wildlife Center has taken in 2,500 animals so far this year — opossums, cottontail rabbits, birds and other injured or orphaned animals rescued from the wild.

But the nonprofit now has 60 days to find another home, said Rebecca Hamlin, the center’s president, after receiving a city notice on Friday that it may no longer operate from its facility tucked into a residential property in Plano.

“This is not an animal care issue. This is not that the cages are dirty or that we don’t...
Dallas News •

Allen police seize hemp products from Dallas warehouses as Abbott considers total ban

Allen’s smoke shop industry is once again under the spotlight amid a statewide push to ban some hemp products.

Allen police, in partnership with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, raided three Dallas warehouses and several homes for illegal THC products, the police department said in a Tuesday news release.

The city is already dealing with a lawsuit in connection with a string of Allen police raids on smoke shops last year.

Authorities carried out searches at the warehouses for hemp...
Dallas News •

What to know about the ‘No Kings’ protests across the U.S. today

Thousands of Dallas-Fort Worth area residents protested in rallies across North Texas on Saturday as part of a nationwide mobilization against the policies of President Donald Trump’s administration.

The protests coincided with Trump’s birthday and a military parade in Washington to celebrate the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary.

The protests came a week after many took to the streets of Los Angeles to protest the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies. On Monday, several hundred...
Dallas News •

Texas Capitol reopens after arrest connected to threat against lawmakers ahead of protest

The Texas Capitol has reopened after a trooper with the state’s Department of Public Safety arrested a man in connection with a threat, the DPS said in a statement posted on X.

In an email alert sent just before 1 p.m. Saturday to lawmakers and Capitol staffers, DPS said it had identified a threat against lawmakers planning to attend Austin’s “No Kings” protest at the Capitol at 5 p.m. DPS evacuated and closed the Capitol and its grounds at around 1 p.m.

There is no additional active threat fo...
The Daily Northwestern •

Evanston resident Rachel Ruttenberg prioritizes economic justice, policy expertise in state Senate bid

Rachel Ruttenberg (Medill M.S. ’04) wears many hats: attorney, advocate, policy advisor, local party leader, community organizer and more. But when asked why she’s running for public office, she reached — without hesitation — for a personal answer.
“I am the parent of two young girls, and they are growing up in a country where they have fewer rights than I did at their age,” the Evanston resident said. “That is a key driver of why I am in this work. I want to be building and making people’s live...
The Daily Northwestern •

Cook County to offer cash relief to homeowners amid long-term property tax reforms

Cook County will soon distribute $1,000 payments to some homeowners who saw a significant spike in property taxes in the past years, the county announced in April.
The Homeowner Relief Fund — a $15 million slice of the county’s 2025 budget the commissioners approved in October — will finance payments to homeowners whose household income is no more than the area median and whose property tax has increased by 50% in one year since 2021.
The county estimates roughly 110,000 households will be eligi...
The Daily Northwestern •

Three new councilmembers, incumbents sworn in as Evanston’s 82nd City Council

Members of Evanston’s 82nd City Council were inaugurated Monday, beginning a four-year term that is slated to shape key city initiatives like Envision Evanston 2045 and the future home of city operations — issues that emerged as major flashpoints leading up to April 1’s municipal election.
Three newcomers, Alds. Shawn Iles (3rd), Parielle Davis (7th) and Matt Rodgers (8th), now join the reelected Mayor Daniel Biss, City Clerk Stephanie Mendoza and incumbent councilmembers at the dais. 
Reflectin...
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